Trivia: Moon-faced, dreamy eyed, and radiating the kind of lo-fi intensity that made him a natural for the kind of Thoughtful Young Man roles in which he made his name during the early years of his career, Tobey Maguire has proven to be one of the most thought-provoking actors of his generation. Whether portraying a disaffected young suburbanite in The Ice Storm (1997) or a geek turned superhero in Spider-Man (2002), Maguire always gives the kind of nuanced, engaging performances that have the effect of making the viewer believe that short of actually spinning webs from his wrists, there is very little he can't do.Maguire was born in Santa Monica, CA, on June 27, 1975. The son of a construction worker and secretary, he was raised predominately by his mother after his parents divorced when he was almost two years old. The two led an itinerant lifestyle, living with relatives all over the country. Maguire's childhood ambition was to become a cook, but his mother, once an aspiring actress herself, encouraged her son to go into acting. Following a sixth grade drama class, the young actor began getting roles in commercials, which led to a starring turn in the short-lived 1992 sitcom Great Scott!The following year, Maguire made his film debut in This Boy's Life, which starred Robert De Niro and a very young Leonardo Di Caprio. After a small part in 1994's S.F.W. and a lead in the same year's largely unseen Revenge of the Red Baron, Maguire attracted favorable notice for his role in the 1995 Oscar-nominated short The Duke of Groove, in which he co-starred with Uma Thurman.1997 proved to be Maguire's breakthrough year, as he worked with two widely respected directors on two high-profile projects. The first was Ang Lee's critically lauded adaptation of the Rick Moody novel The Ice Storm; in a film filled with exceptional performances, Maguire held his own amongst a cast that included Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Allen, and Christina Ricci, and won acclaim for his portrayal of the dutiful and discontented Paul Hood. His other 1997 film, Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry, received mixed reviews, but Maguire's presence in an Allen film further bolstered his career.The year 1998 was another good year for the actor, who had a lead role in the highly acclaimed Pleasantville, in which he starred as a teenager who gets transported into the world of a '50s TV show. He also made a cameo appearance as a bedraggled hitchhiker in Terry Gilliam's adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. With a rising profile and coveted spot on the 1998 cover of Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood issue, Maguire was emerging as one of the more solid and worthwhile young actors in an industry where too many young performers fall prey to the lure of glitz over grit.His reputation was further established with his turn as the protagonist of The Cider House Rules, Lasse Hallström's 1999 Oscar-nominated adaptation of John Irving's novel about a young man who comes of age under the tutelage of an abortionist played by Michael Caine. Maguire's similarly strong work as a troubled but brilliant young writer in Wonder Boys (2000) undoubtedly helped him to win the attention of director Sam Raimi, who eventually cast the actor in the role of Peter Parker, the awkward teenager who becomes the eponymous, web-spinning hero of Spider-Man. The film, which was released in 2002, broke box-office records with its opening weekend draw of more than 110 million dollars, and finally separated Tobey Maguire from his mainstream status as Leonardo DiCaprio's basketball buddy into a mega-star in his own right. Its success catapulted Maguire -- who beefed up his skinny frame for the role and managed to assuage the misgivings of even the most die-hard Spidey fans with his astute performance -- into the rarefied realm of the A-list, complete with the promise of a multimillion-dollar paycheck for his future work, and led to his role as producer of 2002's The 25th Hour, as well as the wildly successful Seabiscuit. In 2004, Maguire returned to his role of Peter Parker in the hotly anticipated Spider-Man 2 and then finished up his superhero contract with the final installation of the trilogy, Spider-Man 3 (2007).Maguire would spend the ensuing years enjoying a selective career, appearing in Brothers, The Details, and The Great Gatsby.

Trivia: Known for the darkly eccentric characters he often plays, Willem Dafoe is one of the screen's more provocative and engaging actors. Strong-jawed and wiry, he has commented that his looks make him ideal for playing the boy next door -- if you happen to live next door to a mausoleum.Although his screen persona may suggest otherwise, Dafoe is the product of a fairly conventional Midwestern upbringing. The son of a surgeon and one of seven siblings, he was born on July 22, 1955 in Appleton, Wisconsin. Dafoe began acting as a teenager, and at the age of seventeen he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Growing weary of the university's theatre department, where he found that temperament was all too often a substitute for talent, he joined Milwaukee's experimental Theatre X troupe. After touring stateside and throughout Europe with the group, Dafoe moved to New York in 1977, where he joined the avant-garde Wooster Group. Dafoe's 1981 film debut was a decidedly mixed blessing, as it consisted of a minor role in Michael Cimino's disastrous Heaven's Gate . Ultimately, Dafoe's screen time was cut from the film's final release print, saving him the embarrassment of being associated with the film but also making him something of a nonentity. He went on to appear in such films as The Hunger (1983) and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) before making his breakthrough in Platoon (1986). His portrayal of the insouciant, pot-smoking Sgt. Elias earned him Hollywood recognition and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.Choosing his projects based on artistic merit rather than box office potential, Dafoe subsequently appeared in a number of widely divergent films, often taking roles that enhanced his reputation as one of the American cinema's most predictably unpredictable actors. After starring as an idealistic FBI agent in Mississippi Burning (1988), he took on one of his most memorable and controversial roles as Jesus in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Dafoe then portrayed a paralyzed, tormented Vietnam vet in Born on the Fourth of July (1989), his second collaboration with Oliver Stone. Homicidal tendencies and a mouthful of rotting teeth followed when he played an ex-marine in David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990), before he got really weird and allowed Madonna to drip hot wax on his naked body in Body of Evidence (1992). Following a turn in Wim Wenders' Faraway, So Close in 1993, Dafoe entered the realm of the blockbuster with his role as a mercenary in Clear and Present Danger (1994). That same year, he earned acclaim for his portrayal of T.S. Eliot in Tom and Viv, one of the few roles that didn't paint the actor as a contemporary head case. His appearance as a mysterious, thumbless World War II intelligence agent in The English Patient (1996) followed in a similar vein. In 1998, Dafoe returned to the contemporary milieu, playing an anthropologist in Paul Auster's Lulu on the Bridge and a member of a ragingly dysfunctional family in Paul Schrader's powerful, highly acclaimed Affliction. He then extended his study of dysfunction as a creepy gas station attendant in David Cronenberg's eXistenZ (1999). After chasing a pair of killers claiming to be on a mission from God in The Boondock Saints, Dafoe astounded audiences as he transformed himself into a mirror image of one of the screens most terrfiying vampires in Shadow of the Vampire (2000). A fictional recount of the mystery surrounding F.W. Murnau's 1922 classic Nosferatu, Dafoe's remarkable transformation into the fearsome bloodsucker had filmgoers blood running cold with it's overwhelming creepiness and tortured-soul humor. After turning up as a cop on the heels of a potentially homicidal yuppie in American Psycho that same year, the talented actor would appear in such low-profile releases as The Reconing and Bullfighter (both 2001), before once again thrilling audiences in a major release. As the fearsome Green Goblin in director Sam Raimi's long-anticipated big-screen adaptation of Spider-Man Dafoe certainly provided thrills in abundance as he soared trough the sky leaving death and destruction in his wake. His performace as a desperate millionare turned schizphrenic supervillian proved a key component in adding a human touch to the procedings in contrast to the dazzling action, and Dafoe next headed south of the border to team with flamboyant director Robert Rodriguez in Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Dafoe impressed critics with his performance of John Carpenter in the Bob Crane biopic Auto Focus. In 2003 he voiced one of the fish in the dentist's tank in Finding Nemo, and the next year he reprised his role as the Green Goblin in Spider-Man 2. He played a small role for Martin Scorsese in 2004's The Aviator, and had a memorable supporting turn in Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou that same year. In 2005 he appeared in Lars Von Trier's Manderlay. He appeared in Spike Lee's successful heist thriller Inside Man. In 2007 he appeared as a film director in Mr. Bean's Holiday. In 2009 he reteamed with two different directors he's worked with before; he voiced the role of the rat in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, and played a husband in Lars Von Trier's audience-dividing Antichrist. In 2012 he lent his vocal talents to the infamous Disney flop John Carter.

Trivia: One of the leading actors of her generation, Kirsten Dunst made her name in teen films without succumbing to entrapment in the teen film ghetto. Skinny, blonde, and possessing a charmingly crooked Pepsodent smile, she has repeatedly demonstrated her talent and charisma in projects ranging from kiddie comedies to high school romances to towering summer blockbusters.Born in Point Pleasant, NJ, on April 30, 1982, Dunst first appeared in front of a camera at the age of three, when she became a Ford model and commercial actor. She continued to model and do commercials until 1989, when she made her film debut in Woody Allen's New York Stories. Her uncredited role led to a part as Tom Hanks' daughter in the infamously troubled 1990 adaptation of Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities.Three years later, Dunst got her first big break when director Neil Jordan chose her over 5,000 hopefuls for the role of Claudia, the child vampire in his 1994 adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire. Dunst made a big impact on audiences and critics alike with her portrayal of a woman trapped eternally in the body of an 11-year-old, kissing co-star Brad Pitt, and gorging herself on human and animal blood. That same year, Dunst also appeared alongside Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon in Gillian Armstrong's adaptation of Little Women; the combined success of these two movies propelled Dunst to the top of the child-actor hierarchy, in terms of both bankability and exposure.Dunst followed up with a lead role in the Robin Williams action-fantasy Jumanji (1995), and lent her voice to a few animated features, including Disney's Anastasia (1997). She also had a brief but memorable turn as a refugee from a war-torn country in Barry Levinson's highly praised satire Wag the Dog (1997).1999 marked a turning point in Dunst's career, as she began appearing in films that cast her as a young woman instead of a precocious child. She starred as a small-town beauty queen contestant in the satirical comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous and as one of two teenage girls (the other played by Michelle Williams) who unwittingly uncover the Watergate scandal in Dick, another satirical comedy. Dunst further lived up to her title as one of Teen People's 21 Hottest Stars Under 21 with her leading role as the sexually rebellious Lux in Sofia Coppola's acclaimed adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides' novel The Virgin Suicides (1999). Her work in the film proved to be a critical breakthrough for Dunst, whom critics praised for her portrayal of the conflicted, headstrong character.Dunst subsequently did her bit for the high school comedy-romance genre, starring as a cheerleader in Bring It On (2000), and as another teen queen in Get Over It (2001); she also forsake makeup and a hairdresser for her role as the archetypal poor little rich girl in crazy/beautiful (2001), a teen romantic drama.Subsequently cast as the actress Marion Davies in Peter Bogdanovich's The Cat's Meow, Dunst got her first shot at playing a grown woman. She garnered praise for her work in the period drama, but any notice she received was quickly eclipsed by the maelstrom of publicity surrounding her starring role as Mary Jane Watson, true love of Peter Parker in Sam Raimi's big-budget adaptation of Spider-Man. Playing opposite Tobey Maguire as the web-spinning superhero, Dunst spent a lot of the movie running around as a damsel in distress, but there was nothing distressing about the 110-million dollars the film grossed in its opening weekend, breaking new box-office records and catapulting both Dunst and Maguire into the rarefied realm of full-fledged movie stars. She would stick with the franchise as it became a trilogy, and she became a bigger star than ever before.Even though Spider-Man gave her a great deal of box-office clout, Dunst would continue to appear in more independent minded films as the years wore on as well. While appearing in films like Mona Lisa Smile and Elizabethtown, Dunst would also earn accolades for appearances in films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Marie Antoinette, and Melancholia. After spending a couple of years making small appearances in even smaller movies, Dunst resurged in a big way, playing the lead in season 2 of Fargo on FX. Dunst earned raved reviews for her work on the series and spent the next seasons on the awards circuit.

Trivia: Well known for his works as teen heartthrob on the NBC series Freaks and Geeks and films like Never Been Kissed (1999) starring Drew Barrymore, James Franco has the dark, refined looks of a classic movie star. Indeed, he was cast in the TNT film James Dean playing the screen legend himself, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for his performance in 2002.Born on April 19, 1978, Franco has lived in California throughout his life. After high school, he studied acting intensely under Robert Carnegie, Jeff Goldblum, and Tony Savant. He also spent time training at the Playhouse West in North Hollywood. Soon after landing the role as dark and pessimistic Daniel on Freaks and Geeks, where the teenage crowd found his performance accessible and realistic, Franco would earn a series of roles in teen-oriented motion pictures. Along with Never Been Kissed, he appeared in Whatever It Takes, on the set of which he met girlfriend Marla Sokoloff, a fellow actor. In a film about a group of "bad" students called Mean People Suck (2000), Franco appeared in the role of Casey, and then starred in Blind Spot in 2001.After retaining heartthrob status with his award-winning performance as James Dean, he would appear in Deuces Wild (2002), a '50s-style gang drama. That same year, he played the part of Harry Osborn in the live-action rendition of Stan Lee's superhero comic Spider Man, also starring Tobey Maguire, Willem Defoe, and Kirsten Dunst. The following year would find an emerging Franco in his most dramatically challenging role to date, as a murder suspect who happens to be the son of an NYPD police detective (Robert DeNiro) in City by the Sea. Impressed by Franco's turn as flm legend James Dean, DeNiro personally lobbied to have Franco cast in the film. Franco would continue to work with talented collaborators, landing a role in Robert Altman's ballet movie The Company in 2003. He returned to the role of Harry Osbourn in Spider-Man 2 a year after that. 2005 was a busy year for the young actor who directed an adaptation of his own play, The Ape, and starred in a couple of historical dramas. Neither The Great Raid nor Tristan & Isolde made much of an impression with audiences, but the films showed an actor willing to try new things. He was back in theaters early in 2006 with the Naval Academy/boxing movie Annapolis. That fall he again appeared in theaters in the World War 1 drama Flyboys, directed by Tony Bill. He also agreed to reprise the role of Harry Osborn one more time in Spider-Man 3.Having long nurtured an aptitude for painting, Franco had his first public exhibition of his work in 2006, with a show at a Los Angeles gallery. He also began writing and directing his own short films, like 2007's Good Time Max and 2009's The Feast of Stephen. Around this time, Franco made the unexpected decision to enroll at UCLA as an English major. After receiving special permission to take on a heavier than normal course-load, he received his degree in 2008, and promptly began working on his MFA at Columbia University in New York, which he completed in 2010. He next enrolled as a Ph.D. student in English at Yale University. All the while that he was completing his higher education, Franco was living up to the description often given by his co-stars and collaborators as having a superhuman ability to complete numerous projects at once. In 2008, Franco found an awesome vehicle for his comedic chops with the action-stoner-comedy Pineapple Express, pairing him with Seth Rogen as an adorably friendly weed dealer. That same year, he earned accolades for his performance as Scott Smith in the Award Winning biopic Milk, opposite Sean Penn. Even stranger, in 2009 - at the height of success - Franco decided curiously to join the cast of the daytime soap opera General Hospital, as a performance artist, not unlike himself, named Franco. He would later refer to the role as "performance art," but the tongue-in-cheek nature of a heart-throb Hollywood star joining the ranks of daytime TV only added to Franco's fun and mischievous image. He would also appear on the show 30 Rock that year as himself, in an episode in which the actor carries out a fake relationship for the press, in order to draw public attention from rumors that he's in love with a Japanese body pillow.Franco would make appearances in films like Eat, Pray, Love and Date Night over the coming years, but his next big splash came in 2011, when he starred in the gripping thriller 127 Hours. Playing a mountain climber who becomes immovably wedged in an isolated crevice, the almost completely solo performance earned Franco yet more praise from critics and fans, as well as numerous nominations from the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and more. Never standing still after even the biggest victory, however, Franco was soon onto the next project, reteaming with his Pineapple Express director and costars for the 2011 fantasy-stoner-comedy Your Highness.

Trivia: The scion of a prosperous California ranching family, actor Cliff Robertson took up drama in high school simply because it was the only "legal" way to cut classes. After wartime service, Robertson entered Ohio's Antioch College, beginning his professional career as a radio announcer. His first extensive stage work consisted of two years with the touring company of Mister Roberts. He made it to Broadway in 1952 in a play directed by Joshua Logan, and in 1955 made his film debut in the Logan-directed movie version of Picnic. As Joan Crawford's schizophrenic boyfriend in Autumn Leaves (1955), Robertson achieved the critical acceptance that would enable him to seek out choice film roles. In 1963, Robertson became the first American actor to portray a living American president when he was selected to play John F. Kennedy in PT 109; one year later, he showed up as a paranoid Nixon type in The Best Man. Equally busy on television, Robertson was universally applauded for his grueling performance as an alcoholic in the 1958 TV staging of Days of Wine and Roses, and in 1965 won an Emmy for a guest appearance on the dramatic anthology Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre. Having lost the film version of Wine and Roses to Jack Lemmon, Robertson made certain that he'd star in the filmization of his 1961 TV drama The Two Worlds of Charly Gordon by buying up the story rights. The result was the 1968 film Charly, in which Robertson played a retarded adult turned into a genius by a scientific experiment -- for which he won an Academy Award. In 1977, Robertson made headlines when he was one of the whistle-blowers in the embezzlement scandal involving Columbia executive David Begelman -- a fact that did more harm to Robertson's career than Begelman's. Robertson continued to act into the 2000s, including the recurring role of Ben Parker in the Spider-Man franchise reboot. He died of natural causes a day after his 88th birthday in 2011.

Trivia: Known for her stage work and solid supporting performances in film and television, Rosemary Harris has earned particular praise for her ability to skillfully portray formidable characters, despite a petite frame and delicate features that would normally belie such a strong aura of authority. Harris grew up in India and did not plan on pursuing a career in acting -- in fact, her original career choice was nursing. She would, however, change course and begin acting studies at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. By 1951, Harris made her U.S. stage debut with great success in a Broadway production of Moss Hart's Climate of Eden, and returned to England to participate in the British premiere of The Seven Year Itch.Harris continued to act -- both on-stage, on the small screen, and in the film world -- throughout the '50s and '60s, starring opposite some of the industry's most prominent figures, including Richard Burton, Jason Robards, Rex Harrison, Laurence Olivier, and Peter O'Toole. After winning a British Tony award in 1966, Harris impressed critics and audiences with her portrayal of a Jewish doctor's wife in the multi-Emmy award-winning television production of Holocaust in 1978, and again in 1979, when she played the matriarch of an 1844 Virginian pioneer family in The Chisholms. Holocaust wasn't Harris' introduction to the Emmys -- one of the actress' most celebrated performances was for her role in the 1975 Masterpiece Theatre production of The Notorious Woman, a portrait of flamboyant novelist George Sand.Harris' 1954 film debut as the unrequited love interest of Stewart Granger in Beau Brummell was met exceedingly well; in fact, the actress was offered a variety of long-term roles from Hollywood, but she turned them down to pursue theater. Ten years later, however, Harris would return to the big screen for her supporting role in the thriller The Boys From Brazil (1978), and later co-starred in TV's The Ploughman's Lunch, a 1983 political drama. After performing at her typical standard in film and television, as well as traveling across continents for her theater career, Harris gave a volatile performance as renowned author T.S. Eliot's mother-in-law in Tom & Viv (1994) -- earning her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. This, however, was only after earning critical praise for a series of mid-'90s theater roles, including those of a diabetic's mother in the 1991 tearjerker Steel Magnolias, an imposing grandmother in Lost in Yonkers (1992), and a troubled wife in An Inspector Calls (1994). After Harris' Oscar recognition, Kenneth Branagh felt it only appropriate to cast her as the Player Queen opposite Charlton Heston's Player King in Hamlet (1996). In 2002, Harris portrayed Peter Parker's aunt in Spider-Man, and reprised the role in Spider-Man 2 (2004).

Trivia: Jonathan Kimble Simmons was originally a singer, with a degree in music from the University of Montana. He turned to theater in the late 1970s and appeared in many regional productions in the Pacific Northwest before moving to New York in 1983. He appeared in Broadway and off-Broadway shows and also did some television -- his early roles included the portrayal of a white supremacist responsible for multiple murders in an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. In that same vein, Simmons first gained wide exposure as Vern Schillinger, the leader of an Aryan Brotherhood-type organization in prison in the HBO series Oz. Parlaying his small-screen notoriety into feature film opportunities, Simmons had a small part in the 1997 thriller The Jackal and played a leading role in Frank Todaro's low-budget comedy Above Freezing, a runner-up for the most popular film at the 1998 Seattle Film Festival. Also in 1997, Simmons increased his television prolificacy by taking on the role of Dr. Emil Skoda, the consulting psychiatrist to the Manhattan district attorney's office in the series Law and Order. By 1999, Simmons was showing up in such prominent films as The Cider House Rules and the baseball drama For Love of the Game, directed by Sam Raimi. The director again enlisted Simmons for his next film, 2000's The Gift. After a supporting turn in the disappointing comedy The Mexican, Simmons teamed with Raimi for the third time, bringing cigar-chomping comic-book newspaperman J. Jonah Jameson screaming to life in the 2002 summer blockbuster Spider-Man. In 2004, he would reprise the role in the highly anticipated sequel, Spider-Man 2. That same year, along with appearing alongside Tom Hanks in the Coen Brothers' The Ladykillers, Simmons continued to be a presence on the tube, costarring on ABC's midseason-replacement ensemble drama The D.A.His career subsequently kicking into overdrive, the popular character actor was in increasingly high demand in the next few years, enjoying a productive run as a voice performer in such animated television series' as Justice League, Kim Possible, The Legend of Korra, and Ultimate Spider-Man (the latter of which found him reprising his role as J. Jonah Jameson), as well as turning in memorable performances in Jason Reitman's Juno, Mike Judge's Extract, and as a hard-nosed captain in the 2012 crime thriller Contraband. Meanwhile, in 2005, he joined the cast of TNT's popular crime drama The Closer as Assistant Chief Will Pope -- a role which no doublt played a part in the cast earning five Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Ensemble Cast. Simmons continued to work steadily in movies, returning to the Spider-Man franchise in 2007. That same year he co-starred as the father of a pregnant teen in Juno, which led to him being cast regularly by that film's director Jason Reitman in many of his future projects including Up In the Air and Labor Day. It was Reitman who got Simmons the script for Whiplash, Damien Chazelle's directorial debut. The actor took the part of an abusive, but respected music teacher and the ensuing performance garnered Simmons multiple year-end awards including a Best Supporting Actor nomination from the Academy.

Trivia: Played football, basketball and volleyball at his Pittsburgh high school. Attended Carnegie Mellon University at the same time as Matt Bomer; the two later co-starred in Magic Mike. Toured with the band Goldfinger as a roadie. Made his film debut as Eugene "Flash" Thompson in the 2002 adaptation of the Marvel comic-book series Spider-Man. In lieu of wedding gifts, he and Sofia Vergara asked guests to donate money to Pittsburgh Children's Hospital and St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

Trivia: Pittsburgh native Bill Nunn's prolific career earned him such a long list of roles, it's hard to believe the actor didn't set foot onscreen until he was 35 years old. The Morehouse College graduate had a degree in English and his career sights had always been set on writing. It wasn't until a fellow Morehouse graduate, Spike Lee, offered him a role in his 1988 film School Daze that Nunn decided to try his hand at professional acting. His power onscreen was undeniable, and so was his natural acting ability. He appeared in Lee's next film, the groundbreaking Do the Right Thing, and his iconic role as Radio Raheem cemented him as a career actor. Memorable parts soon followed in 1990's Cadillac Man and 1991's controversial Mario Van Peebles film New Jack City. Critics and audiences were amazed that Nunn hadn't been learning the craft all his life, as he proved to be a bankable actor with the capacity to be both moving and funny. Nunn loved his work, too; he would continue to participate in multiple projects a year, amassing a resumé 50 roles long over the course of 20 years. Nunn's kind but steady gaze earned him a reputation for playing police officers, but from the political satire Canadian Bacon to the comic-book hero Spider-man movies, He appeared in the TV movie version of Raisin in the Sun in 2008 and made his last on-screen appearance as a series regular in the USA series Sirens. Nunn died in 2016, at age 63.

Trivia: Actor, stuntman, and college baseball player Michael Papajohn got his start in show business while he was attending Louisiana State University, where he played for the LSU Tigers. After having the opportunity to perform some stunts in the sports movie Everybody's All American in 1988, Papajohn began pursuing stunt and acting roles, appearing in movies like The Last Boy Scout and Mr. Baseball. He would find consistent acting work over the coming years, frequently making small appearances. He played an unnamed thug in 2000's Charlie's Angels and a security guard in the 2002 comedy The Hot Chick, and continued to take on several roles per year throughout the 2000s, notably appearing in I Know Who Killed Me, Spider-Man 3, and Terminator Salvation.

Trivia: Began his professional acting career doing industrial films in Detroit for Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. Was a popular radio DJ, a blues harp prodigy, and an active member of the Groves Cinema Society in high school. in 2015, started web series Deathly Spirits wherein he tells classic and original horror stories and offers recipes to alcoholic beverages to accompany each episode's story. Has appeared in many of his brother Sam Raimi's films including each entry in both the Evil Dead and Spider-Man trilogies.

Trivia: Possessing the kind of elegant screen beauty that often draws comparisons to a Breakfast at Tiffany's-era Audrey Hepburn, actress Elizabeth Banks' onscreen career has been steadily rising since the up-and-coming actress won the Young Hollywood Award for "Exciting New Face" back in 2003. With roles in such notable Hollywood hits as the Spider-Man films and Seabiscuit, Banks has not only had the pleasure of sharing the screen with hot-property actor Tobey Maguire multiple times, but has also been nominated -- alongside Maguire, Jeff Bridges, William H. Macy, and Gary Stevens -- for an "Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture" award by the Screen Actors Guild for her performance in the latter. The Pittsfield, MA, native got her first taste of fame when nominated Harvest Queen in her hometown's annual fall celebration, and in the years that followed, Banks would receive her bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and go on to pursue her graduate degree at the American Conservatory Theater. In 1998, Banks made her feature debut in the controversial addiction drama Surrender Dorothy, with subsequent small-screen roles in Third Watch and Sex and the City only serving to contribute to her rapidly growing profile in film and television. Of course, a move from New York to Los Angeles also may have had something to due with her landing more film roles, and though she would appear under her real name, Elizabeth Mitchell, in the 2000 action thriller Shaft, she soon had to change her name to avoid conflict with another actress who had already established a career under that surname. Undaunted, Banks forged on with roles in the cult comedy Wet Hot American Summer and the romantic drama Ordinary Sinner in 2001, with a supporting performance as Betty Brant in the 2002 box-office smash Spider-Man providing her most substantial onscreen performance to date. With roles opposite Madonna in Swept Away and Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can, it was obvious that Banks' career was on the rise, but it was her winning performance in Seabiscuit that truly put her on the map. Though the Screen Actors Guild award that the she and the cast were nominated for would ultimately go to the cast of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, it was obvious to all who had been following her career that Banks was only at the beginning of her Hollywood ascent. In 2003, Banks appeared in the drama The Trade before reprising her role as Betty Brant for Spider-Man 2, and with increasingly prominent roles in Heights, The Sisters, and The Baxter scheduled through 2005, audiences could rest assured that they would be seeing plenty more of Banks in the years to come.By the time Banks turned in a standout supporting role as a bookstore employee who may hold the means of solving The 40 Year Old Virgin's titular dilemma in the 2005 Steve Carell hit, it seemed that she was an actress capable of brightening most any screen. A substantial role as a small-town trophy wife in director James Gunn's comic-frightener Slither found Banks having noticable fun in front of the cameras, with a pair of appearances on the popular television medical comedy Scrubs preceding a more serious-minded turn in the inspirational 2006 sports drama Invincible.2008 was a very busy year for Banks in which she continued to build her career as a comedic presence in films as varied as Role Models, Meet Dave, and Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and was also allowed to stretch her dramatic wings as Laura Bush in Oliver Stone's biopic W. In 2009 she first played the role of a conservative television commentator who becomes a romantic partner for Alec Baldwin's character on the award-winning sitcom 30 Rock, a role she would return to intermittently for the next few years. In 2011 she co-starred in the comedy Our Idiot Brother, and in 2012 she had a supporting part in the phenomenally successful adaptation of The Hunger Games.

Trivia: Born Randy Poffo in Sarasota, FL, professional wrestler Randy "Macho Man" Savage actually began his athletic life as a minor league baseball player on teams including the Cardinals and the White Sox, then moved into wrestling alongside his brother Larry. He spent successive years working his way up through the ranks of various wrestling federations; Larry and Randy occasionally worked as a tag team, but also went head-to-head against one another from time to time, and indeed, Randy's first two big breaks materialized in the form of an ICW Title victory against Larry and a defeat of Jerry Lawler in the ring, which granted Savage the title of Southern Heavyweight Champion.Savage attained greatest leverage, however, via his involvement in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the management of his late wife, "Miss" Elizabeth Hulette; in that venue, the wrestler racked up a series of defeats against opponents including Tito Santana, Lex Luger, Dusty Rhodes, Brutus Beefcake, and others. After netting the WWF heavyweight title, he eventually left for the WCW amid a contractual dispute and won the heavyweight bout there as well. In that venue, Savage was particularly successful in the creation of the nWo (or New World Order in professional wrestling). Savage's various WCW opponents included Sting, Diamond Dallas Page, Bret Hart, and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. One particularly memorable and colorful series of events involved Savage's ongoing battle-of-wills with Kevin Nash. Unlike fellow wrestler Hulk Hogan (with whom he often jostled), Savage kept his distance from Hollywood for many years, but by the mid- to late 2000s moved into acting roles. These included a performance as Bone Saw McGraw in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002), guest participation in the series Mad About You and Family Guy, and participation in season seven of VH1's reality series The Surreal Life, opposite Dabney Coleman, Carrot Top, and others. In 2008, Savage provided a voice for the family-friendly animated feature Bolt, alongside John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, and others. Savage died in a car accident in 2011.

Trivia: Alabama native Octavia Spencer was working as part of the crew for the 1996 thriller A Time to Kill when she was handed the chance of a lifetime: Director Joel Schumacher thought she was right for a small role in the film, and Spencer's acting career was born. In addition to honing her craft on the professional stages of Los Angeles, Spencer continued to act on screen, appearing in a multitude of projects, including Never Been Kissed, Blue Streak, Big Momma's House, Dinner for Schmucks, and Peep World. Spencer also became a familiar TV face, with starring and recurring roles on LAX, Ugly Betty, Halfway Home, and Raising the Bar. A major boon for Spencer arrived in 2011 when, after 15 years in the industry, her performance in the critically acclaimed period movie The Help earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Trivia: R&B singer Macy Gray made a splash in the music scene in the late '90s, gaining attention for her songwriting style and distinctive, raspy voice. Her recording career had only recently skyrocketed when she decided to try out acting, appearing in projects like a 2000 episode of Ally McBeal, and 2001's Training Day. She would continue to maintain a sideline in acting throughout the years, most notably in movies like Domino, and in 2009 she ventured into reality TV, joining the cast of the popular Dancing with the Stars.

Trivia: While she is best known for her role as the independent Dr. Callie Torres on ABC's popular medical drama Grey's Anatomy, actress Sara Ramirez is also a singer and Tony award-winning actress. In 2005, Ramirez took home the coveted award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in Monty Python's Spamalot. Ramirez can also be seen in a number of small television and film productions; among her credits are You've Got Mail, Spider-Man, and Law & Order: SVU. In 2011 she released her first album, and also got engaged to business analyst Ryan Debolt.

Trivia: Best known for her role as the fearsome Xena: Warrior Princess in the long-running series of the same name, athletic worldly beauty Lucy Lawless didn't achieve the fame in her native New Zealand that flooded her in the U.S. until much later in her career, due to the fact that the wildly popular adventure series didn't air there until long after it was a staple of American television.Born into water at her home in Mount Albert, Aukland, New Zealand, in 1968 to the mayor of that city, Lawless began acting early and frequently appeared in school plays in her youth. A active child of diverse interests and with many siblings, Lawless went on to study German, French, and Italian at Aukland University for a year before traveling through Europe with boyfriend and eventual first husband Garth. They worked odd jobs to finance their trip and eventually ending up in Australia. Working in a gold-mining camp in Kalgoorlie to finance the final leg of their journey, the couple was married in Australia in 1988 and soon returned home to bear a daughter.Crowned Mrs. New Zealand the following year, the busy new mother got her first acting experience in Funny Business, a popular TV comedy troupe. Studying acting in Vancouver, Canada, at the William Davis Center for Actors Study, Lawless soon landed small roles in films (The End of Golden Weather [1991]) and television (For the Love of Mike [1991]), with her next regular job as of co-host on television's Air New Zealand Holiday. After appearing in The Rainbow Warrior in 1992, Lawless landed the role that would propel her to stardom and become her calling card into the new millennium. Initially appearing in the role of Lysia in Hercules and the Amazon Women, Lawless went on to appear as Xena in three episodes of Hercules before spinning off into her own series in 1995. It was a physically demanding adventure series in which the sporty actress performed many of her own stunts; Lawless ironically broke her pelvis after falling off of a horse while preparing to make a grand entrance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno in 1996. After a quick recovery, Lawless made her Broadway debut as Rizzo in Grease the following year. Her first marriage dissolved, Lawless was remarried to Xena producer Rob Tapert in October 1999, two years before the final episode of Xena. Lawless woudl continue to act on the small screen over the next several years, appearing on Tarzan, Battlestar Galactica, Spartacus, and No Ordinary Family.

Trivia: Standup comedian Jim Norton has found many avenues to showcase his brutally honest sense of humor outside the comedy club, making regular appearances on the Tonight Show as well as syndicated radio show Opie and Anthony. Norton decided to become a standup comedian when he was just 12 years old, after hearing Richard Pryor's Live in Concert and becoming instantly inspired. After working the standup circuit for a number of years, Norton moved up the ladder of notoriety from the radio gig to regular appearances on various Comedy Central shows to, eventually, his own HBO special as part of the series One Night Stand. This soon led to Norton landing a regular series role with the cable network, playing Rich on the irreverent sitcom Lucky Louie (headlined by fellow comic Louis C.K.). Though the show only ran for a single season, the comedian continued to find his way into the spotlight, performing live to an increasingly large fan base, appearing in movies like Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and publishing a humorous memoir entitled Happy Endings: The Tales of a Meaty-Breasted Zilch.

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: Was a wrestler in high school and competed in the Junior Olympics.Played varsity football at MIT.Worked at a robotics company after graduating from MIT.Participated in the competition show American Gladiators.Is an skilled spearfisher.A Bobby Kennedy Jr's Waterkeeper Alliance board member since 2013.

Trivia: Like most children of the 1960s, Sam Raimi grew up acting out his fantasies with the benefit of an 8 mm movie camera. The film gauge "grew to 35" when Raimi, with the aid of friends and relatives, raised 500,000 dollars to film a horror feature, The Evil Dead (1983). Not your average sliced-up-teenager epic, Evil Dead was a marvelously wicked assault on the senses, belying its tiny budget with several extremely clever (if nausea-inducing) set pieces. Raimi switched to slapstick comedy with Crimewave (1985), a wild Detroit-based crime caper co-scripted by Raimi's friends and fellow devotees of the bizarre, Joel and Ethan Coen. Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn (1987) giddily expanded the scope and splat-stick humor of the initial installment, and quickly became a cult classic with it s over-the-top gore and imaginative direction. Evil Dead 2 was the mark of a director truly at the top of his creative game, and with that film a foundation was cemented between Raimi and Bruce Campbell that would reach almost mythical status among the hardcore fans of the series. Raimi next came out guns-blazing for Darkman (1990), a comic-book inspired fantasy/adventure representing the director's biggest production budget to date. Though it performed only moderately at the box office, fans clamored to see Raimi's first major release and got an extra kick out of longtime friend and Evil Dead cohort Bruce Campbell in an all-too-brief closing-scene cameo. Also expensively mounted was Army of Darkness (1992), a time-travel swashbuckler that gave evidence of extensive post-production tinkering (notably its skimpy 80-minute running time). A sequel to the first two Evil Dead flicks, the film was released under the more ambiguous title lest it be associated with the outrageously gory previous installments. In the following years the now-established director would hone his talents as a producer with such big-budget action releases as Hard Target (1993) and Timecop (1994). The mid-'90s also found Raimi producing two tele-films that would become the genesis of television's massively popular Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (Raimi would continue as executive producer during the series' four-year run) as well as executive producing Hercules arguably more successful companion series, Xena: Warrior Princess.In 1995, Raimi once again stepped back behind the camera to helm The Quick and the Dead, a revisionist Western starring Sharon Stone. It earned only a lukewarm reception, and it was three years before Raimi directed another feature. 1998's A Simple Plan was a far greater success than The Quick and the Dead: Starring Billy Bob Thornton and Bill Paxton as brothers driven to mistrust and paranoia after discovering four million dollars in the woods, it was Raimi's most lauded film to date, earning a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination for Scott B. Smith and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for Thornton. The following year, Raimi submerged himself fully in the mainstream, directing the Kevin Costner baseball vehicle For Love of the Game. Unfortunately, the film met with a very mixed reaction from critics and audiences alike, many of whom longed for the days when Bruce Campbell, demonic mutilation, and possessed appendages reigned supreme. The Southern gothic trappings of Raimi's next film, The Gift (2000), found the director's longtime fan base hesitantly re-embracing the one-time cult figure with its tale of the supernatural and quietly creepy atmosphere. A frightening performance by the usually non-threatening Keanu Reeves caught jaded filmgoers off guard and the decidedly low-key film contained enough scares to prove that while it may have been temporarily dulled, Raimi had certainly not lost his edge.Although Raimi's next effort may not have been the long-anticipated fourth chapter in the Evil Dead saga (a fanboy fantasy that Raimi and Campbell had cheerfully dismissed on numerous occasions), the long-anticipated release of Spider-Man found the director back on familiar ground with its wild visuals and comic-book origins. Though numerous A-list directors (including James Cameron and David Fincher) had been attached to helm the film during its extended incubation, Raimi's childhood love for the well-loved web-slinger eventually won him the opportunity (and formidable challenge) of bringing the story of Spider-Man to the big screen. With Tobey Maguire in the lead, Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson, and Willem Dafoe suiting up as the Green Goblin, Spider-Man shattered all expectations with overwhelmingly positive word of mouth and a historical opening weekend box-office take of 114 million dollars. With its respect to the source material remaining unusually faithful and a talented cast lending the film as much solid story as thrilling action, fans immediately hungered for more, to which Raimi responded with the wildly popular and equally frenetic Spider Man II. Though Raimi would remain true to the hit series he had so skillyfully crafted by promising Spider Man III as his next directorial outing, it was around this time that the tireless filmmaker began turning his attentions as a producer away from television to focus on the big screen with his production company Ghost House Pictures. The wildly successful horror remake The Grudge being the first outing by the comapny, Raimi subsequently removed any doubt that he was still interested in terrifying audiences when he announced that Ghost House would be producing such eagerly-anticipated horror outings as 30 Days of Night, The Messengers, The Grudge 2, and, of course, the long-rumored remake of his classic shocker The Evil Dead. Spider-Man III arrived, amid much hoopla and fanfare, in early May 2007 - seemingly the perfect cap-off to the summer movie season of that year. With Raimi helming, megamogul Laura Ziskin producing, and Alvin Sargent on board, once again, to co-script, many regarded the picture as an ace in the hole even before it hit cinemas. To be certain, the box office mojo soared. Some critical responses waxed decidedly less enthusiastic than they had for the first two installments, however; one high-profile reviewer complained openly about the strain placed on Raimi and his co-scripters (Sargent and brother Ivan Raimi) to concoct yet another variation on a formula that perhaps didn't demand reiteration except to gross dollar one. The story in question finds Spidey coming into contact with a space particle that blackens his suit and turns him into a raging egomaniac (didn't the scenarists hear scary echoes of Superman 3?). He must then take on not one but three baddies: the son of the Green Goblin from the second Spiderman (James Franco); escaped criminal Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), who morphs into The Sandman; and reporter Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), who transforms into the fanged villain Venom. Sadly for Raimi and company, many die-hard fans of the Spider-Man series considered the second sequel to be a lackluster cap on an otherwise solid trilogy and the character was subsequently handed over to director Mark Webb for a reboot.In the wake of his Spider-Man series Raimi dived back into the genre pool with 2009's Drag Me to Hell -- a highly original horror comedy about an ambitious loan officer cursed by a vengeful old gypsy -- yet despite a torrent of positive critical nods, the film failed to make an impression at the box office. But even that perceived failure did little to slow the creativity of the visionary director, and shortly thereafter Raimi was back behind at the helm with Oz: The Great and Powerful -- a high-profile prequel to The Wizard of Oz inspired by the writings of L. Frank Baum and featuring an imperssive cast that included James Franco, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, and Zach Braff. Meanwhile, as a producer, Raimi teamed with Mandate Pictures and longtime filmmaking partner Rob Tapert to launch Ghost House Pictures, a genre-oriented studio that shocked thick-skinned moviegoers with The Grudge, 30 Days of Night, The Possession, and The Evil Dead (2013) among others.