4) Charlie Hunnam
Perhaps it was his solid seven-year stint running the dramatic gauntlet on Sons of Anarchy that did it, but Charlie Hunnam has of late quietly turned into a solid British actor.
In the early days, it’s safe to say Hunnam coasted by on his looks alone, without ever really stretching himself. Now, aged 35, he’s finally become the dependable lead that execs were pushing him to be back in his 20s. Now no longer just a pretty face, he’s good enough to be Bond.
The fact that Hunnam was originally cast as Christian Grey suggests the producers on Fifty Shades saw some essential Bondian traits in him: the dangerous charm, the borderline-sociopathic level of threat, the ability to look the absolute business in a suit.
Luckily, Hunnam dropped out of that franchise, meaning he’s now free and the right age – 35 – to begin again in a new, more critically-acclaimed series.