Recently breaking into the top ranks of British superstars who are making it huge in Hollywood, the smoothly virile actor Clive Owen was born on October 3, 1964, in Coventry. His father was a country/western singer who deserted his family when Clive was only 3. He attended Binley Park Comprehensive School and joined the youth theater at 13 after playing the scene-stealing role of the Artful Dodger in a production of "Oliver!" In 1984, following graduation, Clive applied and was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for three years. While there, he built up a classical resume including roles in "Henry IV, Part I" and "The Lady from the Sea." He subsequently joined the Young Vic Theatre Company and in 1988, the handsome actor, while playing Romeo, fell in love with his Juliet, Sarah-Jane Fenton. The couple eventually married in 1995 and have two daughters.Clive has focused primarily on film, including the offbeat Brit romantic comedy Greenfingers (2000), the classy and popular Robert Altman film Gosford Park (2001), the Matt Damon star-vehicle The Bourne Identity (2002), and the title role in King Arthur (2004). He has since reached the top rungs of the Hollywood ladder with the film version of his stage smash Closer (2004/I) co-starring Julia Roberts, in which he received an Academy Award nomination and won the BAFTA award for "Supporting Actor"; opposite Denzel Washington in Inside Man (2006); and alongside Julianne Moore and Michael Caine in Children of Men (2006). Upcoming is his portrayal of Sir Walter Raleigh opposite Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth I in the film The Golden Age (2007). There seems to be only bigger and better things awaiting this versatile talent. Ever since playing the ultra-cool driver in BMW's "The Hire" series, there has been constant pressure for Clive to don a tux and become filmdom's next "James Bond". It has yet to happen, but it seems like it would be a perfect fit.

came the critically acclaimed Fight Club (1999) and in 2000 came his directorial debut in Keeping the Faith (2000).

    Edward Norton was born on August 18, 1969 to parents Edward, an attorney who works for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Robin Norton, a former foundation executive and teacher who passed away of brain cancer on March 6, 1997. Edward also has two younger siblings named James and Molly. From the age of 5 onward, the Yale graduate (majoring in history) has always been interested in acting. At the age of 8, he would ask his drama teacher what his motivation in a scene was. He attended theater schools throughout his life, and eventually managed to find work on stage in New York as a member of the Signature players, who produced the works of playwright and director Edward Albee. Around the time when he was appearing in Albee's Fragments, in Hollywood, they were looking for a young actor to star opposite Richard Gere in a new courtroom thriller, Primal Fear (1996). The role was offered to Leonardo DiCaprio but he turned it down. Gere was on the verge of walking away from the project, fed up with the wait for a young star to be found, when Edward auditioned and won the role over 2000 other hopefuls. Before the film was even released, his test screenings for the part were causing a Hollywood sensation, and he was soon offered roles in Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You (1996) and The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996). Edward won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Primal Fear (1996). In 1998, Norton gained 30 pounds of muscle and transformed his look into that of a monstrous skinhead for his role as a violent white supremacist in American History X (1998). This performance would earn him his second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actor. In 1999 came the critically acclaimed Fight Club (1999) and in 2000 came his directorial debut in Keeping the Faith (2000).