Tobey Maguire

Born: 27th June 1975
Where: Santa Monica, California

Maguire - who took up acting after a $100 wager with his mother - made his big break with Ang Lee's Ice Storm ...and then landed the part of Spider-Man.

A product of a turbulent background, he moved house frequently as a child, living with various familial permutations of his parents, grandparents and aunts.

After his mother offered him $100 to take drama instead of home economics as a classroom option, Maguire studied acting and soon landed TV commercial work.

After numerous American TV appearances, he took on a guest role on the series Parenthood with his fellow acting pal Leonardo DiCaprio.

In 1992, Maguire landed the starring role in Great Scott! But the show failed to win big audiences despite critical accolades.

He made his film debut in This Boy's Life, the 1993 adaptation of Tobias Wolff's seminal coming-of-age memoir, in the supporting role of Chuck Bolger.

His next feature outing was in the forgettable killer toy horror vehicle The Adventures of the Red Baron, co-starring Mickey Rooney.

Neither his small role in S.F.W. nor his cameo as a drunken teenager in Healer offered much to make audiences take particular notice.

More impressive was Maguire's turn in Griffin Dunne's 1995 Oscar-nominated short The Duke of Groove.

However, he hit a rough patch in 1995, which culminated in the loss of a lead role in the cult hit Empire Records after a botched audition dissuaded director Allan Moyle, one of his greatest supporters.

After a soul-searching break, he returned triumphantly with the independent feature Joyride.

Director Ang Lee called on him to play the conflicted but comparably clear-headed narrator of the unsettling 1970s affluent suburb-set drama The Ice Storm.

After a small part as a fictional alter ego of Woody Allen's Harry Block in Deconstructing Harry, he landed a starring role in Pleasantville as a modern-day teen obsessed with a 50s sitcom world.

In 1999, the actor reteamed with Lee for the director's epic Civil War drama Ride With the Devil alongside Skeet Ulrich and Jeffrey Wright.

He also starred opposite Michael Caine in Cider House Rules, Lasse Hallstrom's film of John Irving's adaptation of his novel about a young orphan raised by an idealistic abortionist.

He next played a college student to Michael Douglas' blocked writer who joins the older man on journey to self-awareness in Wonder Boys.

Maguire then consolidated his stardom by landing the lead role in the Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man, based on the popular Marvel comic created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko.

He next re-teamed with his Pleasantville writer-director Gary Ross for the adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling non-fiction saga Seabiscuit as a jockey-come-folk-hero.

Maguire's return in Spider-Man 2 has been hailed as one of the best comic book hero stories rendered on celluloid.