Jude Law
Born: 29th December 1972
Where: Lewisham, London
The one-time college dropout is one of the few British actors to make waves on both sides of the Atlantic.
A Best Actor Oscar nod for his portrayal of a wounded Civil War soldier in Cold Mountain and acclaimed appearances in I Heart Huckabees and Alfie have cemented his Hollywood reputation.
Only Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell offer any serious challenge to the actor who walked out on school as a 17-year-old.
Raised in South London the son of a teacher, Law attended school in Eltham and dropped out to pursue a career in acting.
By this point he had already joined the National Youth Music Theatre and had played the lead in Andrew Lloyd-Weber and Tim Rice's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
The feature film Shopping in 1994 led to an invitation to reprise a British role on Broadway the following year in Les Parents Terribles and he was nominated for a Tony Award.
Law went on to form a late lamented production company Natural Nylon with fellow actors Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller and ex-wife Sadie Frost.
His break into the US movie scene came in 1996 opposite Claire Danes in I Love You, I Love You Not and he went on to major supporting roles in Gattaca, Wilde and Music from Another Room.
Law' directorial debut came with a segment of Tube Tales in 1999, which screened at the London Film Festival before its debut on BSkyB.
In the same year, his role as Dickie Greenleaf in Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr Ripley earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.
Subsequent roles included the role of Soviet sniper Vassili Zeitsev in Enemy At The Gates and Gigolo Joe in Spielberg's AI: Artificial Intelligence.
He played the slimy assassin Maguire in Sam Mende's Road to Perdition opposite Tom Hanks and Inman in Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain with Nicole Kidman.
After meeting Sadie Frost on the set of Shopping, the couple got married in 1997.
They have three children together but got a 'quickie' divorce in October 2003.
On the big screen, he next starred alongside Gwyneth Paltrow as a pilot in the retro drama Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
In 2004, he reprised Michael Caine's role in the lacklustre remake of the 1960s classic Alfie as well as the comedy role of the charming Brad Stand in I Heart Huckabees.
In a busy year, he also starred as Errol Flynn in Martin Scorcese's The Aviator and cameoed the fictitious writer Lemony Snicket in A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Law kicked 2005 off with the glacial relationship movie Closer with Clive Owen and Julia Roberts.
