Trivia: A respected actress of the stage, screen, and television, Angela Bassett has been one of the few African-American actresses to break Hollywood's color boundary. She has specialized in playing strong women familiar with adversity and has worked in genres from "chick flick" (Waiting to Exhale) to sci-fi action (Strange Days) to biography (What's Love Got to Do with It?), the last of which featured her in a star-making performance as Tina Turner.Born in New York City on August 16, 1958, Bassett was raised in St. Petersburg, Florida by her mother. Growing up in a household where money was tight, she was taught determination and independence. These values were called into service after an eleventh grade Upward Bound trip to Washington, D.C., when Bassett saw James Earl Jones in a Kennedy Center production of Of Mice and Men. Deciding that acting was her calling, she became involved in a number of local productions in St. Petersburg. She continued to act at Yale University, where she earned a scholarship; after completing a B.A. in African-American studies, she also spent three years at the Yale School of Drama. One of Bassett's mentors at Yale was the drama school's dean, stage director Lloyd Richards, who was so impressed with her talent that he cast her in two of his productions, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Although she enjoyed relative success on the stage, Bassett, like other African-American actors, had a difficult time finding roles in television and film.In 1986, Bassett made her screen debut in the cult favorite F/X. Following supporting roles in Kindergarten Cop (1990) and John Sayles' City of Hope (1991), she had her first significant screen role in John Singleton's acclaimed Boyz 'N the Hood, playing a struggling single mother. Two years later, after playing the wife of civil rights leader Malcolm X in Spike Lee's biopic and the Jackson Family matriarch in the made-for-TV The Jacksons: An American Dream, Bassett had her screen breakthrough as Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It?, a performance that earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe. As her newfound status allowed her to expand her range of work, Bassett went on to star in a series of diverse films. In 1995, a foray into futuristic action in Strange Days was complemented by a lead in the successful women's ensemble drama Waiting to Exhale (based on the novel by Terry McMillan), in which Bassett starred alongside Whitney Houston, Lela Rochon, and Loretta Devine. In 1998, she starred as the title character in another McMillan adaptation, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, playing a divorcee whose discontent is ably assuaged by a hunky twenty-year-old (Taye Diggs). The following year, she had a supporting role in Music of the Heart and again tried her hand at action in Supernova, a sci-fi thriller. Starring in former Orson Welles collaborator and blacklisted director John Berry's critically panned swansong Boesman and Lena in 2000, Bassett (along with co-star Danny Glover) earned praise for their sensitive performances as a troubled South African couple striving to seek stability in the face of Apartheid.Her career continued to evolve with a part in The Score in 2001. The next year she executive produced and starred in a biopic about civil rights figure Rosa Parks. She was part of the large ensemble John Sayles brought together for Sunshine State, and co-starred opposite Bernie Mac in the sports comedy Mr. 3000. In 2006 she played the mother in the spelling bee drama Akeelah and the Bee, and she continued to land parts in big-budget blockbusters such as Green Lantern and This Means War.Since 1997, Bassett has been married to actor Courtney B. Vance, whom she had known since their days at Yale.

Trivia: A leading and supporting actress of television and feature films, willowy, green-eyed, red-haired Connie Britton may be best known for playing Nikki opposite Michael J. Fox in the ABC sitcom Spin City. Prior to that, she had a semi-regular role on the network's comedy Ellen. Born in Boston, she has a fraternal twin sister (whom she claims is her exact opposite). They were raised in Lynchburg, VA, after the age of seven. Britton's interest in acting developed at a young age, something her parents avidly supported. While majoring in Asian studies at Dartmouth, she still found time to participate in theatrical productions. For a while she studied Chinese in Beijing, an exercise she states helped her as an actress because it broadened her view of the world. Following graduation, she spent two years studying under Sanford Meisner at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse and another two years appearing on the New York stage. Movie director Ed Burns was responsible for her film debut playing Molly in his acclaimed The Brothers McMullen (1995). The film was a hit at Sundance and won two major awards. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Hollywood, obtained an agent, and before long found herself joining the cast of Spin City. She would go on to star in series like 24, Friday Night Lights, and American Horror Story.

Trivia: Though his role on what many considered to be the smartest weekly series on television (Sports Night) may have made him a household name in a perfect world, boyish but handsome actor Peter Krause found himself inexplicably unemployed following the show's unfortunately all-too-short run. Born August 12th, 1965, in Alexandria, MN, in 1965, Krause spent his youth immersed heavily in track and field and gymnastics. Following a career-ending high school pole-vaulting injury, Krause took to the stage during his education at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN, on the age-old pretense of meeting a girl. Though he wasn't thrilled with the role he essayed, Krause soon took a shine to acting and decided to pursue a career in New York University's Master of Fine Arts acting program. Working as a bartender with writer Aaron Sorkin at the Palace Theater while living in the city, Krause moved to Los Angeles following graduation and landed television roles in Carol and Company, Beverly Hills 90210, and Seinfeld thanks in part to friend and fellow N.Y.U. student Camryn Manheim. Following a turn on television's Cybill in 1995, Krause got his big feature break with a role in The Truman Show three years later. With his role as a member of a mortistically inclined family in HBO's Six Feet Under, Krause found himself a key member of yet another talented cast on yet another critically praised series.In 2004, Krause portrayed a struggling poet and professor in the critically acclaimed marriage drama We Don't Love Here Anymore, and continued to work on Six Feet Under until the series' powerful conclusion in 2005. Krause returned to television to star in ABC's prime time drama Dirty Sexy Money. The show, which lasted for two seasons between 2007 an 2009, followed Nick George (Krause), a lawyer and family man determined to investigate the circumstances surrounding his father's mysterious death. The actor also appeared in the NBC comedy drama Parenthood, and joined the casat of 2011's edgy fantasy film Beastly.

Trivia: Studied at the North London Performing Arts Centre until the age of 16. At the last minute, decided against his plan to pursue a career in economics at university, and, with encouragement from his headmaster, opted to follow his passion for acting. Honed his craft by appearing in low-budget short films and in various theater productions, most notably in the role of Eden in the Fifth Dimension Theatre Company's Fatal Excuses, for which he was hailed as "phenomenal" and "breathtaking." Made his first television appearance in a November 2011 episode of the BBC1 series Casualty, followed by roles in Luther opposite Idris Elba and NBC's Dracula starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Trivia: Took tap-dancing lessons in junior-high school. Took classes at the American Theatre of Harlem. Made her TV debut on the ABC series NYPD Blue in 2003. In 2004 earned her first small-screen regular role on The Shield. Breakthrough movie role was in the 2005 crime drama Assault on Precinct 13.

Trivia: Appeared in commercials for Priceline, Blockbuster, Mercedes-Benz and Bombay Sapphire Gin. Provides voices for the video games Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Captain America: Super Soldier. Did a lot of research on World War II for his role in 2011's Captain America:The First Avenger, and participated in stunt and weapons training. In 2011, participated in the inaugural CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) Celebrity Poker Tournament. First full-time series role was the 2013 reboot of Ironside. Is such a big fan of Chicago's Aurelio's Pizza that he has them air-shipped to his home twice a year.

Trivia: Never the typical ingénue, American actress Mariette Hartley was distinguished by attractively offbeat facial features and a full, throaty voice -- acting tools that enabled her to play a wide spectrum of ages and personalities even when she was barely out of her teens. The granddaughter of behavioral psychologist John B. Watson, Hartley began her training at Carnegie Tech, then studied acting under Eva LeGalleine . Shakespeare was Hartley's forte in her salad days; thus, she was a full-blown professional before the age of 21. Hartley's first film, Ride the High Country (1961), may well have been her best; as the runaway bride of a mentally deficient mountain man, Hartley was permitted to forego cutesiness and glamour, spending most of the film in dusty male western garb. She was so good in this first appearance that MGM literally had no idea what to do with her; the solution was to cast her as a garden-variety damsel in distress in Drums of Africa (1963), which Hartley now regards as her worst film (and it is -- far worse than the more obvious candidate, 1971's The Return of Count Yorga). Then as now, Hartley was better served on TV than in films. Appearing with regularity on such programs as Twilight Zone and Bonanza, Hartley exuded an intelligence and versatility rare in so young an actress. She gained a following with her recurring role on the nighttime soapera Peyton Place (1965), then provided the only bright moments of the misfire satirical sitcom The Hero (1966), in which she played the wife of a bumbling TV cowboy (Richard Mulligan). Her TV work load increased in the '70s, during which time she appeared as futuristic heroine Lyra-a in Gene Roddenberry's TV pilot Genesis II, a role which gained a great deal of press attention due to Hartley's exotic midriff makeup (her character was endowed with two navels). She also won an Emmy for her appearance in a 1978 installment of The Incredible Hulk. A popular talk-show raconteur, Hartley was able to parlay her no-nonsense persona into a series of lucrative camera commercials, in which she co-starred with James Garner. Her easy rapport with Garner led many to believe that she was married to the Rockford Files star, compelling her to make public appearances wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the message "I am NOT Mrs. James Garner" (she was, in fact, married to producer/director Patrick Boyriven). Her high audience "Q" rating led certain TV producers to believe that Hartley would be ideally cast as a news reporter on the 1983 sitcom Goodnight, Beantown. The casting was good, the show wasn't. Nor were follow-ups in this vein, including a foredoomed hitch as co-host of the 1987 revamping of CBS Morning News titled The Morning Program and the very short-lived newsroom-oriented weekly drama WIOU (1990). That the actress took to kidding about her many TV failures only added to her upbeat public image -- an image which masked a surfeit of grief brought on by the alcoholism and suicide of Hartley's father, which formed the basis of her 1990 book Breaking the Silence. Audiences were able to see this serious side of Mariette Hartley in her frequent TV-movie appearances, notably her performance as grieving mother Candy Lightner in M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Mariette Hartley remained busy on films and in television into the '90s; once again, the TV work was more rewarding than the movie assignments, which included such negligible entertainments as Encino Man (1992).

Trivia: A theatrically trained actor who has subsequently made a name for himself as a valuable film and television commodity, Rockmond Dunbar is much more than just another charismatic performer -- he's also a talented producer and director. It was Dunbar's role on the mid-'90s sci-fi show Earth 2 that first served to introduce the ambitious cinematic Renaissance man to viewers, with subsequent appearances on The Practice and Felicity preceding more substantial roles on Girlfriends and Soul Food -- the latter of which found Dunbar winning over critics and viewers as a dedicated family man and hardworking entrepreneur. Additional roles in such independent films as Punks, All About You, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Dirty Laundry showed an actor who was as charismatic on the big screen as he was on the small one, with behind-the-scenes work on Dirty Laundry and the 2003 drama The Great Commission marking his arrival as a producer and director as well. In 2005, Dunbar resurfaced on the small screen in a role that couldn't have been more different than the one he previously played in Soul Food. Cast as hardened prison inmate "C-Note" on the hit Fox series Prison Break, Dunbar portrayed his most compelling television character to date. From inmate to medico, the versatile star named one of "Television's 50 Sexiest Stars of All Time" by TV Guide could next be seen as compassionate Dr. Tom Jonas on the small-screen medical drama Heartland. Dunbar continued to showcase strong TV work in the coming years, with guest roles on Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and the Closer and long recurring arcs on The Game, The Mentalist and Sons of Anarchy.

Trivia: A native of La Jolla, CA, actress Autumn Reeser grew up in nearby Oceanside and Carlsbad and gravitated to drama as a young girl; she reportedly discovered her life's calling when she felt inspired by a child's portrayal of a mouse in a local stage version of Cinderella. Reeser commenced tryouts for local theatrical productions not long after her sixth birthday and continued to appear in a variety of plays and musicals through her late teens, then enrolled in the University of Southern California at the age of 17 and studied acting while supporting herself by waiting tables on the side.The thespian scored her first major acting coup in 2001, with a bit part on an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, then signed for a series of guest roles on programs including Cold Case, George Lopez, and Grounded for Life, in addition to films such as the independent drama Americanese (2006) and the collegiate-themed ensemble film Palo Alto (2007). She only came into her own, however, with a portrayal of backward and maladroit Taylor Townsend on seasons 3 and 4 of the prime-time teen-oriented soaper The O.C. (2005-2007). In 2008, Reeser signed on to play Phoebe Valentine, one of a family of Greek immortals whose collective mission involves bringing human soulmates together, on the Kevin Murphy-produced romantic comedy series Valentine. The show was quickly cancelled, and Reeser joined the HBO series Entourage, playing the recurring role of junior agent Lizzie Grant for a handful of episodes. She was next cast in two more short-lived series: superhero dramedy No Ordinary Family (2010-11) and submarine drama Last Resort (2012-13).

Trivia: Though he was born in Washington, D.C., African-American film and television actor Tim Russ came of age in Turkey, where he attended Izmir High School for a brief period. Russ returned to the Big Apple prior to graduation and enrolled in Rome Academy, then studied theatrical arts at Saint Edwards University (as an undergraduate) and at Illinois State University (as a graduate student).Russ launched his film career on an exciting note, with his portrayal of blues legend Robert Johnson in Walter Hill's defiantly individualistic cinematic fable Crossroads (1986); he also delighted schtick fans the following year as the trooper hopelessly lost in the desert in Mel Brooks' gag-laden sci-fi spoof Spaceballs, and landed a plum supporting role in Clint Eastwood's homage to Charlie Parker, Bird (1988). Though Russ' subsequent work during the late '80s and the '90s occasionally dipped into exploitation -- such as his involvement in the lurid bedroom thriller Night Eyes 2 (1991) -- the actor also landed in more respectable fare from time to time. For instance, he joined the cast of the Billy Crystal comedy drama Mr. Saturday Night (1992) and appeared in a few episodes of the popular Will Smith sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.Russ left his most memorable mark, however, on Trekkies -- first with some appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, then with his evocation of Lt. Commander Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager -- a role he carried from 1995 through 2001. In 2007, Russ returned to comedy, playing sarcastic doorman Frank on the Christina Applegate sitcom Samantha Who?, and playing Principal Franklin on the Disney series iCarly.

Trivia: Fluent in English and Dari. Worked on Capitol Hill during her high-school years. Appeared in commercials for Taco Bell and Virgin Mobile. Has guest-starred on shows including The Closer, Bones, Veronica Mars, How I Met Your Mother, Psych and Castle.

Trivia: Personifying the type of teen spirit most commonly found in Noxzema ads and pep squad meets, actress Jennifer Love Hewitt has brought new meaning to the word "effervescent." The 1990s saw Hewitt go from relative obscurity to a bona fide teen queen, to say nothing of one of the most frequently enshrined actresses on the Internet.Hewitt was born on February 21, 1979 in Waco, TX. She made her first appearance on television in 1984 in the show Kids Incorporated (which, coincidentally, once guest-starred Scott Wolf, her Party of Five co-star). She also did a multitude of commercials, even doing a stint as a LA Gear spokesgirl at the age of ten. After spending the majority of the 80s working in television, Hewitt got her first film role in the 1993 film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, but it wasn't until she got her big break as Sarah Reeves on Party of Five (1994) that she began to gain recognition. More recognition came, first in the form of Trojan War (1997), and then from I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997). The film, which capitalized on the growing trend in teen horror flicks catalyzed by Wes Craven's Scream (1996), proved to be immensely popular among audiences, if not critics. It was predictably followed by a sequel, the aptly titled I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998). In addition to her film work, which also included 1998's Can't Hardly Wait, Hewitt maintained her role in Party of Five and continued to star in commercials, most notably as the Neutrogena spokesgirl.

Trivia: Wanted to be a professional baseball pitcher, but suffered a shoulder injury in college. Started as a model, doing print ads and commercials for brands like Old Navy, Abercrombie & Fitch and Reebok. Had no formal dance training before booking the lead in Step Up Revolution. Did a semi-nude photo shoot for Cosmopolitan UK in 2015 to raise awareness for Cancer Research UK.