Trivia: One of the most popular film personalities in the world, Jackie Chan came from a poverty-stricken Hong Kong family -- so poor, claims Chan, that he was almost sold in infancy to a wealthy British couple. As it turned out, Chan became his family's sole support. Enrolled in the Chinese Opera Research Institute at the age of seven, he spent the next decade in rigorous training for a career with the Peking Opera, excelling in martial arts and acrobatics. Billed as Cheng Lung, Chan entered films in his mid-teens, appearing in 25 productions before his 20th birthday. Starting out as a stunt man, Chan was promoted to stardom as the potential successor to the late Bruce Lee. In his earliest starring films, he was cast as a stone-cold serious type, determined to avenge Lee's death. Only when he began playing for laughs did Chan truly attain full celebrity status. Frequently referred to as the Buster Keaton of kung-fu, Chan's outlook on life is a lot more optimistic than Keaton's, but in his tireless devotion to the most elaborate of sight gags and the most awe-inspiring of stunts (many of which have nearly cost him his life), Chan is Keaton incarnate. From 1978's The Young Master onward, Chan has usually been his own director and screenwriter. His best Hong Kong-produced films include the nonstop action-fests Project A (1983), Police Story (1985), Armour of God (1986), and the Golden Horse Award-winning Crime Story (1993) -- not to mention the multiple sequels of each of the aforementioned titles. Despite his popularity in Europe and Asia, Chan was for many years unable to make a dent in the American market. He tried hard in such films as The Big Brawl (1980) and the first two Cannonball Run flicks, but American filmgoers just weren't buying.At long last, Chan mined U.S. box-office gold with 1996's Rumble in the Bronx, a film so exhilarating that audiences never noticed those distinctly Canadian mountain ranges looming behind the "Bronx" skyline. Chan remained the most popular Asian actor with the greatest potential to cross over into the profitable English-speaking markets, something he again demonstrated when he co-starred with Chris Tucker in the 1998 box-office hit Rush Hour. In 2000 Chan had another success on his hands with Shanghai Noon, a comedy Western in which he starred as an Imperial Guard dispatched to the American West to rescue the kidnapped daughter (Lucy Liu) of the Chinese Emperor.He maintained his status as one of the biggest movie stars in the world throughout the next decades in a series of films that include Rush Hour 2, The Tuxedo, Shankghai Knights, The Myth, Rush Hour 3. He enjoyed his biggest U.S. hit in quite some time starring in the 2010 remake of The Karate Kid opposite Jaden Smith. Even with his hits in the English-language world, Chan continued to work in China as well, as both an actor and a producer. In 2016, he won an Honorary Academy Award for his more than 50 years of service to the film industry.

Trivia: Whether he's acting or co-writing brilliantly quirky character studies with director/writing partner Wes Anderson, Owen C. Wilson's work exudes an insouciant yet earnest charm and eccentric comic sensibility, making him one of the most promising new talents to emerge in the 1990s.Born in Dallas on November 18th, 1968, Wilson raised enough hell in high school to get expelled from one institution in tenth grade, but he managed to attend college at the University of Texas in Austin and graduate in 1991. Along with his degree, Wilson's Austin years resulted in a budding partnership with a like-minded creative classmate, aspiring filmmaker Wes Anderson. Their first film together, a short about a bookstore heist called Bottle Rocket, played at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, attracting the attention of producer Polly Platt and writer/director James L. Brooks. With Brooks' support, Wilson and Anderson expanded the short into a feature, indie cult favorite Bottle Rocket (1996). Though it made little impression at the box office, Anderson and Wilson's distinctly offbeat, wry, and optimistic tale about aspiring criminal Dignan and his best friend Anthony (played by Wilson's brother Luke Wilson) earned ardent fans among cinéastes. Wilson's inspired performance as Dignan, not to mention his blond hair, large grin, and affable drawl, became his Hollywood calling card. That same year, Wilson also began a fertile association with actor/director Ben Stiller, appearing in one memorable scene as a smooth, ill-fated date in Stiller's black comedy The Cable Guy (1996).Alternating between supporting roles in Hollywood spectacles, collaborations with Anderson and Stiller, and smaller independent projects, Wilson worked steadily for the rest of the 1990s. Though he always seemed to fill the generic slot of Guy Marked for Death, Wilson still managed to bring a reliably laid-back, humorous spark to the bombastic proceedings in Anaconda (1997), Armageddon (1998), and The Haunting (1999). On a more artistically successful front, Wilson's next script with Anderson resulted in the lauded coming-of-age film Rushmore (1998). With its singular cast of characters, distinctive combination of deadpan humor and true emotion, and superb performances by Jason Schwartzman as teen prodigy Max Fischer and Bill Murray as depressed millionaire Blume, Rushmore earned prizes from the critics (if not the Academy) and proved that Bottle Rocket was no fluke. As far as acting, Wilson's ability to suggest complexity beneath a breezy surface earned positive notice for his unsettling performance as a laconic, self-styled Good Samaritan serial killer in indie thriller The Minus Man (1999).By 2000, Wilson began to take center stage in larger Hollywood projects as well. Though it was another Jackie Chan vehicle, Wilson's hilarious co-starring turn as a surfer dude-tinged outlaw in the chop socky Western Shanghai Noon (2000) nearly stole the movie. Wilson's brief appearance as a Jesus-loving, super rich romantic rival to Ben Stiller's put-upon Greg Focker was a comic highlight of the hit Meet the Parents (2000). Stiller's supermodel farce Zoolander (2001) further sealed Wilson's status as a superlative comic actor. As Zoolander's rival Hansel, Wilson's offbeat timing made him the ultimate bubble-headed mannequin; his catwalk competition with Stiller provided the biggest laughs in a hit-or-miss movie. Even as he flourished in broad Hollywood comedy, Wilson continued his partnership with Wes Anderson, co-writing with Anderson and co-starring (with his brother Luke and Stiller among others) in the unusual family story The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). Branching out into serious roles, Wilson then co-starred with The Royal Tenenbaums patriarch Gene Hackman in the military drama Behind Enemy Lines (2001). An increasingly prevalent figure in action films following the millennial turnover, Wilson followed Behind Enemy Lines with I Spy (2002) and the Shanghai Noon sequel Shanghai Knights (2003) before appearing opposite Morgan Freeman in the critical and commercial disappointment The Big Bounce and co-starring in the underwhelming big screen adaptation of Starsky & Hutch. He made his third appearance in a Jackie Chan vehicle in the 2004 Disney production Around the World in 80 Days; though poised to be a blockbuster, the mega-budgeted film was one of the biggest flops of the season.A rebound was in order, and if his supporting turn in the 2004 holiday-season blockbuster sequel Meet the Fockers wasn't enough, Wilson found his greatest leading-man success to date as foil to the bawdy Vince Vaughn in 2005's raunchy, runaway hit The Wedding Crashers. The Wilson-Vaughn pairing challenged the Wilson-Stiller hilarity quotient as a pair of divorce consultants who bide their free time crashing weddings to get laid. The $200-million smash was indeed a tough act to follow, and while 2006's You, Me and Dupree - a thematic reprise of his Wedding Crashers role in which he plays an irritating houseguest who refuses to vacate - was something of a letdown, Wilson more than made up for it that same year with a leading voice role in Pixar's Cars and a supporting turn in Stiller's special-effects comedy A Night at the Museum.For the next couple of years, Wilson continued to stick with what worked - collaborations with Anderson (The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)) and sequels in his hit franchises (Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian (2009), Little Fockers (2010) and Cars 2 (2011)). He also starred in Woody Allen's Mightnight in Paris (2011), earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.Romantically linked, by turns, with a pre-Ashton Demi Moore, rocker Sheryl Crow, and actress Kate Hudson, Wilson, with his shaggy blond mane, blue eyes, and (as one magazine cited humorously in its front cover headline) "unusual nose," also found himself the unlikely forebear of a new wave of Hollywood sex symbols.

Trivia: Best known to television audiences as Ling Woo, the raging force of political incorrectness on Ally McBeal, Lucy Alexis Liu has managed to cross over to the big screen in such features as Payback and Play It to the Bone. Born to Chinese parents in Jackson Heights, NY, on December 2, 1968, Liu grew up speaking both English and Mandarin. After graduating from Manhattan's Stuyvesant High School, she earned a degree in Asian languages and cultures from the University of Michigan, where she also studied acting, dance, and voice. Liu's first professional job was playing a waitress on Beverly Hills 90210, something that led to more substantial work on various TV shows, including a regular part on the TV series Pearl. Liu's biggest breakthrough came in 1998, when she was cast as Ling Woo on Ally McBeal. She had originally auditioned for the role of Nelle Porter, which ultimately went to Australian actress Portia DeRossi. David E. Kelley, the show's producer, was so impressed with Liu's audition, however, that he created the role of Ling Woo specifically for her. The character was initially supposed to be included on only a few episodes but proved so popular with the show's audience that Liu was made into a regular cast member.Unsurprisingly, the actress' increased exposure led to greater opportunities on the screen and after playing supporting roles in such films as Payback and Molly (both 1999), she moved on to more substantial work in Play It to the Bone and the Jackie Chan martial-arts period comedy Shanghai Noon, which cast her as a princess who has been kidnapped from her emperor father. In 2000, she also was cast in perhaps her most high-profile role to date, when she was chosen alongside Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz as one of the titular crime fighters in Charlie's Angels: The Movie.With the exception of a small role as an inmate in the Oscar-winning film Chicago, 2002 brought little recognition for Liu -- Cypher, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, and Party Monster with former Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin went virtually unseen by the general public. 2003's Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle placed Liu firmly back inside the spotlight, though she was somewhat overshadowed by the toothy blonde glint that is Cameron Diaz. Luckily for Liu, she was given the chance to shine quite independently when Quentin Tarantino cast her as the deadly O-Ren Ishii, AKA Cottonmouth, in Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003). Unfortunately roles in subsequent action films like Domino and Lucky Number Slevin failed to capitolize on that momentary career momentum, though a voice role as Viper in Kung Fu Panda (as well as the sequel and subsequent television series) found her continuing to kick butt in virtual form. Meanwhile, on the small screen, Liu donned a badge for a recurring role on the TNT cop series Southland.

Trivia: Brooklyn-born Xander Berkeley made the rounds on numerous TV shows throughout the '80s, '90s, and 2000s, not just as an actor, but as a makeup artist. The actor has put his uncanny talent in the makeup department to use on the sets of many shows, like on 24, where he designed his own makeup to depict his character's affliction with radiation sickness.Berkeley got his start in show business in the early '80s, appearing on shows like Moonlighting, The A-Team, and M*A*S*H. He went on to appear in movies, as well, like The Rock and Apollo 13, but he frequently returned to the small screen for memorable roles like George Mason, head of the Counterterrorist Unit on 24, and Sheriff Roy Atwater on CSI. In the coming years, Berkeley would continue to find success on teh small screen, on shows like Nikita.

Trivia: Played the titular role in the 1993 martial arts action classic Iron Monkey.Made his America film debut in the 2000 action comedy Shanghai Noon which starred Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson.Frequently acts in film starring Jackie Chan, such as New Police Story, The Myth and 2010 remake of The Karate Kid.

Trivia: Born November 10th, 1971, the fresh-faced, southern-born character actor Walton Goggins specializes in portrayals of hot-headed and rebellious types, often with an authoritarian or aggressive edge. Raised in Lithia Springs, GA, Goggins began his film career in his twenties with small supporting roles in A-list features, including Forever Young (1992), The Next Karate Kid (1994), and The Apostle (1997). He signed for his most successful and enduring role, however, as the sharp-tempered, racist detective Shane Vendrell on the FX network's popular police drama The Shield, a role Goggins held for multiple seasons, beginning with the program's debut in 2002. Beginning not long after this, Goggins stepped behind the camera to produce and turned out a number of noteworthy efforts, including the Billy Bob Thornton-headlined psychological drama Chrystal (2004) and the crime comedy Randy and the Mob, both directed by Ray McKinnon and both co-starring Goggins.Following the conclusion of The Shield in 2007, Goggins worked as an actor and producer in That Evening Sun, a psychological drama following the efforts of an aging farmer to keep his farm after his son betrays him by leasing the property to an old nemesis. The actor joined a cast including Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Sam Rockwell for Cowboys & Aliens in 2011's Cowboys & Aliens, and continued to enjoy television success on the police drama Justified.

Trivia: The son of actors Sean Connery and Diane Cilento, London-born Jason Connery inaugurated his own film career in 1982 with The Lords of Discipline, which though set in a Southern military academy, was lensed in England. His next film was The Boy Who Had Everything (1983), a title that provided ammunition for those jaundiced critics who assumed that Jason's career was merely a by-product of his parents' fame. In fact, Jason was talented enough to carve out a career without his lofty pedigree, as proven by his swashbuckling star turn in Robin of Sherwood, a well-distributed BBC television series of the late 1980s. In 1990, Jason Connery was wittily cast in the title role in the made-for-cable The Secret Life of Ian Fleming, a fanciful biography of the author/adventurer whose "James Bond" novels had helped catapult Jason's dad Sean to fame.

Trivia: TV writer and producer Sam Simon is perhaps best known as one of the original creators of the landmark animated series The Simpsons. A veteran of the writer's room, Simon began his career writing and producing shows like Cheers, Taxi, and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. When The Simpsons debuted in 1989, the show proved to be a huge success, but even as he continued writing and producing the series, Simon continued to take on new projects. He wrote, produced, and even directed the The George Carlin Show and The Drew Carey Show, but The Simpsons would remain important in Simon's career, and he would eventually take home seven Emmys for his work with the series (he won another two for his work on The Tracey Ullman Show). After being diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2012, Simon dedicated much of his time and vast wealth to helping animals, including starting the Sam Simon Foundation, which rescued dogs and assisted with medical attention for animals. He died in 2015, at age 59.

Trivia: American character actor Curtis Armstrong is best known in films for playing Dudley "Booger" Dawson in the Revenge of the Nerds series of feature films and TV movies. On television he is best remembered for playing Herbert Viola in the ABC series Moonlighting (1985-1989). When he was just starting out, Armstrong founded his own theater company in Michigan. He continued working in theater until 1983 when he made his film debut playing opposite Tom Cruise in Risky Business. He appeared in Revenge of the Nerds the following year. In addition to playing Booger, Armstrong appeared in other features, including The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986) and The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993). He would remain extremely active for decades to come, appearing in movies like Southland Tales and Beer for My Horses, and on shows like Boston Legal, The Closer, and Dan Vs.