Profiles

Russell Vought, Maga’s shutdown ‘bulldog’

The director of the White House office of management and budget is playing Cromwell to Trump’s Henry VIII

Max Martin & Shellback, superstar producers

The award-winning duo behind Taylor Swift’s new album exemplify the Swedish ‘music miracle’

Gabriele Finaldi, the National Gallery’s ambitious director

A gifted fundraiser, he has attracted £375m in donations and expanded the museum’s remit to contemporary art

‘I’m incredulous anyone would want to know about my life’

The actor on the perils and pleasures of being herself

The ghost in the publishing machine

As a highly successful ghostwriter, Joshua Lisec is an invisible weaver of life stories, for clients whose names he can't reveal

‘I’m wired to feel shame very easily’

The comedian and composer on love logic, coping with criticism, and why he won't cut his hair

Mark Rutte, the normal guy who became Nato’s Trump whisperer

The Dutch branded their former PM Mr Teflon. But the world won’t forget that he called the US president ‘daddy’

The evolutionary biologist with her own dramatic story

Ella Al-Shamahi is the erudite presenter of a breathtaking new series about our 300,000-year history. But her own evolution story isn’t short of drama either…

Lena Dunham is back, but avoiding the limelight

After her TV show made her a worldwide star at 24, the writer and actor withdrew to escape the constant public body shaming. But a new series is likely to change that

Alan Garber: the Harvard hero taking on Trump

The university’s low-key leader is winning plaudits across academia by refusing to give in to White House threats and intimidation

Remembering Pierre Audi, visionary founder of the Almeida

Unassuming and innovative, his work across boundaries and frontiers created the space that allowed others – from Philip Glass to Yuri Lyubimov – to shine

Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s cultural highlights

The author and screenwriter on Shakespeare with a nightclub atmosphere, drowning sculptures and the importance of mystery in art

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Welshman with the PM’s ear

Despite his junior role, this loyal Keir whisperer is positioned at the heart of Downing Street and is key to Labour’s European ambitions

Walton Goggins: the hottest hairline in town

Since dazzling in The White Lotus, Walton Goggins has been reborn as a major Hollywood star