Diane Lane

Born: 22 January 1965
Where: New York, USA

The actress is probably best known for her Oscar-nominated portrayal of a straying wife in the thriller Unfaithful with Richard Gere.

Other career highlights include being pitted against nature with George Clooney in The Perfect Storm and landing an Independent Spirit Award nomination for A Walk on the Moon.

The daughter of drama coach Burt Lane and singer Colleen Farrington, Lane became a professional actress aged six.

After auditioning a call for child actors she won a role in Andrei Serbian's Medea and subsequently appeared in his productions of Elektra and As You Like It.

Her starring role in A Little Romance opposite Sir Laurence Olivier led to a cover shot in Time magazine.

She also attemted to pursue a career as a model but was told by Eileen Ford of the Ford Model Organisation that her neck was "too short".

Roles followed in the forgettable National Lampoon Goes to the Movies and the comedy Six Pack before Francis Ford Coppola cast her in two youth-oriented films - The Outsiders and Rumble Fish.

She also starred opposite Gere as Vera Cicero in Coppola's The Cotton Club.

However, she turned down the lead role in Splash - which turned out to be a huge hit for Daryl Hannah.

It was years before Lane became re-established in Hollywood, and started to appear in co-starring roles in some big budget movies.

These included Judge Dredd with Sly Stallone, the Robin Williams comedy Jack And Murder At 1600. co-starring Wesley Snipes.

She also attracted attention after starring in the romantic drama A Walk on the Moon with Viggo Mortensen.

It was the £330m grossing blockbuster, The Perfect Storm, which landed her regular high-profile offers.

Next up was Unfaithful, re-uniting her with Cotton Club co-star Gere, and the lame chick-flick Under The Tuscan Sun (for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe).

Recent work includes the romantic comedy Must Love Dogs opposite John Cusack.