10 British actors and actresses you may not know

By Taiwo Okanlawon

Beyond the stereotype, Britain’s entertainment industry has legitimately produced some of the greatest actors the world has ever seen. The industry has grown tremendously over the years, with numerous talented actors making a name not just in the UK but in Hollywood as well.

Here are our 10 picks for the British acting talent you should know, from Christian Bale to Jason Statham, with everyone from Charles Dance to Olivia Colman in between.

Explore our list of 10 Great British actors, from screen villains to action heroes and leading ladies

Christian Bale

Christian Charles Philip Bale is known for his versatility and physical transformations for his roles, he has been a leading man in films of several genres. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards.

He started as a child star at 13 in Steven Spielberg’s soaring war story ‘Empire of the Sun’, and his career seemed to be petering out before he was perfectly cast as the preening, murderous anti-hero of ‘American Psycho’. The lead role in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy has made him a huge international star.

Years active: 1980s to now

Sean Bean

Sean Bean is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bean made his professional debut in a production of Romeo and Juliet in 1983 at The Watermill Theatre. Whether it’s dying in a hail of arrows in ‘The Lord of the Rings’, by an executioner’s blade in ‘Game of Thrones’ or clinging to life as a half-man, half-honeybee mutant in ‘Jupiter Ascending’, Sheffield’s finest actor never disappoints.

Years active: 1980s to now

Daniel Kaluuya

Daniel Kaluuya is prominent both on screen and stage, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. In 2021, he was named among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

He is best known for Get Out (2017), Black Panther (2018), and for portraying Fred Hampton in Judas & The Black Messiah (2021). He had a supporting role in Sicario (2015).

Years active: 2006 to now

Kate Beckinsale

Kathrin Romany Beckinsale is known for her roles in period, romance, and action films. The only child of actors Richard Beckinsale and Judy Loe, Kate Beckinsale made her acting debut when she was only a year old, as an extra on the British daytime drama Couples, on which her parents also appeared.

Already a veteran of several period dramas, Kate Beckinsale was the beneficiary of a post-Titanic’ Winslet effect when director Michael Bay chose her as the female lead in his sprawling action epic ‘Pearl Harbor’. She’s since confirmed her kick-ass credentials in the hugely popular ‘Underworld’ series.

Years active: 1990s to now

Olivia Colman

It’s depressingly rare for an actress to find a bounty of great roles in their forties. Happily, Sarah Caroline Sinclair CBE, known professionally as Olivia Colman has had just that. From her fabulously capricious, gouty queen in ‘The Favourite’, to an altogether more reserved monarch in ‘The Crown’, to her gut-punch dementia drama ‘The Father’ and motherhood memoir ‘The Lost Daughter’, the roles keep getting better – and so does she.

She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, two Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globe

Years active: 2000 to now

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor CBE is an award-winning British actor, writer, and director known for bringing a quiet gravitas and multidimensionality to a wide variety of roles. He became a familiar screen presence in the 2000s with parts in Dirty Pretty Things (2002), Love Actually (2003), and Kinky Boots (2005) and went on to receive high praise for his role in 12 Years a Slave (2013), direct his feature film, and appear in big-budget Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.

Ejiofor is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award, with nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five Golden Globe Awards.

Years active: 2000 to now

Charles Dance

Walter Charles Dance OBE is known for playing strict, authoritarian characters and villains. Dance started his career on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company before appearing in film and television.

Too often typecast as the frosty, austere villain in the likes of ‘Last Action Hero’, ‘The Imitation Game’ and TV’s ‘Game of Thrones’, former RSC star Charles Dance proved he could also play the wounded nice-guy in the underrated ‘Alien 3’.

Years active: 1970s to now

Idris Elba

The London-born thesp (and sometime DJ) made his international breakthrough with a decidedly un-British role: as Baltimore drug lord Stringer Bell on HBO’s epochal crime drama ‘The Wire’. Since then, he’s personified calm authority on screen, whether fighting kaiju in ‘Pacific Rim’, portraying Nelson Mandela (and earning a Golden Globe nomination) in ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’ or representing the other side of the law as DCI John Luther in another acclaimed series, ‘Luther’.

He’s also the only person on this list to have their name appear on a Coachella line-up poster. He really can do it all – and he would have made a great James Bond if they’d gotten around to casting him earlier.

In 2016, Elba was named in the Time 100 list of the Most Influential People in the World.

Years active: 1990s to now

Kit Harington

Christopher Catesby Kit Harington, got into acting through theater and West End plays. Then, he appeared in TV shows and movies in smaller roles. But what made him famous was when he played Jon Snow in Game of Thrones.

Harington also had important roles in other things like How To Train Your Dragon, Gunpowder, Testament of Youth, Pompeii, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Eternals.

In his personal life, Kit Harington married Rose Leslie, who he met while working on Game of Thrones. They dated, got married, and recently became parents to their first child.

For his role in the HBO fantasy television series Game of Thrones, he received nominations for a Golden Globe Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards.

Years active: 2008 to now

Jason Statham

Jason Statham is an actor and martial artist. He is known for portraying characters in various action-thriller films who are typically tough, gritty, or violent. Statham has been credited for leading the resurgence of action films during the 2000s and 2010s.

Equally adored and mocked for his one-facial-expression action-man antics in the likes of ‘The Transporter’ and ‘Crank’, the Mockney bruiser has turned it around with memorable roles in ‘Hummingbird’ and ‘Fast & Furious 7’, and he even tries his hand at comedy in 2015’s ‘Spy’.

Years active: 1990s to now

John Boyega

John Boyega, is a famous actor and producer, recognized as one of the top 100 influential black artists by New African magazine. He first became well-known in Britain for his role in the movie Attack the Block, which was a mix of sci-fi, comedy, and horror.

But what really made him a household name was his role as Finn in the Star Wars series. You might remember him from The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and Rise of the Skywalker.

Apart from Star Wars, he’s been in other cool movies like Imperial Dreams, Pacific Rim: Uprising, and Detroit. He’s also been part of TV shows like 24: Live Another Day and Small Axe.

Years active: 2011 to now