The Business Cast List: Actors and Actresses from The Business

If you love a good crime caper with loud shirts, louder music, and even louder accents, chances are you’ve stumbled across The Business at some point. This 2005 British crime film, written and directed by Nick Love, has quietly grown into a cult favorite thanks to its neon-soaked 1980s setting on Spain’s Costa del Sol and a cast that leans all the way into the “Costa del Crime” fantasy.

But beyond the pastel suits and synth-pop soundtrack, The Business really works because of its ensemble. The movie lives and dies on the chemistry between its cast: from Danny Dyer’s wide-eyed Frankie to Tamer Hassan’s dangerously charming Charlie, and the rest of the rogues, girlfriends, and gangsters who orbit them. If you’ve ever watched the film and thought, “Wait, where have I seen that actor before?” this cast guide is your shortcut.

Below, we’ll walk through the main actors and actresses from The Business, highlight who they play, where else you might know them from, and why this particular movie still sits so fondly in fans’ memories. We’ll also touch on similarly named projects (yes, there’s also a TV series called The Business) so you know exactly which cast list you’re dealing with.

What Is The Business About, Anyway?

The Business follows Frankie (Danny Dyer), a young cockney from South East London in the mid-1980s. After lashing out violently at his mother’s abusive boyfriend, Frankie flees the country and ends up in Spain, tasked with delivering a mysterious bag of cash to Playboy Charlie (Tamer Hassan), a British expat gangster living the high life on the Costa del Sol.

Charlie and his partners are part of the “Costa del Crime” setwanted British criminals hiding out in sunny Spain, running a lucrative drug and smuggling operation. Impressed by Frankie’s honesty and nerve, Charlie invites him into the fold. From there, Frankie’s life transforms from dreary London to a blur of money, women, fast cars, and slow consequences. As with most gangster fables, the party can’t last forever.

The film’s appeal lies in that rise-and-fall structure, the unapologetic 80s nostalgia, and performances that balance charm, menace, and dark humor. The cast is crucial to that balance, so let’s break down who’s who.

Main Cast of The Business

Danny Dyer as Frankie

Danny Dyer plays Frankie, our narrator and doorway into this flashy underworld. Frankie starts out as a regular guy who just wants to be “somebody,” and Dyer makes him relatable even as he gets pulled deeper into crime. His nervous energy at the beginning slowly evolves into swagger, but he never fully sheds that sense of being slightly out of his depthwhich is exactly what keeps audiences rooting for him.

Dyer isn’t just the star of The Business; he’s also a frequent collaborator with director Nick Love, having appeared in The Football Factory and later gaining mainstream, long-term visibility as Mick Carter on the long-running British soap EastEnders. His performance here feels like a bridge between his early “wideboy” gangster roles and the more mature dramatic work he’d go on to do.

Tamer Hassan as Charlie

If Frankie is the kid trying to get in, Charlie is the guy already at the table. Tamer Hassan’s Charlie is a charismatic, sharply dressed expat gangster who brings Frankie under his wing. He lives in a villa, runs nightclubs, and handles drug deals between Spain and the UK with an unsettling mix of charm and volatility.

Hassan, a British actor of Turkish Cypriot heritage, has had a robust career in film and TV, appearing in projects like Layer Cake, Batman Begins, Kick-Ass, the TV series Game of Thrones, and crime comedy Snatch. In The Business, he brings a believable mix of mentor, older brother, and dangerous bossone minute he’s joking at the bar, the next he’s making threats that you absolutely believe.

Geoff Bell as Sammy

Every glamorous crime operation needs at least one person you definitely don’t want to be alone in a room with. In The Business, that’s Sammy. Played by Geoff Bell, Sammy is the unpredictable enforcer whose presence constantly reminds you that under all the 80s style and sunshine, this is still a violent, high-stakes world.

Bell’s performance gives the film its edge. His other notable credits include roles in Green Street, Kingdom of Heaven, and War Horse. Here, he balances dark humor with genuine menace, often stealing scenes just by glaring across the room.

Georgina Chapman as Carly

When Frankie falls for Carly, played by Georgina Chapman, things get even more complicated. Carly is part of the glamorous world Frankie thinks he wantsbeautiful, stylish, and fully immersed in the expat scene on the Costa del Sol. Their relationship adds a romantic thread to the story, but also becomes one of the fault lines that threatens to crack the group open.

Chapman is not only an actress but also a well-known fashion designer and co-founder of the luxury fashion label Marchesa, and her fashion-world sensibility shows in the film’s sleek, 80s-inspired looks. Outside of The Business, she’s appeared in films like Factory Girl and Awake and served as a judge on Project Runway All Stars.

Roland Manookian as Sonny

Roland Manookian plays Sonny, another member of the criminal crew and one of the familiar faces that fans of Nick Love’s films will recognize from The Football Factory. His character helps round out the gang, giving the group scenes a rough, lived-in energy. Manookian has built a career largely in British crime and drama projects, making him a recognizable face for fans of the genre.

Linda Henry as Shirley

Linda Henry appears as Shirley, Frankie’s mother. While the Spain-set crime antics tend to grab most of the attention, Shirley’s scenes ground the story, reminding you where Frankie comes from and why he is so desperate to escape. Linda Henry brings emotional weight and a tough, working-class authenticity to the role.

Henry is another actor that many viewers will recognize from British television, especially from her long-running role as Shirley Carter in EastEnders. Her presence ties the film back to the gritty, domestic reality that exists outside the sun-soaked fantasy.

Camille Coduri as Nora

Camille Coduri plays Nora, adding a mix of humor and vulnerability to the supporting cast. Coduri is widely known for playing Jackie Tyler, Rose’s mum, in Doctor Who’s 2005 revival. Her appearances in The Business show the same knack for playing complicated, flawed characters who feel very real, even in a heightened world.

Supporting Actors Who Helped Build the World

While the main names are the ones you see on the poster, the supporting cast in The Business does a lot of heavy lifting. Projects like this depend on world-buildingthe bartenders, minor gangsters, hangers-on, and family members all make the Costa del Sol underworld feel populated and alive.

Notable supporting roles include:​

• Andy Parfitt as Andy – part of the wider circle of crooks and associates.
• Michael Maxwell as Jimmy – tied into the criminal operations and money flow.
• Arturo Venegas as the Mayor – giving a local, political face to the corruption that allows the gang to operate.
• Eddie Webber as Ronnie – another cog in the machine, adding to the sense of a full-fledged operation.
• Adam Bolton as Danny – one of the younger faces in the crew.
• Martin Marquez as Pepe – the mayor’s aide, bridging the world of official power and organized crime.
• Sally Watkins as Mum – adding to the story’s sense of family ties and obligations back home.

This larger cast gives The Business its texture; even small roles are memorably sketched, which is why so many fans can recall specific side characters years later.

Wait, Isn’t There Also a TV Series Called The Business?

Yesjust to make things interesting for anyone searching “The Business cast,” there’s also a Canadian TV sitcom called The Business, which aired from 2006 to 2007 on The Movie Network in Canada and IFC in the United States.

That series centers on Vic Morgenstein, a softcore adult film producer who wants to reinvent himself as a legitimate indie filmmaker. The main cast there includes:

• Rob deLeeuw as Vic Morgenstein
• Kathleen Robertson as Julia Sullivan
• Nicolas Wright as Rufus Marquez
• Trevor Hayes as Tony Russ
• James A. Woods as Lance Rawley

If you’re looking specifically for the gangster movie set on the Costa del Sol with Danny Dyer and Tamer Hassan, you want the 2005 film The Business, not the TV series or later shows with similar names. Checking for “2005 film” or “Danny Dyer” in your search usually clears things up quickly.

Why This Cast Still Resonates with Fans

So why does the cast of The Business still get talked about almost two decades later?

For one thing, the film captures a very specific era of British pop cultureboth in how it looks and who’s in it. Many of the actors were also involved in other British gangster or lad-culture films of the 2000s, so the movie feels like a reunion of familiar faces from that scene. Fans of The Football Factory, Green Street, and similar movies often think of The Business as part of that unofficial canon.

On top of that, cast members like Danny Dyer, Linda Henry, and Tamer Hassan continued to stay in the spotlight through major TV roles, interviews, and new projects. Hassan, for example, has spoken openly about the ups and downs of his career and personal life, including how heavy partying in the 2000s almost cost him his career before he turned things around with help from more seasoned actors. Those kinds of real-life stories give fans even more reason to revisit the film that helped solidify his “hardman” screen image.

Georgina Chapman’s post-film career in fashion and television, plus her continued presence at high-profile events, also keeps her connection to The Business alive in pop culture conversations.

Experiences and Memories: What It’s Like to Watch The Business with This Cast

Beyond the raw facts of the cast list, there’s the experience of actually sitting down to watch (or rewatch) The Business. If you’ve never seen it, imagine this: you hit play, and within minutes you’re dropped into a world of 1980s London frustrationtower blocks, dead-end jobs, and a protagonist who can’t quite figure out how to escape. Then the film ruthlessly upgrades you to the Costa del Sol, all sun, pools, and pastel blazers. The cast sells that transformation so convincingly that you almost feel the temperature rise.

One of the big viewer takeaways is the chemistry between Danny Dyer and Tamer Hassan. Their dynamic feels half mentor–protégé and half chaotic older brother–younger brother. When they’re laughing at the bar, you want to hang out with them; when they’re arguing over deals gone wrong, you definitely do not want to be in the room. That emotional whiplash is part of the fun: they make the criminal lifestyle look irresistibly cool right up until the exact moment when it really doesn’t.

Geoff Bell’s Sammy tends to linger in audiences’ memories as well. There’s always that one character in a crime film who makes you nervous just by showing up on screen. Sammy is that guywhether he’s cracking a joke or pointing a gun, you get the feeling things could go sideways at any moment. Viewers often say that he’s the character who reminds them that, no matter how flashy the clothes and cars are, this is still a dangerous game.

On the emotional side, Linda Henry’s and Camille Coduri’s performances give the film a sense of heart and consequence. For many viewers, scenes with the mothers and partners are where the reality of the stakes really lands. You’re not just watching “lads on tour”; you’re watching people make decisions that will echo back home, long after the party is over. Even if you came for the guns and the soundtrack, those quieter scenes tend to stick.

Another common experience for fans is the nostalgia factor. The soundtrack, the wardrobe, even the cars feel like a time capsule. For viewers who actually lived through the 80s, the film sometimes plays like a heightened memoryfamiliar but exaggerated, like a story someone tells at the pub after a couple of pints. Younger viewers, meanwhile, often treat the movie as a kind of retro fantasy: what if you could escape a grey, hopeless life and reinvent yourself somewhere sunny, even if that reinvention came with a body count?

Because the cast is so tightly tied to 2000s British crime cinema, watching The Business can also feel like revisiting a specific moment in movie history. You start recognizing faces from other films, connecting the dots between projects, and noticing how certain actors carried similar energy into later roles. It becomes less “just another gangster film” and more a snapshot of a whole micro-era of UK filmmaking and TV.

Finally, there’s the rewatch factor. Fans who return to the movie after many years often find themselves surprised by how much more they notice in the performances. Maybe you catch a look between characters you missed the first time, or a line of dialogue that hits harder now that you know how the story ends. That’s the advantage of a well-chosen ensemble: the more you watch, the more layers you see.

In short, the cast of The Business does more than just fill out a credit list. They build a world that feels messy, seductive, funny, and ultimately tragicand that’s why people keep coming back to it.

Conclusion

The Business might look, at first glance, like a straightforward British gangster flick with some flashy 80s styling. But dig into the performances and you’ll see why it’s earned cult status. From Danny Dyer’s ambitious Frankie to Tamer Hassan’s magnetic Charlie, Geoff Bell’s unhinged Sammy, Georgina Chapman’s glamorous Carly, and a strong supporting bench, the cast turns a familiar crime story into something that feels personal and oddly nostalgic.

Whether you came for the soundtrack, the outfits, the crime drama, or just to see where so many familiar British faces cut their teeth, the Business cast list is a big part of the film’s enduring charm. And if your search results keep showing you a Canadian TV comedy instead of a sun-drenched crime saga, now you know exactly which projectand which castyou’re looking for.