Why Britannia still rules the stage - part 2
Up and coming
First bow
1 Mariah Gale
Age: 27
Training: Guildhall
Coming up: Just finished Vernon God Little at the Young Vic. 'Now I'm auditioning, which is fun and terrifying in equal measure.'
Big break: 'My first big job was at the Globe, which I couldn't quite believe. When I found out, I was alone in the house so I just ran up and down the stairs on my own.'
Career high: "Tis Pity She's a Whore at the Southwark Playhouse. We had no money and it was a small venue. We did it because we loved the play. Then it took off and the reviews exploded and it sold out. And I got three awards for it.'
Are you proud of being British? 'I am half Australian and I like the mix. I think to be proud of being British is quite unfashionable but maybe we should be. I am proud when British films and actors do well because it's harder for us to achieve than for the Americans.'
2 Dominic Cooper
Age: 28
Training: Lamda
Coming up: The film version of Mamma Mia! as Sky, Willoughby in Andrew Davies's adaptation of Sense and Sensibility for BBC1 and the film Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, directed by John Krasinski.
Big break: Dakin in The History Boys.
Career high: 'The History Boys. It was so unexpected. We were going to do it for a few months and then we had a world tour and eventually a film was made.'
Career low: 'Dressing up as a sperm and running down the street for a Durex advert.'
Hero: 'Ferris Bueller. He was damn cool.'
Favourite theatre: 'I did A Midsummer's Night's Dream with the RSC at the Barbican, and loved performing there.'
3 Stephen Campbell Moore
Age: 29
Training: Guildhall
Coming up: The Blackening, a prodigal-son movie set in the Shetlands and directed by James Erskine.
Career high: 'Finding out I'd got my first film role [Adam Fenwick-Symes in Stephen Fry's Bright Young Things].'
Career low: 'It was many years ago, and involved not being in a fit state to perform in a play. I got a big round of applause when I took my bow because the audience were so relieved I could still stand up.'
Why is British acting so good? 'I don't think it is, especially. The reason there are so many Brits working in America is that they're cheap, and there is that Anglophile thing where they think if you have a British accent you must be very clever.'
4 James Corden
Age: 26
Training: Jackie Palmer Stage School, High Wycombe
Coming up: Lesbian Vampire Killers, a feature film set in Wales, and a new series of BBC3's Gavin and Stacey, which he also co-writes. Just finished in A Respectable Wedding at the Young Vic after touring the world as Timms in The History Boys
Heroes: 'Shane Meadows. I love the guy, he's incredible. It was great to be there in Twentyfourseven at the start of his career. Also Mike Leigh: working with him as Rory in All or Nothing changed everything for me.'
Favourite play: 'True West by Sam Shepard. Dominic Cooper and I have dreams of doing it at the National Theatre.'
Why is British acting so good? 'We've got good directors and the subsidised sources of work, like the BBC and the National Theatre help. '
5 Amanda Hale
Age: 24
Training: Rada
Coming up: Richard is My Boyfriend, a Channel 4 film with Lesley Manville. Just finished in The Glass Menagerie at the Apollo with Jessica Lange.
Dream job: 'I would love to do the voice of a character in Family Guy, the cartoon series.'
Heroes: 'My mentor is Janet McTeer. She's come to see everything I've done and been really supportive all the way through Rada.'
Favourite play: 'I love Chekhov. There's been a brace of Seagulls lately so I think my chances of ever playing Nina might be passing by. The Skriker by Caryl Churchill was only done once at the National. But it's absolutely incredible and I can't believe it hasn't been revived a million times.'
Why is British acting so good? 'America is great for film, but British actors can switch back and forth between film and theatre and then do radio and everything else. We're trained to be more multiskilled.'
6 Chike Okonkwo
Age: 25
Training: National Youth Theatre; National Youth Music Theatre
First job: New Tricks for the BBC
Coming up: Treasure Island, a French film, and Roman Mysteries, due soon from the BBC.
Hero: 'Gene Kelly was inspirational to me. I loved Singin' in the Rain.'
Would love to work at: 'I'd love to do more work at the National, to do some Shakespeare there.'
Favourite play: 'The best play I think I've seen in London was Festen at the Almeida.'
Do you feel strongly about being British? 'Absolutely, yes. I admire British actors who have gone on and shown their work on a grander scale.'
Why is British acting so good? 'The training's great and the theatres are brilliant. A lot of good British acting talent starts off in drama schools or in places like the National or RSC. Theatre has a massive part to play in learning the basics, and that stands us apart from all the other acting talent around the world. Most good actors have done some good theatre at some point in their lives.'
7 Andrea Riseborough
Age: 25
Training: Rada
Coming up: Bruce Norris's The Pain and the Itch at the Royal Court and Mike Leigh's next film project. Recently won the Ian Charleson Award for her performances as Strindberg's Miss Julie and Isabella in Measure For Measure with the Peter Hall Company in Bath and Stratford. Was Kirsty in BBC2's Party Animals
Big break: 'I've only been out of drama school for 18 months. I just did everything at once in 2006. I had about six days off - Sundays. I was doing five plays and a film at one point.'
Heroes: 'My all-time biggie is Peter Sellers. Cate Blanchett is fantastic.'
Are you proud to be British? 'Britain has such a huge amount to offer, especially in terms of theatre and film, and such a brilliant wealth of actors at the minute.'
8 Tom Brooke
Age: 28
Training: University of Hull; Lamda
Big break: Joe Penhall's Some Voices at the Young Vic.
Career high: 'I had an amazing experience doing Dennis Kelly's After the End at the Maly Theatre in St Petersburg last year.'
Favourite theatre: The Royal Court. 'The closeness of the audience, the layout of the theatre, the people... and the bar helps, too. It's got a history that place, it's steeped in it.'
Is it a good time for British theatre? 'There are lots of new people being brilliant, which is always a sign of good health.'
9 Rory Kinnear
Age: 29
Training: Oxford University; Lamda
Currently in: Philistines at the National
Would like to play: 'Cyrano de Bergerac. That role has everything.'
Favourite theatre: 'I like the immediacy you get from audiences at the Olivier.'
Is it a good time for British theatre? 'There's certainly a buzz about it. In the last few years, I have discovered friends who had never previously shown an interest in the theatre sneakily going along and admitting to quite enjoying it. That has a lot to do with the National's programme of taking in every strand of theatrical practice.'
How do British actors compare on a world stage? 'The more films I watch from other countries, the more I'm blown away by the quality of the acting in them, particularly foreign-language films.'
10 Rafe Spall
Age: 24
Training: National Youth Theatre
Coming up: Andrew Davies's adaptation of A Room With a View for ITV, alongside his father, Timothy Spall.
Hero: Ed Wilson, the director of the National Youth Theatre. 'He accepted me and gave me the belief that I could make a living out of what I do now. I owe so much to the National Youth Theatre.'
Why is British acting so good? 'We've got the best theatre scene in the world - so vast and diverse. And there are more people who purely want to be theatre actors, rather than seeing theatre as a means to going into film. I'd be happy doing theatre for ever.'
11 Amit Shah
Age: 26
Training: Lamda
Coming up: 'I'm filming Honest, a new series for ITV1 with Amanda Redman.'
Big break: 'Going straight from Lamda to Bombay Dreams in the West End. Working with Meera Syal was brilliant. She made a lot of things seem possible for me as a young British Asian actor.'
Career high: 'Working at the National for 15 months doing four different plays.'
Are you proud to be British? 'I am proud to be a young British Asian. I feel British theatre has given me so many opportunities.'
12 Andrew Garfield
Age: 23
Training: Central School of Speech and Drama
Coming up: Boy A, the film of Jonathan Trigell's novel. Robert Redford's Lions for Lambs
Heroes: 'Daniel Day-Lewis is very exciting. Peter Mullan, who I've just worked with on Boy A, is amazing.'
Big break: 'Directors such as Anna Mackmin, Sarah Frankcom, Max Stafford-Clark and John Crowley have been important to me.'
Career high: 'There's a certain awe in working at the National.'
Why is British acting so good? 'Shakespeare's ours, so we feel a pride and pressure to keep the standard up.'
13 Anna Maxwell Martin
Age: 29
Training: Liverpool University; Lamda
First job: The Hours with Stephen Daldry, then Little Foxes at the Donmar.
Coming up: 'An Abi Morgan project for BBC2, where I play a mother who has to move with her three children to an all-Muslim council estate.'
Career high: 'I dreamed of working at the Donmar, the National, the Royal Court and the Almeida, and I've done the first three. I've just finished doing Cabaret and I'm not a singer, but there's a real buzz in singing on stage.'
Career low: 'The five months I spent unemployed after the Donmar play. I really don't ever want to serve burgers again.'
Is British theatre the best in the world? 'I would disagree, because we no longer have the rep system, and I mourn that. It means I will never be the kind of actor Judi Dench or Helen Mirren are. They came up through the rep system where they had to play thousands of parts, and it's just not possible to do that now as a young actor. You do the same thing at the National for six months. TV and film - and the West End - are very star-based now; it's all about having a name to get backing and to get bums on seats.'