Trivia: Since her first leading role, as a convict's loyal girlfriend, in her friend Rob Weiss' debut film Amongst Friends (1993), Mira Sorvino has been on the fast track to stardom, playing a wide variety of multifaceted characters. Her breakthrough role displayed her willingness and ability to take on unusual parts; Sorvino shocked and delighted audiences as a crass New York streetwalker in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (1995). The stretch paid off, not only did her performance steal the show, it also earned Sorvino an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.Born in Tenafly, NJ, on September 28, 1967, Sorvino is the daughter of character actor Paul Sorvino, best known for roles in films like Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990). Initially, her father attempted to steer Sorvino and her two siblings away from the acting profession. He was particularly adamant that his offspring not do any professional acting during childhood, so Sorvino contented herself with appearing in various school productions. Following her high school graduation, she earned a degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard University; she spent one year of her education as an exchange student in Beijing, China, where she became fluent in Mandarin. Upon graduation, Sorvino still wanted to act and she moved to New York to pursue her career. Between small acting gigs, she waited tables and worked as a production assistant until 1992, when Weiss hired her as a third assistant director on the low-budget, independent Amongst Friends. She proved so adept at her job that he promoted her to associate producer and eventually cast her as his leading lady. She appeared in two short films, Susan Seidelman's The Dutch and the satirical The Second Greatest Story Ever Told (both 1993), in which she played a contemporary Virgin Mary. In 1994, Whit Stillman hired her to play a two-faced party girl in Barcelona, while Robert Redford cast her as Rob Morrow's wife in Quiz Show. After winning her Oscar for her performance in the following year's Mighty Aphrodite, Sorvino started finding steady work in Hollywood. After a turn as Matt Dillon's anorexic girlfriend in Beautiful Girls (1996) and an Emmy nomination for her performance in the made-for-TV Norma Jean and Marilyn (1996), Sorvino went on her first big-budget outing as a scientist trying to save New York from giant cockroaches in Mimic. Unfortunately, the film was rejected by critics and audiences alike. Her other major project that year, the comedy Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, attained a level of cult status thanks to its 1980s soundtrack and over-the-top costumes. The following year, Sorvino made two small, offbeat features -- Paul Auster's Lulu on the Bridge and Wonsuk Chin's Too Tired to Die, which cast her as Death -- and another big-budgeted action thriller, The Replacement Killers. Starring opposite Hong Kong action star Chow Yun-Fat, Sorvino was able to put her past experiences in China and her fluency in Mandarin to use; unfortunately, critics and audiences alike had little use for the film. In 1999, Sorvino decided to try her hand at romantic drama, starring opposite Val Kilmer in At First Sight. The multi-handkerchief weepie was something of a critical and commercial disappointment, although Sorvino did win some positive attention for her performance as the architect who helps restore her blind lover's sight. Later that year, she won more acclaim for her starring role as John Leguizamo's estranged wife in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam, a story revolving around the long, hot summer of 1977, when New York was terrorized by serial killer David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz.Little seen performances in a made for television adaptation of The Great Gatsby and the period comedy The Triumph of Love found Sorvino's star dimming in stateside theaters in 2001, though her supporting performance in Tim Blake Nelson's acclaimed holocaust drama The Grey Zone served as a notable reminder of what the young starlet was truly capable of when given the opportunity. A pair of bombs both domestic and foreign dropped in the year that followed, and after appearing opposite Glitter star Mariah Carey in Wisegirls Sorvino's Semana Santa somehow managed to get even worse reviews that even Carey's afformentioned solo effort. Of course by this point Sorvino had almost mastered the art of balancing the bad with the good, and her portrayal of a conflicted war photographer in Between Strangers at least drew fair reviews. By this point stateside fans were likely left wondering whether Sorvino had forsaken her film career for a behind-the-scenes approach to filmmaking, and although she had indeed stepped into the producer's chair with Griffin Dunne's 2000 comedy drama Famous she returned to the silver screen in a big way with a role in the sweeping civil war drama Gods and Generals. As she prepared for roles in the sci-fi thriller The Final Cut and the large scale adventure Instant Karma, Sorvino appeared to be edging towards something of a comeback on stateside screens. Fans eager to catch a glimpse of the actress were pleasantly surprised when Sorvino turned in a winning guest appearance in the popular sitcom Will and Grace in 2003. later turning up on the popular prime time drama House, Sorvino continued to maintain momentum in her film career with roles in Multiple Sarcasms, Union Square, and her father Paul's 2012 feature directorial debut The Trouble with Cali.

Trivia: Possessing the kind of tall, dark good looks that could easily get him mistaken for David Duchovny's British brother, Jeremy Northam has impressed transatlantic audiences as the type of actor who can make everything from giant cockroaches to Jane Austen look sexy.The fourth child of two Cambridge University professors, Northam was born in Cambridge on December 1, 1961. Following his family's move to Bristol in 1972, he got his first taste of the theatrical world when he took a backstage job at a local playhouse. He went on to study English at London University, but after deciding that acting was his true vocation, left school to pursue his career. Drama studies at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, a stint as a singing waiter, and a role in the 1987 TV movie Suspicion followed. In 1989, Northam got his first -- albeit unexpected -- big break when, as an understudy in a production of Hamlet, he took over at the last minute for Daniel Day-Lewis, who suffered a nervous breakdown one night during his performance as the title character. Receiving positive notices for his impromptu portrayal, the actor found further acclaim the following year, with his performance as Edward Voysey in the Royal National Theatre's production of The Voysey Inheritance. Northam won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Newcomer for his work, and after appearing in 1992's Wuthering Heights and the 1995 Canadian feature Voices, he traveled to Los Angeles, where he landed a leading role in The Net (1995) within five days of his arrival. Playing Jack Devlin, Northam managed to make a mark on audiences as the charismatic villain who tries to off heroine Sandra Bullock while still finding time to sleep with her. Later that year, the actor appeared as a ne'er-do-well of a different sort, when he played one of Dora Carrington's army of lovers in Carrington. Although his role was essentially limited to a brief maritime seduction of the illustrious lady (played by Emma Thompson), Northam had already landed the considerably more substantial part of Mr. Knightley in Douglas MacGrath's 1996 adaptation of the Austen novel Emma. Starring opposite Gwyneth Paltrow, Northam won both critical praise and the distinction of being that year's thinking woman's luxury import.The following year, the actor played a supporting role in Steven Spielberg's Amistad and then went on to explore completely different territory with a turn as Mira Sorvino's husband in the big-budget giant cockroach thriller Mimic. In 1998, Northam played another married man when he starred as Parker Posey's husband in the romantic comedy The Misadventures of Margaret. He then returned to the world of corsets and BBC English, first as a lawyer in David Mamet's 1999 adaptation of Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy and then as An Ideal Husband in Oliver Parker's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play. Having gotten the gentrified leading man role down to an science, Northam next went in an entirely different direction as a con man forced to pose as accomplice Steve Zahn's gay lover in a small Texas town in Happy, Texas, which had its premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.

Trivia: Rugged leading man Josh Brolin was raised on a horse ranch in California, a fact that would come to inform his persona as an actor in years to come. But when the 17 year old made his big-screen debut in 1985's The Goonies, most viewers knew him as the son of actor James Brolin. The younger Brolin didn't shy away from his Hollywood roots, and when he relocated to L.A. to pursue an acting career, he moved in with his dad while he studied the craft under the esteemed Stella Adler. He soon followed his appearance in The Goonies with a lead role in the series Private Eye, and though the show didn't last, Brolin decided to stay in TV, starring in the Western series Young Riders. The show ended its three-year run in 1992, when Brolin's marriage to Alice Adair ended as well, and Brolin seemed intent on flying under the radar for the next several years, pursuing mostly smaller, independent projects like My Brother's War and Mimic. In 2007, he caught on with a new core group of fans when he played the sinister Doc Block in Robert Rodriguez's instant cult favorite Planet Terror, one half of the Grindhouse double feature. Later that same year, however, he would be reintroduced to audiences on a much huger scale when he took the lead role in the Coen brothers' highly acclaimed No Country for Old Men. The sleeper film would become one of the biggest films of the year, winning the Oscar for Best Picture and making Brolin a household name for the first time in over a decade.Brolin next signed on to play the title role in W., Oliver Stone's satirical biopic about president George W. Bush. Buzz gathered around the project before so much as a trailer was released, praising the actor's complete transformation into what had originally seemed like a strange role for him to play. Although the buzz was that he would garner some awards for his role as the 43rd President, it turned out that a different political film from 2008 would bring him the biggest accolades of his career. His portrayal of Dan White, the man who assassinated Harvey Milk, in Gus Van Sant's Milk garnered Brolin his first Academy Award nomination, as well as a nod from the Screen Actors Guild.In 2010 he would play the title character in the adaptation of the comic book Jonah Hex, but he would find much greater success as the dastardly Tom Chaney in the Coen brothers remake of True Grit. He shares a very funny story in the 2011 documentary Woody Allen: A Documentary. In 2012 he stepped into the successful Men In Black franchise with MiB3, playing a younger version of Tommy Lee Jones's character. He next appeared in Gangster Squad, opposite Ryan Gosling, and took on the lead in the 2013 English language remake of Oldboy. Brolin joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing the villainous Thanos, first in Guardians of the Galaxy and later reprising his role in other films in the MCU. In 2014, he also appeared in the Sin City sequel A Dame to Kill For and Inherent Vice. He later took a role in the disaster film, Everest, based on the real-life disaster the occurred on the mountain in 1996.

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: Of Italian/Syrian heritage, Pittsburgh native F. Murray Abraham attended the University of Texas, then studied acting under Uta Hagen in New York. The peripatetic Abraham made his stage debut in a Los Angeles production of Ray Bradbury's The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, and, shortly before reaching the age of 29, made his New York bow in The Fantasticks. An archetypal example of the "working actor," Abraham managed for more than ten years to make a good living at his craft without ever truly achieving fame. Appearing on television in everything from All in the Family to Kojak, he was seen on several commercials, including a now-famous spot for Fruit of the Loom underwear. His big-screen roles include 1975's The Sunshine Boys (a garage mechanic); 1976's All the President's Men (one of the arresting officers at the Watergate Hotel); 1976's The Ritz (a gay bathhouse patron); and 1978's The Big Fix (a fugitive '60s activist). Abraham's "overnight" stardom came about in 1984, when he was cast as the covetous Antonio Salieri in Amadeus, and his brilliant, bravura performance won him an Oscar. Abraham remained busy throughout the 1980s and '90s, appearing in such efforts as The Name of the Rose (1986), in which he played a 14th century monk deliberately made up to look like a "living gargoyle," and the otherwise awful Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), in an uncredited, albeit pivotal, role of a prosecuting attorney. One of the most versatile actors in the business, Abraham has nonetheless never quite escaped the long shadow cast by his unforgettable portrayal of Salieri. Indeed, in Arnold Schwarzenegger's genre spoof The Last Action Hero, Abraham was pinpointed as the mystery murderer because he looked just like "the guy that killed Mozart." Once again hamming it up in that same year's National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Abraham frequently alternated big-budget Hollywood fare and more low-key, performance driven dramas and comedies through the remainder of the decade. While appearances in such films as Mimic (1997) and Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) kept Abraham a familiar face to a new generation of moviegoers, roles in such small screen efforts as Dead Man's Walk (1996) and the following year's The Color of Justice allowed him a venue to display his true skills. In 1995 Abraham portrayed famed gangster Al Capone in not one but two films; Dillinger and Capone and Baby Face Nelson. Heading into the new millennium with roles in Finding Forrester and 13 Ghosts, Abraham appeared alongside an impressive cast in The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Later schlocking it up in the nature run amuck flicks Blood Monkey and Shark Swarm, the longtime actor subsequently proved he was still as versatile as ever while gravitating toward television with roles on such popular shows as Bored to Death, Louie, and The Good Wife, as well as the made-for-TV fantasy Beauty and the Beast.

Trivia: A male model-turned-actor, Norman Reedus is almost as recognizable from his hipster, late-'90s print ads for Prada clothes as for his collection of movie psychos. After leaving home at a young age, Reedus lived in London and Japan before landing in California. Supporting himself with various jobs, including fixing motorcycles, Reedus finally got his acting break in 1997. After a bit part in the Mira Sorvino horror film Mimic, Reedus captured critical attention as a creepy hitman in the independent black comedy Six Ways to Sunday. Playing off the sharply scruffy good looks that simultaneously made him the male face for ultra-fashionable clothing designer Prada, Reedus again took a walk on the wild side as a mysterious stranger in the indie Dark Harbor (1998) and as a prisoner in Joel Schumacher's reviled snuff film thriller 8MM (1999). Lead roles in the independent cop movie Boondock Saints (2000), opposite Willem Dafoe, and in the teensploitation movie Gossip (2000), as a malevolent college student, subsequently landed Reedus on Vanity Fair's April 1999 cover featuring young stars to watch. Gossip's poor reception, as well as the low profile of Boondock Saints and Reedus' other indie films -- including I'm Losing You (1999) and Preston Tylk (2000) -- did not make good on the Vanity Fair promise. And although Reedus followed up with three more films with similarly dismal returns, his re-teaming with Mimic director Guillermo Del Toro found Reedus back in blockbuster territory with his turn as a vampire hunter's technical assistant in Blade II (2002). Reedus has a son with Danish supermodel/companion Helena Christensen.

Trivia: You may not recognize his face on first (or even second) glance, but chances are if you're a fan of film and television you're already more familiar with Doug Jones than you realize. A master of disguise who could be equated to a modern-day Boris Karloff, Jones can frequently be spotted under some of the most elaborate special-effects makeup ever to appear on camera and has an uncanny ability to instill his characters with a soulful sense of personality that simply isn't achievable through computer-generated animation. Jones was born in Indianapolis, IN, the youngest of four brothers and raised on the city's northeast side. Upon graduating from Bishop Chatard High School, Jones enrolled in Ball State University to study telecommunications and theater. It was there that Jones first took to miming, and his skill as a contortionist soon lead to frequent commercial work (one of his earliest successes was being cast as the popular "Mac Tonight" character in a prominent, mid-'80s McDonald's advertising campaign). While a stint in the Indiana theater circuit helped Jones to get comfortable performing in front of an audience, it wasn't until moving to Los Angeles in 1985 that he would become a regular fixture in the worlds of film and television. Early film roles for Jones included bit parts in Batman Returns, Hocus Pocus, and Tank Girl, with a small role in emerging Mexican director Guillermo del Toro's sophomore effort, Mimic (1997), serving to launch an enduring and fruitful partnership. An appearance by Jones as one of the terrifying "Gentlemen" in an Emmy-nominated Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode entitled "Hush" proved a highlight of the entire series. In the following year, Jones would appear in such prolific box-office blockbusters as Men in Black II and The Time Machine -- his visage frequently hidden under copious amounts of prosthetic special-effects makeup. While it was Jones' remarkable ability to project emotion through layer upon layer of monster makeup that enabled him to create unusual characters whom the audience could connect with, his talents as a contortionist also allowed him to instill those characters with a strangely fluid sense of movement that made them entirely believable. While Jones' collaboration with del Toro momentarily lapsed with such efforts as The Devil's Backbone and Blade II, the release of Hellboy in 2004 found the partnership between the pair growing stronger than ever. Cast in the part of aquatic fish-man Abe Sapien, Jones proved so effective that actor David Hyde Pierce refused to take credit for voicing the role. Two short years later, Jones essayed the roles of both the titular character and the horrifying Pale Man in Del Toro's Oscar-winning fantasy film Pan's Labyrinth. Additional roles for Jones have included various imps in the movie Doom and Cesare in the 2005 "remake" The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. In 2006 and 2007, the increasingly prolific actor reprised his role as Abe Sapien in a pair of animated Hellboy tales before portraying the titular otherworldly visitor in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and preparing to bring Sapien back to the big screen in Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.