DAVID THEWLIS
Date of Birth: March 20, 1963
Born in Blackpool, England, Thewlis leapt into the big time with his multi award-winning performance as the vagabond with verbal diarrhea in Naked (1993).
He's also a talented writer, having written plays for the National Theatre and New Vic, a BAFTA-nominated film short for Channel Four in England, and a full length film, Cheeky (2003), which was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival.
As well as all this, Thewlis also has the dubious distinction of being banned from ever setting foot in China after the Chinese authorities took offense at his co-starring role opposite Brad Pitt in Seven Years in Tibet (1997).
More recently, he appeared in Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven (2005) opposite Orlando Bloom and with Colin Farrell in The New World (2006). He also has an ongoing role as Professor Lupin in the Harry Potter films.
Always jumping from one interesting character to another, Thewlis says, "I don't think there's any reason to lose my integrity since I can make a perfectly decent, honorable living by keeping it."