Trivia: A star in his native Australia thanks to his work on television and in musical theatre, actor Hugh Jackman became known to American audiences through his role as Logan/Wolverine in Bryan Singer's lavish adaptation of the popular Marvel comic X-Men (2000). Born of English parentage in Sydney on October 12, 1968, Jackman was raised as the youngest of five children. After earning a communications degree as a journalism major from Sydney's University of Technology, he attended the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts, where he studied drama. The fledgling actor got his first big break immediately after graduation, when he was offered a starring role on the popular TV series Corelli; his casting proved to be doubly serendipitous, as it provided him with an introduction to his future wife, actress Deborra-Lee Furness, with whom he would have a son. Jackman starred in a number of other TV series -- and also began to earn recognition for his work on the stage in such productions as Beauty and the Beast, Sunset Boulevard, and Trevor Nunn's acclaimed Royal National Theatre production of Oklahoma!, the latter of which featured the actor in an Olivier-nominated performance as Curly McLain. In 1999, a year after being nominated for the Olivier, Jackman was again honored, this time with a Best Actor nomination from the Australian Film Institute for his portrayal of a man estranged from his brother in the urban drama Erskineville Kings. The actor's winning streak continued when he was hired to replace Dougray Scott as Wolverine in Bryan Singer's high-profile adaptation of X-Men. The film, whose cast also included Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Anna Paquin, James Marsden, and Halle Berry, opened to strong reviews and box-office to become one of the biggest hits of the summer. Jackman's rising international popularity was reflected by his casting in Tony Goldwyn's Someone Like You, a romantic comedy also starring Ashley Judd and Greg Kinnear. Jackman was hard to ignore in 2001, appearing just a few short months later in John Travolta's latest comback, Swordfish.2003 saw the return of the X-Men and, with them, Jackman's Wolverine in X2: X-Men United, a film that not only repeated the first film's financial success, but was considered by many to be the rare sequel that outdoes its predecessor. Sticking with the action genre, Jackman could next be seen in the title role of the 2004 ultra-big-budget film Van Helsing. Although Van Helsing was met with critical disdain, and underperformed at the box office, Jackman rebounded by earning rave reviews as the lead in the Broadway musical The Boy From Oz. That same year he hosted the annual Tony awards, again to great acclaim.Fans had numerous opportunities to see Jackman on the big screen in 2006. He took a humorous turn that summer as a possible serial killer in Woody Allen's comedy Scoop, and in fall he starred opposite Oscar winner Rachel Weisz in the stylish The Fountain as a man who searches through three different time periods concurrently, on a single spiritual journey. That same autumn, Jackman could also be seen in the dark fantasy The Prestige, playing a turn of the century magician who some speculate performs real magic, and before winter, audiences were hearing his vocal work in a pair of animated films, Flushed Away and Happy Feet. 2006 also proved to be the year Jackman announced he would produce and star in a big-screen adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.Jackman would spend the following years appearing in numerous films, like X-Men: First Class, Butter, and Real Steel. He would enjoy one of his biggest successes playing Jean Valjean in Tom Hooper's adaptation of the stage musical Les Miserables, a role that earned Jackman a Best Actor nomination from the Academy, his first Oscar nod.

Trivia: A woman whose combination of talent, tenacity, and beauty has made her one of Hollywood's busiest actors, Halle Berry has enjoyed a level of success that has come from years of hard work and her share of career pitfalls. Berry's interest in show business came courtesy of her participation in a number of beauty pageants throughout her teens, including the 1986 Miss U.S.A. Pageant. A native of Cleveland, OH, where she was born to an African-American father and white mother on August 14, 1968, Berry was raised by her mother, a psychiatric nurse, following her parents' divorce. At the age of 17, she appeared in the spotlight for the first time as the winner of the Miss Teen All-American Pageant, and subsequently became a model. Berry won her first professional acting gig on the TV series Living Dolls, and then appeared on Knots Landing before winning her first big-screen role in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever. It was on the set of the film that she first earned her reputation for her full commitment to acting, reportedly refusing to bathe for weeks in preparation for her portrayal of a crack addict.Following her film debut, Berry was cast opposite Eddie Murphy in Boomerang (1992) as the comedian's love interest; not only did she hold her own against Murphy, but the same year she did acclaimed work in the title role of the Alex Haley miniseries Queen, playing a young woman struggling against the brutal conditions of slavery.After a comedic turn as sultry secretary Sharon Stone in the 1994 live-action version of The Flintstones, Berry returned to more serious fare with her role in the adoption drama Losing Isaiah (1995). Starring opposite Jessica Lange as a former crack addict battling to win custody of her child, who as a baby was adopted by an affluent white couple, Berry earned a mixed reception from critics, some of whom noted that her scenes with Lange highlighted Berry's own shortcomings.However, critical opinion of the actress' work was overwhelmingly favorable in 1998, when she starred as a street smart young woman who comes to the aid of a bumbling politician in Warren Beatty's Bullworth. The following year, Berry won even greater acclaim -- and an Emmy and Golden Globe -- for her turn as tragic screen siren Dorothy Dandridge in the made-for-cable Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. Unfortunately, any acclaim Berry enjoyed was overshadowed by her widely publicized brush with the law in February of 2000, when she allegedly ran a red light, slammed into another car, and then left the scene of the accident. The actress, who suffered a gash to her forehead (the driver of the other car sustained a broken wrist), was booked in a misdemeanor court in early April of that year.Fortunately for Berry, her subsequent onscreen work removed the spotlight from her legal troubles; that same year, she starred as Storm in Bryan Singer's hugely successful adaptation of The X-Men. The film was a box office hit, but her next popcorn flick, the thriller Swordfish, which touted itself as the first movie to feature Berry baring her breasts, had a less impressive reception.Berry again bared more than her character's inner turmoil in Monster's Ball (2001), a romantic drama directed by Marc Forster that starred the actress as a woman who becomes involved with an ex-prison-guard (Billy Bob Thornton) who oversaw the prison execution of her husband (Sean Combs). Berry earned wide critical praise for her work in the film, as well as Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Best Actress. And though she may have lost out to Sissy Spacek in the Golden Globes, her night at the Oscars found Berry the favored performer as took home a statue for Best Actress. A momentous footnote in Academy Award history, Berry's win marked the first time an African American had been bestowed that particular honor.Although her turn in the James Bond flick Die Another Day was so successful that talk began of a spin-off film, Berry's first true post-Oscar vehicle Gothika proved to be unpopular with both critics and moviegoers. Luckily, 2003 wasn't a total loss for her though as X2: X-Men United was a box-office smash and was regarded by many to be superior to its predecessor. Sticking with comic-books as source-material, Berry could be seen in Catwoman the following Summer. The film was the biggest flop of her career, panned by audiences and critics, and earning the actress a coveted Razzie for her terrible performance. She won back a great deal of respect, however, by starring in the made for TV adaptation of the Zora Neale Hurston novel Their Eyes Were Watching God the next year. She followed this moving performance with a return to her X-Men comrades for X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006, then signed on to star alongside a decidedly creepy Bruce Willis in the suspense thriller Perfect Stranger (2007), directed by James Foley.As the 2010's unfolded, Berry continued to enjoy top-tier status as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, taking on roles in films like Things We Lost in the Fire, Dark Tide, Cloud Atlas, and The Call. In 2014, she reprised her role of Storm yet again in X-Men: Days of Future Past and took the lead role in her own TV series, Extant, which lasted for two seasons.

Trivia: Widely considered one of the leading British actors of his generation, Ian McKellen has had a rich and varied career encompassing the stage, screen, and television. A renowned stage actor in his native Britain for decades, McKellen was not familiar to most American audiences until the '90s, when he began popping up in a number of well-received films. One of these, Gods and Monsters, elevated the actor into the international spotlight when he earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Frankenstein director James Whale.Born May 25, 1939, in the northern English mill town of Burnley, McKellen was the son of a civil engineer. Encouraged by his parents, he developed an early fascination with the theatre. This interest continued when his family moved to the mining town of Wigan, where McKellen began acting in school plays. At the age of 13, he performed in his first Shakespeare play, as Malvolio in a production of Twelfth Night. He gained an additional appreciation for Shakespeare during his summer vacations, when he attended camp in Stratford-upon-Avon and spent the evenings watching the likes of Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, John Gielgud, and Paul Robeson give life to the playwright's work.Shakespeare played a continuing role in McKellen's life when he went to Cambridge University, where he was offered a place to study English at Saint Catherine's College. This offer was withdrawn two years later, when McKellen's involvement in theatre almost completely eclipsed his studies. His work in student theatre proved invaluable, however, allowing him to work with Derek Jacobi, David Frost, and Trevor Nunn, with whom he would go on to form a lasting professional relationship. McKellen's acting pursuits were also important for another reason: as he would later explain to numerous interviewers, the theatre introduced him to other gay men, something that eased his acceptance of his own homosexuality. McKellen's identity as a gay man would prove almost as defining a characteristic of his public persona as his identity as an actor: a vocal activist, he became one of a handful of openly gay knights when he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1991.After leaving Cambridge in 1961, McKellen began his professional career at Coventry's Belgrave Theatre, where he acted in a production of A Man for All Seasons. Three years later, he was living in London and working steadily on the stage. He acted in countless productions, a number of which he also directed, and co-founded the progressive Actors' Company in 1972. He earned a score of awards and honors for his work and in 1979 was made a Commander of the British Empire. Two years later, he won international theatrical acclaim with his Tony Award-winning portrayal of Salieri in the Broadway production of Amadeus.McKellen made his film debut in 1969 with a small role in The Promise, the same year that he caused a sensation on the stage with his portrayal of Edward II, which required him to kiss another man. It was not until 20 years later that McKellen became recognizable to international film audiences with his starring role as John Profumo in Michael Caton-Jones's Scandal (1989). Somewhat ironically, a year before gaining fame for playing one of the most infamously heterosexual public figures of the 20th century, McKellen came out to the public as a gay man during a BBC radio program. In 1993, he became recognizable to American television audiences playing gay men in And the Band Played On and Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, two acclaimed TV miniseries; McKellen earned an Emmy nomination for his work in the former. In 1996, he earned another Emmy nomination for his supporting role in Rasputin.That same year, the actor gained more visibility on the big screen, appearing in Six Degrees of Separation and The Ballad of Little Jo. He continued to turn in strong performances in such films as Cold Comfort Form (1995) and Jack and Sarah (1995), and he earned particular acclaim for his titular performance in Richard Loncraine's 1996 Richard III, for which he also adapted the screenplay. Following subsequent turns in Bent (1997) and Apt Pupil (1998), McKellen starred in Bill Condon's Gods and Monsters, giving a stunning portrayal of James Whale during the director's last days. His performance won a score of international accolades, including Best Actor Oscar and Golden Globe nominations and Best Actor honors from the National Board of Review.After appearing alongside future Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe in a TV production of David Copperfield in 1999, McKellen stepped into the shoes of the diabolical Magneto in director Bryan Singer's popular comic-book action adventure, X-Men. McKellen stuck with fantasy for his next role as well, this time on a grand scale with his Oscar nominated role as Gandalf the Grey in director Peter Jackson's long-anticipated Lord of the Rings trilogy. Following the massively successful franchise, McKellen would appear in the subsuquent prequel, The Hobbit, as well as films like The Academy and The Da Vinci Code.

Trivia: Doing for bald men what no amount of Minoxodil ever could, Patrick Stewart won international fame for his portrayal of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the popular TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation. Before earning immortality for his ability to handle a phaser convincingly, Stewart was known as a stage actor of great talent in his native Britain, where he had been performing since he was a teenager.Born in Mirfield, Yorkshire, England on July 13, 1940, Stewart was performing in various drama groups by the age of twelve. After leaving school at fifteen, he went to work as a junior reporter for a local newspaper. He quit the job after being told by the paper's editor that he was spending too much time at the theatre and not enough on the newspaper and worked for a year as a furniture salesman to pay for drama school. He was accepted at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 1957, and two years later made his professional stage debut in a production of Treasure Island. Stewart went on to enjoy a prolific and acclaimed stage career, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966 and remaining with it for the next twenty-seven years. He also began to work on the big and small screens, and in the early 1980s started popping up in a number of popular films like Excalibur (1981) and Dune (1984). In 1987, he was chosen to play Picard on Next Generation. Certain that he would be fired from the series, Stewart reportedly refused to unpack his bags for six weeks. Although more than one snarky observer spent the first year of the series making idiot jokes about Stewart's bald pate, the actor--and the show--proved to be a hit. Stewart stayed with Next Generation for seven seasons, and then reprised his role for a string of successful Star Trek films: 1994's Star Trek Generations, 1996's Star Trek: First Contact, 1998's Star Trek: Insurrection and 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis.In addition to his work with the Next Generation series and films, Stewart also continued to work on the stage and in various films. In 1995, he had a hilarious turn as a flamboyant, acid-tongued interior decorator in Jeffrey, while in 1997 he tried his hand at intrigue with a part in The Conspiracy Theory. The following year, he appeared on the small screen, giving a terrific portrayal of the obsessive Captain Ahab in Moby Dick. Though a new Star Trek film every few years may not have been quite enough to keep the legions of sci-fi addicts satisfied, Stewart scored brownie points among fans by taking an impressive turn as Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men (2000), X2: X-Men United (2003), and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). On the stage, Stewart enjoyed acclaim for a number of productions, particularly a one-man production of A Christmas Carol, which he performed in numerous theatrical venues around the world, winning numerous awards for his portrayal. He also earned extensive praise for his portrayal of Prospero in the Broadway production of The Tempest in 1996. Interestingly, Stewart, though appreciative of his star status, has repeatedly bristled at the notion that his lack of hair is "sexy," à la Yul Brynner. In regards to his reluctant sex symbol status, he has stated that he would much rather be judged on the basis of his acting ability rather than his appearance.

Trivia: A former model, Dutch-born actress Famke Janssen had her screen breakthrough as Xenia Onatopp, James Bond's (literally) man-crushing foe in GoldenEye (1995). After earning fame and a certain dose of coy notoriety for her portrayal of the character, who was endowed with the unique ability to squash potential seducers to death between her thighs, Janssen went on to prove that she was more than just the latest variety of Bond babe.Born in Holland on January 1, 1964, Janssen launched her lucrative modeling career at an early age. Moving to New York when she was barely out of her teens, she soon tired of the vacuous nature of modeling and enrolled at Columbia University, where she studied literature and creative writing. Janssen made her screen debut in the 1992 drama Fathers and Sons. Following the success of GoldenEye, the actress began finding steady screen work, appearing in such films as Robert Altman's The Gingerbread Man (1998), in which she played Kenneth Branagh's ex-wife; Woody Allen's Celebrity (1998), which cast her as Branagh's girlfriend; and Robert Rodriguez's The Faculty, in which Janssen's part was furthered by alien brainwashing, instead of Branagh.After closing the century with another excursion into supernatural grotesqueries in the remake of The House on Haunted Hill (1999), Janssen began the 21st century on a somewhat more heroic note, playing one of the titular group of superheroes in Bryan Singer's adaptation of the popular comic book X-Men.

Trivia: New Zealander Anna Paquin made her stage bow in the coveted role of a skunk in a grade school play. After attracting attention for her work in a TV commercial, Paquin was selected from some 5,000 applicants to portray Holly Hunter's precocious daughter in director Jane Campion's dour period piece The Piano. The film was completed in 1992 when Paquin was nine. She kept busy for the next year or so in a series of American TV ads for a computer company, portraying an androgynous "young DaVinci" type. In 1994, an amazed 11-year-old Paquin rushed on the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion to accept the best supporting actress award for her performance in The Piano. Paquin played her first adult role in Hurly Burly (1998).

Trivia: For better or worse, leading actor Kelsey Grammer's name will probably forever be associated with the pompous, garrulous, and self-absorbed but lovable psychiatrist Frasier Crane, a character Grammer has played on television since he first appeared on the NBC sitcom Cheers, in 1984, as a love interest for Shelley Long. Though Frasier was not intended to become a series regular, Grammer's performance of the blowhard neurotic charmed audiences and he remained with Cheers through its 1993 demise. At the beginning of the 1993-1994 television season, Grammer's character was resurrected in his own show and moved from Boston to Seattle, where he became a radio psychologist and faced a whole slew of folks just waiting to poke metaphorical pins in his hot air balloon. Thanks to excellent performances and top-notch writing, Frasier became as big a hit as its predecessor. Grammer won three Emmy awards and was nominated for seven more (twice for Cheers, once for his guest appearance on a 1992 episode of Wings, four times for Frasier) for playing the character. Born on St. Thomas, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Grammer knew extreme tragedy in youth. Following the shooting death of his father when he was a boy, he was raised in New Jersey and then Florida, by his mother and grandfather. His grandfather died before Grammer became a teen. When he was 20, his sister was abducted and violently murdered. Five years later, he lost two half brothers in a diving accident. As a young man, Grammer found comfort in Shakespeare; with his acting debut in a high school production of The Little Foxes came an interest in pursuing drama as a career. He enrolled in Juilliard, but dropped out after two years to work at San Diego's Old Globe Theater, where he gained three years' invaluable experience performing in Shakespearean and classical dramas; afterward, Grammer performed in productions across the country. He eventually made it to Broadway, where he appeared in various productions, including Othello. Prior to playing Frasier, Grammer appeared occasionally on television and had regular roles in three soap operas, including One Life to Live. He continues to occasionally guest star on other series. Fans of the animated satire The Simpsons will recognize his periodic voice characterization as the venomous Sideshow Bob. Miniseries and telemovies in which he has appeared include London Suite and Beyond Suspicion. Grammer made his feature film debut with a small role in Top of the Hill (1989) and had his first starring role in the much-panned comedy Down Periscope (1996). In addition to his Emmy kudos, Grammer has received an American Comedy Award, two Golden Globes, and a People's Choice Award. In 1995, he published his autobiography So Far.Grammer would spend the following years taking on TV roles on shows like Back to You and Boss, but would find even more success as a producer, helping bring shows like The Game, Girlfriends, Hank, Medium, and World Cup Comedy to fruition. In 2014, he returned to acting in a big way, making a cameo appearance in X-Men: Days of Future Past, reprising his role as Beast, playing the bad guy in Transformers: Age of Extinction, and returning to television in the FX series Partners.

Trivia: With just as much comic timing as beauty, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos made the transition from model to actress look easy. After a memorable stint on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me, she parlayed her previous small roles in Dirty Work (1998) and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) into a full-fledged movie career.Born on November 6, 1972, Romijn-Stamos is the daughter of a Dutch father and a Dutch-American mother. Her parents, a custom toy and furniture maker and an English as a Second Language teacher, divorced when she was seven. Romijn-Stamos, whose first language is Dutch, grew up in the hippie counterculture of Berkeley in the '70s. She attended Berkeley High School where her cheerfulness, blonde locks, and long legs earned her the nickname "Jolly Blonde Giant." After graduation, she enrolled in the music program at the University of Southern California at Santa Cruz to study singing. Partially into her freshman year, Romijn-Stamos grew restless. She yearned to travel but could barely afford her tuition. A friend introduced her to a Parisian modeling scout, who convinced her to move to Paris.Within a short time, Romijn-Stamos landed the cover of French Elle and signed contracts with the cosmetics company Biotherm and the famed fashion houses of Christian Dior and Escada. Over the course of her extremely high-profile modeling career she has posed for Victoria's Secret and Sports Illustrated, been the Miller Light "fantasy girl" and the face of Tommy Girl, as well as graced numerous magazine covers. Yet, in 1996, Romijn-Stamos became bored with simply modeling. With the support of boyfriend John Stamos (whom she married in 1998), she took a chance on acting.In the fall of 1997, Romijn-Stamos made her small-screen debut as David Schwimmer's outrageously sloppy girlfriend on NBC's Friends. Shortly afterward, she tried out to replace Daisy Fuentes as the host of MTV's House of Style, but bombed the audition. Romijn-Stamos, who as a child fantasized about becoming an anchorwoman, boldly called the producer from a pay phone to petition for the job. Impressed by her moxie, the station hired her for the two-year gig.The burgeoning actress graduated to movies as the bearded lady in Bob Saget's Dirty Work (1998), before modeling lingerie for Mike Myers in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999). She then returned to television to play David Spade's wife on Just Shoot Me in the fall of 1999. Originally hired to appear in three episodes, Romijn-Stamos was such a big hit that producers asked her to return later in the season.Branching out from comedy, Romijn-Stamos portrayed Hugh Hefner's ex-wife, playmate Kimberly Hefner, in the television drama Hefner: Unauthorized (1999). She rang in the new millennium by donning head-to-toe blue body paint and scales for her role as Mystique in Bryan Singer's X-Men (2000). By then a savvy business woman, Romijn-Stamos negotiated to receive more money per word than any other of the film's cast members (which included Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, and Hugh Jackman) because she knew her role as the taciturn shape shifter required very few lines. Her work in the action-packed comic book adaptation lead to a part in John McTiernan's Rollerball (2002), a remake of the '70s film about the futuristic world of sports. That same year, she earned the title role in Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale (2002).While Rollerball was maligned by critics and Femme Fatale had a mixed reception, Romijn-Stamos returned to the favor of audiences and critics in the 2003 sequel X2: X-Men United with a much meatier role for Mystique than the first film. 2004 found the actress sticking with Marvel comic adaptations as she costarred opposite Thomas Jane in The Punisher. That same year, she starred with Greg Kinnear and Robert De Niro in the thriller Godsend and in 2006, she reprised the role of Mystique once again for X-Men: The Last Stand. Romijn also assumed a recurring role on the series Pepper Dennis, an experience that worked out so well, the actress decided to pursue more television, with a cameo on the series Carpoolers in 2007, and a recurring role on the hit show Ugly Betty in 2008.

Trivia: A native of Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he was born on September 18, 1973, Marsden grew up with a sister and two brothers. Following a short stint at Oklahoma State University, he dropped out of school to move to Los Angeles and pursue his interest in acting. Marsden's move led to work as a Versace model and to a brief role as the original Griffin on Fox's Party of Five (the part would later be taken over by Jeremy London), as well as brief stints on a variety of other TV series. Marsden's growing fan base got another boost when he was cast alongside Katie Holmes and Nick Stahl in David Nutter's Disturbing Behavior; despite the film's lackluster performance, in part abetted by an overabundance of teen horror films, Marsden was able to nab the plum role of Cyclops in Singer's X-Men. One of the most highly anticipated films of 2000, it allowed the actor to work alongside the likes of Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Anna Paquin, and Famke Janssen. Marsden's rising popularity was reflected in his busy schedule the following year; among his projects was Sugar and Spice, a black comedy that cast him opposite fellow up-and-comer Mena Suvari. In 2003 Marsden would once again appear as Cyclops in the big-budget X-Men sequel, X2. Marsden continued to work steadily insuch films as The Notebook and Heights before returning for trhe third installment of the X-Men franchise. Although he appeared again as Cyclops, he in fact scored more screen time in Bryan Singer's Superman Returns playing Lois Lane's husband who must contend with the fact that his wife is in love with the man of steel. He also played opposite Amy Adams in Enchanted a romantic fable that combined live-action with animation. Marsden would go on to enjoy a growing leading-man status, appearing in movies like The Box, Death at a Funeral, and a remake of Straw Dogs. Marsden would also appear in a memorable arc on 30 Rock.

Trivia: Though he would set the screen ablaze with his role as Iceman (aka Bobby Drake) in director Bryan Singer's X2, teen actor Shawn Ashmore has been appearing frequently in film since his cinematic debut in the 1991 comedy drama Married to It. Born one-minute after twin brother Aaron in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, in October of 1979, Ashmore was raised in Toronto, British Columbia, and Alberta, where he would attend primary school at Leo Nickerson Elementary before heading to Turner Fenton High School in Brampton, Ontario. His mother's association with the Multiple Birth Association eventually led to a career in front of the camera for both Shawn and brother Aaron, and before long the siblings were appearing in numerous television commercials. Following his debut in Married to It, Ashmore would go on to meatier roles in such made-for-television features as Guitarman (1994) and Promise the Moon (1997), often joking that casting agents would have to flip a coin to chose between himself and his brother. As his career continued to build momentum with roles in such features as Strike! (1998) and on television's Animorphs, Ashmore was elated to find that he had been cast in a minor, albeit pivotal role in 2000's X-Men. Ashmore gained even more exposure with his subsequent role on The Disney Channel series In a Hearbeat. Always dedicated to making his performances as convincing as possible, Ashmore attended military school and received voice lessons for three months while preparing for his role in the 2002 made-for-television feature Cadet Kelly. He returned to the role of Iceman role in X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006. He worked steadily in projects such as Earthsea, 3 Needles, and Solstice. In 2008 he had a major role in the horror film The Ruins. Two years later he starred in Frozen, and followed that up with the horror film The Day.. Fluent in French, some of Ashmore's favorite pastime activities include snowboarding and playing guitar.

Trivia: A dynamic and handsome young actor who burst onto the screen with a fearless performance as a 15-year-old prep-school student who falls in love with his stepmother in Tadpole (2002), Aaron Stanford was probably better known for his role as comic-book fire starter Pyro in director Bryan Singer's X2: X-Men United in 2003. Born to a publishing executive father and an English professor mother in Westford, MA, Stanford and his family remained in the small town for most of his youth. Following his first professional theater role in a 1995 production of Equus, the burgeoning actor opted to expand his skills at Rutgers University, from which he graduated magna cum laude. Continuing his studies abroad at the London Academy of Theater, Stanford returned to the States to land a recurring role in the weekly television drama Third Watch in 2001. As a result of his feature debut in Tadpole, Stanford was cited by both Variety and Entertainment Weekly as a young actor to watch. Supporting roles in Woody Allen's Hollywood Ending and Spike Lee's 25th Hour (both 2002) were quick to follow, although it was the following year's X2 that found Stanford gaining his most exposure. On the heels of that film, he began preparing for roles in Spartan and Rick in 2003, and Winter Solstice (2004).

Trivia: First earning renown in Great Britain as a star footballer, Vinnie Jones smoothly parlayed his physically formidable "hard man" sports rep into a second career as a charismatic movie tough guy. Raised on the estate where his father worked as a gamekeeper, Jones began his professional sports career with the Wimbledon FC soccer team in 1986. Becoming famous for his aggressive athleticism, Jones played for several other teams before returning to Wimbledon in 1994. A multimedia celebrity in Britain as well as a sports star, Jones also hosted TV and radio talk shows, published a book, and wrote a weekly column for the Sun during his years as an athlete. Jones found his next calling when tyro writer/director Guy Ritchie cast him as paternal enforcer Big Chris in the flashy London gangster romp Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1999). A major hit in England, and an art house success in the U.S., Lock, Stock earned Jones several British prizes. Jones officially retired from soccer in 1999, and turned his attention full time to acting. After a featured role as "The Sphinx" in the bombastic Hollywood car heist blockbuster Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), Jones rejoined Ritchie's lad-movie universe as Bullet Tooth Tony in the charmingly titled diamond caper Snatch (2001). Having proven that he could hold his own among such Hollywood stars as Nicolas Cage and Brad Pitt, Jones was subsequently cast a series of films like Swordfish, Mean Machine, Hell Ride, The Heavy, and Kill the Irishmen. He would also find success on the dark superhero series The Cape.

Trivia: Born in Boston in October 1980, he began to realize his passion for acting after attending the Interlochen Theater Arts Summer Program. After writing, directing, and starring in his first play at the age of 12, it wasn't long before the venom of the acting bug had successfully worked its way into the budding thespian's blood. Devoting his life to acting, Foster dropped out of high school at 16 and prepared to face the challenges that accompany such a career. In 1999, Foster won his breakthrough role in Liberty Heights. Set in 1950s Baltimore, Foster starred as a Jewish high school student whose socially taboo relationship with an African-American classmate (Rebekah Johnson) finds him facing negative pressure from his family and friends. He would go on to appear in many other films, like The Laramie Project, Big Trouble, 30 Days of Night, Alpha Dog, 3:10 to Yuma, Pandorum, Rampart, and more. Foster would also have a succesful TV run, with a role on the popular HBO series Six Feet Under. He played William Burroughs in 2013's Kill Your Darlings and also appeared in Ain't Them Bodies Saints and Lone Survivor the same year. Foster also focused on his stage work, starring in A Streetcar Named Desire in London in 2014.

Trivia: American actor Michael Murphy pursued a high school teaching career upon graduation from the University of Arizona. Among the subjects he taught was drama; good-looking and personable enough to get paid for reciting lines to an audience older than the age of 18, Murphy chucked the teaching profession to work on stage. In films since 1967, Murphy is best remembered as Jill Clayburgh's cheating -- and uncontrollably sobbing -- husband in An Unmarried Woman (1978). Michael Murphy has also functioned as a stock company player for director Robert Altman (Countdown [1968], McCabe and Mrs. Miller [1971], Nashville [1974], etc.); in 1988 Munrphy portrayed a pre-fab presidential candidate in Altman's satirical HBO miniseries Tanner. He continued to work steadily in a variety of projects including Shocker, Folks!, Batman Returns, and Altman's Kansas City, as well as the Howard Stern biopic Private Parts. As the 21st century began he could be seen in Norma Jean, Jack and Me, Live from Baghdad, and Silver City. He starred in the sequel to Tanner - Tanner on Tanner - in 2004, and when on to appear in Away From Her, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Smokin' Aces. He has been hired regularly to narrate a variety of documentaries for the American Experience series.

Trivia: Before she became one of the few Dominican actresses working in Hollywood, Dania Ramirez launched her career in her family's home of New York City at the age of 15. Reportedly approached by a modeling recruiter while working in a store as a security girl (collecting patrons' handbags), Ramirez soon established herself as a successful print model, then transitioned, sequentially, to commercials, television, and big-screen features. Ramirez met director Spike Lee when cast as an extra in HBO's omnibus feature Subway Stories (1997) -- a connection that spawned their collaboration on Lee's 2004 picture She Hate Me (in which she played the minor part of Alex Guerrero). Ramirez then signed on for supporting roles in such features as Fat Albert (2004), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), and Illegal Tender (2007). On the small screen, Ramirez played potential slayer Caridad in several episodes of the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2003) and Blanca Selgado, a love interest of A.J. Soprano (Robert Iler) during the sixth season of The Sopranos (2006-2007). In fall 2007, she joined the cast of the smash-hit sci-fi series Heroes, playing the emotional and mysteriously deadly Maya Herrera. After appearing in a handful of projects in 2008, Ramirez took a break, but returned in 2012 in a pair of studio films - American Reunion, and Premium Rush. In 2013, she starred in Lifetime's Devious Maids, playing maid Rosie Falta.

Trivia: Character actor, onscreen from the early '70s.

Trivia: An Iranian actress whose strong political beliefs almost led her to a career as a journalist, Shohreh Aghdashloo decided instead that she could reach more people by working in film and theater -- and with her Oscar-nominated role in the tragedy House of Sand and Fog, she found an audience the size of which she never dreamed possible. Born in Tehran in 1952 to an intellectual, creative family, Aghdashloo was drawn to the theater at an early age, and by her twenties was performing in various cutting-edge performance groups, among them the acclaimed Drama Workshop of Tehran. Filmmakers often drew upon talent from the Workshop, and Aghdashloo was cast by directors Abbas Kiarostami and Ali Hatami -- two towering figures of the nascent Iranian New Wave -- to play starring roles in several of their formally adventurous, socially progressive productions, including 1977's Gozaresh and Sutedelan.But in the late '70s, with the Ayatollah Khomeini reintroducing an era of strict rule based on religious doctrine, Aghdashloo's work as a performer was either censored or forbidden outright. Eager to escape the turmoil of the Iranian Revolution, Aghdashloo left her husband and her career to go to London, where she earned a degree in international relations. She was on the verge of accepting a position at a newspaper when a friend presented her with a play, called Rainbow, about the Revolution and its discontents. He had written a role specifically for her, and Aghdashloo believed in the project enough to put her journalism career on hold -- for what would turn out to be an indefinite length of time. Rainbow was such a success, it toured the United States, where Aghdashloo was reunited with a Workshop colleague of hers, Houshang Touzie; a romance soon developed, and two married in Los Angeles in the late '80s.Discouraged by the dearth of non-stereotyped roles for Middle Eastern women in Hollywood, Aghdashloo focused her attention instead on stage work, even creating a traveling theater troupe with her husband that performed plays in Farsi for Iranian audiences. Her occasional film work included roles in such topical dramas as America So Beautiful and Maryam, both about the struggle of Iranian immigrants in the U.S. It was such work that caught the attention of director Vadim Perelman, who was looking to cast the supporting role of Nadi in his big-screen adaptation of the bestseller House of Sand and Fog. Perelman and his casting agent contacted Aghdashloo directly -- at the time, the actress had no agent or manager -- and were soon convinced that she was the woman for the part. Having read the book upon its release, Aghdashloo had long envisioned ways that she could play Nadi, a strong but subservient Iranian-American wife and mother caught between her husband's wishes and her own conscience. Opposite the formidable Ben Kingsley in a cast of established performers, Aghdashloo's subtle, simmering performance brought her kudos from the New York Film Critics and Los Angeles Film Critics Associations, both of whom named her 2003's Best Supporting Actress. The Academy followed suit, nominating her against such Hollywood stalwarts as Renée Zellweger and Holly Hunter.Following a recurring role on the wildly popular television hit 24 that served well to introduce the increasingly prominant actress to audiences outside of the art-house circuit, Aghdashloo turned in impressive supporting performances in such popular wide release films as The Exorcism of Emily Rose, American Dreamz, and X-Men: The Last Stand. In 2006 Aghdashloo would heed the call of Hollywood once again to take a featured role as the best friend of Sandra Bullock's lonely character in the romantic fantasy remake The Lake House. She went on appear in The Stoning of Soraya M., The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and House of Saddam, and narrated the documentaries Iranium and For Neda.

Trivia: Although many would likely recognize Bill Duke from his roles in such high-profile releases as Predator, Menace II Society, and Red Dragon, perhaps only a few connect the face in front of the camera with the name of the man who also directed such features as A Rage in Harlem and Hoodlum. A native of Poughkeepsie, NY, and the first in his family to graduate from college, the actor/director studied speech and drama at Boston University before earning his M.F.A. from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Subsequently penning off-Broadway plays and launching a film career with roles in Car Wash (1976) and American Gigolo (1979), Duke's early breakthrough came with a featured role in the critically acclaimed Alex Haley miniseries Palmerstown U.S.A. in 1980. Deciding to refine his skills behind the camera, the burgeoning actor later studied at the American Film Institute, where his student project The Hero earned him a solid reputation as a director to watch. In the years that followed, Duke earned a reputation as an efficient and effective television director as he took the helm for episodes of Hill Street Blues, Fame, Miami Vice, Spenser: For Hire, and Matlock. He soon moved into feature territory with the PBS drama The Killing Floor (which screened at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and earned the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival). In 1989, Duke's adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun showed that, although his directing had thus far been limited to the small screen, he also had the potential to launch a lucrative career in theatrical features. After acting in such features as Commando (1985), Predator (1987), and Bird on a Wire (1990), Duke's first theatrical feature, A Rage in Harlem, was released in 1991. An effective crime drama featuring a gangster's moll, a trunk load of gold, and a slew of unsavory heavies, the film was unfairly interpreted by audiences to be a rip-off of the popular 1989 comedy Harlem Nights. For the dark crime thriller Deep Cover, Duke teamed with future collaborator Laurence Fishburne for the first time, and after lightening things up a bit with The Cemetery Club (1993), Duke earned a direct hit at the box office with the popular sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit the same year. The remainder of the '90s found the actor/director evenly dividing his duties on both sides of the camera, and, in 1997, he re-teamed with Fishburne for the throwback gangster drama Hoodlum. With all of his directorial duties, Duke found little time to accept onscreen roles, though performances in Payback and Fever in 1999 reminded audiences that he was still a compelling screen presence. Duke returned to the small screen the following year to direct an episode of City of Angels and the Nero Wolfe mystery The Golden Spiders, and remained in television to shoot episodes of Fastlane and Robbery Homicide Division. In 2003, Duke directed the moving, made-for-TV drama Deacons for Defense. As roles in Red Dragon (2002) and National Security (2003) continued to fuel his feature career, Duke was also seen on the small screen in episodes of Fastlane and the Out of Sight (1998) spin-off Karen Sisco.

Trivia: Parents are British. Attended Gannon University on a football scholarship, but was plagued by injuries and had to stop playing. Played rugby for Capilano Rugby Football Club in Canada; his brothers are both professional rugby players. Auditioned for the lead in Superman Returns, but lost out to Brandon Routh.

Trivia: Like a lot of young, hopeful actors, Eric Dane set his sites on Hollywood after showing his stuff in high-school theater productions. He moved to L.A. after graduation, and immediately started paying his dues appearing in things like the TV movie Seduced by Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story and The Basket. Almost ten years of getting by with minor appearances finally paid off for Dane in 2003, when he began appearing regularly on the popular sci-fi dramedy Charmed. He would continue to appear on the show through the next year, a year that would also see him get married to actress Rebecca Gayheart. He appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006, which was, oddly enough, directed by Brett Ratner, his new wife's former fiancé, and that same year he joined the cast of the wildly popular series Grey's Anatomy. Dane played womanizing plastic surgeon Dr. Mark Sloan (aka "McSteamy"), whose prior affair with Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd (Kate Walsh) contributed to the end of her marriage to his colleague and former best friend, Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). In 2008 he was cast in the hit Marley & Me even as he continued work on Grey's Anatomy. In 2010 he appeared in the musical Burlesque and was part of the large ensemble in the romantic comedy Valentine's Day.

Trivia: Appeared in national commercials for Hasbro and Dell Computers. At age eleven, left her father and brother in Texas and moved with her mother to Los Angeles in order to pursue her dream of acting in Hollywood. An ambassador for the 2015 Los Angeles Autoimmune Walk to support her mother, who suffers from Relapsing Polychondritis. Is an ambassador for the Starlight Starpower Foundation for children.

Trivia: Born in British Columbia, actor Cameron Bright began his career on a highly visible but emotionally demanding note: his first two major feature film roles cast him as the sexually abused 7-year-old victim of a deranged pedophile father (Eric Stoltz) in the Ashton Kutcher sci-fi outing The Butterfly Effect (2004), and as a 10-year-old spousal reincarnation who has an affair with an adult widow (Nicole Kidman) in the eerie psychodrama Birth (2004). In successive years, Bright racked up a series of turns in one prestigious Hollywood feature after another; additional credits included Thank You For Smoking (2005), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Running Scared (2006), and Juno (2007). In 2009, Bright starred opposite Gretchen Mol in the outing An American Affair. He would spend the next several years appearing in movies like New Moon, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, and Little Glory.

Trivia: New York native Ken Leung studied acting at NYU and at HB Studio before making his onscreen debut with a minor appearance in 1997's Rush Hour. He would continue to find consistent screen work with roles in movies like Red Dragon and Vanilla Sky, while simultaneously cultivating a theater career with roles in Broadway plays like the Tony Award-winning Thoroughly Modern Millie in 2002. Leung would later find a particularly memorable role in 2008, when he was cast as Miles Straume in the mysterious series Lost.

Trivia: Possessing an air of smug authority that isn't without a slight sense of self-conscious humor, actor Anthony Heald's supporting roles in such films as The Silence of the Lambs and Deep Rising have found him mastering the art of the overconfident character who audiences instinctively sense (often rightly so) will receive his comeuppance before the end credits roll. Born Philip Anthony Mair Heald in New Rochelle, NY, the aspiring actor with a keen eye for detail sought higher education at Michigan State University following graduation from New York's Massapequa High School. It was during his tenure at Michigan State that Heald became involved with a street theater troupe, honing his skills while simultaneously developing a unique style that he would continue to develop in the decade that followed. Making the leap to the big screen with a supporting role in the 1983 drama Silkwood, Heald also impressed small-screen viewers with occasional roles in Miami Vice, Tales From the Dark Side, and later, Cheers. Of course, it was feature films that provided the most exposure for Heald, though, his role as Dr. Frederick Chilton in The Silence of the Lambs offering the ideal celluloid personification of the actor's nervous confidence. Supporting roles in such high-profile releases as Searching for Bobby Fischer, The Pelican Brief, The Client, and 8MM kept Heald in the public eye throughout the 1990s, and with his role as buttoned-down Assistant Principal Scott Guber in the popular 2000 series Boston Public, Heald seemed to hit his stride on the small screen. On the high-school comedy drama, Heald embued his straight-laced, officious, authoritarian character with a surprising degree of sympathy, making Mr. Gruber somewhat more endearing than would be expected. In 2002, Heald reprised his role as Dr. Frederick Chilton in Red Dragon, the second sequel -- actually a prequel -- to The Silence of the Lambs. Though Boston Public would close its doors in 2004, Heald continued to act in addition to providing vocal work on a number of talking books. In 2006 Heald helmed the clichéd part of the unctuous Dean of the rival college in the comedy Accepted, as well as appearing in the third installment of the popular X-Men franchise.

Trivia: A few character actors make such an indelible impression with one role that they find it consistently impossible to outgrow that image. Anthony Perkins had it with Norman Bates, M. Emmet Walsh has it with Visser (from Blood Simple), and R. Lee Ermey will forever be associated with the sadomasochistic verbal rapist of a drill instructor, Gunnery Sgt. Hartman, from Stanley Kubrick's Vietnam opus, Full Metal Jacket (1987). Though Ermey never again quite matched the intensity of this role (or the gutter-bucket poetic invention of its obscene dialogue), it was enough to give him permanent recognition as a character actor among filmgoers, and to typecast him in a series of variants on that role, again and again, throughout his life.Born on March 24, 1944, in Emporia, KS, Ermey enlisted in the armed forces as a young man and hightailed it to Vietnam on a non-commissioned basis, but injuries forced him to retire from active duty. He received full disability pay and moved to Manila in the early '70s, where he managed to ably support himself on his USAF allotment (thanks to the lower cost of living) while studying for a degree in criminology. Each morning, Ermey visited the coffee shop at the Manila Hilton -- well-reputed as the haunt of American filmmakers shooting on-location in the Philippines -- until one of the directors happened to notice Ermey and asked him to pose for a series of blue jeans ads. This experience led to his film debut, a role as a retired soldier in a local production. By 1976, Ermey had appeared in several Filipino films. He broke into Hollywood films that year, when he slipped onto the set for Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now and convinced Coppola to hire him as a helicopter pilot. Indeed, the ex-officer's Vietnam experience came in handy and Coppola utilized him as a technical advisor. Ermey made his American cinematic debut -- and held to the military-man typecasting -- in Sidney J. Furie's comedy drama The Boys in Company C (1978), and the director's follow-up, Purple Hearts (1984). But his biggest break came shortly thereafter, when Stanley Kubrick -- a notorious tyrant himself -- tapped him to portray Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in Full Metal Jacket (1987). Ermey's evocation of the satanically profane, vile, and sadistic Hartman, laden with the thankless, brutal job of toughening up raw recruits before sending them to Vietnam (who eventually gets blown away by one of his trainees) dominates the film's first 45 minutes and provides an unforgettably realistic, disturbing portrait of military training. Thanks to his unique countenance and authoritative voice, Ermey maintained his image as a rough-hewn, tough-as-nails SOB onscreen.Neither Company C or Purple Hearts received substantial critical and public recognition (or a very wide release); in contrast, the broader exposure of Full Metal Jacket (it received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay and a National Board of Review nomination for Best Picture) boosted Ermey's prominence -- immeasurably so. He followed it up with spots in such well-received pictures as Alan Parker's racial drama Mississippi Burning (1988) and Abel Ferrara's Body Snatchers (1993). In 1995, Ermey spoofed himself to great effect as the voice of the leader of the little green soldiers in Toy Story, and doubled it up with a turn as the vengeful father of a homicide victim in Tim Robbins' capital punishment drama Dead Man Walking. A third role in that same year -- as the boss of Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt in David Fincher's seminal work Seven -- elicited a positive (if limited) critical and public response for Ermey's portrayal.During the early 2000s, Ermey once again drew on his military expertise and background, albeit in a much different fashion, as host of the small-screen program Mail Call. Episodes featured him answering a series of viewer questions about various aspects of military life and history. In 2003, he returned to his dramatic roots (and managed to top the despicability of Sgt. Hartman) in Marcus Nispel's Tobe Hooper remake, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Ermey plays Sheriff Hoyt, the deviant backwater law officer -- in cahoots with the family of slaughter-happy cannibals -- who refuses to listen the cries and wails of Jessica Biel's Erin. (In fact, Nispel invented Ermey's role for the remake). After a comic turn as yet another tough-nosed authority figure, Captain Nichols, in the 2005 Tommy Lee Jones vehicle Man of the House, Ermey reprised the Hoyt role for the sequel to the Chainsaw remake, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006). In that picture, Hoyt precipitates the central crisis by happening upon another group of teens, murdering one in cold blood, and dragging the others back to the house where maniac Leatherface and his cronies reside. R. Lee Ermey married his wife, Nila Ermey, in 1975. They have four children.

Trivia: Is half Colombian. Made her big-screen debut in the Nicolas Cage dramedy The Family Man (2000), for which she won a Young Artist Award. Has landed series-regular roles on ABC sitcom the Geena Davis Show and CBS drama The Good Wife.

Trivia: In addition to being the man who crafted both the "Marvel Universe" as well as some of the most popular comic book superheroes of modern times, longtime artist and writer Stan Lee played a pivotal role in bringing genuine human emotion into comic book characters, a trait that, up until the creation of such characters as the enduring Spider-Man, was sorely lacking in comics. Born in New York in 1922, it was at the age of 17 that Lee began work as an assistant editor for Timely Comics. Promoted to editor soon thereafter, Lee remained with the company as it changed its name to Atlas and fought slumping sales in the following years. At first simply carrying on with the stories of the characters that had already been created, the company got a fresh burst of creativity when, in 1961, it changed its name from Atlas to Marvel Comics. Soon carrying stories of emotionally complex and multi-dimensional characters such as Spider-Man, The Hulk, and Daredevil, Lee's intelligent story lines -- coupled with artist Jack Kirby's impressive images -- helped Marvel's popularity surge during the '60s. Advancing to the position of publisher and editorial director in 1972, it was during this decade that such popular television series as The Incredible Hulk and The Amazing Spider-Man truly came to life on the small screen. Though many of the characters had appeared in cartoon form on television in the previous decade, their transformation from animated characters to living, breathing humans truly brought comics into a new light and exposed them to audiences who otherwise might have scoffed at such fiction. Of course, this was only the beginning, and throughout subsequent years, Lee's characters made the leap to feature films in such blockbusters as Bryan Singer's X-Men (2000) and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002). In addition to his role as a popular writer in comics, Lee also played a pivotal role in reducing censorship in the medium. Addressing the issue of drug addition in an issue of The Amazing Spider-Man at the request of public health officials, Lee defied the strict rules set by the Comics Code Authority (which banned any portrayal of drug use whether it be in a positive or negative light) and ultimately put the downfall of the CCA into motion. In the decades since, Lee's creations have not only graced the pages of comic books, but have sprung to life as never before with numerous film and television adaptations most successfully in the box-office smash The Avengers.

Trivia: Born February 21, 1987 Elliot Page has done everything in their power to set themself apart from the mainstream. Beginning their career in their native Canada, Page debuted in the 1997 TV movie Pit Pony when they were only ten years old, playing the role of Maggie Mclean; the movie was then spun off into a series, in which they reprised his role from the film. Their ability to handle complex emotions and dialogue at a young age impressed directors, and they continued to build up their resumé, consciously avoiding the typical teenage girl roles of most movies, which they found to be sexist. In 2005, Page took on the challenging lead role in Hard Candy, a film about a young girl who lures in and traps a man she believes is a sexual predator. Their performance was praised as haunting and real, and soon after that Page contrasted it with a lighter role, playing Kitty Pryde in 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand. By then, audiences and critics alike were noticing Page's impressive screen presence, and they signed on for several projects for the next year, including Juno with Michael Cera. They also joined the cast of An American Crime, playing a true-life victim of torture and murder at the hands of a demented housewife played by Catherine Keener.As the pregnant title character in Jason Reitman's Best Picture Oscar nominee Juno, Page served up a brilliant portrait of an articulate teen dealing with the ramifications of such a major life event. Their witty, touching work earned them universal praise, as well as Best Actress nominations from the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy, and a host of kudos that dubbed them the breakout star of the year. Following the success of Juno, Page appeared in Smart People (2008), Peacock (2009), and Super (2010). Though all of those film were relatively well-received, Page wouldn't experience a resurgence in popularity until they co-starred with Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2010 psychological sci-fi Inception. Soon, Page was enjoying their immense reputation by appearing in films like Woody Allen's To Rome with Love.

Trivia: Though he may not draw instant name recognition among U.S. viewers, Australian character actor John Pyper-Ferguson boasts a resumé that reads like an exhaustive index of filmed entertainment, from the mid-'80s onward. It packs in theatrically released Hollywood B-pictures, A-list releases, telemovies, one- and two-shot series episodes, and much, much more. A thespian typically at home in supporting roles, this Aussie import became such a frequent on-camera presence that he was soon difficult, if not impossible, to miss.Pyper-Ferguson actually debuted in Canada -- auspiciously so, with the lead role of Sonny Hamilton, a character seeking information on his family history, in the prime-time drama Hamilton's Quest. He then segued to Hollywood film roles, with small appearances in such pictures as the slasher movie Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987), the Mel Gibson/Goldie Hawn vehicle Bird on a Wire (1990), the frat-boy comedy Ski School (1991), and the John Ritter gag-fest Stay Tuned (1992). After a brief (brief) appearance in that same year's Best Picture winner, the Clint Eastwood Western Unforgiven, Pyper-Ferguson spent the rest of the 1990s working in mostly forgettable fare, such as the telemovie Children of the Dust (1995) and the Z-grade sci-fi movie Space Marines (1996). For most of the following decade, Pyper-Ferguson eschewed feature-length films and landed guest appearances on acclaimed television series ranging from CSI and ER to Arli$$ and Nash Bridges. Following a bit part in 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, Pyper-Ferguson then signed for a regular role as Joe Whedon on the hit prime-time family drama Brothers & Sisters (2006).

Trivia: Lived on a five-acre farm with her parents for the first three years of her life. Spent a year living in the Caribbean. Supports the charities Caleb's Hope, Doctors Without Borders and the Canadian Red Cross. Studied acting at the Lyric School of Acting in Vancouver.