Trivia: After studying at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts, Rupert Friend made his big-screen debut with the supporting role of Downs in the 2004 historical drama The Libertine. Art house films would prove to be a good niche for the actor, and he subsequently made waves with roles in The Moon and the Stars and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Friend then scored an even bigger break when he was cast as the title role in the 2009 Stephen Frears film Chéri. He followed that up as the male lead in the period piece The Young Victoria. He directed the short film Steve in 2010, and starred in the war drama 5 Days of War. Friend joined the Showtime hit Homeland in season 2, playing Peter Quinn, a CIA operative.

Trivia: Enjoyed art history and was accepted to several schools to study architecture. Signed by the Storm Modeling Agency at the age of 12, becoming their youngest model ever. Successfully modeled into her mid-20s before discovering acting. Her endorsements included L'Oreal, Salon Selectives and Polaroid. Studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York. Married skateboarding star Jesse Jenkins in a Las Vegas wedding chapel in 2008, but their union lasted less than two weeks. Landed her first big-screen roles in the comedy Cop Out and the drama Shame.

Trivia: Handsome American actor Zachary Quinto clocked in as an almost constant small-screen presence from the early 2000s onward. A number of his roles constituted extremely memorable ones: he was chilling as Sylar, the mutant psychopath with a flair for mutilating his victims' gray matter, in the superhero-themed NBC fantasy-drama Heroes, and (on a wholly different note) lent an undercurrent of necessary gravitas to his portrayal of God (among other actors playing the role) on the cult favorite Joan of Arcadia. Quinto also helped federal agent Jack Bauer prevent the spread of a deadly plague in season three of the blockbuster Fox drama 24, but left the series thereafter. In 2007, Quinto signed for his first major cinematic role, and a plum one at that: a portrayal of a young Mr. Spock in the 11th installment of the popular franchise, released to U.S. theaters in May 2009 and directed by Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams. The film was a smash hit, bringing Quinto much public attention. In 2011 he had a major role in the Oscar-nominated drama Margin Call, and he joined the cast of American Horror Story that same year.

Trivia: Originally trained as an Olympic swimmer, German actor Thomas Kretschmann began his career in the theater as part of the Schiller Ensemble in Berlin. In 1989, he started working steadily in German-language theater productions, television, and film. He moved to Vienna, Austria, in 1991 and won the Max Ophül prize for Best Young Actor. He broke into international feature films with the German war drama Stalingrad and the Italian thriller The Stendhal Syndrome. At this point, he was developing a knack for playing authority figures and other tough guys in action-packed situations. In addition to his numerous other appearances in European films, he gained pivotal roles in Coppia Omicida, Tease, and the American film Total Reality. In 2000, Hollywood was introduced to Kretschmann with the submarine adventure U-571 and the action thriller Blade II. Though he relocated to Hollywood, he continued working in international features for the historical epic I cavalieri che fecero l'impresa as well as Roman Polanski's The Pianist. Other projects for 2004 included a starring role in the romance Head in the Clouds and a return to submarine action for In Enemy Hands.

Trivia: An Irish actor of charisma and talent, Ciarán Hinds has applied his skills to screen, stage, and television. A towering, burly man whose jagged features make him a natural for playing strong, silent types, Hinds has won respect and recognition from critics and drooling women alike.Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on February 9, 1953, Hinds was the fifth child of a doctor and an amateur actress. He attended Belfast's Queen's University for a year with an eye toward studying law, but he left to pursue acting. After studying at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Hinds found employment with the Glasgow Citizens Company, where he made his professional debut playing the back end of a horse in Cinderella. He acted with the company for the better part of the next decade, splitting his time between Glasgow and Ireland. In 1987, he received one of his first big breaks, at the hands of esteemed director Peter Brook, who selected him as a member of his Paris-based theatrical company; the actor was soon performing all over the globe.Hinds made his film debut in John Boorman's 1981 Excalibur, but he did not make another movie until 1989. That year, he appeared in a supporting role in Peter Greenaway's stylishly horrifying The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. After sharing the screen with actors like Richard Bohringer, Tim Roth, and Excalibur co-star Helen Mirren, Hinds went on to make December Bride the next year, and in 1993 he won acclaim for his performance in the made-for-TV Hostages. Two years later, Hinds began to win recognition outside of the U.K., first for his small role as a university professor in the popular Circle of Friends and then for his more sizable performance in Roger Michell's acclaimed adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion. As Captain Frederick Wentworth, captor of heroine Anne Elliot's repressed affections, Hinds caused many an audience member to wonder where he had been for so long, and, more important, when and where he would reappear. When was the following year and where was Some Mother's Son, a drama based on a 1981 hunger strike in a Belfast prison. Hinds had a supporting role in the film, which reunited him with Mirren, but the next year he had a more substantial part in Gillian Armstrong's Oscar and Lucinda, in which he played a reverend. That character was a far cry from his next role, a man trapped in the Irish conflict in 1970s Belfast in Titanic Town (1998). In 1999, Hinds could be seen in Chris Menges' The Lost Son with Daniel Auteuil, Bruce Greenwood, and Natassja Kinski, and in Il Tempo Dell'Amore, which was shown at that year's Toronto Film Festival.The new millennium seemed to bring about something of a re-birth for Hinds' enduring career, with featured roles in such widely-seen films as The Sum of All Fears, The Road to Perdition, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, and The Phantom of the Opera hinting that Hollywood may have finally grown savvy to the impressive talents of the physically-imposing actor. Of course it wasn't all Hollywood glamor, with roles in such limited-release but critically-praised independents as The Weight of Water and Veronica Guerin, and Calendar Girls serving well to help Hinds balance out the big-budget blockbusters. In 2006 Hinds would step into the sandals of no less that Julius Caesar when he essayed the role of the notorious Roman general in HBO's lavish historical drama Rome, with a subsequent role in director Steven Spielberg's 2005 drama Munich preceding a turn as a hard-charging FBI agent in Michael Mann's high-octane action thriller Miamy Vice in 2006. In 2007 he played the closest associate of oil tycoon Daniel Plainview in Paul Thomas Anderson' Oscar-winning There Will Be Blood, and appeared in Margot at the Wedding. He was in Todd Solondz's sort-of sequel to Happiness, Life During Wartime, and was prominent in the well-reviewed 2011 adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He joined the cast of Harry Potter in that successful series' final entry, and a very busy 2012 found him with major roles in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, The Woman in Black, and providing a voice in the infamous box-office flop John Carter.In addition to his screen work, Hinds has kept busy both on television and the stage. On the small screen, he has appeared in series like Prime Suspect 3 (1993), A Dark Adapted Eye (1994), Jane Eyre (1997), and Ivanhoe (also 1997). On the stage, Hinds has taken part in a number of productions, perhaps most notably the London and Broadway productions of Patrick Marber's Closer in 1998 and 1999. As part of an ensemble cast including Natasha Richardson, Rupert Graves, and Anna Friel, Hinds won raves for his work, further establishing himself as an actor of international acclaim.

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: An actor since the age of 14, Berlin-born Jürgen Prochnow was firmly established on stage and TV when he was featured in his first film, Zoff, in 1971. Prochnow has been able to harness his well-modulated voice, versatile facial features, and athletic frame to portray both the most admirable of heroes and the most despicable of villains. It was for his portrayal of a character in the former category that the actor achieved international fame. He appeared as the stern but humanistic submarine commander in the 1981 Oscar-winning Das Boot. In the latter category, Prochnow all but entreated hisses and tossed tomatoes with his portrayal of the sadistic South African secret police captain in 1989's A Dry White Season. Prochnow's career has subsequently had its fair share of highs and lows, with his appearances in such high profile projects as The English Patient (1996), Air Force One (1997), and The Replacement Killers (1998) helping to sustain him as a fixture in international cinema. Over the coming decades, Prochnow would remain an active force on screen, appearing in a host of German projects, as well as projects like The Da Vinci Code and Beerfest, and the TV series 24.