Trivia: After spending the 1980s playing a series of drug addict and character parts, Samuel L. Jackson emerged in the 1990s as one of the most prominent and well-respected actors in Hollywood. Work on a number of projects, both high-profile and low-key, has given Jackson ample opportunity to display an ability marked by both remarkable versatility and smooth intelligence.Born December 21, 1948, in Washington, D.C., Jackson was raised by his mother and grandparents in Chattanooga, TN. He attended Atlanta's Morehouse College, where he was co-founder of Atlanta's black-oriented Just Us Theater (the name of the company was taken from a famous Richard Pryor routine). Jackson arrived in New York in 1977, beginning what was to be a prolific career in film, television, and on the stage. After a plethora of character roles of varying sizes, Jackson was discovered by the public in the role of the hero's tempestuous, drug-addict brother in 1991's Jungle Fever, directed by another Morehouse College alumnus, Spike Lee. Jungle Fever won Jackson a special acting prize at the Cannes Film Festival and thereafter his career soared. Confronted with sudden celebrity, Jackson stayed grounded by continuing to live in the Harlem brownstone where he'd resided since his stage days. 1994 was a particularly felicitous year for Jackson; while his appearances in Jurassic Park (1993) and Menace II Society (1993) were still being seen in second-run houses, he co-starred with John Travolta as a mercurial hit man in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, a performance that earned him an Oscar nomination. His portrayal of an embittered father in the more low-key Fresh earned him additional acclaim. The following year, Jackson landed third billing in the big-budget Die Hard With a Vengeance and also starred in the adoption drama Losing Isaiah. His versatility was put on further display in 1996 with the release of five very different films: The Long Kiss Goodnight, a thriller in which he co-starred with Geena Davis as a private detective; an adaptation of John Grisham's A Time to Kill, which featured him as an enraged father driven to murder; Steve Buscemi's independent Trees Lounge; The Great White Hype, a boxing satire in which the actor played a flamboyant boxing promoter; and Hard Eight, the directorial debut of Paul Thomas Anderson.After the relative quiet of 1997, which saw Jackson again collaborate with Tarantino in the critically acclaimed Jackie Brown and play a philandering father in the similarly acclaimed Eve's Bayou (which also marked his debut as a producer), the actor lent his talents to a string of big-budget affairs (an exception being the 1998 Canadian film The Red Violin). Aside from an unbilled cameo in Out of Sight (1998), Jackson was featured in leading roles in The Negotiator (1998), Sphere (1998), and Deep Blue Sea (1999). His prominence in these films added confirmation of his complete transition from secondary actor to leading man, something that was further cemented by a coveted role in what was perhaps the most anticipated film of the decade, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), the first prequel to George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy. Jackson followed through on his leading man potential with a popular remake of Gordon Parks' seminal 1971 blaxploitation flick Shaft. Despite highly publicized squabbling between Jackson and director John Singleton, the film was a successful blend of homage, irony, and action; it became one of the rare character-driven hits in the special effects-laden summer of 2000.From hard-case Shaft to fragile as glass, Jackson once again hoodwinked audiences by playing against his usual super-bad persona in director M. Night Shyamalan's eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable (2000). In his role as Bruce Willis' brittle, frail antithesis, Jackson proved that though he can talk trash and break heads with the best of them, he's always compelling to watch no matter what the role may be. Next taking a rare lead as a formerly successful pianist turned schizophrenic on the trail of a killer in the little-seen The Caveman's Valentine, Jackson turned in yet another compelling and sympathetic performance. Following an instance of road rage opposite Ben Affleck in Changing Lanes (2002), Jackson stirred film geek controversy upon wielding a purple lightsaber in the eagerly anticipated Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones. Despite rumors that the color of the lightsaber may have had some sort of mythical undertone, Jackson laughingly assured fans that it was a simple matter of his suggesting to Lucas that a purple lightsaber would simply "look cool," though he was admittedly surprised to see that Lucas had obliged him Jackson eventually saw the final print. A few short months later filmgoers would find Jackson recruiting a muscle-bound Vin Diesel for a dangerous secret mission in the spy thriller XXX.Jackson reprised his long-standing role as Mace Windu in the last segment of George Lucas's Star Wars franchise to be produced, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). It (unsurprisingly) grossed almost four hundred million dollars, and became that rare box-office blockbuster to also score favorably (if not unanimously) with critics; no less than Roger Ebert proclaimed it "spectacular." Jackson co-headlined 2005's crime comedy The Man alongside Eugene Levy and 2006's Joe Roth mystery Freedomland with Julianne Moore and Edie Falco, but his most hotly-anticipated release at the time of this writing is August 2006's Snakes on a Plane, a by-the-throat thriller about an assassin who unleashes a crate full of vipers onto a aircraft full of innocent (and understandably terrified) civilians. Produced by New Line Cinema on a somewhat low budget, the film continues to draw widespread buzz that anticipates cult status. Black Snake Moan, directed by Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow) dramatizes the relationship between a small-town girl (Christina Ricci) and a blues player (Jackson). The picture is slated for release in September 2006 with Jackson's Shaft collaborator, John Singleton, producing.Jackson would spend the ensuing years appearing in a number of films, like Home of the Brave, Resurrecting the Champ, Lakeview Terrace, Django Unchained, and the Marvel superhero franchise films like Thor, Iron Man, and The Avengers, playing superhero wrangler Nick Fury.

Trivia: Actor Nicolas Cage has always strived to make a name for himself based on his work, rather than on his lineage. As the nephew of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, Cage altered his last name to avoid accusations of nepotism. (He chose "Cage" both out of admiration for avant-garde musician John Cage and en homage to comic book hero Luke Cage). Even if he had retained the family name, it isn't likely that anyone would consider Cage holding fast to his uncle's coattails. Time and again, Cage travels to great lengths to add verisimilitude to his roles.Born January 7, 1964, in Long Beach, CA, to a literature professor father and dancer/choreographer mother, Cage first caught the acting bug while a student at Beverly Hills High School. After graduation, he debuted on film with a small part in Amy Heckerling's 1982 classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Following a lead role in Martha Coolidge's cult comedy Valley Girl (1983), Cage spent the remainder of the decade playing endearingly bizarre and disreputable men, most notably as Crazy Charlie the Appliance King in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Hi McDonough in Raising Arizona (1987), and Ronny Cammareri in the same year's Moonstruck, the last of which won him a Golden Globe nomination and a legion of female fans, ecstatic over the actor's unconventional romantic appeal.The '90s saw Cage assume a series of diverse roles, ranging from a violent ex-con in David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990) to a sweet-natured private eye in the romantic comedy Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) to a dying alcoholic in Mike Figgis' astonishing Leaving Las Vegas (1995). For this last role, Cage won a Best Actor Oscar for his quietly devastating portrayal, and, respectability in hand, gained an official entrance into Hollywood's higher ranks. After winning his Oscar, along with a score of other honors for his performance, Cage switched gears in a way that would prove to be, with the occasional exception, largely permanent. He dove into a series of action movies like the Michael Bay thriller The Rock, the prisoners-on-a-plane movie Con Air, and the infamous John Woo flick Face/Off. Greeted with hefty paychecks and audience approval, Cage forged ahead on a career path lit largely with explosions.There would be exceptions, like 1998's City of Angels, a remake of Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, and Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead, and the the lightly dramatic romantic comedy The Family Man, but Cage stuck mostly to thrillers and action movies. A spate of such films would fill his resume, like Gone in 60 Seconds, The Life of David Gale, 8MM, and Snake Eyes, but Cage would briefly revisit his roots in character work, teaming with Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze in 2002 for a duel role in the complex comedy Adaptation (2002). With Cage appearing as both screenwriter Charlie Kaufman as well as his fictional brother Donald, Adaptation followed Charlie's attempt to adapt author Susan Orlean's seemingly unfilmable novel The Orchid Thief as a feature film, and Donald's parallel efforts to write his own hacky yet lucrative script by following the guidance of a caustic, Syd Field-like screenwriting instructor (Brian Cox). A weighty role that demanded an actor capable of portraying characters that couldn't differ more emotionally despite their outward appearance, Adaptation brought Cage his second Oscar nomination -- and he was soon back to business as usual.2004 saw the release of the megahit adventure film National Treasure, which cast Cage as an archaeologist convinced there's a treasure map on the back of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The outrageous film would earn a sequel in 2007, but first Cage made the ill-advised decision to star in Neil LaBute's reworking of the Robin Hardy/Anthony Shaffer collaboration The Wicker Man (2006). Though video compilations of the movie's most hilariously hackneyed moments would become popular on the internet, Cage was soon portraying a motorcycle-driving stuntman who sells his soul to Mephistopheles -- in Mark Steven Johnson's live-action comic book adaptation Ghost Rider. Upon premiering in the States, the film became a big success. In the same year's sci-fi thriller Next, directed by Lee Tamahori, Cage plays Cris Johnson, a man who attains the ability to see into the future and must suddenly decide between saving himself and saving the world; the film failed to ignite the way Ghost Rider did just a couple months before it. Next came Bangkok Dangerous, Knowing, The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans, Drive Angry, Seeking Justice, and Trespass -- all high octane, high adrenaline movies that found Cage diving, leaping, and shooting his way through the story. Cage found himself with a surprise hit in Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass (2010), playing a vigilante former cop in the black comedy film. He voiced the main character in 2013's animated The Croods, but then mostly stuck to action-crime-thriller-type movies for the next couple of years, including films like Left Behind (2014), The Runner (2015) and The Trust (2016).

Trivia: Coleman attended a Virginia military school before studying law and serving in the army. While attending the University of Texas, Coleman became attracted to acting, and headed to New York, where he studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse. After stage experience and TV work, Coleman made his movie debut in 1965's The Slender Thread. Minus his trademarked mustache for the most part in the mid-1960s, Coleman specialized in secondary character roles. He began to branch into comedy during his supporting stint as obstetrician Leon Bessemer on the Marlo Thomas sitcom That Girl, but his most memorable role would come in 1980 as the nasty, chauvinistic boss in 9 to 5. He would go on to appear in other films, like On Golden Pond [1981], The Beverly Hillbillies [1993], You've Got Mail [1998], and Moonlight Mile, but the actor found more success in television, appearing on a few cult hits that were tragically cancelled, like Drexell's Class and Madman of the People, as well as The Guardian, Courting Alex, Heartland, and Boardwalk Empire.

Trivia: Wide-shouldered American actor Michael Lerner has become a Rod Steiger for the '90s, specializing in portraying brusque bullies with above-average intelligence. For many years a professor of literature at San Francisco State College, Lerner turned to acting in the late '60s, making his film bow with 1970's Alex in Wonderland. He alternated his movie work with stage appearances at the American Conservatory Theatre. Michael Lerner's more notable film roles include Arnold Rothstein in Eight Men Out (1988) and a Louis Mayer-clone movie producer (for which he was Oscar nominated) in Barton Fink (1991).

Trivia: A versatile, no-nonsense actress, Margaret Colin has moved easily between TV and films throughout her career, from such acclaimed series as Chicago Hope to Hollywood blockbusters and independent features.Born in Brooklyn to a large Irish-Catholic family and raised on Long Island, Colin began acting in elementary school. Along with winning a drama scholarship to Hofstra University, Colin studied the craft at the Stella Adler Conservatory and Juilliard. Leaving school for a career in Manhattan, Colin soon landed on the TV daytime dramas Edge of Night and As the World Turns in the early '80s. Colin made the move to feature films playing one of teen icon Molly Ringwald's teachers in Pretty in Pink (1986) and psycho Ray Liotta's wife in Jonathan Demme's off-kilter romance Something Wild (1986). With substantial roles in the TV movies The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1987) and Warm Hearts, Cold Feet (1987), and the cop series Leg Work (1987) created as a vehicle for her, Colin was poised to become a small-screen star. Leg Work, however, didn't last beyond its first season. Nevertheless, Colin remained quite visible, appearing as Tom Selleck's love interest in the wildly popular feature comedy Three Men and a Baby (1987) and earning kudos for her turn as an intrepid investigator in the James Woods legal drama True Believer (1989). Back on the small screen, Colin starred in the well-received docudrama Goodnight, Sweet Wife: A Murder in Boston (1990).Though she decided to start a family with husband and erstwhile daytime TV colleague Justin Deas, Colin continued to work regularly. After sharing screen time with such stars as Demi Moore, Nicolas Cage, and Samuel L. Jackson in the ill-received feature comedies The Butcher's Wife (1991) and Amos and Andy (1993), and appearing as a regular guest on CBS's lauded hospital drama Chicago Hope, Colin landed roles in two high-profile movies. As the President's press secretary and addled scientist Jeff Goldblum's ex, Colin was a key part of the ensemble battling an apocalyptic alien attack in the flashy summer blockbuster Independence Day (1996). Harking back to her family's history in law enforcement, Colin was then cast as N.Y.C. Irish cop Harrison Ford's wife in the political thriller The Devil's Own (1997). Despite the presence of Ford and co-star Brad Pitt, however, The Devil's Own was a financial disappointment. Colin fared better, at least critically, with her role as the title character's mother in the indie teen comedy The Adventures of Sebastian Cole (1998). Cast as John Goodman's wife in CBS's supernatural spy series Now and Again (1999), Colin then seemed to be on the verge of regular TV series work again, but Now and Again failed to live up to the hype. After a handful of roles in independent and TV films, including coming-of-age drama and Sundance Film Festival entrant Blue Car (2002), Colin returned to glossy Hollywood product with an appearance as one of Diane Lane's friends in the infidelity potboiler Unfaithful (2002).

Trivia: Brad Dourif is a quirky character actor whose gallery of killers, sociopaths, and other lost souls brought to life any number of contemporary horror and science fiction projects. Born March 18, 1950, in Huntington, WV, he began his professional acting career after graduating from college, honing his skills during a three-year apprenticeship with New York's Circle Repertory under the celebrated drama coach Sanford Meisner. While appearing off-Broadway in a production of When You Comin' Back, Red Rider?, Dourif was spotted by director Milos Forman, who immediately cast him in his 1975 film adaptation of the Ken Kesey novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Dourif's turn as a suicidal teen asylum inmate was one of the most acclaimed film debuts in memory, earning a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe as well as an Oscar nomination. However, the performance also typecast him as a talent best suited to idiosyncratic, off-center character roles, a straitjacket he remained unable to break from for the duration of his career. He then did not reappear onscreen for another two years before co-starring in the 1977 West German production Gruppenbild mit Dame. Dourif's next major performance came in the 1978 Irvin Kershner thriller The Eyes of Laura Mars, followed by a superb starring turn as a damaged war veteran in John Huston's Wise Blood. Upon completing a supporting role in the 1980 television film Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, Dourif next surfaced in Michael Cimino's legendary flop Heaven's Gate, the first in a string of big-budget disasters to which the actor was attached including Forman's Ragtime and David Lynch's Dune. A series of low-budget projects followed before Dourif reunited with Lynch for a small role in the director's 1986 masterpiece Blue Velvet. However, no other offers of a similar caliber were immediately forthcoming, and instead he found himself providing the voice of the evil doll Chuckie in the Child's Play series of slasher movies. In the years which followed, Dourif occasionally reappeared in more substantial projects (including the 1988 Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning, the 1990 Ken Loach picture Hidden Agenda, and Hanif Kureishi's 1991 directorial debut London Kills Me), but he remained primarily confined to low-budget genre work; additionally, he often guest starred on television, appearing in series including The X-Files, Millennium, and Star Trek: Voyager. In 2001, Dourif took a break from low-budget fright flicks to appear in a decidedly more enormous production, director Peter Jackson's eagerly anticipated Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Trivia: Versatile American actor Giancarlo Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, but grew up in Manhattan from the age of six. His mother was an African-American nightclub singer (who once shared a bill with Josephine Baker) and his father was an Italian stagehand. In show business most of his life, Esposito made his Broadway debut in a 1966 production of Maggie Flynn. His other stage credits include Sacrilege, Miss Moffatt, and Balm in Gilead. He won a 1981 Theatre World Award for his performance in Zooman and the Sign.On the big screen, Esposito started appearing in Spike Lee films during the late '80s in a wide range of roles with great character names. He was the frat leader Julian "Big Brother Almighty" in School Daze, the outspoken reactionary Buggin' Out in Do the Right Thing, the dandy pianist Left Hand Lacey in Mo' Better Blues, and the criminal Thomas Hayer in Malcolm X. Esposito's other film roles include an investigative journalist in Bob Roberts, an activist in Amos & Andrew, and a game show host in Reckless. In 1995, he earned an Independent Spirit award nomination for his supporting role of doting drug dealer Esteban in Boaz Yakin's debut drama Fresh. Esposito also appeared in Wayne Wang and Paul Auster's Smoke, along with the sequel Blue in the Face. The next year, he turned briefly to producing with the independent prison film The Keeper, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.On television, Esposito appeared on NYPD Blue, Law & Order, and the short-lived Fox comedy Bakersfield, P.D. In 1999, he earned an Image award nomination for his role as FBI Agent Michael Giardello on Homicide: Life on the Street. He also has contributed to the Fox television dramas The $treet and girls club. While teaching at the Atlantic Theatre Company, Esposito found time to portray real-life figures in the biopics Ali (as Cassius Clay Sr.) and Piñero (as Miguel Algarin). Projects for 2004 included James Hunter's feature Back in the Day and the television movie NYPD 2069. He played a detective in the thriller Derailed, and appeared in the indie drama SherryBaby. In 2008 he directed, starred in, and helped write the drama Gospel Hill. In 2010 he joined the cast of the highly-respected AMC drama series Breaking Bad, and appeared in the 2012 big-screen thriller Alex Cross.

Trivia: Playing a succession of bespectacled, soft-spoken, yet vaguely superior characters, Bob Balaban carved himself a niche as a reliable character actor in the last quarter of the 20th century, while also getting the occasional opportunity to write and direct for the screen. The nephew and cousin of industry personages, Balaban got the acting bug at Colgate University and N.Y.U., inspiring him to study with Uta Hagen and Viola Spolin. After some exposure on and off-Broadway in the late 1960s, Balaban made his film debut in Midnight Cowboy (1969), playing the high school student who meets Jon Voight in the movie theater for a tryst. Working sporadically through the '70s, more in theater and TV than film, Balaban developed a more familiar face with such roles as the cartographer and French translator from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978) and the attorney hired to help Richard Dreyfuss' quadriplegic choose to die in Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981). Balaban's major contribution to the industry in the 1980s was as a director, first of the disappointing Showtime movie The Brass Ring (1983) and then of the macabre weekly TV series Tales of the Darkside (1984) and Amazing Stories (1985). His big-screen directorial debut, the cannibal-themed black comedy Parents (1989), was considered either an objectionable failure by some or a devious cult classic by others; two later forays into directing (My Boyfriend's Back in 1993, The Last Good Time in 1994) were better received.In the 1990s, Balaban returned his focus to acting, especially as he caught on with more regular parts in the latter half of the decade. His most widely seen role was the NBC executive who accepts, then declines, then accepts again the pilot written by George and Jerry on the popular sitcom Seinfeld. His Russell Dalrymple appeared in only six episodes in the 1992-1993 season but was featured prominently in the season finale, lost at sea and presumed dead in his all-consuming quest to win Elaine's affections. It was this Seinfeld gig that netted Balaban the most regular and prominent work of his career in the years that followed. Although often still appearing in serious roles, Balaban indulged his talent for subtle comedy by linking up with actor/director Christopher Guest and appearing in two of his acclaimed faux documentaries, Waiting for Guffman (1996) and Best in Show (2000).Balaban scored a major art-house and critical successes producing and playing one of the main characters in Robert Altman's murder-mystery Gosford Park, and appearing as an ineffective father in Ghost World. That same year he appeared in important supporting roles in such big-budget fare as The Mexican and The Majestic. He maintained his carer in the independent world hooking up again with Christopher Guest for A Mighty Wind, and making a cameo appearance in the Oscar nominated Capote. Balaban appeared in and helped produce the animated Hollywood satire Hopeless Pictures, which ran on IFC in 2005. 2006 proved to be a very busy year for the multi-talented Balaban. In addition to another ollaboration with Guest, For Your Consideration, he played a film critic in M. Nght Shyamalan's The Lady in the Water. He also directed Ralph Finnes and Susan Sarandon in Doris and Bernard.Over the coming years, Balaban would continue to find outlets for his unique screen presence, appearing on the popular comedy series Web Therapy, and narrating the Wes Anderson comedy Moonrise Kingdom.

Trivia: Lettered in baseball, basketball and football in high school. First stage role was in college, playing the lead role in King Lear. Served four years in the Air Force after college, including a stint in Vietnam in 1967-68. Was a radio disc jockey in Texas. Made his film debut in 1976's Keep My Grave Open. Appeared in legendary sports movies Hoosiers (1986), Major League (1989) and Rudy (1993). Character name in both Basic Instinct and The Sopranos was Capt. Talcott.

Trivia: Father is Chinese-Australian; mother is Japanese-American. During World War II, her mother spent a year in an internment camp in Idaho. Parents were popular husband-and-wife nightclub team, Larry and Trudie, who performed in the 1940s and '50s and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1950. Made her Broadway debut in 1962 in Nowhere to Go But Up, directed by Sidney Lumet. Provided vocals on Fred Houn's Asian American Art Ensemble's 1985 jazz album, Bamboo That Snaps Back. Appeared before Judge Judy in a 1998 episode. Father was in the original 1958 cast of Flower Drum Song, and she starred as Madame Liang in the 2002 Broadway revival. Performed in a 2007 autobiographical one-woman play called Surfing DNA. Wrote and narrated the 2008 documentary Long Story Short, which tells the story of her parents' years as performers.

Trivia: The memorable but fleeting appearance of American actor Tracey Walter as "Bob the Goon" in Batman was typical of Walter's career. In the grand tradition of such Hollywood character actors as Percy Helton, Dick Wessel and Louis Jean Heydt, Walter is in the "who is that?" category--familiar yet anonymous--and has developed a cult following amongst cinema buffs. The stage-trained Walters can be seen in such films as Repo Man (1984) City Slickers (1991), Pacific Heights (1992), and Philadelphia (1993). As far back as the 1984 critic's-darling sitcom Best of the West, Walter played Frog, the knuckle-dragging henchman of villain Leonard Frey.

Trivia: Born in Houston in 1949, actress Loretta Devine rose to fame on-stage in the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls before parlaying her acclaim into a career in film and television. Her first major onscreen role came in 1987, when she was cast as a resident advisor on the Cosby Show-spin-off A Different World. Though she left the series after the first season, it was far from her final gig as a TV series regular.Throughout the early '90s, Devine appeared in small supporting roles in features films such as Class Act and Amos & Andrew as well as a number of TV guest spots on shows ranging from Roc to Picket Fences. In 1995, Devine's career was given a shot in the arm when she was cast as one of the leads in Waiting to Exhale, an ensemble film that proved to be a success with both critics and audiences. More supporting work followed, and in 2000 she was cast as a lead on David E. Kelley's Fox drama Boston Public, a show that would go on to be nominated for multiple Emmys over the course of its four seasons on the air.Devine's career came full-circle in 2006 when she was cast in a small role in the film adaptation of Dreamgirls, the stage musical that launched her career. The following year, she was cast as a regular on ABC's supernatural legal drama Eli Stone.In 2010 she appeared in the American remake of Death at a Funeral, the comedy Lottery Ticket, and Tyler Perry's ambitious For Colored Girls. In 2011 she appeared in Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family, and the next year she had a role on the TV series The Client List.