Trivia: Fred Dryer has spent the bulk of his acting career on television, but he has also appeared in a few feature films, beginning with The Starmaker (1981). Prior to becoming a performer, Dryer had been a professional football player. On television, he is best remembered for two roles, that of Sam Malone's irritating buddy, Dave Richards, in three episodes of the NBC sitcom Cheers and as fearless Detective Sergeant Rick Hunter in the series Hunter (1984). Other film appearances include Cannonball Run II (1984) and Day of Reckoning (1994).

Trivia: Supporting actor Charles Hallahan played character roles on stage, television and in feature films. Fans of the Stephen J. Cannell police drama Hunter will know Hallahan for playing Captain Charlie Devane between 1986 and 1991. A Philadelphia native, Hallahan earned an undergraduate degree at Rutgers and a master's from Temple University six years before heading to Los Angeles in 1977. Hallahan had little trouble finding acting jobs. His stage credits include playing the lead in a long-running San Francisco production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest during the late '90s, roles in plays ranging from Equus to The Threepenny Opera. In 1976, Hallahan toured the Soviet Union in two classic plays. On television, Hallahan guest-starred on over 200 episodes of shows ranging from Lou Grant to The Paper Chase. He made his feature film debut in Nightwing (1979). He made his last film appearance playing Paul Dreyfuss in Dante's Peak (1997). Hallahan died during a car crash in which he apparently suffered a heart attack on November 25, 1997. He was 54.

Trivia: Blonde, pouty leading lady Darlanne Fluegel made her screen debut as one of Faye Dunaway's stable of models in The Eyes of Laura Mars. A brief cult following built up around Fluegel due to her appearances in violent cop dramas and sci-fiers. When she wasn't being horribly murdered (Once Upon a Time in America), she was shooting up and betraying her loved ones (To Live and Die in LA). In recent years, Darlanne Fluegel has been most closely associated with gritty crime-and-punishment TV shows: she was seen as Julie Torello during the 1986-87 season of Crime Story, as Lacey in the climactic 1990 episodes of Wiseguy, and as officer Joanne Molenski in the 1990-91 installments of Hunter.

Trivia: New Yorker Barry Primus is primarily an actor, but has also doubled and tripled as writer and director. Primus worked on stage for the first decade of his career, then made his screen bow in the Manhattan-filmed The Brotherhood (1968). Additional films include Boxcar Bertha (1972), Heartland (1979) Night Games (1980) and Guilty by Suspicion (1991). Primus also had a continuing role on the TV series Cagney and Lacey (1982-88) as Cagney's(Sharon Gless) erstwhile boyfriend Sgt. Dory McKenna, whose drug problem compromised his value as a cop. After working as director Mark Rydell's assistant on The Rose (1981) Barry Primus has increased his behind-the-camera activities; in 1992, Primus directed his first theatrical feature, the "inside" Hollywood comedy/drama Mistress.

Trivia: A solid character actor whose balding head and craggy face are perfect for playing any number of stuffy bureaucrats, Mitch Pileggi gradually came to attention in the television world as FBI Deputy Director Walter S. Skinner, the man directly in charge of Special Agents Mulder and Scully in their investigations into The X-Files. At first played mainly as a brick wall for Mulder to run into periodically, Skinner has gradually taken on depth and nuance, as well as a certain mysterious quality -- he appears to be somehow involved with the mysterious Elders, yet has stood against them, and the Cigarette Smoking Man (William D. Davis) on more than one occasion. Skinner has also been the primary focus of several episodes, and has been tied directly into the mythology of the series. Neither Mulder nor Scully seem to have a firm idea of where Skinner stands and his position was supposed to be revealed in the 1998 X-Files motion picture.Pileggi is the son of a former Department of Defense contractor who took his family all over the world during Pileggi's youth. Pileggi himself also went to work, very briefly, for the Department of Defense, but abandoned that career track in favor of theater when he was 27 years old. He quickly graduated from the theater to parts in television and motion pictures, always playing relatively small, low-key parts. He had a recurring part in Dallas for a while. During his career he had lead billing only in Wes Craven's Shocker, in which he played a serial killer who manages to cheat the electric chair by becoming electrical energy himself. A couple of Pileggi fan clubs have been created since his first appearance on The X-Files, and his AudioBook readings of the various X-Files novelizations have done very well for HarperCollins. While Skinner's ultimate fate is unknown, he seems likely to survive the 1998 X-Files movie -- though one should be mindful of the ultimate fates of earlier characters Deep Throat and Mister X.

Trivia: A one-man, low-budget movie-making machine, David Heavener specializes in direct-to-video actioners. He has starred in all of his films, beginning with Outlaw Force in 1987. He also wrote the screenplay, produced, directed, and wrote the songs for this violent tale of a Vietnam vet/country singer who takes on a gang of redneck punks. Heavener made a foray into erotic low-budget films with L.A. Goddess (1992), but then returned to actioners.

Trivia: Al Ruscio played character roles since his film debut in Al Capone (1959). His best-known roles included crime boss Leo Cuneo in The Godfather: Part III (1990) and a recurring role on Life Goes On; he also appeared in the pilot episode of Seinfeld as the manager of Monk's Café. Ruscio worked as an acting teacher for years and regularly appeared in stage productions in Los Angeles. He passed away in 2013 at age 89.