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: Supermodel-cum-Hollywood actress Amber Valletta hit the runway in her late teens, and, though a frequent presence in fashion ads for several years prior, first made national headlines in July 1993. That summer, under representation by Boss Models, the svelte 19-year-old Oklahoman blonde upstaged heavyweight Cindy Crawford as the primary spokeswoman for Capezio handbags -- and turned more than a few heads in the process. Not long after, Valletta also signed on as the chief spokeswoman for Elizabeth Arden. In 1996, Valletta succeeded Crawford again -- this time as the co-host (alongside Shalom Harlow) of MTV's hit documentary series House of Style. The by-now-familiar program found Valletta and Harlow carrying viewers behind the scenes of the fashion world, and (in the process) covered everything from runway preparation to before-the-camera apparel to anorexia nervosa. In 1999, Valletta's modeling intersected with social work when she helped raise over 350,000 dollars for the St. Jude Royal Gala Benefit in Monte Carlo, and later parlayed that effort into a promotional tour for Elizabeth Arden Splendor perfume that had Valletta and other company reps giving terminally ill children heartstring-tugging "moments of splendor."Although hosting duties on House of Style represented Valletta's first broad leap into filmed entertainment, she delayed her cinematic work for another four years. In 2000, the model debuted onscreen as the spirit of a murdered coed in Robert Zemeckis' Hitchcock retread, What Lies Beneath, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford. Valletta's roles -- given the actress' off-camera motherhood and intermittent magazine work -- accumulated slowly over the next several years (in films such as the Nicolas Cage holiday vehicle The Family Man and the Danny DeVito-directed black comedy Duplex); as a result, Valletta only ascended gradually to top billing. In 2005, however, she attained her highest-profile exposure to date (and gained much-deserved respect as an actress) in the Andy Tennant-directed romantic comedy Hitch. As Allegra Cole, the city's most eligible bachelorette, who falls for the least likely candidate (overweight and self-conscious klutz Kevin James), Valletta played an admirable straight man to both James and "date doctor" Alex "Hitch" Hitchens (Will Smith).After a noticeable onscreen absence in 2006, Valletta returned to cinemas the following year, with two back-to-back roles in supernatural thrillers. She first received second billing as a nubile young bride in the James Wan-directed Saw follow-up Dead Silence -- a slasher picture about a quiet little town plagued by the spirit of an evil ventriloquist. And later that year, Valletta portrayed Claire in the Mennan Yapo-directed Premonition, starring Sandra Bullock. She went on to appear in Gamer, The Spy Next Door, and Girl Walks Into a Bar before landing a part in the television series Revenge in 2011.

Trivia: Actress Madeline Carroll -- not to be confused with the British screen performer Madeleine Carroll from the '30s and '40s -- debuted as a preteen star in the mid-2000s and specialized in glossy, big-budget Hollywood productions from a plethora of genres. Roles included that of Cocoa in the holiday comedy The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006), Allison in the teen-oriented slasher film When a Stranger Calls (2006), and (in her most prominent role up through that time) Molly, a 12-year-old whose actions shove her washed-up father (Kevin Costner) into the public limelight, in Joshua Michael Stern's political comedy Swing Vote (2008).

Trivia: Was gifted at doing impressions as a kid. Enrolled in acting classes at age 10. Landed first movie role in 2003's The Adventures of Ociee Nash. Played the older brother of Johnny Cash in the Oscar-winning Walk the Line. Nabbed the lead male role in Hannah Montana: The Movie opposite Miley Cyrus. Appeared as Taylor Swift's love interest in her 2009 music video "You Belong With Me." Acted alongside childhood hero Jackie Chan in 2010's The Spy Next Door. In 2011 won the coveted role of Havok in the X-Men movie franchise. By age 25 had produced three feature films. Plays the title role in CBS's 2016 MacGyver reboot.

Trivia: Arguably the preeminent Hispanic comedian of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and one of the most influential Latino entertainers of all time, George Lopez broke new ground for Mexican-Americans by scoring many firsts. Most significantly, he clocked in as the first Hispanic comic since Freddie Prinze Sr. (whom he idolized) to headline his own blockbuster sitcom, thus providing Latinos with a much-needed television voice and role model to boot. Born in 1961 in Mission Hills, CA, Lopez was abandoned by his father at two months old; not long after his tenth birthday, his mother delivered him permanently into the hands of his working-class grandparents, a couple singularly lacking in parental skills, affection, and financial resources. Ingeniously, Lopez took the angst, desperation, impoverishment, and overwhelming dysfunction of these preadolescent and adolescent years and spun it into behind-the-mike fodder -- in other words, using his hard-hitting experiences as building blocks for exceptionally droll, inventive standup routines. Lopez foresaw standup comedy as his only desired option after high school, and thus reportedly worked the club circuit for almost two decades -- his exclusive gig until the late '80s and early '90s. At that point, Lopez tackled a few bit roles in junky comedies such as Ski Patrol (1989) and Fatal Instinct (1993), but turned a much-needed corner, and upped the prestige quotient, by signing on to work for the esteemed Ken Loach in that director's Bread and Roses (2000), a muckraking drama about Hispanic-American janitors. The finished film divided critics but unveiled new dimensions in the actor's ability. Lopez's eponymous sitcom commenced in 2002, with the schtickmeister cast as a variant of himself, George Lopez, who worked in an airplane-parts factory. The ABC program maintained high ratings well into its sixth season. In the meantime, Lopez branched out into feature-film roles -- this time with a more respectable cinematic pedigree -- in such pictures as The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl (2005), Yours, Mine & Ours (2005), Balls of Fury (2007), and Tortilla Heaven (2007).Following a two year run as a late night talk show host on Lopez Tonight, Lopez continued to appear in a number of movies, including Swing Vote, Valentine's Day, and Balls of Fury.

Trivia: With her ladylike aura of British gentility, blonde actress Madeleine Carroll was among the first English leading ladies to find a career in Hollywood. Prior to becoming an actress, she worked as a French teacher and hat model, then in 1927 made her London stage debut; she began appearing in British films (at first silents) in 1928, going on to become England's biggest female star. She made 22 films in England, including the two Hitchcock films The 39 Steps, (1935), and Secret Agent (1936) that brought her to Hollywood's attention. She moved there in 1936 to sign a contract with 20th Century-Fox. She became an American citizen in 1943. Following her sister's death during the London blitz of WW II, Carroll largely abandoned films to work in England for war relief. She participated in USO and war-bond drives, and served as a Red Cross volunteer in Italy and France; such work led her to receive France's Legion of Honor and the U.S. Medal of Freedom. Carroll appeared in three more films before retiring, her final film being The Fan (1949). She then went on to work for UNESCO while also occasionally appearing on stage, radio, and TV. Her four husbands included actor Sterling Hayden and French film producer Henri Lavorel.