Michael Fassbender shows his versatility once again this week as he steps into the big budget blockbuster for the very first time.
He takes over the role of Erik Lehnsherr from Ian McKellan in the origins story X-Men: first Class - which is set in the sixties as a young Lehnsherr and Charles Xavier are coming to terms with their abilities.
He made his breakthrough in 2001 when he appeared in Steven Spielberg's epic war Second World War drama Band of Brothers as Burton 'Pat' Christenson.
Off the back of this he varied his work as he moved between radio dramas, theatre work and more television appearances.
Over the next couple of years he worked on a string of UK television shows including Holby City, Gunpowder, treason & Plot, in which he played Guy Fawkes, and Murphy's Law.
In the third series of hard hitting crime drama Murphy's Law he took on the role of Caz Miller in five episodes of the series.
But by 2007 he had moved into movies and 300 looked like it was his breakthrough. An adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel Fassbender took on the role of Stelios, a young Spartan soldier.
The movie was a huge hit as it grossed $70,885,301 million, breaking the record held by Ice Age: The Meltdown for the biggest opening weekend in March.
Since his performance in 300 Fassbender has found himself to be super busy as he continued to mix movie and TV work.
But this worked out well for him last year with horror movie Eden Lake and TV drama The Devil's Whore with which he found success.
But it was the movie Hunger for which achieved critical acclaim as is dominated the festival circuit. Directed by Steve McQueen the film followed Irish prisoner Bobby Sands who led the 1981 hunger strike on Long Kesh prison.
It premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, winning the prestigious Caméra d'Or award for first-time filmmakers.
Into 2009 and more praise has come his way for British film Fish Tank, the second movie from Andrea Arnold, which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival this year.
He then teamed up Quentin Tarantino and an ensemble cast that included Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Christoph Waltz and Eli Roth for Inglourious Basterds.
The World War II movie was the most successful film for Tarantino as it went on to be bag a Best Picture Oscar nomination, losing out to The Hurt Locker.
He followed this up with Centurion and Jonah Hex before teaming up with Matthew Vaughn and an all star cast for X-Men: First Class.
Early reviews have already heavily praised X-Men: First Class - the first X movie since Wolverine back in 2009.
And 2011 looks set to be a busy one for the actor as he takes on a more classic role later this year with Jane Eyre.
Fassbender is set to play Edward Rochester in a new adaptation of the popular novel, which sees Mia Wasikowska take on the title character.
He has also finished work on A Dangerous Method, which also stars Viggo Mortensen and Keira Knightley, and Haywire - which is directed by Steven Soderbergh.
X-Men: First Class is out now.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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