Trivia: Although Matthew Broderick has built a solid reputation as one of the stage and screen's more talented and steadily working individuals, he will forever be associated with the role that gave him permanent celluloid infamy, the blissfully irresponsible title hero of John Hughes's 1986 Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Thanks to his association with the character, as well as his own boyish looks, Broderick for a long time had trouble obtaining roles that allowed him to play characters of his own age. However, with the success of films like Election (1999) and a 1994 Tony Award for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, audiences finally seemed ready to accept the fact that Broderick had indeed graduated from high school.The son of late actor James Broderick and playwright/screenwriter Patricia Broderick, Broderick was born in New York City on March 21, 1962. With the theatre a constant backdrop to his childhood, Broderick's entrance into the entertainment world seemed a natural outcome of his upbringing. He began appearing in theatre workshops with his father when he was seventeen, and was soon acting on Broadway in plays like Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues and Brighton Beach Memoirs and Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy. Broderick played Fierstein's adopted son in Torch Song; in the Simon plays, he portrayed the playwright's alter ego, winning a Tony Award for his 1983 performance in Brighton Beach Memoirs. The same year, Broderick made his film debut in WarGames, playing a young man who unwittingly plants the seeds of a nuclear war; the film was a success and launched the actor's onscreen career. Films like Max Dugan Returns and Ladyhawke followed, as did an acclaimed television adaptation of Athol Fugard's Master Harold and the Boys, but it was the 1986 Ferris Bueller's Day Off that made Broderick a star. As a then-23-year-old playing a 17-year-old, Broderick became a champion of smart-asses everywhere, and in so doing earned a certain kind of screen immortality. The success of the film allowed him to work steadily in films like Project X and the screen adaptations of Biloxi Blues and Torch Song Trilogy (in which Broderick now played Fierstein's lover, instead of his adopted son). Widely publicized tragedy struck for Broderick in 1988 when he and Jennifer Grey were vacationing in Ireland: after losing control of the car he was driving, Broderick crashed into an oncoming car, killing the mother and daughter in it. The actor was hospitalized, and his ensuing legal problems were the subject of much media scrutiny. However, he continued to work, winning critical acclaim for his portrayal of a Civil War colonel in the 1989 Glory. He then kicked off the 1990s with the title role of a naive film student in The Freshman; following that film's relative success, he starred in the poorly received comedy The Night We Never Met, and in 1994, he was cast against type as one of Dorothy Parker's unsympathetic lovers in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. That same year, he ventured back to Broadway, where he found acclaim as the lead in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, winning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Over the next few years, Broderick had his hits (The Lion King) and misses (The Road to Wellville, The Cable Guy, Addicted to Love). In 1996, he made his directorial debut with Infinity, which also featured a screenplay by his mother. A love story based on the life of famed physicist Richard Feynman, the film made a brief blip on the box-office radar, although it did garner some positive reviews. In 1997 he wed actress Sarah Jessica Parker who gave birth to their son, James Wilke Broderick, in October of 2002. The same couldn't be said for Broderick's massively budgeted, hyper-marketed 1998 feature, Godzilla. The subject of critical abuse and audience evasion, the film was a disappointment. Fortunately for Broderick, his role as the film's hero was largely ignored by critics who preferred to level their attacks at the film's content. The actor managed to rebound successfully the following year, first playing against type as a high-school teacher caught up in an ethical conundrum in Alexander Payne's hilarious satire Election. The film received positive reviews, with many critics praising Broderick's performance as the morally ambiguous Mr. McAllister. The actor then could be seen as the title character in the giddy action flick Inspector Gadget. It was a role that would have made Ferris Bueller proud: not only did Broderick get to shoot flames from his limbs and sprout helicopter blades from his skull, he also got to defeat the bad guys and, in the end, get the girl. In 2000, Broderick played a supporting role in Kenneth Lonergan's critically acclaimed You Can Count On Me with Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo, and appeared in a well received television adaptation of The Music Man later that year. Broderick lent his vocal chords for both 2003's The Good Boy and 2004's The Lion King 1/2, and signed on to appear in three hotly anticipated 2004 films; namely, The Last Shot with William H. Macy, Tom Cairns' black comedy Marie and Bruce, and The Stepford Wives with Nicole Kidman, Christopher Walken, and Bette Midler. Of course, Broderick's biggest achievement of the 2000's was not on the silver screen, but on stage with Nathan Lane in Mel Brooks' hugely successful comedy The Producers, which won a record 12 Tony awards in 2001. He reprised the role for a film adaptation in 2005, with Will Ferrell and Uma Thurman joining the cast. 2006 found the actor appearing in the big screen adaptation of Strangers with Candy, as well as the drama Margaret, tough post-production problems kept that film from being released until 2011, and the holiday comedy Deck the Halls. Broderick worked in animated films such as Bee Movie and The Tale of Despereaux, and was also part of the ragtag crew planning the perfect crime in the comedy Tower Heist.

Trivia: Coleman attended a Virginia military school before studying law and serving in the army. While attending the University of Texas, Coleman became attracted to acting, and headed to New York, where he studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse. After stage experience and TV work, Coleman made his movie debut in 1965's The Slender Thread. Minus his trademarked mustache for the most part in the mid-1960s, Coleman specialized in secondary character roles. He began to branch into comedy during his supporting stint as obstetrician Leon Bessemer on the Marlo Thomas sitcom That Girl, but his most memorable role would come in 1980 as the nasty, chauvinistic boss in 9 to 5. He would go on to appear in other films, like On Golden Pond [1981], The Beverly Hillbillies [1993], You've Got Mail [1998], and Moonlight Mile, but the actor found more success in television, appearing on a few cult hits that were tragically cancelled, like Drexell's Class and Madman of the People, as well as The Guardian, Courting Alex, Heartland, and Boardwalk Empire.

Trivia: Brown-eyed, chestnut-haired actress Ally Sheedy has been involved with acting for most of her life. The daughter of a literary agent mother, she began making commercials and appearing on-stage at the age of 15. She was something of a precocious author, as well: When only 12-years-old, she published a children's book, She Was Nice to Mice. (Sheedy has also been published in such periodicals as The New York Times). After high school, the New York-born actress headed west to the University of California where, in addition to her studies, she appeared in TV movies. She began her feature-film career at 21 playing adolescent girls in films such as Bad Boys and WarGames (both 1983), and joined the so-called Brat Pack in 1985 after appearing in John Hughes' The Breakfast Club and Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire. Despite the huge success of both films, many of her subsequent efforts were relative disappointments, and, by the early '90s, she had slipped into all but complete obscurity. However, her career was revived in 1998 thanks to a starring role as a drug-addicted lesbian photographer in the widely acclaimed High Art. Sheedy won raves for her raw, touching performance, and, in short time, again found herself working steadily. In 1999, she appeared in Allison Anders' Sugar Town and The Autumn Heart, the latter premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. In addition to her film work, Sheedy continued to work in the theater, taking over John Cameron Mitchell's title role in the popular New York production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a story about a German entertainer who is neither a man nor a woman but a fascinating composite of both. As the 21st century began, Sheedy continued to work steadily in varied projects like Happy Here and Now, Noise, Harold, and Life During Wartime -- Todd Solondz's sort-of sequel to his black comedy Happiness.

Trivia: Actor Barry Corbin may be best remembered for portraying Maurice Minnifield, the blustery but good-hearted ex-astronaut and entrepreneurial owner of Cicely, Alaska, in the popular TV show Northern Exposure (1990-95). Prior to that, he worked steadily on stage, screen and television since the mid '70s. With his stocky build and big voice, the Texas native is noted for his portrayals of policemen, soldiers, and father figures. He received formal training in theater at Texas Tech, and, after spending two years in the Marines, Corbin returned home and began acting in regional theater. He later went to New York where he worked on and off Broadway. He moved to L.A. in 1977 where he began writing radio plays for National Public Radio. In 1980 Corbin began his feature-film career, appearing in three popular films: Any Which Way You Can, Stir Crazy, and Urban Cowboy. Among his other early career highlights are Six Pack, Honkytonk Man, and playing General Beringer in John Badham's nuclear thriller WarGames. He continued to work steadily in TV and film in projects such as LBJ: The Early Years, Nothing In Common, Critters 2, and Who's Harry Crumb before landing his iconic part on Northern Exposure.After the quirky CBS series ended, he could be seen in Curdled, The Drew Carey Show, and in a recurring role on the drama series One Tree Hill. In 2007 he was in the Best Picture winning No Country For Old Men. His most recent credits include Feed he Fish, and Valley of the Sun.

Trivia: Lead actor, onscreen from the '80s.

Trivia: Upon leaving the Midwest where he was born, raised, and educated (University of Iowa), James Tolkan headed for New York, where he studied acting with Stella Adler. In movies since 1969, Tolkan has been seen in gritty urban character roles in such films as The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), Author! Author! (1981), Off Beat (1985), and Made in Heaven (1987). In the first two Back to the Future films, Tolkan appeared as acerbic high school teacher Strickland; in Top Gun (1986), he was seen as Stinger; and in Dick Tracy (1990), he showed up as minor criminal Numbers. On television, James Tolkan appeared on the short-lived 1985 Mary Tyler Moore sitcom Mary as mobster Lester Mintz, and on both installments of the two-episode Sunset Beat (1990), in which he played Captain Parker.

Trivia: Trained at HB Studio, rough-edged American actor Ray Sharkey quickly graduated to movies and television. Sharkey's first film was The Lords of Flatbush (1974), a street-gang drama that also featured early appearances by Henry Winkler and Sylvester Stallone. The actor's breakthrough film was 1980's The Idolmaker, in which he played rock 'n' roll entrepreneur Bob Marcucci; that same year, he was Phil in the low-budget but highly praised Willie and Phil. Sharkey's best known role was as Atlantic City gangster Sonny Steelgrave on the TV series "Wiseguy" (1987-90). Shortly after finishing work on the 1992 Burt Reynolds vehicle Cop and A Half, Sharkey made public the fact that he had contracted AIDS through indiscriminate drug use; he died less than one year later.

Trivia: Actor John Spencer was born John Speshock to a working-class family in Patterson, NJ, on December 20, 1946. He attended the Professional Children's High School in New York City, and while a student adopted the stage name John Spencer. Spencer began acting in his teens, and landed his first big break was he was cast as Henry Anderson on the TV series The Patty Duke Show. After the end of the show's run, Spencer resumed his education, enrolling at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ; he later transferred to New York University. In the early '70s, Spencer began pursuing a career as a stage actor in New York City, and in 1981, he won an Obie award for his performance in the play Still Life. In 1983, Spencer began working in film, appearing in supporting roles in two movies that year, War Games and Echoes. By the mid-'80s, Spencer was working steadily in movies and making frequent television guest shots; he was also earning increasing acclaim for his stage roles, receiving a Drama Desk Award nomination for his role in The Day Room in 1988.However, Spencer's first real brush with fame came in 1990, when he won the role of Tommy Mullany, a tough but goodhearted lawyer, on the hit TV series L.A. Law. While Spencer's regular guy looks seemed to rule him out of leading man roles, his success on L.A. Law established him as a first-call character actor, and he began scoring higher-profile roles in a variety of higher-profile films (such as Presumed Innocent, Copland, Forget Paris, and The Rock), while earning higher billing in made-for-TV movies, and appearing in stage roles as his schedule permitted. In 1999, Spencer's career received yet another boost when he was cast as Chief of Staff Leo McGarry on the acclaimed television series The West Wing; Spencer's work as part of the ensemble cast earned him a Screen Actor's Guild award in 2001 and 2002, and he was nominated for an Emmy five times for Best Supporting Actor, winning in 2002. In the same year that his character Leo suffered a heart attack on West Wing, Spencer sadly suffered the same fate: after a severe attack, he died among friends and family in a Los Angeles hospital in December, 2005. He was 58 years old.

Trivia: Michael Madsen, who admits to being more interested in delivering a good performance than the perks of fame, formerly worked as a gas station attendant in his hometown of Chicago, IL. The older brother of actress Virginia Madsen, Michael's first acting experience took place inside of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, where he studied under the direction of fellow actor John Malkovich. This stage training provided him with the background needed to land a host of small roles, beginning with a bit part in the 1983 film WarGames. After relocating to Los Angeles, Madsen made several television and film appearances, including NBC's Emmy-winning Special Bulletin (1983), and The Natural (1984), director Barry Levinson's celebrated sports drama. Madsen continued to build credibility, gradually going on to land larger parts. Though his profile was raised substantially after appearing in the 1991 film Thelma & Louise, it was his 1989 performance as a psychotic killer in John Dahl's Kill Me Again that caught the attention of Quentin Tarantino, who would later give Madsen his true breakthrough opportunity in 1992's Reservoir Dogs. This ear-splitting performance earned Madsen critical acclaim, as well as further cementing his reputation for playing psychopathic murderers. Sure enough, Madsen would go on to perform in several decidedly evil roles. From the kitten-loving sociopath in The Getaway (1994), to mafia tough guy Sonny Black in Donnie Brasco, Madsen proved himself more than capable of playing a good bad guy. Rather than allowing himself to be typecast, however, Madsen readily accepted the role of a loving foster parent in Free Willy (1993), a seasoned alien assassin in Species (1995), and CIA Agent Damon Falco in director Lee Tamahori's Die Another Day (2002). Over the course of the next decade, however, the veteran actor largely stuck to his tough-guy image, though his reflective role in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films displayed a sense of depth that most filmmakers fail to coax out of him.

Trivia: African-American character actor Jason Bernard is one of those performers who seems to have never been out of work. Bernard's cinematic stock-in-trade has been stern authority figures: the parole officer in Car Wash (1976), the Mayor in Blue Thunder (1983), Judge Bochco in The Star Chamber (1983), Major Donovan in No Way Out (1987), and so forth. Bernard has appeared numerous times on television as a guest star and as a recurring character. Some of his most famous TV roles include Preston Wade in the daytime drama Days of Our Lives, mechanical whiz Fletch in the 1983 prime-timer High Performance, and the chronically humorless publishing executive Mr. Paul Bracken in the 1991 Fox sitcom Herman's Head. For his supporting role in the Lifetime network movie Sophie and the Moonhanger (1995), Bernard received a Cable Ace nomination. His last feature-film role was that of a judge in the Jim Carrey comedy Liar, Liar (1997). On October 16, 1996, the 58-year-old Bernard was driving in Hollywood when he suffered a fatal heart attack.

Trivia: A talented character actor whose pudgy frame and adaptable face allows him to alternate between meek and imposing at the drop of a hat, Maury Chaykin endeared himself to television audiences as razor-sharp detective Nero Wolfe, though he has been appearing in film and television since the late '70s. Raised in Brooklyn, NY, Chaykin took a shine to acting while attending James Madison High School. Following his dream to the University of Buffalo, where he majored in theater, it was there that Chaykin would found The Swampfox Theater in 1968. An avant-garde troupe that became the talk of the town after crashing Toronto's Festival of Underground Theater in 1970, The Swampfox troupe would later gain accolades as the most original group at the Yale Drama Festival. Following such strong beginnings, it was clear to many that great things were in store for Chaykin. Spending a few years at North Buffalo's American Contemporary Theater following his college graduation, Chaykin would later move on to work in experimental theater in Toronto. Alternating frequently between television and film in his early years, small early roles in such popular films as 1983's WarGames insured the burgeoning actor increased visibility, and following roles in such high-profile fare as Mrs. Soffel (1983) and Turk 182! (1984), Chaykin made a lasting impression when promoted to leading-man status in 1985's Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks. Flawlessly essaying the role of a Canadian union-leader who presided over the country's shipping industry in the 1950s and '60s, the film found Chaykin gaining near universal critical accolades in addition to winning a Nellie Award for his spot-on performance. Despite his success in the role of Banks, Chaykin rounded out the '80s with appearances in such schlocky films as Meatballs III (1987) and Iron Eagle II (1988), with only the occasional dark drama such as Cold Comfort (1989) offering the rare opportunity for him to truly shine. Things began to look up for Chaykin in the 1990s, and appearances in such acclaimed efforts as Dances With Wolves (1990) and My Cousin Vinny (1992) ensured that he would retain a high profile in the coming years. Though Chaykin's roles were far from top-billed, appearances in Sommersby (1993) and Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) served well to balance out forgettable turns in such efforts as Josh and S.A.M. (1993). In addition to an affecting turn as a faded rock star who attempts to create music that will allow him to communicate with nature in 1994's Whale Music, a haunting turn in the downbeat drama The Sweet Hereafter (1997) provided Chaykin with one of his most memorable roles of the decade. As the 1990s drew to a close, his turn as a biker inmate in the long-running HBO series Oz found a virtually unrecognizable Chaykin using his imposing frame to surprising effect. Rounding out the decade with roles in Entrapment and Mystery, Alaska (both 1999), it seemed that Chaykin was finally getting the recognition he deserved. At the dawn of the new millennium, television audiences began to warm up to Chaykin when A Nero Wolfe Mystery debuted in 2001. That same year Chaykin would take a memorable turn as a bumbling bureaucrat in director Jonathan Parker's Bartleby, and a dramatic role as a husband suffering after the tragic loss of a child in the made-for-television Crossed Over (2002) proved that he could alternate between mystery, comedy, and drama with unprecedented ease. In the following years, Chaykin could be spotted in substantial roles in such films as Owning Mahowney (2003) and Being Julia (2004).

Trivia: From his first appearances in the mid-'70s onward, Eddie Deezen has enlivened many a film and TV show, playing a multitude of nerdish, anal-retentive pop-culture freaks. In I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), his idolatry of the Beatles extended to his adopting the personality and mannerisms of Ringo Starr; and in WarGames (1983), he's the ultimate technogeek, spouting out computer-ese with such gleeful abandon that you'd think people were really interested in what he had to say. In later years, he has devoted much of his time to cartoon voice-overs and the cheapjack output of indie producer Fred Olen Ray. On television, Eddie Deezen played zany maintenance man Eddie Malvin during the 1984-1985 season of Punky Brewster.

Trivia: Black supporting actor, onscreen from 1972.

Trivia: British actor John Wood attended Oxford, where he served as president of the university's Dramatic Society. After serving as a lieutenant in the Royal Horse Academy, Wood joined the Old Vic in 1954, then spent several seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1967, he made his Broadway bow as the glib Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. He went to star in such Atlantic-crossing stage productions as Sherlock Holmes (in the title role), Travesties (for which he won a Tony Award), Tartuffe, Deathtrap, and Amadeus. His infrequent film roles include the reclusive computer whiz Stephen Falken in WarGames (1983) and the Bishop in Ladyhawke (1985). John Wood was seen as the heroine's chauffeur father in Sabrina (1995) and the forbidding Lord Brocklehurst in Jane Eyre (1996).. He died of natural causes at age 81 in 2011.