Trivia: For better or worse, leading actor Kelsey Grammer's name will probably forever be associated with the pompous, garrulous, and self-absorbed but lovable psychiatrist Frasier Crane, a character Grammer has played on television since he first appeared on the NBC sitcom Cheers, in 1984, as a love interest for Shelley Long. Though Frasier was not intended to become a series regular, Grammer's performance of the blowhard neurotic charmed audiences and he remained with Cheers through its 1993 demise. At the beginning of the 1993-1994 television season, Grammer's character was resurrected in his own show and moved from Boston to Seattle, where he became a radio psychologist and faced a whole slew of folks just waiting to poke metaphorical pins in his hot air balloon. Thanks to excellent performances and top-notch writing, Frasier became as big a hit as its predecessor. Grammer won three Emmy awards and was nominated for seven more (twice for Cheers, once for his guest appearance on a 1992 episode of Wings, four times for Frasier) for playing the character. Born on St. Thomas, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Grammer knew extreme tragedy in youth. Following the shooting death of his father when he was a boy, he was raised in New Jersey and then Florida, by his mother and grandfather. His grandfather died before Grammer became a teen. When he was 20, his sister was abducted and violently murdered. Five years later, he lost two half brothers in a diving accident. As a young man, Grammer found comfort in Shakespeare; with his acting debut in a high school production of The Little Foxes came an interest in pursuing drama as a career. He enrolled in Juilliard, but dropped out after two years to work at San Diego's Old Globe Theater, where he gained three years' invaluable experience performing in Shakespearean and classical dramas; afterward, Grammer performed in productions across the country. He eventually made it to Broadway, where he appeared in various productions, including Othello. Prior to playing Frasier, Grammer appeared occasionally on television and had regular roles in three soap operas, including One Life to Live. He continues to occasionally guest star on other series. Fans of the animated satire The Simpsons will recognize his periodic voice characterization as the venomous Sideshow Bob. Miniseries and telemovies in which he has appeared include London Suite and Beyond Suspicion. Grammer made his feature film debut with a small role in Top of the Hill (1989) and had his first starring role in the much-panned comedy Down Periscope (1996). In addition to his Emmy kudos, Grammer has received an American Comedy Award, two Golden Globes, and a People's Choice Award. In 1995, he published his autobiography So Far.Grammer would spend the following years taking on TV roles on shows like Back to You and Boss, but would find even more success as a producer, helping bring shows like The Game, Girlfriends, Hank, Medium, and World Cup Comedy to fruition. In 2014, he returned to acting in a big way, making a cameo appearance in X-Men: Days of Future Past, reprising his role as Beast, playing the bad guy in Transformers: Age of Extinction, and returning to television in the FX series Partners.

Trivia: Although he is best known for his role as anal-retentive psychiatrist extraordinaire Niles Crane on the celebrated sitcom Frasier, David Hyde Pierce has also done considerable work on the stage and screen. Fair, birdlike, and bearing an uncanny resemblance to Frasier co-star Kelsey Grammer, Pierce is one of the entertainment business' finest purveyors of a certain kind of blue-blooded neuroticism, and, in the eyes of some viewers, has even gone so far as to make insecurity perversely sexy.Born in Saratoga Springs, New York, on April 3, 1959, Pierce was raised in what he has described as a "very run-of-the-mill, middle-class" household. When he was eight, he began taking piano lessons, and he decided to pursue a career as a concert pianist. He continued to train until he got to Yale University, where he realized that he was better suited to the acting profession. Following graduation, Pierce moved to New York and did a brief stint as a tie salesman at Bloomingdale's before being cast in a Broadway play. Although the production was a flop, Pierce continued to work on the stage in New York and Chicago for several years and was eventually cast as a suicidal congressman on the short-lived sitcom The Powers That Be in 1992. His work on the show, coupled with his resemblance to Kelsey Grammer, led to his casting on Frasier the following year.Frasier proved to be the turning point in Pierce's career. His portrayal of Niles, aside from winning him a slew of awards, including an Emmy, also provided a number of opportunities for the actor on the big screen. Pierce, who had been acting sporadically in films since the early '80s, could be seen in supporting roles in such '90s films as Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Nixon (1995), in which he played John Dean, and the animated A Bug's Life (1998), for which he provided the voice of a stick insect.As the first decade of the 21st century opened, Pierce began appearing in more and more feature films, selecting an eclectic array of roles that utitlized his strengths without resorting to rehashing the Niles Crane character. Diverse in their genre and theme, the projects also ranged in their levels of success and acclaim. The 2000 comedy Isn't She Great was an abysmal failure, while the indie films Wet Hot American Summer and Full Frontal both left audiences and critics fiercely split. Pierce also continued to flex his voice skills in the animated features Osmosis Jones and Treasure Planet.One of Pierce's best-received roles came in 2003, when he costarred in the tongue-in-cheek comedy Down With Love. While not much of a box-office hit, the film managed to charm many critics with its wall-to-wall homages to 1960s sex-comedies. A year later, Pierce again showed up sans-body, providing the voice of Abe Sapien in the comic-book adaptation Hellboy. He reunited with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola's animated comic adaptation The Amazing Screw-On Head to voice the role of the dreaded Emperor Zombie in 2006, and joined the cast of The Perfect Host in 2010 for a leading role as Warwick Wilson, whose genteel façade hides a deep rage and mental instability.

Trivia: A distinctive-looking, grey-haired British character actor, John Mahoney worked onstage in his teens, and moved to the U.S. at 19. In his mid-30s, while employed as an editor in Chicago, he decided to renew his interest in acting, and he enrolled in classes at a local theater co-founded by playwright David Mamet; he landed a role in a Mamet play and left his job for the part. At the urging of actor John Malkovich, he went on to join Chicago's celebrated Steppenwolf Theater; eventually he appeared in more than 30 plays. For his work in the Broadway play House of Blue Leaves he won a Tony and a Clarence Derwent Award. For his work in the lead role of Orphans (on Broadway and in Chicago) he won a Theater World Award. He still lives in Chicago, and maintains his connection with Steppenwolf. Mahoney debuted onscreen in Mission HIll (1982), but his screen breakthrough came in his fifth film, Barry Levinson's popular comedy Tin Men (1987); afterwards he went on to better parts in more noteworthy movies, and has avoided typecasting in a busy screen career. Mahoney's TV credits include Favorite Son and House of Blue Leaves, in which he reprised his stage role; he has since achieved wide popularity as Martin Crane, Frasier Crane's crochety father, on the NBC sitcom Frasier.

Trivia: Began studying ballet at a very early age, but hurt her ankle when she was 18 and was forced to give it up. Appeared in David Lee Roth's video for "California Girls." Lived for a time with her best friend Faith Ford, whom she met in acting class. Cofounded the production company Bristol Cities with Frasier costar Peri Gilpin in 1998. Since her first pregnancy wasn't written into Frasier, her character, Daphne, was sent off to a fat camp and was said to have lost 9 pounds, 12 ounces---the weight of Jane's daughter when she was born. Made her Broadway debut in Cabaret as Sally Bowles in 2002. Reunited with Fraiser alum Wendy Malick to costar in the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland.

Trivia: With a father who was a famous local radio and television celebrity, a model mother who appeared in television, and a working relationship with Wings producer Roz Doyle in her past, it may all seem like an obscure cosmic joke that pretty Peri Gilpin would rise to fame as radio producer Roz Doyle on the smash television sitcom Frasier, though the longtime actress would likely credit her success to hard work rather than astrological coincidence.Born in Waco, TX, and raised in Dallas, Gilpin began acting on stage with the Dallas Theater Company at the age of eight, a fact that helped her shake stage fright and gain the confidence that would accompany her through numerous future auditions. A Skyline High School graduate, Gilpin later studied acting at both the University of Texas at Austin and London's British-American Academy. Upon returning to the U.S., Gilpin worked as a makeup artist in the Dallas area before taking an apprenticeship with the Williamstown Theater Festival. A chance meeting with actress Blythe Danner resulted in Gilpin gaining some support within the industry, and it wasn't long before Gilpin's dreams were coming true with roles on television's Flesh 'n' Blood and 21 Jump Street. A role on Cheers followed shortly after, and when a spin-off series entitled Frasier became an unexpected hit, Gilpin found the role that would bring her into households across the country on a weekly basis. Appearing frequently on such made-for-television films as The Secret She Carried (1996) and Laughter on the 23rd Floor (2000) while simultaneously essaying her role on Frasier, Gilpin (who was named after the animated Disney character Peri the squirrel) has also loaned her voice to such animated projects as television's Hercules and the computer-animated feature Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001). Throughout the 2000's and 2010's, Gilpin remained active, starring most notably on the dance series Make It or Break It.

Trivia: While savvy television viewers will no doubt recognize prolific small-screen actress Wendie Malick from such popular series as Baywatch, Just Shoot Me, and HBO's smart and sexy comedy Dream On, the late '90s found her feature career warming up in such independent efforts as Manna From Heaven (2001) and Bathroom Boy (2003). A native of Buffalo, NY, who first found work in front of the cameras as a Wilhelmina model in the 1970s, the Ohio Wesleyan University alum would later work for New York congressman Jack Kemp following her graduation. Subsequently gracing the catwalks of New York, Paris, and Madrid, it was a small role in the 1978 comedy How to Pick up Girls that provided the aspiring actress with her first screen break. Though she would appear in a few theatrical releases such as Scrooged (1988) during the 1980s, most of her work came with made-for-television features and such series as Kate and Allie and Anything But Love. Increasingly visible on the small screen during the 1990s, Malick's role as series protagonist Martin Tupper's (Brian Benben) ex-wife on Dream On utilized her comic abilities to maximum effect and netted the actress four Cable ACE awards. Following the final episode of Dream On in 1996, it was only one short year before Malick began a stint on another popular series that would gain her accolades among sitcom junkies, Just Shoot Me. Her background in the modeling industry provided the ideal foundation for her role as former model Nina Van Horn, and Malick (Emmy-nominated for the role) remained with the show until its final episode in 2003, simultaneously taking occasional parts in both made-for-TV and theatrical features. In 1997 Malick took the lead in the little-seen romantic comedy Just Add Love, and following voice work as the egotistical principal in the Disney series Fillmore!, she appeared alongside Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, and Betty White the Emmy-winning comedy series Hot in Cleveland. In addition to her screen work, Wendie Malick met husband Richard Erickson while building homes for poor families in Mexico, and she also helps the homeless with her work for the Adopt-A-Family organization.

Trivia: Jason Biggs gained overnight recognition for his role in the 1999 summer smash American Pie. As the boy who put the American in the Pie, Biggs earned a place alongside There's Something About Mary's Ben Stiller on the screen roster of Most Embarrassing Moments Involving Genitalia and Inanimate Objects. What many people who saw him as an overnight success didn't realize, however, was that he'd actually been acting--on the screen, stage, and television--for most of his young life. A native of Pompton Plains, New Jersey, where he was born May 12, 1978, Biggs began modeling and acting in commercials when he was a small child. When he was barely an adolescent, the young actor made his Broadway debut opposite Judd Hirsch in the acclaimed play Conversations With My Father and landed a recurring role on the short-lived sitcom Drexell's Class around the same time. At the age of fifteen, he joined the cast of the daytime drama As The World Turns as Pete Wendall. His performance on the show, on which he appeared from 1994 to 1995, earned him a Daytime Emmy nomination. With this honor to his name, Biggs segued into film a short time later, debuting in the 1997 Camp Stories.In 1999, the unequivocal hit that was American Pie came along, and Biggs, portraying Jim, one of the more perpetually humiliated members of a group of four friends trying to lose their virginity by high-school graduation, made an undeniably distinct impression on critics and audiences alike. Riding high on his success, he soon entered into a two-picture deal with Miramax and a development project with 20th Century Fox Television, ensuring that his career had certainly gotten off to an auspicious and memorable start.In the two years following Pie, Biggs' recently-won popularity was evidenced by his starring roles in a number of films. Included amongst them were Robert Iscove's Boys and Girls, which cast the actor as a college student, and Amy Heckerling's Loser, in which Biggs again set foot on a college campus to play a social misfit in love with an unattainable girl (Pie co-star Mena Suvari). Pairing the young star with two comic actors 10 years his senior (Jack Black and Steve Zahn), Saving Silverman followed in early 2001; with it, Biggs completed a triumverate of critical and commercial failures.Finding himself in need of a comeback at the ripe old age of 23, Biggs seemed poised to do just that later in the year, beginning with his reprisal of the bumbling post-adolescent Jim in American Pie 2. Taking a step back from leading roles, the actor then poked fun at the movie industry with a cameo in director Kevin Smith's satire Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back before playing a supporting part opposite Christina Ricci in the big-screen adaptation of Elizabeth Wurtzel's memoir, Prozac Nation. After rounding out the American Pie trilogy with 2003's American Wedding, Biggs would once again appear opposite Ricci in the Woody Allen comedy Anything Else (also 2003). Though the film may have performed fairly well with teens at the box office given the names of the young stars involved, an 'R' rating from the MPAA was likely the culprit in relegating the movie to little more than a brief "blip" on the box-office radar. In 2004, Biggs returned to the screen with a supporting-role in Jersey Girl, which reteamed him with Smith but was plagued by scathing reviews and the stigma of the "Bennifer" fiasco of 2003. Biggs would keep a low profile for the next few years, appearing in movies like Eight Below and Wedding Daze before turning to the small screen with the sitcom Mad Love in 2011, alongside Judy Greer and Sarah Chalke. Around that same time, Biggs signed on for another installment in the franchsie that launched his career, reprising the role of Jim in 2012's American Reunion. In 2013, he took on a supporting role in the surprise hit Orange is the New Black, playing Larry Bloom.

Trivia: Descendant of 20th-century rancher and civic leader Marion Sansom's brother.Her mother's maiden surname is Sansom.Was accepted into Juilliard School at the age of 17.Joined The Acting Company after graduating from Julliard School.Started her professional acting career in theater.In 2002, won a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for playing Mrs. Meers in the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Trivia: A thin, naturally attractive brunette with a personable smile and the brains to match her beauty, actress Jennifer Beals was virtually propelled to overnight stardom and fashion icon status with her energetic performance in director Adrian Lyne's 1983 dance drama Flashdance. Though her career would suffer a slight setback when it was revealed that Beals didn't perform all of her own dance moves in the sleeper hit, the talented actress would endure to make something of a comeback in the late '90s. A Chicago native who was traveling in Europe when her publicist called her for a New York audition that the filmmakers were pitching as a "female Saturday Night Fever," Beals booked the first flight back to the states and, despite the presence of thousands of other eager young actresses, somehow managed to stand out from the crowd to impress producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. Beals' only other film work to that point was as an extra in 1980's My Bodyguard, so it was quite a gamble to cast a virtual unknown in the lead. This was especially true, given that, days before the film's premiere, Paramount Pictures sold off 25 percent of the film; however, the gamble paid off and Flashdance became nothing less than a cultural phenomenon. With ripped, oversized sweaters adorning teenage girls nationwide, it seemed as if Beals had the cinematic world at her fingertips -- and then the bottom dropped out. When it was later revealed that Beals impressive moves weren't entirely her own, audiences felt betrayed (as if action stars really do all of their own stunts) and subsequently protested the burgeoning actress without taking into consideration that she was the dramatic core of the film.Opting to continue her education at Yale immediately following Flashdance's production, roles in such efforts as The Bride (1985) and Split Decisions (1988) were squeezed in during Beals' summer breaks. Though neither effort did much to forward Beals' career, the actress would continue to appear in such quirky, low-budget efforts as Vampire's Kiss (1989) and Blood and Concrete (1991) moving into the 1990s. Beals was married to director Alexandre Rockwell in 1986, and in 1992 she would appear opposite Steve Buscemi and Seymour Cassel in Rockwell's comedy drama In the Soup. If the majority of the 1990s found Beals relegated to mostly unseen independents, high-profile roles in such acclaimed efforts as Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994), Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), and The Last Days of Disco (1998) proved without a doubt that the now-established actress certainly had the skills and endurance to maintain a successful screen career. Though the early years of the millennial turnover may have found Beals on shaky cinematic ground with such efforts as Jim Wynorski's Militia and the tiresomely derivative sequel Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying (both 1990), her reputation as something of an independent darling would solidify with roles in such critically acclaimed indies as The Anniversary Party (2001) and Roger Dodger (2002). Despite her divorce from Rockwell and remarriage to another man unassociated with the film business, Beals would later turn up in the Rockwell-directed comedy 13 Moons (again opposite Buscemi), while preparing for roles in such upcoming features as Runaway Jury and Break a Leg (both 2003). In 2004 Beals took a turn as a lesbian in the made-for-cable series The L Word, with subsequent roles in the 2005 indies Break a Leg and Desolatoin Squad preceding a return to big-budget Hollywood blockbusters in The Grudge 2 (2006) and The Book of Eli (2010). Beals would enjoy a juicy arc on the TV crime drama Lie to Me, before signing on to star in her own detective series, The Chicago Code in 2011. Additionally, the actress appeared on a few episodes of yet another popular proceedural, Castle, in 2012.

Trivia: Grew up with his adoptive family, the Schwotzers, in Pittsburgh and located his biological mother when he was in his 20s. Dropped Schwotzer for stage-name purposes. Switched from studying journalism to English in college; later dropped out of an English-literature graduate program upon deciding to pursue acting as a profession. Is certified as a fight coordinator with the Society of American Fight Directors, specializing in European weaponry and American thuggery. Is known for being the environmentally conscious Subaru salesperson in commercials.