Trivia: New York City native Rachel True longed to be an actress from her youngest years, watching the performances of her stepmother, renowned stage actress Verona Barnes. True's own first break came when she was cast for several episodes of The Cosby Show in 1991, as a friend of Theo's. She would later score recurring television roles on Beverly Hills 90210, The Drew Carey Show, Once and Again, and HBO's Dream On.In 1993, True moved to Los Angeles, which kick-started her film career. Her first notable appearance was opposite Chris Rock in the rap parody CB4 (1993). She next starred alongside Alyssa Milano in Embrace of the Vampire (1994), then stayed with the occult theme for the more widely seen witch flick The Craft (1996). True plays the most underwritten of four young Wiccan worshipers (opposite Fairuza Balk, Robin Tunney, and Neve Campbell), one of several roles she has taken that was originally written for a white actress. She and Campbell became best friends as a result of working together on the project.True ventured into indie filmmaking with Gregg Araki's Nowhere, the third installment in his "teen apocalypse trilogy," in which she won some acclaim for her portrayal of Mel, a sexually confused central cog of Araki's dystopian soap opera. She returned briefly to more commercial fare with Half Baked (1998), in which she plays Dave Chappelle's love interest and one of the few non-stoned characters. Since then it's been back to lesser-seen films -- most notably as a veteran rave girl in Greg Harrison's Groove (2000) -- as well as her television work.

Trivia: Actress Essence Atkins began appearing onscreen in the late '80s, with small appearances on shows like Saved By the Bell and The Cosby Show. She would go on to land a series of starring roles on short-lived series throughout the '90s like Under One Roof and Smart Guy before finding lasting success with a starring role on the comedy series Half and Half, which she stayed with from 2002 to 2006. After the show ended its run, Atkins made a number of appearances in movies like Love for Sale and Dance Flick.

Trivia: A Broadway actress by training, Valarie Pettiford earned a Tony nomination for her role in the principal cast of the musical Fosse. She would also earn critical acclaim for roles in shows like Chicago, but most viewers would become acquainted with Pettiford for her film at TV work. Beginning with appearances on shows like Another World and Walker, Texas Ranger, Pettiford spent the '90s building up her résumé. In 2002, she was cast in the recurring role of Gayle Noland on the crime drama The District. Around the same time, she took on the role of Big Dee Thorn on the comedy series Half and Half, which she'd stay with for the next four years. In 2008, she began a professional relationship with Tyler Perry, playing Sandra on the sitcom House of Payne, and playing weary wife Harriet in Perry's 2010 dramedy Why Did I Get Married Too?

Trivia: Born to a first-generation Cuban immigrant couple and raised in the Washington, D.C., area, Laz Alonso gravitated to acting interests at an early age, but temporarily forsook the arts in favor of a more practical and well-grounded education, studying business at nearby Howard University's marketing program. After graduation, Alonso left the District of Columbia and took off for the Big Apple, where he worked as an investment banker, but footlights and soundstages beckoned, and with the encouragement of friends, Alonso began auditioning for acting assignments and soon landed appearances in a string of commercials, then guest roles on series programs including CSI, The Practice, and Navy: NCIS, before gracing the casts of theatrically released features. Meanwhile, the young performer -- who had studied classical piano formally for nearly a decade -- parlayed his melodic interests into reggaeton performances and also involved himself in a big way with altruism, launching a nonprofit group for children of single-parent households.Alonso's big-screen projects included the 2003 urban horror comedy Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood; the 2005 Constantine (with a role as a security guard in a morgue), and the 2005 Jarhead (as a soldier stationed in the Gulf War). He worked for Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields) as a detective hot on the trail of a serial killer, in that filmmaker's critically despised torture porn outing Captivity (2007), then essayed a small supporting turn in the same year's Dirty Sexy Money on ABC. Also in 2007, Alonso played a frat boy at an African American college in Atlanta in director Sylvain White's teen comedy-cum-dance film Stomp the Yard. At about the same time, the young actor worked under the aegis of Spike Lee in that helmer's World War II-era period drama Miracle at St. Anna (2008), and signed to act in director James Cameron's hotly anticipated, mega-budgeted science fiction epic Avatar (2009).

Trivia: A native of Chicago, IL, Japanese-American actress Suzy Nakamura originally harbored desires and plans to be a professional dancer, but positive acting experiences in a number of Windy City theatrical productions, including Mame and H.M.S. Pinafore, prompted her to shift focus. During her third year of college, she impulsively decided to audition for the famed Second City comedy troupe in Chicago and was selected, which inspired her to drop out of school and tour around the country with that ensemble on a full-time basis. Nakamura took her next step by moving to Los Angeles and securing representation; numerous guest spots and recurring roles on series including The West Wing and Curb Your Enthusiasm followed, though the tyro actress also placed a heavy emphasis on big-screen roles, with deft supporting turns in projects including Mike Figgis' experimental drama Timecode (2000), director Gary David Goldberg's romantic comedy Must Love Dogs (2005), and Christopher Guest's mockumentary For Your Consideration (2006). Also in 2006, the producers of the offbeat sitcom Help Me Help You (starring Ted Danson and Jere Burns) tapped Nakamura to play Inger, a young woman grappling with major social dysfunction on the bumpy road to romance. Unfortunately, that program was canceled not long after it premiered; Nakamura followed it up with one of the lead roles in the comedic horror mockumentary American Zombie.