Trivia: Arguably the top screen comedian of the 1990s, Canadian-born entertainer Jim Carrey has combined equal parts of his idol Jerry Lewis, his spiritual ancestor Harry Ritz, and the loose-limbed Ray Bolger into a gleefully uninhibited screen image that is uniquely his own.Carrey's life wasn't always a barrel of laughs; he was born on January 17, 1962, into a peripatetic household that regularly ran the gamut from middle-class comfort to abject poverty. Not surprisingly, Carrey became a classic overachiever, excelling in academics while keeping his classmates in stitches with his wild improvisations and elastic facial expressions. His comedy club debut at age 16 was a dismal failure, but Carrey had already resolved not to be beaten down by life's disappointments (as his father, a frustrated musician, had been). By age 22, he was making a good living as a standup comic, and was starring on the short-lived sitcom The Duck Factory -- a series which curiously did little to take advantage of its star's uncanny physical dexterity. Throughout the 1980s, Carrey appeared in supporting roles in such films as Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and Earth Girls are Easy (1990). Full television stardom came Carrey's way in 1990 as the resident "white guy" on Keenan Ivory Wayans' Fox TV comedy In Living Color. The most popular of the comedian's many characterizations on the program was the grotesquely disfigured Fire Marshal Bill, whose dubious safety tips brought down the wrath of real-life fire prevention groups -- and also earned Carrey the ultimate accolade of being imitated by other comics. 1994 proved to be "The Year of Carrey," with the release of three top-grossing comedy films to his credit: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber. By the end of the year, Carrey was commanding seven to ten million dollars per picture. In 1995, the actor/comedian took over for Robin Williams as The Riddler in the blockbuster film Batman Forever, and, in 1996, he tried his hand at a darker and more menacing role as a maniacal cable repairman in The Cable Guy. The film, and Carrey's at-times frightening performance, received decidedly mixed reviews from critics and audiences. Despite the generally negative response to the film, Carrey still retained an interest in branching out into more dramatic roles. Following a return to all-out comedy in Liar, Liar (1997) as a chronically dishonest attorney, Carrey explored new territory with his lead role in the highly acclaimed The Truman Show (1998), Peter Weir's eerie comedy drama about the perils of all-consuming media manipulation. Critical respect in hand, Carrey returned to comedy of a different sort with the lead role in Milos Forman's Man on the Moon (1999), a much-anticipated biopic of the legendary comic Andy Kaufman. Although the film boasted a powerhouse performance from Carrey, it earned less than stellar reviews and did poor business at the box office. Such was the strength of the actor's portrayal, however, that his exclusion from the Best Actor nominations at that year's Academy Awards was a source of protest for a number of industry members. Carrey returned to straight comedy the following year with the Farrelly brothers' Me, Myself & Irene, in which he starred as a cop with a split personality, both of whom are in love with the same woman (Renée Zellweger). Though that film fared the least successful of the Farrellys' efforts to that point, Carrey's anarchic persona was given seemingly free range and the result was his most unhinged role since The Mask. That same year, he assumed the lead role in Ron Howard's Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, raking in the money at the box-office and receiving a Golden Globe nomination despite widespread critical-contempt for the film. Continuing to seek acceptance as a skilled dramatist, Carrey next appeared in the 2001 box-office bomb The Majestic.Undeterred by the failure of The Majestic, Carrey returned again to both comedy and box-office success with 2003's Bruce Almighty. After handily proving that his power as a big-screen star was very much intact, Carrey wasted no time switching gears once again as he embarked on his most ambitious project to date, the 2004 mind-bending romantic-dramedy Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Scripted by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry, the film garnered rave reviews and featured what was arguably Carrey's most subtly complex and subdued performance to date.Carrey's cartooney presence on screen would make him a natural fit for the kids' movie Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events in 2004, as well as other family films over the coming years like A Christmas Carol and Mr. Popper's Penguins. The actor would continue to explore dramatic roles, however, such as the dark thriller The Number 23 and the critically acclaimed I Love You, Phillip Morris.

Trivia: Morgan Freeman has enjoyed an impressive and varied career on stage, television, and screen. It is a career that began in the mid-'60s, when Freeman appeared in an off-Broadway production of The Niggerlovers and with Pearl Bailey in an all-African-American Broadway production of Hello, Dolly! in 1968. He went on to have a successful career both on and off-Broadway, showcasing his talents in everything from musicals to contemporary drama to Shakespeare. Before studying acting, the Memphis-born Freeman attended Los Angeles Community College and served a five-year stint with the Air Force from 1955 to 1959. After getting his start on the stage, he worked in television, playing Easy Reader on the PBS children's educational series The Electric Company from 1971 through 1976. During that period, Freeman also made his movie debut in the lighthearted children's movie Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow? (1971). Save for his work on the PBS show, Freeman's television and feature film appearances through the '70s were sporadic, but in 1980, he earned critical acclaim for his work in the prison drama Brubaker. He gained additional recognition for his work on the small screen with a regular role on the daytime drama Days of Our Lives from 1982 to 1984. Following Brubaker, Freeman's subsequent '80s film work was generally undistinguished until he played the dangerously emotional pimp in Street Smart (1987) and earned his first Oscar nomination. With the success of Street Smart, Freeman's film career duly took off and he appeared in a string of excellent films that began with the powerful Clean and Sober (1988) and continued with Driving Miss Daisy (1989), in which Freeman reprised his Obie-winning role of a dignified, patient Southern chauffeur and earned his second Oscar nomination for his efforts. In 1989, he also played a tough and cynical gravedigger who joins a newly formed regiment of black Union soldiers helmed by Matthew Broderick in Glory. The acclaim he won for that role was replicated with his portrayal of a high school principal in that same year's Lean on Me.Freeman constitutes one of the few African-American actors to play roles not specifically written for African-Americans, as evidenced by his work in such films as Kevin Costner's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), in which he played Robin's sidekick, and Clint Eastwood's revisionist Western Unforgiven (1992). In 1993, Freeman demonstrated his skills on the other side of the camera, making his directorial debut with Bopha!, the story of a South African cop alienated from his son by apartheid. The following year, the actor received a third Oscar nomination as an aged lifer in the prison drama The Shawshank Redemption. He went on to do steady work throughout the rest of the decade, turning in memorable performances in films like Seven (1995), in which he played a world-weary detective; Amistad (1997), which featured him as a former slave; Kiss the Girls (1997), a thriller in which he played a police detective; and Deep Impact, a 1998 blockbuster that cast Freeman as the President of the United States. Following an appearance opposite Renee Zellweger in director Neil LaBute's Nurse Betty, Freeman would return to the role of detective Alex Cross in the Kiss the Girls sequel Along Came a Spider (2001). Freeman continued to keep a high profile moving into the new millennium with roles in such thrillers as The Sum of All Fears (2002) and Stephen King's Dreamcatcher, and the popular actor would average at least two films per year through 2004. 2003's Jim Carrey vehicle Bruce Almighty cast Freeman as God (a tall role indeed, and one he inherited from both George Burns and Gene Hackman). The story finds the Supreme Being appearing on Earth and giving Carrey temporary control over the universe - to outrageous comic effect. By the time Freeman appeared opposite Hilary Swank and Clint Eastwood in Eastwood's acclaimed 2004 boxing drama Million Dollar Baby, his reputation as one of Hollywood's hardest-working, most-respected actors was cemented in place. When Freeman took home the Best Supporting Actor Oscar at the 77th Annual Academy Awards for his performance as the former boxer turned trainer who convinces his old friend to take a scrappy female fighter (Hilary Swank) under his wing, the award was considered overdue given Freeman's impressive body of work.The Oscar reception lifted Freeman to further heights. In summer 2005, Freeman was involved in three of the biggest blockbusters of the year, including War of the Worlds, Batman Begins and March of the Penguins. He joined the cast of the first picture as the foreboding narrator who tells of the destruction wrought by aliens upon the Earth. The Batman Begins role represented the first in a renewed franchise (the second being 2008's The Dark Knight), with the actor playing Lucius Fox, a technology expert who equips Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) with his vast assemblage of gadgetry. Freeman also provided narration for the most unpredictable smash of the year, the nature documentary March of the Penguins.That fall, Miramax's drama An Unfinished Life cast Freeman in a difficult role as Mitch, a bear attack victim reduced to near-paraplegia, living on a derelict western ranch. The picture was shelved for two years; it arrived in cinemas practically stillborn, and many critics turned their noses up at it. After a brutal turn as a sociopathic mob boss in Paul McGuigan's Lucky Number Slevin (2006), Freeman reprised his turn as God in the 2007 Bruce Almighty sequel Evan Almighty; the high-budgeted picture flopped, but Freeman emerged unscathed. Versatile as ever, he then opted for a much different genre and tone with a key role in the same year's detective thriller Gone, Baby, Gone. As written and directed by Ben Affleck (and adapted from the novel by Dennis Lehane) the film wove the tale of two detectives searching for a missing four-year-old in Boston's underbelly. He returned to the Batman franchise in The Dark Knight, a film that broke box-office records, in 2008, and he would stick with the franchise for its final installment, The Dark Knight Rises, in 2012. Freeman would remain a top tier actor in years to come, appearing in such films as Red, Invictus (which saw him playing Nelson Mandela), Conan the Barbarian, and The Magic of Belle Isle.

Trivia: Jennifer Aniston makes a good case for proving that acting talent can be absorbed by osmosis. From her father John Aniston's stardom on Days of Our Lives to her godfather Telly Savalas, the actress was surrounded by plenty of inspiration from an early age. As Aniston attended the Rudolph Steiner School as a child, she was interested in many forms of art and proved to be a talented painter, eventually having one of her pieces displayed at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. Acting also appealed to her, and became her primary focus after graduating from New York's prestigious High School for the Performing Arts in 1987. She took roles in off-Broadway productions such as For Dear Life and Dancing on Checker's Grave before she began honing her skills in television acting with appearances on shows like Quantum Leap and Herman's Head. Before long, Aniston's film and television résumé had grown into a laundry list of one-time appearances, short-lived series, and B-level movies. By 1994, the handful of bit parts and failed shows on Aniston's résumé had established her as a working actress but created little foreshadowing about her future as a star. Her upcoming audition for the role of Monica Gellar in a pilot for a sitcom at that point titled "Friends Like These," however, would prove to be quite auspicious. The role in question would eventually be filled by Courteney Cox, as Aniston changed her mind and opted to try out for Rachel Green, a young suburbanite living on her own for the first time and working as a coffee-shop waitress in New York City. The rest, as they say, is history -- "Friends Like These" would become Friends, the hugest sitcom in years, quickly making Aniston America's sweetheart. Friends' obsessive following churned up a particular interest in Aniston's signature hairstyle. The shag cut known as "The Rachel" could be seen on heads all over the country. Even as the fad fell out of popularity in the salons, Aniston's star continued to rise. Still adored on one of the most popular television shows in history, she moved to the big screen in romantic comedies like She's the One (1996), Picture Perfect, 'Til There Was You (1997), and The Object of My Affection (1998). In the late '90s, she also began dating actor Brad Pitt. Talk of Pitt's recently ended engagement to actress Gwyneth Paltrow quickly dissipated as "Gwen and Brad" turned to "Jen and Brad." The two young stars became the ultimate Hollywood power couple and celebrated with a star-studded wedding in July of 2000. The new millennium found Aniston at the top of her game. Raking in a million dollars an episode for her role on the still popular Friends and married to one of the hottest men in Hollywood, she seemed to have it all. Secure in her A-List position, she took the opportunity to work on low-profile films and cult hits, such as 1999's Office Space, and 2000's Rock Star. Aniston's talent for dramatic roles was finally given a proper outlet when she played the lead in 2002's The Good Girl, which found critics surprised and impressed with her range. She made no attempt to shy away from comedy, however, starring alongside Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty, and Ben Stiller in 2004's Along Came Polly. In 2004, as Friends began what would be its final season, Aniston's immediate future was filled with tremendous turmoil and change. Only a week into 2005, she and husband Brad Pitt legally separated, surrounded by rumors that Pitt had sparked a serious romantic connection with his Mr. and Mrs. Smith co-star Angelina Jolie. The media leapt onto the story, desperate to sate the public's curiosity about how such a seemingly perfect union could come to an end. Rumors swilled about the circumstances of their break-up, citing everything from disagreements over children to taste in interior decorating. Aniston's steady poise and willowy figure created a division in the public perception between herself and the more curvaceous and risqué Jolie.Media frenzy buzzed around the breakup long after she and Pitt officially filed for divorce in March. Vendors even started selling T-shirts reading "Team Aniston" and "Team Jolie," though most of the public seemed to side with the slighted Aniston. The actress plowed ahead, however, marking 2005 by starring with Clive Owen in the gritty thriller Derailed and with Shirley MacLaine and Kevin Costner in the comedy Rumor Has It.... 2006 brought the ensemble film Friends With Money, as well as another movie that would help put her divorce in the past...in more ways then one. While Pitt made headlines by becoming legal guardian of Jolie's adopted children and father to a baby Jolie gave birth to in Namibia, Aniston starred alongside comedy and character actor extraordinaire Vince Vaughn in The Break-Up. The comedy cast the two as an ex-couple going to war over which of them should keep their beloved condo, but the real life connection between the actors was quite the opposite. Though reluctant to speak about their relationship publicly, Aniston and Vaughn appeared quite clearly to have become a couple, bolstering the success of The Break-Up, and seeming to put Aniston's fans at ease regarding her personal life, even after she and Vaughan amicably split later that year. By 2007, Aniston's public image had left her divorce in the past, and was ready for new territory.Aniston found her next success in the 2008 tearjerking pet-comedy Marley & Me, opposite Owen Wilson. As the 2000's gave way to the 2010's, Aniston would all but completely cement her position as the number one actress in Hollywood when it comes to broadly appealing comedies, winning over audience after audience with He's Just Not That Into You, Love Happens, The Switch, Just Go With It, Horrible Bosses, and Wanderlust. She won rave reviews for her work in the film Cake in 2015, earning her a Golden Globe nomination.

Trivia: Primarily a supporting and character actor, Philip Baker Hall has also played the occasional lead on stage, screen, and television. Hall made his film debut playing a priest in Cowards (1970). He then appeared in three television series during the mid-'70s, including Man From Atlantis (1977). He became best known during the '80s for his portrayal of Richard Nixon in Robert Altman's brilliant Secret Honor (1984), for which Hall also wrote the screenplay. Though the film garnered mixed reviews, the actor's portrayal of Nixon was hailed as a tour de force. Through the '80s and '90s, Hall continued to work steadily in films and on television; his talents were perhaps best, and most famously, utilized by director Paul Thomas Anderson, who cast Hall in substantial roles in Hard Eight (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), and Magnolia (1999), the last of which saw the actor in fine form as a game show host dying of cancer. Hall also had a memorable turn as a private investigator who is far too convinced of the infallibility of his own instincts in Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999); that same year, he gave a strong performance as CBS producer Don Hewitt in Michael Mann's The Insider. Clearly, Hall had no intention of slowing down, and he would spend the next several years remaining extremely active, appearing in such films as The Matador, Rush Hour 3, The Lodger, 50/50, and Mr. Popper's Penguins.

Trivia: Tall and athletic actress Catherine Bell was born in London, England, but moved to Los Angeles with her mother when she was still a kid. Intending to study pre-Med in college, she dropped out to pursue a modeling career in Japan. After doing some commercials, she returned to L.A. to made guest star appearances on TV shows and do minor film work. She was Isabella Rosellini's nude body double for Death Becomes Her in 1992, leading her to meet her future husband (Adam Deason) on the film's set. After making a short guest appearance on the NBC show JAG, she wrote a letter to the show's producers expressing her interest in it. In 1996, JAG moved to CBS and she joined the cast as Major Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie, sidekick to Lt. Commander Harmon "Harm" Rabb (David James Elliott). As a real-life kickboxer and snowboarder, her athletic skills lead the way for physically demanding parts in the action movies Men of War, Crash Dive, and Black Thunder. In 2000 she starred in the sci-fi thriller Thrill Seekers with Casper Van Dien, and in 2003 she briefly moved to comedies for Bruce Almighty. In 2007 she was cast in the TV series Army Wives and in 2011 she starred in the thriller Last Man Standing.

Trivia: Edgy female comic Lisa Ann Walter may look like your wholesome, All-American former high-school prom queen, but don't be fooled by appearances -- she can work blue with the best of them. As a featured performer on the all-female standup special The Naughty Show, Walter brought down the house with her raucous stage presence. Of course, standup is only one of her many talents, and Walter has also appeared on television in episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Nip/Tuck, and Watch Over Me, and in such high-profile feature-film releases as Bruce Almighty, Shall We Dance?, and War of the Worlds. Walter's real-life role as a mother provided much of the fodder for her live comedy act, and the Pennsylvania native rose through the ranks of the New York City standup circuit to become one of the hottest female comics in the country. While Walter would have to tone town her outspoken ways for the small screen, she became an instant hit with audiences as one of the judges on the competitive ABC reality show The Next Best Thing: Who Is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator? in 2007.

Trivia: Comedic actress Nora Dunn has frequently played acerbic character roles in films and TV as foils to generally likeable leads. She was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990, when she left due to the controversial episode with musical guest Sinead O'Connor and host Andrew Dice Clay. During her five-year run, she played several talk show hosts and was one of the Sweeney Sisters, along with Jan Hooks. She made her film debut in Mike Nichols' Working Girl (1988) as a jaded office worker, followed by Savage Steve Holland's How I Got Into College (1989) as an SAT coach. Her next few films were less successful: Stepping Out, Born Yesterday, and I Love Trouble. She turned back to TV and joined the cast of the NBC drama Sisters as the lesbian TV producer Norma Lear, followed by the CBS comedy The Nanny as Dr. Reynolds. In the late '90s, she had a few small yet funny roles in the more successful films The Last Supper, Bulworth, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and Three Kings. She also used her vocal talent to provide voices for the animated TV shows Futurama, The Wild Thornberrys, and Histeria! In 2001, she played the mom in Max Keeble's Big Move, a fashion designer in Zoolander, and Miss Madness in Heartbreakers. Her 2003 projects include the independent comedy Die Mommie Die, the Jim Carrey feature Bruce Almighty, and the romantic comedy Laws of Attraction.

Trivia: Delivered the catchphrase "Yes I am" in Bud Light ads in the early '90s. Sang and played guitar in the pop-rock band Love Kit, producing three albums in the late '90s. Nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award, for excellence in Chicago theater, for his role in The Wizards of Quiz. Played tech expert Livingston Dell in Ocean's Eleven, and reprised the role in the two sequels. Played Ronnie Haxon, the second husband of Anne Heche's character, on the HBO series Hung.

Trivia: A former member of Andy Warhol's Factory and an active member in 1960s New York avant-garde theater, actress Sally Kirkland is best remembered in film for playing a famous Czech actress who is forced to lead a degrading life of anonymity in New York in Anna (1987). The daughter of a fashion editor of Life magazine and a wealthy scrap iron vendor, the tall, slender Kirkland started out as a Vogue model and then studied at the Actor's Studio with Lee Strassberg and Uta Hagen. She launched her acting career off-Broadway, but didn't make much impact until she appeared nude and tied to a chair for 45 minutes in the drama Sweet Eros. By 1964, Kirkland was deeply involved in the Big Apple's avant-garde movement and was also an active drug user until an attempted suicide frightened her into cleaning up her life through yoga and painting. As an actress, she next involved herself with Warhol's clique, appearing in several underground films, notably The Thirteen Most Beautiful Women. Though much of her subsequent film appearances have been in low-budget and exploitation films, Kirkland has had a few shining moments as a supporting actress in such movies as The Sting (1973) and Private Benjamin (1980). For her work in Anna, Kirkland received an Academy Award nomination. In addition to her acting career, Kirkland is a minister of the New Age Church of the Movement of Inner Spiritual Awareness.

Trivia: One of America's foremost song stylists, Tony Bennett has enjoyed a career that began in the late 1930s and finds him still entertaining audiences well into the 21st century. Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in Astoria, Queens, on August 3, 1926, Bennett was a music fan from an early age. He began singing professionally when he was just 13 years old, working part-time as a singing waiter to help support his family after the death of his father. In 1946, after serving in World War II, Bennett began studying singing at the American Theater Wing under the G.I. Bill and developed a strong vocal technique and a sense of phrasing that owed a debt of influence to a number of great jazz instrumentalists. In 1950, Bennett was signed to Columbia Records and scored the first in a series of hit records that would last into the mid-1960s. In 1956, Bennett hosted a summer replacement television program, The Tony Bennett Show, and he was a frequent guest on the leading television variety shows of the day. Bennett made his acting debut in 1959 in a guest role on Danny Thomas' successful situation comedy Make Room for Daddy, and in 1963 he appeared in a five-episode story arc on the drama series 77 Sunset Strip. But his big-screen debut in the 1966 potboiler The Oscar convinced him that he wasn't cut out to be an actor, and it would be almost 30 years before he returned to the screen, playing a guest-starring role on the situation comedy Evening Shade. As tastes in popular music changed in the 1960s, Bennett's career went into a slump that lasted until the end of the 1970s. But with his son Danny Bennett serving as his manager, he began making a remarkable comeback in the 1980s, recording a number of acclaimed theme albums, making frequent appearances on Late Night With David Letterman, voicing himself on a 1990 episode of The Simpsons, and making a 1994 appearance on MTV Unplugged that confirmed he'd once again broken through to the pop audience. Bennett's music has been used in dozens of notable films and television shows, including The Last Picture Show, Goodfellas, JFK, Swingers, and My Best Friend's Wedding. He became the subject of a 2012 documentary, The Zen of Bennett, which chronicled the recording of his album Duets II.

Trivia: Actress Mary Pat Gleason debuted onscreen in the early '80s (with a bit part in the 1983 Rodney Dangerfield comedy Easy Money) and tackled a series of character portrayals in a variety of genres over the following decades. She specialized in playing dowdy, overweight, and slightly assertive matronly types, including waitresses, nurses, and librarians. Gleason's extensive resumé includes the films Soapdish (1991), Speechless (1994), Bruce Almighty (2003), and Moving McAllister (2007).

Trivia: Missouri native Annie Wersching first became interested in show business by studying traditional Irish dance, competing with the St. Louis Celtic Stepdancers on a national level. She went on to attend Millikin University, where she studied musical theater, and began her TV career a short time later, making a handful of minor appearances on shows like Star Trek: Enterprise. In 2007, she landed the recurring role of Amelia Joffe on the daytime soap General Hospital, but her big break came 2008, when she joined the cast of the hit series 24 as FBI agent Renee Walker.

Trivia: Possessing a sort of surreal, outlandish, and childish comic persona that is only enhanced by his deceptively straight-laced appearance, comic performer Steve Carell first gained a faithful following thanks to an enduring run as a correspondent on the popular Comedy Central news satire series The Daily Show. Though Carell had been performing on the small screen in such shows as The Dana Carvey Show and Over the Top since the early '90s, it was his grating but hilariously obnoxious reports on The Daily Show that truly made him a talent to watch.A native of Concord, MA, and an alumni of Chicago's famed Second City comedy troupe, Carell gained early experience with stints at the Windy City's Goodman and Wisdom Bridge Theaters. Following his feature debut in the 1991 comedy Curly Sue, Carell made a name for himself in television as a writer/performer on The Dana Carvey Show. In the years that followed, he would frequently alternate between film and television, and he continued to do so after joining the cast of The Daily Show in 1999. Sharp-eared television viewers would recognize Carell as the voice of crime-fighter Gary (a role that he played opposite Daily Show co-star Stephen Colbert) on Saturday Night Live's popular TV Funhouse segment "The Ambiguously Gay Duo." Following roles in such little-seen features as Tomorrow Night and Suits, Carell would return to the small screen for a key supporting role in ex-Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus' short-lived sitcom Watching Ellie.In 2003, Carell nearly stole the show from comic megastar Jim Carrey with his role as an obnoxious television newscaster in the heavenly comedy Bruce Almighty, before once again stepping into a faux television studio to portray cerebrally challenged weather forecaster Brick Tamland in the 2004 Will Ferrell vehicle Anchorman. Carell then stepped out of the newsroom and into cubicle-land for the lead in NBC's American remake of the popular British sitcom The Office, for which he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2005. Carell also made a brief but indelible cameo opposite Anchorman co-star Ferrell in the big-screen adaptation of Bewitched.Carell's Anchorman colleagues also aided him in realizing his breakout role, later that same summer: the hapless innocent title character of The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Written by Carell and co-scripted and directed by Anchorman producer Judd Apatow, the raunchy-yet-sweet comedy had an inauspicious August release, yet its bawdy, adult-oriented laughs resonated with much of the same audience that made The Wedding Crashers an R-rated success story just a few weeks prior. Like Ferrell before him, Carell suddenly found himself in the enviable position of being able to pick and choose from a number of high-priced, high-profile comedic starring roles, among them the Bruce Almighty sequel Evan Almighty, as well as Get Smart, Horton Hears a Who!, and Dinner For Schmucks. Carrel would continue to pepper his resume with low-key roles as well, however, appearing in dramedies like Dan in Real Life and Crazy, Stupid, Love.He continued to work steadily in smaller films like The Way Way Back and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, as well as sequels like Despicable Me 2 and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. In 2014 Carell picked up the first Oscar nomination of his career for playing against type as the billionaire John DuPont in Bennett Miller's true-crime psychological drama Foxcatcher.

Trivia: Played three varsity sports in high school. Coached basketball camp at Duke University while he attended graduate school. Planned on becoming an investment banker after college but a drama teacher persuaded him to pursue acting instead. Found steady work in movies and TV before landing a recurring role as a sports agent on The Game in 2006. Is the voice of Bolin on The Legend of Korra.