5. Peter Mullan
To say Mullan's characters have a bit of a temper on them would be an understatement. Often portrayed as a working-class warrior, his ragged underdog roles invariably saw him railing against the system- and, indeed, as a force to be reckoned with. A brief part in
Braveheart aside, it was playing
Trainspotting drug dealer Swanney that first hinted at his phlegmatic potential. And as refugee camp guard Syd in 2006 dystopia
Children of Men, he made the prospect of a police state (and the small matter of the collapse of civilisation) all the more frightening. Just you dare call him a fascist pig... After a subtle but shady performance as Reverend Laws in the three-part TV series 'Red Riding', Mullan's name soon became synonymous with 'menace'. And sure enough, when he took the lead role in Paddy Considine's Tyrannosaur, his volcanic Joseph was a man who really had to work hard to win us over. But by pitting him against an abusive husband (an unbelievably unnerving Eddie Marsan) he suddenly became the lesser of two evils. In a career charged by anger, aggression and an almighty capacity to keep an audience guessing, it's clear that no one does frothing, fuming fury quite like Mr Mullan. And for that, we're strangely grateful.