Trivia: Initially written off as a one-hit wonder following the meteoric rise and fall of his superstardom (thanks to the 1992 single "Achy Breaky Heart" and its accompanying album, Some Gave All), country-rocker Billy Ray Cyrus caught his second wind in the early 2000s. He then staged a considerable comeback in film and television, defying the expectations of many naysayers who believed it impossible for Cyrus to escape from the shadow of that one love-it-or-hate-it single. Some limited film experience, of course, accompanied the Kentuckian heartthrob's early music career, by virtue of the music videos and occasional performance films he cranked out (such as the 1992 Billy Ray Cyrus: Live). He failed to gain notice as an actor, however, until the early 2000s. As the new millennium dawned, Cyrus moved from the echelons of Nashville to those of Hollywood. He began at a somewhat low ebb, with a turn in the straight-to-video actioner Radical Jack (2000), opposite DeDee Pfeiffer, sister of Michelle. In that B-picture (which does not feature rollicking musical numbers), Cyrus travels the route hewn by Patrick Swayze, The Rock (in his remake Walking Tall), Lyle Alzado, and many others. He played Jack Reynolds, a leather clad, chopper-riding southerner who uses his steel fist to wipe clean a town full of redneck scumbags; Pfeiffer, of course, portrayed his romantic interest.The following year, Cyrus toned it down several notches and allowed his soft side to emerge, with a direct appeal to the female demographic and to more sensitive male viewers. He signed on as the lead in the PAX channel's series comedy drama Doc, playing Dr. Clint Cassidy, a sweet-natured Montana physician who follows the love of his life to the Big Apple and accepts a position at a Manhattan hospital, where his gracious charm and easygoing style win the heart of many a patient. That program scored with PAX viewers and lasted several seasons. After a minor role in David Lynch's spectacular Mulholland Dr. (a significant step up from Radical Jack) and turns in such features as Valerie McCaffrey's acclaimed black comedy Wish You Were Dead (2002) and Scott Coffey's quirky dramedy Ellie Parker (2005), the former country singer scored a double whammy. He portrayed the dad and manager of "secret teen pop sensation" Hannah Montana (played, in turn, by Cyrus' real-life daughter, Miley Cyrus) on that character's eponymous Disney Channel sitcom, and then found an even broader fan base (drawing from his roots in country rock and sporting a shaggy mane) when the singer-turned-actor joined the fourth season of the competitive reality series Dancing With the Stars as one of the latest celebs to partner up with a professional ballroom dancer. Cyrus and partner Karina Smirnoff, despite earning low scores from the judges, were able to stay in the competition until just before the semifinals due to the viewers' votes (which count as half of their overall score each week). They were eventually booted off the show in May 2007, just after judge Bruno Tonioli controversially referred to Cyrus' latest performance as "crap."Just months later, Cyrus issued a new album on Walt Disney Records, which included covers of "Over the Rainbow," "Brown-Eyed Girl," and "Put a Little Love in My Heart," as well as new songs. Cyrus continued to work on Hannah Montana throughout the 2000s, and appeared in the feature film Hannah Montana: The Movie in 2009. In 2010, Cyrus joined Jackie Chan for a supporting role in The Spy Next Door, and starred in the holiday feature Christmas Comes to Canaan in 2011. Cyrus would continue to work in many areas of performance over the coming years, releasing albums, like 2012's Changed My Mind.

Trivia: American filmmaker/cinematographer Richard Leacock made a major contribution to the development of the American version of "cinema verite" called "Direct Cinema." As enacted by Leacock and Robert Drew, Direct Cinema attempted to utilize the camera only as a means to objectively record events as they happened without subjecting it to pre-planned direction or much care for the resulting technical quality of the finished product. What was important was to capture the now, just as it happened without the interference of the director and the crew. Typically, Leacock and the others involved in the movie travelled to events with minimal equipment and carried hand-held cameras. The younger brother of feature filmmaker Philip Leacock, Richard began making his first films at age 14 while living in Britain (he was born a British citizen in the Canary Islands). Three years later he moved to the States, earned a physics degree at Harvard and participated in WW II as a combat cameraman for the army. He got his professional start in 1948 working as a cameraman and associate producer for Robert Flaherty on the dramatized documentary classic Louisiana Story (1948). Leacock went on to collaborate with a few more documentary makers, including Louis de Rochemont, before creating his own production company, Drew Associates, in 1958 with Robert Drew and making television documentaries. He and Drew started the Direct Cinema movement with their innovative Living Camera series wherein they would unobtrusively as possible record such events as the 1960 Wisconsin primary between JFK and Hubert Humphrey (Primary) or a man on death row preparing for the electric chair (Chair). Not only did Leacock, Drew and other collaborators such as D. A. Pennebaker and Al Maysles record major events, they also experimented with chronicling more mundane things. Later he founded the film department at MIT, which he also headed. His son Robert has also become a filmmaker.

Trivia: Attended his first audition with his father when he was 6. Parents run an internet community for child actors and their families. Learned to speak the Lakota language for a role in the 2005 mini-series Into the West. Sings and plays bass guitar in the band Lost in Kostko.

Trivia: A wiry, reliable character actor who first caught the attention of television audiences with his Emmy-winning role as Detective Mick Belker on Steven Bochco's gritty police drama Hill Street Blues, Bruce Weitz crafted a successful career in both low-budget features and small-screen dramas. The Norwalk, CT, native trained at both Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater and Louisville's Actors Theater after earning graduate and undergraduate degrees from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, and it wasn't long before he set his sights on Broadway. A successful debut opposite George C. Scott in a revival of Death of a Salesman was quickly followed by roles in The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and Norman, Is That You? Weitz also appeared in 13 New York Shakespeare festivals during the late '70s before moving on to television. Supporting roles in Quincy and Happy Days were followed by performances in such made-for-TV features as Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story and Every Stray Dog and Kid (both 1981). That same year, Weitz joined the cast of Hill Street Blues for the duration of the series and his popular character became a highlight of many episodes. The role propelled Weitz's TV career and the actor did not lack work for the rest of the decade. By the time the '80s gave way to the '90s, Weitz's small-screen feature career was still going strong, and, in 1991, he joined the cast of the popular sitcom Anything but Love for one season. He returned to work with old friend Bochco with short-lived series The Byrds of Paradise in 1994 and appeared as Robert Shapiro in 1995's made-for-TV feature The O.J. Simpson Story. Nurturing a growing feature film career in the late '90s and early 2000s, Weitz later enjoyed roles in such high-profile theatrical releases as Deep Impact (1998) and Half Past Dead (2002), enjoyed a multi-episode run on ER as Alderman John Bright, and graced the casts of features including El Cortez (2005) and The Dukes (2007).