Trivia: Initially known for his work on the stage, Billy Crudup emerged in the late '90s as a young actor of considerable talent, gracing the screen in an increasing number of films. Tall, lean, and possessing one of the best-defined jaws in the Western Hemisphere,Crudup was born on Long Island, NY, on July 8, 1968. Raised in Florida and Texas, he earned an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and then received a Master's degree from New York University.Crudup first won audience attention and critical acclaim in his role as an amorous tutor in the widely praised New York production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia. His performance netted him both an Outer Critics Circle Outstanding Newcomer Award and a Theater World Award. He followed this success with a lead in the stage production of Bus Stop, winning similarly excellent reviews for his performance. He made his film debut in 1996 with a small part in Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You, and the same year he got a more sizable part among the all-star cast of Sleepers. Acting alongside Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, and Minnie Driver, Crudup received some recognition for his portrayal of a troubled survivor of childhood abuse. This recognition was amplified the following year, when he starred with Joaquin Phoenix in Inventing the Abbotts, a small film that cast him as an amorous, destructive ladies' man. That same year, he starred with Woody Harrelson in Stephen Frears' critically maligned The Hi-Lo Country (1998), and he won kudos for his performance as runner Steve Prefontaine in Without Limits. Critics praised both his physical resemblance to the late athlete and his ability to portray him with a vivid blend of arrogance, pathos, and sympathy. In 1999, Crudup could be seen starring in the acclaimed independant film Jesus' Son, but his mainstream breakthrough would happen the following year in Cameron Crowe's ode to 70s-era rock-and-roll, Almost Famous. Cruddup's performance as an up-and-coming rock star made him a stop tier star as well as a sex-symbol, and he would capitalize on his success over the coming years with selective, prominent roles in films like Charlotte Grey, Big Fish, The Good Shepherd, Watchmen, Eat Pray Love, and Too Big to Fail.

Trivia: Born the daughter of an Illinois minister on June 23, 1957, Frances McDormand attended West Virginia's Bethany College and later studied acting at the prestigious Yale Drama School. After her graduation, McDormand could be seen gaining professional experience in numerous stage productions across the country. In 1984, McDormand made her film debut playing a somewhat dim-witted adulterous wife in the Coen brothers' Blood Simple, thus beginning an association that would culminate in her marriage to director Joel Coen. Despite winning critical acclaim for her performance, it would be four years, save for a cameo in the Coens' Raising Arizona (1987) and various small roles, before she would be featured in another major film production. In the meantime, McDormand's stage career flourished, and she received a Tony nomination for the 1987 Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire. She also did periodic television work, co-starring on the short-lived detective drama Legwork (1987) and appearing in a recurring role on Hill Street Blues.In 1988, McDormand found her way back into the Hollywood spotlight, and won an Oscar nomination for her role as a Klan wife who testifies against a good ol' boy sheriff in Alan Parker's Mississippi Burning. Her film career picked up significantly afterwards, and led to appearances in a wide variety of well-wrought dramas, including Ken Loach's controversial Hidden Agenda (1990), which featured the actress one of a group of American attorneys working to improve prisoner rights throughout a war-torn Ireland. 1990 would also find her playing a small role in the Coens' Miller's Crossing, which led to a similar performance in Robert Altman's Short Cuts. In 1996, McDormand won a Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of sheriff Marge Gunderson in Fargo, yet another Coen brothers film. The following year, she co-starred as a German doctor in Bruce Beresford's WWII drama Paradise Road, and then tried her hand at children's films with a starring role in Madeline (1998).In 2000, McDormand made memorable supporting appearances in two films. First was the part of an adulterous academic wife in Curtis Hanson's overlooked Wonder Boys; late that year she could be seen playing the well-meaning, yet unarguably overprotective mother in Cameron Crowe's critically successful coming-of-age drama Almost Famous. The latter would net her another Supporting Actress nomination. In 2001, McDormand could be seen playing a camped-out version of a film noir lush in the Coens' The Man Who Wasn't There. Her subsequent role in 2002's Laurel Canyon -- as an aging, wild-child record producer -- earned her critical hosannas, even if the film was little-seen. The issue picture North Country offered her the challenge of playing a working-class woman gradually succumbing to Lou Gehrig's disease, and in early 2006, earned her another Best Supporting Actress nomination. She followed it up with an acid-tongued role in the ensemble comedy-drama Friends With Money.Over the next several years, McDormand would continue to appear in several acclaimed films, including Burn After Reading, This Must Be the Place, and Moonrise Kingdom.

Trivia: The daughter of Goldie Hawn, Kate Hudson bears more than a passing resemblance to her famous mother in both looks and onscreen vivacity. Born in Los Angeles on April 19, 1979, Hudson made her screen debut in 1998. She first earned notice for her work in 200 Cigarettes (1999), an ensemble film that cast her as naive Cindy out on a date with caddish Jack (Jay Mohr). Although the film proved to be a substantial critical and commercial disappointment, Hudson's performance was singled out for some of the scant praise the film did receive. The following year, she could be seen starring opposite fellow up-and-comer Joshua Jackson in Gossip, a drama centered on the disastrous side effects of rumor-mongering on a college campus.If critical recognition had eluded her in the past, it certainly caught-up with her at the 2000 Golden Globe Awards, where she took home the Best Supporting Actress award for her performance in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. Engulfed in the Hollywood hype machine following her winning role in Almost Famous, it seemed as if Hudson was set to follow her mother in taking the film industry by storm. After soaking in her nowfound fame in the early years of the new millennium, Hudson emerged from a whirlwind schedule of fashion shoots and awards shows to appear in the romantic war drama The Four Feathers in 2002. Though The Four Feathers was quickly and unceremoniously relegated to box-office obscurity, Hudson fired back with an almost surefire hit when she starred opposite quirky heartthrob Matthew McConaughey in the romantic comedy How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003). While subsequent roles in Alex and Emma, Le Divorce, and Raising Helen did little to elevate Hudson's already-comfortable star status, a venture into the unknown in the curiously original but largely underseen Skeleton Key at least showed the actress' willingness to explore new territory onscreen. Back in the realm of comedy, Hudson would do her best to tolerate onscreen husband Matt Dillon's eccentric best-friend when the down-on-his-luck Dupree (Owen Wilson) arrives on their doorstep looking for a place to stay in the farcical summer comedy You, Me and Dupree (2006). Hudson joined with Mathew McConaughey for a second time for the romantic comedy Fool's Gold (2008), and starred in another rom-com, My Best Friend's Girl, the same year. Hudson gained recognition for her previously unknown dance skills thanks to her performance in filmmaker Rob Marshall's musical film Nine, which also featured Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, and Nicole Kidman. In 2010, the actress starred in the film adaptation of Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me.Hudson conitnued to rotate between lighter romantic comedies and heavier dramas, appearing in Something Borrowed in 2011, followed by political thriller The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012), Larry David's TV movie Clear History (2013) and the drama Good People (2014). She also took a recurring gig on Glee, playing a dance instructor, allowing Hudson to showcase her singing skills and dancing chops.

Trivia: A puppy-eyed professional skateboarder turned actor, Jason Lee has proven himself as versatile and engaging onscreen as he once did as a skater who turned 360-degree flips on the half-pipe. Discovered by director Kevin Smith, who gave him his first break with a lead role in Mallrats (1995), Lee went on to win over critics and audiences with his portrayals of men who often harbored some degree of endearing immaturity and/or sweet-natured dorkiness. In the process, he created a reputation for himself as one of the more talented and underrated actors to emerge from the 1990s indie scene, eventually beginning to earn mainstream acceptance with his casting in such successes as Smith's Dogma (1999) and Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous (2000).A native of Orange, CA, Lee began skateboarding when he was 13. Five years later he had gone professional, traveling the world, appearing in a number of popular skateboarding videos, and, along with a friend, founding the company Stereo Skateboards and Stereo Sounds Clothing. Deciding to retire from skateboarding before he became too old for the sport and went to seed, Lee made his first foray into acting in 1993 with a walk-on role in Allison Anders' Mi Vida Loca. Two years later he auditioned for and won the lead role of Brodie, a wise-ass slacker, in Kevin Smith's Mallrats (1995). Although the film received a critical thrashing, Lee did earn positive notices for his work in it, and was further rewarded with a lead part in Smith's Chasing Amy (1997). Cast as comic-book artist Banky, best friend and partner of Ben Affleck's Holden, the actor earned an Independent Spirit Award for his smart-assed yet deeply felt portrayal, and subsequently crossed over into more mainstream work with a bit part in the Will Smith suspense thriller Enemy of the State (1998) and a lead in the flop romantic comedy Kissing a Fool (1998), in which he starred with David Schwimmer and Mili Avital.Lee again collaborated with Smith for the writer/director's Dogma (1999), playing the satanic Azrael alongside a cast that included Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Chris Rock, and Alan Rickman. His work in the high-profile film was complemented that same year by his well-received portrayal of a sweet-natured computer mogul in Lawrence Kasdan's ensemble comedy Mumford. The following year Lee appeared in one of his biggest films to date, Cameron Crowe's much lauded Almost Famous, portraying the lead singer of the '70s rock band Stillwater. Crowe and Lee would also re-team for Vanilla Sky in 2001. Edging ever closer to the elusive leading man status, Lee would subseqently appear in the ill fated Big Trouble before taking the lead opposite Tom Green in Stealing Harvard. Though Big Trouble and Stealing Harvard both performed abysmally at the box-office, the likable Lee could still hold out for romantic comedy success with the release of A Guy Thing in early 2003. A third strike in terms of hitting box-office gold, the undaunted former skateboard pro soldiered on into the cold wilderness for the horrors of Dreamcatcher before re-teaming with faithful cohort Smith for the one-two punch of Jersey Girl and Flectch Won in late 2003. Over the coming years, Lee would tontinue to gain notoriety, popularly starring on the TV series My Name is Earl, Memphis Beat, and Up All Night, and appearing in movies like Cop Out and the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise.

Trivia: Patrick Fugit landed squarely on top of the Hollywood heap when, for the actor's big-screen debut, writer/director Cameron Crowe tapped him to play the lead, William Miller (Crowe's onscreen teenage alter-ego), in the smash film à clef Almost Famous (2000). The high profile of the role and the movie's success ensured continued stardom for the then-17-year-old, who had forged a path to stardom by discovering a rudimentary love of acting in seventh grade and asking his mother to help him sign with an agent. After the Crowe assignment, Fugit essayed a series of roles over the next several years that typically found him playing a hunky boyfriend -- as in White Oleander (2002) and the teen-oriented religious farce Saved! (2003). Unfortunately -- Famous and Saved aside -- Fugit's subsequent role choice often left something to be desired, witness his involvement in the dumb-dumb monster movie Dead Birds (2004) and the barely released comedy Bickford Schmeckler's Cool Ideas (2006). In 2007, Fugit signed to play opposite screen heavy Dennis Quaid in the psychological thriller Horsemen (2008). He appeared in 2009's Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. He reteamed with Cameron Crowe playing a zookeeper in 2011's We Bought a Zoo, and had a role as the independent-minded son in the HBO docudrama Cinema Verite.

Trivia: Appearing to be a blend of Steve Buscemi and Nick Cave, Noah Taylor made his name playing Danny Embling, a young man juggling inner torment and sexual anxiety in John Duigan's The Year My Voice Broke (1987) and Flirting (1991). In 1996, he gained further international recognition and respect for his role as the younger version of piano prodigy David Helfgott in Scott Hicks' Shine. The son of journalists, Taylor was born in Melbourne, Australia, on September 4, 1969. Although he spent his early years wanting to be a spy or a commando, he began his acting career at the age of 16 when he left school and joined the city's St. Martin's Youth Theatre. His work with the theater led to his casting as Danny Embling in The Year My Voice Broke. Following the critical success of both Year and its sequel, Flirting, Taylor became known as one of his country's most promising actors. His widely praised performance in Shine further solidified this status, and he was able to do steady work in a number of diverse projects both at home and abroad. In 1998, Taylor starred in Ben Hopkins' acclaimed period drama Simon Magus, and the following year he starred alongside Daniel Auteuil in Michel Blanc's Mauvaise Passe and won a coveted role in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous, the semi-autobiographical tale of an aspiring teen rock journalist. Taylor would work again with Crowe the very next year, taking a role in the director's remake of Alejandro Amenábar's Open Your Eyes, entitled Vanilla Sky. Heading into action territory with the high-profile video game-to-screen adaptation Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001, Taylor straddled the line between big-budget excess and independent credibility with an appearance in the little seen but curiously titled He Died With a Felafel in His Hand that same year. In 2002, Taylor gained notable media attention for his controversial portrayal of Adolf Hitler in the independent drama Max. The film presented an intimate view of the future Nazi leader as a young aspiring artist, leading numerous groups to protest its humanization of such a feared and monstrous figure. Though the reviews of the film itself were generally fairly positive, Max soon disappeared from arthouse screens with Taylor's performance going largely unseen. If audiences had missed Taylor in Max, however, they would no doubt have a chance to catch him on the screen the very next year in the Tomb Raider sequel Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. Taylor next showed up in the anticipated Wes Anderson adventure comedy The Life Aquatic alongside an all-star cast, including Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston, and Willem Dafoe.

Trivia: New Zealander Anna Paquin made her stage bow in the coveted role of a skunk in a grade school play. After attracting attention for her work in a TV commercial, Paquin was selected from some 5,000 applicants to portray Holly Hunter's precocious daughter in director Jane Campion's dour period piece The Piano. The film was completed in 1992 when Paquin was nine. She kept busy for the next year or so in a series of American TV ads for a computer company, portraying an androgynous "young DaVinci" type. In 1994, an amazed 11-year-old Paquin rushed on the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion to accept the best supporting actress award for her performance in The Piano. Paquin played her first adult role in Hurly Burly (1998).

Trivia: Former child actress Fairuza Balk started her screen career at the age of 11 when she starred as Dorothy in Return to Oz (1985). A sweet-faced child with dark hair and striking blue eyes, Balk -- whose first name means "turquoise" in Persian -- was summarily typecast in sugary roles in television movies. She spent some time in England making films and got a chance at more adult fare in 1989 when she played easily deflowered convent girl Cecile DeVolanges in Milos Forman's Valmont. Balk subsequently returned to the U.S. and, at the age of 18, she earned some of the greatest acclaim of her young career for her portrayal of Shade, a sensitive girl growing up in a dead-end New Mexico town, in Gas, Food, Lodging (1992), the esteemed directorial debut of Alison Anders. Following further TV and film work, Balk earned a certain degree of cult status with her starring role as a psychotic teenage witch in The Craft (1996). In keeping with the goth image fostered by her role in the film, Balk subsequently bought Panpipes, a famed Hollywood occult shop. In 1998, the actress ventured into more mainstream territory as the girlfriend of Adam Sandler in the smash comedy The Waterboy. That same year, she earned plaudits playing another girlfriend, this time in American History X, which cast her as the love interest of a neo-Nazi (Edward Norton). As the 2000's unfolded, Balk would continue to appear on screen in movies like Almost Famous, Wild Tigers I Have Known, and Humboldt County.

Trivia: The daughter of cinematographer Caleb Deschanel and actress Mary Jo Deschanel, Zooey Deschanel made her film debut as the conflicted, rebellious patient of a small-town psychologist in Lawrence Kasdan's Mumford (1999). Prior to her debut, Deschanel -- who spent much of her childhood on location with her parents -- acted in a number of stage productions and made her professional debut on an episode of the sitcom Veronica's Closet. A year after making her film debut in Mumford, the young actress appeared in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous as the sister of an aspiring rock journalist who becomes caught up in the parallel universe of '70s rock. After turning up in the Dogma 95-style Manic in 2001, Deschanel would join the strong cast of director Barry Sonnenfeld's long-delayed comedy Big Trouble before re-teaming with that film's D.J. Qualls for the loser-turned-smooth operator teen comedy The New Guy in (2002). After following up with a role in the equally ill-recieved teen-thriller Abandon the same year, Deschanel earned positive nods for her role as the virginal teen who falls for a reformed womanizer in critical darling David Gordon Green's All the Real Girls. Though her next few film roles remained relatively low-key, the latter half of 2003 found the emerging young actress appearing in both the independent black comedy Eulogy and wide-release Will Ferrel family comedy Elf.In 2005 she scored a part in the big-screen adaptation of the popular sci-fi book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In 2006 she was cast in the romantic comedy Failure to Launch. In 2007 she scored a small-screen success as Dorothy in the reimagining of Wizard of Oz known as Tin Man. In 2008 she was the lead actress in the derided thriller The Happening, but had a huge critical success the next year in the indie comedy (500) Days of Summer. In 2011 she was one of the sisters in the comedy Our Idiot Brother, and had another hit on the small-screen as the lead in the FOX sitcom New Girl.

Trivia: He is known as an impressionist standing out amongst the best of them -- even impersonating the impressions of his legacies on Saturday Night Live -- but ironically the genuineness of Jimmy Fallon has contributed to making him famous. With the aid of his image as a breakthrough geek, Fallon has melted the boundaries between 21st century heartthrob and accomplished comedian, making audiences forget the times when the funny guy wasn't attractive.Born in Brooklyn, NY, on September 19, 1974, Fallon grew up in Saugerties, NY; from the time he was six, he would reenact Saturday Night Live skits with his year-older sister, Gloria. (The two of them would co-write their book I Hate This Place: The Pessimist's Guide to Life in 1999.) After dropping out of college and then spending some years fine-tuning his comedic trade in and out of Los Angeles, Fallon moved to New York City full time to begin his dream relationship with Saturday Night Live in 1998. He has also graced the tube in various series cameos, including an episode of HBO's WWII drama series Band of Brothers (2001).Fallon made his film debut in Cameron Crowe's 2000 box-office hit Almost Famous, incognito as Dennis Hope, the replacement band manager. While the film provided evidence of Fallon's serious side, expanding the scope of his roles beyond the comedic realm, his appearance was downplayed by the thick beard and glasses disguising his familiar face and signature boy-next-door charm.Though his film career throughout the 2000s was inconsistent (he was praised for his work in Whip It (2009) and Fever Pitch (2005), while Factory Girl (2006) and particularly Taxi (2004) were panned by both critics and audiences), the comedian would find success once more on the television screen in 2009 with Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Fallon succeeded fellow comedian Conan O'Brien, who left NBC in preparation of taking over The Tonight Show in 2009. In 2010, Fallon was chosen to host the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2014, Fallon took over The Tonight Show hosting gig from Jay Leno when Leno's contract was up.

Trivia: One of the most original, versatile, and steadily employed actors in Hollywood, Philip Seymour Hoffman made a name for himself playing some of the most dysfunctional characters in movie history. Although he had been acting for years, most audiences were first introduced to the actor in the award-winning Boogie Nights, where he played a nebbishy soundman with a jones for Mark Wahlberg's Dirk Diggler. Imbuing his character with both humor and poignant complexity, Hoffman was one of the more memorable aspects of an unforgettable film.Born in Fairport, NY, in 1968, Hoffman trained at New York's Tisch School of Drama. Before breaking into film, he did a host of theater work, performing in New York, Chicago, and on a European tour. He made his film debut in the 1992 film Scent of a Woman, a critically acclaimed picture starring Al Pacino and Chris O'Donnell. Roles in a number of films of varying quality followed, including My New Gun (1992) and When a Man Loves a Woman (1994). The actor then nabbed a sizable role in Jan de Bont's 1996 tornado thriller Twister and the same year began an ongoing working relationship with Paul Thomas Anderson by appearing in his directorial debut Hard Eight. The crime drama, which also starred Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L. Jackson, received positive critical attention, although it didn't create more than a minor blip at the box office. However, Hoffman's next feature and second collaboration with Anderson, Boogie Nights (1997), was both a critical and financial success, scoring a host of Academy Award nominations and simultaneously reviving the careers of some of its stars, such as Burt Reynolds and Mark Wahlberg, while providing a breakthrough for others, such as Heather Graham and Hoffman himself. He next appeared in the Robin Williams comedy Patch Adams (1998), and the same year starred in two critically acclaimed independent films, Todd Solondz's Happiness and Brad Anderson's Next Stop Wonderland. The prolific actor added an appearance in The Big Lebowski (also 1998) to his already impressive resumé. In addition to his burgeoning acting career, Hoffman won favorable notices for his directing debut with the off-Broadway In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings. Hoffman came into his own with three notable performances in 1999. He reunited with Paul Thomas Anderson to play empathic hospice nurse Phil Parma, one of the emotional anchors in Magnolia. His portrayal of upper-crust snob Freddie Miles in The Talented Mr. Ripley earned him strong notices from many critics. Hoffman's peers awarded him with a Screen Actors Guild nomination for his role as a cross dresser in Flawless opposite Robert De Niro. He returned to the Broadway stage with fellow Anderson regular John C. Reilly to play very different brothers in Sam Shepard's True West. They took a risk by switching the lead roles every three days. Their hard work earned critical raves, and each was nominated for a Tony award. In 2000, Cameron Crowe cast Hoffman as Crowe's childhood hero Lester Bangs in Almost Famous, and David Mamet tapped him to be part of the impressive ensemble in State and Main.Hoffman maintained his status as one of the most respected and hardest-working actors in the new decade by delivering an excellent supporting turn in Red Dragon as an unctuous tabloid reporter. That same year he co-starred in Spike Lee's 25th Hour, and played the bad guy for old collaborator Paul Thomas Anderson in the offbeat romantic comedy Punch-Drunk Love. 2002 also saw the release of Love Liza, a very low-budget film scripted by Hoffman's brother and directed by actor Todd Louiso that starred Phil as a grieving husband addicted to huffing gas fumes. The next year found Hoffman starring as a gambling addict in the small scale Canadian drama Owning Mahowny, and turning in a memorable supporting performance as an amoral preacher in the big screen adaptation of Cold Mountain. Hoffman was in theaters again at the beginning of 2004 as the best friend in the Ben Stiller comedy Along Came Polly. He was also part of yet another outstanding ensemble in the small screen adaptation of Richard Russo's Pulitzer prize-winning novel Empire Falls.In 2005, Hoffman took the role of a lifetime when he assumed the title role in Bennett Miller's Capote. The film had critics in agreement that Hoffman's portrayal of complex and idiosyncratic real-life author Truman Capote was the stuff of Hollywood legend. Hoffman not only mastered the character's distinct body-language and speech but also hauntingly interpreted the subtle psychological and emotional self that made the character whole-leading many to declare that he very nearly made the film everything it was. The performance earned him the Oscar for Best Actor, as well as a Golden Globe and countless other accolades. The attention also provided a boost in profile for the actor who had for so long proved his worth in the background. After playing the bad guy in the third Mission Impossible movie opposite Tom Cruise, Hoffman had a remarkable 2007, a year that saw him play a central part in three well-regarded films. His conniving brother in Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead was a model of self-loathing fermenting into fatal action. In addition to a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor, his highly-educated, emotionally fractured brother to Laura Linney's neurotic sister in The Savages offered him the chance to play numerous subtle and sharply observed scenes with her, the first meeting of these two revered performers. But it was his turn as the intense CIA operative in Charlie Wilson's War that won Hoffman the most widespread praise including Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor.Hoffman continued to solidify his status as one of his generation's finest actors in 2008 with two very different roles. By choosing to play the lead in Charlie Kaufmann's directorial debut Synecdoche, New York, Hoffman again displayed his fearlessness, as well as his desire to work with the very best writers and directors he can find. That willfully difficult film never connected with mainstream audiences, but that was not true at all for Hoffman's other picture of 2008, Doubt. John Patrick Shanley's cinematic adaptation of his own award-winning play earned acting nominations for Hoffman and his three costars (Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis) from both the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy.Over the following years, Hoffman would continue to appear in a variety of interesting films, like Pirate Radio, The Ides of March, and Moneyball. In 2012 he again collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson, playing a cult leader in the drama The Master opposite Joaquin Phoenix. For his work in that movie, Hoffman got a Best Supporting Actor nomination from both the Screen Actors Guild and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The following year, he appeared in the smash The Hunger Games: Catching Fire as rebel Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee. Sadly, personal problems cut his illustrious career short, as Hoffman was found dead in his apartment of an apparent drug overdose at age 46.

Trivia: A reformed, drug-addicted wild child-model turned actress from a notable celebrity lineage, Bijou Phillips' uninhibited club-kid childhood proved fodder for the celebrity-obsessed masses as its lurid details were documented in nearly every tabloid on the shelves. Yet despite the traps and temptations that she may have fallen victim to in her early years, Phillips has restored her existence from tabloid headlines to forge a successful career in film and music. Born in Greenwich, CT, in 1980 to Mamas & Papas founder John Phillips and actress Genevieve Waite, Bijou's early years were accelerated into overdrive when she began modeling at the age of 13. Emancipated from her parents the following year, Phillips went out on her own in New York City and although she initially resisted the lure of its cocaine-fueled nightlife after witnessing its effects on her sister and father's lives, soon began to experiment with drugs after being ostracized by the city's substance-powered movers and shakers. Though she would become the youngest model ever to appear on the cover of Vogue and once again became the center of attention for appearing in Calvin Klein's revealing and controversial ad campaign, life in the fast lane was bleeding Phillips of both her soul and vital energy. It was only a few short months later that the former champion equestrian pleaded with her father to be allowed to return home and attend rehab -- a plea that was initially denied until her father awoke to the mirror-image dangers his daughter was facing. Recovering from her accelerated youth more focused and wiser from experience, Phillips began to turn life around by focusing on her music and film career. As the animal-loving and self-proclaimed bipolar actress emerged to appear in such films as Almost Famous (2000) and renegade director Larry Clark's Bully (2001), she also began to reach into her past to find inspiration as a singer/songwriter. Utilizing the 12 chords her father had taught her on a guitar at age 15, and drawing from the harrowing experiences that nearly destroyed her in her early teens, Phillips crafted her debut album entitled I'd Rather Eat Glass. An unguarded musical eulogy to her former life, Phillips' debut as a songwriter may not have broken as much new ground as her father in his prime, though it marked a maturity and growth that hinted toward the good things to come from a reformed free spirit reclaiming her youthful vigor.Over the next several years, Phillips would continue to appear in films like The Door in the Floor, Havoc, The Wizard of Gore, Choke, and Black Limousine. She would also find particular success on the quirky sitcom Raising Hope.

Trivia: Tall, dark, and classically handsome in a familiar male-model-turned-actor kind of way (think Billy Zane), stage and screen performer Eion Bailey has come a long way since his role as a teen outcast whose new friendship yields tragic consequences in View Askey historian Vincent Pereira's affecting 1997 teen drama A Better Place. Though a subsequent series of fleeting appearances in such high-profile releases as Fight Club and Almost Famous offered audiences a passing glimpse of the up-and-coming star's true onscreen talent, it wasn't until his Golden Satellite-nominated performance in the made-for-cable drama And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself that Hollywood truly began to sit up and take notice. Born in California and raised by his pilot father in the Santa Ynez Valley, the young drama hopeful spent much of his spare time taking flying lessons from his father and playing baseball with friends. Eventually finding his footing on the high-school stage, Bailey continued to hone his skills at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts following graduation. His undeniably heartfelt role in A Better Place offered Bailey an unusually complex role for such a young actor with little screen experience, and in the years that followed, the emerging actor would move to the small screen with appearances in such popular series as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dawson's Creek. Supporting performances in Fight Club and Almost Famous followed suite shortly thereafter, and after once again stepping into the lead for the little-seen indie Seven and a Match, Bailey joined the talented ensemble cast of HBO's acclaimed miniseries Band of Brothers. Rumors that Bailey was one of the few contenders being considered to answer the call of the "bat signal" in the planned updating of the Batman franchise soon began to circulate, and though that responsibility eventually went to Christian Bale, Bailey earned positive critical acclaim for his portrayal of a filmmaker sent to cover the exploits of the eponymous character in HBO's And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself. With top-billed roles in Mindhunters, Sexual Life, and Glory Days set to follow in 2004, Bailey was poised to become a familiar face to filmgoers.

Trivia: Chinese-Canadian actor Terry Chen first achieved international recognition at the dawn of the millennium, when he appeared in two very different A-listers: Romeo Must Die, an avant-garde, martial-arts-saturated take on Romeo and Juliet (starring ill-fated pop diva Aaliyah and DMX); and Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe's nostalgic coming-of-ager about the early experience of a rock journalist-cum-roadie. Despite occasional dips into more conventional material -- a Dean Koontz telemovie, the glamorized spy film Ballistic (2002) -- Chen remained generally selective about Hollywood parts. He was memorable as a Merc Pilot in The Chronicles of Riddick, as Chin in the futuristic Will Smith sci-fi film I, Robot (2004), and as Tom Lone in War (2007), an action-filled tale about an FBI agent enmeshed in a battle between rival Asian gangs. Over the coming years, Chen would remain active on screen, appearing in movies like The A-Team and on series like Combat Hospital.

Trivia: British rock musician Peter Frampton was practicing guitar at age eight and was a professional at sixteen. As a member of a bubblegum group called The Herd, Frampton enjoyed his first brush with fame. In 1969, the young musician teamed with Steve Marriott to form Humble Pie. In 1971, Frampton felt he'd outgrown the group and hit the trail on his own, spending the next few years in session work with such established giants as George Harrison. Winds of Change, his first solo album, came out in 1972, but it wasn't until 1976 that Frampton finally struck the mother lode with Frampton Comes Alive the double album that held its Number One sales slot for 17 weeks. Frampton's next album, 1977's I'm With You, was not as successful, and his next career move turned out to be his worst. Frampton agreed to co-star with the Bee Gees in Robert Stigwood's filmization of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), which ended up a monumental failure. Following this fiasco, Frampton suffered a number personal and professional blows from which he still has not completely recovered--not the least of which was a near-fatal auto accident. Despite his drop-off of popularity, Peter Frampton has continued to record and to perform before respectable crowds.

Trivia: Despite his immortalization as schoolyard bully Scott Farkus in A Christmas Story (1983), Zack Ward has a resumé spanning much further than the long-standing holiday favorite. The Canadian actor is well known for his role as Dave Scovil on the darkly humorous, Emmy-nominated sitcom Titus, and has participated in a number of prime-time dramas including Crossing Jordan, NCIS, and Lost. Ward can be seen in two video-game inspired films: BloodRayne 2, and Resident Evil: Apocalypse; he also appears briefly as an ill-fated soldier in director Michael Bay's blockbuster Transformers (2007).

Trivia: Actor Michael Angarano achieved two of his most noteworthy roles back to back, as a violin player in the Wes Craven-directed inspirational drama Music of the Heart (1999) and as the young version of rock journalist-to-be William Miller in Cameron Crowe's semi-autographical seriocomedy Almost Famous (2000). Angarano's subsequent resumé includes supporting parts in such pictures as Seabiscuit (2003), Lords of Dogtown (2005), and One Last Thing... (2005). On the small screen, Angarano played the recurring role of Elliott, Jack's (Sean Hayes) son on Will & Grace (from from 2001-2006), as well as a guest role in the sixth season of 24 (2007). With Man in the Chair (2007) -- a gentle, humorous coming-of-age dramedy about an aspiring teenage film director who finds the fulfillment of his dreams from an unexpected source -- Angarano tackled an associate producer assignment and the lead role concurrently. That same year, Angarano also signed for one of the supporting parts in the David Mickey Evans-helmed baseball drama The Final Season.

Trivia: Born January 26th, 1966, Rainn Wilson is best known for playing über-nerd Dwight Schrute on the NBC comedy The Office, actor Rainn Wilson parlayed a Broadway career into screen work that began with a role on the daytime soap One Life to Live. Bit parts in features such as Galaxy Quest and Almost Famous soon followed before Wilson landed the part of apprentice mortician Arthur on HBO's Six Feet Under during the show's third season. After Six Feet Under bowed in 2005, Wilson was cast in his most prominent role to date, the aforementioned Dwight Schrute, the resident oddball on the critically acclaimed U.S. version of The Office. Wilson so embraced the part that he even personally penned a weblog by the character on the NBC website. In 2006, Wilson was the fourth lead in Ivan Reitman's fantasy romantic comedy My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and a year later he scored his first starring feature role in the children's sci-fi adventure The Last Mimzy.

Trivia: A native of Canada who began taking acting lessons at the age of 12, Baruchel was first introduced to television audiences through his numerous appearances on the popular small-fry chiller series Are You Afraid of the Dark? Baruchel would next receive his first taste of sitcom life with a leading role on the short-lived sitcom My Hometown (1996). Though he equates his subsequent stint as host of Canadian television's Popular Mechanics for Kids with his mother showing a date his naked baby pictures, the exposure it gave Baruchel got him stateside attention and he soon made his feature debut, as an obsessive Led Zeppelin fan, in director Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. Relocating to Los Angeles from his hometown of Montréal, Québec for the filming of the cult favorite Undeclared proved an exciting experience. After appearing alongside an impressive cast of young actors in director Roger Avery's The Rules of Attraction (2002), Baruchel made his directorial debut (in addition to producing, editing, writing, and photographing) with the romantic horror-action film Edgar and Jane (2002). Baruchel would continue to find success with comedies, like Knocked Up, Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, and She's Out of My League.

Trivia: Going under the name Pauley P., actress Pauley Perrette (born March 27th, 1969) first gained notoriety with an extended arc on the acclaimed ABC drama Murder One. She followed that with guest spots on such shows as The Drew Carey Show and Frasier before landing a gig as a regular (using her full moniker) on the short-lived Party of Five spin-off Time of Your Life. After that series bowed, Perrette could be seen in small capacity in the big-screen hits Almost Famous and The Ring. In 2003, she finally landed in a series with staying power. This time it was the JAG spin-off Navy NCIS, a CBS drama that cast Perrette in a lead role alongside Mark Harmon.

Trivia: A veteran improv comedian, Eric Stonestreet honed his skills at the ImprovOlympic theater, but soon transitioned to the screen, making appearances on shows like ER and The West Wing during the early 2000s. He would go on to land roles in films like Ninja Cheerleaders and American Crude, but scored his biggest break when he was cast as Cameron in the sitcom Modern Family in 2009. He won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for that role in the acclaimed show's first season. The show remained popular, and Stonestreet ended up appearing in the big-screen comedy Bad Teacher.

Trivia: Started his comedy career in Boston in the mid-1980s and soon after moved to New York City. In 2000, his first one-man show, Jerusalem Syndrome, had an extended off-Broadway run and was released as a book in 2001. A few of his comedy album titles include Not Sold Out, Tickets Still Available, and Final Engagement. Created, in 2009, the podcast WTF with Marc Maron, which featuring interviews with comedians, old friends, and acquaintances. He is often praised for creating a comfortable space on his podcast for comedians to open up about personal issues; notably in his interviews with Robin Williams and Carlos Mencia.

Trivia: Studied acting with Uta Hagen. Had a recurring role on The Big Bang Theory starting with its second series, and was promoted to series regular in 2012 for the sixth series. Plays the owner of a comic-book shop in The Big Bang Theory, and once worked at a similar establishment in New York City. Both of his parents are schoolteachers. Has appeared in more than 30 US adverts, including Eggos and FedEx.

Trivia: Multifaceted performer Nick Swardson grew up in the Minneapolis area and undertook his foray into entertainment as a standup comic, headlining dates at many nightspots in the Los Angeles area. In that venue, his material often dealt with the absurdities of life as a young adult, including drugs and sex. Swardson moved into features not simply as a comedic actor, but as a scriptwriter -- first on the Jamie Kennedy vehicle Malibu's Most Wanted (2003), then via a long-running association with Adam Sandler's Happy Madison production company, for which he scripted and acted in the comedies The Benchwarmers (2006) and Grandma's Boy (2006), and co-produced and tackled a supporting role in the Sandler-Kevin James farce I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007). On the side, Swardson also signed as one of the regulars on the popular Comedy Central series Reno 911!; he played Terry Bernardino, a gay, roller-skating prostitute. In 2007, Swardson recorded and issued a his first comedy concert album, Party. The following year, he teamed up for an onscreen role opposite Sandler in the farce You Don't Mess with the Zohan. In the years to come, Stewardson would remain active on screen, appearing on shows like Pretend Time.