Trivia: As legend has it, Charlize Theron was discovered by an agent while fighting with a bank manager on Hollywood Boulevard. Eighteen and starving, Theron purportedly got into the argument after the manager refused to cash her check. The outburst caught the agent's attention, and eight months later Theron got her first acting job. She subsequently went on to become one of the hottest young actors in Hollywood, thanks to a fortuitous combination of talent and the blonde, statuesque good looks so fervently adored by the camera. Born August 7, 1975, Theron was raised on a farm in Benoni, South Africa. Trained as a ballet dancer, she was sent to Milan at 16 to become a model following the death of her father (which, it was later revealed, occurred after he was shot by Theron's mother, who was defending herself from his drunken abuse). After tiring of modeling, Theron returned to her first love, dancing, which resulted in a move to New York to dance with the Joffrey Ballet. Unfortunately, her career was halted by a knee injury, which led Theron -- at her mother's behest -- to travel to Los Angeles to try her luck with acting. After a long, unprofitable struggle, fate smiled upon Theron in the form of the aforementioned bank encounter. Following an inauspicious bit part in 1994's Children of the Corn III, Theron won her first dose of recognition with 2 Days in the Valley (1996). The film wasn't particularly successful, but it did give her both much-needed exposure and critical praise. The film also served as the stepping stone to her first leading role, that of Keanu Reeves' embattled wife in The Devil's Advocate (1997). The film drew poor reviews, but Theron managed to win widespread praise for her performance. Her next project, Trial and Error (1997), surfaced briefly before disappearing with nary a trace, but the subsequent Mighty Joe Young (1998) netted Theron more positive notices. Her ascent was confirmed with her casting in Celebrity, Woody Allen's 1998 cameo-fest that also featured turns from everyone from Kenneth Branagh to Winona Ryder to Leonardo DiCaprio to Isaac Mizrahi. In her portrayal of a perpetually aroused supermodel, Theron shone in a role seemingly designed to allow her to flaunt her natural attributes and little else. She was rewarded with more substantial -- not to mention multilayered -- work in The Cider House Rules (1999), Lasse Hallström's Oscar-winning adaptation of John Irving's novel. As a troubled young woman with secrets to hide, Theron received star billing alongside Michael Caine and Tobey Maguire.In the wake of The Cider House Rules came a few highly publicized but ultimately disappointing projects, including John Frankenheimer's Reindeer Games (2000), Robert Redford's The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000), and Sweet November (2001), the last of which reunited her with erstwhile co-star Keanu Reeves. Theron was also reunited with Woody Allen in his The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001), another widely anticipated film that, despite a high-profile cast and stylish period design, was both a critical and commercial underachiever.None of this, however, nudged Theron from her A-list status, something that was confirmed by her casting in the flashy, star-studded 2003 remake of The Italian Job, a much-beloved 1969 comedy caper starring Michael Caine. The 2003 version featured Mark Wahlberg in the starring role, with Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, and Mos Def, among others, backing him up. That same year, Theron switched gears and dove headfirst into the "serious actress" category with her starring role in Monster, the crime drama based upon the real-life story of serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who, in the late '80s, murdered seven men in Florida. Co-starring Christina Ricci as Wuornos' lover, the film promised to show audiences a side of Theron that certainly hadn't been hinted at in her previous portrayals of models, girlfriends, and Southern debutantes. It was evidently successful as Theron was showered with more than a dozen awards including an Oscar following her first-ever Academy Award nomination.2005 would be a decidedly mixed year for Theron. She first appeared in the live-action adaptation of the cult animated series Aeon Flux, a film that was nearly unanimously maligned by critics and largely avoided by audiences. Luckily, she also starred in the well-received docudrama North Country. Playing a woman who successfully battled sexual harassment, Theron was honored with her second Oscar nomination for the performance.In 2007 Theron earned critical praise for her supporting role as a detective in In the Valley of Elah, and joined the star-studded cast of The Road in 2008. Theron took a lead role the following year in Young Adult (penned by Juno collaborators Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman) as a recently divorced author who returns to her hometown with her sights set on winning back her high school sweet heart. Young Adult was received well by both box office and critical standards. 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman featured Theron as the diabolical queen, while Prometheus (2012) found the actress playing the cold but complex character of corporate representative Meredith Vickers. In 2014, she took on a out-of-character comic role, playing the romantic lead in Seth Macfarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West, before returning to top form in Mad Max: Fury Road the following year.

Trivia: Best known as the flamboyant and controversial leader of the alternative rock group Hole, and for her marriage to the late leader of the group Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love is also a recognized film actress. Love's breakthrough role was that of Althea Flynt, the drug-addicted wife of pornography tycoon Larry Flynt in The People Vs. Larry Flynt (1996) for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination and New York Film Critics Circle award. As Love is known for toying with the facts of her early years, it is difficult to substantiate events of her past. What is known is that she was born in San Francisco and raised in Oregon, the daughter of therapist Linda Carroll and Grateful Dead biographer and publisher Hank Harrison. Love apparently was a bit of a wild child who occasionally got in trouble with the law, something that later would fuel her stage and screen persona. As a young woman, she spent time living off a trust fund from her maternal grandmother, using the money to see the world. Love eventually returned to San Francisco to launch a singing career with various local bands, including an early incarnation of Faith No More. When Love's interests turned to acting she moved to Los Angeles, where she made her screen debut playing Chloe Webb's best friend in Sid and Nancy (1986), Alex Cox's compelling portrait of the relationship between seminal punk rocker Sid Vicious and his lover Nancy Spungen. Love then appeared in another punk rock movie, Straight to Hell (1987). It was not particularly successful and Love's career stalled, leading her to Minnesota where she began to establish her music career. When her trust fund ran out, Love attempted to support herself as an exotic dancer, first in Los Angeles, where she failed because club owners considered her too pudgy, and then in Alaska, where lonely men were less discerning. Upon her return to Los Angeles, Love founded the band Hole and in 1989 released their debut album. It was successful and attracted the interest of major record labels. Around this time, she met Kurt Cobain, and in 1992 the two married. While Love continued recording and performing with her band, Cobain's Seattle-based group Nirvana became a national sensation, thereby temporarily eclipsing Love's rising star and relegating her to the role of Cobain's wife. During this time, the couple gained quite a reputation for their alleged use of alcohol, heroin and other illegal drugs. Love found herself in the midst of a maelstrom of negative press after Vanity Fair reported that she had used heroin during her pregnancy. Both she and Cobain denied the allegations and though their daughter was born healthy, there was a struggle with the Washington State Child Protective Services over whether or not the couple should keep the child; Love and Cobain prevailed. In the spring of 1994, around a year following his daughter's birth, Cobain committed suicide. At that time the couple was allegedly preparing to divorce, and Cobain was plagued with health problems. As is typical when cult figures die, conspiracy theories circulated that he was murdered and that Love was involved, but there has been no hard evidence discovered to support such allegations.Following Cobain's death, Love's celebrity expanded to relatively astronomic proportions. Her rise in profile was ably complemented by a swift and all-encompassing change of image: gone were the runny make-up and ratty baby doll dresses, exchanged instead for Versace gowns and a good PR agent. Following the acclaim surrounding her return to acting in The People vs. Larry Flynt, Feeling Minnesota, and Basquiat in 1996, Love became something of a Hollywood darling. However, her name continued to be synonymous with controversy: in 1998 she was embroiled in litigation over British documentary-maker Nick Broomfield's attempt to show his unauthorized portrait of the late Cobain and his relationship with Love in Kurt and Courtney. Much of the documentary's content was comprised of interviews with friends and relatives of the couple that showed Love in a distinctly unflattering light. Though Broomfield claimed it was not his intent to malign Love, she retaliated by threatening legal action over his supposedly unauthorized use of Nirvana and Hole songs, effectively forcing the documentary's removal from that year's Sundance Festival. The following year brought with it greater authorized screen time for Love, first as one of the leads in the ensemble film 200 Cigarettes, and then in Man on the Moon, Milos Forman's biopic of the late, legendary comedian Andy Kaufman.

Trivia: Born December 15th, 1972, Stuart Townsend would grow up to possess the kind of dark, coolly seductive looks that lend themselves to playing either ladies' men or raving psychos, {Townsend is one of the more compelling actors to have emerged from Ireland during the 1990s. A native of Dublin, Townsend was born to pro golfer Peter Townsend and Lorna Townsend, a well-known former model who died in 1994. He first became interested in performing through his then-girlfriend, who was studying at the Gaiety School of Acting. Townsend also enrolled at the school and made his stage debut in the school's production of Tear Up the Black Sail. He made his professional stage debut in John Crowley's True Lines. In 1996, Townsend broke onto the screen with his role in Gillies MacKinnon's Trojan Eddie. Portraying a seductive young man who steals away a bride from her groom on their wedding day, Townsend was afforded the opportunity to work with the legendary Richard Harris. His exposure in the film led to his first starring role, in Shooting Fish (1997), a successful comedy which cast him as a sweet-natured con man. That same year, Townsend had a supporting role in Carine Adler's acclaimed drama Under the Skin, engaging in emotional dysfunction and phone sex with the film's heroine. He also made a terrifying impression in the Irish crime thriller Resurrection Man, playing a psychotic killer. Townsend subsequently extended his talents to period drama, portraying an impoverished Jew in 19th century Silesia in Simon Magus (1998) and essaying a dual role in the 16th- and 20th century-set The Venice Project (1999). In 1999, he was also visible in Michael Winterbottom's Wonderland, an ensemble drama that screened at that year's Cannes Film Festival. The turnover to the new millennium found Townsend with some big shoes to fill as he stepped into the role of Anne Rice's staple bloodsucker Lestat (originally portrayed by Tom Cruise in Neil Jordan's Interview With the Vampire (1994) in 2002. Baring his fangs alongside co-star and title character Aaliyah (who perished in an airplane crash shortly before the film opened in theaters) Townsend recieved a fair amount of praise for his role in the film, which was previously rumored to have been heading for a straight to video release. In 2005 he joined the cast of ABC's Night Stalker for a role as an investigative reporter determined to catch the person responsible for his wife's murder.

Trivia: Rarely can it be said that an actor is so recognized and of such prominence that a game can be played by connecting him to just about any other celebrity simply through referencing his resumé. Any film buff has most likely participated in a round of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and it's likely that if their opponent was an avid cinephile they came out on the losing end of the match. This should come as no surprise, considering Bacon's extensive and diverse body of work. Born in Philadelphia, PA, in 1958, Bacon received his education at The Circle in the Square (where he became the youngest student to appear in a production) and Manning Street Actor's Theater after leaving home at the age of 18. Two years later, Bacon made his feature debut as the smarmy Chip Diller in director John Landis' beloved frat-house epic Animal House. Following in the next few years with minor roles in such seemingly forgettable films as Hero at Large and Friday the 13th (both 1980), Bacon would re-create his off-Broadway role of a drug-addicted male prostitute in Forty Deuce the same year that he made a memorable appearance as the troubled Timothy Fenwick in Barry Levinson's Diner (1982). Though he had appeared in a few major films and displayed an intriguing range of abilities, it was 1984's Footloose that brought Bacon his breakthrough role. As the big-city boy crusading against the puritanical constraints against dancing imposed by a well-meaning but overbearing fundamentalist minister, Bacon became a teen icon -- an image that, though it propelled him to stardom, would prove difficult to shed. Following Footloose's success with a series of curious failures such as Quicksilver (1986) and White Water Summer (1987), it was on the set of Lemon Sky (also 1987) that Bacon would meet future wife Kyra Sedgwick; the couple exchanged wedding vows the following year. Though he would appear in a few other failed-but-interesting, audience-pleasing thrillers such as Tremors (1989) and Flatliners (1990) in the following years, it was with his role in conspiracy theorist Oliver Stone's JFK (1991) that Bacon found his career revived and began to shed his heartthrob image. Narrowly escaping the Brat Pack trappings of his '80s contemporaries, subsequent roles after JFK may not have all scored direct hits at the box office for Bacon, but audiences were now well aware of his talents and thirsted for more. Bacon would again prove his substantial range in the true story of a brutalized prison inmate opposite Gary Oldman in 1995's Murder in the First. His performance as the disillusioned and broken prisoner, accentuated by his famished and frail skeletal figure, was followed by an equally challenging reality-based role as a member of the troubled Apollo 13 (1995) lunar mission team in director Ron Howard's widely praised film. Proving that he could play sleaze as successfully as slice-of-life, Bacon took a turn for the worse as the sadistic reform-school guard responsible for the rape of a trio of young boys in Sleepers (1996) and as a cop investigating accusations of rape in director John McNaughton's raunchy sex-thriller Wild Things. Bacon's entertaining turn as a receptive father tangled in a mind-bending murder mystery in Stir of Echoes (1999) gained positive reviews, though the intelligent and subtle shocker withered in the shadow of another similarly themed thriller, The Sixth Sense. Though he wasn't visible for the majority of the film, Bacon fell into psychotic territory as the malicious genius consumed by his discovery of the key to invisibility in Paul Verhoeven's sadistic Hollow Man (2000). After an uncredited supporting role in the independent comedy Novocaine, Bacon once again went for the throat in Trapped; and though audiences were generally entertained by the film, it ultimately fell victim to a quick death at the box office due to poor timing (numerous stories of child abductions had been making headlines at the time Trapped was released). Of course with an actor such as Bacon, it was only a matter of time before he once again tackled a substantial dramatic role, and with the release of Mystic River in 2003 audiences found him doing just that. Adapted from the novel of the same name by author Dennis Lehane and directed by Clint Eastwood, Mystic River provided audiences with a brutal, slow-burning study in the effects of violence and the nature of revenge, withBacon's turn as a sympathetic detective playing pitch perfect opposite a mournful performance by Sean Penn. That same year, Bacon showed up in an uncredited role in the Jane Campion thriller In the Cut before taking the lead in the emotional drama The Woodsman.Bacon would continue to work on a variety of projects over the coming years, appearing in everything from the tense period thriller Where the Truth Lies to the ensemble rom-com Crazy, Stupid, Love, to the superhero flick X-Men: First Class. Soon however, the actor found himself hungry for a more substantial project, and he found it with the Billy Bob Thornton directed drama Jane Mansfield's Car in 2012, which found him acting alongside heavyweights like Robert Duvall and John Hurt. In 2013, Bacon turned to television, headlining Fox's drama The Following.In addition to his film work, Bacon has frequently toured with brother Michael, playing upbeat country-folk rock under the alliterate moniker the Bacon Brothers.

Trivia: His irises tremble violently as the camera fixes on his glassy gaze, and before you know it, you've once again been entranced by the character with whom you're unsure if you should fear or sympathize. With the rare ability to convey the delicate blend of conflicting emotions that only the most effective character actors can convincingly portray, actor Pruitt Taylor Vince has crafted a successful film and television career playing introspective, often disturbed, loners teetering on the fringes of society. Though the portly Baton Rouge native's first onscreen role was to have been in director Jim Jarmusch's 1986 comedy drama Down by Law, his scenes were cut before the film hit theaters, and audiences would not get their first look at Vince until the release of Alan Parker's Angel Heart the following year. Vince owes something of a debt to the prolific director, since it was Parker's racially charged drama Mississippi Burning that first found audiences taking notice of the burgeoning, sometimes fearsome, actor. In 1990, Vince turned up in yet another of Parker's films, Come See the Paradise, though it was that same year's horrific thriller Jacob's Ladder that truly found Vince setting himself apart from the pack. If the 1990s had proven kind to Vince early on, it was his emotionally compelling role opposite Paul Newman in Nobody's Fool that truly began to give audiences an idea of what Vince was capable of as an actor. Cast as the village idiot who finds a sympathetic ear in Newman's character, Vince lent an uncanny depth to a character that may have otherwise been an instantly forgettable, two-dimensional role. Though Vince's early roles were indeed noteworthy thanks to his uncommon ability to exude repression and deeply rooted malaise as few other actors could, it wasn't until director James Mangold's cast him in the lead for his 1995 drama Heavy that Vince was truly given the opportunity to shine. Mangold did something that few mainstream Hollywood efforts would allow when he dared to offer the overweight and balding actor the dramatic lead -- the role of Victor Modina, a shy cook in a small-town restaurant who secretly longs for the love of an attractive young waitress (portrayed by Liv Tyler). With his expressive eyes (their sometimes discomforting vibration the result of a condition known as nystagmus) effectively conveying the desperation of a trapped animal longing to escape his suffocating existence, Vince's heartbreaking performance eloquently conveyed the internal distress and helplessness felt by his long-suffering character. Though the following years may not have offered Vince more roles the size or caliber of his part in Heavy, a series of small-screen performances in the late '90s showed that his talent was, without question, as potent as ever. Following an unforgettable performance as a mentally unbalanced photographer who kidnaps Agent Scully (Gillian Anderson) in a 1996 episode of The X-Files ("Unruhe"), Vince's turn as a suspicious kidnapping suspect in the miniseries Night Sins and a disturbed serial killer in several episodes of Murder One proved that he could be chillingly effective in menacing roles. The latter role even proved so effective as to earn Vince an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. It was at this point that directors were truly beginning to discover the dramatic possibilities of casting Vince in their films, and his turn as a gifted musician and compelling storyteller proved a highlight of the wistful 1998 drama The Legend of 1900. Supporting performances in Mumford (1999), Nurse Betty (2000), The Cell (2000), and S1m0ne (2002) found Vince steadily becoming a recognizable face to mainstream audiences, and in 2002, he sent chills down the spines of suspense fanatics as the childlike accomplice in a harrowing kidnapping scheme in Trapped. Vince's skittishly ominous performance left viewers on the edge of their seats as he held a young girl (played by Dakota Fanning) hostage with instructions to kill her on a moment's notice, and the film utilized Vince's alternately innocent and threatening character to chilling effect. He again teamed with director Mangold for the 2003 thriller Identity, cast in a key role that proved elemental to the film's startling denouement. Vince also continued to take on guest-starring roles in such TV series as Alias and The Handler. After appearing in the 2003 Aileen Wuornos biopic Monster, Vince would play a priest in the 2004 comic-to-film adaptation of Hellblazer, entitled Constantine.

Trivia: Kicking off an impressive career in front of the camera at the tender age of five, it was a mere three years later that actress Dakota Fanning would become the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Screen Actor's Guild Award for her role in the Sean Penn drama I Am Sam. She subsequently appeared in such efforts as Sweet Home Alabama (2002) and director Steven Spielberg's sci-fi miniseries Taken. A Conyers, GA, native whose acting abilities became apparent when, at the age of three, she acted out the entire process of pregnancy and childbirth (with her younger sister Elle substituting for the newborn baby) to her amused parents. Advised by an agent to take their daughter to Los Angeles, it wasn't long before young Fanning was cast in a commercial for Tide detergent. Television appearances in ER and Ally McBeal were quick to follow, and in 2001 she made her feature debut in the comedy Tomcats. Though the film was only seen by an unlucky few, her role in the same year's I Am Sam was a wide release that found the adorable young starlet a solid fan base. Later alternating between television and film with features such as Trapped and roles on such high-profile series as Spin City and Malcolm in the Middle, her part opposite Brittany Murphy in the 2003 comedy Uptown Girls found the precocious youngster playing well off of her older co-star. In 2003 Fanning could be spotted in The Cat in the Hat, and it wasn't long before she was gearing up to appear alongside Denzel Washington and Christopher Walken in the Tony Scott thriller Man on Fire.As the 2000's continued to unfold, Fanning appeared in a number of films, like Hide and Seek, War of the Worlds, and The Secret Life of Bees. By the time the actress was 16, she was playing legendary girl-band member Cherie Currie in The Runaways, setting the stage for adult roles to comes.

Trivia: Moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in June 1957.Wanted to become a teacher.Studied acting at Studio 58.Auditioned for the role of Megatron in Beast Wars: Transformers (1996), but was casted as Optimus Primal.Is an skilled guitarist and singer.

Trivia: American character actor Andrew Airlie began his career by appearing in bit parts and walk-ons in Hollywood A- and B-listers. Early roles include that of a mall patron in the Andrew Bergman comedy The Freshman (1990), a co-pilot in the sequel Look Who's Talking Now (1993), and a physician in the Alicia Silverstone/Cary Elwes thriller The Crush (1993). Though these constituted small assignments, they did establish Airlie's resumé and Hollywood presence. In time, Airlie rose to slightly higher billing. In 2000, he became one of the first American prime-time actors to play a groom at a gay wedding in the Donna Deitch-directed telemovie Common Ground. Shortly thereafter, Airlie took on a supporting role in Rose Troche's ensemble drama The Safety of Objects (2001) and played another physician in the summer 2005 box-office blockbuster Fantastic Four. Airlie also maintained a presense on the small screen, appearing in recurring roles on such series as the mid-'90s Outer Limits and The 4400, as well as a regular part on the fantasy-comedy-drama Reaper, playing the main character's father, Mr. Oliver, who sold his son's soul to the Devil before he was born.

Trivia: By any stretch of the imagination, Colleen Camp has enjoyed a diverse film career since her big-screen debut in one of the Planet of the Apes sequels in 1973. She has worked as an actress, dancer, singer, and producer; she was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Nicolas Roeg, Jack Hill, and Hal Needham; and she was often cast as either a sex symbol or stuffy prude. Born in San Francisco on June 7, 1953, Camp precociously began her acting career in regional theater at the age of three, although her first big break didn't come until more than a decade later, when she was cast as one of the dancing Gold Diggers on The Dean Martin Show. In 1973, the actress landed her first film role with a bit part as a human slave in Battle for the Planet of the Apes; larger roles in The Swinging Cheerleaders and The Last Porno Flick followed, but, in 1975 Camp had the chance to show off her considerable comic talent in Michael Ritchie's satiric comedy Smile. Despite her strong performance, however, her career still failed to catch fire; while she found steady work, she tended to land larger roles in undistinguished films such as The Gumball Rally or Ebony, Ivory and Jade, and smaller parts in more ambitious pictures, such as Apocalypse Now and They All Laughed. (Camp also sang "One Day Since Yesterday" in the latter, a song which briefly grazed the Billboard singles charts.) In time, Camp began to develop something of a cult following, and, while she was still a long way from film stardom, she worked often and landed supporting roles in such hits as Wayne's World, Sliver, Die Hard With a Vengeance, and Election. Married to Paramount executive John Goldwyn, she began working more behind the camera in the '80s, serving as a producer of The City Girl in 1984, and was a part of the production team of a number of other films, including Teenage Caveman, Earth vs. The Spider, and The Day The World Ended.