Trivia: While at Cambridge, appeared in a comedy troupe called Footlights Revue. Trained at London's Central School for Speech and Drama. When he played Shane Donovan on the soap Days of Our Lives from 1984 to 1992, pictures that were on the mantel in his TV home were actually old Shaughnessy family photos. (The actor reprised his role for a multiple-episode stint in May 2010.) Has been a contestant on Celebrity Jeopardy, as well as the game shows Super Password, The New Hollywood Squares, Win Lose or Draw, To Tell the Truth and Hollywood Squares. Became the fifth Baron Shaughnessy of Montreal and Ashford in 2007. Has been active in AIDS and antiwar organizations.

Trivia: It was only a matter of time before burgeoning teen star Nicholle Tom joined the family business. Her older sister, Heather Tom, won a Daytime Emmy for her portrayal of Victoria Newman on the soap The Young and the Restless and her twin brother, David Tom, has had roles in Pleasantville and Swing Kids.Tom grew up in Seattle and Los Angeles, but was born in Hinsdale, IL, on March 23, 1978. She and her brother did print ads and commercials in Chicago before the family headed out west. Soon after they moved to L.A., Tom began winning high-profile parts in films (Beethoven) and television shows (Beverly Hills 90210, The Nanny). She basically grew up on The Nanny and has embarked on a somewhat successful film and TV-movie career since the show ended in 1999. She starred with Olympic champ Tara Lipinski in the made-for-TV movie Ice Angel and has turned in supporting roles in Panic and The Princess Diaries.

Trivia: With long, shapely legs, a svelte, curvaceous body to die for, and thick black hair cascading around her lovely face, Fran Drescher has all the looks of a sophisticated movie star. And then she opens her mouth. Out comes a crow-like cacophony of nasal sounds made more grating by a thick Queens accent and a tendency to pull no punches. The paradox between the book and its cover is what has made Drescher a rich and popular comedienne; her long-running sitcom The Nanny, with its combination of romantic and slapstick comedy, led many to hail her as Lucille Ball's successor. Though she capitalizes on playing a rather ditzy working-class gal from Flushing, Drescher is known for her creativity and shrewdness. In addition to acting, she is a talented writer and producer.Much of Drescher's comedy, especially that from her sitcom, is drawn from her life experiences. Like her character, Fran Fine, she was born and raised in Queens. She has had a lifelong interest in acting and studied drama in high school. She attended a year at Queens College and then attended cosmetology school to become a hairdresser. For a time, she had her own business. She made her film debut playing Connie in Saturday Night Fever (1977). Her next film, American Hot Wax (1978), provided Drescher with her first major role and though she would continue on to play supporting parts in numerous other films, it was not until she played a small but memorable part in Rob Reiner's hilarious mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap (1984) that she began making a name for herself. In addition to her film roles, she was also busy on television, guest starring in series and appearing in television films like Terror in the Towers. She played starring roles in three short-lived series, including Princesses. She and her husband Peter Marc Jacobson created The Nanny and it aired on CBS from 1993 to 1999. She not only starred in the show, but also wrote and produced it; Drescher received Emmy nominations for her work on the show. In 1996, she co-starred with Robin Williams in the Disney comedy Jack, while in 1997, she and Jacobson co-created the idea for the romantic comedy The Beautician and the Beast, in which she also starred. Drescher published her autobiography, Enter Whining, in 1996.Drescher once again drew from her life experiences in the 2002 memoir Cancer Schmancer, which chronicled the actress's battle with uterine cancer, and formed the Cancer Schmancer Movement in 2007. The nonprofit is dedicated to educating women about cancer prevention and the importance of early detection (Drescher's cancer was initially misdiagnosed). In 2011, Drescher appeared on Oprah Winfrey to discuss her relationship with her then ex-husband Peter Mark Jacobson after he came out as gay after the end of their 21-year marriage. The television series Happily Divorced (2011-2013) is based on her experience with Jacobson.

Trivia: Fans of 1990s prime-time sitcoms will invariably remember actress Madeline Zima as the sugar-sweet, angelic Grace, six-year-old daughter of British theatrical producer Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy), on the Fran Drescher series comedy The Nanny. In fact, when Zima landed that part, she had already tackled child roles in features as diverse as The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992) and Mr. Nanny (1993). The Drescher series, of course, represented Zima's breakthrough, and by the late '90s, the young actress (who remained with the sitcom cast for all six seasons, until it wrapped in 1999) had blossomed into a starkly beautiful teenager. She branched out into more adult-oriented material with an uncanny portrayal of the young Lucille Ball in the telemovie Lucy (2003), then returned to series programs with a regular role on the quirky David Duchovny-headlined Showtime comedy drama Californication (2007). She went on to appear in The Collector, The Family Tree, Crazy Eyes, and Lake Effects.

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.