Trivia: Born Carlos Ray Norris, Chuck Norris served in Korea in the Army. While there, he studied karate and later became the World Middleweight Karate Champion. He was encouraged by one of his karate students, actor Steve McQueen, to go into acting. He debuted onscreen in the enormously popular Bruce Lee vehicle Enter the Dragon (1973); since the death of Lee he has been the screen's premier martial arts star. He has appeared primarily in militaristic movies in which he single-handedly kills many enemies. His breakthrough film was Missing in Action (1984), in which he played an ex-POW in search of American prisoners still held in Vietnam.

Trivia: Good-ole-boy character actor Gailard Sartain first came to the attention of TV fans as a member of the comedy ensemble of The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (1976-77 season). Sairtain enjoyed more TV-screen time as dufus short order cook Willie Billie Honey in the 1978 syndicated comedy-variety weekly Hee Haw Honeys; cast as Willie Billie's younger sister, by the way, was one Kathie Lee Johnson, who went on to chatshow fame as Kathie Lee Gifford. In films, Sairtain was prominently featured as the Big Bopper in The Buddy Holly Story (1981) and as bucolic bumpkin Chuck in Jim Varney's Ernest flicks. Active into the 1990s, Gailard Sairtain usually shows up these days in featured roles as redneck Southern sheriffs and state troopers.

Trivia: Supporting actor, onscreen from the late '80s.

Trivia: Tall, instantly identifiable Eastern European actor Elya Baskin fit the bill in Hollywood for ethnic character portrayals, especially characters with a Slavic background and an amiable demeanor; he also frequently exhibited a slightly zany undercurrent that became something of a trademark. A native of Latvia in the former USSR, Baskin attended Moscow's Theatre and Performing Arts College, then built a formidable reputation on the European stage. He achieved his international breakthrough, however, at the hands of Hollywood giant Paul Mazursky, who cast him opposite Robin Williams as the clownish Russian circus performer Anatoly in the masterful seriocomedy Moscow on the Hudson (1984). (When coupled with the sad demeanor that Baskin projected in that role, the actor's birdlike arm-flapping -- a symbol of the character's need for freedom -- became one of the film's most poignant and memorable images). An additional collaboration with Mazursky followed, the 1989 smash Enemies: A Love Story; in the meantime, Baskin began to rack up a litany of roles in additional A-list projects, including 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), Vice Versa (1988), and Love Affair (1994). The Pickle (1993) re-teamed Baskin and Mazursky for a third occasion; unfortunately, it failed to match the critical or commercial success of its predecessors. Baskin remained in full flower through the end of the following decade, with a memorable comedic turn as Vladimir on the sitcom Mad About You and prominent roles in the big-screen projects Spider-Man 3 and The Dukes (both 2007).