Trivia: A child of theatrically-inclined parents. Is a web-based theatre critic under the name of IainLovesTheatre. In 2015, Perez Hilton hired him to cover the Tony Awards. Won the lead role on Young Sheldon by sending a home video of him reading the part. Known for playing Sheldon Cooper in Young Sheldon and Ziggy Chapman in Big Little Lies.

Trivia: Made her professional debut on Roseanne in 1992, playing the younger version of Jackie — a role originated by her mother. Began performing at Northwestern University to make friends. Starred opposite Chris Pine in a 2010 production of The Lieutenant of Inishmore. Starred with her mother on Broadway in a 2013 production of The Other Place. Since 2017, has played Mary Cooper on Young Sheldon, another role originated by her mother.

Trivia: Spent a year performing at the Barn Theatre. Performed in improvisational Murder Mystery Theatre. Spent five years with the Chicago Second City improv comedy troupe. Starred as Paulie G in sitcom The Comeback in 2005, and in its revival in 2014.

Trivia: Involved in amateur theatricals since childhood, Annie Potts received her BFA in theatre arts from Missouri's Stephens College. Potts has been seen in comic supporting roles in films since 1978; she is most closely associated with the part of ditzy secretary Janine Melnitz in the two Ghostbusters flicks of the 1980s. On television, Potts has played Edith Bedelmeyer on the one-season sitcom Goodtime Girls (1980), then enjoyed a longer run as Mary Jo Shively on Designing Women (1986-93). Her characterization of outspoken gourmet chef Dana Paladino on the prime time sitcom Love and War won Annie an Emmy nomination in 1994. Annie Potts has also been featured in a popular series of commercials for a well-known corn-chip product, and has served as national spokesperson for the Women for Arthritis Foundation. In 1996 she was cast as a no-nonsense schoolteacher of troubled inner-city high schoolers in the ABC-TV show Dangerous Minds, a series based on the 1995 Michelle Pfeiffer film of the same name. She voiced the part of Bo Peep in the first two Toy Story films, and in 2003 she took part in a Designing Women reunion. That same year she was the lead in Defending Our Kids: The Julie Posey Story. She appeared intermittently on the Showtime series Huff, and in 2007 she joined the cast of the short-lived series Men In Trees. In 2012 she was cast as one of the leads in the new TV series GCB.

Trivia: Raced dirt bikes from the age of 5. Played offence and defence for the Ore City Rebels football team. Was chosen out of 10,000 candidates for his debut role in The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter.

Trivia: Made her professional acting debut in a 2014 episode of Modern Family. As of 2020, has played Missy Cooper in the Big Bang Theory spin-off series Young Sheldon since its 2017 debut. Made her feature film debut in 2017, as Young Clare in Wish Upon. In 2018, was nominated for the Best Performance in a TV Series - Supporting Young Actress Young Artist Award for her role in Young Sheldon. Is a Junior Ambassador for Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

Trivia: Was a member of the New York sketch group New Exc!tement.Has had a successful career in sketch comedy in theaters.Is a co-host in the podcast Dad Scraps.Has worked with his wife in television, and their characters in Young Sheldon got married as well.Is a father to twin sons.

Trivia: The son of an editor for the New Yorker, the diminutive comedic actor Wallace Shawn achieved immortality for his portrayal of the Sicilian Vizzini in the 1987 classic The Princess Bride. A graduate of both Harvard and Oxford University, he has taught several courses in English and struggled as a playwright in the early '70s; in 1977 he translated Machiavelli's The Mandrake. Shawn broke into films soon after, building a successful career as a supporting actor to help fund his playwriting. He debuted in two of the best films of 1979: Woody Allen's Manhattan and Bob Fosse's All That Jazz.In 1981, he co-wrote the semi-autobiographical My Dinner With André, a talky comedy starring himself and theater director André Gregory in a dinner conversation, directed by Louis Malle. The movie was acclaimed by critics and a cult favorite. After this personal project, Shawn would build a career out of playing brief but surprisingly memorable roles in a long list of movies. His performance as the leader of the misfit criminal gang in The Princess Bride proved a pivotal moment, and that same year, he supplied the heroic voice for the Masked Avenger in Woody Allen's Radio Days. Shawn would also go on to do voice acting in projects like The Goofy Movie, All Dogs Go to Heaven, and the Toy Story series. He would also continue to work with Woody Allen throughout the next decade, and picked up a new generation of fans playing debate teacher Mr. Hall in the 1995 high school classic Clueless. Shawn would also take his quirky persona to the small screen with appearances on TV shows likeMurphy Brown, The Cosby Show, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sex and the City, as well as the ABC sitcom version of Clueless. Throughout his acting career, Shawn has managed to continue writing successful plays, and eventually adapted one of them, The Designated Mourner, for a feature film in 1997. In 2002, he played the publishing boss Mr. Gelb for the "Greta" story in Rebecca Miller's Personal Velocity: Three Portraits. Shawn would continue to appear regularly on screen in the years to come, playing recurring roles on The L Word, Gossip Girl, and Eureka,

Trivia: Is of American and Canadien descent.Was raised in Indonesia and moved during her childhood to several countries including Nigeria, United Kingdom, and Canada.Moved to Austin, Texas, at the age of 16.Made her debut as an actress in Broadway in the musical Rex.Made her debut as an actress on television in 1979.

Trivia: Best known for his role as Arwin in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Has done extensive voice work as well as live action film and television. Voiced numerous roles in The Loud House.

Trivia: With his bald head and beefy exterior, Hollywood character player Rex Linn quickly built up an acting resumé replete with many portrayals of toughs, feds, cops, thugs, and -- occasionally -- unremarkable, beleaguered everymen. Born in the panhandle of the Lone Star State, Linn came of age in the small Texas town of Spearman. He discovered a lingering interest in drama during his teenage years, but buckled under the weight of discouragement from an acting coach, and put acting on the shelf to focus on career pursuits in banking and the oil industry. Dissatisfied with these fields, Linn convinced an Oklahoma talent agent to sign him, and made the leap from commercials to feature roles with his portrayal of serial murderer Fred Epps in the Peter Masterson-directed thriller Night Game (1989), opposite Roy Scheider. The pleasure of this experience prompted Linn to head to the West Coast, where he worked construction, landed intermittent acting assignments, and studied the craft under the tutelage of Silvana Gallardo in Studio City, CA. Linn was memorable as the rogue treasury agent who assists terrorist John Lithgow in the Sylvester Stallone vehicle Cliffhanger (1993), which brought the actor the recognition he so persistently sought and led to a series of supporting roles in dozens of feature films. Linn's portrayal of Frank McLaury in Wyatt Earp (1994) marked the first in a series of several onscreen collaborations with Kevin Costner that also included the romantic comedy Tin Cup (1996) and the laborious sci-fi epic The Postman (1997). Linn also landed guest appearances on such series as JAG and 3rd Rock From the Sun. He is best known, however, for his fine portrayal of Miami-Dade Police Department detective Frank Tripp on the hit crime series CSI: Miami.

Trivia: Solidly built American actor Craig T. Nelson started out as a comedy writer and performer, doing radio and nightspot gigs in the Los Angeles area. Success was not immediately forthcoming, and Nelson took a four-year sabbatical from show business, moving with his family to a remote cabin in Northern California. In 1979, he made his first film, ...And Justice For All, written by his onetime partner Barry Levinson. While subsequent roles in Poltergeist and Silkwood followed, Nelson would find true stardom on television. For eight seasons beginning in 1989, he starred as college athletics instuctor Hayden Fox on the top-ranked ABC sitcom Coach. Appearing alongside supporting players Jerry Van Dyke and Shelly Fabares, Nelson received an Emmy for his work on the show in 1992.After Coach, Nelson showed up in a few small roles in feature films and television mini-series before returning to series work in 2000, leading the cast of CBS's D.C.-based cop-drama The District. While enjoying the success of that show, Nelson found time for his first high-profile feature film role in over a decade, providing the voice of the head of a family of superheroes in the 2004 Disney/Pixar animated film The Incredibles. In 2005 he played the patriarch of the dysfunctional clan in The Family Stone, and followed that up two years later as skating coach in the comedy Blades of Glory. He was Ryan Reynolds disapproving dad in the hit comedy The Proposal in 2009. He was cast as the head of the Braverman clan in NBC's relaunch of Parenthood in 2010, and appeared in the inspirational Soul Surfer in 2011.

Trivia: An actor whose tall, rangy build and boyish good looks have made him a natural for comic roles, Diedrich Bader was born in Alexandria, VA, on Christmas Eve 1966; his father, William Bader, was Chief of Staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during the Carter administration, and his mother, Gretta Bader, was a sculptor of note. When Bader was two, he and his family moved to Paris, France, where the boy was exposed to a steady diet of classic American comedies; young Bader was especially fond of Charlie Chaplin, and appeared on-stage for the first time at the age of four, imitating the Little Tramp at a revival theater during an unexpected intermission after a rare Chaplin film jammed in the projector. Bader and his family returned to the United States in time for him to enter high school, and he later attended the North Carolina School for the Arts. While vacationing in Santa Fe, NM, during spring break, Bader met a casting agent who lined up an audition for a small role in a television pilot. Bader ended up winning the leading role instead, and while the pilot never sold, it did prompt Bader to relocate to Los Angeles and begin pursuing an acting career full-time. He began landing guest spots on episodic television shows, including Cheers, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. In 1993, Bader was cast as the Searcher on the television series Danger Theater, a short-lived spoof of action-adventure programs. Penelope Spheeris, who directed the Danger Theater episodes, remembered Bader when casting for her film The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), based on the popular sitcom of the '60s and '70s. Bader won the role of cheerful but slow-witted Jethro Bodine, and his performance was one of the comic highlights of the film. The movie significantly raised Bader's visibility, and in 1995 he was cast as the logically challenged Oswald on The Drew Carey Show. Bader's success on The Drew Carey Show led to notable supporting roles in motion pictures, such as Office Space and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back; he also began doing voice work for a number of animated television projects, including Pepper Ann, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and Kim Possible. In his private life, Bader married actress Dulcy Rogers in 1998. As his run on The Drew Carey Show continued, he also appeared regularly in feature film such as The Country Bears, Napoleon Dynamite, Eurotrip, and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, as well as animated films like Ice Age and Bolt. In 2010 he landed a recurring role on the short-lived NBC sitcom Outsourced.

Trivia: Kaley Cuoco began modeling and acting at the tender age of six, when she was cast in the TV movie Quicksand: No Escape. Growing up in front of the camera, the young actress continued to appear as the requisite little girl in movies like Virtuosity and Picture Perfect until she was cast as teenage daughter Bridget on the sitcom 8 Simple Rules. TV would prove to be the actor's bread and butter, and she would go on to star on Charmed, 6Teen, and Monster Allergy, not to mention The Big Bang Theory, a show that earned her legions of fans as Penny, the hot neighbor of two geeky physicists (Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons). Cuoco also continued to appear in films, though on a much smaller scale compared to her TV work. She appeared in a supporting role in the Easter film Hop in 2011, and played the female lead opposite Kevin Hart and Josh Gad in The Wedding Ringer in 2015.

Trivia: A Chicagoan from head to toe, American comedian Bob Newhart started his workaday life as a certified public accountant after flunking out of law school. As a means of breaking his job's monotony, Newhart would call his friend Ed Gallagher, and improvise low-key comedy sketches. A mutual friend of Newhart and Gallagher's, Chicago deejay Dan Sorkin, tape-recorded some of these off-the-cuff routines and played them for Warner Bros. records. Newhart suddenly found himself booked into a Houston nightclub -- his first-ever public appearance. Armed with telephone-conversation routines which delineated how Abe Lincoln would be handled by a publicity agent, or how Abner Doubleday would have fared trying to sell baseball to a modern-day novelty firm, Newhart recorded his first comedy album in 1960 -- which evidently struck a nerve with fellow white-collar workers, since it sold 1,500,000 copies. The hottest young comic on the club-and-TV circuit, Newhart was offered starring roles in situation comedies, but felt he wasn't a good enough actor to make a single character interesting week after week. Instead, he signed in 1961 for NBC's The Bob Newhart Show, a comedy-variety series which nosedived in the ratings but won an Emmy. Fearing that TV would eat up all his material within a year or so, Newhart went back to nightclubs after his one-season series was cancelled. Sharpening his acting skills in TV guest spots and in several films (his first, 1962's Hell is For Heroes, was so unnerving an experience that Bob repeatedly begged the producers to kill his character off before the fadeout), Newhart felt emboldened enough to attempt a regular TV series again in 1972. This Bob Newhart Show cast the comedian as psychologist Bob Hartley - an ideal outlet for his "button-down" style of dry humor. Six seasons and several awards later, Newhart was firmly established as a television superstar; this time around he wasn't cancelled, but ended the series on his own volition, feeling the series had exhausted its bag of tricks. Most popular sitcom personalities had come acropper trying to repeat their first success with a second series, but Newhart broke the jinx with Newhart in 1982, wherein Bob played author Dick Loudon, who on a whim decided to open a New England colonial inn. Newhart was every bit as popular as his earlier sitcom, and, like the previous show, the series ended (in 1990) principally because Newhart chose to end it. This he did with panache: Newhart's final scene suggested the entire series had been a bad dream experienced by Bob Newhart Show's Bob Hartley! A third starring sitcom, 1992's Bob, found Newhart playing a cult-figure comic book artist; alas, despite excellent scriptwork and the usual polished Newhart performance, this new series fell victim to format tinkering and poor timeslots. Over teh course of the next few decades, Newhart would frequently turn up in guest roles on shows like Murphy Brown, ER, and Desperate Housewives, and though his 1997 odd couple sitcom George & Leo failed to find its footing, he did appear in all three installments of TNT's popular fantasy trilogy The Librarian, starring Noah Wyle. Meanwhile, cameos in such films as Elf and Horrible Bosses continually offered a gentle reminder that comedy's nicest funnyman could still crack us up.