Pete Postlethwaite emerged as one of Britain's most respected character actors following his breakthrough in Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988). He earned an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Giuseppe Conlon in In the Name of the Father (1993), and gained widespread acclaim for his enigmatic Mr Kobayashi in The Usual Suspects (1995). His range extended across films including Brassed Off, The Constant Gardener and Inception, and he was famously described by Steven Spielberg as “the best actor in the world” — high praise from a director who cast him twice.