Don Cheadle

Born: November 29 1964
Where: Kansas City, Missouri, USA

The actor first attracted attention as the volatile gang leader Rocket in Dennis Hopper's Colors in 1988.

Subsequent high profile supporting roles include playing hitmen, pimps, porn stars, angels and even Sammy Davis Jr.

However, it was his towering Oscar-nominated role as the hotel manager saviour of thousands in the drama Hotel Rwanda which he placed him on the Hollywood A-list.

A veteran of the New York theatre scene, he spent several years making guest appearances in TV dramas including Fame, Hill Street Blues and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

In 1987, he was cast in the Vietnam war drama Hamburger Hill and followed that with Colors, Things To Do in Denver When Your Dead, and Devil In A Blue Dress.

Controversially, the movie was ignored at the Academy Awards despite Cheadle being awarded Best Supporting Actor by the Los Angeles Film Critics.

Subsequent roles ranged from disaster movie Volcano to Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights and the Warren Beatty romantic drama Bulworth.

A role in the acclaimed Traffic followed, Cheadle starred alongside John Travolta in the heist caper Swordfish. He also made an uncredited appearance in Rush Hour 2.

Roles followed in Ocean's Eleven as cockney geezer Basher Tarr and alongside Sandra Bullock in Crash.

In 2005, he played a Caribbean gangster in After The Sunset with Pierce Brosnan and reprised Basher Tarr in Ocean's 12.