Trivia: Actor Nicolas Cage has always strived to make a name for himself based on his work, rather than on his lineage. As the nephew of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, Cage altered his last name to avoid accusations of nepotism. (He chose "Cage" both out of admiration for avant-garde musician John Cage and en homage to comic book hero Luke Cage). Even if he had retained the family name, it isn't likely that anyone would consider Cage holding fast to his uncle's coattails. Time and again, Cage travels to great lengths to add verisimilitude to his roles.Born January 7, 1964, in Long Beach, CA, to a literature professor father and dancer/choreographer mother, Cage first caught the acting bug while a student at Beverly Hills High School. After graduation, he debuted on film with a small part in Amy Heckerling's 1982 classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Following a lead role in Martha Coolidge's cult comedy Valley Girl (1983), Cage spent the remainder of the decade playing endearingly bizarre and disreputable men, most notably as Crazy Charlie the Appliance King in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Hi McDonough in Raising Arizona (1987), and Ronny Cammareri in the same year's Moonstruck, the last of which won him a Golden Globe nomination and a legion of female fans, ecstatic over the actor's unconventional romantic appeal.The '90s saw Cage assume a series of diverse roles, ranging from a violent ex-con in David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990) to a sweet-natured private eye in the romantic comedy Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) to a dying alcoholic in Mike Figgis' astonishing Leaving Las Vegas (1995). For this last role, Cage won a Best Actor Oscar for his quietly devastating portrayal, and, respectability in hand, gained an official entrance into Hollywood's higher ranks. After winning his Oscar, along with a score of other honors for his performance, Cage switched gears in a way that would prove to be, with the occasional exception, largely permanent. He dove into a series of action movies like the Michael Bay thriller The Rock, the prisoners-on-a-plane movie Con Air, and the infamous John Woo flick Face/Off. Greeted with hefty paychecks and audience approval, Cage forged ahead on a career path lit largely with explosions.There would be exceptions, like 1998's City of Angels, a remake of Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, and Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead, and the the lightly dramatic romantic comedy The Family Man, but Cage stuck mostly to thrillers and action movies. A spate of such films would fill his resume, like Gone in 60 Seconds, The Life of David Gale, 8MM, and Snake Eyes, but Cage would briefly revisit his roots in character work, teaming with Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze in 2002 for a duel role in the complex comedy Adaptation (2002). With Cage appearing as both screenwriter Charlie Kaufman as well as his fictional brother Donald, Adaptation followed Charlie's attempt to adapt author Susan Orlean's seemingly unfilmable novel The Orchid Thief as a feature film, and Donald's parallel efforts to write his own hacky yet lucrative script by following the guidance of a caustic, Syd Field-like screenwriting instructor (Brian Cox). A weighty role that demanded an actor capable of portraying characters that couldn't differ more emotionally despite their outward appearance, Adaptation brought Cage his second Oscar nomination -- and he was soon back to business as usual.2004 saw the release of the megahit adventure film National Treasure, which cast Cage as an archaeologist convinced there's a treasure map on the back of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The outrageous film would earn a sequel in 2007, but first Cage made the ill-advised decision to star in Neil LaBute's reworking of the Robin Hardy/Anthony Shaffer collaboration The Wicker Man (2006). Though video compilations of the movie's most hilariously hackneyed moments would become popular on the internet, Cage was soon portraying a motorcycle-driving stuntman who sells his soul to Mephistopheles -- in Mark Steven Johnson's live-action comic book adaptation Ghost Rider. Upon premiering in the States, the film became a big success. In the same year's sci-fi thriller Next, directed by Lee Tamahori, Cage plays Cris Johnson, a man who attains the ability to see into the future and must suddenly decide between saving himself and saving the world; the film failed to ignite the way Ghost Rider did just a couple months before it. Next came Bangkok Dangerous, Knowing, The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans, Drive Angry, Seeking Justice, and Trespass -- all high octane, high adrenaline movies that found Cage diving, leaping, and shooting his way through the story. Cage found himself with a surprise hit in Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass (2010), playing a vigilante former cop in the black comedy film. He voiced the main character in 2013's animated The Croods, but then mostly stuck to action-crime-thriller-type movies for the next couple of years, including films like Left Behind (2014), The Runner (2015) and The Trust (2016).

Trivia: The son of actor Richard Cusack and younger brother of comic actress Joan Cusack, John Cusack started his career at the age of eight, under the guidance of his theatrically active mother. He made his stage bow with Evanston's Pivan Theatre Workshop and quickly went on to do commercial work, becoming one of Chicago's busiest commercial voice-over artists.Although Cusack began to emerge as an actor during the heyday of the Brat Pack, and appeared in a number of "teen" movies, he managed to avoid falling into the narrowly defined rut the phenomenon left in its wake. After making his film debut in 1983's Class, he had a brief but painfully memorable appearance as a member of Anthony Michael Hall's nerd posse in Sixteen Candles (1984). Bigger and better opportunities came Cusack's way the following year, when he achieved a measure of stardom with his portrayal of a sexually anxious college freshman in The Sure Thing (1985). The same year, he gained further recognition with his starring roles in Better Off Dead (which also granted him a degree of cult status) and The Journey of Natty Gann.Cusack spent the rest of the 1980s carving out a niche for himself as both a solid performer and something of a lust object for unconventional girls everywhere, a status aided immeasurably by his portrayal of lovable underachiever Lloyd Dobler in Cameron Crowe's 1989 ....Say Anything. He also began winning critical acclaim for his parts in more serious films, notably as a disgraced White Sox third baseman in John Sayles' Eight Men Out (1988) and as a con artist in Stephen Frears' The Grifters (1990).Cusack enjoyed steady work throughout the 1990s, with particularly notable roles in Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway (1994), which featured him as a struggling playwright; Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), in which he starred as a journalist investigating a murder; Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), which cast him as the film's protagonist, a neurotic hit man; and the impressively cast The Thin Red Line, in which he played a World War II soldier. Just about all of Cusack's roles allowed him to showcase his quirky versatility, and the films he did to close out the century were no exception: in 1999 he first starred as an air-traffic controller in the comedy Pushing Tin and then appeared as Nelson Rockefeller in Cradle Will Rock, Tim Robbins' exploration of art and politics in 1930s America; finally, in perhaps his most unique film to date, he starred in Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich as a puppeteer who discovers a way to enter the mind of the famous actor. The wildly original film turned out to be one of the year's biggest surprise hits, scoring among both audiences and critics. Cusack had yet another triumph the following year with High Fidelity, Stephen Frears' adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel of the same name. The actor, who co-wrote the script for the film in addition to starring in it, earned some of the best reviews of his career for his heartfelt comic portrayal of Rob, the film's well-meaning but oftentimes emotionally immature protagonist. The next year he played opposite Julia Roberts in the showbiz comedy America's Sweethearts. In 2002 he took a lead part in the controversial Hitler biopic Max, and he did a brief cameo for Spike Jonze in Adaptation.The next year he had a couple of hits with the John Grisham adaptation The Runaway Jury, and the psychological thriller Identity. In 2005 he was the lead in the black comedy The Ice Harvest opposite Billy Bob Thornton, as well as the romantic comedy Must Love Dogs.He earned solid reviews in 2007 for the Iraq War drama Grace Is Gone, playing the husband of a woman who dies while serving in the military., and in that same year he starred in the Stephen King adaptation 1408. In 2008 he appeared in and co-wrote the political satire War, Inc. The next year he was the lead in the disaster film blockbuster 2012.Cashing in on his status as an eighties icon, he had a hit in 2010 with the R rated comedy Hot Tub Time Machine, and in 2012 he portrayed Edgar Allan Poe in The Raven.

Trivia: One of the leading actors of his generation and an important figure in world cinema, John Malkovich made the term "icy calm" his trademark. After winning acclaim for his characterization of the scheming Vicomte de Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons, he became associated with a series of roles that, to put it plainly, essentially required him to be an evil bastard.The product of a large, highly intellectual family, Malkovich was born December 9, 1953, in Christopher, IL. Initially a portly youth, he underwent a self-imposed physical transformation, emerging as a star high school athlete. He went on to attend Eastern Illinois University, where he originally aspired to be a professional environmentalist. With his friend Gary Sinise, Malkovich helped co-found Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre in 1976. Seven years later, he won an Obie award when the Steppenwolf production of Sam Shepard's True West was brought to New York. He next appeared on Broadway with Dustin Hoffman in the 1984 revival of Death of a Salesman; when it was transformed into a television movie a year later, Malkovich won an Emmy for his efforts. While he was working on Broadway, he made his film debut, playing a blind transient in Places in the Heart (1984), which earned him an Oscar nomination. He also had a starring role in The Killing Fields the same year.Although certainly capable of projecting warmth and pathos, Malkovich became best-known for his ice-water-in-the-veins roles. In addition to praise for his performance in Dangerous Liaisons, Malkovich won recognition -- and Oscar and Golden Globe nominations -- for his portrayal of the chameleon-like political assassin in Wolfgang Peterson's In the Line of Fire (1993). Other sinister Malkovich characterizations include Kurtz in the 1994 TV-movie version of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the secretive Dr. Jekyll in Mary Reilly (1996), and Isabel Archer's dastardly husband in The Portrait of a Lady (1996). In 1999, Malkovich played what was undoubtedly his most unusual role -- himself -- in Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich. Both the subject of the film and one of its stars, he had the surreal duty of letting the film's other characters into his mind, something many audience members had no doubt been dreaming of doing for years. The film provided Malkovich's career with a sort of popular resurgence, and the following year found him essaying the role of a wild eyed F.W. Murnau in the dark horror comedy Shadow of the Vampire. The second feature by experimental filmmaker E. ELias Mehrige, Shadow of the Vampire took a magic realism approach to documenting the production of Murnau's legendary 1922 classic Nosferatu. In the years that followed Malkovich continued his trend of alternating roles in high-profile Hollywood fare with more artistically gratifying foreign films, and after turning up in the German miniseries Les Miserables (2000) and Je rentre a la maison Malkovich turned up opposite Vin Diesel in the box office flash Knockaround Guys (2001). In 2002 Malkovich picked up where Matt Damon left off in the thriller Ripley's Game before traveling back in time for the historical adventure drama Napoleon. After cracking up international audiences in Johnny English (2003), fans got to see Malkovich take on the role of a Stanley Kubrick imposter in the fact based Colour Me Kubrick. After a string of decidedly small films, Malkovich surfaced in 2005 in the sci-fi comedy blockbuster The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Based on the cult novel by Douglas Adams, the picture cast Malkovich as an alien guru and gave him a chance to flex some of his sillier chops. Subsequent roles in Art School Confidential, the Coen Brother's Burn After Reading, and Jonah Hex offered a bit of levity between performances in more serious-minded dramas like Disgrace and Secretariat, and on the heels of a memorable comic performance as an unhinged former assassin in the big budget action comedy Red, Malkovich could be spotted amidst an explosion of robot carnage in 2011's Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Maintaining his theatrical ties while tending to his successful film career, Malkovich appeared in the 1993 Broadway production State of Shock, and has periodically returned to Chicago to both act and direct in local presentations. For a number of years, he was married to fellow Steppenwolf alumnus Glenne Headly.

Trivia: One of the most important character actors of the 1990s, Steve Buscemi is unmatched in his ability to combine lowlife posturing with weasely charisma. Although active in the cinema since the mid-'80s, it was not until Quentin Tarantino cast Buscemi as Mr. Pink in the 1992 Reservoir Dogs that the actor became known to most audience members. He would subsequently appear to great effect in other Tarantino films, as well as those of the Coen Brothers, where his attributes blended perfectly into the off-kilter landscape.Born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 13, 1957, Buscemi was raised on Long Island. He gained an interest in acting while a senior in high school, but he had no idea of how to pursue a professional career in the field. Working as a fireman for four years, he began to perform stand-up comedy, but he eventually realized that he wanted to do more dramatic theatrical work. After moving to Manhattan's East Village, he studied drama at the Lee Strasberg Institute, and he also began writing and performing skits in various parts of the city. His talents were eventually noticed by filmmaker Bill Sherwood, who was casting his film Parting Glances. The 1986 drama was one of the first feature films to be made about AIDS (Sherwood himself died from AIDS in 1990), and it starred Buscemi as Nick, a sardonic rock singer suffering from the disease. The film, which was a critical success on the independent circuit, essentially began Buscemi's career as a respected independent actor.Buscemi's resume was given a further boost that same year by his recurring role as a serial killer on the popular TV drama L.A. Law; he subsequently began finding steady work in such films as New York Stories and Mystery Train (both 1989). In 1990, he had another career breakthrough with his role in Miller's Crossing, which began his longtime collaboration with the Coen brothers. The Coens went on to cast Buscemi in nearly all of their films, featuring him to particularly memorable effect in Barton Fink (1991), in which he played a bell boy; Fargo (1996), which featured him as an ill-fated kidnapper; and The Big Lebowski (1998), which saw him portray a laid-back ex-surfer. Although Buscemi has done his best work outside of the mainstream, turning in other sterling performances in Alexandre Rockwell's In the Soup (1992) and Tom Di Cillo's Living in Oblivion (1995), he has occasionally appeared in such Hollywood megaplex fare as Con Air (1997), Armageddon (1998), Big Daddy (1999), and 28 Days (2000), the last of which cast him against type as Sandra Bullock's rehab counselor. Back in indieville, Buscemi would next utilize his homely persona in a more sympathetic manner as a soulful loner with a penchant for collecting old records in director Terry Zwigoff's (Crumb) Ghost World. Despite all indicators pointing to mainstream prolifieration in the new millennium, Buscemi continued to display his dedication to independent film projects with roles in such efforts as Alaxandre Rockwell's 13 Moons and Peter Mattei's Love in the Time of Money (both 2002). Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and Buscemi's memorable appearances in such big budget efforts as Mr Deeds and both Spy Kids 2 and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over served to remind audiences that Buscemi was still indeed at the top of his game, perhaps now more than ever. In 1996, Buscemi made his screenwriting and directorial debut with Trees Lounge, a well-received comedy drama in which he played a down-on-his-luck auto mechanic shuffling through life on Long Island. He followed up his directorial debut in 2000 with Animal Factory, a subdued prison drama starring Edward Furlong as a young inmate who finds protection from his fellow prisoners in the form of an older convict (Willem Dafoe). Moving to the small screen, Buscemi would next helm an episode of the acclaimed HBO mob drama The Sopranos. Called Pine Barrens, the episode instantly became a fan-favorite.In 2004, Buscemi stepped in front of the camera once again to join the cast of The Sopranos, costarring as Tony Blundetto, a recently paroled mafioso struggling to stay straight in the face of temptation to revert back to his old ways. In 2005 Buscemi reteamed with Michael Bay for The Island in the same year that he directed another low-budget film, Lonesome Jim, with a stellar cast that included Seymour Cassel, Mary Kay Place, Liv Tyler, Casey Affleck, and Kevin Corrigan. He also played one of the leads in John Turturro's musical Romance & Cigarettes. His very busy 2006 included an amusing cameo in Terry Zwigoff's Art School Confidential, and continued work in animated films, with vocal appearances in Monster House and Charlotte's Web (2006). His contributions to those projects earned critical acclaim; Buscemi achieved an even greater feat, however, that same year, when he mounted his fifth project as director, Interview (2007). Like Trees Lounge (1996), Lonesome Jim (2005) and other Buscemi-helmed outings, this searing, acerbic comedy-drama spoke volumes about Buscemi's talent and intuition, and arguably even suggested that his ability as a filmmaker outstripped his ability as a thespian. With great precision and insight, the narrative observed a roving paparazzi journalist (Buscemi) during his unwanted yet surprisingly pretension-stripping pas-de-deux with a manipulative, coke-addled prima donna actress (Sienna Miller).At about the same time, the quirky player geared up for a host of substantial acting roles including parts in We're the Millers (2008), Igor (2008) and Keep Coming Back (2008). He appeared as the father of a deceased soldier in The Messenger in 2009, and the next year he landed the lead role of Nucky Thompson, an Irish gangster, in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. His work on that show would earn him Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe awards.

Trivia: A burly, bald black actor of stage, screen, and television, Ving Rhames specializes in playing villains and, indeed, having grown up on Harlem's meanest streets, is no stranger to violence. His onscreen persona, however, is no match for his real-life reputation as a deeply compassionate man, seriously dedicated to his profession. The actor ably demonstrated his capacity for abundant generosity during the 1998 Golden Globes ceremony when he handed over the award he had just won for portraying the title character of the cable film Don King: Only in America to fellow nominee Jack Lemmon, simply because he felt Lemmon's contributions to film exceeded his own.Though his upbringing in Harlem was rife with many temptations to engage in easy money criminal ventures, the deeply religious Rhames separated himself from street riffraff at a young age and focused his energies on school. It was his ninth grade English teacher who steered the sensitive young man toward acting, in large part because Rhames was unusually well spoken, frequently earning praise for his clear elocution. Inspired by a poetry reading he had attended with schoolmates, Rhames successfully auditioned for entrance into New York's prestigious High School for the Performing Arts. Once enrolled, he immersed himself in his studies and fell in love with acting. Following graduation in 1978, he attended the Juilliard School of Drama on a scholarship and focused his studies there on classical theater. After graduating from Juilliard in 1983, he went on to perform in Shakespeare in the Park productions. In 1984, Rhames made his television debut in Go Tell It on the Mountain and, the following year, landed his first Broadway role starring opposite Matt Dillon in The Winter Boys. Thus began a steady, fruitful theater career augmented by recurring roles on such daily soap operas as Another World and Guiding Light, and guest-starring parts on such primetime series as Miami Vice. He entered films in Native Son (1986), following that up with appearances in a series of modest films and television movies. Rather than getting a single big break into stardom, he made a gradual ascent that began with his appearance in Brian De Palma's grim Vietnam War saga Casualties of War (1989). Rhames again worked with Matt Dillon in 1993 on The Saint of Fort Washington. While filming on location in New York, Dillon introduced him to a man who had approached him, asking about the actor's involvement with Rhames on Broadway. It turned out that the stranger was Rhames' long-estranged older brother, Junior, who had lost contact with the family while serving in Vietnam. Troubled and unable to reintegrate into mainstream society, he had been living in a nearby homeless shelter. The compassionate Rhames was thrilled to see his big brother and promptly moved him into his apartment, helped him get a job, and later bought a home for his brother and parents to share. In 1994, Rhames gained considerable acclaim for his disturbingly convincing portrayal of the sadistic Marsellus Wallace in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. His performance paved the way for supporting roles opposite some of Hollywood's most popular stars in such big budget features as Mission Impossible (1996) (as well as John Woo's 2000 sequel to the film), Con Air (1997), Out of Sight (1998), and Entrapment (1999). In addition to his film credits, Rhames has also continued to appear frequently on such television shows as E.R. Rhames' performance as a former gangster turned honest, hardworking man proved a highlight of Boyz N the Hood director John Singleton's 2001 drama Baby Boy, and after lending his distinctive voice to the computer animated box-office disaster Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within the actor returned to the small screen for a pair of made-for-television features. If subsequent efforts such as Undisputed failed to make a sizable dent at the box office, Rhames continued to impress with contributions to such features as Lilo and Stitch (again providing vocals for the animated film) and as a conscientious cop in the 2002 police drama Dark Blue. A role opposite Gary Oldman in the 2003 crime drama Sin flew under the radar of most mainstream film audiences, and in early 2004 Rhames took up arms against the hungry legions of the undead in the eagerly anticipated remake Dawn of the Dead. Subsequently reprising his role as Luther Stickell in Mission Impossible III, the imposing Rhames flexed his comedy muscles with a role in 2007's I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry before hitting what could be considered a career low-point in Steve Miner's embarassing Day of the Dead remake. An outrageous performance in 2009's The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard garnered some big laughs, and the following year Rhames did over-the-top horror the right way in Alexandre Aja's outrageous remake Piranha. In the next few years, however, Rhames' film output seemed to grow increasingly erratic, with roles in such Z-grade fare as Death Race 2 and Zombie Apocalypse earning the Emmy-winning veteran steady paychecks but precious little artistic integrity.

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: After more than a decade in the business, hard-working actor Mykelti Williamson achieved true fame as Tom Hanks' army buddy in Forrest Gump (1994). Born in St. Louis, Williamson and his family moved frequently during his childhood, finally settling in Los Angeles when he was 15. After studying acting in high school, Williamson landed a recurring role on Hill Street Blues in 1983. Working steadily in TV and movies throughout the 1980s, Williamson appeared in a number of films, including Walter Hill's Streets of Fire (1984); the pilot movie for the stylish cop series Miami Vice (1984); and the Goldie Hawn football comedy Wildcats (1986). By the 1990s, Williamson added a bona fide sleeper hit to his credits with his role as a paternal cop in Free Willy (1993). His transformative performance as Forrest's ill-fated shrimp-loving friend Bubba in the blockbuster, 1994 Best Picture winner Forrest Gump then earned Williamson critical raves, propelling him into a varied range of high-profile films. After appearing in Free Willy 2 (1995) and playing a small but attention-getting role as one of Lela Rochon's unworthy suitors in Waiting to Exhale (1995), Williamson joined forces with Al Pacino in Michael Mann's Heat (1995). Continuing to work in TV as well, Williamson acted in several series, co-starred as Negro League baseball player Josh Gibson in the well-received TV film The Soul of the Game (1996), played a black cavalryman in the TNT Western Buffalo Soldiers (1997), and joined the prestigious ensemble cast of 12 Angry Men (1997). Williamson continued to ride high as Nicolas Cage's ill cell mate in the summer blockbuster Con Air (1997), but his 1998 movie work in Primary Colors and Species 2 was personally overshadowed by his legal troubles when he was arrested for stalking his ex-wife and stabbing her friend. Acquitted of the charges, Williamson returned to form with a blistering performance as an Army colonel in David O. Russell's critically lauded Three Kings (1999). Williamson reprised his role as Lt. Gerard in the second TV series version of The Fugitive(2000). Despite pre-season hype and the prior success of other Fugitives, the series lasted only one season. Williamson then made another onscreen splash when he reunited with Heat director Michael Mann to appear as the flamboyant, shock-haired boxing impresario Don King in Mann's ambitious biopic Ali (2001). Williamson is married and has three daughters.

Trivia: Anglo-Latino actress Rachel Ticotin made her first film appearance in a bit role in 1978's King of the Gypsies. Rachel has since contributed well-rounded characterizations in a number of stage and TV productions, as well as a handful of films. She made one of her most vivid cinematic impressions as Melina, Arnold Schwarzenegger's "can she be trusted?" vis-a-vis in 1992's Total Recall. On television, Rachel was seen as Puerto Rican non-com Grave Pravlik in the military drama For Love and Honor (1983), DA Teresa Storm on the Pat Morita detective weekly Ohara (1987) and as LAPD detective Annette Ray on Crime & Punishment. Rachel Ticotin is married to actor David Caruso.

Trivia: With looks that have been compared to Julia Roberts', Monica Potter emerged as one of the more promising actresses of the late '90s. The second of four girls in a close-knit family, Potter was raised in Cleveland, OH, where she was born on June 30, 1971. At the age of 12, she started modeling and doing commercials, and she further pursued her career with modeling stints in Chicago and Miami. Her dedication to acting became evident with a move to Los Angeles in 1994, where she was soon cast in the CBS soap The Young and the Restless. Potter's film debut came with a minor part in the 1996 Adam Sandler comedy Bulletproof, followed by a leading role in the Richard Grieco vehicle Heaven or Las Vegas, which played briefly in theaters before hightailing it to video. Fortunately, more high-profile work was to come, first as Nicolas Cage's wife in the 1997 action film Con Air and then as a medical student in the Robin Williams comedy Patch Adams (1998). After acting in the shadow of these formidable co-stars, Potter ventured into the limelight with lead roles in two 1998 films, the romantic comedy Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel, and Laurence and the Steve Prefontaine biopic Without Limits, co-starring Billy Crudup. In 1999, Potter had yet another leading role, this time in A Cool, Dry Place, in which she starred with Vince Vaughn and Joey Lauren Adams. Her rising star was given an additional push by her 1999 appearance on the cover of Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood issue, where she was photographed in the company of such fellow actors on the brink of stardom as Sarah Polley, Giovanni Ribisi, and Adrien Brody. She had a major role in the serial killer film Along Came a Spider in 2001, and the next year she was in the comedy I'm With Lucy. She appeared in the first of the Saw films when it was released in 2004, and that same year she was cast in the TV show Boston Legal. In 2009 she starred in the remake of The Last House on the Left, and the next year she became part of the cast of NBC's family drama Parenthood.

Trivia: Like future co-stars Martin Lawrence, Eddie Murphy, and Norm MacDonald, Dave Chappelle entered the movie business via standup comedy. Born in Ohio and raised in Washington, D.C., Chappelle studied acting at D.C.'s Duke Ellington School of the Arts and honed his skills as a laid-back yet socially attuned comic in the city's clubs. After making his movie debut as one of the merry men in Mel Brooks' Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), Chappelle concentrated primarily on his comedy career and appeared regularly on late night and cable television. He returned to films with small yet key parts in two summer blockbusters: as a comic who helps spoil a date for Murphy's rotund scientist in The Nutty Professor (1996) and as a manic inmate aboard the hijacked convict plane in Con Air (1997). Hitting his movie stride in 1998, Chappelle co-wrote and starred in the prison/pothead caper Half Baked (1998), played a randy schemer in Woo (1998), and revealed that he could also play it (somewhat) straight as Tom Hanks' best friend in Nora Ephron's popular romantic comedy You've Got Mail (1998). Maintaining his dual professions, Chappelle turned a cameo role as Lawrence's former criminal partner into a full-fledged supporting turn in Blue Streak (1999), co-starred with MacDonald in the ill-received Screwed (2000), and returned to Washington, D.C., and HBO with his special Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly (2000).Chappelle had better luck with his next film, the blaxploitation spoof Undercover Brother (2002). As the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D.'s terminally paranoid agent Conspiracy Brother, Chappelle was a hilariously twitchy comic highlight in the hit-or-miss satire; Undercover Brother became a small hit amid the summer blockbusters. Chappelle's cutting humor could also be heard on TV that same season, with Chappelle lending his voice as a prank caller to Comedy Central's ribald puppet "reality" show Crank Yankers (2002). His characters on that show were a hit with audiences in search of a hearty laugh, and the following year Comedy Central gave the comedian his own series - the aptly titled Chappelle's Show. Perhaps one of the most controversial series - comedy or otherwise - to hit the airwaves in recent memory, Chappelle's Show offered searing social commentary while frequently pushing the boundaries of good taste. With sketch subjects including a blind black man who - not realizing his true race - heads the Ku Klux Klan and collaborators including former Sanford and Son writer Paul Mooney, the series frequently courted controversy much to the delight of its loyal legions of fans. 2005 marked the released of the comedian's brainchild, Dave Chappelle's Block Party, which documented a free, unpublicized, all-star hip-hop concert in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY.

Trivia: Notorious for his uncanny portrayals of jocks, rednecks, hellraisers, and good ol' boys, the rough-hewn American character actor M.C. Gainey built a career for himself as the prototypical onscreen lowlife. Gainey observed in an interview, "With a face like this, there aren't a lot of lawyers or priest roles coming my way. I've gotta face that was meant for a mug shot and that's what I've been doing for the past 30 years...by and large I play cowboys, bikers, and convicts."Born in Jackson, MS, in 1947, Gainey debuted onscreen -- effectively portraying a young police officer -- in Herbert Ross' fascinating, ambitious, and stillborn musical film version of the Dennis Potter miniseries Pennies from Heaven (alongside Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, and Christopher Walken). Some might call Gainey's evocation of a cop uncharacteristic, given his later turns, but at least two additional roles as a policeman followed during the '80s, in John Carpenter's Starman (1984) and Sondra Locke's ill-advised sentimental fantasy Ratboy (1986). Gainey landed a number of additional assignments through the end of that decade, but his career did not fully catch fire until the '90s, when he sustained several turns per year. Additional films during this period include 1993's Geronimo: An American Legend (as a miner), 1996's Citizen Ruth (as Harlan), 1997's Con Air (as the villain Swamp Thing), 1999's Happy, Texas (as Bob Allen), and 2003's Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (as a bouncer).In the late '90s and early 2000s, Gainey delivered two particularly memorable and dark performances that gave him instant recognition among viewers. In the first picture -- Jonathan Mostow's Breakdown (1997) -- Gainey played Earl, one of the psychopathic redneck kidnappers who torments Kurt Russell. In the second, Alexander Payne's character comedy Sideways (2004), Gainey played the unnamed husband of waitress Cammi, who chases intruder Thomas Haden Church out of his house while fully naked.Gainey found his broadest exposure to date, however, as Mr. Friendly/Tom -- seemingly the leader of the Others and as enigmatic as can be -- in the blockbuster ABC series Lost. In 2006 he began a six episode run as Bow Crowder in the popular FX crime drama series Justified, with feature roles in The Babymakers and Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained following in 2012.

Trivia: With his intimidating, tattooed, muscle-bound appearance, character actor Danny Trejo has formed a successful career as the all-purpose hard case over his curious and enduring cinematic career. Beating the odds of repeat offender syndrome after being released from prison, Trejo has risen through the ranks to find himself in high demand as an actor, and has even expanded his talents to include a producer credit to his resumé. His life story is just about as pristine an example of rehabilitation as one could ask for.Raised in the mean streets of East L.A., Trejo spent many of his early years incarcerated in such legendary prisons as Folsom and San Quentin on drug and robbery convictions. Channeling his intense energy into the boxing ring and winning numerous lightweight and welterweight titles, Trejo was released as a new man after completing a life-changing 12-step rehabilitation program to overcome his addictions. Applying the ideas that changed his life in an attempt to help others headed down a similar path, upon release Trejo became involved with numerous rehabilitation and counseling programs. A chance meeting with a young man who asked for his support at a Cocaine Anonymous meeting in 1985 later found the sympathetic ex-con meeting the struggling addict on the set of Runaway Train, and Trejo was quickly offered a role as a convict presumably based on his threatening appearance. Chance piled upon chance found an old prison buddy/screenwriter who remembered Trejo's hard-hitting boxing skills on the same set, and Trejo was then offered a chance to train Eric Roberts for a film, and was eventually offered the role as his opponent in the ring. Following with roles in The Hidden (1987), and later Lock-Up (1989), Marked for Death (1990), Mi Vida Loca (1993), and Heat (1995), Trejo formed an alliance with director Robert Rodriguez with Desperado in 1995, and soon graduated to such bigger-budget films as Con Air (1997) and The Replacement Killers (1998) in the latter 1990s. The Rodriguez-Trejo twosome found the actor taking on the role of Uncle Isadore "Machete" Cortez in the director's 2001 smash hit Spy Kids, and was later cast in both the film's sequel and Rodriguez's Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2002). Trejo continued to work steadily on the big and small screens in a variety of projects such as Alias, Monk, The Devil's Rejects, Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror, the indie drama SherryBaby, and Smiley Face. He enjoyed one of his rare big-screen starring vehicles when Robert Rodriguez made Machete -- a feature-length version of the trailer he created for Grindhouse -- in 2007. He went on to appear in Valley of Angels, Saint John of Las Vegas, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, and Bad Ass.

Trivia: Made her TV debut in a 1991 episode of Kids in the Hall. Was nominated for a Gemini Award for her performance in the 1995 TV-movie Family of Cops. Played Chloe, the "Xerox girl," on two episodes of Friends. First major big-screen role was as Adam Sandler's ex in the hit 1998 comedy The Wedding Singer. Has written for the magazines Time, Jane and Flare.

Trivia: Singer, writer, and actor of stage and screen, Renoly Santiago made his film debut playing Raul in the Michelle Pfeiffer vehicle Dangerous Minds (1995). His Broadway appearances include the production Heroic Deeds. As a writer, Santiago received an Emmy nomination for co-writing the pilot to the series City Kids.

Trivia: Nick Chinlund's handsome, rugged exterior makes him an ideal candidate for roles in such high-profile, high-octane releases as Con Air and Tears of the Sun, so casting directors may be tempted to steer him toward films that make use of his somewhat imposing physical presence; nonetheless, the talented stage and screen actor also possesses the chops needed to highlight such little-seen indies as Amy's Orgasm and Chutney Popcorn. That rare combination offers great potential for crossover appeal, so audiences on both sides of the blockbuster spectrum can find reasons for appreciating an actor of Chinlund's caliber. The New York native started out as a jock, but his aspirations on the court were sidelined by a college basketball injury; however, it didn't take long for him to see the silver lining in his career-halting accident, and he soon veered toward acting. Though Chinlund would remain at Brown University in the following years, a shift toward drama classes soon convinced him that his future didn't lie on the well-polished planks of the basketball court, but the well-worn boards of the theater stage. Roles in such Williamstown Theater Festival productions as Mother Courage and Little Oedipus helped the fresh-faced hopeful make a name for himself in the theater community, and shortly after graduation, Chinlund opted to kick-start his feature career by making the move to Los Angeles. In addition to an impressively creepy early role in a pair of X-Files episodes entitled "Irresistable" and "Orison," Chinlund also made a mark in such features as Lethal Weapon 3, Bad Girls, and Eraser. While small-screen roles in episodes of Third Watch and Buffy the Vampire Slayer found Chinlund continuing to make a name for himself among television viewers, his performances in such character-driven dramas as A Brother's Kiss and Once in the Life saw the emerging actor eschewing more action-oriented fare in favor of roles in more down-to-earth features. Though supporting roles in Training Day, Below, and Tears of the Sun did find Chinlund's visibility rising among the multiplex set, it was his participation in such efforts as Goodnight, Joseph Parker (in which he played the eponymous character) that seemed to draw him the most praise from critics. In 2004, Chinlund rejoined Below director David Twohy for a role opposite action icon Vin Diesel in the eagerly anticipated Pitch Black sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick.

Trivia: Seinfeld cultists will have little or no difficulty remembering character actor Ned Bellamy; he played Eddie, the knife-obsessed, fatigue-wearing employee of the J. Peterman company, whom Elaine tries to dismiss with a promotion, in the 1996 episode "The Fatigues." That turn, with its aggressive, menacing air, was fairly typical of the roles in which Bellamy often found himself (despite the fact that he could bring those qualities to bear on comic or earnest material). A native of Dayton, OH, he grew up in Joplin, MO, and entered show business in the very late '70s, initially on television programs including The Waltons, M*A*S*H, and The Dukes of Hazzard. As time rolled on, however, Bellamy moved more squarely into filmed work, specializing in action, horror, or thriller fare. Big-screen projects that featured the actor included House IV: Home Deadly Home (1991), Universal Soldier (1992), and Carnosaur (1993).After the Seinfeld appearance, Bellamy unveiled more of a comic emphasis in his role choices, evidenced by his work in such projects as Being John Malkovich (1999), The Whole Ten Yards (2004), and Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny (2006). In 2008, Bellamy turned up as Waylon Forge in the romantically charged vampire opus Twilight (2008), which marked the actor's second collaboration with director Catherine Hardwicke after an appearance in her Lords of Dogtown (2005).

Trivia: Supporting actor, onscreen from 1980.

Trivia: Landed bit parts in the David Fincher-directed movies Seven (1997), The Game (1997), Fight Club (1999) and Zodiac (2007). Appeared in commercials for Subway and Fiber One cereal. Starred in PSAs for California's controversial Proposition 8 that spoofed the Mac vs. PC series of TV commercials. Played the pilot in Con Air (1997), a film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, before being cast in Bruckheimer's TV series, ABC's The Forgotten.

Trivia: One of Hollywood's shoe-ins for deft portrayals of creepy, underhanded, Machiavellian types with an anarchic bite, Doug Hutchison distinguished himself with two career-defining portrayals in the late '80s: he played Obie, a member of a sinister student league at an all-boys' Catholic school, in director Keith Gordon's The Chocolate War (1988), and Sproles, an undercover cop's younger brother who causes problems for an economically divided couple (Andrew McCarthy and Molly Ringwald) in David Anspaugh's romantic drama Fresh Horses (1988). Hutchison frequently rose above the inherent weaknesses of the material he was handed, as in the two said films; one critic observed that Sproles "hoist[ed] [Horses] onto his shoulders for the duration of his scenes." That ability didn't emerge serendipitously; a classically trained performer who received his formal education at Juilliard, Hutchison later studied drama one-on-one under the tutelage of legendary acting coach Sanford Meisner. Unfortunately, within a few years of his astonishing onscreen debuts in 1988, Hutchison's screen activity somewhat declined, and when he did crop up, the projects were unworthy of him (such as 1992's The Lawnmower Man and 1996's Love Always). By the late '90s, however, Hutchison rebounded, with additional roles in A-listers including The Green Mile (1999), I Am Sam (2002), and The Salton Sea (2002). By the tail end of that decade, Hutchison moved into more sensationalistic material, signing for turns in J.T. Petty's horror western The Burrowers (2008) and Lexi Alexander's comic-book superhero film Punisher: War Zone (2008).

Trivia: Practices martial arts, including kung fu and the Bruce Lee-founded jeet kune do. Worked with Jimmy Smits on the film Mother and Child and the NBC series Outlaw. Took guitar lessons for his role on Dexter. Is a motorcycle enthusiast.

Trivia: A frequent presence in both film and television from the 1970s onward, African-American character player Earl Billings moved from landing one- and two-shot bit roles in prime-time series programs and low-profile movies to signing for supporting roles in some of Hollywood's most acclaimed comedies and dramas. This stocky, heavyset player demonstrated a knack for playing black everymen -- often essaying the parts of police officers, detectives, and security guards. Billings first began receiving onscreen credit around 1976, with a single-episode contribution to Norman Lear's sitcom Good Times. Soon after that, the actor appeared in the recurring role of Rob on What's Happening!! Following a turn in the little-seen Sounder, Part Two (1976) and credit as a parole office worker in the gentle yet profane Richard Pryor comedy Bustin' Loose (1981), Billings acted in several telemovies. After a cinematic lapse of several years, Billings rebounded with an appearance in the blockbuster 1987 John Badham crime comedy Stakeout. A consistent string of supporting turns in A-list productions followed, including (but not limited to) Jimmy Hollywood (1994), Crimson Tide (1995), American Splendor (2003), Thank You for Smoking (2005), and Something New (2006). Billings augmented this success with occasional work on such prime-time series as Ally McBeal and ER. In 2008, he took on his first regular TV role, playing Principal Huffy on the sitcom Miss Guided, starring Judy Greer as an earnest high-school guidance councilor, but the series was unfortunately very short-lived.

Trivia: Served three years in the Army, including a stint in Korea during the Vietnam War. Taught at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C. during the 1980s; left teaching to pursue acting. Worked as a stunt double for Dana Elcar on the TV series MacGyver; there he met star Richard Dean Anderson, with whom he would later costar on Stargate SG-1. Best known for his roles as base commander Gen. George Hammond on Stagate SG-1 and Maj. Garland Briggs in the series Twin Peaks. His artistic endeavors included set design, painting and woodcarving; his pieces reflected his love of the Missouri Ozarks, where he grew up.

Trivia: Joey Miyashima has built up a long and impressive resumé over the course of his career, mostly through small but memorable roles, like Pee-Wee's Japanese pen pal Oki Doki on an episode of Pee-Wee's Playhouse in 1988. In 2006, Miyashima became part of the High School Musical franchise, paying Principal Matsui in the first film, and then reprising the role for the third installment, High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

Trivia: A character actor with a knack for playing blustery Southerners and military men (comic and dramatic), Chris Ellis was, appropriately enough, born and raised in Mississippi. While hardly a radical, 18-year-old Ellis discovered his interest in the arts, and his slightly longer than average hair made him a less than welcome presence in Mississippi. In 1968, he began studying acting with a theater troupe in Memphis, TN, where he made his stage debut. After completing his studies, Ellis moved to New York City, where he began working in off-Broadway and regional theater. However, keeping his foot in the door proved difficult for Ellis, and he found himself without steady work through most of the '80s, getting by thanks to the kindness of friends who would often invite him over for dinner. In 1990, Ellis' luck began to change when he was cast as the memorable Harlan Hoogerhyde in the Tom Cruise vehicle Days of Thunder. By the mid-'90s, Ellis was working steadily in film and television, making small but notable appearances in Apollo 13, That Thing You Do!, and Armageddon, and making guest appearances on such series as The X-Files, Millennium, and Chicago Hope.

Trivia: One of the most prolific of the "Who IS that?"school of character actors, Dabbs Greer has been playing small-town doctors, bankers, merchants, druggists, mayors and ministers since at least 1950. His purse-lipped countenance and Midwestern twang was equally effective in taciturn villainous roles. Essentially a bit player in films of the 1950s (Diplomatic Courier, Deadline USA, Living It Up), Greer was given more screen time than usual as a New York detective in House of Wax (1953), while his surface normality served as excellent contrast to the extraterrestrial goings-on in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and It! The Terror from Beyond Space. A television actor since the dawn of the cathode-tube era, Greer has shown up in hundreds of TV supporting roles, including the "origin" episode of the original Superman series, in which he played the dangling dirigible worker rescued in mid-air by the Man of Steel. Greer also played the recurring roles of storekeeper Mr. Jones on Gunsmoke (1955-60) and Reverend Robert Alden on Little House on the Prairie (1974-83). Showing no signs of slowing down, Dabbs Greer continued accepting roles in such films as Two Moon Junction (1988) and Pacific Heights (1990) into the '90s. He died following a battle with kidney and heart disease, on April 28, 2007, not quite a month after his 90th birthday.