Actor: Guy Pearce

Guy Pearce came from the Australian soap Neighbours and broke internationally in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and then L.A. Confidential, where his ambitious young detective is the film’s most morally interesting figure.

Memento is the performance that defined him: a man with no short-term memory, played across a reversed timeline, requiring him to perform scenes without knowing what preceded them.

He has consistently chosen small and difficult films over leading-man work, including The Proposition, Animal Kingdom and The Rover.

He is also a musician and has released several albums, and takes franchise work sparingly.