Nick Cave, Jamie Lee Curtis, Rami Malek, CMAT and more! The best Guardian portraits of 2025

Whether it was pop stars, athletes and Hollywood A-listers baring all or real-life heroes and fearless campaigners, Guardian photographers captured the people behind this year’s biggest stories and most revealing profiles

The panto that changed my life: ‘Aladdin showed the soothing joy of laughter

Vikki Stone’s festive tomfoolery, staged after the Covid lockdowns, captured that strange time and achieved a special giddiness

‘Geometric lines, strong colours and shadows created a striking image’: Anne Rayner’s best phone picture

A sci-fi playscape at an exhibition in Gateshead had the photographer’s granddaughter entranced

From Harry Potter to The Crying Game, Susie Figgis’s explosive enthusiasm made her an irreplaceable casting director

Producer Stephen Woolley pays tribute to Figgis, who has died aged 77, a brilliant professional whose ‘molotov cocktail personality’ enabled her work in British and Hollywood cinema

‘To be really successful, you have to be sexy in a straight way’: Ben Whishaw on libidinous New York and playing Peter Hujar

Peter Hujar captured a queer Manhattan demi-monde that is now lost to Aids. Whishaw reveals what he learned playing the photographer in a minimalist film being hailed by some as a masterpiece

Jane Austen is 250: Why We Still Love Her Novels

A few weeks ago, I was suddenly accosted by my roommate on the matter of my fondness for Jane Austen; she took umbrage at my use of the word “suitor” in the modern age. In a much perturbed and concerned tone, she asked: “Marlena, why do you like Jane Austen so much anyways? Her books are all about gossip and parties, and you don’t seem like the kind of person for that.”