Trivia: An edgy comic who skyrocketed to comedy fame with his memorably side-splitting appearance in Spike Lee's The Original Kings of Comedy, Bernie Mac may have seemed an unlikely candidate for a television sitcom, but with the debut of The Bernie Mac Show, the inventive comedian began on a high note, leaving many pondering the apparent overnight success of the comedian who had ostensibly come from nowhere to become a ubiquitous presence. Born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough in Chicago, IL, Mac was a member of a large extended family living under one roof, which provided the energetic youngster with plenty of fuel for refining his ability to perform dead-on impressions and humorously recall memorable family occurrences. Time spent as a gopher for performers at the Regal Theater also served as a primer for his showbiz aspirations (as well as a cautionary warning of the destructive temptations that go along with fame). Mac's first experiences with standup came at the age of eight, when he performed a routine about his grandparents at the dinner table in front of the congregation at church. Though it resulted in some strict reprimanding from his grandmother, he had the audience feeding out of his palm and the young impressionist quickly had the epiphany that humor meant more to him than the sting of discipline. From that point on, Mac refined and developed his comic abilities on the tracks of Chicago's El trains and in local parks. Though he earned a modest keep from his public performances, Mac craved the legitimacy of the club circuit and he began to perform professionally in 1977. After early film work -- including memorable appearances in Above the Rim (1994) and The Walking Dead (1995), which followed on the heels of his big-screen debut in 1992's Mo' Money -- Mac was offered and appeared in the television series Midnight Mac in 1995. Hesitation as to the neutering of his material made the comedian leery of television, and the show didn't last. The comic actor earned more attention when he turned up frequently the following year in television's Moesha, though mainstream acceptance was still four years and numerous bit film parts away. Following The Original Kings of Comedy, Mac began to develop an idea for a sitcom that revolved around similar family experiences and retained the edge that had initially shocked his audiences into laughter. In 2001, he debuted the family sitcom The Bernie Mac Show, and it was a success, running for five seasons. 2001 would indeed prove to be the year of the Mac as he also took on a substantial role in director Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's 11. He reprised that character in the two Ocean's sequels, as well as lead roles as a vice presidential candidate in the Chris Rock political satire Head of State and as a washed-up baseball player in 2004's Mr. 3000. 2007 saw Mac in a more serious role as a kindly janitor in the inspirational sports drama Pride. Upon his death in August 2008 of complications from pneumonia, Soul Men, in which he stars alongside Samuel L. Jackson as a soul singer embarking on a reunion tour, had yet to hit theaters.­

Trivia: Actress Kellita Smith primarily established herself on television, with an effective portrayal of über-professional, no-nonsense wife Wanda -- straight man to the popular eponymous comedian on the rollicking sitcom The Bernie Mac Show (2001-2006). Previously, Smith had tackled guest roles on series programs including Nash Bridges, Martin, Sister, Sister, and NYPD Blue. Her activity extended to cinematic work from the beginning, with a 1995 portrayal on the harrowing Sean Penn-directed drama The Crossing Guard. Smith placed a heightened emphasis on features after The Bernie Mac Show wrapped at the end of its fifth season, with work in theatrical outings including Fair Game (2005), Roll Bounce (2005), and Feel the Noise (2007).

Trivia: A popular comedian during the 1970s, Jay Leno is best known as the man who replaced Johnny Carson at the helm of The Tonight Show in 1992. Leno was born James Douglas Muir Leno to parents of Italian and Scottish heritage (Leno is particularly fond of discussing the Italian part) in New Rochelle, NY, but was raised in Andover, MA. During the year in which he was establishing his standup career, Leno was performing 300 nights throughout North America. He made his television debut on the Merv Griffin Show and his acting debut in Silver Bears (1977). That year he appeared in the cast of the short-lived Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. Show, a musical variety summer replacement series. By the early '80s, Leno had left behind any notion of becoming an actor because his comedy career was in high gear. His subsequent film appearances have been as himself or as a parody of himself (The Flintstones, 1994). Leno made his first appearance on The Tonight Show on March 2, 1977. Though he can be sharp and is an astute political commentator, there is something nice and comforting about the soft-eyed, lantern-jawed funnyman that appeals to vast middle-American audiences, the same sort who regularly tuned in to Carson. It is small wonder that Leno became Carson's sole guest host by 1987. Leno hosted his first show as Carson's successor on May 25, 1992, with comedian Billy Crystal as his first guest. There was much furor surrounding the selection of Leno as many believed fellow late night gab-meister David Letterman would inherit the throne. Since taking the Tonight Show's reigns, Leno has attempted to inject the show with a slightly hipper edge by featuring more radical musical acts and affecting a more casual look. It's a tough balancing act, for he must do so without alienating his older, more conservative fan base. Leno would conitnue to host The Tonight Show until a brief stint in 2009, when the network had contracted earlier to hand hosting duties over to Conan O'Brien. Leno moved into an earlier time slot with a comedy show called The Jay Leno Show, but after some controversy, he resumed hosting duties on the Tonight Show, and O'Brien took his act over to TBS.

Trivia: South Carolina-born African American comedian Chris Rock grew up in Brooklyn and projected a marked aptitude for comedy early in life. Rock traveled the New York club circuit during his adolescence, so aggressively and persistently that he established himself as a seasoned veteran by his late teens. He happened to be performing at the New York Comedy Strip c. 1984, when his break arrived in the form of an audience visit by one Eddie Murphy. Deeply impressed with the then eighteen-year-old rising star, Murphy cast him in his forthcoming Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), as a parking valet. It hardly constituted a breakout performance, but the role and newfound connection with Eddie Murphy helped Rock land a couple of small supporting roles, and eventually a spot on NBC's hallowed Saturday Night Live, from 1990-93. During his SNL stint, Rock also periodically guest-starred in fellow comedian Keenan Ivory Wayans' African American sketch comedy series In Living Color. In 1991, Rock broke from comedy in favor of a more dramatic role, and his performance as a surprisingly innocent crack addict-cum-informant in Mario Van Peebles' New Jack City attracted a substantial amount of favorable attention; Roger Ebert praised Rock as "effortlessly authentic and convincing."One could argue with some foundation that the role in New Jack City is indicative of Rock's driving force (i.e., the politics of modern society and race within the contextual framework of American culture). Although Rock employs comedic delivery, many of his favorite topics are quite grave, and Rock's ability to confront these issues, cloaked in ribald humor, helped launch his career during the late '90s. While his 1993 screenwriting debut, on Tamra Davis's CB4: The Movie, received lukewarm reviews at best, Rock established himself as a household name after his scathing HBO comedy special Bring the Pain (1996) earned him two Emmy awards and a significantly larger fan base. The same year, he received a third Emmy for his work as a writer and correspondent for Comedy Central's Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher. Then, in 1997, the successes of Rock's stand-up, his contributions to Saturday Night Live and In Living Color, his film roleass, and his work on Bring the Pain collectively inspired HBO to sign Rock for a sketch comedy series, The Chris Rock Show, that ran from 1997 to 2000. The program borrowed the formats of Saturday Night Live and In Living Color, yet it upped the vulgarity, volatility, and presence of hot-button contemporary issues - in addition to the intelligence. In addition to Rock, the program featured a cast of up-and-coming African American comics, such as Wanda Sykes and Mario Joyner. The program ran to sensational reviews. Rock's film career expanded throughout the late '90s, and the young comic won particular notice for his role as a hot-headed law enforcement agent in 1998's Lethal Weapon 4 opposite Danny Glover and Mel Gibson, and later for Kevin Smith's irreverent Dogma(1999), as a bitter apostle of Jesus. He also published a book titled Rock This! with much success. Though Dogma received mixed reviews, in 1999 Rock mounted his second HBO comedy special, Bigger & Blacker, which found the comedian addressing topics from gun control to Bill Clinton and proper parenting techniques. In late 2000, Rock played an obnoxious hitman equipped with an incredibly inventive string of obscenities in Neil La Bute's controversial black comedy Nurse Betty, alongside Renee Zellweger and Morgan Freeman.In 2001, Rock put his screenwriting abilities to the test in Down to Earth, a remake of 1941's Here Comes Mr. Jordan, and again in Pootie Tang, a feature spin-off of one of the characters from The Chris Rock Show. In 2001, Rock voiced one of the characters in Steven Spielberg's A.I.: Artificial Intelligence and another in Osmosis Jones, and rejoined Kevin Smith for a cameo in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. In 2002, Rock was one of several comedians featured in Christian Charles' documentary Comedian, and in the same year starred opposite Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins as a CIA spy in the Joel Schumacher-directed action comedy dud Bad Company. Rock then directed, co-wrote and starred in 2003's Head of State as an unlikely presidential candidate for the Democratic party.Head of State divided critics; most felt nonplussed, or espoused mixed feelings, such as The Los Angeles Times's Manohla Dargis, who mused, " Rock can't set up a decent-looking shot, and… doesn't care about niceties such as character development… but…nonetheless wrings biting humor from serious issues with the… ferocity [of]… Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce." After Head, Rock's big screen activity diminished just a bit; he voiced Marty the Zebra in the CG-animated, family-oriented features Madagascar (2005) and Madagascar 2 (2008), but his most frequent turn during this period arrived in the form of a new semiautobiographical sitcom on UPN, Everybody Hates Chris, that debuted in September 2005. As written and produced by Rock, it cast Tyler James Williams as a younger version of the comedian, during the early '80s, who lives in the steel-tough area of Bedford-Stuyvesant and is bused, each day, to a school full of Italian Americans. As narrated by Rock, this sweet, gentle, nostalgic and witty program caught everyone off guard and drew outstanding ratings during late 2005 "TV Sweeps"; New York Times correspondent Alessandra Stanley was certainly not alone when she praised it as "charming" and compared it favorably to The Cosby Show - high praise, indeed.In 2007, Rock returned to cinemas, posing a quadruple threat (writer/producer/ director/star) with the adults-only sex comedy I Think I Love My Wife. In that picture (a remake of Eric Rohmer's Chloe in the Afternoon!) Rock plays Richard Cooper, a suburban investment banker saddled with a wife and two kids, who finds it increasingly difficult to avoid delving into a rich world of sexual fantasies, and then to avoid an imminent affair with a gorgeous "old friend" (Kerry Washington) seeking career advice. I Think I Love My Wife took its stateside bow in mid-March 2007, to reviews as mixed as anything in Rock's prior career; most critics either loved or hated it; a few responded ambivalently. Rock took on a supporting role in 2012's What to Expect When You're Expecting, and voiced the character of Marty the Zebra in Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted the same year. He resprised his role in Grown Ups 2 in 2013. In 2014, he wrote, directed and starred in Top Five.

Trivia: Waited tables at an L.A. deli before his big break. Was named one of the 10 Actors to Watch by Variety in 2000. Shared screen time on the TV series Suits with his mother and father, Gail and Charlie Hoffman, when they made their acting debut as the parents of their son's character.