Trivia: The daughter of film stars Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, Jamie Lee Curtis launched her film career as a "scream queen." After a nondescript supporting role on the TV series Operation Petticoat, Curtis rose to cult stardom playing the straight-laced teenage babysitter imperiled by an unknown slasher in Halloween (1978). Upon appearing in the film's sequel and in such spookers as The Fog (1979) and Prom Night (1980), she seemed in danger of being limited to blood-splattered horror films. But Curtis wasn't about to be typed this early in the game: with a meaty secondary role as a prostitute -- featuring several well-publicized nude scenes -- in the big-budget comedy Trading Places (1983), she made the transition from imperiled teen type to knowing adult with nary a hitch. Curtis didn't exactly have a string of box-office smashes after Trading Places, but she was always worth watching even when the films weren't. And when the good parts did come along, notably her roles in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) and My Girl (1991), she proved she was an actress of range and stature and not just another "movie star's kid." Taking a potentially humiliating role as the unknowing wife of a secret agent in the megabucks Arnold Schwarzenegger adventure True Lies (1994), Curtis delivered a sparkling performance, emerging as the only truly likable character in a loud and misogynistic melodrama. In 1997, she was reunited with the cast of A Fish Called Wanda (Kevin Kline, John Cleese, and Michael Palin) for Fierce Creatures, another comedy farce in the same vein as Wanda. Unfortunately, the film was largely disappointing; but, the following year, Curtis rebounded with a return to familiar territory in Halloween: H2O. The slasher flick, although less than a critical favorite, proved to be popular with audiences. In 1999, Curtis again ventured into the big-budget realm with the action thriller Virus, and had a supporting role in Daddy and Them, Billy Bob Thornton's sophomore writing/directorial effort. She could then be seen in Drowning Mona, a black comedy in which she played a waitress caught up in an affair with the husband of her town's most infamous dead woman.The 2000s have brought Curtis several interesting opportunities, including a live performance at Paul McCartney's benefit for the controversial animal rights organization PETA in 2000, and a no-holds-barred photo shoot with More magazine in 2002 -- the then 44-year-old actress wanted to emphasize that even high-profile celebrities look "normal" without the help of a team of makeup artists and digital alterations. In 2001, Curtis starred alongside Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush and James Bond front man Pierce Brosnan in the espionage thriller The Tailor of Panama, and returned for a cameo appearance in Halloween: Resurrection, which supposedly marked her final role in the Halloween franchise. Curtis would return to more family-oriented pictures in 2003's spirited Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan, which featured the forty-something actress playing a punky teen whose spirit had magically been transferred to her mother's body; the success of that film led to the curdled comedy of the critically drubbed Christmas With the Kranks. She acted in Beverly Hills Chihuahua and You Again, but became better known in later years as a spokeswoman for Activia yogurt.Married to actor Christopher Guest since 1984, Curtis became a Baroness, Lady Haden-Guest, when her husband inherited the Barony in 1996.

Trivia: Ron Silver was known for his extraordinary stage presence and high-energy portrayals of a variety of offbeat characters in films and on television. A native New Yorker, Silver studied Chinese at State University of New York at Buffalo and drama at the Herbert Berghof Studio and the Actors Studio. After receiving his bachelor's from S.U.N.Y., Silver earned a master's degree in Chinese history at the College of Chinese Culture in Taiwan and then returned to New York to study at the aforementioned acting studios. 1976 was a big year for Silver who debuted as a comedian in feature films (Tunnelvision), television (The Mac Davis Show), and theater (El Grande de Coca-Cola). He was also a regular cast member between 1976 and 1978 on the sitcom Rhoda, and then appeared in several made-for-television movies before appearing in Semi-Tough (1977). His feature film career picked up in the early '80s, but he did not get his first big break until he starred opposite Anne Bancroft in Sidney Lumet's Garbo Talks (1984). Silver earned critical acclaim in 1989 for starring in Philip Saville's Fellow Traveler as a Hollywood screenwriter forced to flee his family and friends to avoid getting blacklisted during the early '50s. That same year, Silver won a Tony and a Drama Desk Award for starring in David Mamet's Speed-The-Plow and scored a second film coup in Paul Mazursky's adaptation of author Isaac Bashevis Singer's Enemies, A Love Story. In the years to follow,, the busy Silver, who juggled his time between the three entertainment forms, became a respected mid-range star who could be counted on to deliver consistently strong, fine performances. As the '90s progressed, he moved into more lead roles playing everything from psychopaths (Blue Steel [1990]), senators (Time Cop [1994]), sleazy lawyers (in the TV medical drama Chicago Hope [1994- ]), and scientists (The Arrival [1996]). Silver died of esophageal cancer in 2009 at the age of 62.

Trivia: A tall, intense, hulking actor who was a natural to play Frankenstein's monster in The Bride (1985), Clancy Brown has utilized his naturally menacing exterior for a career's worth of villainous roles, most notably in films such as Highlander and The Shawshank Redemption. With good looks that could be described as somewhat Neanderthal in nature, he has also found the occasional sympathetic portrayal, and been equal to the task of acting it. Clancy Brown was born on January 5, 1959, in Urbana, OH, the son of a newspaperman-turned-U.S. congressman. He was raised in both Urbana and Washington, D.C., and claims to have been introduced to acting by a neighbor who got him into Shakespeare at a young age. Brown acted in high school and during his teenage summers before enrolling at Northwestern University on a track scholarship as a discus hurler. He graduated with a degree in speech and went on to mix drinks in Chicago while working in local theater. Brown's first film role established the trend for how his services would be used throughout his career. He appeared as Viking in the Sean Penn "juvy" drama Bad Boys (1983), in which he threw around his muscle as one of the detention center's intimidators. Next he appeared in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) as the cowboy Rawhide, then as Highlander's sword-wielding embodiment of evil, Kurgan, in the 1986 cult classic. A succession of roles as bruising heavies, often corrupt cops, followed during the late '80s and '90s, in films such as Dead Man Walking (1996) and The Hurricane (1999). The most memorable among these was Captain Byron Hadley, the crooked prison guard with the deadly billy club in the multiple-Oscar-nominated The Shawshank Redemption (1994). In 1997, he played one of his more infrequent good guy roles as Sergeant Zim in Starship Troopers. From 1997-1998, he had a prominent recurring guest role as a doctor on NBC's ratings champ ER. His prolific television career also includes a role on the sci-fi series Earth 2 (1994). In 2002, Brown appeared among an ensemble cast in the HBO film The Laramie Project, which was about the beating death of gay Wyoming teen Matthew Shepard. The next year, he took on the prominant role of Brother Justin Crowe on HBO's cryptic period drama Carnivàle, joining another talented ensemble cast and once again tapping into his dark side. Brown's distinctive voice has been in high demand throughout his career, resulting in dozens of voice-over credits in animated features such as The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) and television series. Of course his distinctively brute face was still very much an important part of his career, with an onscreen role in the hit television series Lost serving well to provide viewers with a valuable history of the mysterious "hatch." A trip back in time found the hulking Brown assuming the role of a monstrous viking in director Markus Nispel's Pathfinder, and later that same year the actor could once again be spotted on the big screen in the Kevin Costner Coast Guard drama The Guardian. In 2008 he appeared in the college football film The Express, and the next year had small but crucial roles in the indie drama The Twenty, as well as Steven Soderbergh's The Informant! He continued to land small parts in bug budget Hollywood spectacles like the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Cowboys & Aliens, and Green Lantern.

Trivia: Louise Fletcher's acting career can be divided into two stages. She started out appearing on television shows such as Wagon Train and The Untouchables during the late '50s, but left acting in 1964, two years after marrying movie producer Jerry Bick, to raise a family. She did not return to her craft until appearing in Robert Altman's well-regarded feature film Thieves Like Us in 1974. Fletcher then appeared in the spy thriller Russian Roulette (1975) before Milos Forman cast her in what was to become her signature role, that of the iron-willed, sadistic Nurse Ratched who tormented Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). Her believable portrayal won her a Best Actress Oscar and a Golden Globe. Perhaps the highest honor is that her Ratched has become a movie icon, one that has been frequently emulated and parodied in numerous subsequent films. Fletcher was born in Birmingham, AL, to a deaf Episcopalian minister and a deaf mother. She started acting in summer stock following her graduation from the University of North Carolina. Fletcher next moved to Los Angeles and found work as a receptionist before breaking into television. Standing 5'10", the strikingly beautiful Fletcher was often taller than her leading men, something that hindered her first bid at stardom. Since her success with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Fletcher has found steady employment as a supporting and character actress on television -- where she received a 1996 Emmy nomination for a guest-star appearance on the highly acclaimed CBS series Picket Fences -- and in feature films. She also has a busy stage career.

Trivia: Catholic University was the alma mater of American actor Philip Bosco -- or would have been if he hadn't been expelled. Bosco would not collect a college degree until age 27, after a long stint as an Army cryptographer. Most comfortable in classical stage roles, Bosco has found it expedient to don modern garb for most of his movie work. After a one-shot screen appearance in 1968's A Lovely Way to Die, Bosco didn't step before the movie cameras again until 1983, making up for the lost years with supporting appearances in such films as Trading Places (1983), The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984), Three Men and a Baby (1987), Working Girl (1988) and Shadows and Fog (1992). Philip Bosco won a Tony Award for his performance in the popular door-slamming farce Lend Me a Tenor.

Trivia: The genial, slightly stocky Hollywood character actor Kevin Dunn graced the casts of some of the highest grossing and most enjoyable A-listers of the '80s, '90s, and 2000s. With a pleasant (if unremarkable) countenance, this brother of Second City veteran (and onetime Saturday Night Live mainstay) Nora Dunn cut his chops playing everymen in American movies and one-shot television episodes. Kevin Dunn lacked the sketch comedy background of his arguably more famous sibling but quickly chalked up an equally extensive resumé at about the same time.Dunn debuted on camera in the mid-'80s, with a recurring role on the series comedy drama Jack & Mike (1986), co-starring Shelley Hack and Tom Mason, but Alan Parker's harrowing civil-rights drama Mississippi Burning (in which he played Agent Bird) marked his first real breakthrough. From that point on, he became ever-present in such blockbusters as Ghostbusters 2 (1989), Blue Steel (1990), Only the Lonely (1991), Hot Shots! (1991), Chaplin (1992), and Dave (1993). Directors often cast Dunn as an emotional (or political) support to a heavy, such as his brief evocation of Nixon aide (and eventual Christian spokesperson) Chuck Colson in Oliver Stone's biopic Nixon (1995), that of Lou Logan (opposite Nicolas Cage) in Brian De Palma's muddled, flawed paranoid thriller Snake Eyes (1998), and that of Alex (alongside Sean Penn) in the political drama All The King's Men (2006). In 2007, Dunn appeared in the blockbuster action hit Transformers as Ron Witwicky, the father of lead actor Shia LaBeouf's character, Sam. Dunn also had a role in the underperforming Tom Cruise/Robert Redford/Meryl Streep drama Lions for Lambs. In the fall of that year, Dunn found success on the sitcom Samantha Who? as the father of the amnesia-afflicted main character (Christina Applegate).He was part of the cast of Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and played a bad guy in the runaway train thriller Unstoppable. In 2011 he appeared in the well-reviewed MMA drama Warrior, and the blockbuster Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The next year he was cast in the one and only season of HBO's racetrack set drama series Luck.

Trivia: A balding supporting actor with a grin that suggests he knows something you don't, Richard Jenkins has become one of the most in-demand character actors in Hollywood. Though he has worked steadily since the early '80s, Jenkins may have made his most memorable impression, at least to HBO subscribers, as the patriarch of the family of undertakers on the hit 2001 drama Six Feet Under. His character was killed off in the first episode, but Jenkins continued to appear as a spirit lingering in the family's memory -- a good metaphor for the actor's lingering impact on viewers, even when he appears in small roles.Jenkins, who shares the birth name of Richard Burton and sometimes appears as Richard E. Jenkins, was born and raised in Dekalb, IL, before studying theater at Illinois Wesleyan University. The actor developed a long and distinguished regional theater career, most notably a 15-year stint at Rhode Island's Trinity Repertory Theater, where he served as artistic director for four years. He snagged his first role as early as 1975, in the TV movie Brother to Dragons, but did not begin working regularly until a small role in the Lawrence Kasdan film Silverado (1985). Supporting work in such films as Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), and Sea of Love (1989) followed, and Jenkins spent the early '90s specializing in made-for-TV movies, including the adaptation of Randy Shilts' AIDS opus And the Band Played On (1993).It was not until the late '90s that Jenkins started gaining wider appreciation, especially as he indulged in his talent for comedy. His appearance as an uptight gay FBI agent who gets accidentally drugged was one of the highlights of David O. Russell's Flirting With Disaster (1996), allowing him to convincingly (and riotously) act out an acid trip. Working again with Ben Stiller, Jenkins appeared as a psychiatrist in There's Something About Mary (1998), which launched a relationship with directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly, who hail from the state (Rhode Island) where Jenkins did much of his stage work. Jenkins appeared in the Farrelly-produced Outside Providence (1999) and Say It Isn't So (2001), as well as in the Farrelly-directed Me, Myself & Irene (2000). The actor then shifted over to another set of brother directors to portray the father of Scarlet Johansson's character in Joel and Ethan Coen's noir The Man Who Wasn't There (2001). In 2001, Jenkins also appeared in the first season of HBO's Six Feet Under as Nathaniel Fisher Sr., the sardonic funeral home director whom the characters remember as an impenetrable mystery, frugal with his praise and emotions.Jenkins continued working steadily, carrying on his role on Six Feet Under, while turning in supporting work in varied projects like Changing Lanes, Shall We Dance, and Fun With Dick & Jane. With 2005's North Country he earned strong reviews as the father of a sexually harassed woman. After decades in the business, he won his first starring role in Tom McCarthy's The Visitor. For his work as the repressed professor who learns to engage in life again thanks to an unexpected friendship with a Syrian immigrant, Jenkins earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, as well as a SAG nomination. That film was the highlight of his 2008, a very busy year for the actor that also saw him reunite for a third time with the Coen Brothers in Burn After Reading, and play opposite Will Ferrell and John C. Riley in Step Brothers. The coming years would continue to earn the actor both a wider audience and more accolades, in projects like Burn After Reading, Let Me In, The Rum Diary, and The Cabin in the Woods.

Trivia: A character actor whose beefy, imposing build (a magazine once listed him as 6'3" and 245 pounds) typecast him as thugs, hoods, and underworld heavies, performer Mike Starr was raised in the Manhattan area, as the son of a meatpacker and a five-and-dime clerk. He attended Long Island's Hofstra University on a drama scholarship, and -- after graduation -- toiled at menial jobs as a bartender and club bouncer before landing his first film role in William Friedkin's gay-themed cop thriller Cruising (1980). Many projects ensued over the following decades, including The Natural (1984), Uncle Buck (1989, in a memorable bit as a drunken clown), Ed Wood (1994), and Jersey Girl (2004). Fans of the gangster-themed comedy Mad Dog and Glory (1993), in particular, might remember Starr -- he played Harold, the wife-beater husband who gets on David Caruso's bad side, and physically suffers for it. In 2007, Starr essayed a rare lead in the character comedy Osso Bucco; he played a gangster unknowingly targeted for death and due for extermination by his cousin.

Trivia: A burly, commanding actor known almost as much for the tumultuous quality of his offscreen life as that of his onscreen roles, Tom Sizemore has carved out a niche for himself in such guys 'n' guns films as Natural Born Killers, Strange Days, Heat, and Saving Private Ryan.Born in Detroit, Sizemore was educated at Wayne State and Temple University, earning a Master's in theater at the latter. He enjoyed an auspicious debut year in 1989 when he appeared in no less than four movies including Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July. That same year, the actor won the semi-regular role of Vinnie Ventressa on the popular TV drama China Beach. He went on to do starring work in such films as Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994), Carl Franklin's highly praised crime noir Devil in a Blue Dress (1994) and Michael Mann's crime thriller Heat. Sizemore's involvement with the latter film marked a personal turning point for him; for years he suffered from a well-publicized addiction to heroin, and he seemed to be losing his battle until he met his Heat co-star and childhood icon Robert De Niro, who, Sizemore subsequently admitted in interviews, convinced him to go into rehab.In 1998, Sizemore starred in what was possibly his most high-profile role to date in Steven Spielberg's WWII epic Saving Private Ryan. Cast as Sgt. Horvath, Tom Hanks' right hand man, the actor earned positive notices as part of a stellar ensemble cast that also included Giovanni Ribisi, Matt Damon, Jeremy Davies, and Vin Diesel. He subsequently porked out to play mob boss John Gotti in the made-for-TV Witness to the Mob and then returned to the screen in Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead (1999), which cast him as Nicolas Cage's ex-best friend. In 2000, Sizemore starred alongside Val Kilmer and Carrie-Anne Moss in the sci-fi adventure Red Planet; that same year, he appeared in Play It to the Bone, a boxing drama starring Woody Harrelson and Antonio Banderas. With the release of Pearl Harbor and Black Hawk Down the following year, the grizzled screen veteran seemed as if he may be threatening to becoming something of a later-day action star.Though to this point Sizemore's work in features had left him with little experience in the realm of television, all of that would change when he took the lead in the 2002 series Robbery Homicide Division. For an actor who excelled at playing hardened detectives and rough cops, the show seemed the ideal star vehicle for Sizemore, and after contributing vocal work for the controversial video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City that same year, he stepped into the lead for the crime thriller Swindle as the year wound to a close. A supporting role in Dreamcatcher got 2003 off to a shaky start, and things only went downhill from there when, in October of that year, the troubled actor entered rehab before being sentenced to six months in prison on domestic violence charges. Though his personal life may have been somewhat in flux, one certainly couldn't tell by looking at his screen credits for 2004 -- a year in which Sizemore would appear in no less than four films including the family adventure Fly Boys.

Trivia: Like many of his Canadian contemporaries, actor Matt Craven broke into films by way of such adolescent sex comedies as Meatballs (1979) and Hog Wild (1980). Craven honed his acting skills on the off-Broadway stage, beginning with the 1984 production Blue Willows. He has since contributed supporting performances to films like Blue Steel (1990), A Few Good Men (1992), and Crimson Tide (1995). Matt Craven's TV-series roles include bartender Ritchie Massina in the Robby Benson starrer Tough Cookies (1986) and Bobby Kratz in the Alan Arkin vehicle Harry (1987). In 1998, Craven was part of an ensemble cast for the medical drama L.A. Doctors. In the 21st century he enjoyed a brief recurring role on the hit medical dram ER and appeared in moves such as Dragonfly and Timeline. He continued to work steadily on a wide variety of projects including The Life of David Gale, the TV series The Lyon's Den, the remake of Assault on Precinct 13, Disturbia, Public Enemies, and the superhero prequel X-Men: First Class.

Trivia: A multi-talented actress who's just as comfortable on the stage as she is before the cameras, Lauren Tom has built quite an impressive resumé by establishing herself as one of the most prolific small-screen players of her generation. While fans of such popular television sitcoms as Friends and Men in Trees are no doubt familiar with her face, Tom has also crafted an impressive voice-over career thanks in large to work on such animated television series as Batman Beyond, Futurama, and King of the Hill. Though she would first gain notice as the dutiful daughter of an Asian-American family attempting to bridge the gap between the past and the present in The Joy Luck Club, Tom had already been acting in film and television for over a decade -- her career gradually gaining momentum thanks to bit parts in such films as Wall Street, Blue Steel, and Cadillac Man. Two years after her breakout performance in The Joy Luck Club, Tom would shine in her recurring role as Ross' girlfriend Julie in Friends. While her onscreen presence was indeed captivating, audiences would soon discover that Tom's unique voice could be a huge asset to any number of animated productions. Though in the following years, Tom's voice could be heard in a variety of animated releases, onscreen performances in shows like Monk and movies such as Bad Santa proved that the increasingly active voice-over artist was still very much committed to her onscreen career as well. In 2006, Tom made a sizable impression on theatergoers by relating her quest for inner peace in her Dramalogue Award-winning one-woman show 25 Psychics. With a Broadway background that has included performances in A Chorus Line and Hurly Burley, Tom has a ready comfort on the stage that has allowed her to focus on her impressive storytelling skills. In 2006, Tom was back in front of the camera keeping television viewers in stitches as mail-order bride (Mai) to crusty pilot Buzz (John Amos) in the rural comedy drama Men in Trees.

Trivia: Was an Army brat and traveled around with her parents from base to base. Got the acting bug after appearing in a 6th grade play. Started acting professionally in theater as a chorus girl and landed a part in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas on Broadway in 1978. Other Broadway credits include: Titanic; Assassins; All My Sons; A Streetcar Named Desire; and Good People. Big TV break came when she was cast as Jean Weir, the lovable mom on Freaks and Geeks in 1999. In 2012 was cast as Lena Dunham's mother on Girls and appeared as Katharine McPhee's mom on Smash, along with her real-life husband Dylan Baker who played McPhee's dad. Is a founding member of New York-based theater company The Drama Dept. and is a member of Actor's Studio.