Robbie Williams

Born: February 13 1974
Where: Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, UK

The ex-boy band member and millionaire singer has made tentative forays into film with cameo performances in the likes of De-Lovely.

However, he cemented his bid by providing the voice of slothful Dougal in The Magic Roundabout: The Movie.

Having played in school productions of Oliver and showing a flair for entertaining, Williams' mother saw an advert for auditions to be in a new boy band.

He applied and - aged just 16 - found himself a member of teen singing sensation Take That alongside Gary Barlow, who was being hailed the new Elton John.

However, after the band's split in 1995 it was Williams who hit the big time with modest sales for the album Life Thu a Lens erupting on the back of Angels.

Subsequent hits have included Millennium (sampling the John Barry song You Only Live Twice) She's The One and duets with Kylie Minogue and Nicole Kidman.

The live album What We Did Last Summer was recorded in front of 375,000 people at Knebworth and he also released an extremely successful cover album of classic swing songs - Swing When Your Winning.

In 2002 Williams signed a new contract with EMI worth £80m but split up with his original writing partner Guy Chambers.