Trivia: One way (though perhaps not the ideal way) to describe the familiar TV persona of American Actor Rob Morrow is as a more neurotic, less loveable Woody Allen. Supporting himself as a waiter and balloon messenger in his earliest acting days, Morrow made his prime time network TV debut in 1988 as Marco on the weekly dramatic series Tattinger's. A year later, he was up for the lead in a planned series called The Antagonists, but he opted instead for a tailor-made role in the shortlived stage play The Substance of Fire. Though warned by his agent that this move would cost him any future TV work, Morrow went on to achieve fame in 1990 as Dr. Joel Fleischman, the misplaced general practictioner of Cicely, Alaska, on CBS' Northern Exposure. Two years into the series, Morrow threatened to quit if he wasn't given a substantial pay hike; but when September rolled around, Morrow was back as Dr. Fleischman. Morrow left Northern Exposure for good in 1994 (the series was obviously on its last legs anyway), but not before appearing as cigar-chomping, Boston-accented, fiercely moralistic federal attorney Richard Goodwin in Quiz Show, the 1994 film re-enactment of the 1958 TV game-show cheating scandal.

Trivia: One of the more accomplished young actors to be immortalized on celluloid in the late 1990s, David Krumholtz has distinguished himself with both talent and the sort of unconventional looks that allow him to be both dashing and nebbish at the same time.A native of New York City, where he was born May 15, 1978, Krumholtz began his professional career at the age of 13, when he starred opposite Judd Hirsch in the Broadway production of Conversations with My Father. He went on to make his film debut in 1993, appearing as an obnoxious child actor in the Michael J. Fox comedy Life with Mikey. That same year, he had a small role as Wednesday Addams' (Christina Ricci) socially stunted love interest in Addams Family Values. Krumholtz's first truly memorable film role was that of Francis Davenport, the Upper East Side brat who gets Katie Holmes drunk in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm (1997). He'd go on to play Natasha Lyonne's older brother in The Slums of Beverly Hills, and a high schooler in 10 Things I Hate About You (1999). As the years wore on, Krumholtz would prove himself to be a viable force on screen, appearing in movies like Ray, Serenity, Walk Hard, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and This is the End,, and on the popular crime proceedural Numb3rs.

Trivia: Born March 15th, 1935, Bronx-native Judd Hirsch attended CCNY, where he majored in engineering and physics. A blossoming fascination in the theatre convinced Hirsch that his future lay in acting. He studied at the AADA and worked with a Colorado stock company before his 1966 Broadway debut in Barefoot in the Park. He spent many years at New York's Circle Repertory, where he appeared in the first-ever production of Lanford Wilson's The Hot L Baltimore. After an auspicious TV-movie bow in the well-received The Law (1974), Hirsch landed his first weekly-series assignment, playing the title character in the cop drama Delvecchio (1976-77). From 1978 to 1982, he was seen as Alex Reiger in the popular ensemble comedy Taxi, earning two Emmies in the process. While occupied with Taxi, Hirsch found time to act off-Broadway, winning an Obie award for the 1979 production Talley's Folly. In the following decade, he was honored with two Tony Awards for the Broadway efforts I'm Not Rappoport and Conversations with My Father. His post-Taxi TV series roles include Press Wyman in Detective in the House (1985) and his Golden Globe-winning turn as John Lacey in Dear John (1988-92). Judd Hirsch could also be seen playing Jeff Goldblum's father in the movie blockbuster Independence Day (1996). In 2001, Hirsch co-starred with Paul Bettany and Christopher Plummer in the multi-Award winning biopic A Beautiful Mind. The actor once again found success on the television screen in CBS' drama Numb3rs, in which he took on the role of Alan Eppes, father of FBI agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) and Professor Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz). After appearing on all four seaons of Numb3rs, Hirsch took a small role in director Brett Ratner's crime comedy Tower Heist (2011).

Trivia: Handsome and elegant African-American actor Alimi Ballard recalls such contemporaries as the St. Elsewhere-era Denzel Washington and Blair Underwood, but has only gradually begun to draw like stature and acclaim. After cutting his acting chops as a frequent guest star on various U.S. television series for decades, including Loving, NYPD Blue, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Ballard worked his way up to recurring roles in several U.S. television programs around the turn of the millennium. Ballard is perhaps best known for his portrayal of urban philosopher Herbal Thought, who offered wise counsel to bioengineered superhero Max Guevara (Jessica Alba), on the James Cameron-produced apocalyptic actioner Dark Angel (2000), starring Jessica Alba. Ballard procured another regular TV role a few years later, playing Special Agent David Sinclair opposite Rob Morrow and Judd Hirsch in the weekly procedural Numb3rs (2005), a detective program about a brilliant mathematician (David Krumholtz) who helps the feds solve baffling crimes. Ballard also appeared in bit roles in the big-screen films Deep Impact (1998) and Men of Honor (2000).

Trivia: Upon graduating from the University of Minnesota, Peter MacNicol traveled the length and breadth of the U.S. as a regional repertory actor. In his first film, Dragonslayer (1981), MacNicol essayed one of his few leading-man roles as Galen, a hapless assistant sorcerer who makes good. His most celebrated film assignment was as Stingo, the innocent-bystander narrator of Sophie's Choice. Most of the time, MacNicol has been seen in comical, sycophantic roles, such as the easily demonized Janocz in Ghostbusters II (1989) and the unctuous camp counselor in Addams Family Values (1993). On television, Peter MacNicol starred in the brief Norman Lear political lampoon The Powers That Be (1992) and co-starred as Alan Birch on the CBS medical drama Chicago Hope (1994).MacNicol continued to play small but indelible roles in a variety of small but indelible films throughout the mid-'90s. There was 1992's underrated Housesitter with Goldie Hawn and Steve Martin; acclaimed director Mel Brooks' Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995); and a starring role opposite cult comedian Rowan Atkinson in 1997's Bean. Despite his respectable feature-film success, however, MacNicol wouldn't get solid mainstream recognition until the 1997 debut of Ally McBeal. The show featured MacNicol as John Cage, an immensely insecure but highly gifted lawyer whose lovable, if over-sensitive, nature tugged at the heartstrings of Ally (Calista Flockhart) and television audiences alike. MacNicol remained a lead character on the show from 1997 to 2002, and was able to participate not just as an actor, but also as a director, screenwriter, and amateur karaoke singer. No longer the affable John Cage, MacNicol could be seen assigning Jamie Foxx the unpleasant task of letting his employees know of a rapidly approaching downsizing in 2004's Breakin' All the Rules. Recurring roles on Numbers and 24 as well as voice work in such animated shows as Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, The Batman, The Spectacular Spider-Man helped MacNicol maintain a high profile in the following years, and in 2012 he could be seen as the Secretary of Defense in the big-budget game board adaptaion Battleship.

Trivia: The daughter of a German mother and Indian father, actress Navi Rawat grew up in California before moving to New York to attend New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Her first big break came in 2003, when she won the recurring role of Theresa Diaz on the hit series The O.C. Later that same year, she appeared in the critically acclaimed film House of Sand and Fog, but she would become even more well known to audiences in 2005, when she was cast as Amita Ramanujan on the procedural show Numb3rs.

Trivia: Forget "ingenue" -- by the time the glamorous Diane Farr arrived on set for her first major filmed assignment, with her sun-drenched brunette hair and photogenic Mediterranean complexion, she already qualified as an old pro in the talent realm, as a veteran model from her preteen years. Though her official acting resumé dates back to 1992, Manhattan-born Farr first culled national recognition six years later, as a hostess of the television series Loveline, a somewhat frank spin-off of a popular radio program in which viewers could phone in and ask the hosts questions about health and/or relationships. After a series of occasional turns in low-profiled TV series and telemovies, Farr landed a string of semi-permanent roles on popular small-screen series. She began with the blockbuster sitcom The Drew Carey Show (in 1999). As Tracy -- the object of multiple affections from Drew, Lewis (Ryan Stiles), and Oswald (Diedrich Bader) -- Farr unwittingly instigated a series of cutthroat competitive games among the boys, including her own sporting event, christened "The Tracy Bowl" and announced by broadcaster Bob Costas. The Tracy characterization lasted a short time, but it marked only the beginning of a seemingly unending line-up of roles for Farr. Between 2001 and 2002, she starred as gutsy female police detective Jan Fendrich in the critically praised but all-too-short-lived Denis Leary cop dramedy The Job. Two years after that, Farr worked for director Barnet Kellman in Like Family (2003), a short-lived sitcom about a black family and a white family attempting with great strain to live under the same roof together harmoniously. In 2005, Farr scored critically and commercially as FBI agent Megan Reeves on the detective program Numb3rs, starring David Krumholtz, Rob Morrow, and Judd Hirsch. Carr joined the cast of HBO's Californication in the show's first season, and appeared in Buried (2010), a well-received psychological thriller following a truck driver who becomes trapped underground.In addition to her acting work, Farr is also a published author. Her first novel, The Girl Code, found a considerable audience, and she has penned articles for numerous women's magazines. In addition to her acting and writing work, Farr co-founded and operates a greeting card firm.

Trivia: With his tough-guy image and stocky build, American actor Dylan Bruno carved out a niche for himself as a character player in steel-toed action and adventure movies, beginning in the late '90s. These ran the gamut from critically praised masterworks -- such as Steven Spielberg's much-ballyhooed war opus Saving Private Ryan (1998) -- to John Irvin's less successful WWII telemovie When Trumpets Fade, that same year. Perhaps afraid of limiting himself, Bruno made a conscious attempt to expand his range into alternate genres, but successive roles essentially constituted variations on this original typecast. For example, Bruno appeared in the gentle romantic drama Where the Heart Is (2000) -- about an expectant blue-collar mother (Natalie Portman) who moves into an Oklahoma Wal-Mart -- as the rough-hewn redneck boyfriend, Willy Jack Perkins, who deserts her. Similarly, Bruno appeared in the TV drama The Pennsylvania Miners' Story (2002) as one of the gritty working-class men of the title who find themselves trapped in a mine with a decidedly slim chance of survival. Bruno subsequently built up his television resumé during the mid-2000s. He was particularly memorable as Colby Granger, a military veteran-cum-federal agent, on the popular detective drama Numb3rs (2005).

Trivia: One of the more promising actors to emerge during the late-1990s Teen Invasion, Shawn Hatosy got his start in commercials and theatre. The Maryland native first broke into film with a miniscule role in the 1995 Home for the Holidays, and two years later appeared in a string of films, with his most notable role being the high school student who stands up for an outed Kevin Kline in In & Out. He gained further recognition the following year as a football player battling alien teachers in The Faculty, and in 1999 had a number of substantial roles: he could be seen as the protagonist of the Farrelly Brothers' coming-of-age comedy Outside Providence, as a young Nick Nolte in Simpatico, and as the guy who teaches Natalie Portman a few things about life in Wayne Wang's Anywhere But Here. As the new century got under way, Hatosy could be seen in a variety of projects including Down to You, 11:14, and the indie hit The Cooler. He continued to work steadily in projects such as Faith of My Fathers, Alpha Dog, Factory Girl, and Nobel Son. He landed a major part in the cop series Southland, and found time during his work on that show to appear in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, and Michael Mann's historical gangster film Public Enemies.

Trivia: A swarthy, versatile performer possessed of a strong screen presence, British actor James Frain first made an impression on audiences with his portrayal of a rebellious young student opposite Anthony Hopkins in Shadowlands (1993). A graduate of London's Central School of Speech and Drama, he then did strong work in Mike Newell's An Awfully Big Adventure (1994) and Thaddeus O' Sullivan's acclaimed Nothing Personal (1995), the latter of which cast him as the leader of a militant anti-IRA group. Frain's international recognition increased in 1998, thanks to strong performances in two highly acclaimed films, Elizabeth and Hilary and Jackie. The first featured him in a supporting role as Spaniard Alvaro de la Quadra, while in the latter, he played pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, the husband of musical prodigy Jaqueline DuPre (Emily Watson).Frain's profile was given even greater exposure in 1999, when he appeared in a number of star-studded films. Titus, Julie Taymor's lavish adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus cast Frain as Bassianus, while István Szabó's equally lavish epic Sunshine -- a drama chronicling over a century of history in a family of Hungarian Jews -- saw him playing Ralph Fiennes' hot-tempered brother. Vigo: Passion for Life, meanwhile, starred Frain as the title character, a French filmmaker whose movies were as influential as his life was brief. In 2000, John Frankenheimer's Reindeer Games thrust the actor into the more modern milieu of underworld crime alongside the likes of Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, and Charlize Theron. Later that same year, he displayed his softer side in Where the Heart Is, playing an awkward, kind-hearted small town librarian who falls in love with a young single mother (Natalie Portman). Forliani stayed busy throughout the 2000s, winning praise for her work in the critically acclaimed fantasy drama Northfolk (2003), which also starred James Woods and Nick Nolte. She appeared in director Christopher Guest's playful send-up of Hollywood during awards season, For Your Consideration, in 2006, though she is better known for her portrayal of medical examiner Peyton Driscoll in CSI: NY (2006-2007). In 2008 she joined the cast of the supernatural thriller Not Forgotten to play a supporting role, and returned to the small screen in 2011 to play the part of Igraine in Camelot, a short-lived television series from STARZ. After taking a reoccurring role in 24's fourth season (2005), Frain portrayed Tomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex in season of HBO's period drama The Tudors throughout its three season run (2007-2009). He played a caretaker in Water for Elephants (starring Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson) in 2011, and co-starred with James Caviezel in the crime comedy Transit in 2012.In addition to his screen work, Frain has performed in a number of stage productions. He has worked with such prestigious groups as the Peter Hall Company in London's West End and Stratford-Upon-Avon's Royal Shakespeare Company.

Trivia: A skilled actress with the unique ability to toggle between tough-as-nails conviction and all-too-human vulnerability, actress Catherine Dent possesses the sort of classy timeless beauty that -- when combined with modern sensibility -- makes her the perfect addition to the cast of the acclaimed television police drama The Shield. Though she has received widespread recognition for her role as the street-smart officer Danielle "Danny" Sofer on the series, Dent has also made impressive appearances on the big screen with memorable supporting roles in such features as Auto Focus and 21 Grams. Dent is a Baton Rouge, LA, native who studied her craft at the North Carolina School of the Arts. It didn't take long for the ambitious actress to make her feature debut opposite screen legend Paul Newman in the 1994 drama Nobody's Fool. Her subsequent roles opposite Jim Carrey and Ashley Judd in The Majestic and Someone Like You proved that Dent had what it takes to make it in Hollywood. She did stage work in both Broadway and regional theater giving testament to her deep-rooted love of acting. Though she was an increasingly familiar face to television viewers throughout the '90s -- thanks to guest roles in The X-Files, Frasier, Law & Order, and The Sopranos -- it was a recurring role in the long-running soap One Life to Live (beginning in 1997) that truly put Dent on the map with television viewers. That same year, Dent made a lasting impression by joining the cast of The Shield; she also made her first foray into science fiction territory as a mother whose contact with extraterrestrials profoundly affects her life in the Steven Spielberg produced Sci Fi Channel miniseries Taken. A supporting role in 21 Grams was quick to follow, with a substantial role in the 2005 black comedy The Unseen, assuring audiences that they'll be seeing plenty more of Dent in the years to follow.