Trivia: One of the most versatile and charismatic actresses that Hollywood has to offer, Holly Hunter has made a name for herself with smart, strong portrayals of dependably eccentric women. Born March 20, 1958, in Conyers, GA, Hunter was raised on a farm as the youngest of seven children. With the encouragement of her parents, she began acting at a young age, landing her first starring role as Helen Keller in a fifth grade play. Hunter went on to receive theatrical training at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University, after which she moved to New York to pursue her acting career. Following her off-Broadway debut in 1981, the fledgling actress enjoyed a serendipitous twist of fate in the form of being stuck in a stalled elevator with playwright Beth Henley. The chance meeting led to a collaboration between the two women, first with the stage production of The Miss Firecracker Contest and then with Hunter's 1982 Broadway debut, Crimes of the Heart. Meanwhile, Hunter had made her onscreen debut in the 1981 horror flick The Burning, a film remarkable both for its high schlock quotient and its casting of a similarly obscure young actor named Jason Alexander. After moving to Los Angeles in 1982, Hunter appeared in some made-for-TV movies before being cast in a supporting role in 1984's Swing Shift. The same year, she had her first collaboration with Ethan Coen and Joel Coen in Blood Simple, making something of a limited appearance as a voice on an answering machine recording. More obscure film and television work followed until 1987, when thanks to a starring role in the Coens' Raising Arizona and her Academy Award-nominated turn in Broadcast News, Hunter finally got her share of the limelight. The praise she received led to more acclaimed work in 1989; the actress won raves for her parts in three different films: the screen adaptation of Henley's Miss Firecracker; Steven Spielberg's Always, a romantic drama with Richard Dreyfuss; and the made-for-TV docudrama Roe vs. Wade. Following her second collaboration with Dreyfuss in Once Around (1991), Hunter once again garnered a wealth of critical appreciation for her work in three 1993 films, two of which resulted in her being nominated for Academy Awards as both Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress in that same year. Hunter's performance in The Firm won her a nomination for the former and her portrayal of a mute Scottish woman entangled in a treacherous affair with Harvey Keitel in Jane Campion's The Piano won her the latter. Unfortunately, over the next couple of years, Hunter found herself starring in vehicles that ranged from underrated to dreadful, with Home for the Holidays (1995) at one end of the spectrum and the thriller Copycat (also 1995) at the other. Her work in David Cronenberg's Crash (1996) did win her strong notices, but it was swallowed by the controversies surrounding the film, and her appearance as a sardonic angel in A Life Less Ordinary suffered a similar fate. However, the actress rebounded the following year with her portrayal of a recently divorced New Yorker in Richard LaGravenese's Living Out Loud. Starring alongside Danny DeVito, Queen Latifah, and Martin Donovan, Hunter won overwhelmingly positive reviews for her performance, convincing critics and audiences alike that she was back in the saddle again. Hunter rounded out the 1990s with a minor role in the indie drama Jesus' Son and as a housekeeper torn between a grieving widower and Kiefer Sutherland's little-seen character-driven drama Woman Wanted (1999).Hailing in the new millennium with a memorable performance in the Coen Brothers O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), the talented actress took top billing in the same year's television production Harlan County War, a powerful account of labor struggles among Kentucky coal-mine workers. Hunter would continue her small screen streak with a role in When Billy Beat Bobby and as narrator of Eco Challenge New Zealand before returning to film work with a minor role in the 2002 drama Moonlight Mile. The following year found Hunter drawing favorable reviews for her role in the otherwisecritically maligned redemption drama Levity. In 2004 she voiced the mom of the superhero family The Incredibles. She had a well-respected run on the small-screen as the star of Saving Grace, a drama about an ethically challenged cop who has a very unconventional guardian angel watching over her. In 2012 she returned to the silver screen with a crucial role in Diablo Cody's directorial debut Lamb of God.

Trivia: A veteran actor with a charming drawl, South Carolina native Leon Rippy began his acting career in the early '80s, making very minor appearances in very big films, like a store clerk in The Color Purple and an FBI agent in Firestarter. Rippy would continue to appear in several projects over the coming years, often taking on a number of roles every year. He notably played a prosecutor in 1988's Illegally Yours, and an Army sergeant in 1990's Moon 44, one of seven collaborations Rippy would make with director Roland Emmerich. The '90s would find the actor just as active as ever, appearing in the usual plethora of movies and TV shows, including high-profile appearances in 2000's The Patriot and on the series Walker, Texas Ranger. The new millennium would bring even more prominent work for the now silver-haired actor, with a starring role on the HBO western series Deadwood, which Rippy would appear on from 2004 to 2006. He soon took on another starring role on the police drama Saving Grace with Holly Hunter, playing Earl, a tough-talking, tobacco-spitting messenger from God. Although he was away from screens for nearly a half-decade after Saving Grace came to an end, he returned in the Johnny Depp project The Lone Ranger.

Trivia: A handsome performer with a clean-cut image yet the ability to project heightened aggression, Kenny Johnson specialized in portrayals of authoritative professional types, such as state troopers, police detectives, and macho athletes. The East Coast native grew up on a farm in Vermont, and as a young man formally trained in drama under the tutelage of acting coaches Vincent Chase and Larry Moss. Following a brief start in show business as a TV commercial spokesperson, Johnson moved into narrative work, and spent much of the 1990s turning up as a guest star on programs including Caroline in the City, Grace Under Fire and Arli$$, in addition to theatrical releases such as the 1998 issues Major League: Back to the Minors and Blade. Johnson scored his most significant break, however, with an ongoing role on the popular FX police drama The Shield: that of Detective Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky. Beginning in 2007, Johnson signed for a regular supporting role on the TNT drama series Saving Grace; he played Ham Dewey, Detective Grace Hanadarko's (Holly Hunter) on-the-job partner and occasional lover.

Trivia: Earned a football scholarship to Duke University after a successful high-school career as a linebacker. Made his first television appearance as a lifeguard on an episode of Married...With Children. After a two-year stint as Chris Hughes on As the World Turns, he went on to star as another Hughes—Steve Hughes—on MyNetwork TV's Watch Over Me. Frequently rides horses as a Wyoming sheriff's deputy in the A&E series Longmire; he learned how to ride as a child on a farm in Illinois where his father had horses. Is an avid Chicago Cubs fan.

Trivia: A strikingly handsome actor who projects an image of strength whether playing drama or comedy, Bokeem Woodbine was born in Harlem, NY, on April 13, 1973. A solid student, Woodbine attended the prestigious Dalton School in New York before transferring to the LaGuardia School of Music and Art in the city. At the suggestion of his mother, Woodbine tried to land a job as an extra on a film shooting near his neighborhood; he picked up work as a stand-in, and he attracted the attention of a casting agent who gave him a role as a police informant and drug dealer in the made-for-cable drama Strapped. Woodbine's strong performance won him several key supporting roles in noted films, including Crooklyn, Jason's Lyric, and Dead Presidents. A few years later, Woodbine got to show off his lighter side in the comedies Almost Heroes and Life, as well as the witty action film The Big Hit. Woodbine also began working in episodic television, first with an appearance on The X-Files, and later with guest shots on New York Undercover and The Sopranos, as well as a weekly role on the short-lived series Battery Park and a recurring role on City of Angels.

Trivia: Born in New Jersey to Italian-American parents, deep-voiced actress Laura San Giacomo studied at Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. After performing in regional theater, off-Broadway, and TV guest-star roles, she made her auspicious debut in Steven Soderbergh's sex, lies, and videotape. As the down-to-earth yet adulterous Cynthia, her presence brought a sense of inhibition to the cast of otherwise sexually repressed characters. This was followed by a series of other good roles: the prostitute Kit in Pretty Woman, the hardworking waitress in Vital Signs, Holly Hunter's sister in Once Around, and the American expatriate Crazy Cora in Quigley Down Under. In addition to providing her husky voice to the star-studded animated series Gargoyles, she moved over to TV movies, most notably the Stephen King adaptation The Stand. On the big screen, she starred in Nina Takes a Lover, Stuart Saves His Family, and The Apocalypse (co-starring her then-husband Cameron Dye). After having her son Mason, she started playing the memorable role of magazine journalist Maya Gallo on Just Shoot Me, which ran from 1997-2003 on NBC. She worked steadily in the years following Just Shoot Me, but she was away from screens for four years after 2001, returning in the 2005 drama Havoc. Two years later she starred opposite Holly Hunter in the supernatural series Saving Grace.

Trivia: Born in Trinidad and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Began acting at 11 years old. Landed her first paying job the same day she graduated college with Shakespeare & Company. Played Titania in a 1987 off-Broadway production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, opposite F. Murray Abraham, Fisher Stevens and Elizabeth McGovern. Nominated for five NCAAP Image Awards for her work on Any Day Now.

Trivia: Started his career as a child model. Featured in commercials for Tide and GMC. Played a young Charlie Sheen in an episode of Two and a Half Men and portrayed a young Michael Scofield in episodes of Prison Break. Appeared in the music video for Shinedown's "The Crow & the Butterfly." Won a battle-of-the-bands contest with his band, the Feaver, landing the group a gig on the 2011 Vans Warped Tour.

Trivia: Never the typical ingénue, American actress Mariette Hartley was distinguished by attractively offbeat facial features and a full, throaty voice -- acting tools that enabled her to play a wide spectrum of ages and personalities even when she was barely out of her teens. The granddaughter of behavioral psychologist John B. Watson, Hartley began her training at Carnegie Tech, then studied acting under Eva LeGalleine . Shakespeare was Hartley's forte in her salad days; thus, she was a full-blown professional before the age of 21. Hartley's first film, Ride the High Country (1961), may well have been her best; as the runaway bride of a mentally deficient mountain man, Hartley was permitted to forego cutesiness and glamour, spending most of the film in dusty male western garb. She was so good in this first appearance that MGM literally had no idea what to do with her; the solution was to cast her as a garden-variety damsel in distress in Drums of Africa (1963), which Hartley now regards as her worst film (and it is -- far worse than the more obvious candidate, 1971's The Return of Count Yorga). Then as now, Hartley was better served on TV than in films. Appearing with regularity on such programs as Twilight Zone and Bonanza, Hartley exuded an intelligence and versatility rare in so young an actress. She gained a following with her recurring role on the nighttime soapera Peyton Place (1965), then provided the only bright moments of the misfire satirical sitcom The Hero (1966), in which she played the wife of a bumbling TV cowboy (Richard Mulligan). Her TV work load increased in the '70s, during which time she appeared as futuristic heroine Lyra-a in Gene Roddenberry's TV pilot Genesis II, a role which gained a great deal of press attention due to Hartley's exotic midriff makeup (her character was endowed with two navels). She also won an Emmy for her appearance in a 1978 installment of The Incredible Hulk. A popular talk-show raconteur, Hartley was able to parlay her no-nonsense persona into a series of lucrative camera commercials, in which she co-starred with James Garner. Her easy rapport with Garner led many to believe that she was married to the Rockford Files star, compelling her to make public appearances wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the message "I am NOT Mrs. James Garner" (she was, in fact, married to producer/director Patrick Boyriven). Her high audience "Q" rating led certain TV producers to believe that Hartley would be ideally cast as a news reporter on the 1983 sitcom Goodnight, Beantown. The casting was good, the show wasn't. Nor were follow-ups in this vein, including a foredoomed hitch as co-host of the 1987 revamping of CBS Morning News titled The Morning Program and the very short-lived newsroom-oriented weekly drama WIOU (1990). That the actress took to kidding about her many TV failures only added to her upbeat public image -- an image which masked a surfeit of grief brought on by the alcoholism and suicide of Hartley's father, which formed the basis of her 1990 book Breaking the Silence. Audiences were able to see this serious side of Mariette Hartley in her frequent TV-movie appearances, notably her performance as grieving mother Candy Lightner in M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Mariette Hartley remained busy on films and in television into the '90s; once again, the TV work was more rewarding than the movie assignments, which included such negligible entertainments as Encino Man (1992).

Trivia: Became a member of The American Conservatory Theatre when he was 16.Was a member of the Sigma Nu while at University of Southern California.Studied acting with legendary acting teacher Peggy Feury at the Loft Studio, alongside Sean Penn, Forest Whitaker, Meg Ryan, Michelle Pfeiffer and Nicolas Cage.First acting credit was on the 1983 episode "But It's Not My Fault" of ABC Afterschool Specials.Frequently does writing projects with his writing partner and wife Marcia Blake, for screenwriter Robert Towne, Tom Cruise's production companies, HBO, among others.