Trivia: Versatile American actor Giancarlo Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, but grew up in Manhattan from the age of six. His mother was an African-American nightclub singer (who once shared a bill with Josephine Baker) and his father was an Italian stagehand. In show business most of his life, Esposito made his Broadway debut in a 1966 production of Maggie Flynn. His other stage credits include Sacrilege, Miss Moffatt, and Balm in Gilead. He won a 1981 Theatre World Award for his performance in Zooman and the Sign.On the big screen, Esposito started appearing in Spike Lee films during the late '80s in a wide range of roles with great character names. He was the frat leader Julian "Big Brother Almighty" in School Daze, the outspoken reactionary Buggin' Out in Do the Right Thing, the dandy pianist Left Hand Lacey in Mo' Better Blues, and the criminal Thomas Hayer in Malcolm X. Esposito's other film roles include an investigative journalist in Bob Roberts, an activist in Amos & Andrew, and a game show host in Reckless. In 1995, he earned an Independent Spirit award nomination for his supporting role of doting drug dealer Esteban in Boaz Yakin's debut drama Fresh. Esposito also appeared in Wayne Wang and Paul Auster's Smoke, along with the sequel Blue in the Face. The next year, he turned briefly to producing with the independent prison film The Keeper, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.On television, Esposito appeared on NYPD Blue, Law & Order, and the short-lived Fox comedy Bakersfield, P.D. In 1999, he earned an Image award nomination for his role as FBI Agent Michael Giardello on Homicide: Life on the Street. He also has contributed to the Fox television dramas The $treet and girls club. While teaching at the Atlantic Theatre Company, Esposito found time to portray real-life figures in the biopics Ali (as Cassius Clay Sr.) and Piñero (as Miguel Algarin). Projects for 2004 included James Hunter's feature Back in the Day and the television movie NYPD 2069. He played a detective in the thriller Derailed, and appeared in the indie drama SherryBaby. In 2008 he directed, starred in, and helped write the drama Gospel Hill. In 2010 he joined the cast of the highly-respected AMC drama series Breaking Bad, and appeared in the 2012 big-screen thriller Alex Cross.

Trivia: After spending the 1980s playing a series of drug addict and character parts, Samuel L. Jackson emerged in the 1990s as one of the most prominent and well-respected actors in Hollywood. Work on a number of projects, both high-profile and low-key, has given Jackson ample opportunity to display an ability marked by both remarkable versatility and smooth intelligence.Born December 21, 1948, in Washington, D.C., Jackson was raised by his mother and grandparents in Chattanooga, TN. He attended Atlanta's Morehouse College, where he was co-founder of Atlanta's black-oriented Just Us Theater (the name of the company was taken from a famous Richard Pryor routine). Jackson arrived in New York in 1977, beginning what was to be a prolific career in film, television, and on the stage. After a plethora of character roles of varying sizes, Jackson was discovered by the public in the role of the hero's tempestuous, drug-addict brother in 1991's Jungle Fever, directed by another Morehouse College alumnus, Spike Lee. Jungle Fever won Jackson a special acting prize at the Cannes Film Festival and thereafter his career soared. Confronted with sudden celebrity, Jackson stayed grounded by continuing to live in the Harlem brownstone where he'd resided since his stage days. 1994 was a particularly felicitous year for Jackson; while his appearances in Jurassic Park (1993) and Menace II Society (1993) were still being seen in second-run houses, he co-starred with John Travolta as a mercurial hit man in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, a performance that earned him an Oscar nomination. His portrayal of an embittered father in the more low-key Fresh earned him additional acclaim. The following year, Jackson landed third billing in the big-budget Die Hard With a Vengeance and also starred in the adoption drama Losing Isaiah. His versatility was put on further display in 1996 with the release of five very different films: The Long Kiss Goodnight, a thriller in which he co-starred with Geena Davis as a private detective; an adaptation of John Grisham's A Time to Kill, which featured him as an enraged father driven to murder; Steve Buscemi's independent Trees Lounge; The Great White Hype, a boxing satire in which the actor played a flamboyant boxing promoter; and Hard Eight, the directorial debut of Paul Thomas Anderson.After the relative quiet of 1997, which saw Jackson again collaborate with Tarantino in the critically acclaimed Jackie Brown and play a philandering father in the similarly acclaimed Eve's Bayou (which also marked his debut as a producer), the actor lent his talents to a string of big-budget affairs (an exception being the 1998 Canadian film The Red Violin). Aside from an unbilled cameo in Out of Sight (1998), Jackson was featured in leading roles in The Negotiator (1998), Sphere (1998), and Deep Blue Sea (1999). His prominence in these films added confirmation of his complete transition from secondary actor to leading man, something that was further cemented by a coveted role in what was perhaps the most anticipated film of the decade, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), the first prequel to George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy. Jackson followed through on his leading man potential with a popular remake of Gordon Parks' seminal 1971 blaxploitation flick Shaft. Despite highly publicized squabbling between Jackson and director John Singleton, the film was a successful blend of homage, irony, and action; it became one of the rare character-driven hits in the special effects-laden summer of 2000.From hard-case Shaft to fragile as glass, Jackson once again hoodwinked audiences by playing against his usual super-bad persona in director M. Night Shyamalan's eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable (2000). In his role as Bruce Willis' brittle, frail antithesis, Jackson proved that though he can talk trash and break heads with the best of them, he's always compelling to watch no matter what the role may be. Next taking a rare lead as a formerly successful pianist turned schizophrenic on the trail of a killer in the little-seen The Caveman's Valentine, Jackson turned in yet another compelling and sympathetic performance. Following an instance of road rage opposite Ben Affleck in Changing Lanes (2002), Jackson stirred film geek controversy upon wielding a purple lightsaber in the eagerly anticipated Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones. Despite rumors that the color of the lightsaber may have had some sort of mythical undertone, Jackson laughingly assured fans that it was a simple matter of his suggesting to Lucas that a purple lightsaber would simply "look cool," though he was admittedly surprised to see that Lucas had obliged him Jackson eventually saw the final print. A few short months later filmgoers would find Jackson recruiting a muscle-bound Vin Diesel for a dangerous secret mission in the spy thriller XXX.Jackson reprised his long-standing role as Mace Windu in the last segment of George Lucas's Star Wars franchise to be produced, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). It (unsurprisingly) grossed almost four hundred million dollars, and became that rare box-office blockbuster to also score favorably (if not unanimously) with critics; no less than Roger Ebert proclaimed it "spectacular." Jackson co-headlined 2005's crime comedy The Man alongside Eugene Levy and 2006's Joe Roth mystery Freedomland with Julianne Moore and Edie Falco, but his most hotly-anticipated release at the time of this writing is August 2006's Snakes on a Plane, a by-the-throat thriller about an assassin who unleashes a crate full of vipers onto a aircraft full of innocent (and understandably terrified) civilians. Produced by New Line Cinema on a somewhat low budget, the film continues to draw widespread buzz that anticipates cult status. Black Snake Moan, directed by Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow) dramatizes the relationship between a small-town girl (Christina Ricci) and a blues player (Jackson). The picture is slated for release in September 2006 with Jackson's Shaft collaborator, John Singleton, producing.Jackson would spend the ensuing years appearing in a number of films, like Home of the Brave, Resurrecting the Champ, Lakeview Terrace, Django Unchained, and the Marvel superhero franchise films like Thor, Iron Man, and The Avengers, playing superhero wrangler Nick Fury.

Trivia: Beautiful N'Bushe Wright started out as a dancer, trained at the prestigious Alvin Ailey Dance Center and the Martha Graham School of Dance, but then switched to acting, enrolling at Stella Adler's studio. Within a year, Wright was starring in Anthony Drazan's Zebrahead (1992). That year, she won the recurring role of Claudia, a black civil rights activist fighting for equal opportunities in education in the acclaimed but short-lived NBC television drama I'll Fly Away. She received positive reviews for her moving portrayal of the drug-addicted older sister of the title protagonist in Boaz Yakin's Fresh (1994). The following year, Wright played an idealistic Black Panther in the Hughes Brothers Dead Presidents (1995). A native of New York City, she is the daughter of jazzman Suleiman-Marim and a Board of Education psychologist. Wright attended the Manhattan High School for the Performing Arts.

Trivia: Actor Yul Vázquez fit the bill for Hispanic or generalized ethnic roles in Hollywood productions, but worked to some degree against the grain by seeking out some of the more atypical and offbeat assignments within this type. He debuted in the Arne Glimcher-directed period musical drama The Mambo Kings (1992) -- as a member of the 1950s band at the center of the story -- then followed it up with bit parts and supporting roles in big-screen productions including Fresh (1994), Nick of Time (1995), Bad Boys II (2003), and War of the Worlds (2005), as well as occasional guest appearances on such series programs as Seinfeld and Law & Order. In 2007, Vázquez joined the cast of Ridley Scott's period crime melodrama American Gangster, alongside Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.

Trivia: Made his film debut in the 1994 crime drama Fresh, which co-starred Samuel L. Jackson.Is perhaps best known for his NAACP Image Award-nominated performance as Otis Williams in the 1998 television miniseries, The Temptations.Earned his first producing credit on the 2008 film Welcome to Los Feliz.Lent his voice to the 2012 video game Far Cry 3, playing Dennis Rodgers.Teaches a class to help aspiring actors hone their craft.

Trivia: A mainstay of the independent cinema scene throughout the 1990s, actor Guillermo Diaz spent the decade amassing a sizable resume with such films as Party Girl (1995), Girls Town (1996), and Nowhere (1997). A native of New York City, Diaz made his major screen debut with a small role in the acclaimed urban drama Fresh (1994). He had his first substantial performance as Parker Posey's DJ roommate in Party Girl, Daisy von Scherler Mayer's hit directorial debut, and went on to do supporting work in a diverse series of films. One of Diaz's most memorable portrayals was that of LaMiranda, one of the drag queen protagonists of Nigel Finch's Stonewall (1995), a drama based upon the historical 1969 Stonewall riot that launched the modern gay rights movement. In addition to his screen work, Diaz has also appeared on various TV shows, including E.R. and Law & Order.

Trivia: Of Italian/Syrian heritage, Pittsburgh native F. Murray Abraham attended the University of Texas, then studied acting under Uta Hagen in New York. The peripatetic Abraham made his stage debut in a Los Angeles production of Ray Bradbury's The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, and, shortly before reaching the age of 29, made his New York bow in The Fantasticks. An archetypal example of the "working actor," Abraham managed for more than ten years to make a good living at his craft without ever truly achieving fame. Appearing on television in everything from All in the Family to Kojak, he was seen on several commercials, including a now-famous spot for Fruit of the Loom underwear. His big-screen roles include 1975's The Sunshine Boys (a garage mechanic); 1976's All the President's Men (one of the arresting officers at the Watergate Hotel); 1976's The Ritz (a gay bathhouse patron); and 1978's The Big Fix (a fugitive '60s activist). Abraham's "overnight" stardom came about in 1984, when he was cast as the covetous Antonio Salieri in Amadeus, and his brilliant, bravura performance won him an Oscar. Abraham remained busy throughout the 1980s and '90s, appearing in such efforts as The Name of the Rose (1986), in which he played a 14th century monk deliberately made up to look like a "living gargoyle," and the otherwise awful Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), in an uncredited, albeit pivotal, role of a prosecuting attorney. One of the most versatile actors in the business, Abraham has nonetheless never quite escaped the long shadow cast by his unforgettable portrayal of Salieri. Indeed, in Arnold Schwarzenegger's genre spoof The Last Action Hero, Abraham was pinpointed as the mystery murderer because he looked just like "the guy that killed Mozart." Once again hamming it up in that same year's National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Abraham frequently alternated big-budget Hollywood fare and more low-key, performance driven dramas and comedies through the remainder of the decade. While appearances in such films as Mimic (1997) and Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) kept Abraham a familiar face to a new generation of moviegoers, roles in such small screen efforts as Dead Man's Walk (1996) and the following year's The Color of Justice allowed him a venue to display his true skills. In 1995 Abraham portrayed famed gangster Al Capone in not one but two films; Dillinger and Capone and Baby Face Nelson. Heading into the new millennium with roles in Finding Forrester and 13 Ghosts, Abraham appeared alongside an impressive cast in The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Later schlocking it up in the nature run amuck flicks Blood Monkey and Shark Swarm, the longtime actor subsequently proved he was still as versatile as ever while gravitating toward television with roles on such popular shows as Bored to Death, Louie, and The Good Wife, as well as the made-for-TV fantasy Beauty and the Beast.