The Globe and Mail

CLIVE OWEN

The prolific Oscar-nominated Brit, who too often flies under the popular radar, sweeps into town to promote two TIFF films, "Killer Elite" and "Intruders".

MICHAEL FASSBENDER

The Killarney-raised actor seems to be everywhere this year. First, "Jane Eyre" and then the superhero blockbuster, "X-Men: First Class". He’s popping up again in Steve McQueen’s buzzed-about drama "Shame" and David Cronenberg’s "A Dangerous Method" (as Carl Jung to Viggo Mortensen’s Sigmund Freud).

(Reuters)

PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN

He picked up an Oscar for "Capote", and the rumpled star is back in George Clooney’s highly anticipated "The Ides of March" (with Ryan Gosling), as well as the baseball drama "Moneyball" with Brad Pitt.

(Reuters)

SETH ROGEN

The Canadian comedy king, who has already done three movies this year ("Kung-Fu Panda 2," "Paul" and "The Green Hornet") shows his indie side with two films at this year's festival, Sarah Polley's "Take This Waltz" (pictured here) and the cancer comedy "50/50" with Joseph Gordon Levitt.

CAREY MULLIGAN

The British star of "An Education" appears in two big TIFF films: McQueen’s "Shame" (as Fassbender’s wayward sister); and opposite Gosling and Bryan Cranston in "Drive," which netted Nicolas Winding Refn the best director award at Cannes.

(AP)

ALEXANDER SKARSGAARD

The vampire heartthrob of HBO’s hit TV series "True Blood" plays Kirsten Dunst's newlywed husband in Lars von Trier's apocalyptic "Melancholia".

FREIDA PINTO

Since her breakthrough three years ago with the Oscar-winning "Slumdog Millionaire," former Mumbai Indian television host Freida Pinto has been in high demand, from roles in Woody Allen's "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" to the current box office hit "Rise of the Planet of the Apes". She's back on her Indian home ground in "Trishna", Michael Winterbottom's contemporary reworking of Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'Ubervilles."

(Ryan Enn Hughes for The Globe and Mail)

JESSICA CHASTAIN

Following the critical success of "The Tree of Life" and the current hit, "The Help", Chastain shows her versatility as the wife to Michael Shannon's apocalypse-obsessed husband in the Sundance break-out film, "Take Shelter", and as Virgilia, the wife of Coriolanus in the Ralph Fiennes-directed Shakespearian adaptation.

(Reuters)

KIRSTEN DUNST

The former child actress and "Spider-Man" heroine bares her soul and more in the controversial Lars Von Trier film, "Melancholia", which earned her best actress in Cannes.

(Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images)

MICHELLE WILLIAMS

She’s come a long way from "Dawson Creek". With "Brokeback Mountain" establishing her at the forefront of young American actresses, Williams takes on Sarah Polley’s "Take This Waltz", with Seth Rogen, which explores the pitfalls of long-term relationships.

(Reuters)

TILDA SWINTON

The revered Scottish actress, who won an Academy Award for "Michael Clayton", is the lead star and executive producer of the hard-hitting school-massacre drama "We Need To Talk About Kevin", based on the Lionel Shriver bestseller.

(AFP/Getty Images)

KRISTEN WIIG

The SNL veteran co-wrote and starred in the box-office barnburner "Bridesmaids" and is coming to TIFF as a member of an ensemble in "Friends with Kids".