Trivia: The daughter of first generation Italian-Americans, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio was born in Oak Park, IL. Oak Park was also the home town of Ernest Hemingway; some of his "don't mess with me" spirit seems to have been passed on by osmosis to Mastrantonio, who has made her career playing a number of feisty, strong-willed women. Trained for an operatic career, she studied voice at the University of Illinois, Champaign, and had one of her first gigs in an Opryland production of Showboat. Once in New York, Mastrantonio was hired for the 1981 revival of West Side Story, and was lauded in the press for her peppery portrayal of Viola in a New York Shakespeare Festival staging of Twelfth Night.Mastrantonio's first film was Scarface (1983), in which she played Al Pacino's sister (the incestuous subtext was just as pronounced here as in the original 1931 version). She then essayed the role of Benito Mussolini's embittered daughter Edda in the TV miniseries Mussolini: The Untold Story, which starred George C. Scott in the title role. In both of these productions, Mastrantonio tended to be overshadowed by her male co-stars, but she more than held her own opposite such heady company as Paul Newman and Tom Cruise in The Color of Money (1986), an assignment which won her both a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe nomination.After appearing in a few more films -- most notably The Abyss, in which she played Ed Harris' estranged engineer wife -- she starred as Maid Marian in Kevin Costner's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991. As a mark of the impression the actress had made in strong, self-reliant roles, her transformation into a damsel in distress during the film's final scenes were greeted with audible audience groans. Unfortunately, following the huge commercial -- if not critical -- success of the film, Mastrantonio's visibility receded; over the next few years she could be seen in a number of relatively obscure films, perhaps the most notable of which was Two Bits (1995) with Al Pacino. However, in 1999 Mastrantonio reemerged in the public -- or at least art house -- consciousness, thanks to lead roles in My Life So Far, in which she played Colin Firth's wife, and John Sayles' Limbo, in which she portrayed another strong-willed woman, an itinerant lounge singer who meets an uncertain fate in deepest, darkest Alaska.In the years to come, Mastrantonio would appear in many successful projects to come, most notably on the TV series Without a Trace and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Trivia: A TV star with Broadway and animation voice work experience, Lacey Chabert finally made her movie debut on-camera in the big screen version of Lost in Space (1998). Born in Purvis, MS, Chabert began performing as a small child, learning how to play the violin and piano as well as sing and act. After playing the young Cosette in the Broadway production of Les Miserables for two years and appearing on the TV daytime serial All My Children, Chabert became a prime-time star playing one of the beleaguered Salinger family members on the Fox drama Party of Five (1995-2000). As the precocious youngest daughter Claudia, Chabert aged from child violin prodigy to grounded, if occasionally confused, teen before the show ended its run. While working on Party of Five, Chabert lent her voice to the animated movies Anastasia (1997) and An American Tail III: Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998). Chabert gained further notice as difficult daughter Penny Robinson in the big-screen Space, but the film was not quite the blockbuster it was expected to be. The lack of positive reviews did little to slow the actresses career though, as she continued to do frequent voice work (The Wild Thornberries Movie (2002) and Rugrats Go Wild! (2003)), as well as showing her face again in Not Another Teen Movie and Hometown Legend (both 2001).After climbing the credits as a tormenting teen in the 2004 comedy Mean Girls, Chabert would next dive headlong into a night of playful teen mischief in the 2004 teen comedy Dirty Deeds. She lent her voice to the animated Bratz series, and went on to act in a series of projects including Black Christmas, Sherman's Way, In My Sleep, and the 2009 supernatural romantic comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.

Trivia: With his extremely tall, imposing figure and gray-white hair, character actor John Slattery specialized in utterly convincing portrayals of stoic businessmen, office workers, politicians, and other suits, whenever a film called for one. This typecasting rendered Slattery laudably versatile and prolific; his credits include such multi-genre blockbusters as City Hall (1996), Bad Company (2002), Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004, in the Jerry Orbach role of the disapproving father), and Flags of Our Fathers (2006). On television, Slattery memorably appeared in guest roles on such popular series as Sex and the City (as a politician wooing Carrie), Will & Grace (as Will's older brother), and Law & Order. He found work as a regular on shows like K Street and Jack & Bobby, and appeared in recurring roles on Ed (as a high-school principal) and Desperate Housewives, for which he again played a politician, this time wooing and marrying Gabrielle (Eva Longoria). In 2007 he was cast as Roger Sterling in the AMC drama Mad Men, a show that would win the Emmy for Best Drama Series multiple times and earned the actor multiple Emmy nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. The show boosted his film career helping to land him the part of Tony Stark's father in Iron Man 2, and playing a mysterious figure in the time-travel thriller The Adjustment Bureau.

Trivia: Began acting at age 7. Speaks Italian and Spanish Likes to read, write and paint. Was a fan of Gilmore Girls before joining the show's cast. Had recurring roles on Without a Trace, Trust Me and The Young and the Restless.

Trivia: Actor Devon Gearhart ascended to fame as a child star, with a difficult and demanding lead role in Joseph Greco's psychological drama Canvas (2006). In that film, Gearhart portrayed a ten-year-old boy crumbling under the weight of his mother's (Marcia Gay Harden) schizophrenia. Gearhart essayed an equally intimidated assignment by playing the son in Michael Haneke's remake Funny Games (2007) -- a horror outing about an average American family relentlessly tortured and then butchered by two sadistic psychopaths.