Trivia: For an actor almost universally associated with a single character -- Captain James Tiberius Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise -- William Shatner has found diverse ways to stay active in the public eye, even spoofing his overblown acting style in a way far more hip than desperate. Years after he last uttered "warp speed," Shatner remains a well-known face beyond Star Trek conventions, re-creating himself as the spoken-word pitchman for priceline.com, and starring in a popular series of smoky nightclub ads that featured some of the most cutting-edge musicians of the day.The Canadian native was born on March 22, 1931, in Montréal, where he grew up and attended Verdun High School. Shatner studied commerce at McGill University before getting the acting bug, which eventually prompted him to move to New York in 1956. He initially worked in such live television dramatic shows as Studio One and The United States Steel Hour in 1957 and 1958, as well as on Broadway. His big screen debut soon followed as Alexei in the 1958 version of Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.Throughout the 1960s, Shatner worked mostly in television. His most memorable appearance came in a 1963 episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," in which he plays a terrified airline passenger unable to convince the crew that there's a mysterious gremlin tearing apart the wing. He also appeared in such films as Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) and the bizarrely experimental Esperanto-language horror film Incubus (1963). In 1966, he got his big break, though neither he nor anyone else knew it at the time. Shatner was cast as the macho starship captain James Kirk on Star Trek, commanding a crew that included an acerbic doctor, a Scottish engineer, and a logician with pointy ears, on a mission "to boldly go where no man has gone before." However, the show lasted only three seasons, considered by many to be high camp. After providing a voice on the even shorter-lived animated series in 1973, Shatner must have thought Star Trek too would pass. A costly divorce and a lingering diva reputation from Star Trek left him with few prospects or allies, forcing him to take whatever work came his way. But in 1979, after a decade of B-movie labor in such films as The Kingdom of Spiders (1977) and a second failed series (Barbary Coast, 1975-1976), Shatner re-upped for another attempt to capitalize on the science fiction series with Star Trek: The Motion Picture. This time it caught on, though the first film was considered a costly disappointment. With dogged determination, the producers continued onward with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), at which point fans finally flocked to the series, rallying behind the film's crisp space battles and the melodramatic tête-à-tête between Shatner and Ricardo Montalban.Shatner had to wrestle with his advancing age and the deaths of several characters in Star Trek II and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), but by Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), the actor got to indulge in his more whimsical side, which has since characterized his career. As the series shifted toward comedy, Shatner led the way, even serving as director of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), which many considered among the series' weaker entries. During this period, Shatner also began parodying himself in earnest, appearing as host of Saturday Night Live in a famous sketch in which he tells a group of Trekkies to "Get a life." He also turned in a wickedly energetic mockery of a moon base captain in Airplane II: The Sequel (1982). Shatner made one final appearance with the regular Star Trek cast in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), then served as one of the crossovers to the new series of films in Star Trek: Generations (1994), in which endlessly theorizing fans finally learned the fate of Captain Kirk.The success of the Trek movies reenergized Shatner's TV career, even if it didn't immediately earn him more film roles. Shatner played the title role on the successful police drama T.J. Hooker from 1982 to 1987, directing some episodes, then began hosting the medical reality series Rescue 911 in 1989. Shatner returned to the movies with another parody, Loaded Weapon I, in 1993, and in 1994 began directing, executive producing, and acting in episodes of the syndicated TV show TekWar, based on the popular series of Trek-like novels he authored. In the later '90s, Shatner was best known for his humorously out-there priceline.com ads, but also guested on a variety of TV shows, most notably as the "Big Giant Head" on the lowbrow farce Third Rock From the Sun. He also appeared as game show hosts both in film (Miss Congeniality, 2000) and real life (50th Annual Miss America Pageant, 2001). In 1999, Shatner suffered public personal tragedy when his third wife, Nerine, accidentally drowned in their swimming pool. The champion horse breeder and tennis enthusiast owns a ranch in Kentucky and remains active in environmental causes. Shatner took on a small role for 2004's Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, and voiced the villainous wildebeest Kazar in Disney's animated adventure The Wild in 2006. Shatner returned to television for a starring role on the popular dramady Boston Legal, in which he plays Denny Crane, a once unbeatable lawyer who co-founded the successful law firm where he continues to work despite his reputation as an eccentric old man.

Trivia: In terms of public recognition, the unabashedly voluptuous, raven-haired American actress Delta Burke will ere be tied to her role as Suzanne Sugarbaker, one of the two main proprietors of the Sugarbakers interior design firm, on the blockbuster CBS sitcom Designing Women (a role she carried from 1986-1991). But those who have followed Burke's career diligently know that her experience extends to dozens of additional series roles and telemovies, making her a veritable queen of prime time. Burke claims an enduring off-camera impact on the American fashion world as well, and is a best-selling author.Born in Orlando, FL, on July 30, 1956, Burke never met her biological father; she was raised by her single mother, Jean, and an adoptive dad, Frederick Burke -- an Orlando-area realtor. With an irrepressible beauty and the graciousness and charm of a southern debutante, Burke began working her way up through the pageant circuit, ascending from the Orlando Fire Department's "Miss Flame" contest to that of Miss Florida to the 1974 Miss America pageant -- which she promptly lost by failing to even make the top ten (an event that Burke later regarded as an enormous blessing in disguise). While celebrating her 20th birthday alone at a St. Augustine, FL, motel, a stalker assaulted her.The cumulative impact of this turmoil drove Burke to England, where she put herself through the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (via her pageant winnings) and trained as an actress. When she finally returned to the United States, Burke soon secured an agent, and landed parts in now-forgotten telemovies during the late '70s and very early '80s. The turns began inconspicuously, with a bit role in the Suzanne Somers made-for-TV movie Zuma Beach, but in 1979, Burke shot up to instant first billing, heavily typecast as a Scarlett O'Hara-like "Southern belle" in the made-for-television feature Charleston. Unfortunately, the picture aired to devastating reviews and disappointing ratings.Near the end of her three-season run as the star of the long-running HBO sitcom 1st & Ten from 1984-1987 (a Wildcats-like comedy with Burke as Diane Barrow, the owner of an NFL football team), Burke signed with producers Harry Thomason and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason for the Sugarbaker role. Designing Women cast Burke, Dixie Carter, Jean Smart, and Annie Potts as the aforementioned Atlanta-area interior designers with a distinctly Southern flair. After debuting on September 29, 1986, the program bowed to sensational critical reviews and viewer raves. After flirting with ratings doom, the network ultimately gave the show a permanent slot in its Monday-evening schedule -- one that lasted until late May 1993.Burke's weight fluctuation generated an enormous amount of tabloid fodder, and created friction between her and the Thomasons, which ultimately led to Burke's termination at the end of the 1991 season. Not one to be daunted, the actress attempted to rebound with a 1992 ABC sitcom, Delta, that cast her as a country singer striving for elusive stardom. Yet this program (developed and produced through Burke's production company) failed to connect with a sizeable audience, and folded within one year.After a few starring roles in telemovies Burke landed a tremendous amount of off-camera success by manufacturing and marketing a line of plus-size clothes through her own clothing firm, Delta Burke Designs. Burke also authored and published a best-selling autobiography, Delta Style, in 1998. In the new millenium, the TV queen began to appear in her first big-screen features. She appeared in the Mel Gibson romantic comedy-fantasy What Women Want and voiced a pooch in the 2003 family comedy Good Boy!. The comedic melodrama Sordid Lives found her appearing in a long-running indie success. In 2006, she also returned to series television, in a temporary role as Bella Horowitz, on David E. Kelley's comedy drama Boston Legal. In 2008 she had a major role in the made-for-cable romantic comedy Bridal Fever.Off-camera, Burke famously married to Simon & Simon and Major Dad star (and fellow Southerner) Gerald McRaney in 1989.

Trivia: A scion of one of the most powerful television families in Hollywood and a repeatedly maligned starlet, Tori Spelling spent years in television purgatory before finally getting respect for her acting in films such as The House of Yes and Trick. Weathering assorted rumors and attacks on her acting and appearance, Spelling has proven that, while nepotism may provide a convenient entrance into Hollywood, endurance and a sense of humor are necessities for long-term survival.Born Victoria Davey Spelling on May 16, 1973, Spelling made her Hollywood debut in 1989, first with a small role in (appropriately enough) Troop Beverly Hills and then on the TV sitcom Saved by the Bell. In 1990, Spelling was cast in the role that would make her famous, that of Donna on Beverly Hills 90210. With fame came the widespread speculation the Spelling was hired because of her father's position as producer of the show, although Aaron Spelling claimed this was not the case. Whether truth or fiction, the allegations kicked off a series of unfavorable comments made about Spelling over the next few years, comments that were hardly made better by the dubious television programs in which she was repeatedly cast.1997 marked a change in direction for Spelling's career. With 90210 in decline, she started acting in films, appearing in the small but well-respected The House of Yes and in Scream 2, in which she poked fun at her image with her appearance as herself. A further sign that she was gaining positive attention was her casting in Trick (1999), a critically acclaimed film that took a lighthearted and unconventional look at gay love and lust in the 1990s. With Sundance credibility firmly in hand, Spelling finally appeared ready to move forward and leave her image as a 90210 casualty behind her. Unfortunately that was easier said than done, and after failing to find her footing in film and television in the early 2000s, Spelling reprised her most famous role not once but twice -- first in Seth MacFarlane's straight-to-video feature Family Guy Presents Stewis Griffin: The Untold Story, and later in the flesh when 90210 was resurrected in 2008. Her greatest success outside of that famous zipcode, however, would come when she and husband Dean McDermott became the subjects of their own reality television show in 2007. Cleverly titled Tori and Dean: Inn Love, the series followed the photogenic couple as they became the owners and operators of their very own California bed and breakfast while starting a family as the entire world looked on.