Trivia: African American actor Dennis Haysbert first appeared on the TV scene as "Stuff" Wade on the weekly actioner Code Red (1981). Haysbert went on to play such TV-series roles as Cletus Maxwell in Off the Rack (1985) and Coach Duane Johnson in Just the Ten of Us (1988-89). He was also featured as Cherokee Jack in the 1993 miniseries Return to Lonesome Dove. Dennis Haysbert's best-loved film assignment was as voodoo-worshipping ballplayer Pedro Cerrano in the two Major League movies.

Trivia: After commencing minor on-camera appearances in the early '80s, multi-talented African-American actress Regina Taylor juggled careers as a character actress and playwright with great aplomb. As both a thespian and a scribe, Taylor often dealt with material that grappled with race relations and civil rights. This was hardly accidental, for she rose up out of a bitter and tumultuous youth in the Deep South that forced her to face racism head-on and thus marked her for life. After an appearance as Mrs. Carter in John G. Avildsen's uneven Joe Clark biopic Lean on Me (1989), Taylor first made members of the press sit up and take notice with her pivotal role on I'll Fly Away. This thoughtful and heartfelt series drama -- set in the apocryphal Southern town of Bryland in the late '50s -- starred the venerable Sam Waterston as D.A. Forrest Bedford, a conservative prosecuting attorney grappling with shifting attitudes about race relations as he took on a new black housekeeper, Lilly Harper (Taylor). The program's consistent inability to land an audience, in spite of across-the-board critical acclaim, marked one of the most unfortunate events to befall a prime-time series program during the early '90s. Taylor returned to similar themes -- albeit in a much earlier setting -- with the 1995 Children of the Dust, a telemovie starring Sidney Poitier, about the tensions between black and white homesteaders. The actress also graced the casts of such noteworthy theatrical features as Spike Lee's Clockers (1995), Ed Zwick's Courage Under Fire (1996), and F. Gary Gray's The Negotiator (1998) before hearkening back to television as military man Jonas Blane's (Dennis Haysbert) beleaguered wife, Molly, on the CBS drama The Unit. As a playwright, Taylor received her first significant break with the 1983 Watermelon Rinds, and spent the following decades authoring such critically acclaimed productions as Oo-Bla-Dee (2000) and Urban Zulu Mambo (2001). She debuted on Broadway in 2004 with her work Drowning Crow, a loose adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull posited in the Gullah Islands of South Carolina. At one point, she was reported to have been involved with the Broadway musical production of The Color Purple, but it was ultimately credited to other writers.

Trivia: Born on July 15, 1972, in Kansas City, KS, Foley is the oldest of three sons. Thanks to his father's job as an international banker, Foley grew up all over the world, spending the most time in Sydney, Australia and Tokyo, Japan. He caught the acting bug at age six after his mother took him to see the children's musical Annie. Foley made his theatrical debut only a few years later, singing "I'll Do Anything" in his school's production of Oliver. When he was a teenager, his family settled in St. Louis, MO, where he participated in community and regional theater. Shortly after graduating high school, he bought a one-way plane ticket to Hollywood.Foley's big break came when he landed a role on the WB's teen drama Dawson's Creek, playing all-American high school quarterback Cliff Elliot, Dawson's (James Van Der Beek) romantic rival. Originally hired to guest star in the series' first three episodes, Foley hung around for five. With his popularity steadily increasing, WB executives cast Foley in Felicity, a one-hour drama about a college freshman who follows her lifelong crush from their California high school to a university in New York City. Originally hired to portray the object of Felicity's (Keri Russell) affection, Foley stepped in to play her resident advisor and confidante, Noel Crane, when producers could not find an actor for the role. The show, which first aired in the fall of 1998, became a critical favorite and earned a Golden Globe nomination in its first year.Foley would stick with Felicity for its four year run, cementing his position as a TV star. After the show wrapped, Foley would continue to find starring roles on a series of popular shows, like A.U.S.A., Scrubs, The Unit, Grey's Anatomy, and True Blood. Foley booked another series regular gig on the hit series Scandal, joining the show during the second season, playing Captain Jake Ballard.

Trivia: While significant mainstream recognition has eluded Robert Patrick, with two notable exceptions -- he all but replaced David Duchovny in the waning days of The X-Files and admirably portrayed "the liquid metal cop guy" in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) -- he has nonetheless built an impressive resumé with over 60 television and film appearances since the mid-'80s. The eldest of five children, Patrick didn't choose to pursue a career in acting until his mid-twenties, despite having a bona fide diva moment during a third-grade production of Peter Pan, for which he refused to wear the required green tights. Rather, after a successful stint as a linebacker for Bowling Green University, Patrick became a house painter and may have continued as such were it not for a serious accident in the waters of Lake Erie, where he nearly drowned. The accident served as a revelation of sorts for Patrick, who promptly quit his day job and moved from Ohio to Los Angeles. It took more than a few sacrifices -- a then 26-year-old Patrick lived in his car and tended bar for his major source of income -- but the young actor found himself playing small roles in various low-budget films, which he credited to his tough-looking exterior and motorcycle-riding abilities.Though Patrick spent most of the late '80s paying his dues, his breakout performance landed him opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in director James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Patrick readied himself for the role of the T-1000 android in a rather unique fashion; in addition to martial arts, endurance, and strength training, he observed the movements of cats, eagles, and praying mantises. Odd as that may have sounded at the time, it certainly enhanced one of the most memorable roles in one of the most memorable films of the decade. After T2, Patrick was able to leave the world of B-movies and hold his own alongside some of the most established actors in Hollywood, including a second performance with Schwarzenegger in Last Action Hero (1993) and a more prominent role opposite Demi Moore in Striptease (1996). Patrick also expressed a fondness for martial arts films, and starred in both Double Dragon and Hong Kong 97 in 1994. However, it was his 1993 performance as a stoic regular-guy-turned-UFO-believer in Fire in the Sky that caught the attention of X-Files director Chris Carter. Carter immediately thought of Patrick when David Duchovny distanced himself from The X-Files, and, after auditioning 70-odd actors for the role of John Doggett, became determined to initiate Patrick into his long-running world of conspiracy theories and paranormal phenomena. To the surprise of fans and critics alike, Patrick was received quite well on The X-Files, and quickly found himself gracing the covers of many a genre magazine -- he was even anointed one of the Ten Sexiest Men of Sci-Fi by TV Guide.By the time The X-Files aired its last show, Patrick had developed a solid reputation within the industry; critics, fans, and co-stars alike praised him for his work ethic, personality, and consistent performances. Rather than fading into the scenery, Patrick starred as the mysterious Mr. Lisp in Spy Kids (2001), and later starred as a reclusive wilderness tracker in Pavement (2002). After making appearances in Richard Shepard's Mexico City (2002), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), and the sci-fi spin-off series Stargate: Atlantis, Patrick filmed director Jay W. Russell's Ladder 49 (2004). A memorable performance as Johnny Cash's distant father Ray in Walk the Line followed in 2005, with a subsequent role as a security expert in the Harrison Ford thriller Firewall preceeding a return to weekly television in the David Mamet-created series The Unit in 2006. Later in 2006, Patrick would incur the wrath of WWE superstar John Cena with his role as a ruthless kidnapper in the explosive action thriller The Marine. Patrick lives with his wife, Barbara, whom he married during the filming of T2, and their two children.

Trivia: Ethereally beautiful Hollywood actress Audrey Marie Anderson first attained recognition for her work on the prime-time military drama The Unit, as Kim Brown, the wife of super-aggressive recruit Bob Brown (Scott Foley). Her resumé also includes small appearances in such features as Moonlight Mile (2002), Beerfest (2006, in which she was billed as "The Giddy Girl"), and Drop Dead Sexy (2006).

Trivia: Born in upstate New York in 1969, actor Max Martini performed on the stage throughout college before landing small but memorable roles in the high-profile feature films Saving Private Ryan and Contact. A number of TV guest spots followed, including multiple-episode arcs on Fox's 24 and the acclaimed Canadian cop show Da Vinci's Inquest. In 2006, Martini landed a lead role opposite Dennis Haysbert on CBS's The Unit, a military drama from Pulitzer Prize-winning writer David Mamet.

Trivia: From the time of her debut in the early 2000s, Tennessee-born actress Abby Brammell graced the casts of innumerable television series, initially in one- or two-shot stints. Brammell's resumé packs in appearances on such programs as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Push, Nevada, The Shield, and Crossing Jordan. She landed her first regular role, as Tiffy Gerhardt, on the CBS military drama The Unit, starring Dennis Haysbert.

Trivia: Hollywood supporting actor Michael Irby's mixed ethnicity enabled him to play characters from a broad array of cultural backgrounds -- from Obaid, one of the Middle Eastern men mistaken by Jodie Foster for a terrorist, in Robert Schwentke's ham-handed thriller Flightplan (2005), to Hispanic writer-in-training Reinaldo Povod (the brief recipient of Miguel Piñero's bisexual overtures) in the 2001 biopic Piñero. Irby's multiethnic quality also accounted for the malleability of his on-camera appearance (depending upon the dramatic situation); he was able to guest as multiple characters, for instance, on the series Law & Order. Irby culled the most widespread attention, however, for his series work on the prime-time military actioner The Unit, as special ops team member Charles Grey.

Trivia: Well-known for the sense of gravitas he imparts to his characters, the tall and appealing Canadian actor Demore Barnes chalked up his broadest fan base with his portrayal of Hector Williams, a special forces ops member on the David Mamet-created action series The Unit. Barnes' resumé also includes bit parts in such big-screen features as Blackout (2001) and Jasper, Texas (2003).

Trivia: Colm Meaney is no stranger to the run down Barrytown district of Dublin depicted in The Commitments, The Snapper, and The Van, having grown up near the much mythologized neighborhood. The Dublin native began his acting career at the age of 14, eventually receiving formal training at Dublin's prestigious Abbey Theatre School of Acting and going on to join the Irish National Theatre Company. Meaney eventually graduated to the English stage, working in various London theaters, and then began to audition for television work, mainly landing bit parts in such TV shows as the cop drama Z Cars.Meaney moved to the U.S. in 1982, continuing to work mainly on the stage, but gradually made the transition into television and film playing small parts and guest roles on a variety of series. He was part of the cast of One Life to Live from 1986 to 1987, playing Patrick London, and then was hired for a bit part on Encounter at Farpoint, the pilot for the Star Trek: The Next Generation series. He was hired again for another part and then given the role of Chief Miles Edward O'Brien, and quickly went from being a bit player to an important member of the ensemble cast. The character was transferred to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the pilot for that series, and Meaney became a staple member of the show's cast.During his tenure on both Star Trek series, Meaney's motion picture career began to take off, as the bit parts he was given gradually became more substantial. Meaney made his greatest impact in smaller films like the so-called Barrytown Trilogy -- The Commitments (1991), in which he played the father of one of the band members; The Snapper (1993), in which he portrayed Dessie, who finds himself out of a job and suddenly a grandfather; and The Van (1996), which cast him as Larry, a layabout who manages to have a grand idea one day that results in his and a friend Bimbo starting a business out of a derelict vending van. Meaney was also notable in 1996's The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain: his Morgan the Goat, a randy Welsh pub owner with a flair for smart remarks, was an appropriate foil for the naive Englishman played by Hugh Grant. Meaney has continued to divide his time between the U.K. and the U.S., making particularly notable appearances in Paul Quinn's This Is My Father (1998), which cast him as the swishy son of an old gypsy woman; Lodge Kerrigan's Claire Dolan, in which he played a high-class pimp; Ted Demme's Monument Avenue (1998), which featured him as the bullying leader of a Boston gang; and Chapter Zero (2000), an independent comedy that cast Meaney as the cross-dressing father of a struggling writer.He continued to work steadily well into the 21st century in a variety of projects including Bitter Harvest, Intermission, Layer Cake, and Turning Green. He played soccer coach Don Revie in the sports drama The Damned United before playing the father of a strung-out rockstar in the comedy Get Him to the Greek. He appeared in Robert Redford's historical drama The Conspirator, as well as the period drama Bel Ami.

Trivia: Father was a bank director; mother was a schoolteacher. Began acting professionally in Germany after leaving his native Iran. Is a trained mime. Played the recurring role of Jamot on the eighth season of 24.

Trivia: Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet is one of a handful of American playwrights whose work has found almost as much success on the screen as it has on the stage. Noted for his spare, gritty work that reflects the hardened attitudes of his native Chicago and often revolves around domineering male characters and their macho posturing, Mamet has time and again spurred both discussion and controversy, inciting particularly angry reactions from feminists.Born in Chicago on November 30, 1947, Mamet studied at Vermont's Goddard College and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre in New York. He returned to his hometown to found the St. Nicholas Theatre Company and also worked for a time as the artistic director of the famed Goodman Theatre. Mamet first earned acclaim in 1976 for a trio of Off-Off Broadway plays, The Duck Variations, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and America Buffalo. The latter two works were later adapted for the screen, the first becoming About Last Night (1986, it was not adapted by Mamet), and the latter released in 1996 with a script by the playwright himself. Mamet began writing for the screen in 1981 with a re-make of The Postman Always Rings Twice, his script emphasizing the base sexuality and brutal violence of the material in a way that the original 1947 film could not. After winning a Pulitzer for his play Glengarry Glen Ross in 1984 (a damning indictment of American business practices, it was made into a film in 1992 with Mamet's own script), Mamet had his first true screen success as a screenwriter with Brian De Palma's The Untouchables in 1987. That same year, he earned further critical acclaim for his directorial debut, House of Games, a crime thriller starring Mamet's then-wife Lindsay Crouse as a psychologist caught up in an elaborate con game.After directing two more celebrated features, the (uncharacteristic) comedy Things Change (1988) and Homicide (1991), Mamet turned primarily to screenwriting (stepping back behind the camera to direct an adaptation of his controversial play Oleanna in 1994), giving voice to such films as Hoffa (1992), Malcolm X (1992), and Vanya on 42nd Street (1994). In 1997, his screenplay for Barry Levinson's political satire Wag the Dog earned Mamet both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Screenplay. That same year, he returned to directing with The Spanish Prisoner, a twisting, inventive thriller that had the added attraction of Steve Martin in an uncharacteristically dark performance.After writing the fairly unsuccessful The Edge (1997), an adventure drama starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin, Mamet returned to the screen in 1999 with The Winslow Boy. Despite a radical change in material for Mamet -- an Edwardian courtroom drama originally written by Terence Rattigan, it was worlds apart from the raw, foul-mouthed work to which Mamet owed his fame -- it was widely embraced by the critics, and stood as a sizable testament to the playwright's versatility. If the subsequent State and Main didn't quite live up to expectations, Mamet could at least his screenplay for the popular Silence of the Lambs sequel Hannibal yielded a box office hit. The following year Mamet once again stepped behind the camera for the incisive crime drama Heist to moderate success. Embraced by crime buffs but largely ignored by the rest of the moviegoing public, Heist nevertheless offered memorable performances by such notable actors as Gene Hackman, Danny De Vito and Sam Rockwell. As the prolific writer/director became increasingly comfortable pulling double duty, audiences eagerly anticipated the release of the political thriller Spartan in 2004. In 2006 he tried his hand at the small screen as executive producer and overseer of the CBS drama The Unit. Two years later he wrote and directed the martial-arts drama Redbelt.