Enduring Love saw Craig's character become the subject of a stalker

The 37-year-old actor was named British actor of the year by the London Film Critics Circle earlier this year for his role in the Ian McEwan thriller Enduring Love.

A versatile performer, 2004 also saw him play a cocaine dealer in Matthew Vaughn's gangster thriller Layer Cake and poet Ted Hughes, opposite Gwyneth Paltrow, in Sylvia.

Craig was praised for his role as poet Ted Hughes in Sylvia

Born in Chester in 1968, Craig grew up in Liverpool and trained at London's National Youth Theatre and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Fellow students included Ewan McGregor and Joseph Fiennes.

Compelling performances on stage with the Old Vic and the National Theatre brought him to public attention, but it was his role in the BBC Two series Our Friends in the North in 1996 that launched his prolific screen career.

Big screen credits followed in films like Elizabeth and The Trench, while the lead role in Joe Penhall's Some Voices in 2000 cemented his growing reputation and brought Craig to America's attention.

Craig joined Christopher Eccleston in Our Friends in the North

In 2001, he played ex-boyfriend to Angelina Jolie's Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, and in 2002 delivered a striking performance in Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition playing Paul Newman's psychotic son.

But perhaps his most memorable film of recent years is The Mother, which saw Craig play the lover of his girlfriend's 64-year-old mother, played by Anne Reid.

Most recently, Craig took the lead role in the BBC drama Archangel, based on Robert Harris' best-selling novel and will shortly be seen in the US thriller The Jacket, opposite Keira Knightley and Adrien Brody.