Trivia: American actor Dennis Christopher's Italian upbringing served him well early in his career when he appeared fleetingly in Fellinis Roma (1972). Stage and TV work followed his graduation from Temple University, then several American movies, September 30, 1955 (1977) and A Wedding (1978). In Breaking Away (1978), Christopher dominated the proceedings as the Indiana-born teenaged bicyclist who adopted an Italian accent and mannerisms to draw attention to himself. Few of Christopher's subsequent film appearances were up to this level; when last heard from, he was starring in such direct-to-video potboilers as Dead Women in Lingerie (1991), with a few above-average assignments such as the made-for-TV Stephen King's It! (1991). Outside of Breaking Away, Dennis Christopher had at least one other "cult" film to his credit: Fade to Black (1979), in which he played a disturbed young cineast who murders his enemies while dressed up as famous movie villains.

Trivia: Born Barbara Berman, Barrie was a supporting actress onscreen from 1956, when she appeared in the James Dean vehicle Giant. She won Cannes Film Fetival Best Actress Award for her star role in One Potato, Two Potato. Barrie was nominated for Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work in Breaking Away.

Trivia: Paul Dooley is fondly remembered by fans of '80s cinema as the forgetful but well-intending father of a disgruntled Molly Ringwald in the John Hughes teen classic Sixteen Candles (1984). The longtime character actor's droopy, distinctive features and endearing onscreen warmth have kept him a familiar figure in both film and television. A Parkersurg, WV, native who originally aspired to become a cartoonist, Dooley drew comic strips for a local newspaper before entering the navy. Upon discharge, the future actor entered college, where he discovered his passion for the stage. A move to New York found the aspiring actor landing frequent stage work, and after discovering a previously untapped ability for comedy, Dooley tried his hand at standup for about five years. Always looking to expand his skills, he made his film debut in the 1970 comedy The Out-of-Towners. From 1971 to 1972, Dooley was also head writer for the popular children's television series The Electric Company. After showing promise in such late-'70s efforts as Slap Shot (1977) and A Wedding (1978), Dooley made a big impression with his supporting role as the lead character's worrisome father in Breaking Away (1979). Though he was overlooked at Oscar time, he was nominated for a New York Film Critics Circle award and won the National Board of Review award for Best Supporting Actor. He kicked off the most successful decade of his film career with a performance as Wimpy in the much-maligned Robert Altman musical comedy Popeye (1980). Besides his memorable turn in Sixteen Candles, Dooley also delivered hilarious performances in the 1980s films Strange Brew (1983) and John Cassavetes' Big Trouble (1985). Fans of the extraterrestrial comedy series ALF will also remember him as the curiously named Whizzer Deaver.Though his feature roles through the 1990s largely consisted of such B-grade fare as My Boyfriend's Back (1993) and Error in Judgment (1998), Dooley managed to stay on top thanks to parts in such popular television series as Mad About You, Dream On, Grace Under Fire, and The Practice. He also took on occasional roles in more notable films, including Waiting for Guffman (1996), Clockwatchers (1997), Happy, Texas (1999), and Runaway Bride (also 1999), which served to remind movie buffs just how funny the talented comic actor could be when given the opportunity. Dooley's performances in such later efforts as Insomnia (2002) hinted at a darker side rarely explored by the usually jovial actor. In 2003, after re-teaming with Waiting for Guffman cohort Christopher Guest to blow A Mighty Wind, he took a supporting role in former MTV beauty queen Jenny McCarthy's comedy Dirty Love.

Trivia: Handsome, well-built and able to communicate a rangy sort of charm in front of the camera, Dennis Quaid possesses many star qualities. Despite attaining heartthrob status for his work in such films as The Big Easy, however, Quaid has had a difficult time maintaining this status, thanks in part to work in a number of films that have failed to fully exploit his talent.The son of an electrician and younger brother of actor Randy Quaid, Dennis was born in Houston, Texas on April 9, 1954. He began acting in high school, and in college he enrolled in a drama program. He dropped out at the age of 20 to follow his brother to Hollywood and spent the next year mired in rejection and relative unemployment. He got his first break in 1977 when he was cast in minor roles in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden and 9/30/55, but it was not until 1979, when he starred in the seminal coming-of-age drama Breaking Away, that Quaid gained attention. It was his role as astronaut Gordo Cooper in The Right Stuff four years later that finally gave the actor his Hollywood breakthrough. He subsequently went on to appear in a number of films of widely varying quality. 1987 proved to be a particularly good year for Quaid, as he did acclaimed work in The Big Easy and Suspect. That same year, he also starred in the comedy Innerspace; that experience proved to be an auspicious one, as it provided him with an introduction to co-star Meg Ryan, whom he would marry in 1991. The two also starred together in the 1988 mystery D.O.A. and in the crime drama Flesh and Bone in 1993. Other notable roles for Quaid included that of wild man Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire (1989), a 1930s union organizer in Come See the Paradise (1990), and Meryl Streep's love interest in Postcards From the Edge (1990). During a large part of the '90s, Quaid starred in a string of disappointing films, including the disastrous Wyatt Earp (1994) and the failed medieval fantasy Dragonheart (1996). He made something of a comeback in 1998, appearing in the ensemble film Playing By Heart and the successful remake of The Parent Trap, in which he starred opposite Natasha Richardson. The following year, he had a starring role as a Miami football team's legendary quarterback in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday, and then starred in the supernatural thriller Frequency (2000) as a dead man who is able to communicate with his son (James Caviezel) over ham radio. Though both films proved moderately successful, it was two-years-later that Quaid would truly return to the good graces of critics with his striking turn in director Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven. As a closeted homosexual husband living a typical suburban dream in 1950s era Connecticut, Quaid's sensitive performance proved integral to convincingly recreating the tone of a Douglas Sirk era melodrama. Quaid portrayed a middle-aged man whose life is turned upside-down by the arrival of a young upstart who takes over his job in 2004's comedy drama Good Company, and appeared in The Alamo and Flight of the Phoenix the same year. Despite Quaid's involvement in several commercial and critical failures throughout the 2000s (The Day After Tomorrow, American Dreamz, Cold Creek Manor), the actor shone as widower Lawrence Wetherhold in Smart People (2008), and again as the stern Reverend Shaw Moore in 2011's Footloose reboot. Quaid appeared in the ensemble film What To Expect When You're Expecting, had a supporting role in the 2012 romcom Playing for Keeps and was in the anthology film Movie 43 (2013).

Trivia: Trained at the Hagen-Bergdorf studio, actor Daniel Stern hopscotched between stage and films during his first professional years, appearing on Broadway in Sam Shepard's True West and making his movie debut as Cyril in Breaking Away (1979). Biding his time with bits in such films as Stardust Memories (1980) and One Trick Pony (1980), Stern enjoyed a career breakthrough in the role of obsessive record collector Shrevie in Barry Levinson's Diner (1982). While he has been seen in a number of major roles since then, Stern is most fondly remembered for his portrayal of Marv, the Larry Fine-like burglar in the two Home Alone flicks of the early 1990s, and as cowboy wannabe Phil Berquist in Billy Crystal's City Slickers films. Stern's TV contributions include the role of Joey Nathan on the shortliver 1985 weekly Hometown, and a longer stint as the adult Kevin Arnold, the never-seen narrator of The Wonder Years (1989-92). Having previously directed several Wonder Years installments, Daniel Stern made his feature-film directorial bow with the 1993 baseball fantasy Rookie of the Year, and in 1995 functioned as both star and producer of the theatrical feature Tenderfoot. He went on to appear in Celtic Pride, the TV series Regular Joe, A Previous Engagement, and he played Drew Barrymore's father in her directorial debut Whip It.

Trivia: The career of Jackie Earle Haley should be inspirational for any former child star or out-of-work actor. In his preteen years, Haley earned his living as a TV commercial actor and voice-over artist (he voiced the son on Hanna-Barbera's animated All in the Family clone Wait Till Your Father Gets Home). At 13, Haley was cast as the juvenile delinquent with home-run power in Michael Ritchie's superb little-league comedy The Bad News Bears, earning a cult following for his portrayal of the swaggering, cool loner. He repeated the iconic role in two sequels, one of the few members of the original cast to do so. Peter Yates cast Haley, alongside future celebrities Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern, as a member of the bike-racing team in the Oscar-winning Breaking Away (1979). Earle disappeared from screens after some fitful television work through the '80s, but stayed busy behind the camera as a writer and an accomplished director of commercials. After more than a decade off the big screen, Haley made a spectacular return in 2006, first as the menacing bodyguard/driver Sugar Boy in All the King's Men, and then with an Oscar-nominated turn as a suburban pedophile in Todd Field's Little Children. He had a small part in the 2008 Will Ferrell comedy Semi-Pro, and the next year he was cast as Rorschach, arguably the most psychotic member of The Watchmen. In 2010 he appeared in a memorable one-scene cameo in Shutter Island and took the iconic part of Freddy Kruger in the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Two years later he was cast by Tim Burton in his big-screen version of Dark Shadows and by Steven Spielberg in the director's long-planned biopic Lincoln.

Trivia: Hart Bochner is a handsome, dark-haired supporting actor who has worked in several major theatrical and television movies. He is the son of Lloyd Bochner, a film and TV actor himself, and was born in Canada. As a teenager, he made his film debut in Franklin Schaffner's 1975 film Islands in the Stream. Before deciding to become an actor like his father, Bochner earned a graduate degree in English literature at a university in San Diego. Following college, he appeared in a supporting role in the 1979 sleeper Breaking Away. It was a promising start to his career and he next went on to appear in George Cukor's final film, Rich and Famous (1981). Though he appeared in many subsequent films, Bochner unfortunately has not become a well-known cinema actor though he did turn in a memorable performance as a sleazy yuppie businessman in 1988's Die Hard. With television, he has done a little better starring in adaptations such as East of Eden, The Sun Also Rises, and most notably the TV mini-series War and Remembrance.

Trivia: A specialist in still-waters-run-deep roles, the deceptively placid-looking Amy Wright is a graduate of Beloit College. After graduation, Wright worked as a drama instructor, then appeared in regional theater before establishing herself at New York's Circle Repertory. She made her off-Broadway debut in Strindberg's The Stronger, then took Broadway by storm in 1980 in a role especially written for her by Lanford Wilson in The Fifth of July. In films from 1975, Wright has been nothing short of brilliant as Sabbath Lily Hawks in Wise Blood (1979), creepy groupie Shelley in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980), William Hurt's uptight sister, Rose, in The Accidental Tourist (1988), and strident beauty contestant Missy Mahoney in Miss Firecracker (1989). Making the transition to middle-aged character roles with élan, she has also been seen as Goody Gotwick in Demi Moore's remake of The Scarlet Letter (1995). Amy Wright is the mother of two children by her longtime companion, actor Rip Torn.

Trivia: American actress P.J. Soles (her initials stand for Pamela Jayne) has specialized in playing sexy, sometimes villainous young women. She debuted as one of the nasty girls who makes life a living hell for an awkward young woman with psychokinetic powers in Carrie (1976). In 1978, she played Jamie Lee Curtis' best friend in Halloween and had her first starring role the following year as a rabid Ramones fan in Rock 'n' Roll High School. Though she is most frequently cast in supporting parts, she occasionally wins leads in films such as Stripes (1981) and the low-budget thriller Innocent Prey. In addition to her American filmwork, Soles has worked in several international films.

Trivia: Small, sad eyed actor, onscreen from the '70s.

Trivia: Memorably portraying gruff authority figures in such features as Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and King Kong Lives (1986), longtime character actor John Ashton possesses just the sort of rough-around-the-edges, grating quality that viewers love to hate. A native of Springfield, MA, who graduated from the University of Southern California School of Theater, Ashton got his start onscreen with a supporting role in the 1973 thriller The Psychopath, a role that served to define his future career path in cinematic law enforcement. Small-screen roles in Kojak and Police Story only served to reinforce this path, and in 1978 Ashton became a familiar face to television viewers when he joined the cast of the prime-time hit Dallas. Continuing to alternate between television and film into the following decade, the 1980s proved a lucrative period for Ashton as roles in Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (1984), Beverly Hills Cop (as well as its sequel), and Midnight Run (1988) found him toying with his haggard image to the amusement of movie lovers worldwide. Though not as prominent onscreen in the 1990s, Ashton averaged about two films a year with roles in The Tommyknockers (1993), Trapped in Paradise (1994), and Meet the Deedles (1998), culminating with an impressive performance as the eponymous character in the 2001 thriller Bill's Gun Shop, which proved once and for all that his edge was still very much intact. His performance was so impressive, in fact, that he was subsequently cast in the lead of the 2002 drama Sweet Deadly Dreams.