If there ever was a utopian place of outrageous luxury, steeped in decadence, filled with larger-than-life characters; where everything/everyone is rich with temptation, then it was right here on earth, in the heart of Hollywood. But that was another era, when cinema was not just motion-picture, it was an experience, a way of life that people wanted to live, breathe, and feel in their skin and bones. It was the Golden Age of Hollywood, a kingdom of excess and exuberance. The latest period epic Babylon captures the industry’s crucial period in the 1920s when it was transitioning from silent films to talkies

The star-studded movie follows a chaotic and wild romp as the industry witnesses the rise and fall of the who’s who of Tinseltown during its Golden Age. The film not only aims to capture this critical and uncertain time in the film industry but also highlights the cultural changes that would become define the future generations of Hollywood.

Babylon comes from Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Damien Chazelle, who writes and directs the film. Chazelle is most recognized for helming other projects like Whiplash, First Man, and La La Land, for which he won his first Oscar for Best Director and also became the youngest director to win said award.

For fear of giving away spoilers, all we can say, as Collider’s own reviewers and editors have said, is that Babylon is a “cocaine-infused” joyride with “manic visuals”. It’s likely to remind you of The Great Gatsby with all the glitz and glamour, probably only a few notches higher.

Now, before you get to catch this luxurious visual treat, here’s a roundup of the film’s ensemble cast. Much like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood or Licorice Pizza, the characters are a mix of both real and fictional ones, and sometimes a fictionalized version of real people.

Check out who’s playing who in the epic.

Related:New 'Babylon' Featurette Lets Audiences Discover Justin Hurwitz's "Score For the Ages"

Diego Calva as Manny Torres

Diego Calva as Manny in a poster for Babylon
Image via Paramount

Manny is an aspiring Mexican-American actor who starts out as a film assistant but gradually moves up the rank to an executive. He takes a job at this mansion which hosts massive parties. Manny also has a crush on the it-girl Nellie LaRoy. He is the third major character of the film. In a way, this is Manny’s story, as he also experiences and witnesses the major changes around him.

Playing the role of Manny is the newcomer Mexican actor Diego Calva. Calva is best known for his previous performance in the third and final season of Narcos: Mexico. In movies, he has earlier appeared in I Promise You Anarchy, for which he won the Best Lead Actor at the Havana Film Festival. Calva is also nominated for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy at the 80th Golden Globe Awards for his role in Babylon.

Brad Pitt as Jack Conrad

Brad Pitt as Jack Conrad on a poster for Babylon
Image via Paramount Pictures

Jack Conrad is a famous actor in 1920s Hollywood and the highest-paid in the industry at the time. Conrad is infamous for his party-hard image, multiple marriages, affairs, and divorces. He also seems to be struggling with the newfangled format of talkies, becoming insecure and worried that his career is on the decline and will soon be forgotten.

Playing the uber-glamorous character of Jack Conrad is multiple award-winning star Brad Pitt, whose work or name needs no introduction. His character is inspired by John Gilbert, a popular leading star of silent films of the 20s, as well as a touch of Clark Gable and Douglas Fairbanks. He recently appeared in a cameo role in The Lost City featuring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, followed by a lead role in the all-star action-comedy, Bullet Train, and produced the critically acclaimed films, She Said and Women Talking.

Margot Robbie as Nellie LaRoy

Nellie LaRoy dancing on a poster for Babylon
Image via Paramount

Nellie is the it-girl of Hollywood and is an overnight star. She is a high-spirited woman who lives life to the fullest and wishes that life should be an ever-lasting party. Her cocaine-driven life also comes with a ton of insecurity about her background and is conscious of how people see her. Nellie’s sexuality also makes for an important aspect of her life and career.

Birds of Prey star Margot Robbie plays the role of Nellie LaRoy. Her character is said to be heavily inspired by Clara Bow, a star of the silent films whose image in the movie It (1927) earned her fame and gave rise to the nickname/phrase – the It girl. Robbie is a two-time Academy Award-nominated Australian actress who rose to fame from the Martin Scorsese film, The Wolf of Wall Street, followed by I, Tonya, Bombshell, The Suicide Squad, and recently, Amsterdam. She is set to appear next in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, coming in 2023.

Jean Smart as Elinor St. John

Jean Smart as Elinor St. John in a poster for Babylon
Image via Paramount Pictures

Elinor is a sensational journalist and also somewhat serves as a mentor to Manny, Jack, and Nellie. She is known for her blunt and upfront attitude.

Five-times Emmy winner film, television, and theater actor, Jean Smart plays the role of Elinor St. John. She is best known for her performance in CBS’s Designing Women, followed by other television shows like Frasier (for which she won two Emmies), followed by Samantha Who?, Fargo, 24, Watchmen, and Legion, among many others. She is currently appearing on HBO Max’s Hacks. In films, Smart is best recognized for her roles in The Brady Bunch Movie, Sweet Home Alabama, The Accountant, A Simple Favor, and Guinevere, among others.

Tobey Maguire as James McKay

Tobey Maguire as James McKay raising his hands while talking and smiling in Babylon
Image via Paramount

James McKay is a drug-addled gangster, who only dreams of fame. But his success depends on how he navigates the dangerous town and its people. He is also known to be quite unpredictable.

Former Spider-Man actor Tobey Maguire stars as the gangster James McKay. Maguire is best known for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, for which he won multiple awards. From his first ever film appearance in 1989’s The Wizard, Maguire appeared in several movies and television shows like Pleasantville, The Cider House Rules, Wonder Boys, and Great Scott! etc. He gained recognition from projects like Seabiscuit which he also produced and was nominated for at the Academy Awards, followed by the critically acclaimed and Golden Globe-nominated Brothers, and the Academy Award-winning film The Great Gatsby, among others. He is also credited as one of the executive producers of Babylon.

Li Jun Li as Lady Fay Zhu

Li Jun Li as Lady Fay Zhu in a poster for Babylon
Image via Paramount

Lady Fay Zhu is an actress in the big, wide, chaotic world of Hollywood. She is also a performer and sings and dances at various Hollywood parties. There’s some indication of a romantic angle between Fay Zhu and Nellie, but there’s no way to tell where that is headed or how intense it is.

Playing the role of Fay Zhu is a television star, Li Jun Li. She is best recognized for her role in ABC’s crime drama, Quantico, followed by Blindspot and Wu Assassins, as well as movies like The Humbling and Ricki and the Flash. Li has also appeared in other popular shows and series like Blue Bloods, Chicago PD, etc. Since 2019, she has been appearing in CBS’s Evil.

Jovan Adepo as Sidney Palmer

Jovan Adepo as Sidney Palmer in a poster for Babylon
Image via Paramount

Sidney Palmer is the fourth main character in this story of Nellie, Jack, and Manny. He is a trumpet player who gets the opportunity to start a career in films.

Emmy-nominated British-American actor Jovan Adepo plays the role of Sidney Palmer. He had a supporting role in Fences which was nominated for several awards, followed by Overlord and The Violent Heart. Adepo has appeared in television roles in series like The Leftovers, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Sorry for Your Loss, and When They See Us. Adepo earned most recognition for his role in Watchmen, for which he got a Primetime Emmy nomination. He will next appear in the 2023 film Misanthrope and the upcoming Netflix series The Three-Body Problem.

Related:New ‘Babylon’ Featurette Teases the "Depravity and Debauchery" of Early Hollywood

Max Minghella as Irving Thalberg

Max Minghella as Irving Thalberg in Babylon
Image via Paramount

Irving Thalberg is one of the few characters of Babylon based on/inspired by real people. Thalberg was an Academy Award-winning film producer who was most recognized in the early days of Hollywood. He was fondly called The Boy Wonder by his colleagues and contemporaries for his production talent. He made popular films like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Grand Hotel, A Night at the Opera, Mutiny on the Bounty, Camille, Marie Antoinette, Mata Hari, and Romeo and Juliet, among many others.

English actor, producer, director, and screenwriter Max Minghella plays the role of Irving Thalberg. He is best known for his roles in movies like Syriana, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, and The Social Network for which he was nominated for various awards, along with Horns, Teen Spirit, etc. On television, Minghella has appeared in The Mindy Project and since 2017 has been a regular on The Handmaid’s Tale.

Other Characters in Babylon

Olivia Hamilton, Samara Weaving, Spike Jonze, Olivia Wilde, Jeff Garlin, Flea, Lukas Haas in Babylon
Image via Paramount

For a massive, star-studded project like Babylon, the story can’t be limited to the four/five main characters but moves across various others. These other characters might appear for a brief moment or in a blink-and-you-miss-it role, but each of them is significant to the story in some way or the other.

Babylon’s exhaustive cast includes Lukas Haas as George Munn, a film producer, and friend of Jack Conrad; Samara Weaving as actress Constance Moore and Nellie’s rival; Olivia Wilde as Ina Conrad, Jack’s ex-wife; Katherine Waterston as Estelle, a stage actor, and Jack’s third wife; Eric Roberts as Robert LeRoy, Nellie’s father and her manager; Jeff Garlin as Don Wallach, a studio executive who discovers Nellie’s true potential; Olivia Hamilton as Ruth Adler, a director; Spike Jonze as German film director Otto Van Strassberger, Chloe Fineman as a real-life actor, producer, and screenwriter Marion Davies.

There’s also Karina Fontes as Jen, Telvin Griffin as Reginald, Rory Scovel as The Count, P.J. Byrne as Max, Flea as Bob Levine, along with Ethan Suplee, Damon Gupton, Phoebe Tonkin, Troy Metcalf, Lewis Tan, and Shane Powers in various roles.