Shaun Evans
English actor Shaun Evans had his first major role at 22, as gay French teacher John Paul Keating in the Channel 4 comedy-drama Teachers during its second series in 2002. The following year he made his feature film debut in The Boys from County Clare, starring alongside Bernard Hill, Colm Meaney and Andrea Corr. Additional screen credits include the lead male actor role in Sparkle, as well as roles in Being Julia, The Situation, Cashback, Gone, Boy A, Telstar, Princess Ka'iulani and Clive Barker's horror, Dread.
On television, Evans was featured in the 2002 docudrama The Project and was seen as the Earl of Southampton in the miniseries The Virgin Queen, which premiered in November 2005 on Masterpiece Theatre on PBS in the US before airing on the BBC in January 2006. His stage work includes a UK tour of the award-winning play Blue/Orange by Joe Penhall. Recent television appearances include Murder City, BBC's Ashes to Ashes, Gentley's Last Stand and four-part drama The Take from the novel by Martina Cole on Sky1.
Evans has just finished appearing in the new Roy Smiles play Kurt and Sid, at the Trafalgar Studios, London playing Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, opposite Danny Dyer who was playing Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious.
Amanda Ryan
Amanda Ryan, a British actress, has appeared in productions such as the BBC2 series Attachments, the film Britannic and the television adaptations of The Forsyte Saga and David Copperfield, and more recently as Verity Wright in East Enders. She also appears in Shameless as Sgt. Carrie Rogers. After her key role as Kate in Sparkle, she played Lettice Howard, the fictional lover of The Duke of Norfolk in the 2008 film Elizabeth starring Cate Blanchett. She also played Joanna in the 2006 film Metroland, based on the 1980 novel of the same name by Julian Barnes. She starred in the Inspector Morse episode "The Daughters of Cain" as Kay Brooks.
Ryan's stage career includes credits in British productions of Patrick Marber's Closer, Simon Gray's Otherwise Engaged, Chekhov's The Wood Demon and in 2008 the part of Cathy in an adaptation of Wuthering Heights by April De Angelis.
She appears in the music video for Walk Away by Funeral for a Friend.
Stockard Channing
One of Broadway and Hollywood's cleverer talents who tends to shine a smart, cynical light on her surroundings, Stockard Channing made her debut on stage in 1966, at the Theatre Company of Boston, while her first part in pictures was in 1971. In 1975 she took her first female lead as an heiress in Mike Nichols' comedy The Fortune (1975).
In 1978, her performance in blockbuster hit-musical Grease as Betty Rizzo earned her the People's Choice Awards for Favorite Motion Picture Supporting Actress. This ultimately assessed her career as a successful actress, and the following years saw her appear in more films, TV shows, and stage productions.
In 1985 she snapped the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, and kept busy with film, television and stage roles throughout the late 80s and 90s.
In 1999, Channing took on the role of First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing. She was a recurring guest star for the show's first two seasons, and became a regular cast member in 2001. 2002 saw her grab another set of awards, with Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her work on The West Wing, the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress in a Television Movie or Miniseries for her portrayal of Judy Shepard in The Matthew Shepard Story.
After the success of Sparkle in 2007, she returns to the big screen this year, with Multiple Sarcasms (2010) and A Fonder Heart (in production).
Bob Hoskins
According to the production notes on the Special Edition of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, his acting career started when he was sitting in a pub enjoying a beer when someone came up to him and told him to go upstairs to audition for a play. So he did and actually got the role. Before that day a career in acting was the last thing he ever thought he'd have.
After beginning his acting career on the London stage in the late 1960s, Bob Hoskins first gained wide attention in the original BBC television serial version of Dennis Potter's Pennies from Heaven and playing Iago in Jonathan Miller's BBC Television Shakespeare production of Othello.
Hoskins' performance in Mona Lisa (1986) won him a Cannes Award, Best Actor Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He also delivered comic turns in Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985) and Super Mario Bros. (1993).
Hoskins had a small role as a rock band's manager in the Pink Floyd film The Wall, with a two-word expletive spoken part. He has also directed films.
Hoskins' first appearance to mainstream American audiences was in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, for which he received a second Golden Globe nomination. He also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Mrs Henderson Presents.
In 2009, Hoskins made a return to British television in Jimmy McGovern's drama serial The Street, where he played a publican who stands up to a local gangster; his performance was widely praised by television critics.
Anthony Head
An English actor and musician, he is probably best known for his role as Rupert Giles, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He is currently one of the central characters in Merlin, portraying the character King Uther Pendragon.
One of his earliest appearances was in the series Enemy at the Door (ITV, 1978–1980). In the early 1980s he sang with the band Red Box. In the late 1980s, he appeared in a storyline series of twelve coffee commercials with Sharon Maughan for Nescafé Gold Blend. (A version made for the US featured the American brand name Taster's Choice.) The soap opera nature of the commercials brought him wider recognition, along with a part in the Children's ITV comedy drama Woof!
Success on the stage and a number of brief appearances on American television, such as in the short-lived VR.5, led to accepting the role of Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1997.
Other TV roles include BBC’s drama and series Doctor Who, Hotel Babylon, Merlin, Manchild and Little Britain.
He returned to the big screen in 2007, playing successively Sir Walter Elliot in Persuasion, and Stockard Channing’s gay brother in Sparkle. In 2009, Saw Director Darren Lynn Bousman cast him for a part in Repo! The Genetic Opera.
Outside of television & film work, he has released an album of songs with musician George Sarah entitled Music for Elevators. Early in his career he provided vocals for some of the tracks on the Chris de Burgh album The Getaway and the reading from The Tempest on Don't Pay The Ferryman.
Lesley Manville
Lesley Manville was born and raised in Brighton, East Sussex, the daughter of a taxi driver.
She began acting as a teenager, appearing in television series such as the soap opera Emmerdale Farm (1974-1976) and King Cinder.
At the end of the seventies she built a career as a distinct actress of theatre, appearing in new plays at the RSC's Warehouse and Royal Court Theatre. She played Sister Croy in The Sons of Light; Ali in Savage Amusement; Isabel in Trust Us and Lucy in Lucy Page's Lucy. She met Gary Oldman while working at the Court.
She is perhaps best known for her acting collaborations with Mike Leigh, which began in 1980 with the BBC play Grown-Ups. She subsequently appeared in the films High Hopes, Secrets & Lies, Topsy Turvy and All or Nothing.
Other film appearances include: Dance with a Stranger, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, High Season and The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael.
Manville has also remained active on television, with credits such as The Gentle Touch, Coronation Street, Bulman, Soldier Soldier, Ain't Misbehavin', Tears Before Bedtime, Kavanagh QC, Holding On, Silent Witness, Real Women, The Cazalets, and Cranford. For her role as Nadine in the series Other People's Children, Manville received a nomination for Best Actress in the 2001 Royal Television Society Awards.
