Trivia: One of the most luminous actresses to grace the British screen, as well as those of the rest of the world, Julie Christie is known for both her onscreen magnetism, which has not faded as she has grown older, and her offscreen reclusiveness. The daughter of an India-based British tea planter, she was born in Chukua, Assam, India, on April 14, 1941, and grew up on her father's tea plantation. Educated in England and on the Continent, she planned to become an artist or a linguist before she altered her life's goals by enrolling in the Central School of Speech Training in London. In 1957, she first stepped on-stage as a paid professional with the Frinton Repertory of Essex.Celebrated less for her stage work than for her continuing role in a popular British TV serial, A for Andromeda, Christie made her film debut in a small role in Crooks Anonymous (1963). After a rather charming ingénue stint in The Fast Lady (1963) (the lady was a car, not the ingénue), she received her first prestige part in Billy Liar (1963), gaining critical acclaim for this and her subsequent supporting part in Young Cassidy (1965). Thus, Christie was not the "newcomer" that some perceived her to be when she shook film audiences to their foundations in Darling (1965), a poignant time capsule about a stylishly amoral sexual butterfly. Christie won numerous awards for Darling, not the least of which were the British Film Academy award and the American Oscar.Her star further ascended into box-office heaven when she was cast in the big-budget Doctor Zhivago (1965), in which she gave a radiant performance as the tragic Lara. She followed this with a dual role in Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 (1967) and a starring turn in John Schlesinger's acclaimed 1967 adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd. Roles of wildly varying quality followed, until in 1971 Christie began a professional and romantic liaison with Warren Beatty. The romance was over within a few years, but Beatty and Christie ultimately worked together on three major films of the 1970s: McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), Shampoo (1975), and Heaven Can Wait (1978).Few of Christie's films of the 1970s and 1980s seemed worthy of her talents -- The Go-Between (1971) and her cameo in Nashville (1975) being exceptions -- though, in fact, she was less interested in pursuing a career than in campaigning for various social and political causes. Christie's performance in the British TV movie The Railway Station Man (1992) was a choice example of her devotion to social issues -- in this case, the ongoing ideological (and shooting) war in Ireland. Indeed, Christie had become such an enigma that it was a surprise to many audiences when she turned up as Gertrude in Kenneth Branagh's 1996 adaptation of Hamlet. She won acclaim for the role, embellished the following year with her portrayal of Nick Nolte's estranged wife in Afterglow. Nominated for her third Best Actress Oscar for her performance, Christie convinced many that, although she had chosen to neglect the limelight for awhile, she hadn't chosen to neglect her talent.Christie's fifth decade as a performer found her continuing to work with a variety of collaborators, earning a Screen Actors Guild nomination as part of the ensemble of Finding Neverland. She worked with the young Canadian actress Sarah Polley on The Secret Life of Words, a role that led directly to Christie being cast in Polley's directorial debut - the alzheimer's drama Away From Her. Christie's work in that film earned her some of the strongest reviews of her lengthy career and garnered her numerous year end accolades including Best Actress awards from the Golden Globes, the New York Film Critics, and the Screen Actors Guild, as well as a nomination from the Academy in that same category.She was one of the many performers in the omnibus film New York, I Love You, and took the roll as Grandma in the modernized retelling of Red Riding Hood directed by Katherine Hardwicke.

Trivia: Gordon Pinsent is one of Canada's busiest and most recognizable character actors. Many viewers remember Pinsent as the President of the United States in Colossus: The Forbin Project (1969). Kids have heard him as the voice of the title character in the animated HBO series Babar (1989-93). Pinsent's other weekly TV roles have included Sergeant Scott in The Forest Rangers (1964), the title character in Quentin Dergens MP (1966), Hap Shaughnessy in Red Green (1990- ) and Sergeant Frazer in Due South (1994-95). Gordon Pinsent has also occasionally written and directed, performing both functions in the 1968 Canadian feature film John and the Missus.

Trivia: Olympia Dukakis is one of those character actresses who infallibly lends a touch of class to whatever picture she's in. Despite her extraordinary dignity and class, she is able to make even the most outrageous character believable. Though she is well regarded in film, Dukakis has spent the bulk of her distinguished career on-stage as an actress and a director. She is also a highly respected drama teacher. The daughter of Greek immigrants, Dukakis once worked as a physical therapist. Her interest in acting came after appearing in summer stock and then taking adult-ed classes in drama at Boston University, where she graduated with a master's in Fine Arts. After graduation, she began her theatrical career and then co-founded Boston's renowned Charles Playhouse. Dukakis made her film debut in director Robert Rossen's last film Lillith (1964). She continued to make sporadic and undistinguished appearances in movies though much of the '80s, but did not gain notice until 1987 when she won an Academy Award for playing Cher's Italian mother in Moonstruck. Since then, Dukakis has specialized in playing older women from different ethnic backgrounds or mothers. Subsequent film appearances include Steel Magnolias (1989), where she played the elegant widow Clairee Belcher, Mighty Aphrodite (1995), and Picture Perfect (1997). In addition to her film and stage work -- she has appeared in over 100 plays -- Dukakis has also occasionally appeared on television in movies and mini-series. One of her most famous roles was that of the mysterious and kooky Annie Madrigal in the PBS adaptation of Armistad Maupin's Tales of the City (1993). Though the miniseries' gay themes led to considerable controversy, a sequel starring Dukakis was released in 1998. In addition to her Oscar win, she has earned Obie Awards, a New York and Los Angeles Critics Award, and a Golden Globe. As a drama teacher, Dukakis has worked at New York University and Yale. Her cousin, Michael Dukakis, was a presidential candidate for the Democratic party in 1988.She co-starred with Juli Dench for The Last of the Blonde Bombshells in 2000, and took a leading role in 2001's Further Tales of the City. Though she remained busy throughout the early and mid-2000s, it wasn't until 2006 that she would enjoy critical success in the acclaimed drama Away From Her. In 2007 she co-starred in the comedy drama The Land of Women. In 2011 she appeared in The Misadventures of the Dunderheads and Cloudburst, and joined the cast of Joe Papp in Five Acts in 2012.

Trivia: After spending most of the 1980s in television, Wendy Crewson moved to a number of high-profile feature films in the 1990s. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Crewson attended Canada's Queens University and continued studying acting in London, England, after college. Back in North America, Crewson sharpened her versatile talent in a number of TV productions, including Heartsounds (1984), Murder: By Reason of Insanity (1985), and Robert Altman's acclaimed political satire Tanner '88 (1988), starring Altman regular and Crewson's husband-to-be Michael Murphy. Though Crewson continued to do TV in the 1990s, including The Lives of Girls and Women (1994), From the Earth to the Moon (1998), and At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story (1998), she increasingly branched out into features. Making her mark in a small part in The Doctor (1991), Crewson moved on to larger roles as the mother of a psychotic Macauley Culkin in The Good Son (1993), Tim Allen's ex-wife in the comedy hit The Santa Clause (1994), and Peter Gallagher's unfortunate blind date in the tearjerker To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996). After playing a tough lawyer in the crime thriller Gang Related (1997), Crewson further displayed her ability to convey strength as Harrison Ford's undaunted First Lady in Wolfgang Petersen's summer blockbuster Air Force One (1997). Following a substantial role in the independent romantic comedy Better Than Chocolate (1999), Crewson seemed to be on the verge of adding another hit to her resumé as one of Robin Williams' original owners in the fantasy Bicentennial Man (1999), but the film failed to live up to box-office expectations.

Trivia: Prolific Canadian actress Alberta Watson is best known for her work in off-center independent films and the syndicated TV series La Femme Nikita. Born and raised in Toronto, Watson began performing in local theater productions as a teenager. After garnering a Genie nomination for one of her first films, the steamy In Praise of Older Women (1978), Watson earned parts in several Canadian features, including Stone Cold Dead (1980) and a starring role in Black Mirror (1981). Moving to the U.S. in the early '80s, Watson continued to work regularly, scoring co-starring roles with Scott Glen in Michael Mann's stylish World War II horror movie The Keep (1983); Susan Sarandon in the TV movie Women of Valor (1986); and in cult director Donald Cammel's second-to-last feature White of the Eye (1987). Watson found 1990s indie film success as the incestuous mother to Jeremy Davies' put-upon teen in neophyte director David O. Russell's unusual black comedy (and Sundance prize winner) Spanking the Monkey (1994). After playing a more conventional mother in Hackers (1995), Watson returned to Canada, appearing in the romantic drama Sweet Angel Mine (1996) and earning another Genie nomination for Shoemaker (1996). Watson marked her greatest artistic success the following year as a mourning mother and adulterous wife in Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter (1997). Her role as tough anti-terrorist strategist Madeline in the TV version of the female assassin drama La Femme Nikita brought her more attention and critical approbation. Following her 1997-2000 stint on the show, Watson added another Sundance Film Festival prizewinner to her credit (and another notable maternal role) with her performance as the title character's mother in the transgender rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001). In 2004, she joined the fourth season of 24 as the new director of CTU in Los Angeles. When La Femme Nikita was revamped as the CW series Nikita, Watson joined the cast in a recurring role, playing a senator. Watson died in 2015, at age 60.

Trivia: Nina Dobrev first caught audience's attention with a role in the horror musical Repo! The Genetic Opera in 2006. The unconventional film endeared her to a cult audience, but she soon followed it up with more conventional fare, joining the cast of Degrassi: The Next Generation. She would play teen mother Mia Jones on the show until 2009, and also appeared in other projects like the drama Away from Her, and the dance movie How She Move. In 2009, Dobrev was cast in one of the leading roles in the CW series The Vampire Diaries. The show was a hit, but Dobrev still found time to work in movies, appearing in Chloe (2009), The Roomate and Arena (both 2011) and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012).