Love Actually stars now – tragic death, racism fury and co-star wedding connection

It’s been 18 years since one of the greatest grossing Christmasmovies ever had us all sobbing into our popcorn in the cinema.

When Love Actually made its big-screen debut its soaring popularity wasn’t just down to cameos by a poster of boyband of the moment Blue and presenting duo Ant and Dec.

The 2003 festive offering had the perfect mix of laughter, love, and Hugh Grant to make it an instant British RomCom success story with audiences worldwide.

Now as the nights are closing in and the urge to cuddle up in front of a cult classic with a blanket and a cuppa grows ever stronger we take a look at where the stars of the intertwined epic romantic storylines are now.

Andrew Lincoln

Fresh-faced Andrew had just the right amount of piercing blue eyes and chiselled jawline to make awkward Mark’s obsession with his besties wife nothing short of adorable.

As the crushing realisation of his unrequited love was revealed to unassuming Juliet was made, viewers couldn’t help but want to scream at the screen.

But he made the most of his tragic situation when he faced the torment head-on in one of the most iconic scenes of the whole movie and confessed the depths of his love on her doorstep accompanied by some genius cue cards and a boom box.

Following the success of his heart-wrenching offering as Mark, Andrew went on to become the heroic lead Rick Grimes in hit US post-apocalyptic drama series The Walking Dead.

He quit his zombie-slaying role in 2018 to spend more time with his family but is set to pull his cowboy boots back on in the future for the three slated Walking Dead movies which are yet to begin production.

Keira Knightley

Already making waves in the movie industry with her hit movies Bend It Like Beckham and Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl under her belt, it was easy to see how Kiera’s performance as elegant beauty Juliet could only increase her popularity.

Torn between her obviously epic love story with Peter and the absolute torture of Mark’s out-of-this-world romantic gesture for his unrequited love, the audience could see this wasn’t a bad place to be for any girl.

Kiera continued her success and has been an unstoppable force in Hollywood for over 20 years now, starring in huge offerings including Pride And Prejudice, Atonement and The Imitation Game.

Her most recent project, Silent Night, sees her return to the festive RomCom theme and hits cinemas everywhere on December 3.

Chiwetel Ejiofor

While his part as Juliet’s husband Peter was only small in Love Actually, Chiwetel set the ball rolling for his epic movie career ahead in the flick.

He went on to become hot property in Hollywood thanks to landing roles in some huge productions including Othello, The Lion King reboot and Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil. His big-screen achievements have even landed him a CBE.

But arguably his greatest role came when he played Solomon Northup in 2013 Box Office hit 12 Years A Slave.

The movie bagged him Best Actor nominations at the Golden Globes, The Oscars and the BAFTAs the latter of which he won.

More recently Chiwetel has been working on upcoming 2022 Marvel Studios release Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.

Hugh Grant

It just wouldn’t be a British RomCom without a healthy dose of British actor Hugh and his goofy bumbling posh boy charm.

Love Actually certainly delivered in this area as he assumed the role of David, and became probably the best Prime Minister this country has seen in the past twenty years at least with his rousing speech to the President of the United States.

His title as the king of Brit flicks is unchallenged but more recently Hugh stepped away from the good guy personas and was a somewhat sinister love interest as he teamed up with Nicole Kidman for HBO thriller The Undoing.

Fans will see him adopt a differing role again when he stars in the 2023 release of Dungeons and Dragons as baddie Forge Fletcher.

Martine McCutcheon

Having already won the nation’s adoration as tragic EastEnders star Tiffany Mitchell Martine embarked on her big-screen career after that chapter drew to a close with a nasty knock on the head from a car in 1998.

Her music career was already well underway when she signed up to play Hugh’s love interest, Natalie.

The sweary aide captured his heart as she fumbled her way through her new job until Billy Bob Thornton’s US president hit on her causing all kinds of drama.

Wile Natalie and David rekindled their flame later in the film, sadly Martine’s career didn’t manage to burn so brightly.

The actress has struggled her way through the past 18 years managing to land a few small parts in TV shows such as Spooks and appearing on Loose Women, Celebrity Gogglebox and most recently The Masked Singer UK.

But she hasn’t had an easy time of it, having to file for bankruptcy in 2013, and openly struggling with her health, suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia.

Emma Thompson

The absolute epitome of acting royalty, Emma broke all of our hearts as devoted mum and wife Karen, who’s unappreciative husband overlooked her in favour of a younger woman from his office.

Karen accidentally found out about her husband’s betrayal when an expensive gift in his pocket she thought was for her turned out to be for his PA, while she was given a sad Joni Mitchell CD.

Emma, who is now married to Strictly’s Greg Wise, faced a similar heartbreak of her own following a scandal surrounding her ex husband and Helena Bonham Carter.

Although she hasn’t detailed what happened between the pair, Emma previously told The Sunday Times: “I haven’t got the energy for it. Helena and I made our peace years and years ago.”

From Much Ado About Nothing and Sense And Sensibility to Harry Potter and Nanny McPhee, Emma is one of the most instantly recognisable household names out there and has been for over 30 years.

Most recently she played the delectably evil Baroness Von Hellman in Cruella, and she already has an array of upcoming projects up her sleeve for 2022 and beyond.

Alan Rickman

Creating a stir as Karen’s cheating husband Harry, Alan wasn’t one of the most likeable characters in the movie.

He was already well established as a movie villain in various roles including the despicable Sheriff Of Nottingham in 1991 classic Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves.

In one of his most famous roles, Alan portrayed Severus Snape across all eight movies during the Harry Potter film franchise.

Alan sadly died in January 2016 at the age of 69 succumbing to pancreatic cancer. One of his final film roles was as the voice of the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland sequel Alice Through The Looking Glass.

Laura Linney

If there’s one truly depressing sob story in the film it’s Sarah. She spends years in love with co-worker Karl and finally gets her chance with him, only for it to be ruined when she has to cut their rendezvous short to visit her mentally ill brother Michael.

You cannot help but feel absolute agony for the character, brought to life so perfectly by Laura Linney.

While she didn’t get her happy ending on-screen with Karl, Laura has carved out an impressive career in both TV and film, most recently appearing in Netflix hit Ozark.

Despite not sharing any scenes together, Laura and Liam Neeson are close friends in real life and he even walked her down the aisle for her wedding in May 2009.

Colin Firth

The only man out there who can give Hugh Grant a run for his RomCom money is Colin.

The pair have put their romantic prowess to the test as co-stars several times thanks to Love Actually and the Bridget Jones movie franchise.

Colin meanwhile has been a busy boy, appearing in Mamma Mia, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, the Kingsman movie franchise and oscar-winning war movie 1917 to name but a few over the years.

Most recently he starred as Lord Archibald Craven in The Secret Garden and is in upcoming flick Mothering Sunday alongside Olivia Coleman.

Liam Neeson

Liam joined the cast as tragic Daniel who’s beloved wife had just passed away leaving him all alone to care for his stepson Sam.

After his time on set, Liam moved away from the romantic roles with his subsequent films, becoming more of an action hero in titles such as Taken, The Grey, and Cold Pursuit.

He caused controversy while doing the press tour for Cold Pursuit. When he admitted his shame that some 40 years earlier after learning that a female friend of his had been raped by a stranger, who happened to be black, he spent a week going “up and down areas with a cosh, hoping some ‘black b*****d’ would come out of a pub and have a go” so he “could kill him”.

Afterwards he explained further that he had admitted to the story because he wanted to highlight how important it is to “to open up and to talk about these things” referring to toxic masculinity and the underlying “racism and bigotry”.

Martin Freeman

John can’t quite believe his luck when he turns up for work and gets to grapple with naked Judy who he very quickly finds himself falling for. The perfect pairing is an ideal subplot that runs alongside the main romances in the movie perfectly.

However, in his own career Martin has taken on way more than a minor role as he’s embarked on his undeniably awesome journey through Hollywood.

From Shaun Of The Dead to Hot Fuzz he’s kept audiences entertained with his ordinary guy approach to acting.

Martin has most notably starred as loveable Hobbit Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit Trilogy and more recently as Marvel’s Everett K Ross in Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther and the upcoming 2022 release Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Joanna Page

While appearing fully naked on top of Martin Freeman as Judy on Love Actually may be seen as a career-defining moment, the wake of her appearance as the adorable fill-in actress brought something even more exciting for Joanna.

Following on from the success of the film she was cast alongside James Corden in hit comedy series Gavin And Stacey as Stacey Shipman.

The success of the show which has just 21 episodes in total saw both of its leading actors become huge stars in their own right.

Joanna currently hosts BBC One consumer series Shop Well For Less.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk