Trivia: Singer-cum-actress Lucy Hale broke into show business courtesy of participation in the Fox network's short-lived, competitive reality series American Juniors (2003) -- a one-season spin-off of American Idol (with an identical setup and format) that had children and young teenagers vying with one another for pop stardom. Hale subsequently moved into acting, with a guest spot on the series How I Met Your Mother (as Robin's younger sister) and a regular role, as Becca Sommers (the computer hacker younger sister of Jaime Sommers), on the short-lived sci-fi series revival Bionic Woman (2007). In 2008, Hale essayed a supporting role in the feature The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, alongside Amber Tamblyn and America Ferrera; in the film, she plays Lena's (Alexis Bledel) sister, Effie.

Trivia: Though it's a typical trend for models to attempt acting careers in Hollywood, a close look at the career of British model-turned-actress Sienna Guillory reveals that she is anything but the "typical" case. Despite the fact that it was likely her role as a Hugo Boss girl that first got the talented and attractive blonde beauty noticed on U.S. shores, she had actually been acting long before embarking on a career as a model, and in fact, simply stumbled onto a career on the catwalks quite by accident. More content to be labeled an "actor" than a "star," the down-to-earth starlet no doubt possesses the kind of selflessness displayed by Charlize Theron in Monster that would allow her talent to take precedence over her physical appearance when the role demands it. The daughter of Cuban-born guitarist Isaac Guillory, Sienna was born in London in May of 1975; her childhood was marked by the kind of bohemian upbringing that encouraged creativity and artistic experimentation. It wasn't long before the ambitious youngster was considering a career as an actress, and in 1993, at the age of 16, Guillory landed her first role with a bit part in the cheeky, equestrian-themed U.K. miniseries Riders. Those who caught a brief glimpse of the up-and-coming talent no doubt agreed that the camera took a special shine to her, and a bit part in the U.K. period drama The Buccaneers following in short order. Guillory's appearance in The Buccaneers prompted her to study her craft more closely, but her course was somewhat altered when, at the age of 21, she accompanied a friend to the Select modeling agency and was immediately signed by the powerhouse. Though a stint as the Hugo Boss girl (not to mention campaigns for Armani and Dolce & Gabbana, to name only a few) did offer Guillory notable exposure, it did little to sway her dedication to acting, and she was soon honing her skills at the New World School of Dramatic Arts and later the Paris Conservatoire. By the time Guillory returned to the screen with a substantial role in the 2000 thriller Sorted, she had began to develop a unique style that would continue to impress in such features as Kiss Kiss (Bang Bang) and Late Night Shopping. A winning-turn as the virginal heroine of Kingsley Amis' novel A Girl Like You got Guillory positive critical notice when the television adaptation was aired in the U.K. in 2001, and it wasn't long before she had set her sights on Hollywood. If Guillory's turn as the romantic interest of lead Guy Pearce's character in the 2002 sci-fi adventure The Time Machine did little to further her career when the film generally failed to live up to expectations at the box office, she could at least take comfort in the fact that she would soon be portraying one of the most legendary beauties of all in the made-for-television adventure Helen of Troy. That film, too, was met with a somewhat lukewarm response, and though she would remain decidedly loyal to British television with roles in such efforts as 2004's Beauty, it was obvious by parts in such movies as Love Actually and Resident Evil: Apocalypse that she was eager to expand her horizons beyond typical costume drama fare and into mainstream Hollywood territory. In 2004, Guillory began preparation for roles in the fraternity-themed horror film Victims and director Keoni Waxman's Poolhall Prophets.

Trivia: After majoring in history at Columbia University, brawny Brian Dennehy (born July 9, 1938) took a string of odd jobs to pay his way through Yale Drama School, and to afford private acting lessons. His first professional break came with the Broadway production Streamers. In films and TV from 1977, Dennehy is a most versatile actor, at home playing Western baddies (Silverado), ulcerated big-city cops (F/X), serial killers (John Wayne Gacy in the made-for-TV To Catch a Killer), by-the-book military types (General Groves in Day One, another TV movie), and vacillating politicos (Presumed Innocent). One of his most rewarding film assignments was as dying architectural genius Stourley Kracklite in Peter Greenaway's The Belly of an Architect (1987).In addition to his many TV-movie roles (one of which, good-old-boy Chuck Munson in 1993's Foreign Affairs, won him a Cable Ace Award), Dennehy has starred in the weekly series Big Shamus, Little Shamus (1977), Star of the Family (1981), and Birdland (1994), as well as the sporadically produced Jack Reed feature-length mysteries. It was in one of the last-mentioned projects, Jack Reed: A Search for Justice (1994), that Dennehy made his directorial debut. Aside from his work in film and television, Dennehy has also had considerable success on the stage, particularly with his Tony-winning portrayal of Willy Loman in the 1998 Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman.The actor continued to show his range in the 1995 comedy Tommy Boy (starring David Spade and the late comedian Chris Farley), in which he became well known for his role as Big Tom Callahan, and for a voice role in Ratatouille (2007) as Django, the father of rat and aspiring chef Remy.Dennehy joined Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino in Righteous Kill, a 2008 police drama, and worked alongisde Russell Crowe in the 2010 suspense film The Next Three Days. In 2011, Dennehy played the pivotal role of Clarence Darrow in Alleged, a romantic drama set during the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial.

Trivia: British actress Julia Ormond had several solid years of stage work to her credit -- not to mention the starring role in the made-for-cable Catherine the Great biography Young Catherine (1991) -- when, at 27, she co-starred in the expensive HBO biopic Stalin (1992). Most of the publicity guns were aimed at Robert Duvall's heavily accented portrayal of the Soviet dictator, but at least one observer singled out Ormond's performance as the long-suffering Mrs. Stalin as one of the highlights of the picture. That observer was director Edward Zwick, then preparing his own big-budget theatrical feature Legends of the Fall. Thanks to her excellent showing in the formidable company of Fall co-stars Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt, Aidan Quinn, and Henry Thomas, Ormond found herself, on the verge of 30, as Hollywood's ingénue du jour. Born in Epsom, Surrey, on January 4, 1965, Ormond was a child when her parents, a businessman and a laboratory technician, divorced. A self-admitted tomboy who excelled at field hockey, she became involved with the theater in school plays, and, following a stint at art school (both of her grandparents were abstract artists), she studied drama at London's Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts. Following graduation, she landed her first professional work in TV commercials, and then acted in a series of plays until she had her breakthrough with Catherine the Great.Before 1995, her Hollywood breakthrough year, was over, the graceful, silken-haired Ormond had played Guinevere opposite Sean Connery's King Arthur in First Knight and had been cast in the title role of Sydney Pollack's ill-advised remake of Sabrina. When asked by Premiere magazine what her future plans were, Ormond replied, "Along with Godzilla and the rest of the acting community, I'd like to direct." But although she did set up her own production company, the actress opted to stick with working in front of the camera, starring in Bille August's much-publicized filmization of Peter Hoeg's best-selling Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997). Unfortunately, the film proved to be a virtual nonentity both at the box office and amongst critics, and Ormond disappeared from the radars for a couple of years, only popping up to star in Nikita Mikhalkov's Sibirsky Tsiryulnik (1999). In 2000, she reemerged in front of Hollywood cameras alongside Vince Vaughn in Prime Gig, a drama about the life, loves, and losses of a California telemarketer. She was interviewed for the documentary Searching for Debra Winger over the next few years she did show up in diverse productions ranging from David Lynch's Inland Empire to the failed thriller I Know Who Killed Me. In 2008 she was the mother in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, and appeared in the sprawling biopic Che. Two years later she was in the award-winning TV movie Temple Grandin, and the year after that she portrayed Vivien Leigh in My Week With Marilyn.

Trivia: Was gifted at doing impressions as a kid. Enrolled in acting classes at age 10. Landed first movie role in 2003's The Adventures of Ociee Nash. Played the older brother of Johnny Cash in the Oscar-winning Walk the Line. Nabbed the lead male role in Hannah Montana: The Movie opposite Miley Cyrus. Appeared as Taylor Swift's love interest in her 2009 music video "You Belong With Me." Acted alongside childhood hero Jackie Chan in 2010's The Spy Next Door. In 2011 won the coveted role of Havok in the X-Men movie franchise. By age 25 had produced three feature films. Plays the title role in CBS's 2016 MacGyver reboot.

Trivia: Jake Abel began signing for television and film roles in his late teens. Despite a deceptively clean-cut appearance, Abel specialized (at least initially) in portrayals of super-intense, conniving, slimy young men with more than a few ulterior motives. He was particularly memorable on the short-lived, prime-time science fiction drama Threshold (as a deeply disturbed adolescent whose exposure to an audio signal gave him super strength) and as a slightly sadistic coach who gets the surprise of his life when he challenges a young female figure skater to a game of hockey in the Disney-produced feature Go Figure (2005). In 2007, Abel signed for two of his first major feature roles: one in the raunchy stoner comedy Strange Wilderness (2008) and a much different supporting turn as the son of an inventor (Greg Kinnear) who gets bilked out of a fortune by the auto industry in the biopic Flash of Genius (2008). In 2010, he played the supporting role of Luke Castellan in Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, later reprising his role in the 2013 sequel, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. Abel's résumé also includes appearances on such programs as Summerland, CSI: Miami, Cold Case, ER, Supernatural and Grey's Anatomy.

Trivia: A man with a gift for wringing laughter from commonplace situations, Cedric the Entertainer has parlayed a career as one of the top standup comics in America into a steadily growing resumé as an actor in film and television. Born Cedric Kyles in 1964, Cedric the Entertainer adopted his stage name early on in his career; having also worked as a singer and dancer, Cedric wanted audiences to know he was more than just another comedian, though after being named "most humorous" in his high school graduating class, he seemed destined early on to be best known for his wit. Cedric's career as a standup comic got its first major boost when he won the "Johnny Walker National Comedy Contest" in Chicago. This led to regular gigs at nightclubs in his hometown of St. Louis, and a victory in another Chicago comedy competition. With plenty of experience in the Midwest under his belt, Cedric began touring comedy clubs around the United States, and in 1993, he scored his first regular spot on television, as the host of the BET series Comicview. While touring the Southwest, Cedric dropped by a club in Dallas, TX, where the headlining act was not going over with the audience. Cedric persuaded the management to let him do a set, and his five-minute routine brought down the house. Cedric soon discovered fellow comic Steve Harvey was in the audience. The two rising stars struck up a friendship, and when Harvey scored his own sitcom, The Steve Harvey Show, in 1996, he brought Cedric along to play his friend, Cedric Jackie Robinson. Cedric was a hit on the show, and his work on the series earned him the NAACP Image Award as Best Supporting Actor on a Comedy Series three years in a row. In 1997, Cedric and Harvey joined forces with funnymen Bernie Mac and D.L. Hughley for a concert tour. Billed as The Kings of Comedy, the tour was a major success, selling out large venues across the country and grossing 37 million dollars over a two-year run. After his success on The Steve Harvey Show and with the Kings of Comedy tour, it was inevitable that Hollywood would come calling, and Cedric scored his first screen role in 1998 in the comedy Ride. The Original Kings of Comedy, a concert film shot by Spike Lee during a tour stop in North Carolina, hit theaters in 2000, and Cedric was also seen that year in the Martin Lawrence vehicle Big Momma's House. In 2001, Cedric scored a supporting role in the comedy-drama Kingdom Come, and did voice work for Dr. Dolittle 2 as well as the animated television series The Proud Family.As one of the stars of 2002's Barbershop, Cedric showed Hollywood that he could deliver a major box-office hit, and larger film roles soon followed. After a scene-stealing turn in the Coen Brothers' 2003 Intolerable Cruelty, Cedric geared up for what looked to be his biggest year to date. 2004 saw the comedian with starring roles in the sequel to Barbershop, Johnson Family Vacation, and the big-screen adaptation of the classic sitcom The Honeymooners, as well as prominent supporting parts in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, with Jim Carrey and Meryl Streep, and Be Cool, the long-awaited sequel to Get Shorty.He lent his distinctive voice to a number of animated projects including the Madagascar films and the live-action Charlotte's Web. He also acted in projects as diverse as Talk to Me, Code Name: The Cleaner, Cadillac Records, and Tom Hanks' sophomore directorial effort Larry Crowne.When not making people laugh in person or onscreen, Cedric has an interest in charitable work, and in St. Louis he's established the Cedric the Entertainer Charitable Foundation, which helps to fund youth scholarships and family outreach programs in his hometown.

Trivia: Studied Musical Theatre and was part of the Drama Intensive Program in high school. Was trained as a Wing Chun Kung Fu practitioner. Brought his mother to the NAACP Awards in Los Angeles in 2017. Plays the brother of Preston Terry (played by his real life brother, Stephan James) on the series Shots Fired.