Trivia: Rising to fame as American family man Al Bundy on the lowbrow sitcom Married...With Children, actor Ed O' Neill was the physical embodiment of almost every stereotype leveled at lower-middle-class husbands and fathers. Although many sneered at the bathroom humor and questionable taste of the series (O'Neill himself admitted that he thought the show would be canceled after a mere six episodes), his perfection in the role was undeniably effective -- so much so that it was difficult for him to avoid typecasting despite the versatility he displayed in such features as Prefontaine and The Spanish Prisoner (both 1997). Following graduation from Ursuline High School, the Youngstown, OH, native worked a series of odd jobs before studying theater and history at Ohio University College and, eventually, Youngstown State University. A talented football player, O'Neill was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969, though was cut from the team shortly thereafter. His early stage auditions weren't much more encouraging, and between minor theater roles, the acting hopeful returned to his former high school to teach social studies. He continued to dream of becoming an actor, however, so moved to New York in 1977 and studied at the famed Circle in the Square. An early break came when O'Neill, an understudy for the lead role in the Broadway play Knockout, was asked to take the stage when the original actor abandoned the production. Although O'Neill had appeared in a brief (one-line), uncredited role in 1972's Deliverance, he had his first real part as a police detective in the Al Pacino thriller Cruising in 1980. As the decade progressed, O'Neill found steady work in made-for-TV features and occasional television guest appearances. In 1986, his performance in the title role in Popeye Doyle (a real-life character memorably portrayed by Gene Hackman in The French Connection) showed him to be a confident and effective lead. During a stage performance as Lenny in Of Mice and Men in Hartford, CT, an executive from FOX happened to be in the audience. After showing the script of Married...With Children to his wife, O'Neill knew that it was not an opportunity to let pass. He landed the role with ease, and his portrayal of the bumbling Al Bundy not only formed the backbone of the series, but created a caricature of American family life which would only be matched by the likes of Homer Simpson. O'Neill appeared in several feature films during the show's ten-year run, including Dutch (1991), Wayne's World (1992), Blue Chips, and Little Giants (both 1994). As the series drew to a close in 1997, the actor began to venture outside the confines of the Bundy family living room in such unexpectedly dramatic turns as The Spanish Prisoner and The Bone Collector. O'Neill later returned to the small screen in Big Apple (2001) and a 2003 remake of Dragnet, playing policemen in both series.He appeared in the David Mamet thriller Spartan in 2004, and worked with the director again on 2008's Redbelt. He was on the short-lived HBO series John From Cincinnati in 2007. However, in 2009 he scored a major career boost as the patriarch in the ABC sitcom Modern Family. His work on the show earned him an Emmy nomination, something that never happened during his days as Al Bundy.

Trivia: It seems appropriate that Julie Bowen, an actress who helps tutor high school students in her spare time and says she usually prefers staying home with a good novel to going out to a party, would rise to fame playing Carol Vessey, the pretty and quick-witted high school teacher on the popular comedy-drama series Ed. Born Julie Bowen Luetkemeyer in Baltimore, MD, on March 3, 1970, Bowen first acquired a taste for acting as a child, when she began putting on plays with her sisters at home. Bowen developed a more serious interest in the theater while studying at Brown University, where she received a degree in Italian Renaissance studies; she appeared in a number of student theater productions, including Guys and Dolls and Lemon Sky, and in her senior year she was cast in her first film, an independent feature called Five Spot Jewel. After graduating, she began honing her craft by studying at the Actor's Institute, Shakespeare and Company, and Will Geer's Theatricum, and began pursuing a career in television, landing roles in television commercials and eventually winning a supporting role on the daytime drama Loving. She also appeared in a student film directed by Edward Burns, several years before he made his breakthrough independent feature The Brothers McMullen. In 1995, Bowen became a regular on a short-lived adventure series, Extreme, and the following year she earned a showy role in the hit comedy feature Happy Gilmore. In 1998, Bowen did a nine-episode run on E.R., before debuting on Ed in 2000, receiving enthusiastic reviews and solid ratings, finally earning her an unqualified success on television. TV would offer Bowen several more successful roles over the coming years as well, from recurring roles on Lost and Weeds, to a starring role on the legal comedy/drama Boston Legal. The quirky, humorous vibe of the show showcased Bowen's sharp sense of comedy, leading to a starring role on the hit sitcom Modern Family.

Trivia: A picture of bronze beauty whose radiant personality and unwavering devotion to family endeared her to Univision viewers when she debuted as host the popular 1995 travel series Fuera de Serie, model/actress Sofía Vergara's crossover appeal was cemented when a memorable performance on the FOX Network's 1995 American Comedy Awards launched her almost instantaneously into Hollywood stardom. Born on July 10th, 1972 in Barranquilla, Colombia, Vergara joined an extended, musically-inclined family that included five brothers and sisters in addition to many cousins, quiet and studious Vergara attended the private bilingual school Marymount while dreaming of a future career in dentistry. At the age of 18, Vergara married the man who had been her childhood sweetheart since age eleven, and soon thereafter the young couple gave birth to a baby boy. Thanks to years of hard work and intense studies it appeared as if young Vergara was at last close to realizing her childhood dream of becoming a dentist, though an innocent walk on the beach proved that fate had other things in store for the career-minded beauty. Glimpsed by a well-known photographer as she strolled the shore in her native Colombia, Vergara was soon stepping in front of the cameras to appear in a Pepsi commercial that soon made her a recognizable face across the country. A move to Bogotá two years later found Vergara making a name for herself on the runway as well as the small screen, and soon the rising starlet's popularity would spread stateside when she accepted an offer to host the globetrotting Univision series Fuera de serie. Her undeniable charm even more infectious on screen than it was in the glossy pages of high fashion magazines, Vergara was an instant hit and soon branched out as host of the weekly prime-time variety-show A Que No Te Atreves. When a brief but memorable performance at the 1995 American Comedy Awards found her appeal reaching even further beyond Spanish-speaking audiences and into the American mainstream, it didn't take long for Hollywood to come calling. In 2002, many American filmgoers got their first look at the up-and-coming actress when Vergara appeared in a supporting role in director Barry Sonnenfeld's ill-fated comedy Big Trouble. Pushed back from its original release date of 2001 due in large to sensitivities resulting from a plot involving a bomb and an airplane, Big Trouble died quickly at the box office before hastily being relegated to life on the home-video market. Though her following two films, Chasing Papi and The 24th Day, didn't fare much better at the box office, Vergara's winning performance in the high-flying 2004 comedy Soul Plane did well in showcasing both her remarkable beauty and impeccable comic timing. Her subsequent role in the animated IMAX film Robots found her stepping behind the cameras for her first voice-over role, though audiences could rest assured that in 2005 Vergara would be back in front of the lens not only in director Catherine Hardwicke's eagerly anticipated Dogtown and Z-Boys companion piece The Lords of Dogtown but the comedies Pledge This! and Grilled as well. However, Vergara is most recognizable for her starring role as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on the award winning television drama Modern Family, and would remain active over the following years with appearances in New Year's Eve (2011), The Three Stooges (2012), Machete Kills (2013) and Chef (2014). She landed her first true starring role in 2015, opposite Reese Witherspoon in Hot Pursuit.

Trivia: Tall and dark actor Ty Burrell has the kind of deep-set eyes and sharp features that make him ideal for roles such as the self-absorbed yuppie who cast a cold gaze in Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead and the authoritative yet undeniably vain plastic surgeon on the CBS sitcom Out of Practice. And while Burrell's background may indeed be in repertory theater, it is in the worlds of film and television that he has truly come into his own.Equally comfortable on screens both large and small, Burrell found his footing before the camera thanks to walk-on roles on Ellen and The West Wing before supporting performances in Ivan Reitman's Evolution and Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down singled him out as a talent to watch for on the big screen. Never one to stay away from the stage for too long a stretch, the Ashland, Oregon, native subsequently returned to the boards to star in the Signature Theatre off-Broadway production of Burn This opposite Edward Norton and Catherine Keener. While subsequent television roles in Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit served well to prepare Burrell for his regular role in the comedy series Out of Practice -- a lighthearted affair about a dysfunctional family of physicians -- big-screen roles in Dawn of the Dead, In Good Company, Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, and National Treasure: Book of Secrets virtually ensured a lasting career in film as well. In 2007, he was cast as a regular on the Kelsey Grammer/Patricia Heaton local-news sitcom Back to You as field reporter Gary Crezyzewski, but the show only lasted one season. Burrell bounced back in a big way with a prominent supporting role as Dr. Samson in the summer 2008 release The Incredible Hulk.In 2009 Burrell enjoyed his most high-profile success so far as a member of the ensemble in Modern Family, the hit ABC sitcom that would earn him a number of award nominations. On the big screen in 2010 he had a small but memorable part as a creepy morning-show host in Morning Glory, and the next year played a part in the political satire Butter as a champion butter carver.

Trivia: A native of Missoula, MT, who came of age in Albuquerque, Jesse Tyler Ferguson first cut his dramatic chops on the American stage, delivering fluid performances in such on and off-Broadway productions as On the Town, The 25th Annual Puttnam County Spelling Bee, Little Fish, and Hair. Ferguson moved into filmed work as early as 2000, with a bit part in the made-for-television opus Sally Hemings: An American Scandal, and appeared on the British situation comedy Absolutely Fabulous, before making his mark as a regular on two series: The Class (2006), as Richie Velch, a former "nerd" thrust back into a social situation with various members of his third-grade class during adulthood; and Do Not Disturb, as a housekeeper at a Manhattan hotel more preoccupied with strife at home than with sticking to the requirements of his daily grind.

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: Made feature-film debut as Howard Stern's daughter in Private Parts (1997). Played orphan Molly in Peabody Award-winning TV-movie Annie (1999), and later portrayed the titular tot in a 2002 production of Annie at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, N.J. Made Broadway debut in 2006 as a 12-year-old Jacqueline Bouvier (later Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis) in Grey Gardens: The Musical, by Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winner Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife). Has appeared with her father, Edward James Hyland, in two films (1998's The Object of My Affection and 1999's Cradle Will Rock), and with her brother, Ian, in Spanglish (2004). Suffers from kidney dysplasia and received a kidney from her father in April 2012.

Trivia: Began acting and modeling at 3 years old, following his brother, Aidan, into the business. Has studied with acting teachers Patrick Malone and Lisa Picotte in order to improve his craft. Is a collector of vintage Hot Wheels toy vehicles and Legos. Is a member of Mensa.

Trivia: Aspired to become an actor at a very young age when she wanted to crawl into the TV to actually go exploring with Dora the Explorer. First acting job was in a Cool Whip commercial. Took her first trip to Europe to act in the 2008 big-screen version of Speed Racer, which was filmed in Germany. Is an avid music fan and aspiring singer who loves to record songs with her friends in bands such as 4evercrush and WickedSweet. Favorite sports are track, soccer and tennis. Is a fan of the Twilight series of novels. Is environmentally conscious and urges young readers to "renew, reuse and recycle" in interviews.

Trivia: Moved from Texas to Los Angeles at age 6 with his mother and 11-year-old sister, Raini, when the latter wanted to pursue an acting career (their father stayed in Texas to work); after one year, despite not wanting to go to California in the first place, he liked what his sister was doing and enrolled in acting classes. Has appeared in numerous commercials, including ones for WalMart, Dodge and Blue Cross-Blue Shield. He and sister have been homeschooled.

Trivia: Joined Modern Family in season 3. Her mother was adopted as a baby from Korea, which helps her relate to her character on Modern Family. Was the youngest nominee and recipient of a Screen Actors Guild Award when the cast of Modern Family won in 2011. Supports St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

Trivia: Father, Dennis DeVine, is a conductor for the Canadian National Railway. Was in a traumatic accident at age 11 when a cement truck hit him while he was crossing the street, resulting in multiple fractures in both legs that required surgeries over three years; it took two years for him to learn to walk again. Met fellow Workaholics costar Blake Anderson while attending community college. Worked as a doorman and phone operator at the Hollywood Improv while perfecting his craft as a stand-up comic. In 2006, formed a sketch-comedy group, Mail Order Comedy, based in Los Angeles.

Trivia: Saucer-eyed actress Illeana Douglas has been regularly appearing in major films since 1987, when she debuted in the Shelley Long comedy Hello Again. The granddaughter of actor Melvyn Douglas and actress-turned-Congresswoman Helen Gahagan, Douglas was born July 25, 1965, in Massachusetts.After her film debut, the actress worked for years in relative obscurity, at one point dubbing a chilling scream for The Last Temptation of Christ. She frequently appeared in other Martin Scorsese films, most notably Goodfellas (1990) and 1991's Cape Fear. Her collaboration with the director also took place offscreen, as the two dated for years.Following roles in a number of films, including Household Saints (1993) and Quiz Show (1994), Douglas was cast in Gus Van Sant's 1995 To Die For. She won some measure of recognition and critical praise for her role as Nicole Kidman's sarcastic sister-in-law, and the following year landed the lead in Allison Anders' Grace of My Heart. Although Douglas was again praised for her work -- here portraying a Carole King-like singer/songwriter -- the film did poorly among critics and at the box office.The actress went on to do a number of made-for-TV films, including the satirical Weapons of Mass Distraction in 1997. In 1999 she had a full plate, doing both television work (appearing as a prostitute on the Fox series Action) and more film work. She appeared with Kevin Costner in Message in a Bottle before going on to make the independent film Happy, Texas, the supernatural thriller Stir of Echoes with Kevin Bacon, and Can't Stop Dancing, a comedy in which she acted alongside Margaret Cho and Janeane Garofalo.She had a fine turn in the well-reviewed indie Ghost World, and a small turn in the infamous turkey The Adventures of Pluto Nash. She had major roles in Dummy and Factory Girl, and in 2007 she joined the cast of the hit ABC series Ugly Betty. In addition to her acting career, she has directed, written, and starred in a number of shorts and web series.

Trivia: Born in the Midwest and educated in the military, actor Fred Willard has proven his talent for improvisational comedy on the stage, television, and the big screen. His characters are frequently grinning idiots or exaggerated stereotypes, but Willard's skillful timing has always added a unique spin. An alumni of Second City in Chicago, he's worked with many of the biggest-named comedians of his time. His early TV credits include a regular stint on The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour, a supporting part on the sitcom Sirota's Court, and the role of Jerry Hubbard, sidekick of TV talk-show host Barth Gimble (Martin Mull) in the satirical Fernwood 2Night. He went on to appear in subsequent incarnations of Fernwood and continued to work with Mull and his gang for the next few decades. In the early '80s, he hosted the actuality series Real People and co-hosted the talk show Thicke of the Night. Some of his small, yet memorable, performances in feature comedies included President Fogerty in National Lampoon Goes to the Movies; the garage owner in Moving Violations who's mistaken for a doctor; the air force officer in This Is Spinal Tap; and Mayor Deebs in Roxanne. Doing a lot of guest work on television, he was also involved in Martin Mull's The History of White People in America series and was the only human actor amid a cast of puppets on the strange show D.C. Follies. In the '90s, he worked frequently in the various projects of fellow satirists Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, and the like. He was travel agent Ron Albertson in Waiting for Guffman, TV announcer Buck Laughlin in Best in Show, and manager Mike LaFontaine in A Mighty Wind. He also appeared in Eugene Levy's Sodbusters, Permanent Midnight with Ben Stiller, and showed up in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. On television, he picked up a regular spots on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Roseanne (as Martin Mull's lover), and Mad About You, along with voice-over work on numerous cartoons. He also received an Emmy nomination for his role as Hank McDougal on Everybody Loves Raymond. Since 2000, he has shown up in quite a few mainstream commercial films, including The Wedding Planner, How High, and American Wedding; but he also played Howard Cosell in the TV movie When Billie Beat Bobby. Projects for 2004 include Anchor Man: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.IHe also joined up with his Mighty Wind and Waiting for Guffman castmates again in 2006 with For Your Consideration, a satire of Hollywood self importance injected with Willard's trademark clever silliness. The next year he appeared in the spoof Epic Movie, as well as the romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman. He was in the Pixar sci-fi film WALL-E, and had a role in the 2009 comedy Youth In Revolt. In 2012 he starred in Rob Reiner's The Magic of Belle Isle opposite Morgan Freeman.

Trivia: Born in Oregon and raised on an Indian reservation, actor Justin Kirk started his career at a very young age. After studying at the Children's Theatre School in Minnesota, he lived in New York City working as a struggling actor and hotel bellboy. One of his first off-Broadway roles was Bobby Brahms, the blind younger lover of an aging choreographer in Terrence McNally's play Love! Valour! Compassion! This led to an Obie award, a career on Broadway, and a part in the 1997 feature film adaptation directed by Joe Mantello.Kirk continued to work on-stage in New York and Los Angeles, helping to found the Drama Department theater company. In 1999, his interests turned toward television and film. In the straight-to-video independent film The Eden Myth, he played a young man whose father (Gil Rogers) arranges his marriage. He also starred in the barely released comedy Chapter Zero starring Dylan Walsh and Penelope Ann Miller. On television, he had a regular role on the WB sitcom Jack & Jill about mainstream twentysomethings living in New York City. He played the moderately intelligent Barto (a character not unlike Ross on Friends) who was always hanging around the slightly less-intelligent Mikey (a character not unlike Joey on Friends). In 2002, he appeared in Harry Shearer's pet project Teddy Bears' Picnic, an independent spoof of an exclusive men's retreat. The same year he played mental patient Morris Monk in Alec Carlin's Outpatient, marking his first leading role in a feature film. Kirk gained much more exposure the next year as main character Prior Walter in the six-hour television miniseries version of Tony Kushner's play Angels in America, first aired on HBO in December of 2003. Kirk continued to have success on cable television throughout the 2000s, most notably on Showtime's Weeds in the role of Andy Botwin, who becomes tangled in his suburban family's involvement in the marijuana trade (2005-2012).

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: Known for his outrageous, divinely comedic performances on stage and screen, Nathan Lane has led a career encompassing Broadway, television, and film. Born Joe Lane in Jersey City, New Jersey on February 3, 1956, Lane took his stage name from Nathan Detroit, the character he played to great acclaim in the 1992 Broadway version of Guys and Dolls.Lane made his film debut in 1987's Ironweed, and he spent the rest of the 1980s and early 1990s playing secondary roles in films like Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), Frankie and Johnny (1991), and Addams Family Values (1993). During this time, his stage career was thriving; in addition to his celebrated turn in Guys and Dolls (for which he won a Tony nomination, as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards), he frequently collaborated with playwright Terrence McNally, who cast him in a number of his plays, including The Lisbon Traviata, in which Lane played an opera queen, and Love! Valour! Compassion!, in which he starred as Buzz, an HIV-positive musical aficionado who provides much of the play's comic relief and genuine anger. The actor won particular acclaim for his portrayal of the latter character, taking home Obie and Drama Desk Awards, as well as other honors, for his work.In 1994, the same year that he starred in the stage version of Love! Valour! Compassion! (his role was played in the film version by Jason Alexander), Lane gained fame of a different sort, lending his voice to Timon, a hyperactive meerkat in Disney's animated The Lion King. He reprised the role for the extremely successful movie's 1998 sequel. Two years after playing a meerkat, Lane finally became widely visible to screen audiences as Robin Williams' flamboyantly limp-wristed lover in The Birdcage, Mike Nichols' remake of La Cage aux Folles. The film helped to establish Lane--who was at the time starring on Broadway in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum--as a comic actor worthy of big-screen exposure, and in 1997 he was given his own vehicle to display his talents, Mouse Hunt. Unfortunately, the film was a relative disappointment, as was Encore! Encore!, a 1998 sitcom that cast the actor as a Pavorotti-like opera singer alongside Glenne Headly and Joan Plowright. However, Lane continued to work steadily, appearing both on stage and in film. In 1999, he could be seen in At First Sight and Get Bruce, a documentary about comic writer Bruce Vilanch. The same year, he could also be heard in Stuart Little, a live action/animated adaptation of E.B White's celebrated children's book.Over the coming years, Lane would appear in several films, including a new big screen adaptation of The Producers and the fairy tale Mirror Mirror.

Trivia: First rising to fame for her deadpan performance as receptionist Pam Beesly on NBC's The Office, Jenna Fischer was born in Indiana and spent the first several years of her career primarily appearing in bit parts in small indie films and guest spots on TV shows.In 2000, while auditioning for what would be one of her first onscreen jobs, Fischer met filmmaker James Gunn. Not only did she land a small role in the film, she and Gunn were subsuquently married for eight years. In 2004, they collaborated on the satirical mockumentary LolliLove, which saw Fischer directing and the couple co-writing and starring together. But it was in 2005 when Fischer's career truly took off. Cast as Pam on the U.S. adaptation of the acclaimed Britcom The Office, Fischer soon found herself perhaps the most beloved cast member of one of the country's most popular television shows. She was even named to People's 50 Most Beautiful People. Fischer would parlay her TV fame into a movie career as well, appearing in a number of comedies, like Blades of Glory, The Brothers Solomon, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, A Little Help, Hall Pass, and more.

Trivia: Benjamin Bratt was already an experienced film and TV actor by the time his four-year stint as Det. Reynaldo "Rey" Curtis on NBC's long-running hit Law and Order made him famous. Born and raised in San Francisco, Bratt studied acting at UC-Santa Barbara and in his hometown. After roles in two short-lived 1980s TV series, Bratt made his film debut as John Travolta's foe in the shelved, then straight-to-cable Chains of Gold (1991). Concentrating on building a movie career, Bratt played supporting roles in the action films Demolition Man (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), and The River Wild (1994), as well as one of the lead roles in Bound by Honor (1993), about Chicano gang life. After joining Law and Order in 1995 as the coolly-passionate Curtis, the half-Peruvian Indian, half-Caucasian Bratt's chiseled looks received positive notices along with his acting, but rather than rest on his laurels, Bratt used his hiatus time to produce (with his director brother Peter Bratt) and star in the indie film Follow Me Home (1997). After leaving the show in 1999 (girlfriend Julia Roberts guest-starred in one of Bratt's last episodes), Bratt moved back to San Francisco to be closer to his family and focus on making movies. He costarred as Madonna's paramour in The Next Best Thing (2000).Untouched by The Next Best Thing's failure, Bratt joined the prestigious ensemble cast of Steven Soderbergh's acclaimed, Oscar-winning narcotics drama Traffic (2000), becoming nearly unrecognizable in a brief appearance as a sleazy drug dealer. Scoring his second Christmas 2000 hit, Bratt played off his smooth, sexy law enforcement officer image as Sandra Bullock's FBI ally-turned-love interest in the comedy Miss Congeniality (2000).Though the first half of 2001 was marked by his well-publicized break-up with Roberts, Bratt was poised to leave his days as tabloid fodder behind with his lead performance in the independent biopic Piñero (2001). Winning the title role over such high profile Latino actors as Jimmy Smits, Bratt's uncanny evocation of troubled Nuyorican writer and drug casualty Miguel Piñero attracted early dark horse Oscar buzz.Bratt would go on to find continued success on the small screen throughout the 2000's, in mini-series like The Andromeda Strain , and continually on Law and Order, which he would stick with until 2007. Bratt would also star on the TV series The Cleaner, as well as on the Grey's Anatomy spin-off Private Practice.

Trivia: Best known to small-screen devotees as sales representative Jim Halpert, the eternally patient, undeclared admirer of Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) on Greg Daniels' hit NBC sitcom/mockumentary The Office, Massachusetts native John Krasinski graduated from Rhode Island's Brown University in 2001 as an honors playwright, but quickly segued into acting. Within three years launched himself into films, predominantly with bit roles and supporting parts, but consistently echoing the promise that he would soon find himself among number-one box-office draws and Tinseltown heartthrobs. By 2006, in fact, People Magazine featured Krasinski in its "Sexiest Men" issue, a testament to the actor's rapidly growing recognition in the eyes of the public.Born October 20, 1979, Krasinski grew up and attended high school in Newton, an affluent western suburb of Boston. After receiving his degree from Brown, Krasinski studied at the National Theater Institute. 2004 marked the actor's "breakthrough year," with fleeting appearances in no less than four A-list productions. That year, he had bit parts as Ben in the American Zoetrope film Kinsey, a biopic of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, directed by Bill Condon and starring Liam Neeson; Bob Flynn in Matt Mulhern's finely wrought (and underappreciated) alcoholism drama Duane Hopwood starring David Schwimmer; Messenger #3 in Tim Story's urban comedy Taxi, with Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon; and the British CG-animated fantasy Doogal (aka, The Magic Roundabout), which didn't find U.S. release until early 2006. The first two of these films were widely lauded sleepers, the last two critically despised (though they failed to hurt Krasinski's career, given the low profile of his involvement).The Office followed in 2005. Adapted by Daniels from a hit 2001 British series of the same title, the program -- a ratings bonanza on NBC -- stars Daily Show vet Steve Carell as Michael Scott, the tactless, vain, pushy, and loudmouthed (yet well-meaning) director of the Dunder-Mifflin paper company. While Carell's off-the-wall antics spiked the series with a never-ending source of hilarity, the gradually developing relationship between Krasinski's Jim and Fischer's Pam (two straight roles) brought the series weight and solicited interest from those viewers seeking deeper and more meaningful character development. Perhaps sensing this, Daniels opted to stretch their courtship at a snail's pace over the course of several seasons. Krasinski would appear in several movies even as The Office's success continued on the small screen, like Jarhead, The Holiday, For Your Consideration, License to Wed, Leatherheads, Away We Go, and Big Miracle. In 2015, he appeared in Cameron Crowe's Aloha and acted as executive producer on the highly-successful TV series Lip Sync Battle.

Trivia: Fans of the comedy series The Office know Phyllis Smith as soft-spoken employee Phyllis Lapin, who's infamously mentioned a colored past in which she was once a cheerleader and a burlesque dancer. Few fans know, however, that Smith did actually do both of those jobs before she was a cast member on a hit TV show. In fact, Smith was never just a career actress; the Missouri native was always a dancer as well, receiving a full scholarship in dance to Kansas University and studying with the San Carlo Opera Company for ballet and tap. She danced ballet with the St. Louis Civic Ballet and the St. Louis Dance Theater, and cheered for the St. Louis Cardinals. She also toured with the vaudeville burlesque show Able's Baggy Pants Burlesque and the Mercer Brothers' show Giggles Galore as a dancer as well as a comedy-skit performer.Smith also received a degree in elementary education from the University of Missouri and has worked extensively in the casting industry. That was how she found herself at the auditions for The Office, where even though she wasn't auditioning, producers were so impressed with her line readings that they created a part for her. While her work on The Office continued for nearly a decade, she appeared in a handful of big-screen comedies including I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, Bad Teacher, Butter, and the third Alvin and the Chipmunks flick.

Trivia: Known to countless Office fans as the uptight accountant, Angela Kinsey would surprise many with the warm, sunny personality she has offscreen. Born June 25th, 1971, in Texas, Kinsey's family relocated to Indonesia when she was two, and they lived in the country until she was 14, making her fluent in Indonesian. Kinsey went on to attend Baylor University before interning for Late Night with Conan O'Brien and attending classes with Improv Olympic and The Groundlings. She worked in commercials and in various areas of the corporate world to pay her bills, sometimes landing roles on episodes of popular TV shows, until 2005 when she auditioned for the role of Pam Beesly on The Office. Producers liked Kinsey, but they felt she had a feistiness to her that would make her better in the role of Angela Martin. She returned, auditioned for the part, and became a member of the cast. The show became a huge success, and Kinsey worked on other projects in her off time, appearing in co-star John Krasinski's romantic comedy License to Wed in 2007.

Trivia: Probably best known as Oscar from the TV comedy The Office, Oscar Nuñez was born in Cuba but raised in New Jersey. In addition to graduating from the Warner Bros. Comedy Writer's Workshop, Nuñez performed with The Shock of the Funny Theatre Company in New York, and with the Groundlings in California. He would lend his comedic writing and acting abilities to Reno 911!, 24, Halfway Home, and more before joining up with The Office in 2006. His work on that series as Oscar, the homosexual accountant, gave him his highest profile success to that point and led directly to his appearance as an exotic dancer in the Sandra Bullock hit The Proposal.

Trivia: Known to many as the humorless Stanley on TV's The Office, Leslie David Baker studied psychology at Loyola University and human services administration at Spertus College of Judica before making several small appearances in commercials and on shows like Scrubs. He also appeared in the movie Elizabethtown before joining the cast of The Office in 2006.

Trivia: With only a handful of TV guest appearances under his belt, Atlanta-born Brian Baumgartner was a relative unknown when the U.S. version of The Office premiered on NBC in 2005. Playing pencil pusher Kevin Malone on the hit sitcom quickly garnered the actor prominence, and in 2007 he landed a supporting role opposite fellow Office cast member John Krasinski in the romantic comedy License to Wed. Once the series ended in 2013, he continued to work in television, with guest appearances on Hot in Cleveland and Mike & Molly.

Trivia: Accomplished stage actress Kate Flannery graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia before diving headfirst into professional comedy. As a member of Second City's National Touring Company, Chicago's Annoyance Theater, and her own act, The Lampshades, Flannery has created over 15 shows. She's also starred in successful plays like Valley of the Dolls and The Phacts of Life. Flannery has appeared in numerous independent movies and on shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm, but she's most well known for playing the divorced, alcoholic, single mother Meredith on the hit NBC comedy series The Office.

Trivia: Known to many as the office worker with a mysterious past from the series The Office, Creed Bratton, a California native, began his career as a musician and was a member of the folk groups the Young Californians, the 13th Floor, and the Grass Roots, with whom he traveled the world many times on tour. Bratton began cultivating an acting career in the late '60s, appearing in films like With Six You Get Eggroll, eventually joining the cast of The Office in 2006 and standing out in the part of the sociopathic Creed.