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: 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: 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.

Trivia: A veteran of the pageant circuit, actress Nicki Lynn Aycox was quite accustomed to performing when she started her on-screen acting career in the mid-'90s. Starting with a series of single-episode guest appearances, Aycox built up her résumé on shows like 3rd Rock from the Sun, Boy Meets World, and L.A. Heat. She also found success with appearances in movies like Jeepers Creepers 2 and The X-Files: I Want to Believe. The later 2000s would find Aycox primarily returning to television, appearing on shows like Supernatural, Las Vegas, and in the TNT original series Dark Blue.

Trivia: Before underappreciated character actor Steve Railsback became a fixture in the direct-to-video market, he studied with Lee Strasberg and spent a decade acting on the N.Y.C. theater circuit. His made his film debut in Elia Kazan's 1972 crime thriller The Visitors, and followed that up with a role in the 1974 action drama Cockfighter. His first major film role was as the cult leader Charles Manson in the 1976 CBS movie Helter Skelter, based on the book by Vincent Bugliosi. He starred opposite Sophia Loren in the barely released Canadian film Angela and opposite Kim Basinger in the six-hour romantic miniseries From Here to Eternity. His last mainstream starring role was in the 1980 offbeat action movie The Stunt Man, as a fugitive who stumbles onto the set of a fictional movie directed by Peter O'Toole and starring Barbara Hershey. The movie developed a bit of a cult following, and as a result Railsback developed a small but appreciative audience.Throughout the remainder of the '80s, Railsback thrived as a leading man in the special area of low-budget B-movies seen mostly on cable or home video. Some schlocky favorites include the British sci-fi horror flick Lifeforce and the Australian action movie Escape 2000. A few exceptions to his action-filled resumé are the family drama The Golden Seal and the period comedy Calender Girl. In the '90s he tried producing and screenwriting while also playing recurring psychopath Duane Barry on FOX's The X-Files. He made his directorial debut in 1994 with The Spy Within, an erotic thriller starring Scott Glenn and Theresa Russell. In 1997 he joined the cast of the FOX sci-fi drama series The Visitor for a season. In 2000 he returned to playing sicko psychopaths as the title character in the creepy biopic Ed Gein. In addition to portraying the farmer-turned-serial killer, he also served as executive producer. He stayed with the horror genre for his next appearance in the South African movie Slash (2002).