Logan Mountstuart (Young)

As a passionate Oxford University student, Logan has two ambitious goals: to write a great work of fiction and to lose his virginity. He is idealistic and impulsive — characteristics which maturity and experience will inevitably temper.

Sam Claflin

Sam Claflin's first years out of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art have taken him from South Africa, to film the upcoming post-apocalyptic feature The Lost Future, to Hawaii for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. He appeared as Richard in the television series The Pillars of the Earth, where he first worked with fellow Any Human Heart stars Matthew Macfadyen and Hayley Atwell.

Logan Mountstuart (Mid-Life)

At midlife, Logan experiences his highest highs and lowest lows. His ambitions as a writer are cast aside by competing priorities of family and war. He later sates his appetite for sex but remains lonely, buoyed by occasional encounters of true intimacy that permanently enrich his life.

Matthew Macfadyen

Matthew Macfadyen may be most familiar to Masterpiece viewers for his role as Arthur Clennam in Little Dorrit. He has also been seen in the film Pride and Prejudice portraying Mr. Darcy alongside Keira Knightley, and recently in The Pillars of the Earth, which also starred his fellow Any Human Heart stars Sam Claflin and Hayley Atwell. His recent feature film roles include John Birt in Frost/Nixon and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood. One of Macfadyen's first television appearances was on Masterpiece in the 1999 version of Wuthering Heights. Macfadyen is also known for his work in the British TV series Spooks (MI-5 in the US) and is married to actress and MI-5 co-star Keeley Hawes (Lady Agnes Holland in Masterpiece's 2011 Upstairs Downstairs).

Logan Mountstuart (Older)

At times a curmudgeon, a companion, and even a charming suitor, Logan is still open to experience of all kind — of which there is no shortage. Even his moments of reflection are suffused with action.

Jim Broadbent

The veteran character actor, with over 100 film and television credits to his name, won an Academy Award for his portrayal of John Bayley in Iris, and has worked with some of the most recognized directors in film: Stephen Frears (The Hit); Terry Gilliam (Time Bandits, Brazil); Mike Leigh (Life Is Sweet, Topsy-Turvy); Neil Jordan (The Crying Game); Woody Allen (Bullets Over Broadway) and Martin Scorsese (Gangs of New York). Yet it's his role as Professor Slughorn in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that has catapulted him to mass recognition.

Lottie Casell

Lottie, the daughter of an earl, is spoiled and entitled, but nevertheless attractive to a rebounding Logan. Neither creative nor unconventional like Logan, she is caught in the middle of the inevitable clash between Logan and her domineering, aristocratic father.

Emerald Fennell

The daughter of British jeweler Theo Fennell, Emerald studied English at Oxford, where she was spotted by Keira Knightley's agent. She has appeared in the feature film Mr. Nice with Rhys Ifans. Also a writer, she has finished a young adult novel and is at work on a screenplay.

Freya Deverall

Freya, the greatest love of Logan's life, is a journalist for the BBC when a chance meeting throws them together. She is confident, self-educated, and uncompromising, able to satisfy Logan's conflicting desires for passion and stability.

Hayley Atwell

Hayley Atwell studied at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and one year out of school, she appeared in the BBC television miniseries The Line of Beauty alongside Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey). She went on to appear with Billie Piper in Masterpiece's The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North, and as Mary Crawford, also with Billie Piper, in Masterpiece's Mansfield Park.

Atwell appeared in Woody Allen's film Cassandra's Dream and as the female lead, Julia Flyte, in the 2008 version of Brideshead Revisited. In her most recent feature film, she starred alongside Keira Knightley in The Duchess. On stage in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge, Atwell's role of Catherine won her a Laurence Olivier award nomination for best supporting actress. Recently, she joined Any Human Heart co-stars Matthew Macfadyen and Sam Claflin in the television series The Pillars of the Earth.

Lionel Mountstuart

Born as his parents' marriage begins to sour, Lionel is the object of a power struggle between Lottie and Logan — one which Logan abandons. Not until he is a young man who has left England behind does Lionel, now a musician, known as Leo, reenter his father's life.

Hugh Skinner

Trained at the London Academy of Music and Drama, Hugh Skinner portrayed Felix Clare in Masterpiece's 2008 Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Skinner has concentrated mainly on theater, where he has appeared on many stages across England.

Stella Mountstuart

Logan and Freya's beloved daughter

Honey and Poppy Epstein

The sisters share the role of Stella; Honey portrays Stella at age four, and Poppy portrays Stella at age six.

Ben Leeping

Loyal and trustworthy, Ben is Logan's best friend. Leaving Oxford for Paris, he mixes with the Parisian arts world, makes introductions for Logan among European literati, and establishes a successful art gallery.

James Musgrave (Young Ben)

A graduate of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, James Musgrave has appeared in numerous small television roles. His theatre credits include Peter Hall's The Browning Version at Theatre Royal Bath.

Ben Leeping

Loyal and trustworthy, Ben is Logan's best friend. Leaving Oxford for Paris, he mixes with the Parisian arts world, makes introductions for Logan among European literati, and establishes a successful art gallery.

Ed Stoppard (Older Ben)

Ed Stoppard, son of the playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and has performed onstage in The Seagull, Hamlet, and his father's own Arcadia. In 2011, he appears in Masterpiece's Upstairs, Downstairs as Sir Hallam Holland, master of the house. Other television work includes Masterpiece's Inspector Lynley, as well as BBC docudramas on Tchaikovsky and Robespierre. His film credits include Roman Polanski's The Pianist and the 2008 version of Brideshead Revisited.

Tess Scabius

Tess is the object of Logan and Peter's first lust at university. She works in a local stable and starts a relationship with Peter, yet entertains his best friend in a passionate affair.

Holliday Grainger

A fixture in numerous British television series, Holliday Grainger will appear opposite Jeremy Irons as Lucrezia Borgia in the 2011 series The Borgias. Grainger is also slated to appear in a new film adaptation of Jane Eyre with Judi Dench and in Bel Ami, alongside Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman and Kristin Scott Thomas.

Peter Scabius

Privileged and ambitious, Logan's old university friend Peter one-ups and competes against Logan whenever the opportunity arises. From writing to women, the two are locked in competition for a lifetime.

Freddie Fox (Young Peter)

Freddie Fox is heir to a British acting dynasty of the Fox family: His mother is actress Joanna David, his father is actor Edward Fox, his sister is actress Emilia Fox, and his cousin is Laurence Fox (Inspector Lewis). He trained at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama and appeared in Worried About the Boy, a Boy George biopic on BBC. He made his Masterpiece debut in the Miss Marple episode, Why Didn't They Ask Evans? and joins Any Human Heart castmate Matthew Macfadyen in the upcoming 3D The Three Musketeers.

Peter Scabius

Privileged and ambitious, Logan's old university friend Peter one-ups and competes against Logan whenever the opportunity arises. From writing to women, the two are locked in competition for a lifetime.

Samuel West (Older Peter)

Samuel West may be most recognized for his role in the film Howard's End although he's appeared in other high-profile films such as Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and Iris with Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent, his Any Human Heart co-star. The son of British actors Timothy West and Prunella Scales (best known as Sybil on Fawlty Towers), West studied physics then English at Oxford University. He's also appeared on the British stage in productions such as The Sea (directed by Sam Mendes) and Hamlet at England's Royal Shakespeare Company. His many Masterpiece credits include Murder on the Orient Express, as well as Stiff Upper Lips, Jane Eyre, Foyle's War and Inspector Lynley. Additionally, he has lent his voice to over 50 audiobooks and been a narrator with all the major British orchestras.

Land Fothergill

Land is an ambitious "undergraduette" whom Logan meets and falls for at Oxford. A labor-party activist, she is immune to Logan's devotion, but inspires and pushes him to write something of substance, promising herself as the prize for his success.

Charity Wakefield

Granddaughter of British film actor James Hayter, who appeared in the 1959 thriller The 39 Steps, Charity Wakefield hails from the United Kingdom but lived in Spain as a child and credits her love of acting to the festivals and pantomimes she experienced there. Encouraged in an academic path by her mother, Wakefield ultimately chose to study acting at the Oxford School of Drama. On stage, she has appeared in The Graduate and The Three Musketeers, and on television in Casualty 1907 and Doctors. For Masterpiece, she portrayed Miss Temple in Jane Eyre and Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility.

Gloria Scabius

A larger-than-life woman in full possession of her desire, Gloria, married to Peter Scabius, is intrigued by Logan and pursues him in her characteristic way — uncharacteristic of a woman in the 1950s. Their intimate friendship survives Gloria's many marriages and Logan's varied selves.

Kim Cattrall

Most famous for her award-winning role on television and film as Samantha Jones in Sex and the City, British-born Kim Cattrall is an actress of the stage as well. Any Human Heart reunites Kim with actor Matthew Macfadyen, her co-star in Richard Eyre's West End production of Private Lives. Recently, the actress was seen in Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer and Masterpiece's My Boy Jack.

Duke of Windsor

Edward VIII, King of England, abdicated the throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. The fascist-leaning former monarch met with Adolf Hitler in 1937. A thorn in Parliament and British intelligence's side, he and his wife, the Duchess of Windsor, were exiled to various locations in Europe, then dispatched to Nassau, Bahamas, when World War II began.

Tom Hollander

Tom Hollander has made his name with roles in such diverse films as The Lawless Heart, Gosford Park and Possession and on television in Masterpiece's The Lost Prince and Wives and Daughters and in the comedic series, Absolutely Fabulous. Hollander won acclaim for his role opposite Liam Neeson on Broadway in The Judas Kiss. In 2005, he joined fellow Masterpiece alumni Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen and Judi Dench in the feature film Pride and Prejudice.

Duchess of Windsor

The twice-married American socialite Wallis Simpson, popularly remembered as charismatic, manipulative, ambitious and fascist-leaning, became the Duchess of Windsor when Great Britain's King Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry her.

Gillian Anderson

Launched to superstar status in 1993 with her role as Special Agent Dana Scully in The X Files series, Gillian Anderson is well known to Masterpiece audiences for her Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated portrayal of Lady Dedlock in 2006's Bleak House.

Anderson has starred on-stage and in numerous feature films such as Terence Davies's House of Mirth, and alongside Sean Connery in Playing by the Heart. She also starred in the feature films The X Files (1998), The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008) and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2008). Anderson holds a directing credit for the famous All Things (2000) episode of The X Files. In 2006, she received kudos for her role in The Last King of Scotland alongside James McAvoy and Forest Whitaker.