Trivia: Born in Hawaii, actress Lauren Graham spent her childhood traveling with her single father. After earning her Bachelor's degree in English from Barnard College in New York City, she got her Master's in Acting from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She then moved to California, where she began her professional acting career with appearances on Caroline in the City, Law & Order, and NewsRadio.Graham's big break came in 2000 with the lead role on the WB family drama Gilmore Girls. As Lorelai Gilmore, the 32-year-old single mother of a teenager (Alexis Bledel), Graham earned several awards and nominations on the massively popular series. While the show itself earned critical acclaim, Graham gained much media exposure for her strong and independent yet conventionally attractive portrayal of a single mom. She would stick with the show for its entire seven year run, becomming a fully fledged star in the process. Graham would also appear in movies like Evan Almighty, Bad Santa, and The Answer Man, in addition to other succsful TV projects, like the starring role of Sarah Braverman on the series Parenthood.

Trivia: With a distinctly natural and youthful earthy beauty that can alternate between ultra-glamour and wholesome field-frolicking nymph with the change of the breeze, former worldly model turned actress Alexis Bledel built a sturdy fan base with her role on television's Gilmore Girls before falling for a young immortal in 2002's Tuck Everlasting. A native of Houston, TX, whose native tongue was Spanish, Bledel's parents encouraged her to try community theater at the age of eight to overcome shyness. The aspiring actress would subsequently appear in local productions of Our Town and The Wizard of Oz before being scouted at a local mall and whisked into life on the catwalks. Traveling through Europe and Japan before graduating from Houston's Saint Agnes Academy, Bledel would also graduate from the Page Parkes Center for Modeling and Acting before enrolling as a film major at N.Y.U. Though it may come as no surprise to many that the ethereal young actress was voted one of People magazine's Hottest Stars Under 25 in 2002, the firmly grounded actress appeared to have a promising career in store for her whether it be on the pages of Vogue or under the bright lights of Tinseltown. Fans with a quick eye could also catch a brief glimpse of Bledel's film debut, as an uncredited extra, in Wes Anderson's Rushmore (1998).In 2005, Bledel co-starred in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, a coming-of-age drama following four teenagers who find a very special pair of blue jeans (the actress reprised this role in 2008 for the film's sequel), as well as in director Robert Rodriguez' post-noir crime thriller Sin City. Bledel continued to work in film following the cancellation of The Gilmore Girls in 2007, appearing in the films including The Good Guy (2009), Post Grad (2009), and The Conspirator (2010). The actress played a young assassin in the 2011 action comedy Violet & Daisy, and continues to be active in film and television, including a recurring role as a suburban housewife in season 5 of AMC's Mad Men.

Trivia: An award-winning stage actress, Kelly Bishop occasionally dabbles in television and feature films. Bishop's accolades, a Tony and a Drama Desk award, came from her outstanding work in the original Broadway version of A Chorus Line. Her television work includes two stints on the television soap opera One Life to Live (she played Serena Wyman in 1989, Dr. Robbins in 1996) and guest-starring roles on Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Her film credits include Six Degrees of Separation ([1993] she also appeared in the original stage version), Miami Rhapsody (1995), and Private Parts (1997), in which Bishop played the mother of shock jock Howard Stern. At the beginning of the 21ast century she enjoyed long run as Emily Gilmore on the TV series Gilmore Girls, and five years after that show ended she returned to the big screen with a part in the comedy Friends With Kids.

Trivia: Born July 21st, 1943, Tony-winning American stage and film actor Edward Herrmann used his Fulbright scholarship to study at London's Academy of Music and Dramatic Art; several years of regional theatre led to movie and TV work. In 1977 Herrmann offered the first of his many interpretations of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the TV movie Eleanor and Franklin (He'd later be a singing FDR in the theatrical feature Annie [1982]). The actor was frequently dissatisfied with his own performances, feeling that with a little more time he could do much better. Such was the case of his portrayal of baseball great Lou Gehrig in the TV drama A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story (1979), though Herrmann was proud of the fact that he learned to pitch and bat southpaw, something that a previous movie Gehrig, Gary Cooper, never quite mastered. His occasional villainous movie appearances notwithstanding, Edward Herrmann is to most viewers the very embodiment of intelligence and integrity; he was decidedly well cast as the erudite host of several historical documentaries on the A&E Network. In 2000, Herrmann joined the cast of Gilmore Girls as patriarch Richard Gilmore, and continued appearing in supporting roles in movies, including the headmaster in The Emperor's Club (2002), film censor Joseph Breen in The Aviator (2004) and an accountant in Factory Girl (2006). Once Gilmore Girls ended in 2007, Herrmann returned to episodic TV, with runs on Grey's Anatomy and a recurring gig on The Good Wife. In 2014, he returned to his familiar role of FDR one last time, voicing the president in the Ken Burns documentary The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. Herrmann died in 2014, at age 71.

Trivia: First gaining notoriety as Sookie on the hit sitcom Gilmore Girls, actress Melissa McCarthy began her onscreen career with a bit part on her cousin's The Jenny McCarthy Show. Minor film and TV roles followed before she landed the aforementioned part of Sookie St. James, a role she would play throughout Gilmore Girls seven-season run on The WB/CW. In 2007, McCarthy was cast in a supporting role alongside Christina Applegate on the ABC comedy Sam I Am.She found genuine success with the sitcom Molly and Me, playing one-half of a weight-challenged couple opposite Billy Gardel and earning an Emmy nod for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. However, it was her supporting turn in the R-rated comedy Bridesmaids that brought her a taste of mass adulation as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Trivia: Studied at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in New York. Gilmore Girls was his English language acting debut.

Trivia: Starred as Lane Kim in Gilmore Girls during the entirety of the show's run between 2000 and 2007, returning in 2016 for the Netflix revival. Won the Best Performance in a TV Drama Series -- Supporting Young Artist Award at the Young Artist Awards for her role in Gilmore Girls. Nominated at the Teen Choice Awards three consecutive years, for the TV Choice Sidekick Award. Won the 2013 Asians on Film Festival Best Supporting Actress in a Short Award, for her role in Lil Tokyo Reporter. Launched the Drunk Monk Podcast in September 2015.

Trivia: A reliable supporting player specializing in slightly gritty and rough-cut characterizations, Scott Patterson spent several years biding his time in forgettable cinematic ventures such as Intent to Kill (1992) and Little Big League (1994), before achieving fame in a recurring role as Luke Danes, the diner owner and eventual suitor of Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) on the popular comedy drama series Gilmore Girls. After that series eventually went off the air, he subsequently transitioning to feature roles, such as that of an agent in the gore-filled slasher outing Saw IV (2007). In 2007, Patterson also landed a regular role on the prime-time sitcom Aliens in America -- about a Midwestern family that unwittingly hosts a Pakistani Muslim exchange student in an attempt to find a friend for their unpopular son.

Trivia: Singer-actress, onscreen from the '70s.

Trivia: Born July 8th, 1977, by the time Milo Ventimiglia graduated from high school in 1994, the bright lights of Hollywood had already shone their way to his Orange County home, and within the next year, the young actor was making his first onscreen appearance with a walk-on role on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The part was the first of many, as Ventimiglia proceeded to spend the late '90s and early 2000s with similar roles in movies like She's All That and on shows like CSI. In 2004, Ventimiglia nabbed what most actors would consider a big break when he landed a recurring role on the hit series American Dreams, but a much bigger break was still in store. He joined the regular cast of the WB series Gilmore Girls in 2005, playing the part of Jess Mariano and making millions of viewers familiar with his face. The boost to his star-power no doubt influenced casting directors, who cast him as the son of Sylvester Stallone in 2006's Rocky Balboa, and then as a young man who discovers he harbors superpowers on the smash-hit sci-fi series Heroes. Ventimiglia appeared in the sci-fi action thriller Gamer in 2009, and took on a supporting role in the 2012 Adam Sandler vehicle That's My Boy.

Trivia: Texas native Jared Padalecki was only 12 years old when he started studying acting. He took to the stage all throughout high school, competing on his school's speech team and appearing in school plays. In 1999, the 17-year-old won Fox's "Claim to Fame" contest and had the chance to appear at the Teen Choice Awards. The opportunity led to the young actor signing up with an agent and beginning his professional career. He began scoring appearances on shows and in TV movies, playing the victim of a car accident on an episode of ER and a wealthy suitor in Ring of Endless Light. Then in 2001, Padalecki was cast as Dean Forester, love interest of Rory Gilmore on the hit series Gilmore Girls. He stayed with the show until 2005, when he joined up with the sci-fi thriller series Supernatural. Padalecki also ventured onto the big screen, appearing in films like House of Wax and The Christmas Cottage.

Trivia: The fair-haired, fresh-faced and photogenic Arielle Kebbel lived the dream of many an American teenage girl by traveling the direct, one-shot path from obscurity to an instantly flourishing career. Just after high school, this former victor of teen beauty pageants (and Hollywood hopeful) hit the road with her mom and undertook a cross-country journey in the family car from the Kebbels' hometown of Winter Park, FL, straight to Southern California. In no time at all (reportedly less than one week), Kebbel auditioned for a recurring guest role on the WB's series comedy drama Gilmore Girls -- and was hired immediately by series producers, thus realizing instantly her dreams of becoming a respected Tinseltown actress.In the popular Gilmore program, Kebbel portrayed Lindsay Lister, the woman who dates, then marries, then divorces small-town hunk Dean Forester (Jared Padalecki). The turn lasted from the midpoint of season three (2003) into the fall of 2004, concluding with the Foresters' estrangement. Kebbel then graduated from the small to the big screen with a series of turns in high-profile but (unfortunately) consistently schlocky and critically maligned Hollywood films. Kebbel traveled as one of the few white passengers on a "jive" purple airplane commandeered by Snoop Dogg in the neo-blaxploitation comedy Soul Plane (2004), then received second billing as one of the busty, "all-American" campers (and the child sweetheart of the lead) in 2005's direct-to-video sexploitationer American Pie Presents: Band Camp. Kebbel's profile would continue to raise throughout the 2000's, as she appeared in films like John Tucker Must Die, The Grudge 2, and on popular shows like The Vampire Diaries, and 90210.

Trivia: Marian Ross dreamed of stardom from childhood, going so far as to change the spelling of her first name to Marion because she thought it would look nicer on a marquee. When her family moved from Minnesota to California, the 16-year-old aspiring actress plunged into the busy world of amateur theatricals in the San Diego area. She was voted Outstanding Actress at San Diego State University in 1950, then went on to work at the prestigious La Jolla Playhouse. Mel Ferrer, La Jolla's resident director, recommended that Ross try her luck in Hollywood. She worked steadily in TV and films from 1953 onward, but stardom was still outside her reach. Ross played a succession of maids, nuns, nurses, and that nebulous classification, the Heroine's Best Friend. She showed up in small roles in such films as Forever Female (1953), Lust for Life (1955), and Operation Petticoat (1959), earning the respect of her fellow workers but very little in the way of public recognition. "I've always had a way of not attracting attention," she would note with resignation later in life. On television, Marion played unstressed recurring roles on such series as Life with Father, Mrs. G Goes to College and Mr. Novak. She finally achieved stardom as Marion Cunningham, mother of 1950s high-schooler Richie Cunningham, on the weekly sitcom Happy Days. What started out as a shaky midseason replacement in January of 1974 ended up ABC's number-one hit; Ross hitched her wagon to the ever-rising Happy Days star until its final episode in 1983. During this period, she reactivated her stage career, with considerably more success than she'd enjoyed in the 1950s. Ross' post-Happy Days TV gigs included a 1986 guest shot as the new bride of Captain Stubing (Gavin MacLeod) on The Love Boat and the brief 1989 series Living Dolls. In 1991, Marion Ross earned an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of archetypal Jewish mother Sophie Berger on the TV "dramedy" Brooklyn Bridge. In the decades to come, Ross would find ongoing success with recurring roles on TV series like The Drew Carey Show and Gilmore Girls, as well as providing voice acting for animated series such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Handy Manny.

Trivia: The daughter of a Portland doctor, Sally Ann Struthers left home at 18, determined to become a star. The 5' 1", frizzy-haired Ms. Struthers attended classes at the Pasadena Playhouse, then worked as a singer, dancer and commercial actress before the breaks began arriving in rapid succession in 1970. By the end of that year, she had been seen on TV as a comedy-ensemble player on The Smothers Brother Comedy Hour and a chorus girl (in fact, the only chorus girl) on The Tim Conway Comedy Hour; she'd played a small but attention-grabbing role in the Jack Nicholson film Five Easy Pieces; and she'd provided the voice for Pebbles Flintstone on the animated Pebbles and Bamm Bamm Show. Oh, before we forget: also in 1970, Struthers was cast as Gloria Bunker Stivic on the groundbreaking TV sitcom All in the Family. During her seven-season stint as Gloria, she shared a 1972 "Best Supporting Actress" Emmy with The Mary Tyler Moore Show's Valerie Harper. She also took time out to deliver an image-busting performance as the sluttish wife of kidnap victim Jack Dodson in Sam Peckinpah's The Getaway (1972), and to star in such made-for-TV films as Aloha Means Goodbye (1974), Hey, I'm Alive (1975) and The Great Houdinis (1976). In 1975, Struthers very nearly walked off All in the Family over a much-publicized salary dispute; she left the series when her contract ended in 1978, returning briefly to appear in an episode titled "California Here We Are"--and winning a second Emmy as a result. Though big things were predicted for Struthers, her post-Family years were rough. Her TV-movie appearances began playing to ever-diminishing ratings, while her highly touted 1981 Broadway debut in Wally's Café was a bust. It was a frightened, insecure Sally Struthers who returned to series television in 1982 as the star of Gloria, an All in the Family spin-off which recast the actress in the role that made her famous. Despite initially good ratings, Gloria tanked after a year. After another foredoomed Broadway appearance in a female version of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple, Sally accepted the role of klutzy divorcee Marsha McMurray Shrimpton in the 1986 syndicated sitcom 9 to 5. Around this same time, Struthers began showing up as the TV spokesperson for a charitable organization serving malnourished Third-World children. While none could doubt the actress' sincerity, her strident, lachrymose fund-raising appeals were treated with merciless derision by the many sketch-comedy TV series of the period. Though her career may never again reach the heights of her All in the Family days, Sally Struthers has kept busy in a variety of show-business ventures, including voiceover assignments on such series as Talespin and Dinosaurs, and a recent touring production of the musical Grease, in which she co-starred with another TV favorite of yore, The Monkees' Davy Jones.

Trivia: Upon realizing that his parents would never accept the fact that their son wanted to pursue a career in acting, Adam Brody did exactly what any red-blooded, determined American teen would do in order to achieve his dream -- he lied to them. Thankfully for Brody, his gamble at fame was a success, and following a noteworthy feature debut in the made-for-television movie Growing Up Brady, the talented young star would go on to land roles in such high-profile releases as American Pie 2 and The Ring. Knowing that he had what it took to launch a successful film and television career -- but unable to convince his parents of his certainty -- the San Diego native eventually persuaded his mother and father to allow him to remain on the West Coast following his high-school graduation and attend college in Los Angeles. Of course, Brody's higher education was merely a guise for his true plans, and in lieu of enrolling in classes, the deceptive aspiring thespian instead opted to hire an acting coach and a personal manager in preparation for hitting the audition circuit. Soon chosen to portray Brady Bunch actor Barry Williams for the screen adaptation of his revealing memoir Growing Up Brady, Brody was on his way to stardom. The millennial turnover proved an incredibly fruitful period for the young actor's blossoming career, with a series of small-screen appearances in such popular television series as Once and Again, Grounded for Life, and Judging Amy offering notable exposure before Brody joined the cast of the hit MTV series Undressed. After a brief appearance in American Pie 2, Brody returned to the small screen and MTV for the short-lived cult series The Sausage Factory in 2001. Following a doomed appearance in The Ring, Brody once again returned to television for a lead role on the popular Fox drama The O.C. At this point, it was obvious to all who had followed his career that Brody was more than just another pretty face, with roles in the carefree skateboard comedy Grind and the affecting family drama Missing Brendan serving to highlight his remarkable versatility before the cameras. In 2005, Brody could be seen opposite Hollywood heavies Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Go director Doug Liman's action thriller Mr. and Mrs. Smith.He continued to work, often in indie comedies like The Ten and Smiley Face. In 2007 he had the lead in Jon Kasdan's In the Land of Women opposite such female heavyweights as Meg Ryan, Kirsten Stewart, and Olympia Dukakis. He appeared in the Diablo Cody-scripted horror film Jennifer's Body, and in the Kevin Smith action comedy Cop Out. He was well-used by director Whit Stillman in his college campus comedy Damsels in Distress in 2011, and the next year he played in the bittersweet comedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. 2013 saw Brody cast as porn legend Harry Reems in the biopic Lovelace. That same year he had a recurring role on the TV series House of Lies, and he played the gay best friend to the main character in the romantic comedy Baggage Claim. Brody had a small role in Think Like a Man Too (2014) and had a memorable guest spot on New Girl.

Trivia: Began acting during high school. Made his big-screen debut with a small role in 2000 drama Where the Heart Is. First series-regular role was musician Zack Van Gerbig on the WB drama Gilmore Girls. Originally auditioned for the role of Hoyt Fortenberry before being cast as Terry Bellefleur on HBO's True Blood. Is the singer and guitarist for country-rock band Pilbilly Knights.

Trivia: The youngest of six children. First professional acting job was in a commercial for the Illinois lottery. A co-creator of the web series James Gunn's PG Porn with brothers James and Brian. Nicknamed "The Judge," which originated from older Matt, who jokingly accused him of being judgmental. Has previously roomed with fellow actors Judy Greer and Gilmore Girls co-star John Cabrera. Appeared in the second episode of Gilmore Girls as Mick, before being brought back later in the season to play eccentric Stars Hollow resident Kirk; he eventually became a series regular.

Trivia: Traveled around Great Britain with her parents' comedy troupe when she was 3 years old. First television role was in Pete & Pete alongside her mother. Made her film debut in Whatever, which premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. Starred in the stage play Poof at Montgomery Theater during hiatus from Gilmore Girls in 2004.