Trivia: Possessing the sort of bland, familiarly handsome looks that make him equally effective at creating both instantly likable and inexplicably repelling characters, actor Dylan Walsh, born November 17th, 1963, generally specialized in the former. When he took to the latter, however, the unexpected change of pace could make for an extremely effective performance. Although audiences may recognize his face from such high-profile Hollywood fare as Congo (1995) and We Were Soldiers (2002), his most affecting roles have been in low-budget independent fare such as the low-key 2001 drama Jet Boy. A California native who graduated from Annandale High School in Virginia, Walsh wowed audiences as Atticus Finch in a high school stage production of To Kill a Mockingbird, giving signs of great things to come from the burgeoning actor. Subsequently gaining his footing as an actor with a recurring role on television's Kate and Allie, his first feature credit came with the 1989 Patrick Dempsey comedy Loverboy. His career truly beginning to gain momentum in the early '90s, Walsh's appearances in Betsy's Wedding (1990) and Nobody's Fool (1994) showed an actor just waiting for his breakthrough role. Although he would take the lead for the eagerly anticipated jungle adventure Congo, the film's dismal fate at the box office certainly didn't do anything for his career. Subsequent efforts such as Divided by Hate (1997) and Chapter Zero (1999) showed an actor capable of much more than what he was given with which to work. Admittedly taking roles just to pay the bills, Walsh was offered the lead in Calgary filmmaker Dave Schultz's dark psychological drama Jet Boy. Cast as a shady, morally ambiguous undercover cop who befriends a street smart orphan while attempting to take down a big-time drug dealer, the role offered some contrast to Walsh's recent performances, and simultaneously proved that he was fully capable of handling a leading dramatic role. Due to the success of Jet Boy, his career was somewhat reinvigorated and subsequent parts in We Were Soldiers and Blood Work paid testament to an actor regaining his footing after a few early falters. In 2003, Walsh donned scrubs for the critically acclaimed television series Nip/Tuck. In 2006 Walsh could be seen back up on the big screen as the buttoned-down boyfriend of Sandra Bullock's haunted character in the fantasy-flavored romantic drama The Lakehouse. Walsh changed his tune for The Stepfather (2009), which starred the actor as a sociopathic murderer. In 2010, he joined the cast of Secretariat in a supporting role as the husband of housewife-turned-horse racer Penny Cherry (Diane Lane).

Trivia: Baltimore-born actor Penn Badgley first started landing a string of roles in his mid-teens, finding his first major part with the short-lived fantasy comedy series Do Over, on the WB. Then-16-year-old Badgley starred on that program as Joel Larsen, a 34-year-old loser salesman propelled back into his high-school body to relive his teenage years and alter the course of his adult life. Following the cancelation of that show, the WB provided Badgley with his next two major roles, though both turned out to be equally shortlived; he played Sam Tunney on the soapy drama The Mountain (2004) and Owen Gregory on the ensemble collegiate series drama The Bedford Diaries (2006). Shortly thereafter, Badgley could be seen in the high-school teen comedy John Tucker Must Die. It was in 2007 that the young actor finally found his first small-screen hit, when he was cast in a lead role on Gossip Girl, a teen drama on the fledgling CW network (itself a successor to the WB and UPN). The actor played Dan Humphrey, a Brooklyn-dwelling aspiring writer who goes to an elite private high school where his classmates are mostly Upper East Side snobs; the show became a big hit for the network, and gave Badgley his first taste of true stardom. In 2009, he took on a starring role in the remake of the classic '80s horror film The Stepfather. He went on to be in the high school sex comedy Easy A, and played one of the young corporate bankers forced to deal with the beginning of the financial collapse in Margin Call.

Trivia: Born July 11th, 1956, brunette leading lady Sela Ward graduated from the University of Alabama, where among many other activities she was a cheerleader for the Crimson Tide football team. Heading to New York, Ward determined to either become an airline stewardess or a model; a fear of flying led to her choosing the latter vocation. She proved she could act as well as pose when she was cast in the 1985 Burt Reynolds vehicle The Man Who Loved Women. Beginning in 1991, Ward portrayed Teddy on the weekly TV "dramedy" Sisters, a role that earned her a 1994 Emmy award. Sela Ward's additional television credits include the title role in the 1995 cable TV biopic Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story, as well as Once and Again, for which she would win the Best TV Series Actress in a Drama Award at the 2000 Golden Globes. 2004 would find the actress in the role of a private investigator in the made-for-tv movie Suburban Madness, and appeared on the big screen for The Day After Tomorrow. The following year Ward joined the cast of Fox's hit television series House in the recurring role of Stacy Warner, ex-partner of House, and former attorney for the hospital. Though her character was eventually written off the show, Ward reprised the role of Stacy Warner in House's 2012 finale.

Trivia: An actress who first fell into her screen niche playing beautiful and voluptuous teenage girlfriends, Amber Heard was blessed with a visage that seemed tailor-made for modeling, and indeed she began her ascent to fame on that route. The Austin, TX, native reportedly dropped out of high school a year early and made a beeline for Los Angeles, her eyes fixed on glossies and catwalks. That dream failed to materialize, but in seemingly no time at all, Heard received a bid to act instead. She garnered two of her first major breaks when cast as the lead in the teen slasher movie All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (produced 2006, released 2008) and when she landed a key regular role on Kevin Williamson's short-lived prime-time soap Hidden Palms (2007). The cancellation of that series aside, 2007-2008 actually represented a watershed period for Heard, and one that witnessed the actress' enlistment in such big-screen features as Day 73 With Sarah (2007), The Beautiful Ordinary (2007), Never Back Down (2008), and the David Gordon Green-Judd Apatow crime comedy The Pineapple Express (2008), as the love interest of a stoner played by Apatow mainstay Seth Rogen. She appeared in the horror comedy Zombieland in 2009. Two years later she had a recurring role in the short-lived television series The Playboy Club, and landed major parts in The Rum Diary, opposite Johnny Depp, and Drive Angry, with Nic Cage. In 2013, she had a supporting role in Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills and appeared in the box-office flop Paranoia. She next played an elite CIA assassin in 3 Days to Kill. In 2015, Heard turned in strong supporting roles in Magic Mike XXL and the Oscar-nominated film The Danish Girl.

Trivia: Roomed with Parker Posey in college. Took a year off in 1992 to travel in Europe. Appeared in a 1997 "Got Milk" ad that stated she was lactose intolerant, but still was able to drink a little milk each day. When she decided to leave ER in the third season of her five-year contract, she had to sign a no-work agreement that stipulated she could not appear on television until the termination of the original contract. During her first hiatus from ER, she taught a script-analysis class and directed several plays at her alma mater.

Trivia: Known to pint-sized filmgoers as April O'Neil in the two sequels to 1990s live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, actress Paige Turco followed up that role with several extended arcs on such television shows as NYPD Blue, Party of Five, and Rescue Me. In 2007, Turco was cast as one of the leads on ABC's Big Shots, a corporate drama starring Dylan McDermott and Michael Vartan. In the years to come, Turco would remain active on screen, appearing on shows like Damages.

Trivia: Character actor Jon Tenney has appeared on stage and in feature films, but he may be best known for his television work, notably for playing Patrol Sergeant Francis X. Donovan on Steven Bochco's short-lived police drama Brooklyn South. His film work includes Twilight of the Golds (1997), Fools Rush In (1997), and With Friends Like These... (1998). Tenney's interest in acting stems from early childhood and it developed further while he attended Vassar College, where he majored in drama and philosophy. Afterwards, he was accepted to Juilliard, where he was a standout student. He made his professional debut starring in a touring production of The Real Thing, directed by Mike Nichols. This led to his working steadily on and off Broadway, as well as in regional theater. His television credits include Equal Justice and Crime and Punishment. His made-for-television movie credits include Alone in the Neon Jungle (1987). Since 1994, Tenney has been married to popular television actress Teri Hatcher. He appeared in Kenneth Lonnergan's first film, You Can Count on Me, and Albert Brooks cast him in Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World. In 2005 he was cast in the hit cable series The Closer as Agent Fritz Howard, and he would stay with that show for the next few years. He continued to work on the big screen in projects such as The Stepfather, Rabbit Hole, and Green Lantern.

Trivia: Formed a band, the Feaver, with fellow actor Dylan Minnette, and their song "Bleeding Man" was featured in the second-season promo for the Hub series R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour. In a 2012 episode of Wedding Band, he played the leader of a boy band that caused problems for the titular group. Played a 16-year-old Ralphie in 2012's A Christmas Story 2, the sequel to the 1983 holiday hit. Performed in the band Triple Play with his brother and father. Appeared in commercials for PlayStation 3, Walmart, Honda and McDonald's.

Trivia: Television viewers first caught notice of Skyler Samuels when she became a junior correspondent for Access Hollywood at the age of 8. Background roles on shows like Drake & Josh and The Suite Life of Zach and Cody followed, and by the time the actress was 15, she was starring in the 2009 remake of The Stepfather. The next year, Samuels would change gears for the family comedy Furry Vengeance, before switching it up once more for a role in the scary TV series The Gates. Though The Gates ended its brief run after just one season, Samuels quickly bounced back as the lead in The Nine Lives of Chloe King -- an ABC Family action/adventure series following a high school girl with feline powers as she takes flight from a secret society intent on seeing her dead.

Trivia: When actor Jason Wiles graduated from high school in 1988, he was still unsure about what to do with his future. It wasn't until the film Mr. and Mrs. Bridge began filming in nearby Kansas City that Wiles became inspired to pursue a career in show business, soon moving to L.A., where he began his career working in commercials. He scored a few roles in minor films, but his big break came in 1995 when he was cast in the popular series Beverly Hills 90210 as Colin Robbins. He stayed with the show through part of the following season, and just a few years later he scored the actor's jackpot yet again with a starring role on the series Third Watch. He stayed with the show for its entire run, from 1999 to 2005, and then in 2007, he stepped behind the camera, producing, writing, and directing the drama Lenexa, 1 Mile.

Trivia: Montreal native Jessalyn Gilsig began her acting career at age 12 doing voice-over work, and went on to study acting at Harvard's American Repertory Theater. She appeared in several off-Broadway productions and landed bit parts in big movies, such as Jacknife with Robert De Niro and The Horse Whisperer with Robert Redford, but TV was where she found the most success. In the late 1990s, she appeared on Viper, Seven Days, and The Practice, where she met David E. Kelley. He then cast her as Paula Marshall's replacement on Snoops, but the show was cancelled before Gilsig's episodes aired. But that misfire led Kelley to create the role of social studies teacher Lauren Davis on Boston Public specifically for her. Later, Gilsig met another influential producer, Ryan Murphy, who cast her as sexaholic Gina Russo on Nip/Tuck, and later as conniving Terri Schuester on Glee. Her other notable TV appearances include recurring roles on NYPD Blue, Prison Break, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, and Vikings. When Gilsig isn't working, she enjoys painting; several of her artworks appeared in the 2003 indie film The Station Agent.