Trivia: A familiar face to a nation of television viewers thanks to his role as the more-than-slightly demented father on the popular FOX sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, longtime stage and screen actor Bryan Cranston has had a rich and varied career, lending his talents to everything from anime voice work (Armitage III and Macross Plus) to daytime television (as an original cast member of Loving). His commanding but off-kilter presence and quirky charm have easily provided Cranston with the necessary range to essay such diverse roles, and the longtime actor can always be counted on to inject a healthy dose of personality into his performances, no matter how large or small the role may be. Though the San Fernando Valley native made his television debut as a commercial actor at the age of eight, it wasn't until college that Cranston truly realized his calling as an actor. Following college graduation, Cranston's passion eventually drew him to Daytona Beach, FL, where the burgeoning actor appeared in such community-theater productions as Barefoot in the Park and Death of a Salesman. In 1982, he joined the cast of the then-new soap opera Loving, and though he would only remain with the daytime drama for a short time, appearances in Airwolf and Hill Street Blues, among various other series, found the actor maintaining a notable presence on television. Following a series of supporting feature performances, Cranston moved back to the small screen with a regular role in the 1988 sitcom Raising Miranda. In the years that followed, he would frequently shift between film (Clean Slate) and television (The Louie Show) while supplementing his income with voice-over work for such popular anime series as Armitage III. Supporting performances in such high-profile features as That Thing You Do! and Saving Private Ryan helped to increase the busy actor's recognition factor, and in 1999, Cranston wrote, produced, directed, and starred in his first feature film, a low-key drama entitled Last Chance. Though the film failed to gain much attention, Cranston was soon receiving numerous positive notices for his Emmy-nominated role as the hapless father in the breakout television hit Malcolm in the Middle. His performance alternately eccentric and endearing, Cranston injected the role with the perfect balance of fatherly weirdness and down-to-earth charm, and the series embarked on a healthy run. In the years that followed, Cranston became an increasingly familiar face to television and film viewers, and in addition to offering vocal work for the short-lived animated television series Clerks, he would contribute to such family-friendly fare as 'Twas the Night and The Santa Claus Brothers. After taking the lead in the 2003 made-for-television feature Thanksgiving Family Reunion, Cranston could be spotted opposite screen legend Kirk Douglas in the 2004 drama The Illusion. He appeared in the 2006 miniseries Fallen, and had a bit part in the Oscar nominated Little Miss Sunshine.However, in 2008 his career entered a whole new phase when he began work on the AMC series Breaking Bad, playing a chemistry teacher who becomes a meth dealer. His work on the critically lauded program would earn him four Emmys for Best Actor in a Drama Series (plus another two as a producer on the series). It also made him an in-demand character actor for movies and he worked steadily appearing in projects as radically different as Drive, Larry Crowne, Red Tails, John Carter, and Rock of Ages among many others.In 2014, Cranston made his Broadway debut in the play All The Way, playing President Lyndon Baines Johnson. The role earned him a Tony Award, and he committed to reprising the role for a TV movie. The following year, he played blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo in the film Trumbo (2015), nabbing Cranston his first Academy Award nomination.

Trivia: A graduate of the prestigious Juilliard School, Michael Stuhlbarg began his career on the stage, appearing in Broadway productions like Cabaret, Taking Sides, and The Pillow Man ( for which he earned a Tony award nomination). Stuhlbarg's career also occasionally landed him onscreen, where he made a handful of appearances in films like Body of Lies and Cold Souls. In 2009, he was cast in the lead role as a troubled professor in the Coen Brothers film A Serious Man, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. He played a film historian in Martin Scorsese's Hugo, the time-jumping center of Men in Black 3, and Lew Wasserman in the biopic Hitchcock. On the small screen, he was memorable as the gambler Arnold Rothstein on the HBO period gangster series Boardwalk Empire.

Trivia: Began taking dancing classes at Broadway Bound Theatrical & Dance Center at age 5. Landed the role of Bailey on All My Children before she graduated high school. Studied under Bill Esper at the William Esper Studio.

Trivia: The daughter of a Nigerian businessman and a Scotch tour guide, exotically beautiful British actress Carmen Ejogo grew up in London and won her first part at age 11, but only broke through to international acclaim in 1997, as Eddie Murphy's onscreen paramour in the comic actioner Metro. Later, Ejogo disclosed the full extent of her dramatic range with a skilled portrayal of Sally Hemings -- Thomas Jefferson's mistress -- (a part she inherited from Thandie Newton and others) in the acclaimed television miniseries Sally Hemings: An American Scandal (2000). The crime comedy What's the Worst That Could Happen? (2001), with Danny DeVito and Martin Lawrence, represented a low point, but Ejogo saved face via exemplary supporting work in such pictures as Lackawanna Blues (2005) and The Brave One (2007). In the coming years, Ejogo would find additional success on the small screen, on series like Kidnapped and Chaos.

Trivia: The fifth of 11 children. Attended Southwest Minnesota State University on a football scholarship; tried out for The Crucible after injuries sidelined him. Studied at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco after college. Made his Broadway debut in the play Mastergate in 1989. Received the 2002 Lucille Lortelle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor for the off-Broadway play Four. Supports a scholarship for SMSU, the Isiah Whitlock Jr. Fine Arts Theatre Endowment.

Trivia: Displaying a sort of weary Botticelli beauty and a crisp brand of intelligence, Hope Davis has made a name for herself portraying good women wronged by bad men. Playing such characters in her two breakthrough films, The Daytrippers and Next Stop Wonderland, Davis displayed a remarkable blend of lovable bitterness and cynical charm, endearing herself to legions of art house filmgoers who recognized an unmistakable ring of truth in her performances.Born in Englewood, NJ, Davis had a childhood that was notable in part for her friendship with her neighbor across the street, Mira Sorvino. Davis' first brush with acting came when the two girls -- then eight or nine -- wrote a play and performed it for their neighbors. The actress' next encounter with fame came some years later, in the rather dubious form of her bit part as one of Billy Baldwin's used-and-abused girlfriends in the 1990 film Flatliners. Following a bit role as a French ticket agent in the same year's Home Alone, Davis had yet another dubious brush with fame in Kiss of Death (1995), in a role memorable for the sole reason that it required Davis to be bench-pressed by co-star Nicolas Cage. The following year brought with it more auspicious work in The Daytrippers, an independent comedy in which Davis played the suspicious wife of philandering Stanley Tucci. Co-starring Parker Posey, Liev Schreiber, and Anne Meara, the film was a hit on the independent circuit, but Davis would strike even more indie gold in 1998 with her starring role in Brad Anderson's Next Stop Wonderland. Critics adored her performance as Erin, a nurse recovering from a major -- and bitterly hilarious -- breakup with her activist boyfriend (played with joyful loathsomeness by Philip Seymour Hoffman).By this time, the actress had established a niche for herself in the realm of quirky, independently minded films, and she would continue to appear in similar films over the years, like Mumford, About Schmidt, American Splendor, Proof, Charlie Bartlett, The Lodger, and Synechdoche, New York. Davis would also make succesful runs on the small screen, with Six Degrees, In Treatment, and the HBO mini series Mildred Pierce.

Trivia: Is the daughter of popular Chicago radio personality John Records Landecker. Is the great-granddaughter of lawyer Joseph Welch, an attorney for the Army in the McCarthy hearings who later played a judge in the film Anatomy of a Murder. Attended high school with Anne Heche and was at the same prom one year as Billy Zane. Has performed on stage with Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the Goodman Theatre and Victory Gardens. Considers two of her special skills to be improv and yoga. Was Julia Roberts' voice double on the trailer for Duplicity. Has done hundreds of voice-overs for TV and radio.

Trivia: Scottish actor Tony Curran attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama before gaining notoriety with a prominent role on the BBC series This Life. He would go on to make a name for himself in movies with a sci-fi/fantasy bent, like The 13th Warrior, Blade II, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Beowulf & Grendel, and Ondine. He also gained notoriety in 2010 for his appearance as the mysterious Man in Black in the 2010 thriller The Presence, before signing on for the 2011 action comedy Cat Run.

Trivia: While some may not recognize Margo Martindale's name, many recognize her face. An actress onscreen from the early '90s, Martindale's list of memorable roles is long, and the character actress found a strong niche playing mothers (Million Dollar Baby) grandmothers (Hannah Montana: The Movie), and generally maternal figures (Practical Magic). Martindale even parodied her own typecasting, playing the mother of the title character in the biopic spoof Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. Martindale would continue to act at a furious pace for years to come, appearing in movies like Secretariat, and on shows like Justified and A Gifted Man.

Trivia: As adept at psychological drama as she is at broad physical comedy, Maura Tierney has fashioned one of the more enviable careers in Hollywood, moving with ease between lead and supporting roles on both the big and small screens. The daughter of a prominent Boston politician and a part-time real estate agent, Tierney was born and raised in the city's affluent Hyde Park district. She moved down the coast to attend New York University in the mid-'80s and quit just shy of receiving her diploma in order to join the neighboring Circle in the Square performance school. Despite her love for the city, the burgeoning actress decided to relocate to L.A. in the late '80s to find work. Although her first parts were dead-end bit roles on failed sitcom pilots, Tierney did meet her future husband, actor Billy Morrisette, when they were both fired from the set of a doomed Ralph Macchio series.It was Circle in the Square alumnus Richard Shepard who would give Tierney her first small film role, in his Manhattan-set screwball comedy The Linguini Incident (released in 1992). A lead role in a B-movie parody, Dead Women in Lingerie, did little to advance her career -- the actress has since purged the title from her official CV -- and she continued to toil in minor roles in low-profile TV shows and films before a last-minute casting choice landed her the lead in the sitcom pilot "The Station." Renamed NewsRadio for its March 1995 premiere, the ensemble comedy proved to be Tierney's breakthrough. As the over-achieving news producer Lisa Miller, the actress got a chance to showcase her heretofore unseen comic abilities: sly and ambitious but with a self-deprecating good humor, Tierney evoked a sort of late-millennium Mary Tyler Moore.Her buoyant work in NewsRadio won her meaty supporting roles in the hit comedies Liar Liar (1997) and Forces of Nature (1999); meanwhile, her noteworthy turn in the sleeper Primal Fear (1996) convinced casting directors that she could play heavier roles in films such as Primary Colors (1997) and Instinct (1999). Also during the series' four-year run, Tierney landed the plum role of a single mom who falls for hockey player Bruce Willis in a romantic comedy titled "The Broadway Brawler." After just two weeks' shooting, however, purported "creative differences" brought the project to a permanent halt.A signature leading role still eluding her, Tierney leapt at the opportunity to join the cast of NBC's flagship hour-long drama E.R. in late 1999. As Abby, the OB-GYN nurse working her way through med school, the actress began to nurture what she hoped would be a deeper, more complex character than afforded her in previous vehicles. Meanwhile, Tierney began work on her husband's directorial debut, an independent comedy titled Scotland, P.A. (2001), in which she plays a would-be fast-food matriarch who will stop at nothing to get to the top. Soon after, the actress landed a prime role in Insomnia (2002), director Christopher Nolan's much-anticipated follow-up to his twisty art-house hit Memento (2001). She finished out her run on ER, while still managing to score roles in big-screen fare such as Melvin Goes to Howard, Welcome to Mooseport, Baby Mama, and Semi-Pro.

Trivia: Parents are both Trinidadian. Was born in London; her family moved to Trinidad for five years during her childhood before settling in Toronto. Her parents wanted her to pursue a career in medicine. Studied acting at the Playhouse Acting School in Vancouver, Canada. Formed her own production company, Sugar 'n Spice, with director Maxine Bailey and actor Sharon Lewis in the early '90s.

Trivia: Born on May 20, 1958, in Austin, TX, Matt McCoy would ultimately perform in over 40 different film and television roles from 1985 and throughout the 2000s. Though McCoy took on a few small roles with relative success in Fraternity Vacation (1985) and Weekend Warriors (1986), his most recognizable performance wouldn't come until 1988, when he starred as an intrepid yet bumbling police officer in Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (1988), a role which he would reprise in Police Academy 6: City Under Siege (1989). After the demise of the Police Academy franchise, McCoy went on to star in several television productions, including the acclaimed Miracle Landing (1990), an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and a feature-length television "reunion" of the characters from the Archie comic book series. In the following years, the actor put in solid performances in several moderately well-received movies, perhaps the most notable of which being his role as the unwitting husband in Curtis Hanson's psychological thriller The Hand that Rocks the Cradle. In 1993, McCoy starred alongside Pamela Anderson in her film debut, the erotic drama Snapdragon. Though McCoy went on to play several lead roles, the films in which he appeared were generally too unremarkable to merit any significant critical or mainstream recognition. This would change somewhat after a tiny role in another one of Curtis Hanson's films -- the Oscar-winning police detective film L.A. Confidential (1997). While his L.A. Confidential performance did not help him land true movie-star status, it certainly helped his small-screen endeavors. In 1999, McCoy starred in an episode of the long-running cop drama NYPD Blue, and later that year took on the leading role in Imminent Danger, a made-for-television feature co-starring Connie Sellecca. Shortly afterward, McCoy donated his talents for a supporting role in Citizen Baines, a CBS political drama featuring James Cromwell. In 2003, McCoy could be seen in the ill-conceived crime comedy National Security along with Martin Lawrence.