British actor Colin Firth achieved international renown in 1995 with his arguably definitive screen portrayal of Fitzwilliam Darcy in the BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." He began his career in West End dramas and on the big screen in period, often literary adaptations, before a number of successful romantic comedies including “Bridget Jones’ Diary” (2001) and broader historic dramas like “The Girl with the Pearl Earring” (2003) turned him into “the thinking woman’s heartthrob.” The moniker stuck throughout his career, but Firth continued to showcase untapped facets of his talent in independent films, family-friendly hits, and gutsy cable movies just the same.

Of all the writers and performers associated with the glory days of NBC's "Saturday Night Live", Bill Murray made the most enduringly successful transition to feature films, and though his big-screen career has had its ups and downs, mega-hits like "Ghostbusters" (1984) and "Groundhog Day" (1993) have more than made up for his misses, and he also successfully established himself as a dramatic actor as well.

Exuding an air of gravitas in whatever role he played, Academy-Award winner Sir Ben Kingsley made a specialty of playing historical characters, ranging from Dmitri Shostakovich in "Testimony (1987) to mobster Meyer Lansky in "Bugsy" (1991). His most acclaimed performance, however, was in Sir Richard Attenborough’s epic biopic “Gandhi” (1984), in which he played the title role of one of the 20th Century’s most revered and influential figures.

Representing the third generation of Hustons to win an Academy Award, Anjelica Huston finally emerged from the shadows of father John and long-time beau Jack Nicholson to parlay her striking, off-beat beauty and "deep class" (as termed by Nicholson) into a career as an actress of great strength and emotional range. Though she managed to survive a disastrous starring debut in her father's "A Walk with Love and Death" (1969), the howls of nepotism that nearly ended her career before it began did cause her to withdraw temporarily from the profession.