Colin Farrell

Born: 31st March, 1976
Where: Dublin, Ireland

Already dubbed 'The Irish Brad Pitt' by Hollywood, Farrell managed to make the huge leap from Ballykissangel to play Alexander the Great.

Raised in the Castlenock area of Dublin, the rebellious youth enrolled in the Gaiety School Acting but left after a year when he was cast in Drinking Crude.

He then enjoyed a regular role as Danny Byrne in TV hit Ballykissangel and went onto play a small role in Tim Roth's directorial debut The War Zone.

Kevin Spacey saw him in In A Little World of Our Own at the Donmar Warehouse and suggested him for a part in Ordinary Decent Criminals.

Next up was Tigerland, which introduced him to American audiences, and he went onto to appear in the underwhelming American Outlaws and Hart's War.

His big breakthrough came with opposite Tom Cruise in the Steven Spielberg-directed sci-fi thriller Minority Report.

His first major starring role - the Joel Schumacher-directed Phone Booth - was delayed because of a series of shootings in the USA.

Meanwhile, he impressed in the lacklustre thriller The Recruit and played comic book villain Bullseye in Marvel Comics' Daredevil.

He can also be seen in the biopic of murdered Irish journalist Veronica Guerin as well as in S.W.A.T. with Samuel L Jackson.

In 2004, he starred in the Irish drama Intermission with Shirley Henderson and Cillian Murphy and also switched styles to play a sexually confused baker in the drama A Home At The End of the World.

Oscar-winnng director Oliver Stone cast him in the titular role of Alexander in his critically slated account of the Macedonian king that conquered half the world.

In 2006, he starred in Terrence Malick's New World and opposite Salma Hayek in the romantic drama Ask The Dust.

He was cast by director Michael Mann as Sonny Crocket opposite Jamie Foxx in the 2006 remake of Miami Vice.

Recent work includes the critically-acclaimed hitman drama In Bruges opposite Brandan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes.