Trivia: After limited stage experience, 19-year-old Kathleen Quinlan made her film debut in American Graffiti. The first stage of her movie career peaked with the starring role as a schizophrenic in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977). She then spent most of the 1980s in secondary roles. Kathleen Quinlan reentered the consciousness of the American filmgoing public with her Oscar-nominated performance as Mrs. James Lovell in Apollo 13 (1995), directed by her American Graffiti co-star Ron Howard. Over the coming decades, Quinlan would prove she'd cemented herself as a bankable force on screen, appearing in such films as A Civil Action, Breach, Poundcake, and Made of Honor. She would also star on the series Family Law and Prison Break.

Trivia: An earthy brunette whose small-town beauty made her ideal for roles in such features as Doc Hollywood (1991) and Indian Summer (1993), actress Julie Warner has moved from memorable television appearances in Star Trek: The Next Generation and 21 Jump Street to headlining roles in such films as Wedding Bell Blues and White Lies (both 1996); and though her feature career appears to be gaining considerable steam, Warner's star still shines bright on such popular television series as Family Law and Baseball Wives. Julie Warner was born in New York City in 1965; her father was a musical arranger who penned jingles for such products as Tic-Tacs, and her mother a freelance booking agent. Attending the prestigious Dalton School at age 12, it was there that Warner would form a longtime friendship with fellow actress Mary Stuart Masterson. Though Warner may not have gotten the role in Pretty Baby that her manager had encouraged her to read for, Warner would make a lasting impression a few years later when she was cast in the enduring soap opera Guiding Light. After graduating from Brown University with a theater arts degree in 1987, Warner would essay numerous television roles before moving into feature films with such efforts as Flatliners (1990) and Doc Hollywood (1991). Warner's burgeoning talent and natural beauty found her slowly climbing the credits in the mid-'90s, and with roles in such efforts as The Puppet Masters she was gaining positive critical attention as well. Alternating between film and television on the cusp of the new millennium, Warner had yet to find her true breakout role, though a part in the series Baseball Wives ensured she would remain a familiar face to television viewers in the meantime.

Trivia: The epitomical "Southern belle," radiant with finesse, grace, and an aura of down-home hospitality, Tennessee-born actress and chanteuse Dixie Carter received her broadest exposure on television thanks to two memorable sitcom roles: that of TV exercise hostess Maggie McKinney, spunky romantic partner and wife of millionaire Philip Drummond (Conrad Bain), on Diff'rent Strokes, and that of Julia Sugarbaker, Atlanta fashion designer extraordinaire, on the long-running Thomason-produced sitcom Designing Women.Carter was born in McLemoresville, TN, the daughter of two grocery-store proprietors. As a young lady, she projected a heightened gift for song. She studied music at Rhodes College in Memphis, then moved to Manhattan in 1963 to launch herself as a musical-theater star, but her career stalled for seven years given her 1967 marriage to Wall Street financier Arthur Carter (no blood relation to her; the common surname was a coincidence). Carter returned to the stage in 1974, with pivotal roles in such productions as Fathers and Sons and Pal Joey, and landed the part of Brandy Henderson in the soap opera The Edge of Night. In 1979, the actress moved to Los Angeles to commence film work. In the mean time, the marriage to Carter, and then a subsequent marriage, to Broadway star George Hearn, dissolved.By the late '70s and early '80s, Carter started racking up occasional bit parts and guest appearances in such series as Lou Grant, Out of the Blue, and Quincy, M.E. The Diff'rent Strokes part (which lasted only one season -- Carter withdrew from the series and was replaced at the start of the 1985-1986 season by cover girl and one-time Miss America Mary Ann Mobley) represented her highest billing up through that time. Then came the Sugarbaker role. Carter was one of the few members of the ensemble (alongside Annie Potts and Meshach Taylor) to actually remain with the program through the end of its run (in 1993), and fans continued to indelibly associate her with the series even after it wrapped. In the mean time, Carter's third husband, actor Hal Holbrook (who signed for a supporting role alongside his wife on Designing Women), encouraged her to resuscitate her singing career, and she mounted a well-received cabaret act, modeling her approach to old standards after the esteemed Mabel Mercer.Carter's resumé of onscreen work also included appearances in such long-form projects as the feature The Killing of Randy Webster (1981) and the miniseries Dazzle (1995). She gained additional acclaim and recognition with her portrayal of Gloria Hodge on the prime-time black comedy series Desperate Housewives. Carter died of endometrial cancer at age 70 in April 2010.

Trivia: Hollywood character actor Christopher McDonald at first specialized in playing uptight and slightly vexing young urban professionals. When the material demanded it, McDonald occasionally heightened these qualities to the obnoxious level for persuasive villainous portrayals, appearing as philandering husbands, condescending jocks, and manipulative powermongers to tremendous effect.The Manhattan native grew up in Romulus, NY. A Renaissance man and overachiever in high school, McDonald studied dentistry at Hobart College in the upstate New York town of Geneva but soon discovered an enduring passion for drama, studying after his 1977 graduation at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. When plum adolescent roles in the musical clunkers Grease 2 (1982) and Breakin' (1984) did little to further McDonald's career, he moved to Manhattan and sought tutelage from the legendary acting coach Stella Adler -- with such aggressive determination that he actually convinced the 83-year-old Adler to offer her services in exchange for domestic chores.The actor landed one of his most visible parts circa 1986, in the Bette Midler-Shelley Long female buddy comedy Outrageous Fortune (1987). He also essayed a memorable nice-guy turn opposite Cybill Shepherd and Ryan O'Neal in the first act of the wonderful reincarnation comedy Chances Are (1989). But McDonald's watershed moment came with his portrayal of Geena Davis' browbeating husband, Darryl Dickinson, in Ridley Scott's blockbuster feminist road movie Thelma & Louise (1991). Thanks to the success of that picture, McDonald's screen time escalated, and he began tackling an average of four to six roles per year. He ushered in an outstanding portrayal of Jack Barry, the natty host of Twenty-One, in the Robert Redford-directed Quiz Show (1994); played an abusive golf pro in the Adam Sandler comedy Happy Gilmore (1996); and was suitably annoying as an ignorant dad in John Duigan's suburban drama Lawn Dogs (1997). That same year, McDonald also portrayed Ward Cleaver in the big-screen version of Leave It to Beaver.McDonald resumé during the first several years of the millennium includes such Hollywood blockbusters as 61* (2001) and Spy Kids 2 (2002) and such arthouse hits as Requiem for a Dream (2000) and Broken Flowers (2005). In 2007, McDonald played Boss Hogg in the big-budget sequel The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning and Marty Schumacher in the Jamie Kennedy vehicle Kickin' It Old Skool. Four years later he essayed a recurring role on the hit HBO drama Boardwalk Empire.

Trivia: A graduate of the University of Dubuque, Tony Danza was busy with a profitable if not spectacular career as a boxer when he began tentatively moving into acting. His first important TV role was, appropriately, as erstwhile boxer Tony Banta on the popular sitcom Taxi. During his Taxi years, Danza built up the screen image of the pugnacious, not overly bright lug with a golden heart. In 1984, Danza was cast as Tony Micelli, the widowed housekeeper of divorced career woman Angela Bower (Judith Light), on the weekly domestic comedy Who's the Boss? enjoying a popular eight-season run. Danza's first starring film role in She's Out of Control (1988), as the overprotective father of teenager Ami Dolenz, was more or less an extension of his TV work; the actor demonstrated a wider range in the supporting role of a dying baseball player in the 1994 remake of Angels in the Outfield. He executive produced The Jerky Boys movie, and continued to appear in projects such as the remake of 12 Angry Men, Glam, and The Garbage-Picking, Field Goal-Killing, Philadelphia Phenome. At the start of the next century he made a handful of appearances as himself on animated shows like Family Guy and King of the Hill, and he appeared in the made-for-TV holiday film Stealing Christmas.

Trivia: Began her acting career in the theater before transitioning to roles in television and film. Provided the voice for Elisa Maza in the animated Gargoyles series. Played Bill Cosby's daughter in the film I Spy Returns. Her husband, Dondre Whitfield, has also worked with Cosby, guest starring on The Cosby Show as daughter Vanessa's boyfriend Robert. Became pregnant with her second child during the filming of Season 3 of Eureka. Producers wrote her pregnancy into the script.

Trivia: A former Mexican television actor who went on to make a name for himself in U.S. film and television, Cristián de la Fuente served in the Chilean Air Force Reserve before he starting acted professionally; his military background may not have pointed to a cinematic career early on, but his speedy ascent to fame hinted at great things to come for the actor. Born to a chemist father and homemaker mother in Santiago, Chile, de la Fuente opted early on to study engineering while attending college in his native country. An only child, the licensed pilot was discovered by a talent scout and then made appearances in Chilean soap operas and variety shows before relocating to Mexico for a leading role in the popular television series Reyes y Rey (1998). Following a stateside television appearance in Family Law, the handsome Latino would subsequently turn up in the Sylvester Stallone racing drama Driven (2001). Claiming to be equally happy whether acting on stage, screen, or film, de la Fuente describes his acting method as loaning his body to the characters rather than portraying them, and he often becomes so entangled with his characters that he finds it difficult to wind down at the end of the day. Following his work with childhood idol Stallone, de la Fuente next took a role alongside another favorite from his youth, singer-turned-actor Jon Bon Jovi. As a man of the cloth dedicated to ridding the world of blood-sucking immortals, de la Fuente teamed with Bon Jovi to battle the legions of the undead in the vast deserts of Mexico in Vampires: Los Muertos (2002). Though that film ultimately proved to be a bit of a disappointment, de la Fuente's subsequent role in director John McTiernan's Basic (2003) seemed to ensure a healthy career for the promising young actor. The actor co-starred in the short lived television series In Plain Sight in 2008, and competed in the 6th season of Dancing with the Stars the same year.

Trivia: Attended Catholic school. Describes herself as a tomboy as a child. Enrolled in the International School of Mimodrame of Paris, Marcel Marceau, at age 26. Made her professional debut in Blinded by the Sun at London's National Theatre. Posed as a model in a DIY painting guide, and that work served as artist Jack Vettriano's muse for the lady in red in his painting "The Singing Butler." Got married in Africa in 2002, in a ceremony overlooking Mount Kilimanjaro. Rejected a diet company's offer to be their spokesperson because she doesn't like society's fascination with physical image.

Trivia: Worked for several years United Cerebral Palsy, an organization founded by grandmother, Nina Eaton. Began acting career at age 25 after studying clinical psychology at the master's level. Despite never having auditioned before, won a role for the comedy film Unconditional Love; beating out over five hundred other auditioners. Became the first female dwarf to be cast as a recurring character in an American prime-time television series. A strong advocate of animal rights, and frequently attends functions and fundraisers like the 2008 benefit supporting California's Prop 2, which created new standards for the confinement of farm animals.