Michael Caine

Born: 14th March 1933
Where: Rotherhithe, London

One of cinema's mysteries is why the screen legend whose movies include Get Carter, Alfie, The Man Who Would Be King and The Quiet American has never won a best actor Oscar.

He's landed the statuette for best supporting role in The Cider House Rules and Hannah and her Sisters.

But the ultimate accolade has always eluded him - despite being nominated for Alfie, Sleuth, Educating Rita and The Quiet American.

Born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, the son of a fish-market porter and a tea-lady left school at 15 and took low-paid jobs before serving with the British Army in Korea.

Back in England, he joined the Horsham Repertory Company in Sussex as assistant stage manager and later moved to the Lowestoft Repertory Theatre in Suffolk.

He adopted the name of Caine on the advice of his agent, taking it from the movie a Caine Mutiny.

In the years that followed, he worked in more than 100 television dramas.

The 1964 African adventure film Zulu brought Michael to international attention but it was his title role as Alfie that made him an international star.

Next he made his US film debut opposite Shirley MacLaine (at her request after admiring him in The Ipcress File), in the comic caper Gambit.

1972 just after his stint as hitman Jack Carter in 1971's Get Carter, Caine earn his second Best Actor Oscar nomination for his work in Joseph L Mankiewicz's acclaimed suspense drama Sleuth.

1983's Educating Rita earned the actor his third Best Actor Oscar nomination, and Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters won him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar three years later.

He debuted as executive producer in the late 80s, with The Fourth Protocol, in which he also acted.

In 1993, Caine was awarded a CBE, and proved himself yet again, reaching new heights in an already remarkable career, when he appeared five years later in Mark Herman's Little Voice.

A year later, he won his second Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Cider House Rules.

In June 2000, Caine was awarded a knighthood and he followed this honour in 2002 when he was awarded his sixth career Oscar nomination for The Quiet American.

In 2003, he appeared in the Irish comedy The Actors with Dylan Moran and the drama Secondhand Lions opposite Robert Duvall.

Recent work includes the low-budget drama Around The Bend with Josh Lucas and the role of Alfred the butler in Batman Begins.