Trivia: Born March 15th, 1935, Bronx-native Judd Hirsch attended CCNY, where he majored in engineering and physics. A blossoming fascination in the theatre convinced Hirsch that his future lay in acting. He studied at the AADA and worked with a Colorado stock company before his 1966 Broadway debut in Barefoot in the Park. He spent many years at New York's Circle Repertory, where he appeared in the first-ever production of Lanford Wilson's The Hot L Baltimore. After an auspicious TV-movie bow in the well-received The Law (1974), Hirsch landed his first weekly-series assignment, playing the title character in the cop drama Delvecchio (1976-77). From 1978 to 1982, he was seen as Alex Reiger in the popular ensemble comedy Taxi, earning two Emmies in the process. While occupied with Taxi, Hirsch found time to act off-Broadway, winning an Obie award for the 1979 production Talley's Folly. In the following decade, he was honored with two Tony Awards for the Broadway efforts I'm Not Rappoport and Conversations with My Father. His post-Taxi TV series roles include Press Wyman in Detective in the House (1985) and his Golden Globe-winning turn as John Lacey in Dear John (1988-92). Judd Hirsch could also be seen playing Jeff Goldblum's father in the movie blockbuster Independence Day (1996). In 2001, Hirsch co-starred with Paul Bettany and Christopher Plummer in the multi-Award winning biopic A Beautiful Mind. The actor once again found success on the television screen in CBS' drama Numb3rs, in which he took on the role of Alan Eppes, father of FBI agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) and Professor Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz). After appearing on all four seaons of Numb3rs, Hirsch took a small role in director Brett Ratner's crime comedy Tower Heist (2011).

Trivia: Though Jeff Conaway achieved TV fame by playing an actor who couldn't find work, he had in fact been a busy professional since childhood. At age ten, Conaway made his first Broadway appearance in All the Way Home. Eleven years later, after completing his education at N.Y.U., Conaway was seen in his first film, Jennifer on My Mind (1971). He played Kenicke in the New York staging of Grease, then repeated the role for the 1978 film adaptation. Also in 1978, he began a three-year run on the TV sitcom Taxi, in the role of Bobby Wheeler, an incredibly luckless aspiring actor who made ends meet by driving a hack. Conaway then delved into the realm of "fantastic television," appearing as Prince Erick Greystone in Wizards and Warriors (1983) and (occasionally) as Zack Allen on Babylon 5 (1992). Active in the direct-to-video market, Jeff Conaway both directed and acted in Bikini Summer 2 (1992). His problems with substance escalated in later years, and after appearing on several intervention-style reality shows, Conaway succumbed to various health problems and died on May 27, 2011.

Trivia: Perhaps no Hollywood actor continually stirs up more of a gleeful admixture of feelings in his viewers than Danny DeVito. Singlehandedly portraying characters with mile-long, obnoxious jerk streaks that are nonetheless somehow loveable, DeVito -- with his diminutive stature, balding head, and broad Jersey accent -- made an art form out of playing endearingly loathsome little men.Born November 17, 1944, in Neptune, NJ, Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. survived a Catholic school upbringing and started his career from the ground up, laboring as a cosmetician in his sister's beauty parlor. Working under the name "Mr. Danny," DeVito decided to enter New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts for the purpose of acquiring additional makeup expertise. However, he soon discovered his true theatrical calling and made his screen debut with a small part in the 1968 drama Dreams of Glass. After a few discouraging experiences within the film industry, DeVito decided to concentrate on stage work. During this time, he met actress Rhea Perlman, whom he later married in 1982. In 1972, the actor made his way back into films with a role in Lady Liberty, a comedy starring Sophia Loren. His first notable film part came three years later, when he reprised his stage role of Martini, a sweet-natured mental patient, in Milos Forman's screen version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Produced by DeVito's old friend Michael Douglas and co-scripted by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman, the film won wide acclaim and nine Oscar nominations, eventually gleaning five statuettes (including Best Picture). Despite the adulation surrounding the film, DeVito's screen career remained lackluster, but he skyrocketed to fame three years later with his role as the obnoxious dispatcher Louie on the long-running television sitcom Taxi. From there, DeVito's career swung upward and he spent the next decade playing similarly repugnant characters with enormous success. He reunited with Douglas for Romancing the Stone (1984) and its 1985 sequel, Jewel of the Nile, teamed up with co-star Joe Piscopo and director Brian De Palma (as a scam artist on the run) in Wise Guys (1986), and signed with Disney's R-rated offshoot, Touchstone, for two comedies, the 1986 Ruthless People, and the 1987 Barry Levinson-directed Tin Men.Throw Momma from the Train (1987) marked DeVito's premier directorial outing. A madcap farce directed from a script by Benson and Soap scribe Stu Silver, Momma cast DeVito as Owen, a dim-bulb student living under the thumb of his loudmouthed mother, who is enrolled in a writing course taught by failing novelist Larry Donner (Billy Crystal). Stumbling into a repertory screening of Strangers on a Train one night, Owen has the not-so-bright idea of emulating the film, by bumping off Larry's conniving ex-wife in exchange for having Larry rub out his momma -- without asking Larry first.Throw Momma from the Train opened during the Christmas season of December 1987 and received mixed reviews. The picture nonetheless became a massive hit, grossing upwards of 57 million dollars, and thus paving the way for future DeVito-directed efforts. The War of the Roses (1989) recast DeVito with his Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile co-stars, Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, but could not have been any more different in terms of theme, content, tone, or intended audience. Co-adapted by Warren Adler and Michael Leeson (from Adler's novel), this acerbic, black-as-coal comedy tells the story of Oliver and Barbara Rose, a seemingly happy and well-adjusted married couple whose nuptials descend into a violent hell when Barbara announces that she wants a divorce -- and Oliver refuses to give her one. DeVito plays the cherubic lawyer who relays their story to another client, and famously reflects, "If love is blind, then marriage must be like having a stroke." The picture instantly grossed dollar one, garnered legions of fans, and delighted critics across the board.Ida Random produced Momma, and DeVito's Taxi collaborator, James L. Brooks, produced War, but by the early '90s, DeVito gained additional autonomy by branching out into production duties himself, with the establishment of his own Jersey Films. Some of Jersey's more successful endeavors were 1994's Pulp Fiction (on which DeVito served as executive producer), Reality Bites (1994), Get Shorty (1995), Gattaca (1997), Out of Sight (1998), and Living Out Loud (1998). In the meantime, DeVito continued to act in a number of movies throughout the late '80s and '90s, his most notable being Twins (1988, in which he played the "twin" of Arnold Schwarzenegger), the disappointing Jack the Bear (1993), the delightful Other People's Money (1991, for which he took on the role of corporate monster Larry the Liquidator), Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty, the screen adaptation of Roald Dahl's Matilda (1996, which he also directed and produced), L.A. Confidential (1997), and Living Out Loud. For the last of these DeVito won particular acclaim, impressing critics with his touching, sympathetic portrayal of a lonely elevator operator. In 1999, he added to his already impressive resumé with a role in Milos Forman's biopic of Taxi co-star Andy Kaufman, Man on the Moon, and a supporting turn in Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides.Despite solid performances in a series of recent high-profile hits and decades of big-screen success, the millennial turnover found DeVito's star somewhat clouded as such efforts as Screwed (2000), What's the Worst That Could Happen? (2001), Death to Smoochy (2002), and Duplex (2003) failed to live up to box-office potential. DeVito fared only slightly better as producer of the critically acclaimed 2003 television series Karen Sisco and the ugly Get Shorty sequel, Be Cool. He also acted as executive producer for the acclaimed Zach Braff dramedy Garden State and could be spotted in director Tim Burton's imaginative fable Big Fish. As 2005 rolled around, audiences could spot DeVito in films such as The OH in Ohio, as well as on television as the actor found himself accepting a role in the quirky, taboo-busting series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.During 2006, DeVito balanced a full plate of work, temporarily retiring from the director's chair, but juggling small roles in no less than three A-list features. These included Brad Silberling's 10 Items or Less, a drama about the unlikely friendship that evolves between a has-been Hollywood star (Morgan Freeman) and a supermarket checkout clerk (Paz Vega); Jake Paltrow's directorial debut, The Good Night, a slice-of-life dramedy starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Penélope Cruz; and the holiday comedy Deck the Halls. The latter starred DeVito and Matthew Broderick as neighbors who go to "war" with competing decorations at Christmastime to see who can be the first to make his house visible from space. The film co-starred Kristin Davis and Kristin Chenoweth. Meanwhile, Jersey Films geared up to produce the 2007 Freedom Writers, directed by Richard LaGravenese -- a kind of retread of Stand and Deliver and Dangerous Minds, with Hilary Swank as a teacher determined to break through to her difficult students. Also in 2007, DeVito starred in Randall Miller's violent black comedy Nobel Son, DeVito joined longtime friend and collaborator Michael Douglas with a supporting role in the 2009 Solitary Man, then in 2012 voiced Dr. Seuss's title character in the classic animated fable The Lorax. DeVito and Perlman have three children.

Trivia: Redheaded leading lady Marilu Henner was born and educated in Chicago, where her mother ran a dance studio in the family garage. Henner also began her acting career in City of Broad Shoulders. She was one of the stars of the original community-theatre production of Grease, remaining with the show when it moved to New York in 1976 (During this period, she carried on a well-publicized romance with former Grease cast member John Travolta). She went on to garner excellent revues for her work in the Broadway production Over Here, an otherwise disappointing musical spoof of the 1940s starring the Andrews Sisters. Henner began making on-camera appearances in 1977, notably as a stripper in Joan Micklin Silver's Behind the Lines, and in a generously distributed "Ring Around the Collar!" TV commercial. From 1978 through 1983, Henner played Elaine Nardo on the popular TV sitcom Taxi. Though she never won the Emmy that she deserved for this role, she could take consolation in the fact that she was made an honorary New York City cabbie. Several film roles followed in such low-profile productions as Hammet (1983) and Johnny Dangerously (1984) before Henner re-entered the sitcom grind as Ava Evans Newton, wife of high-school athletics coach Burt Reynolds, on the long-running (1990-94) Evening Shade. In 1994, Henner hosted her own TV talk show, a career move that coincided with the publication of her autobiography By All Means Keep on Moving. Chatty and very candid, the book revealed that Henner had slept with virtually every male member of the Taxi cast (only Danny DeVito was bypassed because, unlike his hot-to-trot Louie DePalma character, he never asked). Marilu Henner has been married twice, to actor Frederic Forrest and producer/director Robert Lieberman. Still active on the small screen in the first decade of the new millennium, Henner could be spotted in guest roles on such popular shows as Providence, ER, Numb3rs, and Grey's Anatomy.

Trivia: Andy Kaufman's performances were like no other. He not only pushed the boundaries of good taste and audience tolerance, he also created a myriad of strange, wonderful, and sometimes horrific characters, switching effortlessly from one to the other, effectively blurring the lines between Kaufman the man and Kaufman the artist. For many years, his fans argued whether or not obnoxious lounge singer Tony Clifton (whom Kaufman once hired to open for his live shows) was for real or whether he was an elaborate persona. Kaufman himself best summed up his art, stating, " I am not a comic, I have never told a joke....The comedian's promise is that he will go out there and make you laugh with him....My only promise is that I will try to entertain you as best I can. I can manipulate people's reactions. There are different kinds of laughter. Gut laughter is where you don't have a choice, you've got to laugh. Gut laughter doesn't come from the intellect. And it's much harder for me to evoke now, because I'm known. They say, 'Oh wow, Andy Kaufman, he's a really funny guy.' But I'm not trying to be funny. I just want to play with their heads."Born and raised in the upper-class Long Island suburb of Great Neck, NY, Kaufman had a lifelong fascination with performing. At age nine, Kaufman was performing at children's parties and in 1963, he unsuccessfully tried out for a spot at Budd Friedman's improvisational comedy club. He discovered the joy of "being" Elvis Presley in 1964 and later in his career became so good at imitating the moves and physical presence of "The King," that Presley himself deemed Kaufman his favorite impersonator. A year after his high school graduation, Kaufman enrolled in the Television and Radio program at Grahm Junior College in Boston. While there, he started performing at local coffee houses and appearing in the campus-sponsored The Soul Time Review. Kaufman went to Spain in 1971 to study Transcendental Meditation and travel. Later that year, he successfully auditioned for Budd Friedman and landed a standup gig at a Long Island club. More club dates followed and television appearances followed. In 1975, Kaufman appeared in the first broadcast of NBC's sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live. Through the decade up to the early '80s, Kaufman would periodically return to host the show. His comedy was typically extreme and sometimes unfathomable. In November 1982, the producers of SNL responded to a viewer telephone poll and asked Kaufman to never again host the show. In 1978, Kaufman took one of his most popular characters, the Foreign Man, an incomprehensible comic from Central Europe, and translated him into the delightful, sometimes poignant foreign auto mechanic Latka Gravas on the popular sitcom Taxi (1978-1983). Kaufman created his famed world Inter-Gender Wrestling matches in 1979. A longtime aficionado of professional wrestling but too small to beat men, he would wrestle with female audience members, offering a large cash prize if they could pin him. 400 tried, but none succeeded. In 1981, Kaufman hosted Fridays, an experimental comedy show in which his intentional line flubbing caused a fight between himself, the cast, and the crew. The following week, Kaufman aired a tearful taped apology that may or may not have been a put-on. More controversy followed when the performer got into an ugly row with professional wrestler Jerry "The King" Lawler that culminated in his throwing hot coffee on Lawler during a taping of the Late Night With David Letterman show in 1982. The fight was precipitated by an earlier wrestling match between Kaufman and Lawler in which the wrestler inflicted a serious head injury to the comic. This violent feud between the two is further detailed in the 1983 documentary chronicle of Kaufman's wrestling career, I'm From Hollywood. Kaufman made his feature-film debut as an actor in Demon (1977) and afterward, only appeared in three more films. Kaufman developed a cough in late 1983 that was diagnosed as a rare form of lung cancer. Though only in his mid-thirties, a teetotaler, lifelong nonsmoker, and a vegetarian, Kaufman was only given a few months to live. He tried a variety of alternative healing therapies, as well as chemotherapy, but nothing worked and Kaufman died in 1984. Ironically, some fans believe the illness was all an elaborate hoax and maintain that Kaufman is still alive, waiting to come back in a couple decades. Though it is extremely doubtful that even Kaufman would be able to pull off such a hoax, the thought that others would think him capable of doing it would have pleased him.

Trivia: A reclusive character actor with an elongated, skull-like face, manic eyes and flexible facial expressions, Christopher Lloyd is best known for portraying neurotic, psychotic, or eccentric characters. He worked in summer stock as a teenager, then moved to New York. After studying with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse, he debuted on Broadway in Red, White and Maddox in 1969. Lloyd went on to much success on and off Broadway; for his work in the play Kaspar (1973) he won both the Obie Award and the Drama Desk Award. His screen debut came in the hugely successful One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), in which he played a mental patient. He went on to appear in a number of films, but first achieved national recognition for playing the eccentric, strung out, slightly crazy cab-driver "Reverend" Jim in the TV series Taxi from 1979-83; he won two Emmy Awards for his work. He extended his fame to international proportions by playing the well-meaning, wild-haired, mad scientist Doc Brown in Back to the Future (1985) and its two sequels; this very unusual character continued the trend in Lloyd's career of portraying off-the-wall nuts and misfits, a character type he took on in a number of other films in the '80s, including The Addams Family (1991), in which he played the crazed uncle Fester. His "straight" roles have been infrequent, but include Eight Men Out (1989).