Trivia: Majored in International Business and Finance at Indiana University. Appeared on Road Rules: South Pacific and Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Gauntlet. Has performed with the Echo Theater Company in Los Angeles. Adopted an elephant after visiting an elephant orphanage in Kenya.

Trivia: Grew up in Spain, Uruguay and Argentina. Graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with a double major in literature and fine arts. After Harvard, she planned to move to England and get a master's degree in art history, but instead decided to pursue acting in L.A. Has appeared in theatrical productions of Hamlet, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? and Oleanna. Met Quarterlife creator Marshall Herskovitz at jury duty. Acts as a celebrity representative for Corazon de Vida Foundation, which helps support Tijuana orphanages. Shares the nickname Bitsie with her grandfather, a WWII pilot.

Trivia: Was named after a 19th-century ancestor, a physician and author. First role ever was as Hansel in a third-grade production of Hansel and Gretel. Acted on stage in New York City before beginning his MFA program at the University of California, San Diego. Directed a dramatic short film called Song in a Convenience Store in 2010. Known mostly for playing unstable and disturbing characters before landing the role of reformed lupine clockmaker Monroe on NBC's Grimm in 2011.

Trivia: Supporting player Russell Hornsby joined the casts of numerous features and television series during the 1990s and 2000s. He made his first significant appearance in the Jada Pinkett Smith urban comedy Woo (1998), then followed it up with scattered, multi-episode roles in such series as Law & Order, Gideon's Crossing, and Playmakers, and parts in the movies After the Sunset (2004), Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005), and Something New (2006). Hornsby attained greater recognition and a higher profile with his lead role of Eddie Sutton in the ABC series drama Lincoln Heights. Over the coming years, Hornsby would appear on TV series like In Treatment and Grimm.

Trivia: Born in Jaffa, Israel, his family moved to Montreal, Canada when he was 7. Parents are Russian Jewish immigrants, and they all still speak Russian at home. Was at one time the drummer for the indie-rock band Tricky Woo, based in Montreal. Studied history before pursuing drama. Role in the pilot for the television series Caprica was originally a guest spot, but was later expanded to be included as a regular character. Indicating his traditional Russian Jewish background, he claims that his father still plays the accordion and "a lot of things get pickled." Is trilingual (English, French and Russian).

Trivia: Born in the Philippines, but raised in Ohio. Fluent in English and Tagalog. Toured nationally with the theatrical companies that produced Heartstrings and Miss Saigon, and was in the original cast of the 1994 Broadway revival of Carousel. Served as the choreographer for Imelda: A New Musical in 2005. Reprised his Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End role for the movie's video game. Meditates every morning.

Trivia: Earned a dance scholarship to UCLA. Studied theater abroad at King's College in London. Got her start in film as a dancer in such movies as The Big Lebowski (1998) and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999). Landed her first speaking role in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999). Played the recurring role of Rosalee on the NBC drama Grimm during the first season and was promoted to series regular for the second season. Involved with the Surfrider Foundation, which works to conserve the ocean and beaches.

Trivia: Began acting at the age of 5 in a local theater company. Majored in journalism at Northwestern University before switching to theatre. Created a Web series titled Chelsey and Kelsey Are Really Good Roommates with Ellie Knaus. Is an avid San Francisco 49ers fan.

Trivia: An Iranian actress whose strong political beliefs almost led her to a career as a journalist, Shohreh Aghdashloo decided instead that she could reach more people by working in film and theater -- and with her Oscar-nominated role in the tragedy House of Sand and Fog, she found an audience the size of which she never dreamed possible. Born in Tehran in 1952 to an intellectual, creative family, Aghdashloo was drawn to the theater at an early age, and by her twenties was performing in various cutting-edge performance groups, among them the acclaimed Drama Workshop of Tehran. Filmmakers often drew upon talent from the Workshop, and Aghdashloo was cast by directors Abbas Kiarostami and Ali Hatami -- two towering figures of the nascent Iranian New Wave -- to play starring roles in several of their formally adventurous, socially progressive productions, including 1977's Gozaresh and Sutedelan.But in the late '70s, with the Ayatollah Khomeini reintroducing an era of strict rule based on religious doctrine, Aghdashloo's work as a performer was either censored or forbidden outright. Eager to escape the turmoil of the Iranian Revolution, Aghdashloo left her husband and her career to go to London, where she earned a degree in international relations. She was on the verge of accepting a position at a newspaper when a friend presented her with a play, called Rainbow, about the Revolution and its discontents. He had written a role specifically for her, and Aghdashloo believed in the project enough to put her journalism career on hold -- for what would turn out to be an indefinite length of time. Rainbow was such a success, it toured the United States, where Aghdashloo was reunited with a Workshop colleague of hers, Houshang Touzie; a romance soon developed, and two married in Los Angeles in the late '80s.Discouraged by the dearth of non-stereotyped roles for Middle Eastern women in Hollywood, Aghdashloo focused her attention instead on stage work, even creating a traveling theater troupe with her husband that performed plays in Farsi for Iranian audiences. Her occasional film work included roles in such topical dramas as America So Beautiful and Maryam, both about the struggle of Iranian immigrants in the U.S. It was such work that caught the attention of director Vadim Perelman, who was looking to cast the supporting role of Nadi in his big-screen adaptation of the bestseller House of Sand and Fog. Perelman and his casting agent contacted Aghdashloo directly -- at the time, the actress had no agent or manager -- and were soon convinced that she was the woman for the part. Having read the book upon its release, Aghdashloo had long envisioned ways that she could play Nadi, a strong but subservient Iranian-American wife and mother caught between her husband's wishes and her own conscience. Opposite the formidable Ben Kingsley in a cast of established performers, Aghdashloo's subtle, simmering performance brought her kudos from the New York Film Critics and Los Angeles Film Critics Associations, both of whom named her 2003's Best Supporting Actress. The Academy followed suit, nominating her against such Hollywood stalwarts as Renée Zellweger and Holly Hunter.Following a recurring role on the wildly popular television hit 24 that served well to introduce the increasingly prominant actress to audiences outside of the art-house circuit, Aghdashloo turned in impressive supporting performances in such popular wide release films as The Exorcism of Emily Rose, American Dreamz, and X-Men: The Last Stand. In 2006 Aghdashloo would heed the call of Hollywood once again to take a featured role as the best friend of Sandra Bullock's lonely character in the romantic fantasy remake The Lake House. She went on appear in The Stoning of Soraya M., The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and House of Saddam, and narrated the documentaries Iranium and For Neda.

Trivia: Character actor and screenwriter Chris Mulkey is best remembered for his convincing portrayal of creepy former convict Hank Jennings in David Lynch's innovative television series Twin Peaks. A five-year veteran of the Children's Theatre Company of Minnesota, Mulkey, who had previously studied theater at the University of Minnesota, made his feature film debut in the comedy Loose Ends (1975). He made his screenwriting debut in 1988, with Patti Rocks.

Trivia: University of Kansas City graduate Dee Wallace is best known for her role as Elliot's divorced mom in the box-office gold mine E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982). A former ballerina, Wallace had made her cinematic debut three years prior to E.T. with a minor role in 10 (1979). She co-starred in The Howling (1981) and Cujo (1983), with actor Christopher Stone, whom she married (hence her current professional name). Dee Wallace and Christopher Stone also shared top billing on the syndicated TV series The New Lassie (1989-1990).