Trivia: Equally adept at sober drama and over-the-top comedy, Michael Keaton has a knack for giving ordinary guys an unexpected twist. This trait ultimately made him an ideal casting choice for Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, and it has allowed him to play characters ranging from Mr. Mom's discontented stay-at-home dad to Pacific Heights's raging psychopath.The youngest of seven children, Keaton was born Michael Douglas on September 5th, 1951 in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania on September 9, 1951. After two years of studying speech at Kent State University, he dropped out and moved to Pittsburgh. While working a number of odd jobs--including a stint as an ice cream truck driver--Keaton attempted to build a career as a stand-up comedian, which proved less than successful. He ended up working as a cameraman for the Pittsburgh PBS station, a job that led him to realize he wanted to be in front of the camera, rather than behind it. Following this realization, Keaton duly moved out to Los Angeles, where he joined the L.A. Branch of Second City and began auditioning. When he started getting work he changed his last name to avoid being confused with the better-known actor of the same name, taking the name "Keaton" after seeing a newspaper article about Diane Keaton. He began acting on and writing for a number of television series, and he got his first big break co-starring with old friend Jim Belushi on the sitcom Working Stiffs (1979). Three years later, he made an auspicious film debut as the relentlessly cheerful owner of a morgue/brothel in Night Shift. The raves he won for his performance carried over to his work the following year in Mr. Mom, and it appeared as though Keaton was on a winning streak. Unfortunately, a series of such mediocre films as Johnny Dangerously (1984) and Gung Ho (1985) followed, and by the time Tim Burton cast him as the titular Beetlejuice in 1988, Keaton's career seemed to have betrayed its early promise. Beetlejuice proved Keaton's comeback: one of the year's most popular films, it allowed him to do some of his best work in years as the ghoulish, revolting title character. His all-out comic performance contrasted with his work in that same year's Clean and Sober, in which he played a recovering drug addict. The combined impact of these performances put Keaton back in the Hollywood spotlight, a position solidified in 1989 when he starred in Burton's Batman. Initially thought to be a risky casting choice for the title role, Keaton was ultimately embraced by audiences and critics alike, many of whom felt that his slightly skewed everyman appearance and capacity for dark humor made him perfect for the part. He reprised the role with similar success for the film's 1992 sequel, Batman Returns. Despite the acclaim and commercial profit surrounding Keaton's work in the Batman films, many of his subsequent films during the 1990s proved to be disappointments. My Life (1993), Speechless (1994), and The Paper (1994) were relative failures, despite star casting and name directors, while Multiplicity, a 1996 comedy featuring no less than four clones of the actor, further demonstrated that his name alone couldn't sell a movie. Some of Keaton's most successful work of the 1990s could be found in his roles in two Elmore Leonard adaptations, Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown (1997) and Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight (1998). An ATF agent in the former and Jennifer Lopez's morally questionable boyfriend in the latter, he turned in solid performances as part of a strong ensemble cast in both critically acclaimed films. In 1999, Keaton went back to his behind-the-camera roots, serving as the executive producer for Body Shots. Keaton continued to act throughout the early 2000s, and starred in Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005) alongside Lindsay Lohan. the actor took on another vehicle-oriented role when he agreed to voice the character of Chris Hicks in Pixar's Cars (2006). In 2010, Keaton voiced the Ken doll in Toy Story 3. Keaton enjoyed an unexpected career renaissance in 2014 playing the lead in Birdman, an older actor trying to stage a comeback by putting on a Broadway production. His work in the film was widely praised, and he earned his first Academy Award nomination when he was given a nod in the Best Actor category.

Trivia: The character that Gedde Watanabe is most remembered for is no doubt Long Duk Dong, the spastic foreign exchange student in Sixteen Candles (1984) whose drunken fall from a tree and laughable bastardization of the English language had ninth graders of the day rolling in theater aisles. Though a few major roles followed soon after, Watanabe ultimately fell victim to the comic typecasting machine, rendering his talents muted in favor of the stereotypical "humorous foreign-guy" roles in which he would repeatedly stumble through the cursed paces of his former footprints.It seems ironic that the actor who is remembered for these roles is a native not of Japan or some far away shore, but of Ogden, UT. Though his roles have expanded in their nature somewhat in recent years, Watanabe, a fine comic actor with a certain warm sincerity, has appeared frequently in major releases, though usually a little further down the credit list. Studying acting at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, CA, Watanabe also possesses a notable talent for crooning, appearing early on as an original cast member of Sondheim's Pacific Overtures in the 1970s.After his breakout role in Candles, Watanabe continued to riff on his likeable but mechanical Japanese-guy persona with humorous roles in UHF (1989) and, perhaps most notably, Gung-Ho (1986) and the short-lived television series of the same name that followed. Bit parts in television and film followed fairly frequently, often appearing in such television series as ER and doing voice-over work for such animated series as The Simpsons and Batman: Beyond. The late '90s showed promise for Watanabe with a couple of small yet stereotype-busting roles in Guinevere and EdTV (both 1999).

Trivia: There's no mystery concerning the hometown of George Wendt. The heavyset, curly haired actor never misses a talk show opportunity to cheer on his beloved Chicago "Cubbies" or "Da Bears." After theater work in Chicago and New York and a handful of TV appearances on sitcoms like M*A*S*H and Alice, Wendt inaugurated his signature role of burly, unemployed barfly Norm Peterson on TV's long-running Cheers (1983-1993); so far as it can be determined, he still hasn't paid his bar tab, which according to TV Guide totalled up to 64,218 dollars at the end of 11 seasons. He starred in the short-lived The George Wendt Show, and continued to work steadily on both the small and big screen in a variety of projects including Spice World, Outside Providence, Teddy Bears' Picnic, and Edmond. He also reprised his iconic role of Norm on an episode of the successful Cheers spinoff Frasier.

Trivia: Mimi Rogers spent her youth moving around with her family to various parts of the U.S. and England; she settled in Los Angeles. Graduating from high school at age 14, she became involved with community work and working with drug addicts, Vietnam vets, and the mentally retarded. She didn't begin acting until her early 20s. Rogers debuted onscreen in Blue Skies Again (1983) as the manager of a girl who wants to join a baseball team. She didn't make another film for three years, meanwhile working extensively on TV; she had regular roles on the TV series "Paper Dolls" and "The Rousers," made guest appearances on a number of shows, and appeared in a few TV movies. She began making her reputation as a screen actress with her portrayal of a Manhattan heiress in Ridley Scott's Someone to Watch Over Me (1987), her fourth film. Most of her films have been unsuccessful, and she has yet to attain star status. For three years she was married to actor Tom Cruise.

Trivia: One of the top character actors of his era, John Turturro is a fixture of the contemporary American independent filmmaking landscape. Born February 28, 1957, in Brooklyn, NY, Turturro became fascinated by movies during childhood, and after graduating from college he won a scholarship to study at the prestigious Yale School of Drama. He first gained notice in regional theater and off-Broadway, earning an Obie Award for his starring role in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. He made his film debut in Martin Scorsese's 1980 masterpiece Raging Bull but did not reappear onscreen prior to 1984's The Exterminator 2. That same year, he debuted on Broadway in Death of a Salesman.Small roles in diverse fare including Susan Seidelman's 1985 comedy Desperately Seeking Susan, Scorsese's 1986 drama The Color of Money, and Woody Allen's masterful Hannah and Her Sisters kept Turturro busy throughout much of the decade, but his breakthrough performance did not arrive until Spike Lee cast him as a bigoted pizzeria worker in 1989's Do the Right Thing. A scene-stealing turn in the Coen brothers' 1990 gangland drama Miller's Crossing followed, and in 1991 the Coens cast him as the titular Barton Fink, a performance which garnered Best Actor honors at the Cannes Film Festival. Subsequent lead roles were infrequent, although in 1992 he wrote, directed, and starred in Mac, a little-seen indie feature that won him a Golden Camera award for Best First Feature at the 1992 Cannes Festival. Supporting turns in acclaimed offerings including Quiz Show, Clockers, and Grace of My Heart (in which he expertly portrayed a Phil Spector-like music producer) followed before Turturro's next starring role, in Tom DiCillo's whimsical 1996 comedy Box of Moonlight. In 1998, the actor again collaborated with both Lee and the Coen brothers, working with the former on He Got Game and the latter on The Big Lebowski. Also in 1998, Turturro wrote, directed, produced, and starred in Illuminata, a comedy set against the backdrop of a struggling, turn-of-the-century New York theater company. The following year, he again took on the New York theater, appearing in Tim Robbins' Cradle Will Rock, an exploration of the relationship between art and politics set in 1930s New York.He remained an in-demand character actor, as well as an occasional director into the next century, starting the 2000s with a leading role in the chess drama The Luzhin Defence, reteaming with the Coen brothers for O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and working with Adam Sandler on Mr. Deeds. In 2004 he worked for Spike Lee yet again in She Hate Me. In 2005 he wrote, directed, and acted in the blue-collar musical Romance & Cigarettes. He appeared in The Good Shepherd in 2006, and the next year he appeared in the sci-fi blockbuster Transformers. In 2008 he joined up with Lee yet again to play a soldier in his World War II film Miracle At. St. Anna, and teamed with Sandler again for You Don't Mess With the Zohan. The next year he appeared in the remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, and the Transformers sequel. He would return to that franchise for the third film in 2011, and that same year he would join the Pixar family voicing Lightnin' McQueen's rival in Cars 2.

Trivia: Versatile Japanese character actor So Yamamura made his first film appearance in 1946. Six years later he launched the directing phase of his career with the Eisenstein-influenced The Crab Canning Ship. In 1958, he made the first of a handful of English-language appearances in John Huston's Barbarian and the Geisha (1958). So Yamamura's later screen assignments include the roles of Admiral Yamamoto in the Japanese-American Pearl Harbor re-enactment Tora Tora Tora (1970) and taciturn auto executive Sakamoto in director Ron Howard's 1985 comedy Gung Ho.

Trivia: Character actor, onscreen from the '60s.

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

Trivia: The son of actors, juvenile performer Clint Howard began showing up on screen in the mid-1960s, usually in the TV series and feature films co-starring his older brother Ron Howard. Clint's best-known TV guest appearances include the part of Balok in the 1966 Star Trek episode "The Corbomite Maneuver," and his vivid portrayal of a youthful prognosticator in the opening installment of Night Gallery's 1971-72 season. He was starred in the 1967 Ivan Tors theatrical feature Gentle Giant and in that property's TV-series spin-off Gentle Ben. Upon attaining adulthood, Howard was mostly consigned to character parts; he has also been featured in the films directed by his brother Ron Howard, from Eat My Dust (1978) to Apollo 13 (1995).

Trivia: Born in Alaska, blonde actress Michelle Johnson had to journey to an entirely different hemisphere to attain screen stardom. Cast as Michael Caine's topless teenaged amour in 1984's Blame it On Rio, Johnson received excellent notices, most of which forecast a long and fabulous career for the 19-year-old actress (reviewers barely paid attention to Johnson's young co-star Demi Moore). Since Rio, however, Johnson has made do with a number of forgettable potboilers, with a few scattered appearances in such A-pics as Gung Ho (1986) and Far and Away (1992). On television, Michelle Johnson was seen in the pilot for the 1987 Fox Network series Werewolf (1987), and has evinced a predilection for appearing in TV movies based on spectacular murder trials: she was cast in both films based on the Betty Broderick case, as well as the 1994 dramatization of the Mendendez Brothers imbroglio.

Trivia: Encouraged by better-than-average success as a stage performer in such plays as Mister Roberts and The Seven Year Itch, American actor Rance Howard decided to try his luck in Hollywood. Talent, however, meant less than star appeal in Tinseltown, thus Howard was confined to small roles which took only minimal advantage of his abilities. Howard's wife Jean was also an actress, but retired to raise their son Ron (both mother and child appeared in the 1956 Western Frontier Woman). Ron was photogenic enough to attain supporting parts on various TV shows and films, leading to a regular role as Opie on The Andy Griffith Show (1960). Those cynics who believe that Rance Howard forced his son into acting in order to create a meal ticket are referred to a well-known anecdote concerning the earliest years of the Griffith program. Little Ron decided to test his value by throwing a temper tantrum -- whereupon Rance took the boy aside, gave him a spanking, and told his son that if he didn't want to act like a professional he'd have to go home and forget about acting. While Rance certainly did not rely on Ron's fame alone to get work (he remained a busy stage actor), it is true that Ron recommended his dad for supporting roles in such films as The Music Man (1962) and The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), both of which featured the younger Howard. When child star Ronny Howard became A-list film director Ron Howard in the '80s he continued casting both dad Rance and younger brother Clint Howard in Splash (1984) and other films. Rance Howard remained a reliable general purpose actor well into the 2000s.

Trivia: Actress Jean Speegle Howard is the mother of actor/director Ron Howard. Although she largely retired from acting in the 1950s, she occasionally appears in films directed by her son.