In the four years since we launched our UK Stars series, our alumni have become major forces in the international industry. Patricia Dobson reports.


FILM-MAKERS

- Andrea Arnold won an Oscar for her short Wasp and the Cannes jury prize for her feature debut Red Road

- Mia Bays produced Oscar-winning best short Six Shooter.

- Producer Rebekah Gilbertson is shepherding her debut feature through post-production. The Edge Of Love stars Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller and is directed by John Maybury.

- Producers Rachel Robey and Al Clark’s first feature, London To Brighton, won the best new director award at Edinburgh and the pair are in post-production with Better Things.

- Producer Adrian Sturges completed The Baker, starring Damian Lewis, and is in post-production with The Escapist.

- Three directors have made the leap from shorts to feature films. Simon Ellis is post-producing Dogging, A Love Story, with producer Jane Hooks; Yousaf Ali Khan made Almost Adult; and Dan Reed shot Straightheads.

- Writer Abi Morgan adapted Brick Lane for director Sarah Gavron, now in post, and is working on Birdsong for Working Title and On Beauty for Film4 and Ruby Films.

- Animator Chris Shepherd’s Silence Is Golden won a slew of awards last year

- Phil Traill is in pre-production on All About Steve, starring Sandra Bullock.


ACTORS

- Since her debut in My Summer Of Love, Emily Blunt has made The Devil Wears Prada, Charlie Wilson’s War, The Great Buck Howard, Sunshine Cleaning and is set to shoot The Young Victoria alongside Rupert Friend as Albert.

- Anna Maxwell Martin won a Bafta for her performance in the BBC series Bleak House and starred in Oliver Parker’s I Really Hate My Job.

- Leo Gregory took the lead role in Stephen Woolley’s Stoned, The Mark Of Cain and is filming Flashbacks Of A Fool.

- Dominic Cooper has filmed Starter For Ten, The History Boys, The Escapist, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, Sense And Sensibility and Mamma Mia.

- Nathalie Press has made Peter Greenaway’s Nightwatching, Tom Roberts’ In Tranzit and Red Road.

- Natalie Dormer won a starring role in the Showtime series The Tudors.

-Benedict Cumberbatch stars in The Other Boleyn Girl and Atonement, which headlines James McAvoy, who has appeared in a slew of major films including The Last King Of Scotland, Becoming Jane, Starter For Ten, the forthcoming Atonement, and Wanted with Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman.

- Kelly Reilly has just finished Mike Leigh’s latest film, and starred in Puffball and Mrs Henderson Presents.

- Jaime Winstone recently wrapped the Warp X thriller Donkey Punch alongside Nichola Burley.

- Eddie Redmayne made Yellow Handkerchief, Savage Grace, The Golden Age and The Good Shepherd.

- Michelle Ryan was cast as the title role in NBC Universal’s remake of Bionic Woman.

- Ashley Walters has filmed Waz and the BBC series Hustle.