Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol. He has gained critical praise for his portrayals of inept screenwriter-director Ed Wood in the film of the same name, undercover FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone in Donnie Brasco, author J. M. Barrie in Finding Neverland, and Boston gangster Whitey Bulger in Black Mass. Depp is the third highest-grossing actor worldwide, as films featuring Depp have grossed over US$3.7 billion at the United States box office and over US$10 billion worldwide.^[3] He has been listed in the 2012 Guinness World Records as the world’s highest-paid actor, with earnings of US$75 million.^[4] His most commercially successful films are the Pirates of the Caribbean series, which grossed US$4.5 billion, the Fantastic Beasts film series, which grossed US$1.3 billion, Alice in Wonderland, which grossed US$1 billion, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which grossed US$474 million, and The Tourist, which grossed US$278 million.^[5][6][7]

Freeman has appeared in many other box office hits, including Glory (1989), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Seven (1995), Deep Impact (1998), The Sum of All Fears (2002), Bruce Almighty (2003), The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005–2012), Wanted (2008), Red (2010), Now You See Me (2013), The Lego Movie (2014) and Lucy (2014). He rose to fame as part of the cast of the 1970s children’s program The Electric Company. Noted for his deep voice,^[4] Freeman has served as a narrator, commentator, and voice actor for numerous programs, series and television shows.^[5] He is ranked as the seventh-highest box office star since July 2019. He has a combined total box office gross of $4.57 billion, with an average of $71.5 million per film.^[6]

Knightley began acting as a child on television and made her feature film debut in 1995, before making her breakthrough with the 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham. She then starred in the 2003 fantasy swashbuckler film Pirates of the Caribbean, playing Elizabeth Swann, a role that she would reprise in the subsequent films of the franchise. A significant turning point came in her career when Knightley received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for starring as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice (2005). She became known for starring in several other period dramas, including Atonement (2007), The Duchess (2008), A Dangerous Method (2011), Anna Karenina (2012), and Colette (2018). Knightley received her second nomination for the Academy Award for portraying Joan Clarke in the historical drama The Imitation Game (2014). Her contemporary film roles were in the romantic comedy Begin Again (2013), the action thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014), and the adventure film Everest (2015).

On stage, Knightley has appeared on the West End in Martin Crimp’s 2009 production of The Misanthrope, which earned her a nomination for a Laurence Olivier Award. She also starred as the eponymous heroine in the 2015 Broadway production of Thérèse Raquin. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2018 Birthday Honours^[1] for services to drama and charity.

Lopez ventured into the music industry with her debut studio album On the 6 (1999), which helped propel the Latin pop movement in American music. With the simultaneous release of her second studio album J.Lo and her romantic comedy The Wedding Planner in 2001, Lopez became the first woman to have a number one album and film in the same week. Her 2002 remix album, J to tha L–O! The Remixes, became the first in history to debut at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200. Later that year, she released her third studio album This Is Me… Then, and starred in the US box office number-one Maid in Manhattan.

Aniston rose to international fame portraying Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends (1994–2004), for which she earned Primetime Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild awards. The character became widely popular and was described as one of the greatest female characters in American television history. Aniston has since played starring roles in numerous dramas, comedies and romantic comedies. Her biggest box office successes include the films Bruce Almighty (2003), The Break-Up (2006), Marley & Me (2008), Just Go with It (2011), Horrible Bosses (2011), and We’re the Millers (2013), each of which grossed over $200 million in worldwide box office receipts. Some of her most critically acclaimed film roles include Office Space (1999), The Good Girl (2002), Friends with Money (2006), Cake (2014), and Dumplin’ (2018). She returned to television in 2019, producing and starring in the Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show, for which she won another Screen Actors Guild Award.

His credits also include Death Becomes Her (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), 12 Monkeys (1995), The Fifth Element and The Jackal (both 1997), Armageddon and Mercury Rising (both 1998), The Sixth Sense (1999), Sin City (2005), Red (2010), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Expendables 2 (2012), Looper (2012), and as David Dunn in the Unbreakable film series: Unbreakable (2000), Split (2016) and Glass (2019). He made his Broadway debut in the stage adaptation of Misery in 2015. As a musician, Willis released his debut album, The Return of Bruno, in 1987. He has released two more solo albums since then, in 1989 and 2001.

Walter Bruce Willis was born on March 19, 1955, in the town of Idar-Oberstein, West Germany. His father, David Willis, was an American soldier. His mother, Marlene, was German, born in Kassel. Willis is the oldest of four children with a sister named Florence and two brothers, Robert (deceased) and David.

After being discharged from the military in 1957, Willis’s father took his family back to Carneys Point Township, New Jersey.^[10] Willis has described himself as having come from a «long line of blue collar people».^[10] His mother worked in a bank and his father was a welder, master mechanic, and factory worker.^[5] Willis attended Penns Grove High School in his hometown, where he encountered issues with a stutter.^[10] He was nicknamed «Buck-Buck» by his schoolmates.^[5][11][12] Willis joined the drama club in high school, and acting on stage reduced his stutter. He was eventually appointed student council president.^[5] He attended college at Montclair State University.^[13]

After he graduated from high school in 1973, Willis took a job as a security guard at the Salem Nuclear Power Plant^[14][15] and transported work crews at the DuPont Chambers Works factory in Deepwater, New Jersey.^[15] After working as a private investigator (a role he would play in the television series Moonlighting and the 1991 film The Last Boy Scout), Willis turned to acting. He enrolled in the Drama Program at Montclair State University, where he was cast in the class production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Willis left school in his junior year in 1977 and moved to New York City, where in the early 1980s he supported himself as a bartender at the West 19th Street art bar Kamikaze.^[16] At the time, he lived in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan.^[17] He performed as an extra in Paul Newman’s closing summation scene in The Verdict in 1982.

Willis is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two People’s Choice Awards. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006.

Pitt first gained recognition as a cowboy hitchhiker in the road movie Thelma & Louise (1991). His first leading roles in big-budget productions came with the drama films A River Runs Through It (1992) and Legends of the Fall (1994), and the horror film Interview with the Vampire (1994). He gave critically acclaimed performances in the crime thriller Seven (1995) and the science fiction film 12 Monkeys (1995), the latter earning him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination.

Pitt starred in Fight Club (1999) and the heist film Ocean’s Eleven (2001), as well as its sequels, Ocean’s Twelve (2004) and Ocean’s Thirteen (2007). His greatest commercial successes have been Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Troy (2004), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), World War Z (2013), and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). The last of these won him another Golden Globe Award and his first Academy Award for acting. Pitt’s other Academy Award nominated performances were in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Moneyball (2011). He produced The Departed (2006) and 12 Years a Slave (2013), both of which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and also The Tree of Life (2011), Moneyball (2011) and The Big Short (2015), all of which were nominated for Best Picture.

In the late 1980s, Smith achieved modest fame as a rapper under the name The Fresh Prince. In 1990, his popularity increased dramatically when he starred in the NBC television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which ran for six seasons from 1990 to 1996. After the series ended, Smith transitioned from television to film and went on to star in numerous blockbuster films. He is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office, eleven consecutive films gross over $150 million internationally, and eight consecutive films in which he starred open at the number one spot in the domestic box office tally.