Trivia: The daughter of actress Whitney Blake, Meredith Baxter received extensive training in the arts at the Interlochen Summer Camp in Michigan. Meredith worked as an usher, file clerk and cafeteria checker before getting her first film break in Ben (1971). The 5'7" blonde actress entered the "America's sweetheart" category when she was cast as Bridget Fitzgerald Steinberg, the prettier half of a Catholic-Jewish married couple, in the TV sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie (1972). While the series lasted only a year, her "reel" marriage became a "real" one when, in 1974, she wed her B Loves B co-star David Birney. In addition to yielding a new, hyphenated professional name for Meredith, her union with Birney produced three children before the couple divorced in the early 1990s (she also had two children from a previous marriage). In between stage appearances in such productions as Hamlet, Guys and Dolls and Butterflies are Free, Meredith played Nancy Lawrence Maitland on the TV dramedy Family, winning two Emmy nominations during her four-year (1976-80) stint with this series. In 1982, Meredith agreed to star as flower child-turned-suburban mom Elyse Keaton on the weekly TV comedy Family Ties, having been assured that she would be the star of the series in fact as well as in name. As it happened, Family Ties was dominated throughout its seven-year run by co-star Michael J. Fox. A prolific TV-movie actress, she owns the distinction of playing the same real-life character twice, with two entirely different interpretations. When she first played accused murderess Betty Broderick in 1992's A Woman Scorned, Meredith was sympathetic to Broderick's plight, and played the role accordingly (earning an Emmy nomination in the process); but by the time 1993's Her Final Fury rolled around, Meredith, like everyone else involved in the project, was convinced that Betty Broderick deserved what she got--and played the role in the manner of a Gothic Novel villainess. A made-for-TV movie fixture over the course of the next decade, Baxter remained a familiar face on the small screen thanks to appearances in such popular shows as The Closer and Cold Case, later showing her playful side with voice work in such animated series' as Family Guy and Dan Vs. A breast-cancer survivor, she received a public-awareness award from the National Breast Cancer Coalition for starring in and coproducing the 1994 drama My Breast.

Trivia: A product of a blue-collar Chicago neighborhood, actor Michael Gross spent the first two years of high school as (by his own admission) a "greaser" and gang member. He straightened himself out in his last two years, graduating as senior class president and National Honor Society member. Gross played guitar with a folksinging group before gravitating to the theatre. He attended the Yale School of drama (one of his classmates was Meryl Streep), then worked in regional theatre before landing in New York. In 1982, Gross was cast as Steven Keaton, ex-radical patriarch of a clan that included Michael J. Fox and Justine Bateman, in the long-running sitcom Family Ties. Perhaps chafing a bit at the press attention given to his co-star Fox, Gross took every available opportunity to play an image-busting role, notably the scuzzy, cold-blooded killer in the 1985 TV movie In the Line of Duty: The FBI Wars. Michael Gross is the brother of comedienne and former Saturday Night Live regular Mary Gross. In the years to come, Gross would prove to be a truly prolific actor, appearing in films like El Sonoma, Broken Windows, and Stay Cool, as well as TV shows like Tremors, How I Met Your Mother, The Young and the Restless, and ER.

Trivia: Supporting actress Priscilla Morrill spent most of her career on television, appearing in telemovies, as a semi-regular, and a guest star. Fans of The Mary Tyler Moore Show may remember her for playing Edie, the estranged wife of newsroom chief Lou Grant. She made her first professional appearance on stage in an off-Broadway production of Julius Caesar opposite John Carradine. While on Broadway, Morrill appeared in such dramas as Still Life, Night of the Iguana, and The Relapse. Though she had been on television since the early '60s, she did not make her feature film debut until she landed a small role in Clint Eastwood's Breezy (1973). After that, she rarely appeared in feature films; she did, however, appear in many television movies, including The Love Canal and The Trial of Jean Harris. Morrill's guest-starring appearances include such shows as Newhart, The Outer Limits, and Bagdad Cafe. Morrill occasionally landed regular roles on television sitcoms such as And Baby Makes Five, but none of these lasted more than a few months.

Trivia: Character actor Karen has had a 40-year career as an actor. He made his Broadway bow with Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan. Since then, he has worked continuously in theater, television and film, with such greats as his idol Buster Keaton, and on up to director Oliver Stone. His best-known films include Return of the Living Dead (1985) and Return of the Living Dead II (1988). Karen has also appeared in All the President's Men (1976), China Syndrome (1979), Poltergeist (1982), and Wall Street (1987). He was a regular on Eight is Enough (1977-81), starred in the science fiction series The Powers of Matthew Star as Major Wymore (1983) and had a recurring role on the cable series The Larry Sanders Show. Karen took on a series of small roles in notable films throughout the early 2000s; among his credits include Any Given Sunday (1999), Thirteen Days (2000), and Mulholland Dr. (2001). He played a supporting role alongside Will Smith and Thandie Newton in the 2006 drama The Pursuit of Happyness, and appeared in Superman Returns the same year. He worked with Chevy Chase and Christopher Lloyd in director Gary J. Tunnicliffe's adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk in 2009, and took a small part in 2010's psychological drama Sympathy for Delicious.