Trivia: Like other Saturday Night Live alumni, Julia Louis-Dreyfus made the move to feature films, but she achieved true stardom on TV as Seinfeld's inimitable Elaine Benes. Born to an affluent family and raised in Washington, D.C., Louis-Dreyfus studied theater at Northwestern University. Along with working as a member of The Practical Theater Company, Louis-Dreyfus cut her sharp comic teeth as part of Chicago's Second City troupe. She soon followed in the footsteps of prior Second City-ers John Belushi and Bill Murray, joining the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live from 1982 to 1985 (along with Northwestern classmate and eventual husband Brad Hall). Louis-Dreyfus bounced to films with appearances in Soul Man (1986), Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), before returning to TV on the second episode of a low-rated NBC primetime sitcom starring comedian Jerry Seinfeld in 1990.As Jerry's ex-girlfriend-turned-pal Elaine, Louis-Dreyfus proved that she could hold her own as the sole female member of Seinfeld's do-nothing quartet of neurotic New Yorkers. With her "big wall of hair," signature shoes and penchant for over-enthusiastic exclamations, Louis-Dreyfus' Elaine was no mere foil, but rather a full participant in the show's increasingly popular, irony-laden comic shenanigans. Along with winning an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1996, Louis-Dreyfus won the Golden Globe in 1994 and the Screen Actor's Guild award in 1997 and 1998. During Seinfeld's phenomenally successful nine-year run, Louis-Dreyfus also played supporting roles in North (1994), Father's Day (1997), and as a libidinous sister in Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry (1997). After Seinfeld went off the air in 1998, Dreyfus took some time off from appearing in front of the camera to spend time with her husband and two sons, but she did the voice of Princess Atta in the Pixar animated blockbuster A Bug's Life (1998).Louis-Dreyfus subsequently returned to TV as the Blue Fairy in the TV movie musical Gepetto (2000) before attempting another sitcom. After two of her Seinfeld co-stars failed to make their own series fly in 2000 and 2001, Louis-Dreyfus opted for a non-traditional approach, playing a struggling lounge singer in the real time, laugh track free Watching Ellie in 2002. Louis-Dreyfus would continue to remain one of the most beloved comedic actresses in TV, starring on The New Adventures of Old Christine, and the political satire Veep.

Trivia: For fans of the cult-favorite series Arrested Development, Tony Hale's spectacled face is all too familiar. He charmed and terrified a legion of fans as Buster, the most titularly immature of the adult siblings on the show from 2003 to 2006, but Hale's career has extended far beyond the borders of this one tragically canceled series. He attended the Young Actors Theatre in his home state of Florida, and in 1992 earned a degree in journalism from Alabama's Samford University. He went on to earn his master's from the School of Communication and the Arts at Regent University in Virginia before moving to New York to begin his professional acting career. In addition to various TV appearances, Hale filled out his résumé in these early years with commercials, including an iconic ad for Volkswagen in which he enthusiastically lip synced to "Mr. Roboto" by Styx from the front seat of a VW Golf. He also helped found a Christian ministry called the Haven, which is geared toward artistically minded parishioners. In addition to Arrested Development, Hale has appeared in other major films and TV shows like Stranger Than Fiction and Unaccompanied Minors. Appearances on such popular shows as Chuck, Numb3ers, Community, Justified, and Veep made him something of a small screen staple following the cancellation of Arrested Development, and in addition to his many live-aciton roles, Hale has also lent his distinctive voice to animated features like 2008's The Tale of Despereaux.

Trivia: Though fourth-billed in her first film, My Girl (1991), 9-year-old advertising model Anna Chlumsky was clearly the star. Playing a mortician's daughter learning about life and love in the early 1970s, Anna made one of the more auspicious movie debuts in recent memory; she also administered the first screen kiss to juvenile superstar Macauley Culkin. Chlumsky would go on to appear as a child actor in films like My Girl 2 (1993), Trading Mom (1994) and Golddiggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995), but eventually transitioned successfully into adult roles with 2007's Blood Car, and acclaimed series like In the Loop, White Collar and Veep.

Trivia: Founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade with comedians Matt Besser, Amy Poehler and Ian Roberts. They met while studying at the ImprovOlympics Theater in Chicago. Cowrote and starred in the 2003 movie Martin & Orloff. Hosts a sports podcast called Bear Down, about the Chicago Bears.

Trivia: Fell in love with acting after his mother encouraged him to join the drama club in the sixth grade to help curb a stuttering problem. As a teenager, briefly attended an all-boys military academy, where he performed in school productions of Dead Poets Society and various Shakespearean plays. Landed guest stints on That '70s Show, What I Like About You, American Dreams and Bones. Breakout role was on the controversial 2003 sitcom It's All Relative. In 2006, joined the cast of My Boys, TBS's first original sitcom.

Trivia: Started acting in college as a member of the Maine Masque, the University of Maine's student theater group. Spent several years after college in Chicago's independent-theater scene before moving to Los Angeles in 2008. Early acting work in Los Angeles included commercials for Best Buy, Honda and Bank of America. An appearance as Abe Lincoln in a 2010 spot for Geico Insurance was seen by a casting director, which led to an audition for HBO's Veep.

Trivia: Grew up in a large family on Chicago's West Side. Childhood experiences inspired her to produce New Leaves, a documentary about the choices faced by inner-city youth. Is a proponent of community activism and has volunteered for Humanity for the Homeless, mentored teens in acting and dance, and taken part in the charity IBG Inc.'s benefit for the East Los Angeles Women's Center.

Trivia: The genial, slightly stocky Hollywood character actor Kevin Dunn graced the casts of some of the highest grossing and most enjoyable A-listers of the '80s, '90s, and 2000s. With a pleasant (if unremarkable) countenance, this brother of Second City veteran (and onetime Saturday Night Live mainstay) Nora Dunn cut his chops playing everymen in American movies and one-shot television episodes. Kevin Dunn lacked the sketch comedy background of his arguably more famous sibling but quickly chalked up an equally extensive resumé at about the same time.Dunn debuted on camera in the mid-'80s, with a recurring role on the series comedy drama Jack & Mike (1986), co-starring Shelley Hack and Tom Mason, but Alan Parker's harrowing civil-rights drama Mississippi Burning (in which he played Agent Bird) marked his first real breakthrough. From that point on, he became ever-present in such blockbusters as Ghostbusters 2 (1989), Blue Steel (1990), Only the Lonely (1991), Hot Shots! (1991), Chaplin (1992), and Dave (1993). Directors often cast Dunn as an emotional (or political) support to a heavy, such as his brief evocation of Nixon aide (and eventual Christian spokesperson) Chuck Colson in Oliver Stone's biopic Nixon (1995), that of Lou Logan (opposite Nicolas Cage) in Brian De Palma's muddled, flawed paranoid thriller Snake Eyes (1998), and that of Alex (alongside Sean Penn) in the political drama All The King's Men (2006). In 2007, Dunn appeared in the blockbuster action hit Transformers as Ron Witwicky, the father of lead actor Shia LaBeouf's character, Sam. Dunn also had a role in the underperforming Tom Cruise/Robert Redford/Meryl Streep drama Lions for Lambs. In the fall of that year, Dunn found success on the sitcom Samantha Who? as the father of the amnesia-afflicted main character (Christina Applegate).He was part of the cast of Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and played a bad guy in the runaway train thriller Unstoppable. In 2011 he appeared in the well-reviewed MMA drama Warrior, and the blockbuster Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The next year he was cast in the one and only season of HBO's racetrack set drama series Luck.

Trivia: Whether following in the footsteps of the seemingly irreplaceable Robert Reed as the all-wise patriarch of the Brady clan or raising the ire of a nation of embittered office workers as the blissfully malevolent Lumbergh in Mike Judge's popular workplace comedy Office Space, longtime character actor Gary Cole can always be depended on to bring life to his varied and oddly endearing characters, despite their sometimes questionable motivations. Even in his earliest role as Snoopy in a high school production of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, the Park Ridge, IL, native knew his destiny lay on the stage; from that moment straight through Cole's higher education at Illinois State University, his dedication to the theater never wavered. So dedicated was Cole that, during his third year at I.S.U., the eager up-and-comer dropped out to help found the Remains Theater. Transferring over to Chicago's acclaimed Steppenwolf Theater in 1985, Cole quickly made a name for himself in such productions as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Balm in Gilead. Though Cole had essayed a handful of television roles in the early '80s, it wasn't until his breakthrough role as a suspected murderer in the 1984 made-for-television feature Fatal Vision that audiences truly began to take notice. Cole's role as the drug-addicted son of an alcoholic father in the 1986 made-for-TV drama Vital Signs showed that he undoubtedly had the chops to make it on the small screen. Despite an increase in television roles, the ambitious actor continued to impress on the stage as well. Cole's first taste of weekly series life came with his role as a former cop who finds redemption as a late-night radio talk show host in the 1989 series Midnight Caller. In the following decade, he would expand his career into feature film territory. Cole's silver-screen career began with a role as a Secret Service agent in the Clint Eastwood thriller In the Line of Fire (1993), and his natural skills onscreen lent a surprising amount of depth to the supporting role. A few supporting television performances were quick to follow, and in 1995, Cole cracked up audiences with his role as suburban philosopher Mike Brady in the hit comedy The Brady Bunch Movie. Cole would reprise the role in the following year's sequel A Very Brady Sequel, but not before returning to series work as the sheriff in the short-lived, but well-loved, oddity American Gothic. As his feature career gained momentum, Cole still remained loyal to the stage and small screen. In 1998, a role in the acclaimed HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon found him going as strong as ever, and on the heels of supporting roles in A Simple Plan and I'll Be Home for Christmas, Cole played what was perhaps his most widely recognized role to date in Office Space (1999). Cast as by-the-books corporate figurehead William "Bill" Lumbergh, Cole delivered a performance that was pure comic gold for anyone who has weathered the never-ending drone of life in cubicle-land. In 2001, Cole loaned his voice to the hit "Adult Swim" cartoon Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, playing several characters, including Birdman himself. The next year, Cole continued to dabble in animated television with his performance as the titular character's father in the hit series Kim Possible. Back on the big screen, he took the role of the villainous heavy in the Eddie Murphy/Owen Wilson comedy I Spy and returned to the role of Mike Brady in the made-for-television sequel, The Brady Bunch in the White House. In 2003, he was cast in the recurring role of new Vice President "Bingo Bob" Russell for the fifth season of the critically acclaimed dramatic series The West Wing. The popular character actor could also be seen in supporting capacity in the 2004 comedies Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.Cole maintained his status as a talented comic with a series of vocal performances on the animated television show The Family Guy, while showcasing his versatility by appearing in the sequel to the American version of The Ring. In 2006 he played opposite Will Ferrell in the NASCAR comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. He appeared in the spy drama Breach, and lent a scary presence to the pot comedy Pineapple Express. He became a part of the HBO series Entourage for that show's final two seasons, and in 2011 he was in the hit family comedy Hop.

Trivia: British comedian Hugh Laurie could have easily taken another career track rather than that of well-known performer. As a secondary and college student, he was also a world-class oarsman. He wasn't the only one in the family to have a passion for the sport, however. His father won a gold medal at the 1948 London Olympics as part of the British national team. The youngest of four children, Laurie went to Eton College, perhaps Britain's best-known preparatory school. During his time there, he became involved in rowing. He quickly became one of the nation's best, and in 1977, he became one half of the national junior champion coxed pair. In the world junior championships held in Finland that year, he and his teammate finished fourth in the world.The following year, Laurie entered Cambridge University, with the intention of studying archeology and anthropology. He was also intent on joining the prestigious rowing team, which he had little problem doing. He reportedly became ill during his first year, however, and was forced to withdraw from the rowing competitions. While regaining his health, Laurie had his first experiences as a performer by getting involved with "the Footlights Club," a famed undergraduate comedy revue group. In his last year at Cambridge, Laurie was elected president of the club, with fellow Footlighter Emma Thompson acting as vice president.Traditionally, at the end of the year, the Footlights take their act on the road throughout the nation. While on these tours, Laurie met, via Thompson, a young playwright named Stephen Fry. They collaborated on a sketch called "The Cellar Tapes," which they entered in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1981. They were awarded "Pick of the Fringe," enabling the duo, along with the other Footlight performers (including Thompson) to go on tour throughout England and, eventually, Australia. Soon thereafter, Laurie, Fry, Thompson, Robbie Coltrane, and Ben Elton formed the television sketch program Alfresco, eventually leading Laurie to the famous (in Britain, at least) Black Adder series, headed by Rowan Atkinson, and also to the Jeeves & Wooster series with Fry. It wasn't long after these successes that he began appearing in films. In 1992, he appeared alongside fellow comedians Fry and Thompson, as well as Kenneth Branagh and Rita Rudner, in the ensemble comedy Peter's Friends. He subsequently did outstanding work as a character actor in such films as Sense and Sensibility (1995) and 101 Dalmatians (1996). In 1999, he took the lead in the adaptation of E.B. White's Stuart Little, playing the adopted father to a walking, talking, fully dressed mouse, a role he'd reprise in the film's 2002 sequel Stuart Little 2.After a two-year absence from the big screen, Laurie returned to the multiplexes in 2004 with a supporting role in Flight of the Phoenix, a remake of the 1965 James Stewart action-adventure film about a group of plane-crash survivors who attempt to build a new plane from the wreckage. That same year, Laurie essayed the titular role as the cynical but brilliant Dr. Gregory House in the prime-time Fox medical drama House, for which he would win a number of Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor in a TV Series Drama.Laurie is also a musician of note, performing as a keyboardist with the rock band Poor White Trash. He added yet another profession to his lengthy list of accomplishments when, in 1996, he published his first novel, The Gun Seller. Married since 1989, he has three children with his wife, Jo.

Trivia: Split his time between Detroit and Ghana while growing up due to his mother's Ghanaian nationality. Began studying improv comedy as a teenager and performing in stage productions at his high school. Is an alumni of Second City Chicago Mainstage. During his time at Second City, wrote and performed in two original revues, Spoiler Alert Everybody Dies and Southside of Heaven, which earned him nominations for the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actor in a Revue for two consecutive years in 2010 and 2011. Performed at the Just for Laughs Montreal Fresh Faces of Characters showcase in 2012. In 2016, was honored at Wayne State University's 37th Arts Achievement Awards with the Career Achievement Award in the Field of Theatre.

Trivia: American character actress Kathy Najimy specializes in offbeat, theatrical characters. A substantial and energetic woman with distinctive curly hair and exotic features, Najimy has appeared on-stage, in feature films, and on television. She has also voiced cartoons. Film credits include The Fisher King, Soapdish (both 1991), Sister Act (1992), and Jeffrey (1996). In 1996, she appeared -- over 100 pounds thinner -- for a brief but memorable recurring role as a manic-depressive psychiatrist on the CBS TV series Chicago Hope. In 1997, she became a regular on the Kirstie Alley sitcom Veronica's Closet. Beginning in 1997 she spent thirteen seasons voicing Peggy Hill, the wife to tried and true Texan Hank Hill on the animated series King of the Hill. During the run of the show she appeared in a variety of big-screen projects including Bride of Chucky, Rat Race, Scream Team, and Say Uncle. She landed a recurring role on the TV series Numb3rs, and joined the Pixar family when she lent her vocal talents to WALL-E in 2008.

Trivia: Was a member of the Chi Phi fraternity at Florida State University. Performed for five years with the Second City comedy troupe in Chicago. Is a founding member of the improv groups ZUMPF, 4 Square and Train Wreck. Voiced the character of Raiden in the video game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks.

Trivia: With his extremely tall, imposing figure and gray-white hair, character actor John Slattery specialized in utterly convincing portrayals of stoic businessmen, office workers, politicians, and other suits, whenever a film called for one. This typecasting rendered Slattery laudably versatile and prolific; his credits include such multi-genre blockbusters as City Hall (1996), Bad Company (2002), Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004, in the Jerry Orbach role of the disapproving father), and Flags of Our Fathers (2006). On television, Slattery memorably appeared in guest roles on such popular series as Sex and the City (as a politician wooing Carrie), Will & Grace (as Will's older brother), and Law & Order. He found work as a regular on shows like K Street and Jack & Bobby, and appeared in recurring roles on Ed (as a high-school principal) and Desperate Housewives, for which he again played a politician, this time wooing and marrying Gabrielle (Eva Longoria). In 2007 he was cast as Roger Sterling in the AMC drama Mad Men, a show that would win the Emmy for Best Drama Series multiple times and earned the actor multiple Emmy nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. The show boosted his film career helping to land him the part of Tony Stark's father in Iron Man 2, and playing a mysterious figure in the time-travel thriller The Adjustment Bureau.

Trivia: Got hooked on acting in seventh grade in a production of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner. Half-sister is Julia Louis-Dreyfus (they have the same mother), who helped her get a role on Seinfeld, playing a waitress at Monk's (the one George thought was flipping him off); also appeared in Louis-Dreyfus vehicles The New Adventures of Old Christine and Watching Ellie, playing Ellie's sister. Seinfeld connection also includes an appearance on cocreator Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm in Season 8 with her husband, Patrick Fischler (as Stu, the guy who hugs a lot). Has done a PSA for the It Gets Better antibullying campaign.

Trivia: First making an impression on the collective filmgoing consciousness as the resident bad-ass of the teen horror flick The Faculty (1998), Clea Duvall has managed to stand out among the crowd of young actors who gained seemingly overnight fame during the late '90s. Strong-jawed and sharp-eyed, Duvall developed an interest in acting at an early age. Born in Los Angeles on September 25, 1977, she attended the Los Angeles High School of the Arts and got her professional start on television, making occasional appearances on a variety of shows including E.R. and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. After minor work in a couple of independent films, Duvall nabbed her role in The Faculty, starring as a moody goth girl alongside such up-and-comers as Elijah Wood, Shawn Hatosy, and Josh Hartnett. The film was a fairly substantial box-office success, and in 1999 Duvall could be seen in no less than three more films. In The Astronaut's Wife she played Charlize Theron's sister, while Girl, Interrupted cast her as a resident of a mental hospital occupied by the likes of Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie. Duvall also starred as an unwilling patient of another kind of rehab in But I'm a Cheerleader: a comedy-satire about Megan (Natasha Lyonne), a high school cheerleader who is sent to a sort of straight rehab camp for gay teens, Duvall played a tattooed young lesbian who teaches Megan how to cheer for the other team. In 2003 she co-starred with Sean Penn and Naomi Watts in the award-winning drama 21 Grams, and played a leading role in the HBO series Carnivale. Though the show was canceled after only two seasons, Duvall received no small amount of praise for her turn as a member of a traveling circus during The Great Depression. She played a small supporting role in Zodiac (2007), a docudrama chronicling the gruesome story of the serial murderer known as the Zodiac killer. In 2012 she took on another supporting role in Argo, docudrama depicting the efforts to save a group of American diplomats after militants seize control of the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the height of the Iranian Revolution.

Trivia: Realized that she was funny while competing in a "Comedy Sports" competition in high school. Was obsessed with Saturday Night Live as a child and dressed up as a different SNL sketch character every Halloween. Attended college with actor-comedian Jack McBrayer. Taught French for two years with Teach for America at TL Weston High School in Greenville, MS. Honed her comedic chops at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York, and has taught improv classes at the U.C.B. training center. Cocreated and starred in the two-character show The Adventures of Lock & Kay. Found critical success in the one-woman show She Tried to Be Normal.

Trivia: American actor/writer Brian Doyle-Murray began his professional performing career at Chicago's Second City comedy troupe. Once established, Brian was instrumental in bringing his younger brother Bill into Second City. While Bill Murray's star ascended, Brian stayed busy as a writer and comic character actor. He co-wrote the 1980 comedy hit Caddyshack and had choice supporting roles in such films as Modern Problems (1981), Club Paradise (1986) and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989). Brian has also appeared to excellent effect in several of his brother Bill's starring features, most recently in the hilarious role of the lugubrious mayor of Punxsutawney in Groundhog Day (1993). One of the staff writers of the earliest years of Saturday Night Live, Brian Doyle-Murray has remained active on television as a guest actor, as a regular on the 1991 sitcom Good Sports, and in such made for TV movies as Babe Ruth (1991).

Trivia: Fell in love with acting at age 15 when she was a chorus member in her high school's production of Pippin. Appeared in commercials for Polaroid and Vonage. First high-profile role was in 2007's Lions for Lambs. Landed a recurring role as Angela on Fox's Sons of Tucson in 2010. Has done love scenes on stage but never in front of television or movie cameras; first on-screen television kiss appears during the first season of Monday Mornings.

Trivia: Son of writer-director Howard Franklin, he began working on film sets at the age of 17. Worked as an assistant to magician-actor Ricky Jay and producer Stuart Cornfeld. Received an award for excellence from the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Had recurring roles on New Girl, Veep and black-ish at the same time in 2016.

Trivia: Created an Asian American theater group called Lapu the Coyote That Cares, with two friends in college. Performs sketch comedy with his friend Marques Ray. His first regular acting role was on Nick Cannon's Wild 'N Out in 2006. Is a frequent contributor to Channel 101, an online TV network.