Trivia: Began his career in the theater in Sydney, appearing in plays by Chekhov and Tolstoy. Screen tested for the role of James Bond in Casino Royale, which eventually went to actor Daniel Craig. Left his recurring role on The Shield when he landed his own series, Moonlight. Named Person of the Year in 2010 for the charity Donate Life.

Trivia: The eldest son of actor James Caan, Scott Caan started to make a name for himself in such films as Enemy of the State and Varsity Blues. Five feet-five inches of muscle and machismo, the actor was born in 1976 and spent his childhood shuttling between his divorced father and mother. Although as a child he preferred sports to acting, Caan was offered the title role in the 1995 drama A Boy Called Hate. Following his performance in the film, he attended acting classes at Los Angeles' West Playhouse and acted in a few subsequent features, including Gregg Araki's 1997 Nowhere. In 1998, the actor got another break with a part in Tony Scott's thriller Enemy of the State and went on to make a number of small films that same year, including Wild Horses, which was co-directed by a post-Punky Brewster Soleil Moon Frye. In 1999 came Varsity Blues and an accompanying rush of exposure for Caan, who supplied the film's comic relief as a hell-raising wide receiver. In addition, the actor increased his indie credibility with Saturn, which was screened at the 1999 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival.As the new decade began, Caan appeared in Boiler Room, but he landed one of his most high-profile role in 2011 when he became one of Ocean's Eleven, playing a number of funny scenes opposite Casey Affleck. In 2005 he was in the thriller Into the Blue, and the next year had a small role in the indie comedy Friends With Money.Over the course of the decade he would return to the Ocean's franchise two more times, and take a major part in the Eddie Murphy comedy Meet Dave. He would act opposite his famous father in 2009's Mercy, a film he also wrote. In 2010 Caan would find success on the small-screen in the reboot of Hawaii Five-O.

Trivia: Pronounced "shy," like the colloquial term for his hometown of Chicago, Chi McBride didn't get into acting until he was 30 years old. He is probably most recognized for his role as principal Steven Harper on Fox's Boston Public. Before his first movie, he worked for a phone company, trained as a gospel singer, and joined the hip-hop band Covert. With McBride as a producer and vocalist, the band released their first and only album For Your Bootay Only in 1991. Not soon after, he started appearing as a guest star on Fox sitcoms, including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. His feature-length debut happened a year later in Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation. Billed as simply Chi, he then gained small roles for the Eddie Murphy movie The Distinguished Gentleman and the Tina Turner story What's Love Got to Do With It? In 1993, McBride found a spot for himself on NBC for The John Larroquette Show, playing the janitor Heavy Gene. Teaming up next with the Hudlin brothers, he then appeared in the HBO Twilight Zone-style trilogy Cosmic Slop, hosted by George Clinton. His next few diverse projects were supporting roles in Peter Jackson's horror comedy The Frighteners, Bill Duke's period crime flick Hoodlum, and the action thriller Mercury Rising. McBride's first leading role came in the form of the short-lived and controversial UPN sitcom The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, playing the stuffy English title character who was mistakenly enslaved to Abraham Lincoln. After appearances in Gone in 60 Seconds and Disney's The Kid, he found his well-known spot on Boston Public. While gaining high marks for his role on the David E. Kelley drama, McBride parlayed his increased notoriety into a number of higher-profile big-screen roles.2002 found McBride as a police captain in the intense cop-thriller Narc, and the over-the-top Chief in the comedy Undercover Brother. And while the following year saw Boston Public cancelled, the free-time afforded to McBride by the show's end only allowed him to sign on to roles in two of 2004's most anticipated films, the Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks dramedy The Terminal and I, Robot, an action sci-fi flick starring Will Smith. Over the course of the next decade the reliable McBride became increasingly active on the small screen, essaying recurring roles on such hit shows as House and Pushing Daisies. Later, in 2012, he voiced the role of Nick Fury in the animated superhero series Ultimate Spider-Man.

Trivia: Jorge Garcia's large stature and larger personality made him a star long before he was cast on the hit TV series Lost. Even while he was growing up in Southern California, the charismatic young man was well liked by both his peers and his elders, even taking home the "Triton of the Year" award at his high-school graduation, an honor bestowed by the faculty to the class' most outstanding senior. He then enrolled at UCLA, majoring in Communications, but a guest lecture by Dustin Hoffman changed his direction. Hoffman told a story about Sir Laurence Olivier describing the acting bug as a feeling of "Look at me, look at me, look at me!" Garcia couldn't help but relate to the idea, so he began to pursue a career in acting and standup comedy.Success didn't come easily, though, and Garcia spent six years working at a bookstore, scoring occasional parts in commercials. Slowly but surely, however, the more substantial roles started coming. Along with appearances on shows like Spin City and Columbo, Garcia nabbed a recurring role on the sitcom Becker, making several appearances over the next six years. Then in 2004, he played a drug dealer in an episode of Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm and caught the attention of ABC producers, who were in the initial stages of casting a new show called Lost. They brought Garcia in to read for the part of Sawyer, which would later go to Josh Holloway, but eventually decided to create the role of Hurley specifically for Garcia. The innovative show was a mystery thriller with a sci-fi twist, and the honest, funny, and totally unpretentious character of Hurley would become wildly popular with fans, making the 31-year-old actor an instant star.Garcia moved to Hawaii, where Lost was filmed, and stuck with the landmark show until it ended its run in 2010. The actor would go on to remain active on screen, appearing on such series as Mr. Sunshine and Alcatraz.

Trivia: Formerly fought as a sumo wrestler under the name Takamishu, and compiled a 57-27-14 career record before retiring in 1989. Reached the sumo wrestling rank of makushita 2, and was a stable mate of professional wrestler Akebono Taro. Became a mixed martial arts fighter under the name Teila Tuli, and eventually became the first official Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter. Fought in the inaugural Ultimate Fighting Championship event, now known as UFC 1, where he lost to Gerard Gordeau after a kick to the face. Crashed the auditions for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, eventually winning a supporting role in the film.

Trivia: Aspired to be an actor when she was a child and, at 7 years old, asked her parents for an agent for Christmas. Landed her first on-screen role playing Allison's Friend No. 3 in the 2001 movie Lost and Delirious after a casting director saw her at the Montreal School of Performing Arts. Earned a 2006 Gemini Award for Best Performance in a Youth or Children's Program or Series for her role as Adena Stiles on the Canadian series 15/Love.

Trivia: Switched his focus from baseball to acting after a serious injury during high school. Worked as a set builder in Hollywood for two years before pursuing acting roles. Enjoys golfing, hiking and furniture building and design.

Trivia: Is of Samoan descent.Was raised in a large family.Wanted to pursue a career as a rugby player when he was young.Discovered his passion for acting while he was in high school as a member of the drama club.Was encouraged by his drama teacher to attend the audition for the short film Manurewa.Is a fan of actor Denzel Washington.

Trivia: Character actor Terry O'Quinn's film career began (and almost ended!) with a role as Captain Minardi in the notorious Michael Cimino failure Heaven's Gate (1980). O'Quinn rose to prominence in Joseph Ruben's 1987 sleeper The Stepfather, as the ostensibly mild-mannered title character (of multiple names), who has this irksome habit of going psychopathic and slaying families who don't meet his exacting standards. Though O'Quinn went on to play leads in other films, he quickly became a television circuit staple (and an instantly recognizable face), in regular series and made-for-TV movies. His weight was more effectively felt in showy supporting roles like Howard Hughes in Disney's The Rocketeer (1991). On TV, O'Quinn became a regular on the daytimer The Doctors and the prime-timer Jag (1995). O'Quinn struck gold in 2004 as a member of the ensemble cast in the hit prime-time adventure drama Lost, on ABC. As Locke, an enigmatic character with a hidden personal attachment to the Pacific Island on which his plane crashes, O'Quinn managed to convey an ambiguous and understated sense of menace. The actor would go on to appear on the remake of Hawaii Five-0.

Trivia: A bald and frequently bespectacled screen presence whose "average Joe" appearance and keen talent allow him the unique ability to truly transform into the character at hand, Willie Garson may have won over Sex and the City viewers as protagonist Carrie's (Sarah Jessica Parker) endlessly loyal friend, but with over a decade of film and television appearances to his credit by that time, his success should certainly be labeled more "long-time coming" than "overnight sensation." Garson began training as an actor at New York's Actor's Institute in his early teens, and in the years following high school graduation he studied theater and psychology at Wesleyan University. It didn't take long for the talented stage and screen presence to find roles following his higher education, with guest appearances in such popular television shows as Family Ties, Mr. Belvedere, and Quantum Leap eventually leading to a supporting role in the well-received made-for-television feature The Deliberate Stranger. If his film roles throughout the majority of the '90s were generally of the thankless variety, Garson nevertheless grew increasingly active thanks to roles in such high-profile features as Groundhog Day, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, The Rock, and There's Something About Mary. A three-year stint in a supporting role in NYPD Blue showed Garson lending the series a decidedly human presence as Detective Simone's (Jimmy Smits) landlord. The stage-minded actor never forgot his roots, remaining constantly active with such New York-based theater companies as The Manhattan Theatre Club and The Roundabout Table. A long-time friend of actress Parker, Garson's friendship with the actress no doubt contributed to the easy rapport shared by the duo in the hit HBO series Sex and the City. With subsequent roles in Steven Spielberg's acclaimed sci-fi miniseries Taken, and in addition to such features as Freaky Friday proving that he was as much an "actor's actor" as a crowd-pleaser, Garson's post-Sex and the City career seemed as healthy as ever. He worked steadily in projects such as House of D, Fever Pitch, and in appeared in Jackass: Number Two. He returned to the small-screen as the lead in the series White Collar in 2009. In his increasingly non-existent spare time, Garson can be found reading to school children on a weekly basis as part of the Screen Actors Guild popular "Bookpals" program.

Trivia: A handsome, chiseled actor of South Korean origins who labored for over a decade onscreen before officially landing his breakout role in the hit ABC series Lost, Daniel Dae Kim got his start with bit roles in such popular shows as Beverly Hills 90210, Angel, and 24 before turning heads as the only non-English-speaking passenger to be stranded on a mysterious island paradise inhabited by psychic smoke monsters and malevolent "Others."Born in Pusan, South Korea, and raised in New York and Pennsylvania, Kim earned his B.A. from Haverford college before briefly considering a career in law. It was a fateful early-career appearance on an episode of Law & Order that spurred the burgeoning actor to ditch the courtroom and take to the stage, with subsequent roles in Romeo and Juliet and A Doll's House providing all the encouragement Kim needed to continue developing his craft. Later, after earning his M.F.A. through the Graduate Acting Program at New York University, roles in such high-profile television hits as Seinfeld, Ally McBeal, The Practice, and Party of Five came fast and furious. Though additional appearances in such features as The Jackal and For Love of the Game showed big-screen promise as well, it was on the small screen that Kim seemed most comfortable. Increasingly prominent roles in Angel, Enterprise, ER, and 24 hinted at something big in Kim's future, and with the turbulent descent of Oceanic flight 815 that something big came crashing down in a very big way.A virtual phenomenon from the very first episode, Lost proved the kind of television series capable of literally starting its own mythology -- and Kim was directly at the center of the firestorm from the very beginning. Cast as the son of a poor fisherman who eventually married into one of Korea's most powerful crime families, Kim proved a captivating presence on the show and was voted one of People Magazine's "Sexiest Men Alive" in 2005. Though Lost would indeed prove to be Kim's bread and butter, the actor continued to appear in features (Spider-Man 2, Crash) as well as branching out into the increasingly lucrative world of video-game voice-overs (24: The Game, Saints Row). Somehow, in the midst of his wildfire success, Kim has even found the time to keep his passion for the theater alive by appearing in a New York stage production of Chekhov's Ivanov.The actor appeared in 2008's critically acclaimed film The Andromeda Strain, and in the sixth and final season of LOST, which aired in 2010. Kim joined the cast of the Hawaii Five-O shortly afterwards. In 2011, Kim joined Kellan Lutz and Samuel L. Jackson in the action thrller Arena.

Trivia: Emmy-nominated Heroes star Masi Oka got his start in the entertainment industry as a special-effects artist at Industrial Light and Magic before segueing into acting with appearances on Dharma & Greg, Gilmore Girls, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Though his behind-the-scenes work on such major motion pictures as the new Star Wars trilogy, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, War of the Worlds, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest found the Tokyo native helping to breathe life into some of the most ambitious fantasy films ever to hit the silver screen, it was Oka's role as the teleporting and time-traveling computer wiz Hiro Nakamura on the hit NBC series Heroes that ultimately brought him world-wide stardom among fantasy fans.A Brown University graduate who studied mathematics, computer science, and theater art, Oka got into acting right around the time he was hired as an effects artist at ILM, and he has performed improvisational comedy at such well-known venues as Second City and The Groundlings. Since Oka had lived in Los Angeles since the age of six, it seemed only natural that he would become involved in the entertainment industry in some capacity, though few would have anticipated the remarkable success he came to experience on both sides of the screen. By the time he appeared in his breakthrough role on Heroes, Oka had already racked up an impressive array of film and television credits that included a recurring role on Scrubs and bit parts in such features as Austin Powers in Goldmember, Along Came Polly, and House of the Dead 2. In 2007, Oka could be seen in the comedy features Balls of Fury and Quebec, with a role in the big-screen adaptation of Get Smart following in 2008. In 2011 he had a small part in the romantic comedy Friends With Benefits.

Trivia: Was cast in direct-to-DVD horror films Silent Warnings (2003), The Sisterhood (2004) and Trespassers (2006). Landed guest-star roles on CW's Supernatural and A&E's The Cleaner. Appeared in commercials for Burger King. Portrayed Jaime in the short-lived HBO series Tell Me You Love Me. Has an interest in skydiving and motorcycles.

Trivia: Costas Mandylor initially launched a career as a soccer player, then gravitated to film acting when debilitating shin injuries spelled an end to his tenure on the field. Raised in Australia as the son of Greek immigrants, Mandylor first caught the attention of the American public and press in the summer of 1991, when People magazine christened him one of 1991's 50 Most Beautiful People in the world, and cited his contribution to that year's "young gangsters" crime saga Mobsters (as Frank Costello) as a star-making turn. Mandylor soon began to specialize in ethnic roles that took full advantage of his Mediterranean extraction, and that spanned a wide array of genres -- from biopic (The Doors, 1991) to farce (Soapdish, 1991) to psychological thriller (The Pledge, 2001). On the small screen, Mandylor had a regular role as Officer Kenny Lacos on the small-town drama Picket Fences (1992-1996), and he also appeared in a recurring part on the family drama 7th Heaven (2004-2006). His popularity increased in the late 2000s when he played a forensic specialist in chapters three and four of the Saw series of slasher films.

Trivia: In the early 2000s, culinary maestro and Food Channel mainstay Rachael Ray shot to fame as the host of the U.S. cable series 30 Minute Meals (2003), becoming the nation's resident chef with the golden thumb -- a status she inherited from such predecessors as Graham Kerr, Julia Child, and Jeff Smith. Her growing fame led to subsequent programs, cookbooks, a magazine, a general-interest talk show, and omnipresence in the States, eventually rendering her as a kind of American pop-culture icon, well before the age of 40. Ray experienced a long and circuitous path to fame, however. She was born in August 25th,1968, in Cape Cod, MA, to parents who ran a series of restaurants in that region; many of her ancestors were preternatural chefs, including a grandfather who grew and prepared meals for a family of one dozen and many paternal ancestors who celebrated and explored the gustatory end of New Orleans through their own meal preparation. During Rachael's childhood, the Ray family sold off the majority of its businesses and moved to upstate New York, where she would spend much of her early life and reportedly felt most comfortable. As a young girl, Ray gained exposure to a staggering array of ethnic cuisines and worked in a vast number of capacities within the arena of food service. She extended this area of expertise into adulthood, when -- in her early twenties -- she moved to Manhattan and held such jobs as candy salesman and then gourmet food manager for Macy's department store, then as buyer/manager for Manhattan's famed culinary marketplace Agata & Valentina. In her mid-twenties, Ray tired of Big Apple life and returned to upstate New York, managing bars and restaurants at the Sagamore Resort on Lake George. Not long after that, the Cowan & Lobel market in Albany caught wind of Ray's skills and brought her on board as a chef and food buyer.During her stint at Cowan & Lobel, the energetic Ray devised the concept of hosting cooking classes for Albany residents at the marketplace, dubbed "30-Minute Mediterranean Meals," which spawned massive popularity among locals and prompted the local CBS station, WRGB-TV, to have her offer regular cooking lessons on the nightly news broadcasts. Ray simultaneously authored her first cookbook and sold over 10,000 copies.At this point, the then-burgeoning Food Network learned of Ray's success and offered her a contract as one of their resident, on-air chefs. From that position, she hosted such programs as Inside Dish, $40 a Day, 30 Minute Meals, and the resoundingly popular Tasty Travels. The acclaim and wide audience appeal of those programs (coupled with over a dozen additional cookbooks) not only inspired Ray to publish her own magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray, but prompted Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions and King World to offer Ray her own general-interest talk show in the fall of 2006. The Rachael Ray Show featured Ray offering advice to viewers on how to take advantage of each day's opportunities and live ebulliently with a "can do" attitude.

Trivia: Beckel is a supporting actor onscreen from the '70s.

Trivia: Don't let actress Jean Smart's filmography fool you, because though she seems to have a penchant for appearing in fairly light-hearted fare of the family-oriented variety, she possesses all the skill of the most talented dramatic stage and screen actresses around. Unafraid to take the sort of risks necessary to keep her career and her personal life in fair balance, fans balked when Smart left television's hugely popular Designing Women while the series was in its prime, though her subsequent performances have found her sound judgment well justified. A Seattle native who received her B.A. from the University of Washington, it wasn't long before Smart was taking the stage at the 1975 Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Relocating to New York City, Smart's performance in the off-Broadway play Last Summer at Bluefish Cove earned the emerging actress a Drama Desk nomination. Her performance in the Broadway production of Piaf found Smart heading to Hollywood to tape the play for PBS, and it wasn't long before she began appearing in such films as Protocol (1984) and Project X (1987). A pivotal moment came when Smart was cast in the television series Designing Women; following the show's premier in 1986 she would remain a member of the cast until the 1991 season. It was while on that series that friend and fellow castmate Delta Burke set Smart up on a date with actor Richard Gilliland, whom Smart would later wed. The birth of their son Conner prompted Smart to reassess her career; though she would soon depart from Designing Women, she would continue to act in such efforts as the television feature Locked Up: A Mother's Rage (1991) and Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story (1992), in which she essayed the role of America's most notorious female serial killer. As the 1990s progressed Smart became something of a television fixture, and performances in The Yearling (1994) and A Change of Heart (1998) found her career continuing to flourish. Roles in such features as Disney's The Kid and Snow Day (2000) found Smart ever more associated with family-friendly fare, an association which she would continue to embrace with a role in the 2002 Disney Channel animated series Kim Possible. Other series in which Smart appeared included Hercules, Frasier, and The Oblongs; and in 2003 Smart teamed with her husband for the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of Audrey's Rain.In 2004, Smart joined the cast of the bittersweet romantic comedy Garden State, and made a brief appearance in I Heart Huckabees during the same year. In 2006, Smart was earned nominations for two Emmy awards (Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series) for her turn as the mentally fragile First Lady of the United States, whom she portrayed in the fifth season of 24. The actress wouldn't win an Emmy, however, until 2008, when she took home the coveted award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on the sitcom Samantha, Who?. Smart played another mother in the film adaptation of C.D. Payne's novel Youth in Revolt in 2009, and took on the role of Hawaii Governor Pat Jameson for Hawaii Five-0, the CBS remake of the popular 1970s police procedural of the same name.

Trivia: Korean-American actor Will Yun Lee began training for a career in action movies almost from birth. His father is a Taekwondo grandmaster, and Lee attended UCLA on an athletic scholarship for the school's Taekwondo team. He began his acting career with projects like the family comedy What's Cooking?, the Asian-American drama Face, and the TNT fantasy-action series Witchblade. Then in 2002, he was named as one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People, making him a more familiar face and landing him more high-profile jobs, like Die Another Day, Torque, and Elektra. In 2006, he appeared in the documentary The Slanted Screen, discussing the history of how Asians and Asian Americans have been portrayed in film. That same year, he signed on to the cast of the show Thief, followed by a remake of The Bionic Woman in 2007. Also that year, Lee was named by People as one of the "Sexiest Men Alive." In the years to come, Lee would appear in several films, like the Total Recall and Red Dawn remakes, as well as on the remake of Hawaii Five-0.

Trivia: A male model-turned-actor, Norman Reedus is almost as recognizable from his hipster, late-'90s print ads for Prada clothes as for his collection of movie psychos. After leaving home at a young age, Reedus lived in London and Japan before landing in California. Supporting himself with various jobs, including fixing motorcycles, Reedus finally got his acting break in 1997. After a bit part in the Mira Sorvino horror film Mimic, Reedus captured critical attention as a creepy hitman in the independent black comedy Six Ways to Sunday. Playing off the sharply scruffy good looks that simultaneously made him the male face for ultra-fashionable clothing designer Prada, Reedus again took a walk on the wild side as a mysterious stranger in the indie Dark Harbor (1998) and as a prisoner in Joel Schumacher's reviled snuff film thriller 8MM (1999). Lead roles in the independent cop movie Boondock Saints (2000), opposite Willem Dafoe, and in the teensploitation movie Gossip (2000), as a malevolent college student, subsequently landed Reedus on Vanity Fair's April 1999 cover featuring young stars to watch. Gossip's poor reception, as well as the low profile of Boondock Saints and Reedus' other indie films -- including I'm Losing You (1999) and Preston Tylk (2000) -- did not make good on the Vanity Fair promise. And although Reedus followed up with three more films with similarly dismal returns, his re-teaming with Mimic director Guillermo Del Toro found Reedus back in blockbuster territory with his turn as a vampire hunter's technical assistant in Blade II (2002). Reedus has a son with Danish supermodel/companion Helena Christensen.

Trivia: An unlikely candidate to end up as immortal vampire Spike on Joss Whedon's popular television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (in addition to reprising his role for the spin-off series Angel), former stage actor James Marsters got his start in the spotlight by performing in such Shakespeare classics as The Tempest before donning fangs to portray the conflicted bloodsucker who eventually falls for the one girl sworn to do battle with the undead. Marsters was born in the Northern California logging town of Greenville, later moving with his family and spending much of his childhood in nearby Modesto. From his grade-school stage debut as Eeyore in a production of Winnie the Pooh, the aspiring thespian knew that he had the talent and drive to become an actor. After studying his craft at New York's renowned Juilliard School of the Arts, he set his sites on Chicago, making a name for himself with impressive performances at the Goodman Theater before heading west to Los Angeles. The talented stage actor made a transition to the small screen when he made an appearance on the popular series Northern Exposure in 1992, with a few other minor television roles preceding his rise to fame on the wildly popular Buffy. Though his character, Spike, was originally supposed to be killed off during his first season on the show, he proved so popular that he was kept on and eventually made a regular. In addition to his appearances on Buffy and Angel, Marsters also found time to act in a pair of independent films entitled Winding Roads and Chance. While fans of his character on Buffy may have been saddened when that series wound to a close, they could take some solace in the fact that he would return as the mischievous Spike in the 2003-2004 season of successful spin-off Angel. Marsters' other small-screen roles included appearances in Strange Frequency and Andromeda, as well as voice work on the animated television series Spider-Man in 2003. In addition to his theater roles, Marsters maintained an entirely different stage persona as a member of the rock band Ghost of the Robot.

Trivia: If you're a fan of movies, you've no doubt seen William Sadler's face countless times. With a versatile career that has spanned from long-haired, small-town rock star to banjo-plucking entertainer to Shakespearean actor to his role as Death in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (1991), William Sadler attacks all roles with equal gusto with his characters never ceasing to leave an impression on viewers, even if they can't recall the name of "that guy in that movie."Born in April of 1950 in Buffalo, NY, Sadler's imagination was fueled from a young age on his family's sprawling farm where he would pass the time with friends reenacting scenes from their favorite television and radio programs. Around the age of eight, Sadler's father's interest in music sparked a passion in the young boy as well with his father's gift of a ukulele. The two frequently performed at family functions together: Sadler Sr. on the guitar and Jr. on the uke. Later taking interest in a number of stringed instruments, after following in his father's footsteps and taking up the guitar, Sadler quickly learned that the mystique of the musician's life was difficult to resist. Forming a cover band with his Orchard Park High schoolmates, he began to gain popularity and a surprising amount of attention from the opposite sex. Armed with a banjo and a fistful of jokes, Sadler soon took on the persona of "Banjo Bill Sadler" for the school's annual variety show, and the result was an instant success. The students and teachers loved the performance, and English teacher Dan Larkin soon persuaded Sadler to audition for a role in Harvey, the senior play. Winning the lead and igniting a fire within the young performer, Sadler would soon follow his dreams and enroll in the drama program at State University College in Geneseo, NY. After spending two intense years in Cornell University's Fine Arts following his tenure at State University College, Sadler was finally prepared to be humbled in the grueling trials of the aspiring actor.Sadler took his first post-school role in Florida and soon relocated to Boston, moving in with his sister while scrubbing the floors of a lobster boat by day and cutting his acting chops at night. Slowly working up the nerve to take a shot at the big time in New York, a chance meeting with an old schoolmate on a trip into the city resulted in Sadler's casting in an off-off-Broadway production of Chekhov's Ivanov. After a brief turn at the Trinity Square Repertory Company in Providence, RI, Sadler moved back to New York and rented an apartment in the East Village, beginning a grueling 12 years in which he appeared in over 75 productions. It was here that Sadler would meet Marni Bakst, the woman who would soon become his wife, and a young actor named Matthew Broderick, in a Broadway production of Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues, who would kick-start Sadler's film career with a role in Project X (1987).After memorable turns in such films as Die Hard 2 (1990), Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, and The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Sadler found himself becoming one of the most sought-after character actors working in Hollywood. His friendly demeanor and warm sense of humor standing in stark contrast to his usually villainous onscreen antics, Sadler has gained a reputation among actors as a helpful and good-natured craftsman, always willing to offer advise and assistance without being pushy or overbearing. Increasingly busy in both television and films in the latter '90s, Sadler gained widespread recognition with his film roles in Disturbing Behavior (1998) and The Green Mile (1999) and on television with his role as Sheriff Jim Valenti on Roswell.