Trivia: Like his older brother, Keenan Ivory Wayans, African-American performer Damon Wayans matriculated from standup comedy to series television to movies. He was a regular on TV's Saturday Night Live and -- along with virtually everyone else in the Wayans family -- In Living Color. Exhibiting a fondness for the outrageous, Wayans attracted both adulation and condemnation for his many In Living Color characterizations, notably the dour Homey the Clown and the excessively effeminate co-host of the "Men on Film" skits. Damon's first film was 1984's Beverly Hills Cop 2; he has since functioned as co-star (with brother Marlon Wayans), co-producer, co-writer, and director of Mo' Money (1992), and has been heard but not seen as the voice of a troublesome baby in Look Who's Talking 2 (1992). In 1995, Damon Wayans played a role once essayed by Charlton Heston, in Major Payne, a remake of Heston's The Private War of Major Benson (1955).

Trivia: With a prematurely grizzled image enhanced by a dash of post-grunge earthiness, rugged young athlete-turned-actor Clayne Crawford maintains a staunchly anti-Hollywood glitz outlook, having made his film debut in a pair of quirky independent features before moving on to such teen films as A Walk to Remember and Swimfan (both 2002). An Alabama native who initially moved to Los Angeles in hopes of playing baseball at U.C.L.A., Crawford found himself questioning the reality of his dream when he was sidelined by an injury that ended his career on the diamond and found him seeking work in construction. After witnessing the ease with which his friends found commercial work, the onetime baseball hopeful opted to eschew concrete pouring in favor of being in front of the cameras. Though success was by no means immediate, it wasn't long before Crawford met actress Sunny Mabrey while working in a local theater. After finding out the two grew up a mere 20 minutes from one another, the aspiring actors became inseparable and eventually engaged. By Crawford's account, it was the exact day that he decided to let rejection roll down his back that he was offered a substantial role in the independent drama Gas Station Jesus (2001). After appearing in the I Am Legend-inspired horror-thriller One Blood Planet that same year, Crawford's newfound success found him landing roles in A Walk to Remember and Swimfan before turning up alongside Al Pacino in 2003's The Recruit.

Trivia: Texan Kevin Rahm's screen-acting career started off with a number of small television guest roles before he landed a spot as a regular on the second season of the short-lived Christina Applegate vehicle Jesse in 1999. In 2001, he joined the cast of the legal drama Judging Amy and continued to appear on the show into its fifth season. Following his exit from Judging Amy, Rahm could be seen in a supporting role in the 2004 remake of Alfie, as well as several guest appearances on TV shows ranging from Grey's Anatomy to CSI. In 2007, Rahm joined the cast of ABC's hit series Desperate Housewives, staying with the series until the end, in 2012.. In 2010, he began playing the recurring role of Ted Chaough, one of the partners of the rival firm CGC on AMC's Mad Men. Rahm was promoted to a series regular in the show's sixth season.

Trivia: A young actress with dark-haired good looks and a strong personality, Jordana Brewster was born in Panama City, Panama, on April 26, 1980; her father, Alden Brewster, is a successful investment banker, while her mother, Maria Jaao, is a former model whose resumé includes an appearance in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Mr. Brewster's career dictated a certain amount of traveling, so Jordana lived in London, England, until age six, then spent four years in Rio de Janeiro, before settling in New York City at age ten. While studying at the New York Professional Children's School, Jordana was bitten by the acting bug, and at the age of 15 she landed the role of Nikki Graves on the soap opera As the World Turns. The same year, Jordana was also cast in a supporting role on another soap, All My Children; her run on All My Children was less than a year, but she continued to appear on As the World Turns until 1998. 1998 also marked Jordana's big-screen debut as the sharp-tongued Delilah in the teen horror opus The Faculty, while a year later she was cast in a showy role in the popular miniseries The '60s. After graduating from high school, Jordana was accepted at Yale, but took time off from her studies to resume her acting career, appearing in two films in 2001, including the box-office blockbuster The Fast and the Furious. While subsequent roles in D.E.B.S. and Annapolis found the emerging actress climbing the credits list with impressive ease, the fact that both films went laregely unseen after receiving only lukewarm reception did little to slow the determined Brewster down. In 2006 the actress prepared to do battle with one of the most notorious villains in screen history as she took an ill-advised turn down an unmarked road in the horror sequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. She returned to the role of Mia Toretto in 2009's Fast & Furious and continued to appear in subsequent sequels in the series. In 2012, she took on a series-regular TV role in the revival of Dallas, which lasted for three seasons. Brewster played Denise Brown, Nicole Brown's sister, in the 2016 series American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson. She returned to network TV later that year, in the film-to-TV adaptation of Lethal Weapon.

Trivia: When the sensual and alluring African-American actress Keesha Sharp first came to national attention in the early 2000s, she did so via a series of bit roles in urban comedies and dramas, such as the goofy Lance Crouther-headlined superhero farce Pootie Tang (2001) and Laurice Guillen's ethnic ensemble piece American Adobo (2002). Following small appearances in the 2003 duds Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood and Malibu's Most Wanted, Sharp signed for her most prominent turn, that of Monica in the syndicated series Girlfriends. She could also be seen in a recurring role on the family sitcom Everybody Hates Chris starting in 2005.

Trivia: His father is from Honduras and his mother from Colombia.Moved to the Poconos in Pennsylvania with his family when he was seven.Started doing comedy while attending college.Moved to New York City after his college graduation, where he began to work in television production and study at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.Is a member of Homes4Families, a Non-profit organization that helps homeless veterans.

Trivia: Moved to Los Angeles when she was one year old.Started dancing at the age of three and is trained in tap dance, ballet, contemporary dance, jazz dance and hip-hop.Studied dance at Debbie Allen Dance Academy, the Los Angeles Ballet Academy and the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C.Started acting at the age of nine and studied at Marnie Cooper School of Acting in Los Angeles.Began training in martial arts at 10 and at 13 got her first degree black belt.In April 2015, qualified for the Youth America Grand Prix with her dance troupe.Was homeschooled through an independent extension of a high school.In May 2018, was admitted in the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).Co-founder of Chandler's Friends, an organization that helps disadvantaged youths.

Trivia: Actress Hilarie Burton launched herself out of obscurity and into celebrity by winning a national competition. In 2000 -- as a student at Fordham University, a Jesuit college in New York -- Burton signed up for a Total Request Live contest to interview celebs at the annual MTV Music Video Awards. Because that position reportedly brought with it some disparaging treatment at the hands of obnoxious celebrities, it toughened Burton up; that spunk, when coupled with Burton's genial on-camera presence and photogenic qualities, paved the way for an acting career, doubtless made possible by the exposure of the MTV gig. The WB's popular drama series One Tree Hill marked Burton's most first major endeavor; she played Peyton Sawyer, a gorgeous teenager who is attracted to the lower-middle-class but warm-hearted local boy Lucas (Chad Michael Murray). Meanwhile, the actress also managed to branch off into films as well, starting with a plum role in Cameron Watson's beautifully crafted, small-town Miramax drama Our Very Own (2005). Burton later worked for Beth Schacter in that director's teen-oriented comedy Normal Adolescent Behavior (2007) and for Blair Witch helmer Daniel Myrick in his supernatural thriller Solstice. In 2008, Burton scored her first major Hollywood film role, playing Deborah Owens, opposite Dakota Fanning and others, in the high-profile movie adaptation The Secret Life of Bees, based on the best-selling Sue Monk Kidd novel.

Trivia: One of the few members of the New York-based MTV comedy troupe "The State" to hail from the Midwest, Chicagoan comedian Thomas Lennon is also an accomplished screenwriter.Born in Oak Park, IL, on August 9, 1970, Lennon attended New York University as an undergraduate in the late '80s, at a point when Todd Holoubek -- a member of the campus sketch comedy team "Sterile Yak" -- abandoned that earlier group in favor of forming an alternative improvisational ensemble, christened "The New Group." Comprised largely of freshmen, the team blended film, video, and live performance in its live audience shows. Lennon joined the ensemble, as did fellow coeds Kevin Allison, Michael Ian Black, Ben Garant, Michael Patrick Jann, Kerri Kenney, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, Michael Showalter, and David Wain. Following a series of original shows (which began with "I'm Rubber, You're Glue"), The New Group landed its first gig as the opening act for Dennis Miller during one of the comedian's appearances at NYU, circa 1990. He paid them 1,000 dollars total. In the early '90s, Lennon made several short films, including The Waiters, which ran on the Bravo network; meanwhile, after MTV formally rejected the ensemble's pitch for a weekly series, Wain worked with the others to shoot demos for the MTV series You Wrote It, You Watch It, which catalyzed the network's interest. At that point, The New Group changed its name to "The State: Full Frontal Comedy." They landed an official series on MTV in 1993, boosted by an appearance on The Jon Stewart Show, in which they completely demolished the comedian's set. Over the course of the first two years, ratings skyrocketed, carrying the series through several seasons. It wrapped in 1997.During the series' run, Lennon wrote much of the material, including the popular "Monkey Torture" sketch. After the show ended, he joined cast members Kerri Kenney and Michael Ian Black to create the Comedy Central variety show spoof Viva Variety, based on an old sketch from The State. Lennon transitioned to features by voicing the documentarian character in the hit comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous, the feature-film debut of State director Michael Patrick Jann. Lennon also appeared in the feature films Memento, Out Cold, and Boat Trip, as well as TV commercials for various candy items and video-game platforms. Returning to the television series format, Lennon sustained a recurring role in the short-lived ABC medical drama MDs. He then reunited with Kenney and other State members to create the reality cop show spoof Reno 911!, starring himself as pretty-boy Lieutenant Jim Dangle. Directed by Jann, the show became a hit on Comedy Central in 2003.Lennon maintained a busy schedule in 2004, with supporting roles in the A-list romantic comedies A Guy Thing, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and Le Divorce. That same year, he also did screenwriting work (alongside many others) on Todd Phillips's Starsky & Hutch (2004), and the terribly received action comedy Taxi, starring Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon. While Reno 911! continued through 2005, Lennon contributed to the scripts of such mainstream releases as Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005), The Pacifier (2005), Night at the Museum (2006), and Let's Go to Prison!2007 saw the young comedian and scenarist involved in his most ambitious project to date. He posed a triple threat as cast member, executive producer, and screenwriter of that year's Balls of Fury, directed by fellow "Stater" Ben Garant, one of the major forces behind Reno 911! He was cast in Hancock and the comedy I Love You, Man. In 2009 he co-wrote Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. He had a small but crucial role in 2011's Cedar Rapids, and appeared in the comedies Bad Teacher and What's Your Number?Lennon lives with his wife, Jenny Robertson, in Los Angeles.