Trivia: Canadian actress Missy Peregrym (born Melissa Peregrym in Surrey, British Columbia) specialized in slightly edgy and gritty television outings during her early years on-camera. She debuted at 20 years old, under the aegis of producer James Cameron, with a guest appearance on that director's white-hot action series Dark Angel (playing a character named Hottie Blood). Peregrym then essayed a role in the short-lived weekly martial arts actioner Black Sash (in 2003, as a young woman hell-bent on unbridled vengeance). In 2004, she appeared on the cult superhero series Smallville as Molly Griggs, aka Brainwave (a role she revisited in 2006 for a series of webisodes called "The Vengeance Chronicles"). Later in 2004, Peregrym took on a regular role on the teen drama Life As We Know It as the soccer-playing Jackie Bradford, but the show failed to gain a significant audience, and was canceled after less than half a season. Peregrym's next project, however, proved to be her highest-profile to that date; she took on the lead in the inspirational sports drama Stick It (2006) -- playing a rebellious 17-year-old gymnast who achieves her full potential thanks to the tutelage of a die-hard, no-nonsense coach (Jeff Bridges). Not long after that, Peregrym was cast as a recurring character on the massively popular superhero series Heroes, playing the deceptive Candice Wilmer, who could make people around her see whatever version of reality she chose. In fall 2007, the actress captured another regular role on a supernatural-themed series, the comedy drama Reaper, about a slacker who, on his 21st birthday, finds out that his parents sold his soul to the devil, whom he must now work for. Peregrym played his charming girl-next-door love interest, Andi. After Reaper ended its run, Peregrym found still more success with her next project, the series Rookie Blue.

Trivia: Of Egyptian, Turkish and Syrian descent.Immigrated to the U.S. when he was one month old.Was raised in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware.His character in FBI was originally Latino, but that changed to mirror his ethnicity and background.Speaks English and Egyptian Arabic.

Trivia: Grew up around the world and went to school in Israel, Cambodia, Croatia, and Ethiopia. Participated in the Tisch International Theatre Summer Training program in Amsterdam in 2011. Played Feste in Twelfth Night and the Queen in Cymbeline while studying at NYU. Received training at Massachusetts' prestigious Williamstown Theatre Festival. Listed Clown Training among her skills on her résumé.

Trivia: With film roles ranging from his portrayal of a psychotic satanic killer (Hideaway [1995]) to Jesus (1999), one would not be hard-pressed to give actor Jeremy Sisto the credit of having a fairly impressive range of dramatic abilities. Born in Northern California, Sisto spent his early years living in the rock-built home his parents had made in the lower Sierra Nevada Mountains. Sisto would gain his earliest experiences as an actor after moving to Chicago with his mother and sister (Reedy Gibbs and Meadow Sisto, also actors) at the age of six. Jeremy and Meadow's turn as specters in the Goodman Theater's adaptation of Tennessee William's House Not Meant to Stand earned the young thespians positive notice, and led to theater work with such other Windy City institutions as the Absolute Theater Company and the Cherry Street Theater. After constant auditioning and small roles in commercials and industrial films, Sisto's breakthrough came with his being cast in Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon (1991) after a deceptively discouraging audition. Returning to Chicago to finish school after wrapping up Grand Canyon in Los Angeles, Sisto constantly auditioned and played small roles in theater and independent films before moving to L.A. and finding roles in Clueless (1995) and White Squall (1996). A busy actor in the later '90s, Sisto appeared in the infamous Don's Plum (1998) before his role in the television mini-series The 60s and Jesus (both 1999). The next year Sisto would follow-up as a troubled young filmmaker coming to grips with the death of his wife in This Space Between Us, and with Angel Eyes, a mysterious tale of fate and urban isolation starring Jennifer Lopez.Subsequent roles in Lucky McKee's well-received feature debut May, the popular backwoods slasher flick Wrong Turn, and the 2004 horror-comedy Dead and Breakfast served well to increase Sisto's street credibility among genre buffs, but when he wasn't running from inbred killers in the forest or falling under the spell of mentally disturbed waifs, Sisto was gaining positive notice for his role as a delusional man who believes his life is the subject of a film in Movie Hero, and returning to the small screen in shows like the hit crime drama Law & Order or the ABC comedy Suburgatory.

Trivia: Started modeling at age 13. Studied acting at JoAnna Beckson Studios in Manhattan. Breakthrough role was as Rosa Santos on All My Children. Appeared in the Brooks and Dunn music video "Ain't Nothing 'Bout You." Played series regular Connie Rubirosa on two editions of the Law & Order franchise.

Trivia: The son of world-famous violinist Efrem Zimbalist and opera star Alma Gluck, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. received an expensive prep-school education in New England, and at age 16 he briefly studied at Yale University. He became a page at the NBC radio studios in New York City, then took acting lessons at Neighborhood Playhouse. Just before serving in World War II (in which he earned a Purple Heart), Zimbalist married another aspiring performer, Emily McNair. After the war, he began toting up Broadway acting credits, and in 1949 made his film debut as Richard Conte's brutish brother in House of Strangers (1949). After his wife died of cancer in 1950, Zimbalist briefly retired from acting, moving with his two children to Philadelphia; there he became a researcher at the Curtis Institute of Music, where his father was director. Shortly after returning to acting in 1954 with a recurring role on the TV soap opera Concerning Miss Marlowe, Zimbalist married East Coast socialite Stephanie Spaulding; the union produced a daughter, also named Stephanie, who grew up to become a popular actress in her own right (Zimbalist's son, Efrem III, has likewise earned a place in "Who's Who" as a publishing company executive). Signed to a long-term Warner Bros. contract, Zimbalist achieved full stardom in the role of suave private detective Stuart Bailey on the weekly TV series 77 Sunset Strip (1958-1964). He went on to another popular Warners series in 1965, playing inspector Lew Erskine in the long-running (nine seasons) The FBI. His later TV roles included Charles Cabot in the 1986 episodes of Hotel, Don Alejandro de la Vega in the first-season installment of the Family Channel's Zorro (1990-1992), and silver-tongued con artist Daniel Chalmers on his daughter Stephanie's weekly series Remington Steele (1982-1987). Generally cast in sophisticated or serious roles, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. has on occasion been permitted to display his flair for zany comedy, as witness his villainous portrayal in the 1990 action-flick satire Hot Shots! In his later years, he voiced a number of animated characters, such as Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man and Alfred Pennyworth in The New Batman Adventures and Justice League. Zimbalist's final acting role was in the 2008 short film The Delivery. He died in 2014 at age 95.

Trivia: In critiquing a minor science fiction film of the late '50s, a prominent film historian characterized star Phillip Abbott as "...the kind of actor whose face you forget five minutes after seeing it." While there is some truth in this, let it be recorded here and now that Abbott's professional credentials were as impeccable and impressive as any "unforgettable" star. After serving with the U.S. Air Force in World War II (and earning an air medal and three oak-leaf clusters in the process), Abbott attended Fordham University, and later studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. Making his Broadway debut in 1948, he went on to appear in such stage successes as Detective Story and Two for the Seesaw. Far from being completely unmemorable in films, Abbott had at least two praiseworthy screen characterizations to his credit: nervous groom-to-be Arnold in The Bachelor Party (1957) and doctor-with-a-secret George Scudder in Sweet Bird of Youth (1962). His many network television credits included a stint as host/narrator on the experimental 1960 psychological soap opera House on High Street, and the continuing role of Assistant Director Arthur Ward on The FBI (1965-1974). Before, during, and after the height of his film and TV activities, Abbott continued to be a busy stage actor/director. In 1962, he co-founded Theatre West, an L.A.-based actor's workshop. He also produced, directed, and wrote nine instructional films for the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, as well as the ten-episode Lessons for Living, an in-school training project underwritten by the Disney studios. In addition, he created and produced the TV weekly Hidden Places on behalf of Nebraska Public Television. Outside of his professional activities, Abbott was active with the United Cerebral Palsy/Spastic Children's Foundation, and was one of the leading citizens of Tarzana, CA, where he served as president of the Nelson Company. Forgettable though his screen appearances may have been at times, Phillip Abbott will always be remembered by someone.

Trivia: A product of New York's Professional Children's School, Alfred Ryder was making a living as an actor at the age of 8. In 1929, Ryder made his Broadway debut, playing "lost boy" Curly in Eva Le Galleine's production of Peter Pan. As a teenager and young adult, Ryder studied his craft with such masters as Benno Schneider, Robert Lewis and Lee Strasberg. He went on to appear in such plays as Awake and Sing and Yellow Jack, and for many years was heard as Sammy in the radio serial Rise of the Goldbergs. While serving in the military in 1944, he made his first film, Winged Victory, in which he was billed as "PFC Alfred Ryder." After the war, he returned to the stage, re-emerging in films in the late 1950s. His movie credits of the 1960s include significant character parts in Hotel (1967) and True Grit (1968). Ryder also made scores of TV guest-star appearances, including the role of Professor Carter in the opening Star Trek episode "The Man Trap" (1966). Alfred Ryder made his last film in 1976, thereafter concentrating on his stage activities as actor and director.

Trivia: The very feminine Lois Nettleton made her first stage appearance as "The Father" in a grade-school production of Hansel and Gretel. After studying at the Goodman Theatre and the Actors' Studio, 20-year-old Lois made her Broadway boy in 1949's The Biggest Thief in Town, very briefly adopting the stage name of Lydia Scott (she found her given name too plain and "schoolmarmy"). She understudied Barbara Bel Geddes as Maggie the Cat in the original 1955 production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, occasionally getting to play the role herself. For her work in the stage play God and Kate Murphy, Lois won the Clarence Derwent Award. While her official film debut was 1962's Period Adjustment, she previously played a minor role in director Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd (1957). Lois' film work, while extensive, has not been as rewarding as her stage and TV endeavors. Bypassing her co-starring stints in the short-term sitcom Accidental Family (1967) and You Can't Take It With You (1987), Lois Nettleton was seen as a regular on the NBC soap opera Brighter Day (1954), enjoyed a healthy two-season run as Joann St. John on the weekly TV version of In the Heat of the Night, and has won two Emmies, the first for the 1977 daytime special The American Woman: Profiles in Courage, and the second for "A Gun for Mandy," a 1983 episode of the syndicated religious anthology Insight. She died of lung cancer at age 80 in January 2008.

Trivia: David Opatoshu began his stage career in New York's Yiddish theatre in the late 1930s. Though he worked extensively in English-language plays, films and TV programs, the scholarly looking Opatoshu never completely severed his ties with his roots. His first film was the all-Yiddish The Light Ahead (1939); from 1941 through 1945, he delivered the news in Yiddish on New York radio station WEVD; in the 1970s, he was directing and starring in ethnic stage productions; and in 1985, he narrated a documentary film on the Yiddish theatre in America, Almonds and Raisins. Occasionally cast as a villain in mainstream productions, Opatoshu's "good" characters (notably his courageous political activists in 1960's Exodus and 1981's Masada) far outweigh his bad. A veteran of hundreds of television productions, David Opatoshu won an Emmy for his performance in "A Prayer for the Goldsteins," a 1990 episode of the weekly series Gabriel's Fire.

Trivia: Versatile American entertainer Johnny Silver has played character roles on stage, screen, television, and radio. He also performed in nightclubs, vaudeville, and even grand opera. His daughter, Stephanie Silver, became an actress. His other daughter, Jennifer, became a singer/songwriter.

Trivia: Names Marlon Brando and Peter Sellers as two of his biggest acting influences. Has been a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago and David Mamet's Atlantic Theater Company in New York. First big-screen appearance was in the 1997 romantic comedy Fools Rush In. Made his Broadway debut in 2005, playing Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire. Auditioned for the role of detective Jimmy McNulty on HBO's The Wire, but was later cast as longshoreman Frank Sobotka. Has been a regular on several other TV series, including Third Watch, Tilt, Smith and True Blood.

Trivia: Made her feature film debut in Safe Men (1998), directed by her husband John Hamburg; the couple first met while attending Brown University. In 2006, made her Broadway debut in Well. Founding associate artist of The Civilians and an affiliate artist of Clubbed Thumb, two award-winning theater groups in New York City.

Trivia: Born July 11th, 1956, brunette leading lady Sela Ward graduated from the University of Alabama, where among many other activities she was a cheerleader for the Crimson Tide football team. Heading to New York, Ward determined to either become an airline stewardess or a model; a fear of flying led to her choosing the latter vocation. She proved she could act as well as pose when she was cast in the 1985 Burt Reynolds vehicle The Man Who Loved Women. Beginning in 1991, Ward portrayed Teddy on the weekly TV "dramedy" Sisters, a role that earned her a 1994 Emmy award. Sela Ward's additional television credits include the title role in the 1995 cable TV biopic Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story, as well as Once and Again, for which she would win the Best TV Series Actress in a Drama Award at the 2000 Golden Globes. 2004 would find the actress in the role of a private investigator in the made-for-tv movie Suburban Madness, and appeared on the big screen for The Day After Tomorrow. The following year Ward joined the cast of Fox's hit television series House in the recurring role of Stacy Warner, ex-partner of House, and former attorney for the hospital. Though her character was eventually written off the show, Ward reprised the role of Stacy Warner in House's 2012 finale.