Trivia: Jerry Orbach often commented, without false modesty, that he was fortunate indeed to have been a steadily working actor since the age of 20. Such was an understatement: graced with not only formidable dramatic instinct but one of American theater's top singing voices, Orbach resisted others' attempts to peg him as a character actor time and again and established himself as one of the most unique talents in entertainment per se. Television producer Dick Wolf perhaps put it best when he described Orbach as "a legendary figure of 20th century show business" and "one of the most honored performers of his generation."A native of the Bronx, Orbach was born to an ex-vaudevillian father who worked full time as a restaurant manager and a mother who sang professionally on the radio. The Orbachs moved around constantly during Jerry's youth, relocating from Gotham to Scranton to Wilkes-Barre to Springfield, Massachusetts and eventually settling in Chicago - a mobility that gave the young Orbach an unusual ability to adapt to any circumstance or situation, and thus presaged his involvement in drama. Orbach later attended Northwestern University, trained with Herbert Berghof and Lee Strasberg, and took his Gotham theatrical bow in 1955, as an understudy in the popular 1955 revival of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera, eventually playing the lead role of serial killer Macheath. During the Threepenny run, Orbach made his first film appearance in the Manhattan-filmed low budgeter Cop Killer (1958). In 1960, Orbach created the role of flamboyant interlocutor El Gallo in the off-Broadway smash The Fantasticks, and later starred in such Broadway productions as Carnival (1961), Promises Promises (1966), Chicago (1975) and 42nd Street (1983). By day, Orbach made early-1960s appearances in several New York-based TV series, notably The Shari Lewis Show. In the early years, Orbach's film assignments were infrequent, but starting around 1981, with his pivotal role as officer Gus Levy in Sidney Lumet's masterful urban epic Prince of the City, the actor generally turned up in around one movie per year. His more fondly remembered screen assignments include the part of Jennifer Grey's father in Dirty Dancing (1987), Martin Landau's shady underworld brother in Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) the voice of the Chevalieresque candellabra in the Disney cartoon feature Beauty and the Beast (1990), and Billy Crystal's easily amused agent in Mr. Saturday Night (1992). Orbach perhaps made his most memorable contribution to television, however. After headlining a brief, short-lived detective series entitled The Law and Harry McGraw from September 1987 to February 1988 (a spinoff of Murder, She Wrote), Orbach landed a role that seemed to draw heavily from his Prince of the City portrayal: Detective Lennie Briscoe, a sardonic, mordant police investigator on Wolf's blockbuster cop drama Law & Order.Orbach carried the assignment for twelve seasons, and many attributed a large degree of the program's success to him.Jerry Orbach died of prostate cancer at the age of 69 on December 28, 2004. Three years later, Orbach turned up, posthumously, on subway print advertisements for the New York Eye Bank. As a performer with nearly perfect vision, he had opted to donate his eyes to two women after his death - a reflection on the remarkable humanitarian ideals that characterized his off-camera self.

Trivia: Benjamin Bratt was already an experienced film and TV actor by the time his four-year stint as Det. Reynaldo "Rey" Curtis on NBC's long-running hit Law and Order made him famous. Born and raised in San Francisco, Bratt studied acting at UC-Santa Barbara and in his hometown. After roles in two short-lived 1980s TV series, Bratt made his film debut as John Travolta's foe in the shelved, then straight-to-cable Chains of Gold (1991). Concentrating on building a movie career, Bratt played supporting roles in the action films Demolition Man (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), and The River Wild (1994), as well as one of the lead roles in Bound by Honor (1993), about Chicano gang life. After joining Law and Order in 1995 as the coolly-passionate Curtis, the half-Peruvian Indian, half-Caucasian Bratt's chiseled looks received positive notices along with his acting, but rather than rest on his laurels, Bratt used his hiatus time to produce (with his director brother Peter Bratt) and star in the indie film Follow Me Home (1997). After leaving the show in 1999 (girlfriend Julia Roberts guest-starred in one of Bratt's last episodes), Bratt moved back to San Francisco to be closer to his family and focus on making movies. He costarred as Madonna's paramour in The Next Best Thing (2000).Untouched by The Next Best Thing's failure, Bratt joined the prestigious ensemble cast of Steven Soderbergh's acclaimed, Oscar-winning narcotics drama Traffic (2000), becoming nearly unrecognizable in a brief appearance as a sleazy drug dealer. Scoring his second Christmas 2000 hit, Bratt played off his smooth, sexy law enforcement officer image as Sandra Bullock's FBI ally-turned-love interest in the comedy Miss Congeniality (2000).Though the first half of 2001 was marked by his well-publicized break-up with Roberts, Bratt was poised to leave his days as tabloid fodder behind with his lead performance in the independent biopic Piñero (2001). Winning the title role over such high profile Latino actors as Jimmy Smits, Bratt's uncanny evocation of troubled Nuyorican writer and drug casualty Miguel Piñero attracted early dark horse Oscar buzz.Bratt would go on to find continued success on the small screen throughout the 2000's, in mini-series like The Andromeda Strain , and continually on Law and Order, which he would stick with until 2007. Bratt would also star on the TV series The Cleaner, as well as on the Grey's Anatomy spin-off Private Practice.

Trivia: Educated at Yale and the Sorbonne, Sam Waterston, born November 15th, 1940, is far more than the "general purpose actor" he was pegged to be by one well-known film historian. A respected player on the stage, screen, and television, Waterston has cultivated a loyal following with his quietly charismatic, unfailingly solid performances. After beginning his career on the New York stage -- where he has continued to perform throughout his long career -- Waterston made his film debut in The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean in 1966. For a long time, his film career was not nearly as remarkable as his work on the stage and television, although non-New York audiences were made acutely aware of the depth and breadth of Waterston's talents when, in 1973, he starred in the television adaptation The Glass Menagerie (appearing alongside Katherine Hepburn) and -- also on TV -- in Tony Richardson's A Delicate Balance. The following year, the actor further impressed television audiences when he starred as Benedick in the CBS TV adaptation of Joseph Papp's staging of Much Ado About Nothing. Also in 1974, Waterston proved to be the best of the screen's Nick Carraways when he was cast in that expository role in the The Great Gatsby; subsequent films ranged from the midnight-movie favorite Rancho Deluxe (1975) to the unmitigated disaster Heaven's Gate (1981). In the late '70s, Waterston was "adopted" by Woody Allen, joining the director's ever-increasing unofficial stock company for such films as Interiors (1978), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), September (1987), and Crimes and Misdemeanors. Waterston was nominated for an Academy award for his powerful portrayal of a conscience-stricken American journalist in The Killing Fields (1984); three years later he appeared in Swimming to Cambodia, Spalding Gray's acclaimed documentary about the making of the film. Subsequent film appearances included a turn as Kathleen Turner's hilariously timid husband in Serial Mom (1994) and a role in Ismail Merchant's The Proprietor in 1996.However, Waterston has continued to make his greatest mark on television, starring in the acclaimed The Nightmare Years in 1989 and in the similarly lauded series I'll Fly Away and Law & Order. In addition, he has gained a certain amount of fame playing Abraham Lincoln multiple times: In 1988, he starred in Gore Vidal's Lincoln on television, while he won a Tony nod playing him in the Lincoln Center production of Abe Lincoln in Illinois and supplied the president's voice for Ken Burns' documentary The Civil War.Though Waterson is most recognizable for his work in Law & Order, he took on a variety of other television roles throughout the 1990s and 2000s, among them including a turn as the District Attorney Forrest Bedford in I'll Fly Away (the role would win him an Golden Globe). In 2012, Waterson joined the cast of HBO's The Newsroom.

Trivia: Jesse L. Martin is proof that talent and popularity are not mutually exclusive. When the award-winning stage actor joined the cast of NBC's Law and Order in its tenth season, the program's already high ratings increased by 40 percent. Martin's debut episode drew the largest audience in Law and Order's history and positive press attracted more viewers throughout the season. The once starving artist is now both a critic's darling and one of T.V. Guide's "Sexiest People on Television," confirming that he is an actor with genuinely wide appeal. Martin was born Jesse Lamont Watkins on January 18, 1969, in Rocky Mountain, VA. He is the youngest of five sons. Martin's parents, truck driver Jesse Reed Watkins and college counselor Virginia Price, divorced when he was a child. Ms. Price eventually remarried and the boys adopted their stepfather's surname. When Martin was in grade school, the family relocated to Buffalo, NY, and the move was not an immediate success: Martin hated to speak because of his thick Southern accent and was often overcome with shyness. A concerned teacher influenced him to join an after-school drama program and cast him as the pastor in The Golden Goose. Being from Virginia, the young Martin played the character the only way he knew how: as an inspired Southern Baptist preacher. The act was a hit, and Martin emerged from his shell. The actor attended high school at Buffalo School for the Performing Arts, where he was voted "Most Talented" in his senior class. He later enrolled in New York University's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts Theater Program. After graduation, Martin toured the states with John Houseman's Acting Company. He appeared in Shakespeare's Rock-in-Roles at the Actors Theater of Louisville and The Butcher's Daughter at the Cleveland Playhouse, and returned to Manhattan to perform in local theater, soap operas, and commercials. Finding that auditions, regional theater, and bit parts were no way to support oneself, Martin waited tables at several restaurants around the city. He was literally serving a pizza when his appearance on CBS's Guiding Light aired in the same eatery. Martin made his Broadway debut in Timon of Athens, and then performed in The Government Inspector with Lainie Kazan. While employed at the Moondance Diner, he met the late playwright Jonathan Larson, who also worked on the restaurant's staff. In 1996, Larson's musical Rent took the theater world by storm -- with Martin in the part of gay computer geek Tom Collins. The '90s update of Puccini's La Bohème earned six Drama Desk Awards, five Obie Awards, four Tony Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize. Martin soon landed roles on Fox's short-lived 413 Hope Street and Eric Bross' independent film Restaurant (1998). Ally McBeal's creator, David E. Kelly, attended Rent's Broadway premiere and remembered Martin when the show needed a new boyfriend for Calista Flockhart's Ally. The actor's performance as Dr. Greg Butters on Ally McBeal caught David Duchovny's eye, who then cast Martin as a baseball-playing alien in a 1999 episode of The X-Files that he wrote and directed. While still shooting Ally McBeal, Martin heard rumors that actor Benjamin Bratt planned to leave the cast of Law and Order. Martin tried out for the show years before and won the minor role of a car-radio thief named Earl the Hamster, but decided to wait for a bigger part. With the opportunity presenting itself, Martin begged Law and Order producer Dick Wolf for Bratt's role. Wolf hoped to cast him, and upon hearing that CBS and Fox both offered Martin development deals, he gave the actor the part without an audition. During his first year on Law and Order, Martin co-produced the one-man show Fully Committed, about the amusing experiences of a waiter at an upscale restaurant. A skilled vocalist -- he sang in Rent, on Ally McBeal, and The X-Files -- Martin later appeared in the Rocky Horror Picture Show anniversary special and hopes to star in a big-screen biography of his mother's favorite singer, Marvin Gaye. Over the coming decade, Martin would appear in several more pictures, like The Cake Eaters, the big screen adaptation of Rent, and the TV series The Philanthropist.

Trivia: S. Epatha Merkerson is a Tony-nominated and Obie-winning, African-American stage actress, but is best known for her portrayal of detective squad chief Lt. Anita Van Buren in the series Law and Order. Born and raised in Detroit as the youngest of five children, she was a fine arts graduate of Wayne State University and began her New York theater career in the late 1970s. Merkerson was nominated for a Tony award for Best Actress for her performance as Berniece in The Piano Lesson and won an Obie award in 1992 for her work in I'm Not Stupid. Her screen credits include Jacob's Ladder and Loose Cannons and, perhaps most visibly, her role as Joe Morton's terrified wife in James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Merkerson made her television debut as Reba, the Mail Lady on Pee Wee's Playhouse, and has appeared on The Cosby Show, among other series, but her most important single television appearance may have been in the first season Law and Order show "Mushrooms," in which she portrayed the grief-stricken mother of an 11-month-old boy who is shot accidentally. Her work was not only memorable to the audience during that key first season, but also to the producers, who later picked Merkerson for the role of the new detective squad chief in the series' fourth season--a role she continued to play for over ten years. Merkerson's talent on the small screen led to roles in numerous TV movies such as Breaking Through and A Mother's Prayer, as well as roles in such films as Radio and The Rising Place. Still, her monumental gifts in both presence and interpretation may not have truly been utilized until she took the part of a strong matriarch who runs a 1960's boarding house in HBO's mini series Lackawanna Blues. Her first leading role in almost twenty years on screen, her performance earned her an Emmy Award as well as a Golden Globe. After her triumphant turn in Lackawanna Blues she returned to the big-screen in Craig Brewer's follow-up to Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan co-starring Christina Ricci and Samuel L. Jackson.Over the coming years, Merkerson would appear in a number of films, like The Six Wives of Henry Lefay and Mother and Child.

Trivia: Fred Dalton Thompson spent 25 years as an active Nashville and Washington, D.C., attorney before making his film debut playing himself in a 1985 retelling of the true tale of a Tennessee woman who took on the state's crooked governor in Marie. When Thompson won more acclaim than the film's stars Sissy Spacek and Jeff Daniels, he decided to add "character actor" to his resumé, and went on to appear in numerous major features. Standing 6'5," he was a commanding presence and was usually cast as an authoritarian. Thompson put his film career on hold when he made a successful bid to become a Tennessee senator in 1994, then picked up where he left off when his term ended, playing DA Arthur Branch on Law & Order, along with other supporting film roles. Thompson returned to politics with an attempt at the 2008 presidential election, but was unsuccessful, and soon resumed his acting career. He played horse breeder Arthur Hancock in Secretariat (2010) and appeared in the Hank Williams biopic The Last Ride (2011). One of his final acting roles was as an FBI Director in the short-lived NBC series Allegiance in 2015. Thompson died later that year, at age 73.

Trivia: With film roles ranging from his portrayal of a psychotic satanic killer (Hideaway [1995]) to Jesus (1999), one would not be hard-pressed to give actor Jeremy Sisto the credit of having a fairly impressive range of dramatic abilities. Born in Northern California, Sisto spent his early years living in the rock-built home his parents had made in the lower Sierra Nevada Mountains. Sisto would gain his earliest experiences as an actor after moving to Chicago with his mother and sister (Reedy Gibbs and Meadow Sisto, also actors) at the age of six. Jeremy and Meadow's turn as specters in the Goodman Theater's adaptation of Tennessee William's House Not Meant to Stand earned the young thespians positive notice, and led to theater work with such other Windy City institutions as the Absolute Theater Company and the Cherry Street Theater. After constant auditioning and small roles in commercials and industrial films, Sisto's breakthrough came with his being cast in Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon (1991) after a deceptively discouraging audition. Returning to Chicago to finish school after wrapping up Grand Canyon in Los Angeles, Sisto constantly auditioned and played small roles in theater and independent films before moving to L.A. and finding roles in Clueless (1995) and White Squall (1996). A busy actor in the later '90s, Sisto appeared in the infamous Don's Plum (1998) before his role in the television mini-series The 60s and Jesus (both 1999). The next year Sisto would follow-up as a troubled young filmmaker coming to grips with the death of his wife in This Space Between Us, and with Angel Eyes, a mysterious tale of fate and urban isolation starring Jennifer Lopez.Subsequent roles in Lucky McKee's well-received feature debut May, the popular backwoods slasher flick Wrong Turn, and the 2004 horror-comedy Dead and Breakfast served well to increase Sisto's street credibility among genre buffs, but when he wasn't running from inbred killers in the forest or falling under the spell of mentally disturbed waifs, Sisto was gaining positive notice for his role as a delusional man who believes his life is the subject of a film in Movie Hero, and returning to the small screen in shows like the hit crime drama Law & Order or the ABC comedy Suburgatory.

Trivia: Had to make appointments for her singing lessons with her father, a voice teacher who performed the National Anthem at Oklahoma Sooner games for 22 years, to prove she was serious about her training. Minored in dance and violin during college. Played Sally Bowles in the Broadway revival of Cabaret at Studio 54; her brother Mateja was also part of the cast. Traveled to China to sing in rock concerts with a top recording artist, Fei Xiang. Took shooting lessons from her uncle and cousin, both police officers, to prepare for her Law & Order role.

Trivia: Started modeling at age 13. Studied acting at JoAnna Beckson Studios in Manhattan. Breakthrough role was as Rosa Santos on All My Children. Appeared in the Brooks and Dunn music video "Ain't Nothing 'Bout You." Played series regular Connie Rubirosa on two editions of the Law & Order franchise.

Trivia: George Dzundza's face slowly sank into the collective subconscious of American culture after nearly 30 years before the cameras. Audiences may be hard-pressed to name him, though his familiar face is like that of a distant cousin one has never met but keeps stumbling across while thumbing through old family photo albums. From his turn as an enraged, cheated-on spouse in the horror classic Salem's Lot (1979) to a recent turn as Robert De Niro's partner in 2002's City by the Sea, you can't get away from Dzundza once you've put a name to the face. Aggressively pursued by the president of the Stagers Society (who threatened to have him expelled lest he audition for an upcoming production) at college orientation, a nervous Dzundza hastily agreed and quickly landed the part. A quick rise through the theater circuit soon landed Dzundza some prime supporting roles on the small screen, and it wasn't long until he was gaining exposure on such diverse shows as Starsky and Hutch and The Waltons. In 1975, Dzundza made his film debut with a role in The Happy Hooker, and through the remainder of that decade and well into the '80s he frequently alternated between television and film. Following appearances in The Deer Hunter and Salem's Lot, Dzundza was cast as the lead in the short-lived sitcom Open All Night, and through the remainder of the decade he landed roles in such high-profile theatrical releases as Best Defense (1984), No Mercy (1986), and No Way Out (1987). It wasn't until 1990 that Dzundza would make a return to weekly television, though his role as Sgt. Max Greevey on Law & Order certainly made up for lost time. Even if he did leave the series after only one season, the decision ultimately served him well and his feature career subsequently flourished. As Dzundza's career advanced into the '90s, it also evolved and found him branching out by lending his voice to such animated television efforts as Superman and Batman: Gotham Knights. A short-lived stint opposite Christina Applegate followed with Jesse in 1998, and after moving back to features with roles in Instinct (1999) and City by the Sea, Dzundza settled nicely into the role of Father Tom "Grizz" Grzelak in the popular television series Hack in 2002.

Trivia: Initially gaining widespread exposure thanks to his role as ADA Paul Robinette on Law & Order in the early '90s, stage and screen actor Richard Brooks has expanded his responsibilities to include directing with the release of his freshman feature Johnny B. (1998). A native of Cleveland who studied acting, dance, and voice work at Michigan's Interlochen Academy of Arts, it wasn't long before Brooks was packing his bags for New York. He excelled as a student of the famed Circle in the Square Professional Theater School and his performances in the Eugene O'Neil Theater Conference production of August Wilson's Fences quickly gained him a reputation as a stage force to be reckoned with. A subsequent move to Los Angeles found the burgeoning actor landing numerous television roles, and with such made-for-TV features as Badge of the Assassin (1985) and Resting Place (1986), he began to come into his own as a notable screen presence, as well. With Teen Wolf (1985) and The Hidden (1987), Brooks began his ascent in the world of feature films. Throughout the '90s, most of his popularity came from his role in Law & Order, and the busy actor would constantly find himself alternating between the big screen, the small screen, and the bright lights of the stage. After turning up in The Substitute and terrorizing the undead in The Crow: City of Angels (both 1996), Brooks opted to try his hand at directing, and the result was the refreshingly honest Johnny B. Good. Although his tale of a young, urban black man who makes a positive change after suffering amnesia went largely unseen, those who did give it a chance as a video rental received a pleasant and unexpected surprise. Returning to the small screen for the short-lived G vs E in 1999, many cited Brooks as one of the strongest aspects of the wild, supernatural pop-culture actioner. In addition to his film work, Brooks also founded his own production company Flat Top Entertainment LLC. At the dawn of the millennium, Brooks released his first solo R&B album, Smooth Love, on Flat Top Records.

Trivia: Detroit-born Michael Moriarty was still in his teens when he received a Fulbright Fellowship to study acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. At 22, Moriarty played Octavius Caesar in a New York Shakespeare Festival production of Antony and Cleopatra, the first of many Shakespearean assignments. He made his Broadway bow in Trial of the Catonsville 9 and his film debut in 1972's Hickey and Boggs. In 1973 and 1974, no one was a likelier candidate for big-time stardom than Michael Moriarty. He starred as ingratiatingly egotistical ballplayer Henry Wiggen in theatrical feature Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), earned an Emmy for his portrayal of the Gentleman Caller in a TV adaptation of The Glass Menagerie, and won the Tony award for his work in the Broadway play Find Your Way Home. While his stage career flourished (he'd later star in well-received revivals of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial and My Fair Lady) his movie career was not as successful. It was television that made Moriarty a "name" in the eyes of the public, especially after his chillingly effective Emmy-winning turn as pasty-faced Nazi bureaucrat Erik Dorf in the 1978 miniseries Holocaust. In his film appearances of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Moriarty evinced a preference for working in director Larry Cohen's low-budget horror efforts, which brought little in the way of prestige but which assured him juicy leading roles. He was particularly good in Cohen's Q (1982), as a scuzzy, unprincipled mercenary who becomes the film's hero-by-default. From 1990 to 1994, Moriarty earned three Emmy nominations for his work as Assistant DA Ben Stone in TV's Law and Order; he left the series in 1995, complaining that Attorney General Janet Reno's criticisms of TV violence seriously endangered his ability to perform at fullest capacity. In addition to his considerable acting accomplishments, Moriarty is a superb jazz pianist; he has cut albums with his own jazz trio, and is a frequent performer at Michael's Pub, a New York nitery which occasionally features director Woody Allen on the clarinet. In addition, Michael Moriarty can be seen as the Governor of New Jersey in Crime of the Century, a 1996 TV-movie recreation of the Bruno Richard Hauptmann trial.

Trivia: A veteran of film and television, Chris Noth is probably best known for his work on Law and Order and HBO's Sex and the City, the latter of which featured him as the charming but terminally untrustworthy Mr. Big, erstwhile boyfriend/bad habit of the series' heroine, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker). Hailing from Madison, WI, where he was born November 13, 1954, Noth moved around a lot throughout his childhood, living in England, Yugoslavia, and Spain. Returning to the States, he studied with the storied acting coach Stanford Meisner before being accepted into the prestigious Yale School of Drama.Noth got his start on the stage and in television performing at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, CT, and appearing in productions with theater companies across the country, including the Manhattan Theater Club and Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum. Working in television beginning in 1982, he did a number of shows before breaking into film with small parts in Off Beat (1986) and the Diane Keaton comedy Baby Boom (1987). Noth's big break came in 1989, when he was chosen to play Det. Mike Logan on Law and Order. Noth portrayed the young policeman for five seasons, winning both critical nods and fans, many of whom were saddened when his Law and Order contract was not renewed in 1995. Noth continued to work on television and did minor work in films such as Naked in New York (1994) before getting his next big break in the form of Sex and the City (1998). As Big, he was one of the few male characters who could hold his own in the presence of the series' strong female protagonists, played by Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall, and Kristin Davis. The show proved to be an enormous critical and commercial hit, in the process winning Noth more fans. He would reprise the role for subsuquent big screen adaptations of the show, in addition to other films like My One and Only and Lovelace. Noth would also enoy successful turns on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Good Wife, and Titanic: Blood and Steel.

Trivia: After a four-year hitch with the Naval Reserve, actor Steven Hill made his first New York stage appearance in Ben Hecht's A Flag is Born (1946), which also featured a young Marlon Brando. Hill made his film debut in 1950, then returned to the Navy for two more years before settling down to acting on a permanent basis. He was particularly busy in the so-called Golden Age of live TV drama, appearing in such prestigious video offerings as The Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti (1959). In 1966, he was cast as Daniel Briggs--as in "Good morning, Mr. Briggs"--on the hit TV adventure series Mission: Impossible. He left this lucrative assignment in 1967, reportedly because his Orthodox Jewish faith prevented him from filming on weekends; his replacement was Peter Graves as "Mr. Phelps" (in 1989, Hill guest-starred on the short-lived Mission: Impossible revival). Hill remained very much in demand throughout the 1980s and 1990s playing parental and authority-figure roles in such films as Yentl (1983) Heartburn (1986) and Billy Bathgate (1991). Contemporary TV viewers are most familiar with Steven Hill for his work as Michael Steadman's father on thirtysomething (1987-91) and DA Adam Schiff on the weekly TVer Law and Order, a role he stayed with from 1990 to 2000. Hill died in 2016, at age 94.

Trivia: Dann Florek was a working actor for 15 years, on stage, in movies, and on television before he became a television star on Law and Order. Born in Flat Rock, MI (near Detroit) in 1950, he was a physics major at Eastern Michigan University until he discovered his affinity for acting and theater. He moved to New York in the early 1970s and became a member of The Acting Company at The Juilliard School. Florek's New York theater credits included work in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Love's Labour's Lost, and Death of a Salesman. He later performed in many productions staged at the La Jolla Playhouse and the Old Globe Theater in San Diego. Florek's film credits include Sweet Liberty, Hard Rain, Angel Heart, and The Flintstones, and he has made appearances on NYPD Blue, Wings, The Pretender, and The Practice. Additionally, he played Abraham Lincoln in the short-lived Fox Network series The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer. It was as Dave Meyer on L.A. Law that Florek first came to the attention of television viewers, but it was his four seasons on Law and Order that made him a star. He became a familiar and popular actor as Lieutenant (and later Captain) Donald Cragen, the head of the detective squad on whose investigations the series focuses from week to week. Florek also directed several episodes of the series after leaving the cast of the show in 1993, and is an active member of the Directors Guild of America. In 1999, he joined the cast of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, reprising and greatly expanding his role of Captain Cragen, now head of a detective unit specifically assigned to the investigation of sex crimes. Equally skilled at comedy and drama (although more familiar for his work in the latter), Florek is one of a new generation of triple-threat actor/directors to emerge from television in the 1980s and 1990s. Florek continued to work on Law & Order until 2010.

Trivia: It took 18 years of voice lessons for Paul Sorvino to console himself to the fact that an operatic career was beyond his reach. Having done some acting while attending the American Music and Dramatic Academy, Sorvino decided to pursue the theatre full-time, continuing his studies at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He made his Broadway debut as a constable in the 1964 musical Bajour, and six years later appeared in his first film, Where's Poppa. His stardom was secured when he received an avalanche of critical praise for his performance as Phil Romano in the 1972 Broadway play That Championship Season, a role he repeated in the 1981 film version. A convincing heavy in such films as Goodfellas and Dick Tracy, Sorvino has been even more effective in comedy, notably as the Reverend Willie Williams, a flamboyant Jimmy Swaggart takeoff in Carl Reiner's Oh, God (1978). And in the 1976 Elliott Gould-Diane Keaton vehicle I Will, I Will...For Now, Sorvino served up a near-autobiographical vignette in which he tearfully mimed to a recording of I Pagliacci. Squeezing as many TV appearances into his schedule as possible, Sorvino has starred in the weekly series We'll Get By (1975, as George Platt), Bert D'Angelo/Superstar (1976, in the title role) and The Oldest Rookie (1987, as Detective Ike Porter). In 1991, he took over from George Dzundza on the popular series Law and Order, and in 1993 he subbed for the late Raymond Burr in a Perry Mason TV movie. Additional scattered TV credits have included sporadic appearances as Bruce Willis' dad in Moonlighting, and the "Lamont" counterpart in the never-aired original pilot for Sanford and Son. Possessed of seemingly inexhaustible versatility, Sorvino played Henry Kissinger in Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995). Despite his many on-camera commitments, Sorvino has remained active in the theatre as both an actor and director. Paul Sorvino is the father of Oscar-winning actress Mira Sorvino. In the years to come, Sorvino would remain active on screen, appearing in films like The Cooler and Mr. 3000. In 2014, he guest-starred on the comedy The Goldbergs, playing Jeff Garlin's semi-estranged father.

Trivia: From busking to blockbusters to small-screen crime drama, worldly actress Jill Hennessey has proven herself as an actress with talent to spare. As easy as it may be to see only her dark beauty, don't mistake the multilingual Hennessey as a one trick pony; she's also established herself as a successful restaurateur and a talented musician. Hennessey was born three minutes after her identical twin sister, Jacqueline, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in November of 1969. Her parents divorced when she was only a young girl, and her grandmother played a large part in raising her and her sister. It was during this time that young Hennessey took up cooking in order to help care for her family, and her passion for food would eventually lead her to open Hennessey's Tavern in Northvale, NJ, after establishing herself as an actress. Hennessey moved to New York following her graduation from Ontario's Grand River Collegiate, and for a time, she busked in the N.Y.C. subway, singing and playing the guitar for money. Though her career in entertainment may not have taken off quickly, it was only a matter of time before she found success. In 1988, both Hennessey and her sister got their first breaks with small roles in director David Cronenberg's acclaimed chiller Dead Ringers. In the following few years, she would repeatedly turn up on the small screen in Friday the 13th: The Series and The Hitchhiker. A three-year stint on television's popular Law & Order as ADA Claire Kincaid gained the rising starlet much exposure, and indie credit came with a supporting role in director Mary Harron's I Shot Andy Warhol. After roles in A Smile Like Yours and Most Wanted made 1997 a memorable year for her, Hennessey took the lead opposite pop star-turned-actor Jon Bon Jovi in the 1998 drama Row Your Boat. Subsequent films such as Komodo may have done little to advance Hennessey's career as a serious thespian, but she expanded into writing and directing with her all-star comedy The Acting Class in 2000. With more roles coming her way every day, Hennessey took on the daunting task of portraying none other that Jackie Kennedy in the 2001 miniseries Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot. Later that year she took the lead role in the small-screen drama Crossing Jordan, and it seemed as if she had finally arrived when the show proved to be a success, running for six years.Hennessy would wpend the next several years appearing in a number or projects, like the horse racing series Luck.

Trivia: Supporting and occasional leading actress Carey Lowell made her feature film debut playing a fashion model in Club Paradise (1986). Since then, she has played a number of small but interesting roles including a Bond Girl to Timothy Dalton's 007 in License to Kill and her personal favorite, Tom Hank's dead wife in Sleepless in Seattle (1993). Lowell also starred in the short-lived CBS television series A League of Their Own, which was based on Penny Marshall's popular film of the same name.

Trivia: Born August 10th, 1972, Texan model-turned-actress Angie Harmon's private life (and concomitant rise to fame) bear closer correlation to a fairy tale than to a factual account. Born Angela Michelle Harmon in the Dallas suburb of Highland Park in the late summer of 1972, Harmon never sought out celebrity; it beckoned to her. An "accidental" discovery by the esteemed Kim Dawson Modeling Agency and a win of Seventeen Magazine's cover-girl contest (at age 15) launched Harmon on the path to modeling, but once she reached Manhattan, Harmon discovered a deep-seated love of drama. Harmon then survived a series of not-so-prestigious early roles (including a very brief stint on the exploitationer Baywatch Nights and a turn as a dysfunctional suburbanite in John Duigan's ugly allegory Lawn Dogs), to establish herself as a respected and esteemed actress.Harmon first garnered national attention in the late '90s, as Abbie Carmichael, an assistant district attorney on the hit prime-time drama Law & Order -- a role she maintained for multiple seasons. Beginning in 2003, the actress segued from television into cinematic roles, with generally promising results. Her highest-profile turns include contributions to the family-oriented spy comedy Agent Cody Banks (2003), the action thriller End Game (2005), and the Jim Carrey/Téa Leoni comedy Fun With Dick and Jane (2005).Harmon made coast-to-coast headlines in March 2000 when she received a marriage proposal from then-boyfriend Jason Sehorn, a running back for the New York Giants, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Sehorn popped the question in front of Elton John and a nationwide TV audience. Harmon immediately accepted on the air, and the two wed a short time later, parenting children in successive years before annoucing their split in 2014. In her private life, Harmon is also an outspoken born-again Christian and an advocate of conservative political causes. She and Sehorn co-hosted the Lifetime special Together: Stop Violence Against Women (2003) to spread awareness and prevention of domestic abuse. In fall 2007, Harmon took on a lead role in the ABC detective series Women's Murder Club as Lindsay Boxer, one of four women who band together to solve crimes in the city of San Francisco; the series was an instant success. In 2010, Harmon begun work on Rizzoli & Isles in the leading role of Detective Jane Rizzoli, a hard-working law enforcer entrusted with solving some of Boston's toughest cases.

Trivia: One of Hollywood's more well-established and often underrated actresses, Dianne Wiest possesses a versatility that has allowed her to go from playing hookers to flamboyant stage actresses to some of the most memorable matriarchs this side of Barbara Billingsley. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Wiest decided to forgo a ballet career in favor of the theatre while attending the University of Maryland. She made her off-Broadway debut in 1976's Ashes; three years later she won the coveted Obie and Theatre World awards for her work in The Art of Dining. She made her first film, It's My Turn, in 1980, then returned to the stage, appearing with Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival and on Broadway in 1982's Frankenstein. In the mid-1980s, Wiest returned to films, where (except for the occasionally foray into live performing) she has remained ever since. Often as not, Wiest has been cast in maternal roles, most memorably in Footloose (1984), The Lost Boys (1987), Parenthood (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990) and The Birdcage (1996). Some of her best screen work can be found in her neurotic, self-involved characterizations for director Woody Allen. Beginning with a cameo as a hooker in The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), she has been generously featured in five Allen films, winning Academy Awards for her dazzling performances as unlucky-in-love Holly in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and hyperbolic stage actress Helen Sinclair in Bullets Over Broadway (1994). Wiest could be seen playing another motherly figure in Robert Redford's 1998 adaptation of The Horse Whisperer; that same year, she appeared as one of Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman's otherworldly aunts (along with Stockard Channing) in Practical Magic. In 1999, she could be seen in the made-for-TV The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn, starring alongside Sidney Poitier. Her big-screen career continued with I Am Sam, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Dan in Real Life, and Synecdoche New York. She also found interesting work on television playing a DA on Law & Order for a couple of seasons, and playing the psychiatrist of a psychiatrist on HBO's In Treatment. She appeared in Rabbit Hole in 2010, and was Diane Keaton's flighty sister in Darling Companion.

Trivia: The daughter of an attorney father and writer mother, German-born Elisabeth Röhm spent the majority of her childhood and adolescence coming of age in New York. Röhm discovered an innate love of acting during her collegiate years (in the early '90s) and thereafter landed a regular role on the daytime drama One Life to Live. She graduated to fame, however, by virtue of two prime-time roles: Detective Kate Lockley on the supernatural drama series Angel (1999) and Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn on NBC's Law & Order. Big-screen roles include supporting turns in Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005) and Aftermath (2008).

Trivia: Lovable tough guy character actor Dennis Farina was already well into his first career as a Chicago cop before he was able to turn his occasional acting gigs into a prodigious new line of work.Raised in Chicago by Italian immigrant parents, Farina joined his hometown's police force in the mid-'60s, settling into a life of law enforcement. When he was hired to be a local consultant on Michael Mann's film Thief (1981), however, Farina wound up with a bit part as the villain's heavy. Farina continued to moonlight as an actor for several years, appearing in local theater and occasional movies, including Final Jeopardy (1985) and the Chuck Norris vehicle Code of Silence (1985). Though he never took an acting class, Farina was a natural; after Michael Mann offered him the lead in the series Crime Story in 1986, Farina left the police force to play a TV cop. During his 1986-1988 stint on the series, Farina also played FBI agent Jack Crawford (Scott Glen's part in Silence of the Lambs [1991]) in Mann's stylish thriller Manhunter (1986), was the Birdman of Alcatraz in the TV movie Six Against the Rock (1987), and a cop in TV movie mystery Through Naked Eyes (1987). Drawing on his no-nonsense charm as well as his eclectic life experience, Farina continued to shine in roles on both sides of the law, such as serial killer Angelo Buono in The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989) and the lead prosecutor in the TV docudrama Blind Faith (1990). As nimble with comedy, Farina went up against Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin as a mobster in the popular buddy yarn Midnight Run (1988). His versatility firmly established by the 1990s, Farina's early '90s work ranged from playing a billionaire in People Like Us (1990), to Banquo in a New York gangland version of Macbeth, Men of Honor (1991), as well as supporting roles in the comedy Another Stakeout (1993), Bruce Willis actioner Striking Distance (1993), John Turturro's Italian-American family drama Mac (1993), and vicious neo-noir Romeo Is Bleeding (1994). Farina's appearance as John Travolta's nemesis, hilariously bumbling tough guy Ray "Bones" Barboni, in Barry Sonnenfeld's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Get Shorty (1995), led to his most notable hit since Midnight Run. His career hitting a new high, Farina co-starred with Bette Midler as reunited exes in Carl Reiner's That Old Feeling (1997), and starred as a Sicilian bigwig in the high-profile TV miniseries Bella Mafia (1997). Though his Marshall Sisco made only a brief appearance in Steven Soderbergh's esteemed Elmore Leonard adaptation Out of Sight (1998), Farina was pitch-perfect as Jennifer Lopez's protective dad. After joining the superb corps in Steven Spielberg's award-winning Saving Private Ryan (1998), Farina returned to series TV, playing smooth detective Buddy Faro (1998); the series, however, lasted only one season. Returning to films, Farina followed his role as the police captain who recruits The Mod Squad (1999) with another comic turn as a New York gangster who sets the diamond larceny plot in motion in Snatch (2000), adding a dash of Hollywood celebrity (along with Brad Pitt and Benicio del Toro) to British lad director Guy Ritchie's sophomore effort. The releases of two of Farina's next films, Barry Sonnenfeld's caper Big Trouble (2001) and Edward Burns' romantic comedy Sidewalks of New York (2001), were delayed after the terrorist attack on New York on September 11, 2001. Sidewalks of New York surfaced later in 2001, but the romantic comedy failed to charm a large audience. Big Trouble finally made it into theaters in the first half of 2002, but despite the big name cast, Sonnenfeld's farce joined such high profile fare as Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Collateral Damage (2002) and the espionage actioner Bad Company (2002) on the list of 9/11-delayed flops. Farina's next film, the broad, witless comedy Stealing Harvard (2002), also failed at the box office. Farina returned to television during the fall 2002 season with a lead role as a comically monstrous Meet the Parents-esque father-in-law on the sitcom The In-Laws (2002). Despite initially withering reviews, The In-Laws managed to show signs of ratings life.As the 2000's rolled forward, Farina appeared in a number of movies, most notably in Bottle Shock and What Happens in Vegas. Farina would find even more success on the small screen, with roles on Law & Order and the much discussed horse-racing drama Luck. Sadly, Farina died of a bloodclot in his lung in July of 2013. He was 69 years old.

Trivia: Took her great-grandmother's maiden name as a stage name. Trained in England at London's Holborne Center for Performing Arts. In 2001, her role as Julia Lindsay Snyder on As the World Turns earned her a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Young Actress. Before joining the Law & Order cast in its 15th season as ADA Alexandra Borgia, she played an exotic dancer in a May 2002 episode titled "Attorney Client." Has been an active stage actress, appearing in Broadway's Prelude to a Kiss (2007) and starring in the title role of the play Becky Shaw (2009). Taught a class called Acting for the Camera at Fordham University.

Trivia: Possessing a wistful handsomness and vulnerable charisma, British actor Linus Roache first gained recognition -- and controversy -- as a gay Catholic priest in Antonia Bird's 1994 Priest. A native of Manchester, where he was born in 1964, Roache is the son of actor William Roache, best known for his long-running role on the popular TV series Coronation Street. It was on that show that the younger Roache made his debut at the age of nine, playing his father's son. Following his debut, he spent much of the next decade on stage, performing with the likes of the Royal Shakespeare Company.Following the success of Priest, as well as a role in the popular BBC TV series Seaforth that same year, Roache took some time off to recuperate from the grueling experience of making Priest. When he returned to the screen, it was in Iain Softley's adaptation of Henry James' The Wings of the Dove (1997). Roache won acclaim for his complex portrayal of Merton Densher, an impoverished journalist who becomes caught up in a disastrous scheme involving his girlfriend (Helena Bonham Carter) and a dying heiress (Alison Elliott). The film itself was roundly praised and helped put Roache back in the spotlight that he had rejected just two years earlier.The actor could subsequently be seen doing work in a number of diverse films, including Shot Through the Heart (1998), which cast him as a Yugoslavian marksman caught up in the horrors of war; and The Venice Project (1999), a drama in which he played both a 17th-century Italian count and a member of the 20th-century California art world.

Trivia: While Anthony Anderson got his start in stand-up, his wide range of genre-spanning credits as a producer and actor in light comedy, pointed satires, food-based reality shows and gritty episodic dramas display his versatility and cross-audience appeal. But even though it's not immediately apparent how the points on his resume connect in one straight line, all of his work harkens back to core values of family, togetherness, responsibility, fairness, justice, and doing right in a sometimes complicated world.Born August 15, 1970, Anderson was one of four kids raised by his mother and stepfather (the man he considered his "only father I knew or cared about") in Compton, Los Angeles, California. While their neighborhood could be rough, his no-nonsense stepfather, who owned three clothing stores, instilled a respect for paternal responsibility and entrepreneurship in Anderson. While Anderson remembers seeing a teenage Dr. Dre perform at Compton's most important hip-hop venue Skateland, U.S.A., his most formative memory of a performer was watching his mother rehearse for an amateur production of A Raisin in the Sun at Compton Community College. Even though both he and his mother agree that she was a terrible actress, the impression of her becoming someone else on stage solidified his ambitions.His ambitions stoked, young Anderson seized every opportunity to perform, whether it was singing at church, competing in spelling bees, or appearing in a commercial at the age of five. After successfully auditioning for Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, he won the top prize in the NAACP's Act-So awards and gained entrance to Howard University's drama program with an audition tape that included monologues from Shakespeare and "The Great White Hope". (Anderson's stepfather, always the pragmatist, took extraordinary measures to push Anderson out of the nest after college by not only insisting he pay rent if he wanted to live at home, but also by padlocking the TV cabinet and freezer, installing a pay phone in the house, and razzing Anderson with Lassie reruns: "That dog's an actor. Where are you acting?")Too-strange-to-be-fiction family lore like that formed the basis of Anderson's stand-up comedy routines that he performed briefly under the name "Tasty Tony" while picking up small roles in TV and movies until 1999, when he landed roles both in the Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy comedy Life, and Barry Levinson's cinematic memoir Liberty Heights. A slew of roles in a wide range of genres followed for the next few years, culminating in recurring roles on Treme as actor-waiter Derek Watson, on The Shield as Antwon Mitchell, the drug boss turned community leader who still keeps one foot in the thug life, and on Law & Order as conservative lawman Detective Kevin Bernard, a role for which he earned four consecutive NAACP Image Award nominations for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series. Anderson's other great passion, for food and cooking, has led to many hosting gigs on shows like Carnival Cravings with Anthony Anderson, Eating America with Anthony Anderson, the web series Anthony Eats America, and his recurring seat at the judge's table on Iron Chef America. While his everyday diet is "vegan-ish" as a way of regulating his type 2 diabetes, he's so devoted to the kitchen arts that he takes weekend classes at famed culinary academy Le Cordon Bleu's Los Angeles outpost. While his first forays into producing the sitcoms All About the Andersons and Matumbo Goldberg (both about domestic life from an African-American perspective) ended after one season, conversations with his screenwriter friend Kenya Barris about their experiences raising their children in affluent, majority-white communities that are so unlike the neighborhoods they grew up in inspired the duo to create and produce black-ish. Taking a page from unflinching sitcoms of the '70s like All In The Family and Good Times that mixed light humor with frank confrontation of social ills, Barris and Anderson folded incidents from their own lives into the show's scripts - such as the time Anderson's teenage son wanted a bar mitzvah party like all his Jewish friends, prompting Anderson to instead offer his son a hip-hop themed "bro mitzvah." Anderson received an Emmy nomination for his role as beleaguered patriarch Andre Johnson in 2015.

Trivia: Intense, dynamic Julliard alumnus Mandy Patinkin, born November 30th, 1952, has tackled everything from ancient classics to modern musicals during his formative years in regional theatre. From 1975 through 1981, Patinkin was a mainstay of Joseph Papps New York Shakespeare Festival. Making his Broadway debut in 1977, Patinkin won a Tony Award three years later for his raw-nerved portrayal of Che Guevara ("Not much to ask for!") in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita. He later appeared as star-interlocutor in Stephen Sondheim's musical Sunday in the Park with George, a role he repeated for the benefit of future generations on a videotaped TV presentation in 1986. In films from 1977, Patinkin made his earliest impression on moviegoers in a brace of E. L. Doctorow adaptations: he played the immigrant-artist-turned-pioneer filmmaker in Ragtime (1981) and the Julius Rosenberg counterpart in Daniel (1983). He also portrayed Avigdor, Barbra Streisand's dream lover, in Yentl (1983), and essayed the part of a Spanish swashbuckler (with a hilariously impenetrable accent) in The Princess Bride (1985). His extensive musical skills, both as vocalist and instrumentalist, have gone virtually untapped in films, save for his turn as 88 Keys in Dick Tracy (1990). The scope of Patinkin's musical talents were generously displayed in his one-man show Dress Casual, and also in his many "concert recordings" of classic Broadway scores. Despite his devotion to his craft, Mandy Patinkin evidently has his head on straight in terms of priorities: in 1996, he gave up the meaty role of Dr. Jeffrey Geiger in the weekly TV medical series Chicago Hope because he didn't like spending so much time away from his wife (actress Kathryn Grody) and children. Patinkin recorded an album comprised of traditional, classical, and contemporary Yiddish music in 1998, and starred in The Adventures of Elmo and Grouchland the following year. In 2003, Patinkin played the role of mentor to a fledgling grim reaper in the Showtime series Dead Like Me, and joined the cast of the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds in 2005 to play the criminal profiler Jason Gideon. Patinkin left the show after two seasons. Patinkin remained active in music, theater, television, and film following his depature from Criminal Minds, and took on a regular role in Homeland, a drama series from Showtime.

Trivia: Youthful actor Andrew McCarthy went to prep school in New Jersey, lending to his classic, clean-cut good looks. A member the so-called Brat Pack of '80s Hollywood teen stars, McCarthy was usually cast as a good-guy leading man, basically sincere underneath his brooding teen angst. After studying theater at N.Y.U., he made his film debut in 1983 in the teen sex comedy Class with Rob Lowe and Jacqueline Bisset. In 1985, he appeared as the sulky writer Kevin in St. Elmo's Fire and the new Catholic school kid in Heaven Help Us. The next year, he was cast opposite Molly Ringwald as rich boy Blaine in John Hughes' Pretty in Pink. He later re-teamed with Ringwald for the dark romantic drama Fresh Horses. In 1987, he appeared opposite Kim Cattrall in the screwball comedy Mannequin and opposite Jami Gertz and Robert Downey Jr. in the addiction drama Less Than Zero. The same year, he portrayed Henry Hopper in the PBS American Playhouse production of Waiting for the Moon, based on the colorful lives of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. In 1989, McCarthy formed a winning comedy team with Jonathan Silverman for the goofy farce Weekend at Bernie's, a surprisingly funny hit. They re-teamed for the less-successful Weekend at Bernie's II in 1993. The next year, he appeared briefly in the critically acclaimed ensemble films The Joy Luck Club and Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. In 1999, he married his college girlfriend, actress Carol Schneider. His youthful good looks enabled him to play Bobby Kennedy in the 2000 television miniseries Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. As the following years passed, McCarthy would find success on the series Lipstick Jungle, as well as in movies like The Spiderwick Chronicles, Camp Hell, Main Street, and Snatched.

Trivia: Best known as the acid-mouthed Raina Troy -- a take-no-prisoners litigator -- on the James Woods-headlined, prime-time legal drama Shark (2006), African-American actress Sophina Brown also performed sketch comedy in the second season of the popular Chappelle's Show, opposite comic Dave Chappelle. Her resumé includes occasional guest appearances on such programs as Committed, Numb3rs, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.