Lena Headey

Born: 1976
Where: Yorkshire, England

Headey made her big screen debut opposite Jeremy Irons in the haunting Waterland.

Originally an aspiring hairdreser, she was spotted by a casting agent during a one-off school revue at the National Theatre.

Up came the feature role of the sexually precocious schoolgirl in Waterland, which was based on the novel by Graham Swift.

Next she portrayed a quiet young woman who has no idea why she consented to marry an unbearable man twice her age in The Summer House.

Answering Hollywood's call, she landed the role of the virginal heroine of Disney's live-action take on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.

She also made her American TV debut that year in the ABC movie MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday, based on the long-running series.

The following year she took several roles for British TV - first she played an Ecstasy fuelled raver in Loved Up, and then a troubled lesbian prostitute in the series Band of Gold.

Subsequent film work included The Grotesque, Antonia Bird's Face and Young Sally in Mrs Dalloway.

She starred in Onegin and then landed the lead role opposite Steve Coogan in The Parole Officer, which she followed with Possession.

Recent work includes The Actors opposite Michael Caine and Dylan Moran and The Talented Mr Ripley spin-off Ripley's Game.