Trivia: After spending the 1990s as a TV teen star, Melissa Joan Hart set her sights on feature films. Born and raised on Long Island, Hart began acting in TV commercials as a child. She further honed her skills in New York theater in the late '80s as the youngest member of the Circle Repertory Lab Company. Hart then broke through as a cable TV favorite (and a CableACE Award nominee) in the role of the precocious titular preteen on the Nickelodeon series Clarissa Explains It All (1991-1994). After the series ended, Hart moved to network TV stardom in 1996 as the supernaturally gifted title teen on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. Maintaining her pert primetime persona while revealing her range, Hart also starred in several TV movies, including Family Reunion: A Relative Nightmare (1995), Twisted Desire (1996), The Right Connections (1997), and the college date rape drama Silencing Mary (1998). Though Hart continued to produce and star in Sabrina, she also attempted to parlay her TV fame into movie stardom with the romantic comedy Drive Me Crazy (1999). The film, however, failed to perform as well as the Britney Spears tune that gave it its title. Hart raised eyebrows that same year when she tried to shed her squeaky-clean adolescent image with a racy photo spread and interview in men's magazine Maxim. Neither gambit affected Sabrina, although Hart and the series moved from the family-oriented ABC lineup to the youth-savvy WB in 2000. She lent her vocal talents to the Batman Beyond series, and continued to work steadily in made-for-TV fare like Rent Control, Holiday in Handcuffs, and My Fake Fiance. In 2010 she teamed up with fellow former child star Joey Lawrence for TV series Melissa & Joey that ran on the ABC Family channel.

Trivia: Born in Montreal, Quebec, Caroline Rhea launched herself on the path to stardom in 1986, when the then-22-year-old moved to Manhattan and enrolled in the New School for Social Research's standup comedy program. On the side, Rhea cut her chops by practicing at the standup club Catch a Rising Star, and the success of those engagements yielded additional bookings, not simply at Big Apple venues, but on such national television programs as Comic Strip Live and Caroline's Comedy Hour. Rhea segued into scripted television programs and features around 1996, with roles on such sitcoms as Sabrina the Teenage Witch and The Drew Carey Show, before hitting a watershed moment in her career: the launch of her own eponymous series, the talk program The Caroline Rhea Show (which followed her guest-hosting of The Rosie O'Donnell Show). Unfortunately, Rhea's talk show folded less than a year after its 2002 premiere, but Rhea continued to build her own reputation, with popular standup bookings across the U.S. and Canada, appearances on talk programs such as Live with Regis and Kelly, and small roles in movies. She played Candi in the disastrous Tim Allen holiday comedy Christmas With the Kranks (2004) and Gloria in the Mark Rosman-directed teen movie The Perfect Man (2005), and hosted the popular series The Biggest Loser, a reality series in which contestants compete to determine who can lose the most weight. In 2006, Rhea also hosted the made-for-cable standup special Caroline Rhea: Rhea's Anatomy, which found her offering witty divertissements on such subjects as post-40 pregnancy and age-disparity romances.

Trivia: Grew up in Huntington Beach, California.Moved to New York after graduating from American Academy of Dramatic Arts to start her professional acting career.Is also an accomplished writer, having co-written A Cup of Joe, Wonderland and Literatti with her writing partner Dennis Bailey.Is a founding member of the Celebrity Action Council of the City Light Women's Rehabilitation Program at the Los Angeles Mission.Is the founding director of Momentum, which was one of the first organizations in New York created to assist people with AIDS.

Trivia: A driving creative force behind such critically praised, but short-lived, television series as Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, writer/producer/director/actor Paul Feig has worn many hats throughout his enduring showbiz career. From teenage standup to high-profile Hollywood player, his unique perspective always seems to offer something fresh and innovative. A native of Mt. Clemens, MI, whose interest in theater prompted him to join the drama club and play an active role in forensics, Feig got his first taste of show business as the writer and director of a trio of television commercials for his father's hardware store. It was around the age of 15 that the aspiring comic began performing at local comedy clubs (accompanied by his parents, of course) and landing roles in community theater, and following his freshman year in college, Feig set his sights on a career in the entertainment industry. Realizing that he wasn't about to break into the movie business in Michigan, Feig began phoning every major Hollywood studio in hopes of finding work as an actor. Though that particular endeavor may not have landed him a lead in the latest Hollywood blockbuster, Universal Studios did mention that they were looking for tour guides -- and Feig was soon gassing up for the cross-country road trip that would bridge his past to his future. It didn't take long for Feig to land the job as a tour guide, and after becoming enamored with the film industry when he attended the world premiere of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the aspiring filmmaker was accepted into U.S.C. Film School. As his tenure at U.S.C. wound to a close, Feig opted to fill his internship credit by working as a script reader for Michael Phillips. The internship eventually evolved into a full-time job, and Feig's co-workers were constantly impressed with the aspiring writer's tireless drive to succeed -- though Feig was secretly itching to get back into standup comedy. A chance win on the $25,000 Pyramid provided Feig with the money needed to hit the road with his standup act, and in order to keep himself occupied on the road, the struggling standup worked to hone his screenwriting skills. When the acting bug finally lured Feig back to the West Coast, the struggling comic became a struggling actor with roles in such features as Three O' Clock High and Ski Patrol, and on the small screen in It's Garry Shandling's Show and the short-lived Dirty Dancing. More substantial roles in Heavyweights and That Thing You Do! were quick to follow, and after scraping together 30,000 dollars to film his feature debut, Feig stepped behind the camera to direct his script for Life Sold Separately. A low-key comedy drama concerning four strangers attempting to escape their day-to-day lives, Life Sold Separately went largely unseen despite landing mostly favorable reviews. In 1999, Feig served as writer and producer for the critically acclaimed, but ill-fated, television series Freaks and Geeks, a refreshing look at high-school life from the unique perspectives of the eponymous cliques. Two years later, Feig stepped behind the camera to direct episodes of the popular Freaks and Geeks follow-up series Undeclared, a unique and honest look at college life which suffered an eerily similar fate to its high-school counterpart. In 2003, Feig made an interesting departure from his generally humorous, Midwestern-flavored brand of comedy to direct I Am David, an adaptation of author Anne Holm's acclaimed novel North to Freedom. A touching tale of a young boy who escapes a concentration camp in a desperate attempt to deliver an important letter to Denmark, I Am David revealed a side of the director that audiences had rarely seen. Feig would continue to direct for the small screen, finding particular success with shows like Arrested Development, The Office, and Nurse Jackie. The filmmaker would continue to helm big screen efforts as well, most memorably with the 2012 comedy Bridesmaids.

Trivia: Martin Mull intended to become a painter when he enrolled in the Rhode Island School of Design, but his Scaramouche-like sense of the ridiculous led to a career as a nightclub comedian. The deceptively conservative-looking Mull is widely recognized as one of the most accomplished satirists in show business. Even before he gained TV fame, Mull's barbed comedy albums had earned him a following on the college campus circuit. His first major TV assignment was Mary Hartman Mary Hartman (1976-77), where he was seen as Garth Gimble, an ill-tempered wife beater who ended up being impaled by a Christmas tree. When Mary Hartman Mary Hartman producer Norman Lear developed the spin-off series Fernwood Tonight in 1977, Mull was brought back as glad-handing emcee Barth Gimble, Garth's twin brother. In films since 1978, Mull is often called upon to portray an underhanded or vacillating CEO (vide Mister Mom). His well-groomed mustache and tweedy appearance served him well as Colonel Mustard in the 1985 movie version of the venerable board game Clue. Back on television, Mull has etched such indelible comic characterizations as Leon Carp, Roseanne Connor's gay boss, on Roseanne (1988- ), and the leading roles of Martin Crane in Domestic Life (1984) and Dr. Doug Lambert in His & Hers (1990). In collaboration with Allan Rucker, Martin Mull was the creator/writer of a devastating series of lampoonish "cultural studies" books and TV specials, under the blanket title The History of White People in America.

Trivia: The saga of irascible and gravel-voiced actor Danny Bonaduce is archetypal and defiantly American: the child actor who scores early in his youth, bottoms out on multiple levels, and rebounds as a middle-aged man, in a slightly different celebrity role. But rarely has the tale unfolded with such color or verve.Before he reached the age of 12 (a time when most pre-adolescents are attempting to survive the rigors of elementary school), the diminutive, redheaded Bonaduce rocketed to national fame as the mischievous ten-year-old Danny Partridge on the blockbuster ABC sitcom The Partridge Family, alongside young co-stars David Cassidy and Susan Dey. His fame and success were somewhat limited, however. Though Bonaduce culled an estimated 350,000 dollars from the series, the program folded in the late summer of 1974, and the actor reportedly squandered most of his earnings not long after. Years of inactivity followed, save guest appearances on such celebrity-studded series as Fantasy Island and The Love Boat, and contributions to exploitationers such as Murder on Flight 502 (1975) and H.O.T.S (1979). The actor soon found himself battling poverty and drug addiction; a drug bust and mandatory counseling for narcotics possession followed in 1985. Bonaduce's personal life hit the skids as well; he lived with his mother well into adulthood, then married a Japanese woman, Setsuko Hattori, to help her obtain a green card, and separated from her six months later. Another drug bust ensued in 1990.Professionally, Bonaduce first caught his second wind in the late '80s, when radio personality Jonathon Brandmeier learned of his plight and staged a mock food drive to raise support for the actor. The gimmick worked; Bonaduce soon received invitations to do guest spots on numerous radio programs (including that of Howard Stern) and devised the idea of hosting an on-air slot himself. In December 1988, WEGX FM, a radio station out of Philadelphia, hired him as its late-night DJ on a call-in talk program. In time, Bonaduce moved to the midday slot on Chicago's WLUP-FM, a "personality talk" station.Bonaduce scored high ratings consistently (especially with listeners who recalled him from Family) and continued throughout the 1990s. His return to filmed entertainment began choppily and unpromisingly, with the ugly and sleazy, shoestring-budget exploitationer America's Deadliest Home Video (1992), but he soon opted for another direction -- parlaying his radio-hosting experience into a filmed, syndicated daytime talk show. Danny! premiered in 1995 and unabashedly explored the same lurid subjects as Sally Jessy Raphael and Montel Williams, but Bonaduce reeled in some critical kudos for his work. Time Magazine's Ken Tucker observed, "Danny Bonaduce is a very likable entry in a very unlikable genre. What's refreshing about the gravelly voiced redhead is that he's never pious, and he implicates his audience in the sleaze he teases." When the program folded within a few months, Bonaduce continued his radio gigs at stations in New York and (later) Los Angeles. The actor then launched yet another televised talk show, The Other Half, in 2001; a male-driven flip side to The View that he co-hosted with Dick Clark, Saved by the Bell alumnus Mario Lopez, and others, the show lasted for two years.Not long after, Bonaduce emerged yet again, as a reality TV star. Breaking Bonaduce premiered on VH1 on September 11, 2005, and pushed reality television far beyond the limits of questionable taste and ethics. The program featured calamitous episodes from the actor's home life with his second wife, Gretchen, and their two children. Low points included Bonaduce confessing his extramarital infidelity; consuming alcohol, pain killers, and steroids; verbally abusing everyone in sight; and attempting suicide by slashing his wrists (off-camera). Troubled by the actor's behavior, the producers ultimately threatened to cancel the series unless the star entered rehab; Bonaduce complied. His full rehabilitation treatment was then featured on the series. Bonaduce would continue to appear on screen, with small roles on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and reality appearances on Re-Inventing Bonaduce and The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest.