Trivia: A veteran of television, Collins Pennie began his career with a stint on As the World Turns and also guest-starred on shows like CSI: Miami and Without a Trace. He launched his big-screen career in the late 2000s with small supporting roles, including parts in Ryan Fleck's drug-laced inner-city drama Half Nelson (2006) and Nelson McCormick's slasher outing remake Prom Night (2008). In 2009, he was cast as Malik in the remake of the musical Fame.

Trivia: Actress Kristy Flores first caught audiences' attention when she was cast in the role of Rosie in the 2009 remake of Fame. A dancer since the age of 3, Flores had been competing in various dance championships for virtually her entire life when she got the chance to display her skills for the big screen.

Trivia: Asher Book began singing and dancing as a small child and got his big break in a Seattle stage production of The Prince and the Pauper. Soon, he was appearing in projects like the TV movie Pop Rocks and an episode of Zoey 101. In 2009, he was cast as Marco in the remake of the showbiz musical Fame.

Trivia: Paul Iacono began his career at the age of 4, doing an uncanny impression of Frank Sinatra for cabaret clubs. He eventually transitioned to the screen, appearing on As the World Turns and The Guiding Light. In 2009, Iacono was cast as Neil in the remake of the showbiz musical Fame.

Trivia: Actor Paul McGill caught his big break in 2009, when he was cast as aspiring performer Kevin in the remake of the showbiz musical Fame.

Trivia: Like a lot of young vocalists, Naturi Naughton started honing her skills in the church choir, singing with the congregation from the time she was five years old. In 1999, at age 15, Naughton formed the group 3LW with two friends from school, and released the single "No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)," with an album to follow the next year. The group found success with radio play and regular rotation on MTV, and went back into the studio to work on their next album, but issues with their record company put the project on hold. The group released a handful of subsequent singles before Naughton left the project, and got to work on a solo record. She also pursued a successful career on Broadway, playing Little Inez in the hit musical Hairspray from 2005-2008. Having successfully bridged the gap between music and acting, Naughton then signed on to play hip-hop icon Lil' Kim in the 2009 Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious.

Trivia: African American actress/dancer Debbie Allen had built up a solid reputation as a Broadway choreographer by the time she made her screen debut in The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979). In 1980, she created the role of demanding dance instructor Lydia Grant in Fame (1980), a role she carried over into the long-running TV series of the same name. Each and every episode of this five-season series began with Debbie addressing a roomful of students: "You want fame?...Well, fame costs. And the price is sweat." Practicing what she preached, Debbie not only co-starred in the series but directed several episodes and handled the choreography, winning a brace of Emmies in the process. She went on to be nominated for a Tony award for the 1986 Broadway revival of Sweet Charity. The older sister of Cosby Show co-star Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen has herself remained active on the small screen, in the early '90s mapping out the production numbers of the annual Academy Awards telecast and in the mid-'90s co-starring with rapper LL Cool J on the weekly NBC sitcom In the House. In 1997 she was one of the producer's of Steven Spielberg's period drama Amistad. Four years later she directed and starred in the made-for-TV drama The Old Settler opposite her sister. She played herself in the remake of the TV show Fame. She continued directing for television including episodes of That's So Raven, and the Lifetime movie biopic The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life Is Not a Fairy Tale. In 2009 she returned to her roots yet again by playing the principal of the high school for performing arts that is the setting for the 2009 big-screen remake of Fame.

Trivia: Born January 30, 195, Charles Dutton attended the Yale School of Drama, and in 1983 he first appeared off-Broadway in Richard III. Before long he was delivering Tony-calibre performances in such Broadway productions as Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and The Piano Lesson. In films since 1986's No Mercy, the forceful, thunder-voiced Dutton has been seen in movies ranging from the mirth-provoking Crocodile Dundee 2 to the spine-chilling Alien 3. In 1991, Charles Dutton began a long TV run as the star of the Fox Network sitcom Roc.Dutton became an actor while serving a seven and a half-year prison sentence for stabbing a man during a street fight. While in prison, Dutton was stabbed in the neck with an ice pick during a fight with another inmate. The incident proved to be the turning point in Dutton's life when he refused to retaliate. Shortly thereafter, he became interested in drama and while serving his sentence completed a two-year college degree course. Upon his release from prison, Dutton was admitted into the Yale School of Drama. There he studied under playwright August Wilson and director Lloyd Richards.In 2000, Dutton directed The Corner, an acclaimed miniseries from HBO adapted from David Simon and Ed Burns' novel "The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood". The Corner won several awards, including an Emmy for Best Miniseries, and Dutton himself was honored for his direction. This would not be the last Emmy he received; the actor won Emmy Awards in 2002 and 2003 for supporting roles in televisiond dramas The Practice and Without a Trace. In 2003, Dutton starred in the made-for-TV drama D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear, and continued to make appearances on popular television shows including The L Word, The Sopranos, and House, M.D. Dutton joined the cast of Threshold in 2005. While the CBS science fiction series gained a loyal following, the show was short-lived. The actor went on to appear in filmmaker John Sayles' 2007 drama Honeydripper, which follows the owner of a blues club that was revitalized by a young electric guitarist.

Trivia: For better or worse, leading actor Kelsey Grammer's name will probably forever be associated with the pompous, garrulous, and self-absorbed but lovable psychiatrist Frasier Crane, a character Grammer has played on television since he first appeared on the NBC sitcom Cheers, in 1984, as a love interest for Shelley Long. Though Frasier was not intended to become a series regular, Grammer's performance of the blowhard neurotic charmed audiences and he remained with Cheers through its 1993 demise. At the beginning of the 1993-1994 television season, Grammer's character was resurrected in his own show and moved from Boston to Seattle, where he became a radio psychologist and faced a whole slew of folks just waiting to poke metaphorical pins in his hot air balloon. Thanks to excellent performances and top-notch writing, Frasier became as big a hit as its predecessor. Grammer won three Emmy awards and was nominated for seven more (twice for Cheers, once for his guest appearance on a 1992 episode of Wings, four times for Frasier) for playing the character. Born on St. Thomas, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Grammer knew extreme tragedy in youth. Following the shooting death of his father when he was a boy, he was raised in New Jersey and then Florida, by his mother and grandfather. His grandfather died before Grammer became a teen. When he was 20, his sister was abducted and violently murdered. Five years later, he lost two half brothers in a diving accident. As a young man, Grammer found comfort in Shakespeare; with his acting debut in a high school production of The Little Foxes came an interest in pursuing drama as a career. He enrolled in Juilliard, but dropped out after two years to work at San Diego's Old Globe Theater, where he gained three years' invaluable experience performing in Shakespearean and classical dramas; afterward, Grammer performed in productions across the country. He eventually made it to Broadway, where he appeared in various productions, including Othello. Prior to playing Frasier, Grammer appeared occasionally on television and had regular roles in three soap operas, including One Life to Live. He continues to occasionally guest star on other series. Fans of the animated satire The Simpsons will recognize his periodic voice characterization as the venomous Sideshow Bob. Miniseries and telemovies in which he has appeared include London Suite and Beyond Suspicion. Grammer made his feature film debut with a small role in Top of the Hill (1989) and had his first starring role in the much-panned comedy Down Periscope (1996). In addition to his Emmy kudos, Grammer has received an American Comedy Award, two Golden Globes, and a People's Choice Award. In 1995, he published his autobiography So Far.Grammer would spend the following years taking on TV roles on shows like Back to You and Boss, but would find even more success as a producer, helping bring shows like The Game, Girlfriends, Hank, Medium, and World Cup Comedy to fruition. In 2014, he returned to acting in a big way, making a cameo appearance in X-Men: Days of Future Past, reprising his role as Beast, playing the bad guy in Transformers: Age of Extinction, and returning to television in the FX series Partners.

Trivia: Actress Megan Mullally was born in Los Angeles in 1958, to a family with show business roots -- her father, Carter Mullally Jr., was an actor who became a contract player with Paramount Pictures during the 1950s. In 1965, with Carter's career on the wane, Mullally's parents pulled up roots and moved to Oklahoma City, OK, where her family had become quite wealthy raising livestock. Megan picked up the performing bug from her father, and developed a passionate interest in music and especially dance. By the time Megan was a high school student, she'd performed as a featured soloist with the Ballet Oklahoma troupe in Oklahoma City, and during summer vacations she studied with George Balanchine's School of American Ballet in New York City. Her interest in classical dance eventually grew into a desire to act, and while attending Northwestern University, she began appearing in student theater productions. After graduating, Mullally moved to Chicago, where she immersed herself in the city's rich and varied local theater scene. In 1983, she won her first film role, playing a hooker in Risky Business, and in 1986 she relocated to Los Angeles after being cast on a television series, The Ellen Burstyn Show. However, the series proved short-lived, and Mullally was soon busying herself with guest spots on a number of different shows. Mullally continued to work in the theater, and in 1994 fulfilled a longtime dream when she scored a role in the Broadway revival of Grease. The next year, she earned a high-profile role in another noted Broadway musical, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (playing opposite Matthew Broderick), while continuing to work in television projects. Mullally's dedication and focus finally paid off in 1998, when she was cast as Karen Walker, a self-centered former socialite-turned-office assistant on the popular situation comedy series Will and Grace. A major ratings success, Will and Grace catapulted Mullally into the spotlight, and she won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe, and an American Comedy Award for her work on the show. When not busy with Will and Grace, Mullally continues to pursue other projects, playing featured roles in the films Everything Put Together and Monkeybone and starring in a one-woman musical, Sweetheart, in which she shows off her talents as a singer. (Mullally has also released an album of songs from the show, which she produced herself.)Mullally would continue her successful career on Broadway while enjoying the long running success of Will and Grace, and would go on to appear in other successful TV series as well, like In the Motherhood, Party Down, Childrens' Hospital, and Parks and Recreation.

Trivia: A versatile actress who has displayed a talent for both comedy and drama, Bebe Neuwirth is also a gifted dancer and vocalist who has won acclaim for her work on the musical stage, though she's still best known to television viewers as Lilith Sternin, Frazier Crane's tightly wound girlfriend (and later wife) on the popular comedy Cheers. Born Beatrice Neuwirth on New Year's Eve, 1958, she was raised in Princeton, NJ, where her father, Lee Neuwirth, was a mathematician and her mother, Sydney Anne Neuwirth, was an artist. Bebe began taking dance lessons at the age of five, and, while a student at Princeton High School, she began appearing in local ballet productions and community theater productions. After high school, Neuwirth studied dance at New York's prestigious Juilliard School, and in 1980 she made her professional debut as Shelia, a once-famous dancer looking to make a comeback, in a touring production of the long-running musical A Chorus Line. In 1982, Neuwirth hit Broadway in two different shows, Dancin', directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, and Little Me. In 1986, Neuwirth won the starring role in another Fosse musical, a revival of Sweet Charity, which later earned her a Tony award and cemented her reputation on Broadway. That year also marked Neuwirth's television debut (not counting a brief appearance as a member of the Whitney Dance Theater on the daytime drama The Edge of Night in 1981) with her first appearance as Lilith Sternin on Cheers; Lilith soon became a regular fixture on Cheers and Neuwirth won two Emmy awards for her work until Lilith was written out of the show (at Neuwirth's request) in 1992, to allow Neuwirth to pursue film and stage work. Lilith, however, occasionally made return visits to Cheers, and later on Kelsey Grammer's spin-off series, Frasier. Neuwirth made her feature-film debut in 1989 with a small role as a guidance counselor in Say Anything..., and while a steady stream of supporting roles followed in such films as Bugsy, Green Card, and Jumanji, she had a hard time finding screen roles which suited her edgy charm. She continued to have better luck on-stage, and in 1997 her performance in the Broadway revival of Chicago won her the Tony and Drama Desk awards. After scoring meatier roles in the films Summer of Sam and Liberty Heights, Neuwirth returned to episodic television in the well-reviewed but short-lived drama series Deadline, in which she worked alongside Oliver Platt, Lili Taylor, and Tom Conti. In 2002, Neuwirth finally scored a film role that truly suited her talents as Diane, a sexy fourtysomething woman who seduces her best friend's teenage son in the independent comedy Tadpole. She had a small part in the romantic comedy How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and in 2005 she landed a recurring role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2009 she played one of the teachers at a high school for the performing arts in the remake of Fame.

Trivia: California native Walter Perez began honing his skills as a kid, acting in homemade movies with his friends and family. Eventually turning pro, Perez began appearing on shows like Judging Amy and The District before landing the recurring role of Bobby "Bull" Reyes on the acclaimed prime time drama Friday Night Lights. He would go on to appear in movies like The Beautiful Life, Emilio, and the remake of Fame (2009).

Trivia: Kay Panabaker, the younger sister of child actress Danielle Panabaker, actually preceded her older sibling in tackling feature roles. A wunderkind to end all, Kay grew up in the Atlanta area and discovered a love for community theater at an early age, then made a swift and easy transition to Los Angeles at the behest of her agent. She landed her first major part voicing characters for the 2001 Disney/Pixar blockbuster Monsters, Inc., and subsequently assumed countless guest roles on series programs including Angel, ER, Summerland, and CSI. Like many of her teenage and preteen predecessors, however, the young actress achieved lead status via original movies on The Disney Channel -- in vehicles such as Life Is Ruff (2005) and Read It and Weep (2006). An early and much-publicized college graduation, reportedly before the age of 18, only boosted her recognition.2007, however, marked the budding actress' breakthrough year; that fall, she realized her first theatrical lead with the issue of the feature Moondance Alexander, a National Velvet-like outing about a young lady determined to turn an ordinary horse into a champion racer, despite the objections of his curmudgeonly owner (Don Johnson). At about the same time, Panabaker tackled a supporting role in the much-anticipated cinematization of Nancy Drew, adapted from the books by Carolyn Keene. She had a small part in the remake of Fame, and went on to appear in The Lake Effect, Little Birds, and Cyberbully.

Trivia: Best known for her role on the hit Disney series Hannah Montana -- as well as a role in that network's movie Camp Rock -- Anna Maria Francesca Enriquez Perez de Tagle (her full name) got her start after a successful run on Star Search 2 in 2003. That led to a number of appearances in local productions of hit musicals, which in turn landed her the gig on Hannah Montana alongside mega teen star Miley Cyrus. In addition to modeling for catalogs and magazines, she also starred in the Saturday morning kids' series Cake and voiced the role of Safety Patrol Kid for the animated series Higglytown Heroes. In 2008, de Tagle began work on her debut album, Listen...It's a Miracle. The actress would also appear in feature films like the remake of Fame.

Trivia: Cody Longo began attracting audience attention with roles on Medium and Make It or Break It, along with supporting roles in the feature films Ball Don't Lie and Bring It On: Fight to the Finish. He was later cast as Andy in the remake of the showbiz musical Fame.

Trivia: Thomas Dekker first appeared as a child actor in the mid-'90s, with a couple of television guest appearances, and then a small role in Star Trek Generations, playing Thomas Picard, the son of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in an alternate timeline. At the age of seven, he toke on a more elaborate part, playing one of the homicidal, otherworldly tykes in John Carpenter's sci-fi horror remake Village of the Damned (1995). After a couple of appearances that same year as Henry on Star Trek: Voyager, and assignments voicing anthropomorphic mouse Fievel in two direct-to-video American Tail sequels, Dekker played Nick, one of the Szalinski kids, on the TV series version of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, which ran for three seasons. He also portrayed the young pop star Donny Osmond in the 2001 telemovie Inside the Osmonds. In the ensuing years, Dekker continued to primarily work in television, in guest roles on such popular series as Boston Public and House. He also took on a recurring part in 2005 as Vincent on the long-running family drama 7th Heaven, but he didn't truly break through to major success until he was cast on the soon-to-be major hit show Heroes in 2006. Though Dekker only played the unlikely friend of indestructable cheerleader Claire Bennet, the exposure helped earn him one of his biggest roles yet, that of young hero-to-be John Connor on the heavily promoted sci-fi film-to-TV adaptation Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (premiering in 2008).Over the following years, Dekker would continue to act in movies like My Sister's Keeper and on shows like The Secret Circle.

Trivia: Supporting actor, onscreen from the early '80s.

Trivia: Supporting actress, onscreen from Opening Night (1977).

Trivia: Did some professional modeling as a child, but didn't decide on a career in acting until college. Taught himself to play the violin for his role in Fame. Sings and plays guitar in his own band.