Trivia: The career of funny girl Mo'Nique began in her early twenties, when she took to the improv comedy stage on a dare from her brother. The impulsive decision met with success, and she began to pursue a career in standup comedy, eventually performing on such renowned shows as Def Comedy Jam, Showtime at the Apollo, and Snaps. Mo'Nique's big break came in 1999, when she landed her own sitcom, starring on UPN's The Parkers as a single mom attending college alongside her daughter. She was 32 years old, and the days when she was working at the phone company in her hometown of Baltimore were about to seem very far away. The critical and commercial success of The Parkers led to a slew of awards and movie roles, including Two Can Play That Game, Baby Boy, Half Past Dead, Shadowboxer, Domino, and Soul Plane. Despite having her pick of scripted roles, Mo'Nique was still itching to get back to her standup roots. She joined Adele Givens, Sommore, and Laura Hayes for a hugely successful comedy tour called The Queens of Comedy, which was captured on film and released by Paramount Home Entertainment and the Showtime network in 2002. Never shying away from her status as a full-figured woman, Mo'Nique has used her notoriety and her famously sarcastic wit in order to advocate for voluptuous women everywhere. Her funny and empowering book Skinny Women Are Evil became a best-seller in 2003, and she soon afterward began working with the Oxygen network on a beauty pageant for full-figured women called F.A.T. Chance -- an acronym for "fabulous and thick." She also starred in the movie Phat Girlz in 2006, playing a struggling fashion designer looking for love and success in a world of "hot bodies." Later that same year, the large-and-in-charge star could be seen onscreen with the Broken Lizard comedy troupe in the alcohol-chugging chuckler Beerfest. In 2009, she began hosting her own talk show on BET, The Mo'Nique Show.It was Mo'Nique's harrowing turn as an abusive mother in Precious, however, that made people aware of the full range of her talents. Her blistering portrayal won her the Best Supporting Actress award from a great many critics groups, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Hollywood Foreign Press. She went on to win the Oscar in that category as well.

Trivia: The spunky and pretty (if unconventional) supporting actress Jenna von Oÿ won the hearts of younger Gen-X viewers -- particularly girly girls -- with her role as Six LeMeure, the ever-present, capped pal of Blossom Russo (Mayim Bialik) on the popular sitcom Blossom (1991-1995). The actress' career far predates that series, however; a connate performer, she first hit the stage at age five, as Molly the orphan in a local rendition of Annie -- and virtually walked away with the production. Taking this as a cue, von Oÿ's parents began shuttling their eager pint-sized daughter off to casting auditions, and within two years, she landed a commercial for Northern bathroom tissue...then a miniseries...then soaps. By 1989, the then-11-year-old actress scored her first huge break: as the young version of Susanne, a childhood friend of Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise) in Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July. (According to the press, Stone originally selected von Oÿ for another role, but the actress's father forbade it because it required some "indecent" behavior onscreen.) Blossom producers launched their series in January 1991, and scored favorable ratings up through the program's penultimate season. Several years later -- after Blossom wrapped -- von Oÿ shifted gears somewhat, voicing Stacey in the Disney animated picture A Goofy Movie and its 2000 sequel, An Extremely Goofy Movie. The actress found a second incarnation of Blossom by playing Stevie, best friend of main character Nikki Parker (Mo'nique) on the UPN sitcom The Parkers (1999-2004). In a dramatic change of pace, (von Oÿ) also played Shelby Blake, a sorority pledge who dies by falling from a clock tower during a pledge, in the 1997 made-for-television feature Dying to Belong.

Trivia: Discovered acting at age 13; at 15 won a scholarship to study at the famed Inner City Acting Academy in Los Angeles. Was the first African American to be ranked as the No. 1 college speaker in the nation (for two consecutive years); led USC Trojan Debate Squad to a national championship. In 1987 founded the Young Foundation to help youth achieve success; reorganized in 2000 as the Young Center for Academic and Cultural Enrichment to focus on youth leadership training. Was named an Ambassador of Goodwill by President Bill Clinton. Was an adjunct professor of English and Dramatic Arts at Woodbury University. Was inducted into the African American Hall of Education. Is the recipient of several distinguished awards, including the Ford Foundation Freedom Unsung Award, NAACP Social Achievement Award, President's Icon Award, and Man of the Year Award from the National Organization of Women at Work. Best known as Brandy Norwood's father, Frank Mitchell, on Moesha. Is a sought after motivational speaker.

Trivia: Few actors possess the range required to craft some of the most colorful villains ever committed to celluloid before turning around to portray such a benevolent and beloved leader as Martin Luther King Jr., and it's a testament to Clifton Powell's skills as a performer that he could be equally believable doing both. It was during the early '90s that Powell first began to rise to prominence in television and film, with standout roles in Bill Duke's Deep Cover and In the Heat of the Night preceding a pair of memorable supporting roles for the Hughes Brothers in Menace II Society and Dead Presidents. Though Powell would continue to appear in features, it was on the small screen that he gained most of his exposure in the early years. After gradually climbing the credits on such shows as Murder, She Wrote, The Jamie Foxx Show, and NYPD Blue, Powell would leave an indelible mark on viewers with his thoughtful portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr. in director Charles Burnett's Selma, Lord, Selma. With versatile, everyman looks that were something of a blessing and a curse, Powell quickly established himself as an actor capable of truly disappearing into his characters -- sometimes to a fault. While a slew of roles on screens big and small kept Powell a considerably busy man in the mid-'90s, later roles in such efforts as Lockdown, Civil Brand, and Never Die Alone proved that his persistence, talent, and dedication were beginning to pay off. In 2004, Powell and the cast of the wildly popular biopic Ray would be honored with a Screen Actor's Guild nomination, and though they didn't take home the prize it was obvious Powell was finally on the verge of breaking big. His dark turn in the T.D. Jakes screen-adaptation Woman Thou Art Loosed was followed by a series of small-screen appearances in House, M.D., CSI, and Day Break, and in 2007 alone Powell's name would be attached to no less than eight films being prepared for the big screen .