Trivia: Was gifted at doing impressions as a kid. Enrolled in acting classes at age 10. Landed first movie role in 2003's The Adventures of Ociee Nash. Played the older brother of Johnny Cash in the Oscar-winning Walk the Line. Nabbed the lead male role in Hannah Montana: The Movie opposite Miley Cyrus. Appeared as Taylor Swift's love interest in her 2009 music video "You Belong With Me." Acted alongside childhood hero Jackie Chan in 2010's The Spy Next Door. In 2011 won the coveted role of Havok in the X-Men movie franchise. By age 25 had produced three feature films. Plays the title role in CBS's 2016 MacGyver reboot.

Trivia: Whether scanning a homicide scene for evidence or blasting up a motorcycle ramp at 120 miles per hour as one of the world's greatest daredevils, it seems there's little that square-jawed CSI star George Eads can't accomplish on the small screen. However, the future wasn't always so sunny for the decidedly down-to-earth star; Eads has most certainly earned his rank among television's best, thanks to a solid work ethic and the kind of steadfast determination that's been known to move mountains. Born in Fort Worth, TX, and raised in nearby Belton, it didn't take the Texas Tech graduate long to realize his calling -- and despite the fact that chiseled Texans with big-time aspirations are a dime a dozen in Hollywood, Eads was determined to stand apart from the crowd. Of course, nothing comes easy in Hollywood, and after making the rounds to various auditions during the daytime, the eager up-and-comer would earn his keep as a weight adjuster at the local Gold's Gym in the off hours. Persistence eventually paid off in the form of a supporting role on the little-seen nighttime soap opera Savannah, and though the show barely lasted one season, it did provide an ideal training ground for the relatively inexperienced Eads. In the years that followed, Eads continued to hone his craft with a recurring role on the hit series ER as well as numerous supporting performances in such blink-and-you-miss-them made-for-television pictures as The Ultimate Lie and Crowned and Dangerous. Eads' persistence eventually paid off, and he was hired for the key role of forensic analyst Nick Stokes in the breakout television hit CSI. Cast as a former college baseball star with a hero complex, Eads charmed audiences by creating a character that was as believable as he was personable. The show proved an enormous success, but the young star nearly lost the role forever by making the simple mistake of oversleeping on the day of his salary negotiations (CBS at first thought Eads was attempting to strong-arm them for more money, but the situation soon blew over when Eads apologized for his actions). Now seated comfortably at the top of the television food chain, Eads continued to make a name for himself with roles in numerous made-for-television features including Just a Walk in the Park and Monte Walsh, though it was a role as his childhood hero Evel Knievel in a small-screen biography that truly brought Eads' career full circle. When he's not investigating some of the most grisly crimes ever witnessed on the small screen in CSI, Eads fulfills his duties as part owner of Hollywood's popular Cinespace restaurant -- a perfect place to take in dinner and a movie.

Trivia: Became the youngest member of the Tampa Bay area's Shakespeare in the Park program at the age of 13. Studied theater and performed in productions at his high school through Pinellas County Center for the Arts. Was an on-air personality for Clark Atlanta University's campus radio station WSTU 98.1. Discovered by MTV while working at CAU's radio station and was hired as a video jockey for their college network mtvU. Participated in episodes of MTV's Disaster Date circa 2010. Was featured in CBS' Diversity Showcase in 2011. In 2015, was listed as one of Variety magazine's 10 TV Actors to Watch. Has been regularly performing stand-up comedy since 2007. Is a first-degree black belt.

Trivia: Appeared in commercials as a child actor for companies including Kraft Cheese, Sunkist and McDonald's. Secured a patent for half socks in 2003. Starred in the Broadway production of The Lion King as Young Nala in 2006. Was a member of the musical group Jane3, which released a 2008 single titled "Screensaver." Appeared in the web series Private in 2009 and costarred in the 2011 web comedy FAIL. Owns her own company, Trizzio, which has a handbag, jewelry and accessory product line. Works with the Rujohn Foundation.

Trivia: Worked for several years United Cerebral Palsy, an organization founded by grandmother, Nina Eaton. Began acting career at age 25 after studying clinical psychology at the master's level. Despite never having auditioned before, won a role for the comedy film Unconditional Love; beating out over five hundred other auditioners. Became the first female dwarf to be cast as a recurring character in an American prime-time television series. A strong advocate of animal rights, and frequently attends functions and fundraisers like the 2008 benefit supporting California's Prop 2, which created new standards for the confinement of farm animals.

Trivia: A native of Melbourne, Victoria, glamorous Aussie actress Isabel Lucas ascended to fame on the crest of her portrayal of Tasha Andrews in the long-running, teen-oriented Australian soap Home and Away (1988); she signed with the program in 2003. Like numerous colleagues from the Australian silver screen, Lucas eventually made the crossover to Hollywood stardom, first with a U.S.-Australian co-production of the vampire outing Daybreakers (starring fellow countryman Sam Neill, in addition to A-listers Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe) and then with a substantial role in the effects-heavy Hollywood opus Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009).

Trivia: Daughter of African-American parents.Is the middle child of three sisters.Along with her sisters, was raised by a single mother.Grew up in Los Angeles, California.Is a talented musician and was able to show her singing skills during a performance of "These are the Moments" on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.

Trivia: Attended Howard University on a full track and field scholarship. Trained at the Ivanna Chubbuck Studio and the Tasha Smith Acting Studio after graduating college. Was discovered by Karl Kani in an elevator at a BET party. Has had photography exhibitions in LA and New York City. Is a member of the Toyota Green Initiative Coalition.

Trivia: Character actor Dennis Boutsikaris is a frequent television guest star and leading man in made-for-TV movies. After a few fairly small roles in the feature films Crocodile Dundee II and The Dream Team, Boutsikaris was launched into star status on many sentimental Lifetime original movies, including And Then There Was One and Chasing the Dragon. Although he has had regular roles on Stat, The Jackie Thomas Show, and Misery Loves Company, he may be more recognizable for his recurring guest appearances on Law & Order and ER. He's also appeared in straight-to-video releases (The Three Lives of Karen) and TV miniseries (The Last Don). In addition, he seems to have made a lucrative living on the side as a voice actor recording books on tape. Boutsikaris has been known to specialize in ripped-from-the-headlines style of TV docudramas such as Victim of Love: The Shannon Mohr Story, Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story (in the role of Woody Allen, no less), and Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, a dramatization about the JonBenet Ramsey murder investigation.

Trivia: Is of Chinese and French descent. Was born in England, but raised in Canada. Began her modeling career at the age of 13. Moved to Paris to further her modeling career at the age of 17, but was almost immediately cast in the film Black Robe.

Trivia: Is of Vietnamese descent.Speaks English and Vietnamese.Was a cheerleader in high school.Was the copresident at her Vietnamese Club.Worked as a kindergarten teacher.Considered pursuing a career as an embalmer.Is skilled in martial arts.Is an animal advocate.

Trivia: Few have illustrated the physical incarnation of Jesus onscreen as convincingly or as hauntingly as Peruvian-Scottish actor Henry Ian Cusick, who signed for the lead in the 2003 production The Gospel of John. Though this hardly represented Cusick's first on-camera appearance (his scattered guest parts in television series such as Casualty and Taggart stretch back to the mid- to late '90s), it was the first role that truly made viewers' heads turn. Cusick's next major accomplishment involved his enlistment in the cast of the blockbuster serial drama Lost, starting in 2005, as Desmond Hume, a former Scottish soldier stranded on the central island via a shipwreck, who encounters the program's ragged band of plane crash survivors in season two. Cusick also guest starred in two episodes of the series 24, in season five (2006) of that program. He could be seen in the video-game adaptation Hitman in 2007, playing Udre Belicoff opposite Timothy Olyphant and Dougray Scott. In 2008, Cusick co-starred in the direct-to-DVD feature Dead Like Me, a continuation of the storyline from the cult-hit Showtime series of the same name; he played Cameron Kane, who becomes the head reaper after the departure of Rube Sofer, since Mandy Patinkin declined reprise his role as Rube for the film. In 2012, Cusick joined the cast of Scandal, an American political thriller series from ABC.

Trivia: At 8, was chosen to play an orphan in a 2000-01 national tour of Annie, and eventually starred in the title role in several productions. Made her Broadway debut in 2003 as Baby Louise in the Tony Award-nominated revival of Gypsy, starring Bernadette Peters and directed by Sam Mendes. In 2004, helped organize a reunion of Annie touring veterans for a production of the musical in Harleysville, PA, to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. After she got the part in Gypsy, her mother moved her and her siblings to Manhattan—where they lived for a time on Addison's $70,000 Broadway salary—so she could pursue her acting career. Made film debut in Derailed (2005) as the daughter of Clive Owen and Melissa George's characters. Appeared in the video for "Check Yes Juliet," a song by Florida pop-punk band We the Kings from their 2007 self-titled debut album.

Trivia: Like many small-screen veterans who headline a hit network series for multiple seasons, the fresh-faced, genial American actor Richard Dean Anderson will forever be associated with one role -- that of Angus MacGyver, the multilingual, crack Special Forces agent and science expert capable of using common household substances and implements to perform feats of wonder, on the Henry Winkler-produced action-adventure series MacGyver. Although Anderson's resumé packs in a number of key telemovies and a recurrent starring role on the popular Stargate SG-1, the actor is best known for turning MacGyver into a veritable American icon for Gen-Xers during the mid- to late '80s and early '90s.Anderson was born on January 23, 1950, in Minneapolis, MN, to a schoolteacher father, Stuart Anderson, who taught English, humanities, and drama at an area high school, and an artist mother. During middle school and high school, Anderson's plans to embark on a career as a professional hockey player were curtailed by two unfortunate accidents in which he broke both arms, encouraging the young man to pursue drama as an alternate option. After high school, Anderson enrolled in both St. Cloud State University and Ohio University, where he studied acting, but -- feeling listless -- he dropped out before receiving his degree, and spent time in San Francisco and Manhattan, then moved permanently to L.A. In Southern California, Anderson held down gigs as a street mime, juggler, and aquatic performer at Marineland, then appeared in the stage production Superman in the Bones at the Pilgrimage Theatre.Aficionados of 1970s American television might recall that Anderson's "breakthrough" arrived not as MacGyver, but as Dr. Jeff Webber on the long-running ABC soap opera General Hospital, circa 1976 -- then in production for 13 years. Not long after two failed series attempts on CBS -- the adventure drama Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1982 and the Dennis Weaver-headlined military drama Emerald Point, N.A.S. in 1983 -- Anderson auditioned for Henry Winkler and others to portray MacGyver on that character's eponymous action series. The premise found MacGyver enlisting as a member of a "think tank" called "The Phoenix Foundation," devoted to traveling around the world and thwarting criminal activity. The program's gimmick revolved around scientist MacGyver's abhorrence of guns, and his ability to use seemingly innocent, harmless objects -- such a candy bar, a paperclip, a toothpick, and (of course) his ever-present Swiss Army knife -- to blow up buildings, escape from deathtraps, save lives, etc. Winkler and his co-producers purportedly gave Anderson the part because of his request to wear eyeglasses during the reading -- an act that suggested humility to them and thus meshed perfectly with the character. MacGyver debuted on ABC on September 29, 1985, and lasted seven seasons, retaining a faithful audience despite at least 11 shifts in its night and time slot. It finally wrapped on August 8, 1992. Two telemovies, MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday and MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis, aired in 1994, both produced by Anderson.Alongside the MacGyver series run and shortly thereafter, Anderson signed for key roles in several network telemovies, including Ordinary Heroes (1985), Through the Eyes of a Killer (1992, which uncharacteristically cast him as a psychotic stalker), Beyond Betrayal (1994), and the epic-length disaster miniseries Pandora's Clock (1996). These proved moderately successful, but Anderson's two additional attempts to produce a network series through his Gekko film production company during the early '90s (Firehouse and Legend) died quick deaths.Anderson nevertheless caught his second wind and returned to series television (garnering a loyal cult following among sci-fi buffs) as Col. Jack O'Neill in the 1997 series Stargate SG-1, which originated on Showtime. Adapted from the hit 1994 movie Stargate, the program found O'Neill emerging from semi-retirement and continually traveling to interstellar "stargate" portals to protect the universe from hostile alien invasions. Stargate SG-1 bowed to extraordinary reviews and ratings and became a permanent hit; Anderson stayed with the series through its eighth season, and appeared as a guest star occationally during the rest of its run. He would go on to appear on the spin off SGU Stargate Universe, as well as the dramedy series Fairly Legal.Though Anderson has never married, he has been romantically linked with such actresses as Marlee Matlin, Deidre Hall, Sela Ward, Teri Hatcher, and Lara Flynn Boyle, and the champion skater Katarina Witt. In 1996, Anderson entered an ongoing romantic relationship with Apryl Prose, and the two had a daughter, Wylie Quinn Annarose Anderson, born in August 1998. Anderson divides his time between residences in Vancouver, Los Angeles, and northern Minnesota.

Trivia: Brusque character actor Dana Elcar was usually assigned roles calling for blunt imperiousness. He became especially handy in films and TV shows of the 1970s, portraying curt, dour, meticulously groomed authority figures at odds with dishevelled "hippie" and "gonzo" types. Elcar's first film after many years' stage work was 1968's Pendulum; other film credits include Soldier Blue (1969), W.C.Fields and Me (1976), and The Nude Bomb (1980). In 1985, Dana Elcar was cast as Peter Thornton, boss of troubleshooting Richard Dean Anderson, on the TV series MacGiver; Elcar continued playing the role into the 1990s, at which time the actor's real-life blindness required him to incorporate dark glasses and a cane into his characterization.

Trivia: When asked why he decided upon becoming an actor, Joe Santos tended to trot out the tried-and-true rationale "because I failed at everything else." While attending Fordham University, Santos excelled at football, but lost interest in the sport after a few semi-pro years. By the time he was 30, Santos had been remarkably unsuccessful in a variety of vocations, including railroad worker, tree cutter, automobile importer and tavern owner. While working a construction job in New York, Santos was invited by a friend to sit in on an acting class. This seemed like an easy way to make a living, so Santos began making the audition rounds, almost immediately landing a good part on a TV soap opera. This gig unfortunately led nowhere, and for the next year or so Santos drove a cab for 10 to 11 hours a day. The novice actor's first big break was a part in the 1971 film Panic in Needle Park, which he received at the recommendation of the film's star (and Santos' frequent softball partner) Al Pacino. With the plum part of Sergeant Cruz in the four-part TV drama The Blue Knight (1973), Santos inaugurated a fruitful, still-thriving career in "cop" roles, the best and longest-lasting of which was detective Dennis Becker on the James Garner series The Rockford Files (1974-80). Joe Santos' other series-TV credits include the top-billed part of deadbeat dad Norman Davis in Me and Maxx (1980), Hispanic nightclub comic Paul Rodriguez' disapproving father in AKA Pablo (1984), and Lieutenant Frank Harper in the 1985-86 episodes of Hardcastle and McCormick. One of his final roles was a recurring gig on The Sopranos. Santos died in 2016, at age 84.

Trivia: Al Ruscio played character roles since his film debut in Al Capone (1959). His best-known roles included crime boss Leo Cuneo in The Godfather: Part III (1990) and a recurring role on Life Goes On; he also appeared in the pilot episode of Seinfeld as the manager of Monk's Café. Ruscio worked as an acting teacher for years and regularly appeared in stage productions in Los Angeles. He passed away in 2013 at age 89.

Trivia: Collected a Joseph Jefferson (Jeff) Award for her performance in Chicago theater in 1975. Played the "Mrs." role in the 1980 failed pilot for Mr. & Mrs. & Mr.; also costarred in Makin' It, which ranked No. 40 on TV Guide's 50 Worst Shows of All Time list (compiled in 2002). Met her producer-husband James Conway while auditioning for a part in his 1981 horror movie, The Boogens. They were married a little more than a month after their first date. Appeared in the series Charmed as two different characters, first as Aunt Jackie in Season 1, then as Elise Rothman in Seasons 5-8.