Josh Hartnett

Born: 21st July 1978
Where: San Francisco, California, USA

Hartnett's screen acting debut was as the troubled son of the titular crime stopper in the short-lived 1997 American remake of the British series Cracker.

He has since enjoyed big screen success in the likes of Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down and the downbeat thriller Lucky Number Slevin.

Of Swedish descent, he was raised largely by his father Daniel and step-mother Molly in St Paul, Minnesota, after his parents' divorce.

He started off in small plays and national adverts, but broke into the big-screen movie business with his starring role in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later.

With the requisite teen horror credits (The Faculty) behind him Hartnett next proved himself in Sofia Coppola's 1999 feature directorial debut, The Virgin Suicides.

Cast in a lead role in Michael Bay's epic Pearl Harbor, Hartnett was poised to enter the ranks of young Hollywood's elite...despite the film's critical battering.

Subsequent appearances included a new take on Othello - O - and a starring role in Ridley Scott's Somali war drama Black Hawk Down.

Hartnett demonstrated he isn't entirely at home with comedy in the lukewarm 40 Days & 40 Nights - a lack of talent he underscored in Hollywood Homicide with Harrison Ford.

In 2004, he starred in the Paul McGuigan drama Whicker Park before playing "The Man" in the opening scene of the sci-fi thriller Sin City.

He recently reteamed with McGuigan for the thriller Lucky Number Slevin alongside Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman.