Trivia: Winnetka, Illinois native Chris O'Donnell was planning to study for a career in finance when he was spotted by a talent agent, who was so taken by the young man's natural star quality that he advised him not to take acting lessons. After a handful of roles in such films as Men Don't Leave (1989) and Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), O'Donnell made the quantum leap to A-list performer in the 1992 film Scent of a Woman, in which he played the high school-age companion and general factotum to a blind, ornery retired military officer (Al Pacino). "Hunk hearthrob" status came O'Donnell's way with his appearance as D'Artagnan in the 1993 filmization of The Three Musketeers and 1994's Circle of Friends, in which he played an innocent young Irish lad dealing with burgeoning hormones and Catholic values in the 1950s. With 1995's Batman Forever, O'Donnell's star ascended into blockbuster heaven with his high-octane performance as Robin, the Boy Wonder; he reprised the role two years later, this time playing opposite George Clooney in Batman & Robin (1997). Subsequently turning away from action roles, O'Donnell could next be seen as a bumbling, small-town policeman in Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune (1999). That same year, he starred as the title character in The Bachelor, a commitment-phobe who must find a woman to marry in twenty-four hours so he can inherit a large fortune. Over the next decade O'Donnell gravitated increasingly toward television, essaying recurring roles on Grey's Anatomy, The Practice, and NCIS: Los Angeles and appearing in the Emmy-nominated mini-series The Company while occasionally returning to the big screen in such films as Max Payne and Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.

Trivia: Innovative rap music superstar LL Cool J made the successful transition to actor/musician in the 1990s, with several major films and a TV series to his credit. Born James Todd Smith in Queens, LL Cool J established himself as one of the major figures in rap music in the 1980s and '90s; he made his movie debut as himself in the 1985 rap movie Krush Groove. Although LL Cool J also appeared as himself in B.A.P.S. (1998), his 1990s movie career revealed that he had the acting chops to go with his musical talent. Following roles in the light-hearted cop movie The Hard Way (1991) and the ill-fated fantasy Toys (1992), LL Cool J spent four seasons as one of the stars of the primetime TV sitcom In the House (1995-1999). During his years on TV, LL Cool J also showed his dramatic versatility in the romantic comedy Woo (1998), crime dramas Caught Up (1998) and In Too Deep (1999), and horror sequel Halloween: H20 (1998). After starring as potential shark bait in the mutant mako actioner Deep Blue Sea (1999), he finished the decade by winning critical kudos as an immodest football player in Oliver Stone's sports drama Any Given Sunday (1999). Hit former career in music all but forgotten, LL Cool J would give action films a shot with Charlie's Angels (2000) and Rollerball (2002) before living up to his real life reputation as a ladies man in the comedy Deliver Us from Eva. Starring as the stud wrangled into taming Gabrielle Union's shrew Eva, LL Cool J notched his first romantic comedy lead and took another step away from his musical past by billing himself under his real name. Following the less than stellar Eva, LL Cool J added his voice to the animated Rugrats Go Wild (2003). Further bolstering his action movie credits (and returning to his street moniker), LL Cool J then joined the multicultural cast of Samuel L. Jackson's elite police squad in the summer popcorn movie S.W.A.T. (2003). Later, the rapper-turned-actor's role as Sam Hanna in a two-part 2009 episode of NCIS led to regular work on the spin-off series NCIS: Los Angeles, as well as a crossover appearance as the same character in the 2010 Hawaii Five-O revival.

Trivia: While still a child, Linda Hunt decided to become an actress, and began taking drama lessons at age 13. As she was quite small (4'9") and not a great beauty, she also studied directing, in case she never landed any acting roles. Hunt majored in directing at the prestigious Goodman Theater School in Chicago, and went on to spend several years in New York, working as a stage manager, director, and occasionally as an actress; during some of that time she worked in alternative theater with companies such as La Mama and the Open Theater. Following years of getting bit parts and directing for a children's theater, Hunt finally started landing good roles and ultimately won two Obie awards and a Tony nomination. She debuted onscreen in Robert Altman's Popeye (1980), but it was her second film, The Year of Living Dangerously (1983), that made her internationally known; for her portrayal of a male Indonesian dwarf, she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. She followed that up with a part in David Lynch's infamous adaptation of the sci-fi classic Dune, and immediately segued into the part of a beloved saloon owner in Lawrence Kasdan's throwback western Silverado. She maintained a steady career appearing in various projects including She-Devil, Kindergarten Cop, Maverick and Stranger Than Fiction. Her distinctive voice led to steady gigs in animated films and as a narrator of documentary films.

Trivia: Was born in Boston, but moved to Portugal at the age of five. Had her big break at the age of 16, appearing on a Portuguese television series. Was the winner of Portugal's version of "Dancing with the Stars." Studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York City. Has volunteered to raise money for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Trivia: Spent his summers during high school at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan. First paid acting job was at the New London Barn Playhouse in New Hampshire. Studied for a semester at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Got his break playing Jesus in the 2000 off-Broadway revival of Godspell. While playing Princeton in Avenue Q on Broadway in 2006, he was offered the role of Leaf in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. For two weeks, he rehearsed Spelling Bee in the afternoons before going on stage for Avenue Q in the evenings. His recurring role in NCIS: Los Angeles was upgraded to a series regular in the middle of the first season.

Trivia: Whether burning-up the ice as an all-star high school hockey player, studying pre-med at Pepperdine, singing in the all-state chorus or essaying one of many roles on stage, screen, or television, multi-faceted actor Eric Christian Olsen has worn many hats on his way to celebrity stardom. Born in Eugene, OR, and raised in Bettendorf, IA, Olsen spent most of his early years playing hockey and writing for his high school newspaper, not discovering his love for acting until after graduation, when he landed a commercial role in a television spot for Whitey's Ice Cream Parlor. Olsen was soon actively seeking out both stage and screen roles, and, following his television series debut in Millennium, he had a memorable performance as a burn victim on ER and made his feature debut in Arthur's Quest (1999). Soon drawn in to the millennial teen movie boom, Olsen's career continued to flourish in such films as Pearl Harbor and Not Another Teen Movie (both 2001). Following a starring turn in the 2002 drama Local Boys, the burgeoning actor appeared the same year in the Rob Schneider comedy The Hot Chick. In addition to his film work, Olsen was also the youngest improvisation comedian in the nation for Comedy Sportz, a live comedy show suitable for the entire family. He played the role of the younger Lloyd Christmas in the Dumb and Dumber prequel, and in 2004 he starred in the horror film Cellular. He continued to work in a variety of projects including Beerfest, License to Wed, Fired Up, The Back-Up Plan, and Celeste and Jesse Forever.

Trivia: Notably played Prince William in the 2011 Lifetime Original movie William & Kate alongside Camilla Luddington.Co-wrote the books Mad Love, published in 2016 and BZRK Apocalypse: Library Edition, published in 2014.Made it into the Order of the Lawyers in New Zealand and could professionally practice law if he chose to.

Trivia: Ever since his stage debut as Dopey in a grade-school stage production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Chris L. McKenna knew that his calling in life was to become an actor. Even at the tender age of seven, it was obvious by the amount of work McKenna put into his role that he was determined to live the dream of basking in the spotlights of stage and screen, and when you're driven by that kind of insatiable hunger, it's only a matter of time before others recognize your talent and drive. Despite the fact that the Queens native came from an exceptionally athletic background (McKenna's uncle stormed the Super Bowl with the New York Jets and his father was invited to play for the New York Knick's), it was the well-worn boards of the theater that called to him more powerfully than the finely finished court of Madison Square Garden. In the years following his stage debut, McKenna continued to hone his craft with a three-year stint on the long-running television soap opera One Life to Live , eventually enrolling in Hofstra University as a drama major. Subsequent years found the capable young up-and-comer relegated to such supporting roles as "Locker Room Guy" (In & Out) and "Rookie Highway Cop" (Cement), but McKenna bided his time in front of the camera, assured that if he kept at it long enough, his break would eventually come. In the meantime, television audiences would warn to McKenna thanks to frequent appearances in such popular prime-time shows as That '70s Show, Touched by an Angel, and The Practice. When the screenplay for director Stuart Gordon's violent revenge drama King of the Ants crossed the desk of the somewhat athletic, large-framed actor, McKenna didn't pay much attention to it given that the lead was described as a small, meek guy who didn't stand out in a crowd, but after some prompting from a friend, McKenna was hooked on the script and determined to win the role. Though there was competition for the role, fate was on McKenna's side, and he was soon stepping before the cameras to essay his first leading role -- and a challenging one at that. To make the film work, it was essential to cast an actor who could transform from an unassuming house painter to a blackened killing machine, while still managing to elicit the sympathy of the audience. When the harrowing King of the Ants was unleashed upon audiences in 2003, any doubts as to whether the burgeoning actor could shoulder a film was quenched when critics and audiences singled out McKenna's stunning transformation as a highlight of Gordon's bleak vision. In addition to preparing for his subsequent role in director Terry Zwigoff's Art School Confidential, McKenna would attempt to expand his horizons by working with author Thomas Tessier to pen a screen adaptation of Tessier's labyrinthine horror novel Fog Heart.

Trivia: Auditioned for commercials as a child and made her acting debut in a yogurt commercial. Played a Munchkin in her middle school's production of The Wizard of Oz. Took classes in Florence, Italy, as part of her studies at NYU. Has a French bulldog named Hugo.

Trivia: Discovered a passion for computers when he was 12.Made his feature film debut playing Todd White in the 2006 drama Lenexa, 1 Mile.Perhaps best known for his role Dominic Vail in the series NCIS: Los Angeles from 2009 to 2010.Owns a small IT company named HyperHerd Inc.

Trivia: A longtime guitar player, Cambor performed with a country band while attending Wesleyan University. Made his television debut in 2007, starring in the ABC sitcom Notes From the Underbelly. Was spotted by Underbelly creator Stacy Traub while he was performing opposite Annette Bening and Alfred Molina in The Cherry Orchard at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

Trivia: Born February 7, 1955, intense character actor Miguel Ferrer specialized in playing villains, and brought to each role an unpredictable energy. Working steadily on television and in feature films, Southern California-born and raised, Ferrer was the eldest of five children and is the son of famed actor José Ferrer and jazz artist Rosemary Clooney. Inspired by watching Little Ricky banging away on drums during the I Love Lucy show and by Beatles percussionist Ringo Starr, Ferrer first aspired to become a professional drummer and for a few years worked as a studio musician. Acting credits came by way of small television and feature film roles. He debuted on television guest starring as a drummer on the NBC series Sunshine (1975). His first real break in movies came when he was cast in Paul Verhoeven's sci-fi actioner Robocop (1986). The tall, rangy actor subsequently appeared in films such as Revenge (1987) and Point of No Return (1991). Back on television, he gave a memorable performance as an emotionally volatile FBI pathologist in David Lynch's cult series Twin Peaks. Ferrer also starred as a Louisiana cop in Broken Badges. Other television credits include a guest-starring role on the NBC medical drama E.R., a supporting role in the telemovies Shannon's Deal and Brave New World, and a regular role on the comedy Lateline. In 2002, Ferrar appeared alongside Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle, and Benicio Del Toro in filmmaker Steven Soderbergh's Academy award-winning drama Traffic, and worked in John Sayles' Sunshine state during the same year. Ferrer took on the role of Colonel Garrett in the 2004 update of The Manchurian Candidate, and lent his voice to episodes of the Cartoon Network favorites Robot Chicken (2006) and American Dad! (2007). The actor continued to work in television over the next couple of years, making appearances in NBC's update of the Bionic Woman series, and took on the part of LAPD Lt. Felix Valdez for The Protector, a made-for-television police procedural drama. He also had a recurring role as NCIS assistant director Owen Granger in NCIS: Los Angeles. Ferrer was diagnosed with cancer during his run on NCIS, but chose to stay on the show and work through his illness. He died in 2017, at age 61.

Trivia: A graduate of the famous School for the Performing Arts, actor Rocky Carroll continued his studies at the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University before moving to New York in the mid-'80s to try his hand at a professional acting career. He soon found success with the Shakespeare on Broadway series, and cultivated a flourishing career on-stage. Carroll also branched into screen acting, with recurring roles on Roc and Chicago Hope, and in movies like Crimson Tide, Born on the Fourth of July, and Yes Man.

Trivia: An actor since the age of 14, Berlin-born Jürgen Prochnow was firmly established on stage and TV when he was featured in his first film, Zoff, in 1971. Prochnow has been able to harness his well-modulated voice, versatile facial features, and athletic frame to portray both the most admirable of heroes and the most despicable of villains. It was for his portrayal of a character in the former category that the actor achieved international fame. He appeared as the stern but humanistic submarine commander in the 1981 Oscar-winning Das Boot. In the latter category, Prochnow all but entreated hisses and tossed tomatoes with his portrayal of the sadistic South African secret police captain in 1989's A Dry White Season. Prochnow's career has subsequently had its fair share of highs and lows, with his appearances in such high profile projects as The English Patient (1996), Air Force One (1997), and The Replacement Killers (1998) helping to sustain him as a fixture in international cinema. Over the coming decades, Prochnow would remain an active force on screen, appearing in a host of German projects, as well as projects like The Da Vinci Code and Beerfest, and the TV series 24.

Trivia: An actress whose fragile, fine-boned beauty has often gotten her cast as emotionally vulnerable, put-upon girlfriends, Claire Forlani has done strong work in this capacity in such films as Basquiat and Meet Joe Black. The daughter of an Italian father and a British mother, she was born in London on July 1, 1972. At the age of 11, she began studying dance and drama at London's Arts Educational School, where she trained for the next six years. She began her professional acting career in 1991, when she appeared in a number of productions for British television.After relocating with her family to San Francisco in 1993, Forlani made her American acting debut with a small but memorable role in the TV miniseries JFK: Reckless Youth (1993) as a young woman who dances her way into the heart and hormones of the young president. She subsequently had a minor part in Police Academy - Mission to Moscow (1994), and then landed more substantial work in Mallrats (1995) after impressing director Kevin Smith with her flawless impression of an immature young American. Forlani's work in Mallrats gave her enough exposure to garner the attention of various casting agents, as evidenced by her central role as the all-too accommodating waitress girlfriend of Basquiat's (1996) eponymous artist (Jeffrey Wright).The actress remained in troubled girlfriend mode for The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997), in which she played Beat icon Neal Cassady's suicidal paramour, and then literally flirted with death in Meet Joe Black (1998). The film cast Forlani in her biggest role to date, that of a young doctor who falls in love with Death, as personified with blond highlights by Brad Pitt; although the film itself was the object of much critical ire, Forlani escaped relatively unscathed. After playing yet another imperiled girlfriend in Mystery Men (1999), Forlani switched gears to play a neurotic college student who ends up in bed with her best friend (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) in the romantic comedy Boys and Girls (2000). Forliani stayed busy throughout the 2000s, winning praise for her work in the critically acclaimed fantasy drama Northfolk (2003), which also starred James Woods and Nick Nolte. She appeared in director Christopher Guest's playful send-up of Hollywood during awards season, For Your Consideration, in 2006, though she is better known for her portrayal of medical examiner Peyton Driscoll in CSI: NY (2006-2007). In 2008 she joined the cast of the supernatural thriller Not Forgotten to play a supporting role, and returned to the small screen in 2011 to play the part of Igraine in Camelot, a short-lived television series from STARZ.

Trivia: Erik Palladino was supposed to join the family's heat contracting business. Raised in Yonkers by his schoolteacher mother and contractor father, the 12-year-old Palladino caught the acting bug from Robert De Niro's famed performance as Jake La Motta in Raging Bull. He quickly joined a local children's repertory company and soon began hosting a heavy metal television show in New York. But like many actors, the adult Palladino took the long road to success. He built an arrest record, struggled through New York's Marymount Manhattan College, sang in a mediocre indie rock band, and survived several canceled television shows. By the late '90s, Palladino had a familiar face -- as a regular on Comedy Central, a voluble MTV video jockey, an indolent stepson on Murphy Brown, and Jennifer Love Hewitt's unctuous cousin in Can't Hardly Wait (1998) -- but not a well-known name. However, perseverance and ubiquity will lead to stardom and, in 1999, Palladino scored two plum roles: the part of an American sailor opposite Matthew McConaughey in U-571 and a coveted slot as Dr. Dave Malucci on NBC's top-rated ER. Both characters are Italian-American; both characters pigeonhole Palladino as the insolent, self-important bastard. Yet, his performances project the strength of an actor who has been around the bend and can create brazen men that are not simply ogres, but refreshingly forthright, occasionally tender, and always heroic. Despite a public outcry and an Internet petition to keep him on the show, Palladino left ER in 2001. He then added to his movie credits -- which already included This Space Between Us (2000) with fellow ER star Alex Kingston and Finder's Fee (2000) with James Earl Jones -- by starring in the "Disco Inferno" segment of the VH1' Strange Frequency (2001). He also began racing cars in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Though his career forced him to relocate to California, Palladino remains a die-hard New Yorker and a loyal Yankees fan.

Trivia: Born in New York City and brought up by his French parents in Geneva, Christopher Lambert briefly worked at the London Stock Exchange, then studied acting at the National Conservatory in Paris, where he was expelled after three years. He soon landed a role in the French film Le Bar Du Telephone (1980) and within two years had appeared in three French films. His English language debut was in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan (1984); an attractive, well-built man, he soon attracted a large following among women as a movie sex symbol, and in France he is something of a "pin-up." Lambert went on to work steadily in both American and French films, often in actioners. He is married to actress Diane Lane, with whom he appeared in Knight Moves (1992).

Trivia: Staged plays in her neighbourhood as a child. Received training in improv acting. Wrote and starred in the 2006 short film Last Night. Writes and sings pop and theatre music. Has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Trivia: Notably played Prince William in the 2011 Lifetime Original movie William & Kate alongside Camilla Luddington.Has cited getting accustomed to predominantly using his left hand as being the hardest mannerism to get right when playing the left-handed Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.Made it into the Order of the Lawyers in New Zealand and could professionally practice law if he chose to.