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: A swarthy, versatile performer possessed of a strong screen presence, British actor James Frain first made an impression on audiences with his portrayal of a rebellious young student opposite Anthony Hopkins in Shadowlands (1993). A graduate of London's Central School of Speech and Drama, he then did strong work in Mike Newell's An Awfully Big Adventure (1994) and Thaddeus O' Sullivan's acclaimed Nothing Personal (1995), the latter of which cast him as the leader of a militant anti-IRA group. Frain's international recognition increased in 1998, thanks to strong performances in two highly acclaimed films, Elizabeth and Hilary and Jackie. The first featured him in a supporting role as Spaniard Alvaro de la Quadra, while in the latter, he played pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, the husband of musical prodigy Jaqueline DuPre (Emily Watson).Frain's profile was given even greater exposure in 1999, when he appeared in a number of star-studded films. Titus, Julie Taymor's lavish adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus cast Frain as Bassianus, while István Szabó's equally lavish epic Sunshine -- a drama chronicling over a century of history in a family of Hungarian Jews -- saw him playing Ralph Fiennes' hot-tempered brother. Vigo: Passion for Life, meanwhile, starred Frain as the title character, a French filmmaker whose movies were as influential as his life was brief. In 2000, John Frankenheimer's Reindeer Games thrust the actor into the more modern milieu of underworld crime alongside the likes of Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, and Charlize Theron. Later that same year, he displayed his softer side in Where the Heart Is, playing an awkward, kind-hearted small town librarian who falls in love with a young single mother (Natalie Portman). Forliani stayed busy throughout the 2000s, winning praise for her work in the critically acclaimed fantasy drama Northfolk (2003), which also starred James Woods and Nick Nolte. She appeared in director Christopher Guest's playful send-up of Hollywood during awards season, For Your Consideration, in 2006, though she is better known for her portrayal of medical examiner Peyton Driscoll in CSI: NY (2006-2007). In 2008 she joined the cast of the supernatural thriller Not Forgotten to play a supporting role, and returned to the small screen in 2011 to play the part of Igraine in Camelot, a short-lived television series from STARZ. After taking a reoccurring role in 24's fourth season (2005), Frain portrayed Tomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex in season of HBO's period drama The Tudors throughout its three season run (2007-2009). He played a caretaker in Water for Elephants (starring Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson) in 2011, and co-starred with James Caviezel in the crime comedy Transit in 2012.In addition to his screen work, Frain has performed in a number of stage productions. He has worked with such prestigious groups as the Peter Hall Company in London's West End and Stratford-Upon-Avon's Royal Shakespeare Company.

Trivia: Moved to Germany from the United States at six years old. Was roommates with theater director Jim Simpson at Yale. Is an accomplished saxophonist. Taught drama to kids on a Navajo Reservation in Tuba City, Arizona. Made his Broadway debut in The Green Bird in 2000.