Trivia: British director Guy Ritchie frequently attributes the success of his unorthodox crime films -- 1998's Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, 2000's Snatch -- to the fact that his offbeat miscreants are more than believable, they are real. Preferring to cast for authenticity rather than resumé, Ritchie handpicks many of his actors from the true-life cult figures and rascals of London's underbelly. Actor Jason Statham is among the best of them.A one-time Olympic diver, fashion model, and black-market salesman, Statham came to acting by way of commercials and "street theater" -- a euphemism for hustling tourists on London's Oxford Street. Raised in Syndenham, London, he was the second son of a lounge singer and a dressmaker turned dancer. Although Statham had the familial background to go immediately into entertainment, he excelled first on the high dive. He was a member of the 1988 British Olympic Team in Seoul, Korea, and remained on the National Diving Squad for ten years. In the late '90s, a talent agent specializing in athletes landed Statham a gig in an ad campaign for the European clothing retailer French Connection. This led to an appearance in a Levi's Jeans commercial and a fledgling modeling career. Meanwhile, Statham had also earned local fame as a street corner con man, selling stolen jewelry and counterfeit perfume out of a briefcase. Thus, when French Connection's owner became one of the biggest investors in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, he naturally introduced the diver/model/hustler to knave-hunting Ritchie.Intrigued by Statham's past and impressed by his modeling work, Ritchie invited him to audition for a part in the film. The director challenged Statham to impersonate an illegal street vendor and convince him to purchase a piece of imitation gold jewelry. Statham was evidently so persuasive that Ritchie bought four sets. When the director attempted to return his worthless acquisition -- pretending that the gold had turned to stainless steel -- Statham was so graciously inflexible that Ritchie hired him.This unorthodox audition resulted in Statham's big screen debut as Bacon, one of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels' four primary characters engaged in a risky get-rich-quick scheme to repay a massive gambling debt. Bacon supplies a streetwise discipline and restraint that the other characters lack and a sense of humility crucial to Ritchie's film. In the director's follow-up crime comedy, Snatch, Ritchie rehired Statham to play Turkish, a smalltime hood vainly trying to break into the world of underground boxing. As this amateur but respectable hoodlum, Statham is attractive, urbane, immaculate, and smart enough to be bewildered by even his own laughable criminal ineptitude. The role began as a small supporting part in Snatch's star-filled ensemble cast but expanded throughout shooting. By the time of the film's theatrical release, Statham received top billing as its narrator and chief anti-hero.The Guy Ritchie oeuvre that supplied his breakthrough performances is not Statham's only acting arena. In 2000, he made his American film debut as a British drug dealer in Robert Adetuyi's Turn It Up starring Pras Michel. By 2001, he had finished shooting John Carpenter's sci-fi thriller Ghosts of Mars and joined Delroy Lindo in the cast of the Jet Li vehicle The One. A chance to reteam with former Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrel co-star Vinnie Jones proved too fun an opportunity to resist, and Stratham would round out a particularly busy 2001 with his role in the prison-bound sports remake Mean Machine. Just as audiences were finally standing up to take notice of the amiable tough-guy, Stratham stepped into his own as the action lead of the explosive 2002 adrenaline ride The Transporter. A sizable hit that would earn Statham increasingly prominent roles in such high profile pics as The Italian Job, and Cellular, The Transporter established Stratham as a bankable international action star and was eventually followed by a 2005 sequel that miraculously managed the improbable feat of upping the ante of the previous installment's over-the-top cartoon violence. A starring role in Ritchie's 2005 crime thriller Revolver found Stratham re-teaming with the director who launched his career with decidedly mixed results, and the following year it was off to race the clock and rescue the girl as a reformed assassin looking to make good in the hyper-intense action entry Crank. The positively outrageous Crank: High Voltage upped the ante (and the ampage) in every possible way in 2009, but not before Statham got behind the wheel for Resident Evil director Paul W.A. Anderson for the 2008 remake Death Race, discovered just how far a foolproof heist could go awry in The Bank Job, and once again put the pedal to the metal in The Transporter 3. All of this left little doubt that Statham had quickly become one of the most bankable action stars of his generation, and in 2010 he teamed with none other than Sylvester Stallone for the all-star action flick The Expendables. The action just kept coming in The Mechanic, Blitz, Killer Elite (which paired him with screen legend Robert DeNiro), Safe, and the super-sized The Expendables 2 in 2012. Statham next joined another franchise, making a cameo appearance in Fast & Furious 6. He also reprised his role in The Expendables 3. In 2015, Statham appeared in Furious 7 and flexed his comedy chops in Spy, opposite Melissa McCarthy, earning favorable reviews and opening him to another genre.

Trivia: A former model, Amy Smart began her acting career on television. In 1997, she began to be visible in such feature films as The Last Time I Committed Suicide and Starship Troopers. Two years later, the actress used her blond, wholesome good looks to great advantage in both Varsity Blues and Outside Providence. The former film, one of the more successful entries in the teensploitation genre, featured her as James Van Der Beek's intelligent, clean-cut girlfriend, while the latter film cast her as a rich girl who falls for a poor boy (Shawn Hatosy) at a 1970s boarding school. That same year, she was also visible on television, guest starring on the WB Network's Felicity.Smart's career really started to take off in 2001. Proving herself to be a major sex-symbol, her topless scene in the comedy Road Trip was partially responsible for the film's runaway success. That same year, Smart appeared in the ensemble film Rat Race and in the indie Macbeth adaptation Scotland, PA. In 2003, she could be seen both on HBO's reality show Project Greenlight and in The Battle of Shaker Heights, the film that was documented on the series. Smart started off the following year with a bang, appearing in two hit films by the end of the first quarter, The Butterfly Effect and Starsky and Hutch. Voice work in Seth Green's popular animated series Robot Chicken offered Smart a chance to work behind the scenes without the stress of having to look good for the cameras, with strong subsequent performances in The Best Man and Just Friends serving well to help the actress find her footing in the enduringly-popular romantic comedy genre. On the heels of a supporting performance in director Victor Salva's introspective drama The Peaceful Warrior, Smart would jump back into action for the first time since Starship Troopers as the endangered girlfriend of Jason Stratham's former assassin in the adrenaline-pounding thrill-ride Crank.

Trivia: Efren Ramirez may not yet be a household name, but his visage is already etched in the minds of millions of moviegoers, thanks to one role. As Pedro, the diminutive, bumbling Latino sidekick who runs for student office in Jared Hess' quirky 2004 cult film Napoleon Dynamite, Ramirez does wonders with small-scale comic schtick. But Dynamite only marked the beginning; Ramirez refuses to be typed, continually testing his mettle and expanding his repertoire by branching out into a broad array of roles and character types. "Now I must tell you," he admitted to an interviewer, "[Dynamite] is only the beginning. Wait until you see my next films. I enjoy the exploration of characters...[and] I'm only getting started." Born in Los Angeles to a slightly itinerant family of mixed Salvadorian and Mexican descent, Ramirez attended parochial schools as a youngster, while his working-class parents sustained two jobs apiece to fund their children's private education. Mrs. Ramirez inadvertently sent Efren and his brothers to after-school drama classes in an effort to keep them out of trouble, but in Efren's case, the casual pastime blossomed into a passion. Mentored in drama by the famed actress Diane Venora (F/X, Bird, Heat), as well as thespians Laura Henry and Gloria E. Gifford, Ramirez expended blood, sweat, and tears to hone his acting ability to a fine point; he frequently landed supporting roles in such TV series as Judging Amy, The District, ER, and Boston Public. His official big screen debut, however, arrived in the form of Tom Musca's little-seen 1998 sociopolitical satire Race (aka Melting Pot), about a Chicano housepainter from East L.A. (Paul Rodriguez) who runs for city council office. Tertiary roles in Carl Schenkel's 2000 Hallmark Hall of Fame effort Missing Pieces and Ron Krauss' 2001 Rave followed, but Ramirez went little noticed in either film. Only in 2003, when director Jared Hess enlisted Ramirez to play Pedro in his debut feature Napoleon Dynamite did Ramirez's visibility shoot off like a rocket. He worked diligently to develop the Pedro characterization, and brushed up on his exposure to Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, weaving influences from each screen comedian into his own voice and emerging with a thoroughly unique character. Dynamite, of course, became the success d'estime of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and a surprise runaway hit; it also made Ramirez' career. Innumerable offers and projects followed, which saw Ramirez gradually ascend to higher and higher billing. The most immediate efforts included key contributions to four well-profiled 2006 productions. Crank, an urban thriller from Lionsgate with Jason Statham and Amy Smart, in which Ramirez portrays the transvestite Kaylo; the same year's comedy All You've Got, co-starring Faizon Love and Clara Harris; and the 2006 Dane Cook/Jessica Simpson vehicle Employee of the Month, wherein Ramirez appears as Jorge.2006's Walk Out, from MTV Films, marked Ramirez's first lead performance. He starrred opposite Edward James Olmos, Michael Pena, and Alexa Vega, as Bobby Verdugo, an East L.A.-born Chicano student who fights for better educational conditions during the Chicano movement in 1968.

Trivia: A top-selling country music star since the mid-'80s, multi-talented Dwight Yoakam branched out into acting in the 1990s.Born in Kentucky, Yoakam was raised in Ohio and attended college at Ohio State University. Inspired by music since childhood, Yoakam dropped out of school to move to Nashville in the late '70s. Finding the Nashville scene less than accommodating for his interpretation of country music, Yoakam subsequently headed to Los Angeles. Striking music gold with his first album in 1986, Yoakam became a renowned country-rock singer/songwriter of the '80s and '90s. Casting an eye on another facet of Los Angeles' entertainment world, Yoakam began acting. After appearing on TV, Yoakam played a truck driver in John Dahl's acclaimed neo-noir Red Rock West (1993); he then provided the music score for Red Rock West star Dennis Hopper's 1994 comedy Chasers. Yoakam played a larger part in the TV docudrama Roswell (1994) (not to be mistaken for the 1999 teen series). After moving to a starring role as a rodeo clown in the action movie Painted Hero (1995), Yoakam earned critical raves for his intense performance as an abusive drunk in Billy Bob Thornton's Oscar-winning drama Sling Blade (1996). Yoakam again garnered positive notices (though the movie did not) as a humble safecracking associate of the titular gang in The Newton Boys (1998). Sticking with off-center screen fare, Yoakam subsequently starred as one of the detectives that Owen Wilson's serial killer Van imagines is stalking him in Hampton Fancher's idiosyncratic crime story The Minus Man (1999). Aiming to try more creative pursuits, Yoakam wrote and directed, as well as scored and starred in, his next film, South of Heaven, West of Hell (2000). Yoakam returned to acting in David Fincher's thriller The Panic Room (2001). Yet despite his neverending drive to entertain, it wasn't all showbiz for the former country-boy made good, and in early 2006 Yoakam would team up with Modern Foods to produce his very own line of southern-flavored frozen foods. With products such as Dwight Yoakam's Chicken Lickin's Chicken Fries, Lanky Links Pork, Sausage Links, and Boom Boom Shrimp, the Grammy-winning recording artist and increasingly popular actor would do his very best to ensure that his fans were well fed. A 2005 new album entitled Blame the Vain found Yoakam recapturing the energy and intensity that defined his earliest and best musical efforts, and following a role as a neglectful sheriff in Tommy Lee Jones' The Three Buriels of Melquaides Estrada and a rare comedic turn in Wedding Crashers, Yoakam sould next be seen in the edge-of-your-seat assassin-on-the-run action thriller Crank. He had a bit part in the comedy Four Christmases, and returned for the sequel Crank High Voltage. He made a few more film appearances, but returned to music in 2012 with the release of his album 3 Pears.

Trivia: Actor Reno Wilson first began appearing onscreen in the late '80s, playing the recurring role of Howard on the sitcom The Cosby Show. He would go on to make many more TV appearances, guest starring on episodes of shows like Chicago Hope and Heist throughout the '90s and 2000s. Additionally, Wilson would find success in movies, with prominent roles in many feature films such as 2009's Crank High Voltage.

Trivia: Kenyan-born actor Edi Gathegi grew up in California, close to the bright lights of Hollywood, but his own interest in the spotlight would take years to germinate. When Gathegi enrolled in classes at UC Santa Barbara, he was primarily interested in basketball, but when a knee injury put a hold on his athletic interests, he signed up for an acting class on a whim. He was amazed to discover an instant love for the craft and soon decided to pursue acting full force, enrolling at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University to learn all he could. He soon began a professional acting career in theater, appearing in several classics like Cyrano de Bergerac and A Midsummer Night's Dream. He eventually made his screen debut with the role of the Hatian cab driver in the 2006 film Crank, a role that led to a second career on the screen for Gathegi, appearing in movies like 2007's Gone Baby Gone and on the medical drama House, where he played Dr. Jeffrey Cole. In 2008, the actor took on the small but memorable part of Laurent in the highly anticipated film adaptation of the young-adult novel Twilight.

Trivia: Born in Japan and raised in Montgomery, AL, actor Glenn Howerton attended Juilliard before making his screen debut in the 2002 made-for-television feature Monday Night Mayhem. Recurring roles in That '80s Show and ER found Howerton settling into a comfortable small-screen schedule in 2002 and 2003, with supporting parts in such features as Serenity and Crank coming along just as Howerton joined the cast of the monumental FX comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. In addition to his acting duties on the show, Howerton also served as writer, co-creator, and producer of the series. He would also take on regular roles on Unsupervised and lend his voice to The Cleveland Show.

Trivia: The lithe and attractive African-American actress Valarie Rae Miller first attained public recognition as "Original Cindy" on the James Cameron-produced sci-fi actioner Dark Angel (2000-2002), starring Jessica Alba. After this stint, Miller branched out into big-screen supporting roles, with a marked emphasis on crime comedy (All About the Benjamins, Hollywood Homicide) and action thrillers (Crank). Miller would also enjoy roles on TV series like Smith, Reaper, and Men of a Certain Age.

Trivia: Frequently discussed how several traumatic childhood events, including his parents' divorce when he was 11 years old, led to his cocaine and methamphetamine use as a teenager. Fronted the rock band Grey Daze in the late 1990s but eventually quit over creative differences. Soon after departing Grey Daze, joined the rap-metal group Hybrid Theory; he suggested they change their name to Linkin Park. Linkin Park made its full-length debut in 2000 with the hit Hybrid Theory, which was followed by the multiplatinum Meteora (2003) and Minutes to Midnight (2007). Formed a side band in the mid-'00s called Dead by Sunrise with Orgy members Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck Made his big-screen debut with a cameo in the 2006 action movie Crank.

Trivia: Is of Italian and Dominican descent.Was raised in The Bronx.Was discovered by Robert De Niro during the casting of one of his films.Practiced boxing briefly when he was a teenager.Is skilled at bowling.Is a fan of Star Wars.Is a fan of The Lord of the Rings books.

Trivia: Attended the same high school as Emily Bergl and Jamie Gertz. First acting job was in a Chicago Bulls commercial. Records and performs with the rock band the Crashtones. Made big-screen debut in the 2007 film The Mist. Played Alex "Crashdown" Quartararo in the Battlestar Galactica series. Provides the voice of the character Starkiller in The Force Unleashed, a George Lucas Star Wars video game.

Trivia: Started flying hangliders and gyrocopters in the early 1970s.Started flying helicopters in the early 1980s.Won the 2001 World Stunt Award for Best Aerial Stunt for his work in Charlie's Angels (2000).A member of the Screen Actors Guild and a charter member of the Motion Pictures Pilots Association.Served as president of the Motion Picture Pilots Association.

Trivia: Bai Ling, whose name translates into English as "White Spirit," was born in China on October 10, 1970. Ling was born into a creative family -- her father was a musician and teacher, while her mother had been a stage actress -- but she was primarily raised by her grandmother after Ling's parents ran afoul of Chinese authorities during the Cultural Revolution. At the age of 14, Ling was enlisted in the People's Liberation Army, where she served as an entertainer, singing and dancing for the troops. However, the authoritarian atmosphere of the Army didn't suit Ling, who found herself accused of insubordination for use of tobacco and alcohol. After the end of her hitch with the Army, Ling joined a theater group in Beijing, where she appeared in traditional Chinese plays as well as dramas from the West. Ling began receiving small roles in Chinese films, and in 1988, Ling starred in Hu Guang, and attended the film's screening at the Moscow Film Festival; however, she was warned not to discuss political matters, particularly those related to the then-recent Tiananmen Square protests (in which Ling took part). Ling traveled to New York City at the age of 21 to study at New York University's Department of Film, and to hone her craft at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute; Ling arrived in New York not knowing a word of English, but soon mastered the language through daily immersion. In 1994, Ling landed her first American film role, as the villainous Myca in the dark fantasy The Crow, and she also auditioned for Oliver Stone's Vietnam war drama Heaven & Earth. While Ling didn't get the part, Stone was impressed enough to cast her in his film Nixon as Richard Nixon's interpreter during his first visit to China. Ling's next film project turned out to be highly controversial; she appeared as a lawyer defending an American journalist on assignment in China in 1997's Red Corner. The film's highly unflattering depiction of the Chinese legal system (and the nation's widespread human rights abuses) caused the picture to be banned in both China and Korea; Ling also found her contracts canceled to appear in a pair of Chinese films, and Chinese officials revoked her passport shortly afterward (in 1999, she was granted United States citizenship). Afterward, Ling continued to receive steady work in supporting roles, appearing in Wild Wild West, Anna and the King -- for which she cut off most of her waist-length hair. Her career's upward trajectory continued as the new millennium dawned, landing her roles in Spike Lee's She Hate Me and the highly stylized Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Ling also scored a cameo role in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, though most of her screen time was lost in editing. Ling was quoted as saying she felt she was cut because she'd subsequently graced the pages of Playboy magazine (as the first woman from the People's Republic of China to appear on its cover), but director George Lucas claimed her part was cut simply due to story and runtime. Prominent roles followed, however, including a part in Southland Tales, the 2006 film by Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly. She also made a splash on reality TV, appearing on the show But Can They Sing.

Trivia: Adopted at birth by middle-class teachers. Knew he wanted to become an actor while in primary school. Honed his acting chops with Britain's National Youth Theatre. Pursued stand-up comedy for a time during his college years. Joined the amateur theatrical Footlights Dramatic Club while at Cambridge. Discovered by British theatrical-film director Peter Hall, who spotted him in a Footlights production of Macbeth opposite Hall's daughter Rebecca. Editor-at-large for the Junket, an online quarterly magazine. Writes a column for the Sunday Telegraph (a British newspaper).