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British actor Jeremy Irons was born in Cowes, Isle of Wight, a small island off the south coast of England. He is the son of Barbara Anne Brereton (Sharpe) and Paul Dugan Irons, an accountant. Young Jeremy didn't prove very fond of figures. He visited mainland England only once a year. He wound up being grounded when his family settled down in Hertfordshire. At the age of 13 he enrolled in Sherborne School, Dorset, where he could practice his favorite sport, horse-riding. Before becoming an actor, he had considered a veterinarian surgeon's career.

He trained at the Bristol Old Vic School for two years, then joined Bristol Old Vic repertory company where he gained experience working in everything from Shakespeare to contemporary dramas. He moved to London in 1971 and had a number of jobs before landing the role of "John the Baptist" in the hit musical "Godspell". He went on to have a successful early career in the West End theatre and on TV, and debuted on-screen in Nijinsky (1980). In the early 80s, he gained international attention with his starring role in the Granada Television serial adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's classic novel Brideshead Revisited (1981), after which he was much in demand as a romantic leading man. He went on to a steady film career. In 1984, he debuted on Broadway opposite: Glenn Close in Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing" and, in the mid-80s, he appeared in three lead roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Once described as 'the thinking woman's pin up', he has made his name in thought provoking films such as David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers (1988), for which he won the New York Critics Best Actor Award. He gained a Golden Globe Award in addition to an Oscar for Best Actor in 1990 for his role as Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune (1990) alongside Glenn Close. Among his many achievements, his role as Professor Higgins in Loewe-Lerner's famous musical "My Fair Lady" mustn't be forgotten. It was in London, back in 1987.

He is married to actress Sinéad Cusack, with whom he appeared in Waterland (1992) and in the Royal Shakespeare Company plays. He appeared with his son Samuel Irons and his father-in-law Cyril Cusack in the film Danny the Champion of the World (1989). His son Max Irons is also an actor.

Angus Imrie was born on 2 August 1994 in Isle of Wight, Hampshire, England, UK. He is an actor and director, known for Mickey 17 (2025), Fleabag (2016) and The Kid Who Would Be King (2019).

Anthony Minghella was the son of immigrants from Italy, who own an ice-cream factory on the Isle of Wight, where Anthony was born on January 6, 1954. He and his two siblings, Edana Minghella and Dominic Minghella, grew up there, a popular British holiday spot. After graduating from the University of Hull, Minghella took a position as a university lecturer, but quit academia to focus on the theater and songwriting. He oversaw the music in many of his movies.

Minghella was employed as a scriptwriter on the British TV series Maybury (1981) and Inspector Morse (1987) and, as a script editor on the British TV series Grange Hill (1978), before succeeding as a dramatist in the West End, London's equivalent of Broadway. In 1984, the London Theatre Critics named him Most Promising Playwright of the Year and, two years later, his drama "Made in Bangkok" won the the London Theatre Critics' award for best play.

An Anthony Minghella film assured movie-goers would enjoy a film blessed with a literate script, superlative performances and first-rate production values. His great craftsmanship was apparent from the beginning, with the bittersweet comedy Truly Madly Deeply (1990), in which the ghost of Alan Rickman comes back to his lady love, Juliet Stevenson, with unintended consequences. The theme of a ghostly love also was present in The English Patient (1996) his greatest success.

It is for that film he will be best remembered. Minghella claimed that with The English Patient (1996), which won nine Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, that he had reached the heights of his directing career.

In addition to his theater and film awards, in 2001, Anthony Minghella was appointed a Commander of the British Empire, a step just below knighthood, in the Queen's Birthday Honors List.

Anthony Minghella died of a hemorrhage on the morning of March 18, 2008 at Charing Cross Hospital in London, England. The 54-year-old Minghella had undergone an operation to remove a growth on his neck the previous week. He was survived by his wife, Carolyn Choa, and their two children, Max Minghella, who is an actor, and Hannah Minghella, who worked as a production assistant.

Sheila Hancock was born February 22, 1933. on the Isle of Wight. She later moved to King's Cross in London, where her mother and father ran a pub. Sheila went to Dartford Grammar School, and then with a grant she went to RADA. She then went into nine years of weekly repertory around the country. While in repertory in Bath she met actor Alec Ross, whom she married in 1955, and had a daughter, Melanie Thaw (aka "Ellie Jane") on July 15, 1964.

Her first big TV hit was her appearance in The Rag Trade (1961). Her first theatrical success was in "Rattle of a Simple Man" at the Garrick Theatre London. In 1969 she starred in the West End hit "So What About Love?", where she met actor John Thaw. The same year her mother died of cancer, followed nearly nine months later by Alec's tragic death. On December 24, 1973, she married Thaw, with their daughters Melanie and Abigail present. On July 27. 1974, at Queen Charlotte's Hospital, Hammersmith, Sheila gave birth to her only child with John, Joanna Suzy Thaw.

In the 1980s Sheila toured the UK with the Royal Shakespeare Company and later with the National Theatre. In 1988 she was told she had breast cancer, but she fought and won her battle against it. She and Thaw split briefly during this period.

In the early 1990s Sheila and John bought a house in Luckington Wiltshire, as well as a farmhouse in Provence, France. In 2001 John was told he had cancer. For nine months he fought against it, and with Sheila's help his privacy was protected. John died in Sheila's arms the day before her 69th birthday.

Since his death Sheila has written a book called "The Two of Us: My Life with John Thaw", and has made numerous TV and stage appearance talking about the book and her life with John.

Sheila lives in Hammersmith near her daughters and grandchildren.

Bear Grylls was born on 7 June 1974 in Isle of Wight, England, UK. He is a producer and writer, known for Arthur the King (2024), You vs. Wild (2019) and You vs. Wild: Out Cold (2021). He has been married to Shara Cannings-Knight since 19 January 2000. They have three children.

Antonia Ellis was born on 30 April 1944 in Newport, Isle of Wight, England, UK. She is an actress, known for The Boy Friend (1971), Mahler (1974) and Ufo... Annientate Shado Uccidete Straker... Stop (1974).

Actor and comedian Brian Murphy was born on the Isle of Wight, one of three siblings, to restaurateurs Gerald and Mabel Murphy. From his early years he had a keen interest in variety theatre and a knack for impersonating famous comedians like Will Hay and Stan Laurel. Following national service with the Royal Air Force at Northwood HQ (where he befriended another aspiring actor in Richard Briers), Murphy studied at RADA but dropped out after one year due to financial difficulties. Briers and Murphy afterwards acted on stage with the drama society of the Borough Polytechnic Institute in London. Murphy then joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop (based at the Theatre Royal in Stratford East). Among his fellow alumni were future co-star Yootha Joyce and Carol Gibson, later to become his first wife. Following his debut as Drinkwater in a 1956 production of George Bernard Shaw's play 'Captain Brassbound's Conversion', Murphy went on to appear in both the stage and film versions of Littlewood's Sparrows Can't Sing (alongside Yootha Joyce) and in Oh, What a Lovely War, the latter transferring to Broadway for a successful run between September 1964 and January 1965.

On screen from 1960, Murphy toiled for many years in relative anonymity as a journeyman supporting actor. His stock rose dramatically, however, with his breakthrough role in the ITV sitcom Man About the House (1973): as the lazy, inept and decidedly unambitious landlord George Roper, perpetually henpecked by his imperious, social climbing wife Mildred (Yootha Joyce, in her most famous role). The immense popularity of the two characters spawned a sequel, George and Mildred (1980), which ran for five seasons. A planned sixth and final season never came to pass, due to Joyce's untimely death in 1980.

The writing partnership of Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer (who had created George and Mildred) later devised another starring vehicle, specifically tailored for Murphy's brand of physical comedy. The Incredible Mr Tanner (1981) cast the actor as a bungling, accident-prone escapologist. However, on this occasion, audience support failed to materialise and the show was discontinued due to poor ratings. The same fate befell Murphy's next venture, the BBC sitcom L for Lester (1982), in which he played a hapless driving instructor.

Faring perhaps better as a member of ensemble casts, he played an ineffectual private detective in Lame Ducks (1984), conman George Manners in the soap Brookside (1982), the dithery, forgetful neighbor Arthur Capstick in Mrs Merton & Malcolm (1999) and practical joker Alvin Smedley in 77 episodes of Last of the Summer Wine (1973). One-off performances saw him as comedian Arthur Lucan in the TV movie On Your Way Riley (1985); a troubled Chief Inspector, posthumously credited with solving an old mystery, actually unravelled by magician/sleuth Jonathan Creek (1997), and a boozy vagrant, dressed as an elf, in an episode of The Bill (1984). He also popped up as Neville, a recurring character, in several instalments of The Catherine Tate Show (2004). Returning to the stage with Theatre Royal in the early nineties, Murphy portrayed 'the jolly old tramp' Thomas Marvel in a comic interpretation of 'The Invisible Man'.

Brian Murphy was married since 1995 to the actress and crime writer Linda Regan. He died on February 2 2025 at his home in Kent, England.

Hannah Minghella is the Head of Feature Animation and Family Film at Netflix. Previously, Ms Minghella was the Head of Motion Pictures at Bad Robot where she produced the Oscar, BAFTA and Annie Award winning animated short film, The Boy, The Mole, The Fox & The Horse for the BBC and AppleTV+; as well as the documentary feature The Blue Angels for IMAX and AmazonPrime. Minghella also produced David Robert Mitchell film Flowervale Street for WB.

Before joining Bad Robot, Minghella was a long time studio executive at Sony Pictures Entertainment for nearly 15 years. During that time she was the President of Production at Sony Pictures Animation where she oversaw the development and production of Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, Hotel Transylvania and The Smurfs. She also spent a few years as President of Production at Columbia Pictures before becoming the President of Production of TriStar where she oversaw such films as Edgar Wright's Baby Driver, Danny Boyle's T2: Trainspotting and Marielle Heller's A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood.

Minghella is a Governor of the Academy and previously spent a decade on the board of Women In Film. She is married with three children.

The son of Dr. Charles Buckman Goring M.D. and Kate Winifred (nee MacDonald). Marius Goring was educated at Perse School, Cambridge, England and at the Universities of Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Paris. He studied for the stage under Harcourt Williams at the Old Vic dramatic school, London. His first stage appearance was at Cambridge in 1925 in "Crossings". His first London appearance was at the Rudolph Steiner Hall, December 1927 as Harlequin. He performed at the Old Vic, Sadler's Wells and toured France and Germany. he played Macbeth, Romeo, Trip in School for Scandal amongst others. His first west end appearance was at the Shaftesbury Theatre, May 1934 in the Voysey Inheritance. He joined the army in June 1940 and became the supervisor of productions of the BBC service broadcasts. Most of his army work was done under the alias Charles Richardson. For some reason the name GORING wasn't too popular at the time. He was a founder member of British Equity in 1929. He lists his recreations as walking, riding, skating and travelling.

Sir Christopher George Rhodes, 3rd baronet Rhodes, of Hollingworth, (co. Chester) was the only son of Sir John Phillips Rhodes DSO, 2nd baronet and former chairman of Thomas Rhodes Ltd, cotton spinners and manufacturers.

Educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford.

On the death of his father he succeeded to the baronetcy on 14th November 1955.

He served in the Essex Regiment during the Second World War, attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and became a recipient of the Croix de Guerre (France) and the Legion of Merit (United States).

He was 38 years old when he began his film career and specialised in well-bred military types for which he was ideally suited.

Married twice, he died aged 50 at his Blakeney, Norfolk home.

His son, John Christopher Douglas Rhodes (b. 1946), succeeded him as 4th baronet.

Dominic Minghella was born in 1967 in Isle of Wight, Hampshire, England, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for Robin Hood (2006), Doc Martin (2004) and Knightfall (2017). He is married to Sarah Beardsall. They have three children.

Charles Beeson was born on 10 May 1957 in Isle of Wight, England, UK. He was a director and producer, known for Revolution (2012), The Whispers (2015) and Timeless (2016). He died on 24 April 2021 in Teddington, Middlesex, England, UK.

Phill became a familiar face when he started as team captain on BBC2's pop quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks in 1996, which went on to run for 19 years. Aside from live poetry and stand-up shows all over the UK, he also appears as a regular guest on QI (BBC2) and Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled (Dave) and in 2012 returned to television stand-up for the first time since 2000 with an appearance on Live at the Apollo (BBC1). As an actor, Phill starred as Baron Bomburst / Lord Scrumptious in the UK and Ireland tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang alongside Jason Manford, which has just come to an end. He played Bottom in the Bath Theatre Royal production of A Midsummer Night's Dream last August. His other stage roles include performances in The Producers, Urinetown: The Musical, Hairspray, Spamalot, Big Society, and Waiting for Alice. Phill is currently on tour with his latest show after completing a sold-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Born on the Isle of Wight, his father left when he was two years old and of an outbreak of polio and all businesses took a turn for the worst. All the hardships Martin Rayner faced took him down the path of acting. He began his career cleaning the brass in a West End theater, where he appeared a couple performances before he want onto London and made his way into the acting world where he was successful.

Julia appeared in a range of TV comedy shows ranging from Spike Milligan, Monty Python and the Two Ronnies mostly during the 1970s and early 1980s and retired from television to concentrate on raising her three children. She died of cancer in France on 28 January 2020 at the age of 78.

Yvonne Horner was born on 25 March 1943 in Seaview, Isle of Wight, England, UK. She was an actress, known for One Million Years B.C. (1966), Prehistoric Women (1967) and Baby Love (1969). She was married to Dennis Maher and John Horner. She died on 4 November 1998 in Newport, Isle of Wight, England, UK.

Two time BAFTA-winner and 2017 nominee (for The Secret) Stuart Urban is a writer, director and producer.

At the age of thirteen, he became the youngest director to participate at Cannes with his short film, "The Virus Of War" (1972). Other credits as writer/director include An Ungentlemanly Act, the BBC tragicomedy about the Falklands War starring Ian Richardson and Bob Peck which he wrote and directed, and for which he won the British Academy Award (1993) for Best Single Drama. In addition, this film won Indie awards for best independent production and British drama, plus awards for script and direction in the Chicago and New York Film Festivals. Stuart's most recent directorial work was on Our Friends in the North, the top-rated and critically praised BBC drama for which he has just won his second BAFTA Award as director. The program also won Best Drama Serial at the Royal Television Society. His 1995 script credit was Deadly Voyage, a $6 million thriller for the BBC and Home Box Office about a recent mass murder of stowaways in the Atlantic. His screenplay drew much critical acclaim and was awarded the top screen writing prize (the Silver Nymph) at the 1997 Monte Carlo TV Festival.

In 1997, he wrote, produced and directed the cult comedy Preaching to the Perverted, named recently by The Guardian as one of the 10 best kinky films ever made. In 2001 he wrote, produced and directed Revelation. This mystical thriller stars Terence Stamp and Udo Kier. It concerns the quest to locate and understand a relic that heralds the fusion of science and religion. In 2007 he completed feature documentary Tovarisch, I Am Not Dead, about his own father after 14 years in the making. It won prizes and nominations at film festivals and was theatrically released in the UK. In 2013 his feature, May I Kill You?, a London-set black comedy-thriller starring Kevin Bishop, Frances Barber, Jack Doolan, and Rosemary Leach was theatrically released in UK and elsewhere.

The Secret, written and executive-produced by Stuart, was a fact-based ITV miniseries starring James Nesbitt, Genevieve O'Reilly and Jason Watkins that garnered awards and nominations plus top ratings and reviews. It sold to over100 countries.

Elizabeth McKechnie was born on 16 March 1961 in Isle of Wight, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for Creep (2004), Feardotcom (2002) and The Tripods (1984).

Tessa Dahl was born on 11 April 1957 in Isle of Wight, Hampshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Royal Flash (1975), The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella (1976) and Happy Mother's Day, Love George (1973). She was previously married to Patrick Donovan and James Kelly.

Sophie Langham was born in 1976 in Isle of Wight, England, UK. She is an actress, known for EastEnders (1985), The Bill (1984) and Jonathan Creek (1997).

Mark King was born and raised on the Isle of Wight. With drummer Phil Gould, he was a member of Reflex and "M" before forming the jazz-funk instrumental band, Level 42, with Phil, Phil's guitarist brother, Roland Gould, and keyboards player, Mike Lindup. King attracted much attention with his distinctive and highly-skilled bass guitar playing and, by the time of the band's first single "Love Meeting Love", he was also the lead vocalist. Level 42 had a series of fairly minor hit singles but, in 1983, "The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up)" reached the top ten. In September 1985, they released "Something About You", which reached number six and stayed on the chart for an impressive 17 weeks. It was also a top-ten hit in the USA. King had gained more confidence as a distinctive vocalist and their 1985 album, "World Machine", and its 1987 successor, "Running in the Family", firmly established Level 42 as a hugely successful melodic pop band to rival the likes of Phil Collins' Genesis. However, Level 42's increasingly commercial music disappointed some fans of their original jazz-funk style. "Running in the Family" was the final album with the Gould brothers, who left the band during the subsequent tour. Mark continued with Level 42 but the band had lost some of their magic and the singles became less successful. Level 42 disbanded in 1994, having spent 177 weeks on the British singles chart and 228 weeks on the album chart. Mark King lives on the Isle of Wight with his wife, Ria. He has four children. Level 42 will undoubtedly be remembered for producing some of the most skillful and distinctive British pop music of the 1980s.

Will Gould was born on 24 November 1974 in Isle of Wight, England, UK. He is a producer, known for The Wolves of Kromer (1998), Ripper Street (2012) and The Deep (2010).

Aileen Raymond was born on 23 November 1910 in Isle of Wight, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The First Lady (1968), Crossroads (1964) and Jubilee (1977). She was married to Albert Charles Buck, Francis Fairfield Ogilvy and John Mills. She died on 28 April 2005 in Kensington, London, England, UK.

Simon Kane was born in 1974 in Isle of Wight, Hampshire, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for That Mitchell and Webb Look (2006), The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff (2011) and Mirrorboy (2014).

Edana Minghella was born on 14 May 1959 in Isle of Wight, England, UK. Edana was a writer, known for Doc Martin (2004). Edana was married to Toby Dickinson. Edana died on 13 July 2022.