Trivia: Minneapolis native Melissa Peterman studied theater at Minnesota State University before moving into the professional sphere, starring in over 600 performances of the Hey City Theater production of Tony n' Tina's Wedding. Her first film role came in 1996, when she was cast as Hooker #2 in the Cohen Brothers classic Fargo. Peterman went on to find her big break with a starring role on the sitcom Reba in 2001. She would also appear in several popular shows over the coming years, like American Dad! and Rita Rocks. In 2009, Peterman took on hosting duties on the reality series The Singing Bee.

Trivia: Something many fans of Greg Grunberg may have noticed is that the actor has appeared in a noticeably large number of projects by producer J.J. Abrams. This is because Grunberg and Abrams, in fact, grew up together and remained friends. His first big break came when his friend set to work on a one-hour dramedy called Felicity. Grunberg was cast in the role of Sean Blumberg -- a role he would continue to play for all of the show's four-year run. His next notable part came when he assumed the recurring role of Agent EricWeiss on the spy show Alias. He then popped up in the Abrams pilot for the series Lost, as the pilot of the crashed airplane, before joining the cast of the wildly popular sci-fi series Heroes as police officer Matt Parkman, whose superhuman power is that he is able to hear other people's thoughts.

Trivia: Pitched for the Princeton baseball team. Left his residency in internal medicine at the University of Colorado to pursue a comedy career in Hollywood. In 2000, made his TV debut as an extra on an episode of The Drew Carey Show. Performed stand-up at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at age 32. Made his TV-hosting debut in 2004 on the reality game show Scream Play. Won the eighth season of The Celebrity Apprentice, raising nearly a million dollars for the Arthritis Foundation. Has performed for U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Croatia and South Korea.

Trivia: First acting experience was in a middle school play as a clown in Aesop's Fables: A Musical Circus. During high school, was involved with Central Touring Theatre and quit the baseball team in order to join an improv comedy group. Became friends with Nick Swardson and Charlie Sanders during high school and went on to work professionally with both of them. Moved to New York City in 1998 to pursue a career in comedy. Performed at the Aspen Comedy Festival and Just for Laughs. Has taught and performed at Upright Citizens Brigade since 1999.

Trivia: Began her career as a stand-up comedian in Dallas. First TV special was The Half Hour: Cristela Alonzo, which aired on Comedy Central in June 2013. Wrote and executive produced her semiautobiographical comedy series Cristela, which premiered on ABC in 2014. Cites Carol Burnett, Roseanne Barr and Kathleen Madigan as her biggest comedic influences.

Trivia: Won a slot in the Texas All-State choir as a teenager. Played Diana in a 2008 national tour of A Chorus Line. Made her Broadway debut in the ensemble and as an understudy in In the Heights in 2010. Appeared in the original 2014 Broadway production of If/Then, opposite Idina Menzel. Teaches master classes to Latino youth as a way to give back to the community.

Trivia: Jaleel White ascended to cult stardom during his early teenage years with a now-iconic portrayal of über-nerd Steve Urkel on the Friday-night ABC sitcom Family Matters (1989-1998). A veteran of television commercials and guest spots on various prime-time series from early childhood, White appeared as a regular on the short-lived CBS sitcom Charlie & Co. (1985-1986), starring Flip Wilson and Gladys Knight. The Urkel role, however, brought about his greatest popularity, and he landed it not long after the series first bowed in late September 1989 (appearing as early as the 12th episode). Though originally intended as a one-episode guest star, White generated massive popularity among audience members -- encouraging producers Tom Miller and Robert Boyett to rethink their strategy for the show. Urkel quickly became not only a fixture, but the program's lucky charm -- the wild card that turned it into a number one hit, much as the same producers had done with The Fonz, years prior, on Happy Days. Over the course of the program's run, White ascended to prominent billing (also mirroring the Fonzie situation). Unfortunately, as time passed, the Urkel characterization became increasingly difficult to sustain, thanks in no small part to White's accelerating age and height -- which dealt the series writers an incredibly difficult hand and forced them to figure out bizarre ways to work around this handicap (strategies included giving Urkel a "cool" alter-ego, Stefan, and affording that persona a great deal of screen time).The program wrapped in 1998, but in the meantime, White graduated from UCLA Film School, then moved into his heart's true calling -- that of screenwriting. He authored occasional teleplays for such venues as The Disney Channel and PBS, moved into big-screen work (with projects including a feature rewrite for director Joel Zwick), and continued to act on the side. Roles included lead billing in Damon Daniels' independent feature Who Made the Potatoe Salad? (2005) and a supporting contribution to the inspirational volleyball drama Green Flash (2008). He was in the low-budget Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus, and in 2011 he played a teacher in Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer. In 2012 the artist formerly known as Urkel competed on the 14th season of the popular ABC reality series Dancing With the Stars.

Trivia: Raven-Symone earned a fond place in the hearts of Cosby Show fans around the world when she joined the cast of that seminal '80s sitcom as pint-sized Olivia Kendall, the daughter of Lt. Martin Kendall (Joseph C. Phillips) and Denise Huxtable Kendall (Lisa Bonet) during the hit program's sixth season. The series wrapped within a few years of Symone's enlistment, but the young actress continued her ascent by establishing herself as a force to be reckoned with in the multiple venues of television, pop music, and feature film.Born in Atlanta, GA, in December 1985, Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman began modeling diapers at the age of two and landed the Cosby assignment by the age of three. By 1993 (one year after Cosby took its final bow), Symone had joined the cast of yet another sitcom, ABC's Hangin' With Mr. Cooper (1992-1997), then a year into production; she would remain with Cooper until it folded in 1997, but in the mean time branched off into another venue altogether as an R&B recording artist. MCA quickly signed her and issued her rap-infused album Here's to New Dreams in 1993; unfortunately, it failed to connect with a sizeable audience, and it would be six years before Symone emerged with a sophomore recording, the R&B-flavored Undeniable (1999). That album unabashedly showcased the young performer's desire to become a teen pop sensation, and revealed her vocal skills much more transparently than its predecessor, as did its follow-up efforts. Meanwhile, Symone landed bit parts and supporting roles in movies, including Dr. Dolittle (1998) and Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001); she also voiced the character of Monique on the animated television series Kim Possible (2002) and headlined her own Disney Channel sitcom, That's So Raven. The smash program cast Symone as a 15-year-old girl whose gaffes get her family into a seemingly endless series of outrageous difficulties. Symone then starred in the hit telemovies The Cheetah Girls and The Cheetah Girls 2, lent a supporting role to the theatrical feature The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), and signed to star in the big-screen outing College Road Trip, opposite funnyman Martin Lawrence. In that comedy, Symone plays a young woman on a college-scouting trip with her policeman father.

Trivia: Starred as Ashleigh Howard on Greek between 2007 and 2011. In 2011, starred as Mimi in a Los Angeles production of Rent. Nominated for 2015 Outstanding Female Breakthrough Performance Black Reel Award for her role in 22 Jump Street. Starred as Maxine on The Carmichael Show during its run from 2015 to 2017. Starred as Annie in Fox's Ghosted in 2017.

Trivia: 2003 brought Carson Kressley his watershed moment: such was the year that the once-obscure fashion designer -- employed as an independent stylist for the Gotham-based Polo Ralph Lauren -- auditioned to star as a regular on the Bravo series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. An Allentown, PA, native and a graduate of Pennsylvania's Gettysburg College (with degrees in finance and art), Kressley was soon tapped to work for Lauren as an assistant to many of the company's top-tiered executives, then auditioned among several dozen candidates to star on the reality series, which featured himself and a cadre of other witty homosexual men offering advice to straight men on how best to improve their homes, apparel, and various other areas of lifestyle to qualify as truly chic (or "metrosexual," as the program typically put it). Kressley remained with the series for numerous seasons, and he and his co-stars soon graduated to the level of national celebrities, dubbed "The Fab Five."Kressley expanded into other arenas by authoring the 2004 tome Off the Cuff: The Essential Style Guide for Men and the Women Who Love Them and the children's allegory You're Different and That's Super (2005). He next hosted the Lifetime reality series How to Look Good Naked, which involved putting women on the air who felt unhappy about their bodies, and then instilling them with confidence and a positive, enthusiastic outlook (sans the use of plastic surgery or other "artificial" enhancements). In 2008, Kressley hosted the CW reality series Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants, a televised competition that found several mother-daughter teams going head-to-head with one another in an elaborate beauty pageant. As the years progressed, Kressley would remain a fixture in reality television, appearing on shows like Dancing with the Stars.

Trivia: His mother was an Olympic high jumper. Grew up in the Bahamas. Never missed a game in four seasons with the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, tying a school record with 140 appearances overall. Drafted by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the 1991 NBA Draft (24th overall selection) and played with Boston from 1991 to '97. Played with the Los Angeles Lakers from 1997 to 2004 and won three consecutive NBA championships (2000-02). Retired from basketball in 2004 and turned to a career as an actor. Acting debut was in William Friedkin's Blue Chips in 1994; breakout role was as prison inmate Jackson Vahue in Oz beginning in 2004. Was selected to compete on season 11 of ABC's Dancing With the Stars.

Trivia: Seemingly coming out of nowhere to essay the difficult role of famed shock-jock Howard Stern's wife in 1997's autobiographical Private Parts, actress Mary McCormack has since gone on to offer memorable performances in such fare as Mystery, Alaska (1999) and K-PAX (2001). A native of Plainfield, NJ, McCormack's interest in performing was piqued at an early age when the aspiring, 12-year-old actress gender-bent her way through a production of Menotti's Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors. Since none of the local boys possessed the necessary vocal abilities, McCormack donned a hat and hit the notes needed to carry the play. Subsequently performing in regional theater before continuing her education at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, it was there that McCormack would major in English and painting while continuing to hone her stage skills. After earning her Comparative Arts degree from Trinity, McCormack decided to further her acting career by studying at the William Esper Studio. Performances at such New York theaters as The Atlantic Theater Company were quick to follow, as was her film debut in the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street. Simultaneously appearing on the small screen in the popular crime series Murder One (1995), it wasn't long before Private Parts would offer a stratospheric boost to her onscreen career. A cinematic love letter to Stern's real-life wife, Private Parts offered the burgeoning actress a complex emotional role that proved without a doubt what she was fully capable of. Follow-up roles in such high-profile fare as Deep Impact (1998) and Mystery, Alaska (1999) didn't quite offer McCormack the chance to shine that Private Parts did, though it was obvious to all who viewed her subsequent roles that her star was on the rise. The millennial turnover found McCormack successfully alternating between drama (Madison) and comedy (High Heels and Low Lifes) before once again heading the Hollywood route with a supporting performance in K-PAX. An unconventional role in director Steven Soderbergh's Full Frontal was quick to follow, and McCormack was soon beginning preparation for the television miniseries based on Soderbergh's Traffic (which was in turn inspired by 1989 U.K. series Traffik).She was the female lead in the creepy apocalyptic thriller Right at Your Door, and landed a small part in Christopher Guest's For Your Consideration. In 2008 she landed the lead role on the cable series In Plain Sight and enjoyed the most consistent success of her career.