Trivia: A dynamic and handsome young actor who burst onto the screen with a fearless performance as a 15-year-old prep-school student who falls in love with his stepmother in Tadpole (2002), Aaron Stanford was probably better known for his role as comic-book fire starter Pyro in director Bryan Singer's X2: X-Men United in 2003. Born to a publishing executive father and an English professor mother in Westford, MA, Stanford and his family remained in the small town for most of his youth. Following his first professional theater role in a 1995 production of Equus, the burgeoning actor opted to expand his skills at Rutgers University, from which he graduated magna cum laude. Continuing his studies abroad at the London Academy of Theater, Stanford returned to the States to land a recurring role in the weekly television drama Third Watch in 2001. As a result of his feature debut in Tadpole, Stanford was cited by both Variety and Entertainment Weekly as a young actor to watch. Supporting roles in Woody Allen's Hollywood Ending and Spike Lee's 25th Hour (both 2002) were quick to follow, although it was the following year's X2 that found Stanford gaining his most exposure. On the heels of that film, he began preparing for roles in Spartan and Rick in 2003, and Winter Solstice (2004).

Trivia: Studied ballet with John Landovsky of the Hawaiian State Ballet. Performed with Ballet Hawaii in the Nutcracker. Was an apprentice with the San Francisco Ballet. Made her motion picture debut in Center Stage in 2001.

Trivia: A native of Manhattan, Puerto Rican-American actor Kirk Acevedo attended and earned his BFA from SUNY Purchase, then founded a theatrical ensemble in the Big Apple christened The Rorschach Group. Acevedo racked up some of his most prestigious assignments in his early years on stage, which included roles in the plays Roberto Zucco (1995) and The Tooth of Crime (1997), and also made guest appearances on series programs including Law & Order and New York Undercover. He received the most attention, however, for his multiseason turn as Latino gang member and prison inmate Miguel Alvarez on all the seasons of HBO's gritty prison drama Oz (1997-2003). After additional scattered appearances on Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Trial By Jury, as well as roles in low-profile films including Paradise (2004) and 5 Up, 2 Down (2005), Acevedo returned to television in a big way. He played the roles of FBI Agent Charlie Francis on Lost creator J.J. Abrams' Fox science-fiction series Fringe (2008), and Detective Luisito Calderon on the prime time proceedural Prime Suspect (2011).

Trivia: Leading German actress Barbara Sukowa was a protégée of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who made her feature-film debut in his drama Lola (1981). Prior to that, she had appeared in Fassbinder's made-for-television movie Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980). Following the filmmaker's death in 1982, Sukowa went on to act in the occasional international production, notably Lars von Trier's Zentropa (1991).

Trivia: Portrayed Anne Shirley in a high-school production of Anne of Green Gables; later voiced a role in an animated Anne of Green Gables series. Studied pole dancing for her role in the 2012 film My Awkward Sexual Adventure. Earned the Birks Canadian Diamond, awarded to Canadian actresses who are able to find international success. Won a Golden Maple award for Newcomer of the Year in a TV Series Broadcast in the U.S. for her roles in 12 Monkeys and Schitt's Creek.

Trivia: Worked as a ticket taker at The Second City, Northwest before auditioning and joining the crew in Chicago and as part of their touring productions. Trained with Improv Olympic. Married his wife in the middle of Times Square. Formed his own theatre company, Moveable Feast. Started his own production company, Lazy Cougar.

Trivia: Was cast in his first play, a production of Philadelphia Here I Come, four days before the opening, replacing the original actor. Received the New York Emerging Talent Award at the 2011 Big Apple Film Festival for his work in the film The Pill. Is a founding member of Stage 13, a theater company in New York City.

Trivia: A performer who succinctly defines the term "character actor," Tom Noonan has appeared in over 20 feature films and numerous TV series and movies, and has also enjoyed a career as a playwright, director, and acting professor. A 1973 graduate of the esteemed Yale acting program, Noonan began his career as a guitarist and composer, working with such downtown theater troupes as Mabou Mines and The Wooster Group (which has included fellow actor Willem Dafoe among its ranks) until he found his niche in film and TV in the early '80s.Noonan began to find work as a premier villain in such films as Manhunter ([1986] the first film to feature the infamous Hannibal Lecter), The Monster Squad (1987), Robocop 2 (1990), and Last Action Hero (1993), the latter few representing Hollywood action-adventure pictures that helped subsidize smaller projects that the actor wished to take on. One of these projects was the 1994 Sundance Film Festival sleeper What Happened Was..., a startling examination of a truly awkward first date based on Noonan's play produced the previous year. The film, which Noonan wrote, directed, and starred in opposite Karen Sillas, won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance that year, as well as the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. That same year, the film was released on the arthouse circuit and garnered accolades for Noonan, including several Ten Best citations from critics. What Happened Was... was featured in Scenario Magazine in the July 1995 issue as one of its featured screenplays.Noonan continued to appear in such mainstream fare as Michael Mann's cops-and-robbers epic Heat (1995) and more television offerings, including a memorable stint on the popular sci-fi show The X-Files. He then made a film called The Wife, based on his play Wifey, co-starring Wallace Shawn, Julie Hagerty, and Karen Young, all holdovers from the stage version, which premiered at his Paradise Theater, a small off-off-Broadway space in New York's East Village. This film was also accepted into the Sundance Film Festival and was (barely) released theatrically, not enjoying the same success as his 1994 play to film.Noonan is the author of several collections of fiction, as well as an unpublished novel titled Must Have. A former National Endowment of the Arts scholar, he has long used New York City as his home and professional base, and has taught classes in acting technique at the Paradise Theater, which for years has been host to original, quirky downtown theatre.

Trivia: Possessing a near-perfect balance of everyman looks and tremendous talent on both stage and screen, actor Zeljko Ivanek has been a key supporting player in feature films since the early '80s. A native of Ljubljana, Yugoslavia (now Slovenia), Ivanek's family moved to the United States in 1960 in order for his father to complete his doctoral research in electronic engineering at Stanford University. Briefly returning to Yugoslavia before settling in Palo Alto, CA, in 1967, it was only a few short years before young Ivanek was pursuing his higher education at Yale. Subsequently accepted at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he continued to refine his passion for acting and the summers of 1978-1980 found him honing his stage skills in the Williamstown Theater Festival in such efforts as Hay Fever and The Front Page. In 1983, Ivanek was nominated for a Tony award for his role in Brighton Beach Memories and it was around this time that he made his first film and television appearances. An early role as a telepathic killer in the 1982 thriller The Sender found Ivanek making a chilling impression, and strong performances in Mass Appeal (1984) and the AIDS drama Our Sons (1991) kept expectations high for the rising star. As his feature credits continued to build, Ivanek began appearing in such popular television series as L.A. Law, Law & Order, The X-Files, and Murder, She Wrote. Though the adjustment from stage to screen was initially daunting for the classically trained actor, once he got accustomed to the change of pace, he adjusted remarkably well. As the '90s rolled on, Ivanek's film credits included such A-list releases as Courage Under Fire (1996), Donnie Brasco (1997), and the John Travolta thriller A Civil Action (1998). It was also around this time that Ivanek embarked on a six-year stint as Governor James Devlin on HBO's acclaimed series Oz. As the millennium turned, so did Ivanek's onscreen career, and his resume seemed to be exclusively built of nothing but high-profile efforts in both film and television. In addition to appearing in Dancer in the Dark (2000), Hannibal (2001), Black Hawk Down (2001), Unfaithful (2002), and Dogville (2003), memorable roles on The Practice and The West Wing kept television audiences glued to their sets. He reteamed with Lars Von Trier for the director's drama Maderlay, and continued his film career in projects such as The Hoax, In Bruges, and Tower Heist, while maintaining a presence on the small-screen with appearances on Damages, Heroes, and Big Love.