Trivia: A ruggedly handsome Canadian actor whose somewhat imposing frame makes him ideal for authority figures, Michael Ontkean has been appearing in film and television since the early '70s. Though having actors for parents may not necessarily be a surefire sign that one will enter into the entertainment industry, the support and encouragement afforded to young Ontkean was key in building early confidence and skill. Ontkean was a mere four years old when he made his stage debut in his father's repertory company, and in addition to taking the stage at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, he became a popular child star thanks to television roles in such series as Hudson's Bay. Aside from his ambitions as an actor, Ontkean also showed athletic prowess as a hockey player -- he won a scholarship to the University of New Hampshire and played on their team for three seasons. Little did he know that his skills on the ice would eventually come into play in front of the camera as well. His popularity eventually reached beyond the Canadian border when Ontkean gained stateside notice as a key player in the 1972 series The Rookies. Soon thereafter, Ontkean's featured role in the hockey comedy Slap Shot impressed audiences by showing that the up-and-comer could hold his own alongside such heavies as Paul Newman. Through the 1980s, Ontkean's career maintained an even keel with such moderately successful features as Just the Way You Are (1984) and Maid to Order (1987). In 1990 he returned to television to great effect with his role as Sheriff Harry S. Truman in David Lynch's acclaimed series Twin Peaks. The show provided Ontkean's career with something of a revival, and after he appeared in a minor capacity in Postcards From the Edge (1990), a series of television roles kept the versatile actor busy throughout the decade. Ontkean became somewhat lost in the shuffle in the late '90s, but his performance in the child-friendly made-for-television feature Mrs. Ashboro's Cat (2003) proved that the screen veteran still had what it took to charm on the small screen.

Trivia: American actress Sheryl Lee has come a long way since her screen debut as the enigmatic, beautiful corpse of Laura Palmer, a murdered homecoming queen in David Lynch's surreal TV soap Twin Peaks (1990-1992). Later in the series, Lee got to play Laura's twin cousin, Madeleine Ferguson, until she too was slain. Though playing a dead girl may not have been the most ideal role, it earned Lee considerable fame, though she claims passerby recognizing her on the street would "look startled and look at me as if I were a ghost." She made her feature-film debut playing a supporting role in Lawrence Kasden's I Love You to Death (1990) and then played Glinda the Good Witch in Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990). Lee got to play an alive Laura Palmer in Lynch's panned feature-film prequel to his series, Twin Peaks: Firewalk With Me (1992). She has gone on to play the swinging German photographer who caused the "fifth Beatle" to leave the group in Back Beat (1994) and as Helga Noth in the screen adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night (1996). Though she has appeared in these and other relatively mainstream films, Lee is perhaps best known for appearing in American independent features such as Fall Time (1995) and Notes From the Underground (1996). In addition to her filmwork, Lee also performs in television movies and on-stage. One of her more famous stage roles was that of the title role in the New York production of Salome in which she starred opposite Al Pacino. As her career progresses, Lee has gained a reputation for appearing nude on stage, screen, and television. Though she claims she hates it, the nudity she displays is never exploitative, rather she imbues it with an ethereal quality that defies tawdriness. In 1997, she appeared in the sexually frank drama Bliss as a frustrated wife who visits a tantric sex therapist to learn how to find fulfillment with her spouse.

Trivia: Actor Richard Beymer has been working steadily on television and in feature films for over four decades. Born in Avoca, IA, Beymer first went before cameras on a Los Angeles children's show at the age of 12, and two years later made his feature-film debut in Vittorio De Sica's Stazione Termini (Indiscretion of an American Wife) (1953). After appearing in several more films during the '50s, with only two major performances in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and West Side Story (1961), Beymer had a significant role in The Longest Day (1962), sharing the film's unforgettable last scene with Richard Burton. Beymer enrolled in New York's Actor's Studio in 1963, but subsequently became an active participant in the struggle to allow African-Americans to register for the vote in Mississippi; during his time down South, he also helped to make a prize-winning documentary of the event. In 1974, Beymer directed his first feature film, The Innerview, an avant-garde effort he distributed to various international film festivals. During the '80s, Beymer became a supporting actor and is best remembered for his regular role as Benjamin Horne on David Lynch's television series Twin Peaks.