Trivia: The son of actor Lloyd Bridges, Jeff Bridges made his screen bow as a petulant infant in the arms of his real-life mother, Dorothy, in the 1950 Jane Greer melodrama The Company She Keeps; his troublesome older brother in that film was played by his real older brother Beau. The younger Bridges made a more formal debut before the cameras at age eight, in an episode of his dad's TV series Sea Hunt. After serving in the Coast Guard reserve, the budding actor studied acting at the Herbert Berghof school. While older brother Beau was developing into a character player, Bridges, thanks in equal parts to his ability and ruggedly handsome looks, became a bona fide leading man. He had his first major success with a leading role in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Two years later, he won yet another Oscar nomination, this time for Best Supporting Actor in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974). Bridges worked steadily throughout the rest of the 1970s, starring in a number of films, including Hearts of the West (1975) and Stay Hungry (1976). The 1980s brought further triumph, despite starting out inauspiciously with a part in the notoriously ill-fated Heaven's Gate (1981). In 1984, Bridges won yet another Oscar nomination for his leading role in Starman and continued to find acclaim for his work, in such movies as The Morning After (1986) and The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989). The latter featured Bridges and brother Beau as struggling musicians, as well as Michelle Pfeiffer in a performance marked by both the actress' own talent and her ability to roll around on a piano wearing a figure-hugging red velvet dress. Bridges began the 1990s with Texasville, the desultory sequel to The Last Picture Show. Things began to improve with acclaimed performances in Fearless (1993) and American Heart (1995) (the latter marked his producing debut), and the actor found commercial, if not critical, success with the bomb thriller Blown Away in 1994. More success followed, with a lead role in the Barbra Streisand vehicle The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), and as a hapless and perpetually stoned bowling aficionado in the Coen brothers' The Big Lebowski (1998). In 1999, Bridges returned to the thriller genre with Arlington Road, playing the concerned neighbor of urban terrorist Tim Robbins, and then switched gears with Albert Brooks' comedy drama The Muse. In addition to his acting achievements, Bridges has also written some 200 songs, a talent which he memorably incorporated in The Fabulous Baker Boys.Bridges delivered a typically strong performance in 1999's Simpatico, which featured the actor as a horse-breeder embroiled in a complicated scam orchestrated by a once good friend, while The Contender (2000) found him playing a happy-go-lucky U.S. President suddenly forced to decide if his Vice Presidential candidate's rumored sexual escapades will affect his ultimate decision. Though K-PAX (2001) fared badly in theaters, Jeff's performance as Kevin Spacey's character's psychiatrist was solid, as was his role of a soft-spoken kidnapping victim in director Dominique Forma's Scenes of the Crime. 2003 was a polarizing year in terms of critical success -- despite an A-list cast including Bridges himself, Penelope Cruz, and Jessica Lange, Masked and Anonymous went unseen by most, and disliked by the rest. Luckily, Seabiscuit catapulted Bridges back into Hollywood's spotlight, as did Tod Wiliams' Door in the Floor, based on John Irving's novel A Widow for One Year.In 2008, Bridges landed the plum role of the bad guy in the box-office blockbuster Iron Man, but it was his turn as fading country music star Bad Blake in Crazy Heart that earned him the accolades that had eluded the respected actor throughout his career. For his work in that film Bridges captured the SAG award, the Golden Globe, and his fifth Oscar nomination -- marking his second nod in the lead category 25 years after his first for Starman.The next year Bridges would be up for the Best Actor award again, this time for the way he tackled one of John Wayne's iconic role's, Rooster Cogburn, in the Coen brother's hit remake of True Grit. That same year, he would return as Kevin Flynn in the sequel Tron: Legacy.

Trivia: Boasting talent, versatility, and one of the most distinctive heads of hair in Hollywood, Julianne Moore has proven herself equally adept in both mainstream blockbusters and smaller, more intelligent films. The daughter of a military judge and a Scottish social worker, Moore was born in Fayetteville, NC, on December 3, 1961. After attending Boston University, she began her acting career via the taxing world of soap opera. From 1985 until 1988, she was best-known for her role as Franny Hughes on As the World Turns. The part, which on occasion required her to play twins, won Moore a 1988 Daytime Emmy Award.The actress made her entrance into the big-screen arena with a 1990 debut in the schlocktastic Tales From the Darkside: The Movie (which also featured Steve Buscemi). Two years later, after making various TV movies, Moore reappeared in feature films with supporting parts in Curtis Hanson's tale of a babysitter gone bad, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, and the comedy The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag. The following year, her exposure increased further thanks to roles in four different films that ranged from the half-baked thriller Body of Evidence to the sweetly quirky Benny and Joon to the big-budget smash The Fugitive to Robert Altman's epic Short Cuts. The last film gave Moore literal exposure in addition to the more figurative kind: she was required to play one scene naked from the waist down, something that predictably won the attention of critics and filmgoers.The intermittent praise that had been afforded Moore was amplified in 1994 with her performance as Yelena in Vanya on 42nd Street. The object of adjectives ranging from "luminescent" to "radiant" to "revelatory," the actress went on to play a very different character in Todd Haynes' Safe (1995). Moore won an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her portrayal of a woman (literally) sickened by the environment around her and further proved that she was an actress of distinct versatility. The same year she again demonstrated this ability with a starring role opposite Hugh Grant in the comedy Nine Months.Following a turn as one of Picasso's numerous lovers in Surviving Picasso (1996), a lead in the family drama The Myth of Fingerprints (she would later have a son with the film's director, Bart Freundlich), and a substantial part in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Moore nabbed what was one of the plum roles of her career in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights. For her portrayal of a porn actress, she won Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. A substantial role as an erotic artist in Ethan Coen's and Joel Coen's The Big Lebowski followed in 1998, along with a turn as Marion Crane's sister in Gus Van Sant's Psycho remake. The next year, Moore starred in a number of high-profile projects, beginning with Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune, in which she was cast as the dim sister of a decidedly unhinged Glenn Close. A portrayal of the scheming Mrs. Cheveley followed in Oliver Parker's An Ideal Husband, with a number of critics asserting that Moore was the best part of the movie. The actress then enjoyed another collaboration with director Anderson in Magnolia, an epic telling of nine interweaving stories inspired by Short Cuts and featuring an impressive cast that included Anderson regulars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Baker Hall, and John C. Reilly. The same year, Moore also starred in the drama The End of the Affair, with Ralph Fiennes and Stephen Rea, and portrayed a grieving mother in A Map of the World, which premiered at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival.2001 found the popular actress stepping into dark territory with the role of FBI Agent Clarice Starling in Ridley Scott's Hannibal, the long-awaited and eagerly anticipated follow-up to Jonathan Demme's numbingly suspenseful Silence of the Lambs. A few short months later, Moore lightened the mood substantially with her humorous turn as a bumbling government scientist in the sci-fi comedy Evolution. Increasingly comfortable alternating between big-budget features and more personal art-house films, Moore bowled over audiences with a pair of powerhouse performances in both Far From Heaven and The Hours. A detailed throwback to the forgotten Hollywood melodrama, the former featured Moore's Oscar nominated role as a housewife who enters into a controversial relationship after discovering her husband's homosexuality and provided audiences a dose of Douglas Sirk that hadn't been tasted since the mid-1950s. A variation on the themes presented in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, the film version of Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer prize winning novel The Hours once again found Moore Oscar nominated for her role as a repressed 1950s era housewife, this time taking a special shine to Mrs. Dalloway while pondering an escape from her stifling marriage. In the wake of arguably her most successful year to date, Moore began to dabble behind the scenes for the first time, serving as executive producer on the 2003 independent adaptation of Wallace Shawn's play Marie and Bruce, a film that she also starred in. The following year, audiences could find Moore onscreen opposite Pierce Brosnan in the romantic comedy The Laws of Attraction and in the poorly-received thriller The Forgotten. In 2005 she earned good reviews for The Prize Winner of Defiance, OH, but the film failed to catch on with audiences. She continued to work steadily starring opposite Sam Jackson in the adaptation of Richard Price's Freedomland, and starring opposite Clive Owen in Alfonso Cuaron's futuristic thriller Children of Men. She once again teamed with her director husband Bart Freundlich in the relationship comedy Trust the Man. Shortly after returning to television with a recurring role on the hit comedy series 30 Rock, the talented actress earned numerous positive reviews for her nuanced performance in The Kids Are All Right, and while she failed to earn a BAFTA Award as one half of a same sex couple attempting to help their children come to terms with being adopted, Moore's memorable performance as a frustrated housewife in 2011's Crazy, Stupid, Love. showed an actress still capable of balancing drama and comedy to striking effect. On the heels of her performance in Paul Weitz's Being Flynn the following year, it was announced that Moore would be following in the formidable footsteps of Piper Laurie in the 2013 remake of the Stephen King's Carrie starring Chloe Grace Moritz (Let Me In, Hugo). One year later she earned a slew of year-end accolades, including an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, for her work playing an accomplished professor deteriorating from Alzheimer's in Still Alice.

Trivia: A quintessentially British actor (with a classic "medieval" look) who made his name with deft portrayals of heroes in fantasy and adventure sagas, Ben Barnes graduated from the King's College School in England and landed one of his earliest assignments in a hybrid of the two said genres -- with a small supporting role playing Young Dunstan in Matthew Vaughn's offbeat Stardust (2007). Barnes then commenced a sequence of film appearances as Prince Caspian in the Chronicles of Narnia franchise, adapted from the popular novels by C.S. Lewis; he began, conveniently enough, with the lead in the outing Prince Caspian (2008).

Trivia: Inspired to become a dancer after seeing a Nutcracker performance at age five. Appeared in the Swedish musical Kristina From Duvemala, written by former ABBA member Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, for three years during the show's original run when she was seven years old. Shared an apartment with longtime friend Caroline Hjelt of the Swedish electro duo Icona Pop after graduating from ballet school and relocating to London. Enrolled in law school after being rejected from the Royal Academy of Stockholm acting academy twice. She won her first leading role in the Swedish film Pure just before her first semester began. Pressured to wear sunblock early in her career to appear more Scandinavian because, despite her Swedish-Finnish ancestry, she has brown eyes and hair and golden skin. With the Gothenburg Opera, appeared in The Sound of Music and Les Misérables. Won the Rising Star Award at the 2010 Stockholm Film Festival. Won the role of Danish Queen Caroline Mathilde in A Royal Affair (2012) without knowing any Danish. Used her ballet training to inform her performance as a gynoid in Ex Machina, giving the robot Ava a slightly imperfect gait to represent her desire to be human. Signed as the new face of Louis Vuitton in 2015.

Trivia: Descended from a viscount who served as Britain's Secretary of War at the turn of the 19th century, and is a nephew of a baronet; the family is listed in Burke's Peerage. Originally planned to be a journalist before deciding on acting. Starred in the World War I stage drama War Horse in London immediately after graduating from drama school. Made his TV debut in Game of Thrones. Named the face of Jimmy Choo in 2015. Played the title role in Doctor Faustus at the Duke of York Theatre in the West End in 2016.

Trivia: A struggling stage actress when she was cast in the Kevin Costner epic The Postman (1997), British actress Olivia Williams survived the film's meltdown with her reputation relatively intact. The daughter of lawyers, Williams earned a degree in English at Cambridge University before studying acting for two years with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Her training led to several stage roles, as well as to work with the Royal Shakespeare Company in both Stratford-upon-Avon and London. A four-month tour of Richard III featuring Ian McKellen brought Williams to the United States, and, following a supporting role in the made-for-TV adaptation of Emma (1997), she again found herself stateside to work on The Postman. Fortunately for Williams, she rebounded from The Postman with her role as Miss Cross, the fought-over love interest of a precocious 15-year-old and an embittered millionaire in the acclaimed comedy Rushmore (1998). She could be seen the next year starring opposite Bruce Willis in the enormously successful supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense. She continued to work steadily in films such as Born Romantic, The Man from Elysian Fields, A Knight's Tale, and Peter Pan. She was excellent in An Education as a sympathetic teacher, appeared in short-lived Joss Whedon series Dollhouse, and starred in Roman Polanski's politically-tinged thriller The Ghost Writer. In 2011 she had a main role in the action film Hanna and appeared as Countess Vronsky in Joe Wright's 2012 adaptation of the classic Anna Karenina.

Trivia: Actor Djimon Hounsou first gained acting attention in Steven Spielberg's Amistad (1997). Born April 24th, 1964 in West Africa, he moved with his family to Paris, France, at age 13. When he left school, he became homeless and spent a couple of years wandering the streets of Paris before being discovered by fashion designer Thierry Mugler. After he resettled himself, Hounsou moved to Los Angeles to try his hand at acting. While on the way to stardom, Hounsou appeared in music videos, including those of Madonna, Janet Jackson, and Steve Winwood. After his turn as a rebellious slave in Amistad, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination, he found increasingly steady employment on both the big and small screens, becoming a semi-regular on the hospital drama ER and appearing in such films as the historical epic Gladiator (2000). After such high-profile projects, Hounsou's success in the following two years would prove no surprise to anyone who glanced at his filmography. Aside from prominent roles in such high-profile French films as 2002's Le Boulet (Dead Weight) and the following year's Muraya -- l'Expérience Secrète de Mike Blueberry (The Adventures of Mike S. Blueberry), Hounsou's bid for screen stardom was simultaneously on display in such stateside features as The Four Feathers (2002), Biker Boyz, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider -- The Cradle of Life (both 2003).In 2003, Hounsou received his first Oscar nomination for his acclaimed supporting role in Jim Sheridan's In America. And while he spent much of the next three years appearing in films that earned mixed reactions from both audiences and critics, he was back in top form in 2006's Blood Diamond, which found him opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. The film appeared on a number of Top Ten lists, garnered Hounsou accolades from countless critics groups and snagged him his second Oscar nod.Following the success of Blood Diamond, Hounsou made several guest appearances on th popular television show Alias, and joined filmmaker Michae Bay's 2005 action drama The Island, which co-stars Scarlet Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Sean Bean. In 2009, Hounsou played the rle of n aget determined to thwart the plans of a group of telekinetic American ex-pats. The actor joined the Academy-award winning actress Helen Mirren in the 2011 film adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest, in which Mirren played the traditionally male role of Prospero.

Trivia: Born in England, he moved with his family to Vancouver when he was 6 months old. Appeared in several television commercials as a child. TV debut was on 21 Jump Street in 1987. First big break came when he was cast as one of the survivors in the film Alive with Ethan Hawke.

Trivia: Actor Timothy Webber -- a tough-looking, stark-featured character player -- jump-started his career in early-'80s Canada and quickly amassed a substantial array of supporting roles on both sides of the border. Efforts included the 1981 and 1982 Genie winners for Best Picture, Ticket to Heaven and The Grey Fox, respectively; Tony Richardson's underrated John Irving adaptation The Hotel New Hampshire (1984); Alan Rudolph's period drama The Moderns (1988); and Michael Anderson's unusual science fiction outing Millennium (1989). Webber is perhaps best known, however, for his prominent regular role as Jerome on the prime-time seriocomedy Men in Trees (2006).

Trivia: South African native Kandyse McClure had never even considered launching a career as an actress when her mother requested that she audition for a play her friend was producing at the Vancouver Fringe Festival, though after experiencing the thrill of the theater firsthand, there was no question that she had found her calling. The play was Athol Fugard's Valley Song, and the role was that of an 18-year-old South African girl whose background bore an uncanny resemblance to the actress cast to portray her. Later, after the play ceased its sold-out run, Lucas Talent agency owner Richard Lucas received a telephone call from a longtime client seeking to locate the inexperienced actress -- and it was that telephone call that would serve as the catalyst for the aspiring medical professional's unlikely career as an entertainer. Subsequently cast opposite Lou Diamond Phillips in the 1999 made-for-television movie In a Class of His Own (in a role originally intended for a male actor, no less), McClure went on to formally study her craft while continuing to appear in such features as Romeo Must Die and See Spot Run. In 2000, McClure was cast in the short-lived television series Higher Ground, and while that particular show failed to catch on, viewers were quick to recognize the actress' talent and she went on to appear in The Outer Limits, Dark Angel, and Jeremiah. By the time 2003 rolled around, McClure had grown increasingly comfortable in fantasy settings, a development that served her well as she prepared for appearances in Jake 2.0, Andromeda, and Smallville. Little did McClure realize that what appeared to be a one-off role in the 2003 miniseries Battlestar Galactica would eventually blossom into a full-time gig when the series premiered the following year. Cast as Petty Officer Anastasia Dualla, McClure combined beauty and brawn as she battled against the Cylons for the survival of the human race on the highly rated Sci-Fi Channel series.