Daniel Craig

Born: 1968
Where: Chester, UK

Craig's crowning as the new James Bond comes after a steady climb with lead roles in the gangster thriller Layer Cake and the drama Enduring Love.

In Hollywood, he found success in big name films such as A Road To Perdition, where he played the treacherous son of a gangster boss.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was another big budget film in which he joined Angelina Jolie in the title role.

Craig grew up in Liverpool before moving to London to study at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

After graduating, he made his film debut with a minor part in The Power Of One, the story of a young English boy's fight against oppression in South Africa in the 1930s, starring Stephen Dorff and Morgan Freeman.

Not satisfied with just the silver screen, Craig has also done plenty of work for TV.

He's best known to UK audiences for his parts in the series Our Friends In The North, as well as Moll Flanders - starring Alex Kingston in the title role.

He's also done a fair amount of UK films such as Love & Rage with Greta Scacchi, The Trench and Love Is The Devil, in which he starred alongside Derek Jacobi.

Soon after, Craig starred in Sylvia, in which he played the doomed poet's husband Ted Hughes and The Mother, where he played an oddjob man who embarks on an affair with an older woman.

In 2004, he starred in the comedy thriller Layer Cake with Kenneth Cranham and the film adaptation of Ian McEwan's chilling novel Enduring Love opposite Rhys Ifans.

Next came the call from Steven Spielberg to play an Israeli assassin in Munich and he memorably essayed murderer Perry Smith in the drama Infamous.

In 2005, he was named as the new James Bond for the new version of Casino Royale after Pierce Brosnan stepped down from the role.

After winning rave reviews as the new 007 for his harder approach, he played Lord Asriel in The Golden Compass and also appeared in the Invasion, the disappointing remakie of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.

Craig dons the tuxedo once more for the new Bond movie, Quantum Of Solace, due for release in November 2008.