Trivia: After gaining a cult following with the online sketch group Lonely Island, Andy Samberg shot to stardom with the Gen-Y crowd in 2005 when he was added to the cast of Saturday Night Live. His first crack at the big screen came in 2007, when he was cast as the lead in Hot Rod, a comedy about a motorcycle daredevil directed by Samberg's Lonely Island cohort Akiva Schaffer. He voiced the lead animal in the animated Space Chimps, and appeared in I Love You, Man. The SNL Digital Shorts he created with his longtime collaborators helped make him one of the most popular members of the cast during his stint on that show and in 2012 he got to play opposite one of the venerable program's most celebrated alumni when he was cast as Adam Sandler's son in the comedy That's My Boy.

Trivia: Descended from a viscount who served as Britain's Secretary of War at the turn of the 19th century, and is a nephew of a baronet; the family is listed in Burke's Peerage. Originally planned to be a journalist before deciding on acting. Starred in the World War I stage drama War Horse in London immediately after graduating from drama school. Made his TV debut in Game of Thrones. Named the face of Jimmy Choo in 2015. Played the title role in Doctor Faustus at the Duke of York Theatre in the West End in 2016.

Trivia: One of the most celebrated professional tennis players of the early 21st century, Serena Williams entered the ranks of that sport alongside her older sister Venus. The two did so thanks to the prompting of their dad, onetime security company owner Richard Williams, who had apparently witnessed the astronomical salaries given tennis players and promptly ushered two of his daughters onto the courts after learning the sport himself via instructional videos. The gambit paid off, as each Williams girl battled her way to the very pinnacle of the tennis leagues and earned the number one spot. Serena's records included winning eight Grand Slam singles titles and the Australian Open, and netting an Olympic gold medal in women's doubles, and she also made international headlines by signing a 40-million-dollar endorsement contract with Reebok -- one of the highest such contracts in all of women's sports at the time of its finalization. Serena later began an acting career, with television appearances on such series as The Simpsons (2001), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2004), and ER (2005). She also was a stockcar-driving participant in the competitive reality series Fast Cars & Superstars (2007), in which she squared off against John Elway and Laird Hamilton.

Trivia: As an amateur in 1977, won mixed doubles at Wimbledon with Mary Carillo, and made the semifinals in singles. Won NCAA singles and team titles with Stanford in 1978, the year he also turned pro. Won first Grand Slam event in 1979 (U.S. Open). Won 10 singles events and 17 doubles events. Best year came in 1984, when he went 82-3 in matches, and won 13 singles titles. In his career, he won titles at four U.S. Opens and three Wimbledons, but lost to Bjorn Borg in 1980 in a final many call the best in Wimbledon history. Won 57 doubles titles with partner Peter Fleming. With his tennis career winding down, he opened an art gallery in Manhattan and started a rock group, the Johnny Smyth Band, in the 1990s. Starred in a TV game show (The Chair) and his own talk show (McEnroe). His 2002 autobiography, You Cannot Be Serious, was a best-seller. Continues to play tennis on senior tours.

Trivia: Star tennis player Chris Evert was featured in a few films of the 1990s.

Trivia: Has African, Cuban, Irish, Scottish, and Australian heritage. Left Harvard University during her senior year in 1988; returned to finish her degree in 2000. Began broadcast career as a producer and writer for WBZ-TV in Boston. Was part of the team that worked on the CNN coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which won the network a Peabody Award. Was awarded the NAACP President's Award in 2007. Her first book, Latino in America, was published in October of 2009. Founded Starfish Media Group, a production company aimed at telling powerful real life stories, in February 2013.

Trivia: Accomplished British actor Michael Sheen was born in Wales and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. As a performer at the Royal National Theatre as well as on Broadway, some of his theatrical credits include Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger, Henry V in Henry V, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Amadeus. In 1993 he made his television debut as a mentally challenged abandoned kid in the BBC miniseries Gallowglass. His made his feature-film debut two years later as Loco Oliver Parker's Othello, followed by a small part in Stephen Frears' Mary Reilly. Perhaps his best-known role to U.S. audiences was his portrayal of Robbie Ross, the close personal friend of literary icon Oscar Wilde (played by Stephen Fry) in Wilde (1997). As a voice actor, Sheen has read several of Wilde's works and other works of classic literature for Naxos Audio Books. He's also contributed to many programs for BBC Radio 4 and World Service. After he and actress Kate Beckinsale had their first child, he starred in the independent drama Heartlands and made a small appearance in the Victorian-era adventure The Four Feathers. In 2003 he was cast as werewolf leader Lucien in Len Wiseman's action fantasy Underworld, with Beckinsale starring as the vampire warrior on the opposing side of an immortal battle. The same year he completed work on sci-fi adventure Timeline, the stylish period film Bright Young Things, and the romantic comedy Laws of Attraction.He continued to work steadily, but enjoyed his biggest breakthrough returning to the role of Tony Blair for director Stephen Frears when he played opposite Helen Mirren in The Queen. Two years later he would play David Frost to Frank Langella's Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon, a part he played on stage as well. He had a memorable turn as football manager Brian Clough in the sports drama The Damned United, and played Tony Blair again in the made for cable The Special Relationship. He became part of the Twilight series, taking the part of Aro in New Moon, and sticking with the franchise all the way through to the conclusion.In 2011 he played a pontificating intellectual in Woody Allen's Oscar-winning Midnight in Paris, and two years later he appeared opposite Tina Fey and Paul Rudd in the comedy Admission. In 2013, he began a starring role in Showtime's Masters of Sex, playing human sexuality researcher William Masters.

Trivia: Comedian, actress and writer Lena Dunham caught the attention of greats in her industry when she wrote, direct, and starred in her first film, Tiny Furniture in 2010, winning Best Narrative Feature at the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference. The then 24 year old had studied creative writing at Oberlin College, and soon scored a production deal with HBO for her own series, Girls, executive produced by Judd Apatow. Dunham wrote, directed, and starred in the series, and would garner much acclaim and numerous awards and nominations for the show.

Trivia: A comedic actor whose legacy is deeply intertwined with his long-standing involvement as a performer on NBC's Saturday Night Live, Fred Armisen graduated to on-camera work via an unlikely and wholly circuitous route. He studied film production at New York City's School of Visual Arts, then enjoyed a stint as a drummer in several punk bands including Trenchmouth and Those Bastard Souls, and performed with the Chicago production of the Blue Man Group. Shortly thereafter, Armisen authored a comedic short, Fred Armisen's Guide to Music and SXSW, which found him tooling through the South by Southwest Music Festival and conducting Sacha Baron Cohen-style parodistic interviews with legitimate musicians (most fully unaware of the joke being played). Upon playing at underground film festivals, that short turned the heads of HBO executives and prompted the network not only to sign Armisen as a regular correspondent on their music seires Reverb (a look at blossoming talent in the world of music), but to give him comedic interstitial segues in between regular programs, entitled Fred.From there, it was only a short leap to SNL stardom, and executive producer/creator Lorne Michaels brought Armisen in for a multi-season tenure beginning in 2002. On that program, as in his comedy shorts and standup acts, Armisen displayed a proclivity for sinking so completely into character that it became frequently difficult to separate the actor from the role; recurring characterizations included Martin Scorsese, Liberace, Tony Danza, Vicente Fox, and others. Armisen also landed supporting roles and cameo appearances in big-screen comedies; these included Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), the same year's Eurotrip (in a memorable bit as a creepy gay Italian), Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny (2006), and Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (2007). In 2008, Armisen tackled a supporting role in the workplace comedy The Promotion, starring Seann William Scott, John C. Reilly, and Jenna Fischer.He continued to land small roles in big-screen comedies such as Easy A, Cop Out, and Confessions of a Shopoholic, but his first big success outside of SNL came when he teamed up with longtime friend and musician Carrie Brownstein to create, write, and star in Portlandia, a sketch-comedy show about Portland that aired on IFC. The series earned critical raves, and enough buzz to earn a second season.Though he married Mad Men actress Elizabeth Moss in 2009, their union lasted just ten months, and his next high-profile relationship was with his fellow SNL castmate Abby Elliot.

Trivia: Curly haired, sandy-voiced actress Mary Steenburgen is a natural when it comes to playing Southerners, probably because she hails from the region herself. Born in Arkansas on February 8, 1953, Steenburgen was the daughter of a railroad employee. Pursuing drama in college, she headed to New York in 1972, where she worked with an improvisational troupe. She was spotted by Jack Nicholson, who cast her as his feisty "in name only" frontier wife in 1978's Goin' South. Two years later, she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Melvin Dummar's inamorata in Melvin and Howard (1980).Able to convey a wide age and character range, Steenburgen was effectively cast as a free-spirited Frisco girl in Time After Time (1979), the corseted matriarch of a turn-of-the-century household in Ragtime (1981), prim authoress Marjorie Rawlins in Cross Creek (1983), a long-suffering suburban housewife in Parenthood (1989), and a Marcia Clark-like attorney in Philadelphia (1993). She also portrayed the Jules Verne-loving Western schoolmarm Clara in Back to the Future 3 (1990), a role she perpetuated (via voice-over) on the Back to the Future TV cartoon series. In 1988, she was executive producer of End of the Line, in which she also appeared. Steenburgen's film appearances throughout the 1990s were erratic: some highlights, in addition to Philadelphia, include What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Nixon (1995), and The Grass Harp (1995). In 1999, she starred as Noah's wife in the biblical epic Noah's Ark, sharing the screen with the likes of Jon Voight, F. Murray Abraham, James Coburn, and Carol Kane. As the 21st century began, Steenburgen continued to work steadily in projects such as Life as a House, I Am Sam, Sunshine State, and Elf. She was cast in the CBS drama Joan of Arcadia in 2003. In 2006 she appeared in David Lynch's Inland Empire, and the next year she starred opposite Jodie Foster in the vigilante drama The Brave One. She was cast in the comedies Step Brothers and Four Christmases in 2008, and in 2011 she was the editor who inspires the main character to write the book in The Help.Formerly married for several years to actor Malcolm McDowell, Steenburgen married former Cheers star Ted Danson in 1995. The two have collaborated on a number of projects, including 1994's Pontiac Moon and the made-for-TV Gulliver's Travels in 1996.

Trivia: Can play the piano. Got her start in youth theater productions. Attended Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, whose alumni include Doctor Who actors William Hartnell and Bonnie Langford and Doctor Who director Graeme Harper. Played several characters on the sketch-comedy series The Kevin Bishop Show. Portrayed a soothsayer in the 2008 Doctor Who episode "The Fires of Pompeii" before landing the role of the Doctor's companion, Amy Pond.

Trivia: A graduate -- like Will Ferrell, Kathy Griffin, and many others -- of the famed Groundlings comedy troupe in Southern California, comic-turned-actor/screenwriter Will Forte segued from that stage ensemble into a series of small-screen producing assignments, on such sitcoms as 3rd Rock From the Sun and That '70s Show. Forte only began to gain national attention, however, when he signed on as one of the regular cast members of Saturday Night Live in 2002. Within the framework of that series, the comic parlayed his versatile all-American winsomeness into a host of diverse characterizations including President George W. Bush, The Falconer, Senator Zell Miller, and Tim Calhoun. Meanwhile, he also authored scripts for Late Night with David Letterman on the side and penned a feature script, for the comic vehicle The Brothers Solomon (2007), in which he also starred opposite Will Arnett. In that picture, the men played John and Dean Solomon, two socially hopeless brothers desperate to find a woman to have their baby, to fulfill their dying father's last wish. At about the same time, Forte also joined scripters Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and others by contributing to the screenplay of the teen sex comedy Parental Guidance Suggested (2007). As an actor, Forte's resumé also includes roles in such comic romps as Beerfest (2006) and Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. In 2008 he had a small part in Tina Fey's Baby Mama, and the next year he appeared in the Broken Lizard vehicle The Slammin' Salmon. In 2010 he wrote and starred in a big-screen adaptation of his recurring SNL character MacGruber, but the film met a chilly box office reception. In 2012 he had a part in the jukebox musical Rock of Ages.

Trivia: He may have gotten his start in standup comedy by a fluke, but don't be fooled by his early good fortune -- funnyman Howie Mandel is certainly the real deal. From the stage to the screen, and virtually every medium in between, Mandel has not only proven adept at playing the clown, but with his enduring role on the popular 1980s television drama St. Elsewhere, straight and affecting drama as well. It was during a business trip to Los Angeles in 1979 that the Toronto native, goaded on by friends while watching the comics at The Comedy Store's amateur night, first took the stage to surprising effect. The wild card that evening turned out to be a producer who just happened to be in the crowd, and Mandel was immediately hired for an appearance on the popular comedy game show Make Me Laugh. He subsequently performed on television talk shows and opened for such luminaries as Diana Ross, and it wasn't long before he was approached to appear on the fledgling television drama St. Elsewhere. Cast as dedicated Dr. Wayne Fiscus, Mandel remained with the show that launched his career for the entire duration of its six-season run, gaining legions of fans and even a few Emmy nominations. Though Mandel remained loyal to St. Elsewhere for the entirety of its television run, a series of side jobs provided his career with the momentum to succeed after the series was canceled in 1988. Mandel permanently ingrained himself in the pop-culture lexicon as the voice of Gizmo in the 1984 hit Gremlins and as a multitude of characters on the popular cartoon Muppet Babies. He cracked up audiences with a rollicking appearance on Comic Relief in 1986, and he could frequently be spotted on-stage sporting a blown up rubber glove over the top half of his head and slaying audiences with his hilarious baby voice. Although Mandel would try his hand at features with both Walk Like a Man (1987) and Little Monsters (1989), neither film proved the powerhouse hit needed to launch a feature career, and he returned to television to great success in the early '90s. Mandel's love of children dictated most of his career choices in the 1990s, and in the first year of the decade he utilized his popular series of voices for the enduring children's television series Bobby's World (which ultimately went off of the air in 1998). In 1992, Mandel headlined the short-lived small-screen series Howie, and after a series of appearances in both features and made-for-television movies, he hosted both Howie Mandel's Sunny Skies and The Howie Mandel Show. Though none of his personal shows proved quite as successful or endearing as Bobby's World, Mandel remained in the public eye as both a popular comic and as the creator of a series of children's CD-ROMs that aimed to both educate and entertain. In the year 2000, Mandel once again turned his attention to features, and appearances in Tribulation (2000), Hansel & Gretel (2002), and Pinocchio 3000 (2003) proved that the popular funnyman had lost none of his onscreen talent. Outside of his work in the entertainment industry, the color-blind verminophobic spends much of his time with his wife and three children. Over the coming decade, Mandel would enjoy hosting duties of extremely successful shows like Deal or No Deal and America's Got Talent.

Trivia: Studied at the Cleveland Play House and the HB Studio in New York. Made her Broadway debut as a replacement in Gypsy, opposite Ethel Merman, in 1960. Her late husband, Charles Kakatsakis, was an acting coach. First worked with Alexander Payne on his film About Schmidt (2002) before landing her breakout role in Nebraska (2013).

Trivia: Sturdy, reliable character actor Jon Hamm debuted onscreen at the turn of the millennium, with a series of key supporting roles in features including Space Cowboys (2000), Kissing Jessica Stein (2001), and Mel Gibson's We Were Soldiers (2002). He also appeared on such TV series as Providence, The Division, What About Brian, and The Unit. Hamm scored his first major lead as executive Don Draper in the AMC network's series Mad Men (2007) -- a period serial about a group of boozing, chain-smoking, and sexist advertising suits toiling away at their jobs in a Manhattan high rise, circa 1960. He earned a variety of award nominations for his work on the show, which itself won the Emmy for best drama series each of its first four years on the air. He parlayed this high-profile success into a recurring gig on 30 Rock, and appeared in films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still, Howl, and Sucker Punch. He was the cop chasing thief Ben Affleck in The Town (2010), and, the next year, had an uncredited appearance in the hit Bridesmaids. In 2012 he appeared in Friends With Kids, which was written and directed by his then-longtime girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt. While continuing to build his film résumé, Hamm snuck in some television appeances as a voice actor, including guest spots on shows like The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers and Archer. He had a memorable two episode stint on Parks and Recreation (essentially a stretched-out cameo). When Mad Men drew to a close in 2015 (with Hamm finally winning an Emmy Award for the final season), Hamm had significant guest arcs on two new web series lined up - The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp. Hamm also expanded his film work with Million Dollar Arm, Minions and Keeping up with the Joneses.

Trivia: Highly intelligent and extremely well educated -- earning an M.A. at Stockholm's Royal Institute of Technology and a Fulbright Fellowship at M.I.T. -- Dolph Lundgren is better known for his athletic achievements than his intellectual pursuits. An internationally recognized kick-boxing champion, the 6' 6", 250-pound Lundgren was working as a doorman at a trendy New York disco when his personally produced exercise video Maximum Potential caught the eye of movie producers. His 1984 cinematic debut was a bit part in the James Bond opus A View to a Kill, which co-starred Lundgren's then-lover Grace Jones. (Earlier reports that Lundgren appeared in 1970's The Out-of-Towners were really out of town.) His breakthrough film role was as Drago, the automaton-like Russian ring opponent of Sylvester Stallone in Rocky IV (1985). The content of Lundgren's subsequent films is implicit in their titles: Masters of the Universe (in which Lundgren played bulging-biceped cartoon character He-Man), Universal Soldier (sharing the screen with fellow bodybuilder Jean-Claude Van Damme), Red Scorpion, Showdown in Little Tokyo, Army of One, etc. When Lundgren showed up as a street preacher in the futuristic Johnny Mnemonic (1995), one got the feeling that he was not going to be advocating peace on earth for long.