David Thewlis

Born: March 20 1963
Where: Blackpool, England, UK

The actor is as comfortable in difficult roles such as Johnny in Naked as he is as Professor Lupin in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkhaban.

He spent a happy childhood filling diaries with "words and sentences and poems" - his first foray into an artistic life.

He then explored music by playing in a punk band called Door 66 before attending the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Thewlis performed Simon & Garfunkel songs in clubs in order to earn his equity card and began appearing in commercials and small TV roles.

These included Dennis Potter's original The Singing Detective, Skulduggery and Life is Sweet, directed by Mike Leigh.

Though his role Life is Sweet was small, Thewlis impressed Leigh enough to be cast for the lead role in Naked in 1993.

His performance as Johnny, a down-and-out, yet intelligent drifter in Manchester whose brutal treatment of women defies convention, earned Thewlis several awards for best actor.

Thewlis went on to amass a resume of divergent roles, ranging from kid's movies to dark independents to big budget Hollywood productions.

His next role after Naked was opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Total Eclipse, an indie drama about the turbulent relationship between French poets Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud.

Next was the voice of Earthworm in James and the Giant Peach (Thewlis was subsequently asked on birthdays and other occasions to reprise his role for the children of friends and relatives).

Next for Thewlis came a forgettable performance in an equally forgettable movie The Island of Dr Moreau, John Frankenheimer's weak attempt to put H.G. Wells' novel on screen.

Thewlis next starred in Dragonheart playing a medieval king whose despotic reign belies the near-death promise he made when he was a boy.

In April 1996, Thewlis directed a short film he wrote called Hello Hello Hello?" (1998) and later received an honorable BAFTA Award nomination for his effort.

Thewlis meanwhile continued acting, starting opposite Brad Pitt in Seven Years in Tibet, and earned a ban from travelling to China for his pains.

After a small role in the Coen Brother's The Big Lebowski, Thewlis starred opposite Thandie Newton in Beseiged, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

In Gangster No. 1, Thewlis plays an old associate of Gangster 55 (Malcolm McDowell) who gets released from prison after a 30-year stint.

And in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Thewlis played Professor Remis Lupin in the third adaptation of the popular novels.

Partnered with actress Anna Friel, the pair became the face of Burberry in 2002.