Trivia: A self-described B-movie actor, Bruce Campbell can claim to have scaled the casualty-littered mountain of cult movie stardom. First attaining more notoriety than fame for his performance in Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead (1983), which he also executive produced, Campbell went on to star in that movie's two sequels and a number of other schlock-tastic films. He has also occasionally ventured into more reputable territory, thanks to such films as the Coen brothers' The Hudsucker Proxy (1994).Hailing from Royal Oak, MI, where he was born June 22, 1958, Campbell attended Western Michigan University. When he was only 21, he and two of his Detroit friends, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, scraped together 350,000 dollars to make a low-budget horror film. The result, completed piecemeal over four years, was The Evil Dead, an exuberantly awful piece of filmmaking that featured Campbell as its demon-battling hero. The film first earned notoriety in England, and after being personally endorsed by author Stephen King when it was screened at Cannes, it was eventually released in the U.S. in 1983.The Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn followed in 1987, and the third installment in the series, Army of Darkness, was released in 1992. Both were enthusiastically embraced by fans of the series and less so by critics, but one thing that impressed both groups was Campbell's work in both films, thanks in part to his uncanny ability to make it through an entire performance without blinking once.In addition to the Evil Dead films, Campbell has acted in a number of other low-budget films, and, in the case of the Coens' The Hudsucker Proxy and a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo in Fargo (1996), a handful of fairly respectable projects as well. He has also acted frequently on television, most notably in the weekly Western The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and Jack of all Trades. In 2001 Campbell made his literary debut with If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor. A humorously detailed account of his rise to B-movie stardom, If Chins Could Kill detailed, among other things, Campbell's uniquely diverse fanbase as well as his relationship with longtime friend and frequent collaborator Sam Raimi. When fans embraced the freewheeling semi-autobiography with more zeal than even Campbell himself may have anticipated, a succesful speaking tour was soon followed by a sophomore novel, the satirical Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way. A highly fictionalized look at what it may be like for Campbell to land a substantial role in a high-profile Hollywood production, Make Love the Bruce Campbell way found the sarcastic B-movie idol hobnobbing with co-star Richard Gere and offering directorial advice to veteran director Mike Nichols. Yet Campbell was hardly one to forget where his bread was truly buttered, and following his brief literary detour, it was time to head back to the big screen for a pair of memorable cameos in pal Raimi's Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, the longtime actor and emerging producer was finally ready to make his feature directorial debut with the outlandish sci-fi comedy The Man with the Screaming Brain. Despite helming the occasional Xena and Hewrcules episode, Campbell had yet to tackle feature films and when the opportunity arose to direct a script that he himself had written, everything just seemed to fall into place. Though the critics weren't so kind, fans were more than willing to indulge as their favorite film and television star finally got a chance to shine on his own. After voicing his most famous character in a pair of Evil Dead videogames, it was finally time for Campbell to return to the role of Ash on the big screen - albiet in a decidedly meta-manner - when he stepped into the role of an actor named Bruce Campbell who is mistaken for the demon-slayer that he played in the movies and forced to to battle with the legions of hell in the 2006 horror comedy They Call Me Bruce; a film that also afforded Campbell his sophomore feature directorial credit. That same year, Campbell would also team with May director Lucky McKee for the chilling horror film The Woods. Campbell found television success in the role of a good natured ex-Navy Seal on Burn Notice beginning in 2007, and lent his voice to animated features including Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Cars 2. Campbell reunited with Raimi for Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), and helped produce the 2013 revamp of The Evil Dead.

Trivia: Supporting actor Billy Drago first appeared onscreen in the '80s.

Trivia: A native of rural Humboldt, IA, character actor Christian Clemenson left his home state when a scholarship that he netted as part of his paperboy route afforded him the opportunity to attend the prestigious Phillips Academy preparatory school in Andover, MA. That experience imparted Clemenson with a deep-seated love of theatrics, and he spent his Iowan summers during college acting in local stage productions. The upstart subsequently attended Harvard as an undergraduate and Yale Drama School as a grad student, then moved to Los Angeles in the mid-'80s, where he accepted a long series of bit parts and supporting roles in A-list features, typically cast as nebbishy professional types. Early films in which Clemenson appeared included Heartburn (1986), Legal Eagles (1986), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and Broadcast News (1987).Beginning in the late '90s, Clemenson began placing a stronger emphasis on television work, with guest roles in series including Ally McBeal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The West Wing, and NYPD Blue. He received critical kudos for his portrayal of ill-fated executive Thomas E. Burnett Jr., a victim of the September 11th terrorist attacks, in Paul Greengrass' feature United 93 (2006), then joined William Shatner, Candice Bergen, and James Spader of David E. Kelley's offbeat seriocomedy Boston Legal in a recurring capacity during the show's second season; on the program, Clemenson played Jerry "Hands" Espenson, a troubled lawyer plagued by Asperger's Syndrome. He went on to win Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2006 for that role, and continued to appear on the show, later attaining regular status and staying with the series until it folded in 2009. Clemenson would continue to appear regularly on screen as the years went on, appearing on shows like CSI: Miami and Harry's Law.

Trivia: American actor John Astin was the son of Dr. Allen V. Astin, director of the National Bureau of Standards. Evidently inheriting his intellectual bent from his father, Astin was a voracious reader and mathematician, at one point in his high school career mastering an entire semester's worth of study in one evening (that's his story, anyway). A part in the senior play at Johns Hopkins University (where he was majoring in math) cemented his desire to act, and in 1952 Astin did graduate work in dramatics at the University of Minnesota, where he appeared in 40 plays in and around the campus, played the violin, and gambled incessantly (and badly). With $100 in his pocket, Astin headed to New York, where he did janitorial work in theatres until securing a role in the off-Broadway Threepenny Opera for a princely $15 per week. Better money came Astin's way when he started doing voice-over work for animated commercials; in 1961 he extended his acting skills to films in a small but memorable part as a smarmy social worker in the Oscar-winning West Side Story. In 1962, Astin was teamed with Marty Ingels on the blue-collar sitcom I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, which despite a loyal following failed to garner ratings. The show did, however, establish Astin as a reliable laugh-getter, leading to a more successful run as Gomez Addams, the macabre but passionate paterfamilias on The Addams Family. This series ran from 1964 to 1966, after which Astin spent a great deal of time touring the country in theatrical productions - often living out of a van, a lifestyle he seemed to thrive upon. Joining Astin during his barnstorming days was his second wife, actress Patty Duke, who called herself Patty Duke Astin for the duration (Astin and Duke raised a son, Sean Astin, who grew up to become a popular film actor in his own right). The marriage ultimately dissolved due in part to Astin's bohemian point of view, though while the union lasted both Astin and Duke were tireless workaholics who were rarely without acting gigs. His many credits during this time period include 1974's Skyway to Death, and playing the dad in the original version of Freaky Friday. He directed and appeared in the TV movie Operation Petticoat. In the 1980's he landed recurring roles on both Murder, She Wrote and the sitcom Night Court. His marriage to Patti Duke ended in 1985, but Astin maintained a busy schedule appearing as a game-show host in National Lampoon's European Vacation, Teen Wolf Two, and Return of the Killer Tomatoes! As the 90s got under way he made two more Killer Tomatoes movies, appeared on the TV shows Mad About You and The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., and earned favorable reviews for his appearance in The Frighteners.

Trivia: Though he may not draw instant name recognition among U.S. viewers, Australian character actor John Pyper-Ferguson boasts a resumé that reads like an exhaustive index of filmed entertainment, from the mid-'80s onward. It packs in theatrically released Hollywood B-pictures, A-list releases, telemovies, one- and two-shot series episodes, and much, much more. A thespian typically at home in supporting roles, this Aussie import became such a frequent on-camera presence that he was soon difficult, if not impossible, to miss.Pyper-Ferguson actually debuted in Canada -- auspiciously so, with the lead role of Sonny Hamilton, a character seeking information on his family history, in the prime-time drama Hamilton's Quest. He then segued to Hollywood film roles, with small appearances in such pictures as the slasher movie Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987), the Mel Gibson/Goldie Hawn vehicle Bird on a Wire (1990), the frat-boy comedy Ski School (1991), and the John Ritter gag-fest Stay Tuned (1992). After a brief (brief) appearance in that same year's Best Picture winner, the Clint Eastwood Western Unforgiven, Pyper-Ferguson spent the rest of the 1990s working in mostly forgettable fare, such as the telemovie Children of the Dust (1995) and the Z-grade sci-fi movie Space Marines (1996). For most of the following decade, Pyper-Ferguson eschewed feature-length films and landed guest appearances on acclaimed television series ranging from CSI and ER to Arli$$ and Nash Bridges. Following a bit part in 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, Pyper-Ferguson then signed for a regular role as Joe Whedon on the hit prime-time family drama Brothers & Sisters (2006).

Trivia: Alternately termed "smoldering" and "babelicious" by TV Guide, the 5'8" U.S. actress Kelly Rutherford -- who spent her adolescence as something of a sports nut instead of a très féminine prima donna -- ironically broke through to the public with a series of white-hot-sexy small-screen roles: barroom chanteuse Dixie Cousins on The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.; onetime-prostitute Megan Lewis on Melrose Place; and sensuous bartender Judy Owen on the post-WWII drama Homefront. Born in Elizabethtown, KY, in the late '60s (and only two years old at the time of her parents' divorce), Rutherford spent years moving from town to town across the country, under the guardianship of her fashion-model mother, Ann Edwards, until she reached her teenage years. At that point, Rutherford, Edwards, and the family's oldest child, Anthony, settled in Newport Beach, CA. Rutherford made a beeline for New York City after graduating from high school in the late '80s, where she planned to enroll in a formal drama program; instead, she signed to do several commercials and appeared on the daytime soapers Loving (opposite Luke Perry) and Generations. Returning to the West Coast, Rutherford subsequently trained at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, where a drama coach reportedly advised her to "work on [her] sexuality" -- a suggestion that helped her immensely. Though Rutherford's feature debut was a bit part in the undistinguished James Glickenhaus-directed actioner Shakedown (1988) -- starring Sam Elliott and Peter Weller -- the 1994 romantic comedy-mystery I Love Trouble constituted both her first significant assignment and the type of material she most warmed to: contemporary throwbacks to golden-age Hollywood cinema. Following a string of banal telemovies between 1994 and 1997, Rutherford joined the cast of the slasher movie sequel Scream 3 (2000) and the political drama Chaos Factor (2000), directed by Terry Cunningham. She received second billing (her highest, up through that time) in the direct-to-video police detective thriller Angels Don't Sleep Here (2001), opposite Roy Scheider and Robert Patrick.It was on television, though, that Rutherford continued to find greatest success. Beginning in the early 2000s, the actress garnered prominant roles a series of programs, starting with a recurring role as Deputy Mayor Melinda Lockhart on The District. She next played Special Agent Frankie Ellroy Kilmer on the counterterrorism thriller Threat Matrix, followed by a role as Samantha "Sonny" Liston on the similarly themed political drama E-Ring. Despite Rutherford's impressive ability to make it into the casts of highly-touted prime-time series, those programs also tended to be disappointingly short-lived. That all changed in 2007, when she was cast as Lily van der Woodsen, mother of the troubled Serena (Blake Lively), on Gossip Girl, a teen-oriented prime-time soap on the fledgling CW network. Taking a cue from previous rich-kid drama The O.C., Gossip Girl devoted a portion of its storyline to the main characters' parents, and Lily had no shortage of drama and relationship issues.