Damian Lewis is one of the most decorated British actors of his generation, a performer who built his reputation in long-form American television before the industry fully understood what prestige drama could do with a lead of his caliber. He announced himself to global audiences in Band of Brothers (2001), then won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for Homeland (2011) before anchoring the financial drama Billions (2016) for seven seasons. His stage background at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama runs through everything.

On screen, Lewis holds attention through a physical stillness that makes his eruptions land harder when they come, a quality Homeland used to devastating effect across its best seasons. His red hair and pale, sharp-featured face give him an immediate distinctiveness, and he photographs with a cool authority that suits men of power and men under pressure in equal measure. After Billions, he returned to the stage and to British prestige television, and the work has only grown more assured as he has aged into it.