Trivia: Although he first appeared as just one of the latest crop of golden-skinned English imports to caress the hormones of American filmgoers, Jude Law is steadily proving that his talents lie beyond his ability to smolder seductively in front of the camera. Since 1995, when Law made the transition from British soap opera to Broadway via Sean Mathias' Indiscretions (in which he co-starred with Kathleen Turner), his work has increasingly garnered favorable notice from critics and moviegoers alike.Born in London on December 29, 1972, Law started acting as a teenager. Before Indiscretions, his most notable role was in Shopping (1994), a British production that gave him both initial recognition and an introduction to his future wife, actress Sadie Frost (the couple has two children). After the critical and commercial success of Indiscretions, Law began finding more work in film, starring as Claire Danes' boyfriend in I Love You, I Love You Not (1997) and as the genetically privileged man who sells his identity to Ethan Hawke in Gattaca (1997). Also in 1997, Law took on the plum role of Alfred Lord Douglas (or Bosie), Oscar Wilde's volatile lover in Wilde. Although none of these films received unanimously positive critical (or box-office) attention, they did help to further establish Law as an actor to be taken seriously. Law followed them with a small part in Bent (1997) and the more pivotal role of Billy, Jim Williams' hotheaded and ill-fated lover in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). Following that film, Law went on to make a few smaller films, including Music From Another Room (also starring a still unknown Gretchen Mol) and The Final Cut, in which he played a sinister, deceased version of himself.In 1999, Law appeared in David Cronenberg's cyberific eXistenZ and completed filming Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, and Cate Blanchett. The film earned widespread acclaim upon its release, much of which was lavished on Law's portrayal of the serially charming and devastatingly superficial Dickie Greenleaf. Law garnered both a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance, further cementing his reputation as one of the more promising up-and-coming actors on either side of the ocean.After a turn as a Russian marksman facing off against a Nazi sniper in Enemy at the Gates (2001), Law returned to sci-fi with his role as love machine Gigolo Joe in Steven Spielberg's eagerly anticipated A.I.In addition to his acting commitments, Law kept busy with Natural Nylon, the production company he founded with Sadie Frost, Sean Pertwee, Ewan McGregor, and Jonny Lee Miller. In 2002, Law starred alongside film veterans Tom Hanks and Paul Newman in the multiple Oscar-winning Road to Perdition and was on the path to an Oscar once again for his performance in Cold Mountain (2003) with Nicole Kidman and Renée Zellweger, who took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. After appearing in only two films in as many years, Law was virtually unavoidable in the last third of 2004, with substantial roles in a grand total of six films. First up, he played the title role in the blue-screened sci-fi action flick Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, starring alongside the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, and a "resurrected" Laurence Olivier. A month later, he could be found starring in the remake of Alfie as well as in the ensemble cast of David O. Russell's comedy I Heart Huckabees. And before the close of the year, audiences could catch him in Mike Nichols' romantic drama Closer, as Errol Flynn in Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator, and providing the voice of the title character in the big-screen adaptation of Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events. Produced on an elephantine, effects-heavy budget by the wunderkind, billon-dollar powerhouse Scott Rudin (The Firm, Sister Act) and starring Jim Carrey, the film opened in December 2004 and received average to positive notices; such commentators as Newsweek's Sean Smith, The Washington Post's Desson Thomson, and others championed it (one referred to it as "a Tim Burton movie without the weird shafts of adolescent pain"); others were nonplussed. Roger Ebert complained, "It's odd, how the movie's gloom and doom are amusing at first, and then dampen down the humor. Although many Unfortunate Events do indeed occur in "Lemony Snicket," they cannot be called exciting because everyone is rather depressed by them." The picture nevertheless did excellent box office. Alfie - a remake of the 1966 Michael Caine vehicle, with Law taking over the Caine role - didn't fare so well with critics but performed adequately at the box. Law ducked out of films for a year or so between 2004 and 2005, which led Variety to ask, "Where in the world is Jude Law?" The actor apparently needed a vacation, but his absence was short lived: Law ended his sabbatical after a year or so, and triumphantly returns to cinemas in 2006. In All the King's Men, Law plays second-string fiddle to an over-the-top Sean Penn. A political tale adapted from Robert Penn Warren's novel by Schindler's List scribe Steven Zaillian (who also directs), the movie weaves the tale of a Huey Long-like southern demagogue (Penn). The film will hit cinemas across the U.S. in September '06. Law is also re-teaming with his Cold Mountain collaborator, Anthony Minghella, in Breaking & Entering. Over the next several years, Law would enjoy his status as a leading man, appearing in a number of films like the Sherlock Holmes franchise, Hugo, and Contagion. He played Alexei Karenin in Anna Karenina in 2012, and appeared in The Grand Budpest Hotel in 2014.

Trivia: Once relegated to decorative parts for years and long acknowledged as the wife of Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman spent the latter half of the 1990s and the first decade of the new millennium earning much-deserved critical respect. Standing a willowy 5'11" and sporting one of Hollywood's most distinctive heads of frizzy red hair, the Australian actress first entered the American mindset with her role opposite Cruise in Days of Thunder (1990), but it wasn't until she starred as a homicidal weather girl in Gus Van Sant's 1995 To Die For that she achieved recognition as a thespian of considerable range and talent. Though many assume that the heavily-accented Kidman hails from down under, she was actually born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 20, 1967, to Australian parents. Her family, who lived on the island because of a research project that employed Kidman's biochemist father, then moved to Washington, D.C. for the next three years. After her father's project reached completion, Nicole and her family returned to Australia.Raised in the upper-middle-class Sydney suburb of Longueville for the remainder of the 1970s and well into the eighties, Kidman grew up infused with a love of the arts, particularly dance and theatre. Kidman took refuge in the theater, and landed her first professional role at the age of 14, when she starred in Bush Christmas (1983), a TV movie about a group of kids who band together with an Aborigine to find their stolen horse. Brian Trenchard-Smith's BMX Bandits (1983) -- an adventure film/teen movie -- followed , with Kidman as the lead character, Judy; it opened to solid reviews. Kidman then worked for the gifted John Duigan (The Winter of Our Dreams, Romero) twice, first as one of the two adolescent leads of the Duigan-directed "Room to Move" episode of the Australian TV series Winners (1985) and, more prestigiously, as the star of Duigan's acclaimed miniseries Vietnam (1987).In 1988, Kidman got another major break when she was tapped to star in Phillip Noyce's Dead Calm (1989). A psychological thriller about a couple (Kidman and Sam Neill) who are terrorized by a young man they rescue from a sinking ship (Billy Zane), the film helped to establish the then-21-year-old Kidman as an actress of considerable mettle. That same year, her starring performance in the made-for-TV Bangkok Hilton further bolstered her reputation. By now a rising star in Australia, Kidman began to earn recognition across the Pacific. In 1989, Tom Cruise picked her for a starring role in her first American feature, Tony Scott's Days of Thunder (1990). The film, a testosterone-saturated drama about a racecar driver (Cruise), cast Kidman as the neurologist who falls in love with him. A sizable hit, it had the added advantage of introducing Kidman to Cruise, whom she married in December of 1990.Following a role as Dustin Hoffman's moll in Robert Benton's Billy Bathgate (1991), and a supporting turn as a snotty boarding school senior in the masterful Flirting (1991), which teamed her with Duigan a third time, Kidman collaborated with Cruise on their second film together, Far and Away (1992). Despite their joint star quality, gorgeous cinematography, and adequate direction by Ron Howard, critics panned the lackluster film.Kidman's subsequent projects, My Life and Malice ( both 1993), were similarly disappointing, despite scattered favorable reviews. Batman Forever (1995), in which she played the hero's love interest, Dr. Chase Meridian, fared somewhat better, but did little in the way of establishing Kidman as a serious actress even as it raked in mile-high returns at the summer box office. Kidman finally broke out of her window-dressing typecasting when Gus Van Sant enlisted her to portray the ruthless protagonist of To Die For (1995). Directed from a Buck Henry script, this uber-dark comedy casts Kidman as Suzanne Stone, a television broadcaster ready and eager to commit one homicide after another to propel herself to the top. Displaying a gift for impeccable comic timing, she earned Golden Globe and National Broadcast Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress. Further critical praise greeted Kidman's performance as Isabel Archer in Jane Campion's 1996 adaptation of Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady. Now regarded as one of the hottest actresses in Hollywood, Kidman starred opposite George Clooney in the big-budget action extravaganza The Peacemaker (1997) and opposite Sandra Bullock in the frothy Practical Magic (1998). In 1999, Kidman starred in one of her most controversial films to date, Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. Adapted from Arthur Schnitzler's Traumnovelle and cloaked in secrecy from the beginning of its production, the film also stars Cruise as Kidman's physician husband. During the spring and summer of 1999, the media unsurprisingly hyped the couple's onscreen pairing as the two major selling points. However, despite an added measure of intrigue from Kubrick's death only weeks after shooting wrapped, Eyes Wide Shut repeated the performance of prior Kubrick efforts by opening to a radically mixed reaction.As the new millennium arrived, problems began to erupt between Kidman and Tom Cruise; divorce followed soon after, and the tabloids swirled with talk of new relationships for the both of them. She concurrently plunged into a string of daring, eccentric film roles much edgier than what she had done before. The trend began with a role in Jez Butterworth's Birthday Girl (2001) as a Russian mail order bride, and Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge (2001), which cast her, in the lead, as a courtesan in a 19th century Paris hopped up with late 20th century pop songs. The picture dazzled some and alienated others, but once again, journalists flocked to Kidman's side.Following this success (the picture gleaned a Best Picture nod but failed to win), Kidman gained even more positive notice for her turn as an icy mother after the key to a dark mystery in Alejandro Amenabar's spooky throwback, The Others. When the 59th Annual Golden Globe Awards finally arrived, Kidman received nominations for her memorable performances in both films. Though it couldn't have been any further from her flamboyant turn in Moulin Rouge, Kidman's camouflaged role as Virginia Woolf in the following year's The Hours (2002) (she wears little makeup and a prosthetic nose), for which she delivered a mesmerizing and haunting performance, kept the Oscar and Golden Globe nominations steadily flowing in for the acclaimed actress. The fair-haired beauty finally snagged the Best Actress Oscar that had been so elusive the year before. Post-Oscar, Kidman continued to take on challenging work. She played the lead role in Lars von Trier's Dogville, although she declined to continue in Von Trier's planned trilogy of films about that character. She swung for the Oscar fences again in 2003 as the female lead in Cold Mountain, but it was co-star Renee Zellweger who won the statuette that year. Kidman did solid work for Jonathan Glazer in the Jean-Claude Carriere-penned Birth, as a woman revisited by the incarnation of her dead husband in a small child's body, but stumbled with a pair of empty-headed comedies, Frank Oz's The Stepford Wives and Nora Ephron's Bewitched (both 2005), that her skills could not save. She worked with Sean Penn in the political thriller The Interpreter in 2005. For the most part, Kidman continued to stretch herself with increasingly demanding and arty roles throughout 2006. In Steven Shainberg's Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, Kidman plays controversial housewife-cum-photographer Diane Arbus. Meanwhile, Kidman returned to popcorn pictures by playing Mrs. Coulter in Chris Weitz's massive, $150-million fantasy adventure The Golden Compass (2007), adapted from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series of books. She also headlined the sci-fi thriller The Invasion, a loose remake of the classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Also in 2007, Kidman teamed up with Noah Baumbach for a starring role as a supremely dysfunctional mother in Margot at the Wedding (2007). The actress then set out to recapture her Moulin Rouge musical success with a turn in director Rob Marshall's 8 1/2 remake Nine (2009), teamed up with indie cause-célèbre John Cameron Mitchell and Aaron Eckhart for the psychologically-charged domestic drama Rabbit Hole (2010), and starred opposite Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler in the Dennis Dugan-helmed comedy Go With It (2011). Kidman would spend the next few years continuing her high level of activity, appearing in movies like Trespass and The Paperboy.

Trivia: Until she headlined Jerry Maguire opposite Tom Cruise in late 1996, Renée Zellweger claimed extremely limited public recognition. Though Zellweger essayed several key roles before Maguire, the vulnerability and versatility that the actress exhibited as Cruise's (long undeclared) love interest in Cameron Crowe's seriocomedy netted much-deserved praise from critics and audiences alike. Though the Academy passed her over when that year's Oscar nominations rolled around, she received several other laurels for her work in Maguire, including the title of Best Breakthrough Performer by the National Board of Review.Born April 25th, 1969, the willowy, strawberry blonde Zellweger began life in Katy, TX, a small town on the outskirts of Houston. The town was so small that it possessed neither cable television nor a movie theater. As a result, Zellweger reportedly did not see her first art film until she was a student at the University of Texas in Austin. Her career at U.T. was an exceptional one; a regular on the Dean's List, she graduated a year early with a B.A. in Radio, Film, and Television. While in college, Zellweger took an acting class and discovered a knack for performing; following graduation, she made her feature-film debut with a bit part in Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused (1993). She then landed a role playing a whacked-out waitress in Love and a .45 (1994), for which she won her first Independent Spirit Award nomination; she won a second nomination for The Whole Wide World (1996), earning additional acclaim at various film festivals.Following the tremendous success of Jerry Maguire, Zellweger went on to prove herself as a versatile actress able to play roles ranging from an ambitious journalist (who temporarily shelves her career to care for her mother) in One True Thing (1998) to a rebellious Hassidic Jew in Boaz Yakin's A Price Above Rubies (1998). She then exhibited a capacity for romantic comedy in The Bachelor (1999), starring as the long-suffering girlfriend of a commitment-phobic Chris O'Donnell. Zellweger's second role as a deeply confused soap opera fanatic in Neil LaBute's offbeat crime comedy Nurse Betty won her the Best Actress in a Comedy Award at the 2000 Golden Globes. Nominated for yet another Golden Globe the following year for her memorable performance in Bridget Jones' Diary (2001), that same role also earned Zellweger her maiden Oscar nod. The following few years found Zellweger's leading lady status growing and numerous lucrative film offers flowing in, and the release of White Oleander (2002) the starlet received numerous positive reviews despite the film's lackluster performance. Later that same year, Zellweger was on top of the world when she received rave reviews for her role in Chicago. Based on the popular Broadway musical of the same name, director Rob Marshall's flashy cinematic extravaganza received nearly unanimous praise accompanied by multiple Academy Award nominations, including a second Best Actress in a Leading Role nod to Ms. Zellweger for her lively performance.Zellweger lost the award bid to Nicole Kidman, and then teamed up with that actress for Anthony Minghella's epic Cold Mountain. The performance netted Zellweger her third Oscar nomination, and on February 29, 2004, her losing streak ended as she took home the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Attempting to keep up the momentum, Zellweger then returned to the character that earned her her first Oscar nod, starring in the sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004). Unfortunately, that outing (directed by To Wong Foo helmer Beeban Kidron) failed to draw the critical acclaim of its predecessor and was widely greeted with public apathy in the States, but in the final analysis, it grossed nearly as much as the premier outing (with a massive overseas take). After the second Bridget Jones installment, Zellweger's screen activity decrescendoed somewhat, but she placed a heightened emphasis on more offbeat and unusual roles, including a portrayal of children's author Beatrix Potter in the Weinstein Company outing Miss Potter (2006), and a throwback role to the days of classic Hollywood screwball comedy, as the romantic lead of George Clooney and John Krasinski in the period sports outing Leatherheads (2008). The actress lent her voice to the animated children's fantasy Monsters vs. Aliens, and will reprise her role as Bridget Jones for Bridget Jones' Baby. Off-camera, Zellweger has been romantically linked to funnyman Jim Carrey and to rocker Jack White, of The White Stripes. She was married very briefly to Kenny Chesney; the two received an annulment in less than a year.

Trivia: One of England's most renowned stage actresses, Eileen Atkins has been a staple of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and London's West End since the 1960s. She has also popped up occasionally on film and television, and she has made numerous contributions to both mediums as a scriptwriter, most notably for the acclaimed series Upstairs Downstairs and House of Eliott and the well-received screen adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.A product of London's East End, where she was born in the Clapton Salvation Army Home on June 16, 1934, Atkins grew up in a council home as the third child of a homemaker and a gas meter reader. She began performing as a tap dancer in working men's clubs at the age of seven, and she had done professional pantomime by the time she was 13. Under the encouragement of a school instructor -- who gave Atkins voice lessons to remove her Cockney accent and introduced her to Shakespeare -- she went on to attend the Guildhall School of Drama, where she did a teaching course and took drama classes.Atkins struggled to begin her professional career, finding it difficult to get stage roles of any substance, to say nothing of stage roles, period. She got her first break when she moved to Stratford with her then-husband, Julian Glover, who had found work with the RSC. Atkins got her start in Stratford as an usherette, and she gradually moved her way up until she was allowed into the company. She first performed on the Stratford stage as Audrey in As You Like It, chosen to fill in for the understudy of Dame Peggy Ashcroft after both had taken ill. Atkins spent several years with the RSC, performing in both classical and contemporary plays alongside the likes of Lawrence Olivier and Alec Guinness. On the London stage, she portrayed numerous characters, earning a Best Supporting Actress Olivier Award for her performance in Peter Hall's production of The Winter's Tale. Her one-woman show, A Room of One's Own, was an international success, earning Atkins a Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance and a special Citation from the New York Drama Critics Circle for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf.Although the international stage has been the centerpoint of Atkins' career, she has made many contributions to film and television. Aside from her work on the aforementioned Upstairs, Downstairs, The House of Elliot, and Mrs. Dalloway (the last of which earned her the Evening Standard British Film Best Screenplay award), she has appeared in such films as Let Him Have It (1991), Jack and Sarah (1995), and John Schlesinger's Cold Comfort Farm (1995). Among the endless honors Atkins holds is a Commander of the British Empire. Atkin would appear in several notable projects over the coming years, including Gosford Park, The Hours, Cold Mountain, and TV series like Doc Martin and Psychoville.

Trivia: A former teacher, burly Irish actor Brendan Gleeson spent the 1990s earning an increasing amount of acclaim for his work in a variety of films, most notably John Boorman's The General (1998). Gleeson, who made his feature film debut in Jim Sheridan's The Field (1990), first made an impression on audiences in the role of Hamish, William Wallace's hulking ally in Braveheart (1995).In 1997, the actor was given his first crack at a starring role in I Went Down, a likeable black comedy that cast him as a thick-skulled hitman. The role brought him a greater dose of recognition and respect on both sides of the Atlantic, but it was Boorman's The General (shot right after I Went Down wrapped) that truly demanded -- and received -- international attention. The story of real-life Irish criminal Martin Cahill, the film featured Gleeson in its title role, and his cocky, assured portrayal of Cahill was widely deemed the best part of an altogether excellent film. The numerous plaudits he won for his performance included awards from Boston and London film critics.His career flourishing, it was only a matter of time before Gleeson had the opportunity to expand his resumé to include the occasional Hollywood blockbuster. That opportunity came by way of John Woo's Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), which cast Gleeson, surprisingly enough, as one of the film's resident villains. After carefully balancing his roles between the mainstream and the more low-key, character-driven films in later 2000 and into 2001 (he gained notice for his starring role as a philanderous, boozing TV chef turned sensitive amnesiac in the romantic comedy Wild About Harry [2000]), Gleeson headed back to Hollywood with his lively turn as Lord Johnson-Johnson in Steven Spielberg's A.I. Appearing in Trainspotting director Danny Boyle's zombie thriller 28 Days Later the following year, it wasn't long before Gleeson was once again gracing stateside cinemas with appearances in such high-profile films as Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002) and the Kurt Russell police detective thriller Dark Blue (2003).Gleeson remained a presence in high-profile films over the ensuing two years. In 2004 he could be seen in both the M. Night Shyamalan brain-bender The Village and the sweeping historical epic Troy. The following year found the actor in another pair of big-budget Hollywood films, the box-office dud Kingdom of Heaven and the fourth installment in the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Subsequent years found him re-teaming with 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy for the Neil Jordan comedy Breakfast on Pluto and reprising his role of Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).He had a memorable turn in the Irish comedy In Bruges in 2008. Two years later he returned as Mad Eye for the final Harry Potter movie. That same year he turned in one of his best performances in The Guard. He played opposite the Oscar nominated Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs in 2011, and enjoyed roles in a couple of high-profile Hollywood films - The Raven and Safe House the next year.

Trivia: One of the most original, versatile, and steadily employed actors in Hollywood, Philip Seymour Hoffman made a name for himself playing some of the most dysfunctional characters in movie history. Although he had been acting for years, most audiences were first introduced to the actor in the award-winning Boogie Nights, where he played a nebbishy soundman with a jones for Mark Wahlberg's Dirk Diggler. Imbuing his character with both humor and poignant complexity, Hoffman was one of the more memorable aspects of an unforgettable film.Born in Fairport, NY, in 1968, Hoffman trained at New York's Tisch School of Drama. Before breaking into film, he did a host of theater work, performing in New York, Chicago, and on a European tour. He made his film debut in the 1992 film Scent of a Woman, a critically acclaimed picture starring Al Pacino and Chris O'Donnell. Roles in a number of films of varying quality followed, including My New Gun (1992) and When a Man Loves a Woman (1994). The actor then nabbed a sizable role in Jan de Bont's 1996 tornado thriller Twister and the same year began an ongoing working relationship with Paul Thomas Anderson by appearing in his directorial debut Hard Eight. The crime drama, which also starred Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L. Jackson, received positive critical attention, although it didn't create more than a minor blip at the box office. However, Hoffman's next feature and second collaboration with Anderson, Boogie Nights (1997), was both a critical and financial success, scoring a host of Academy Award nominations and simultaneously reviving the careers of some of its stars, such as Burt Reynolds and Mark Wahlberg, while providing a breakthrough for others, such as Heather Graham and Hoffman himself. He next appeared in the Robin Williams comedy Patch Adams (1998), and the same year starred in two critically acclaimed independent films, Todd Solondz's Happiness and Brad Anderson's Next Stop Wonderland. The prolific actor added an appearance in The Big Lebowski (also 1998) to his already impressive resumé. In addition to his burgeoning acting career, Hoffman won favorable notices for his directing debut with the off-Broadway In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings. Hoffman came into his own with three notable performances in 1999. He reunited with Paul Thomas Anderson to play empathic hospice nurse Phil Parma, one of the emotional anchors in Magnolia. His portrayal of upper-crust snob Freddie Miles in The Talented Mr. Ripley earned him strong notices from many critics. Hoffman's peers awarded him with a Screen Actors Guild nomination for his role as a cross dresser in Flawless opposite Robert De Niro. He returned to the Broadway stage with fellow Anderson regular John C. Reilly to play very different brothers in Sam Shepard's True West. They took a risk by switching the lead roles every three days. Their hard work earned critical raves, and each was nominated for a Tony award. In 2000, Cameron Crowe cast Hoffman as Crowe's childhood hero Lester Bangs in Almost Famous, and David Mamet tapped him to be part of the impressive ensemble in State and Main.Hoffman maintained his status as one of the most respected and hardest-working actors in the new decade by delivering an excellent supporting turn in Red Dragon as an unctuous tabloid reporter. That same year he co-starred in Spike Lee's 25th Hour, and played the bad guy for old collaborator Paul Thomas Anderson in the offbeat romantic comedy Punch-Drunk Love. 2002 also saw the release of Love Liza, a very low-budget film scripted by Hoffman's brother and directed by actor Todd Louiso that starred Phil as a grieving husband addicted to huffing gas fumes. The next year found Hoffman starring as a gambling addict in the small scale Canadian drama Owning Mahowny, and turning in a memorable supporting performance as an amoral preacher in the big screen adaptation of Cold Mountain. Hoffman was in theaters again at the beginning of 2004 as the best friend in the Ben Stiller comedy Along Came Polly. He was also part of yet another outstanding ensemble in the small screen adaptation of Richard Russo's Pulitzer prize-winning novel Empire Falls.In 2005, Hoffman took the role of a lifetime when he assumed the title role in Bennett Miller's Capote. The film had critics in agreement that Hoffman's portrayal of complex and idiosyncratic real-life author Truman Capote was the stuff of Hollywood legend. Hoffman not only mastered the character's distinct body-language and speech but also hauntingly interpreted the subtle psychological and emotional self that made the character whole-leading many to declare that he very nearly made the film everything it was. The performance earned him the Oscar for Best Actor, as well as a Golden Globe and countless other accolades. The attention also provided a boost in profile for the actor who had for so long proved his worth in the background. After playing the bad guy in the third Mission Impossible movie opposite Tom Cruise, Hoffman had a remarkable 2007, a year that saw him play a central part in three well-regarded films. His conniving brother in Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead was a model of self-loathing fermenting into fatal action. In addition to a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor, his highly-educated, emotionally fractured brother to Laura Linney's neurotic sister in The Savages offered him the chance to play numerous subtle and sharply observed scenes with her, the first meeting of these two revered performers. But it was his turn as the intense CIA operative in Charlie Wilson's War that won Hoffman the most widespread praise including Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor.Hoffman continued to solidify his status as one of his generation's finest actors in 2008 with two very different roles. By choosing to play the lead in Charlie Kaufmann's directorial debut Synecdoche, New York, Hoffman again displayed his fearlessness, as well as his desire to work with the very best writers and directors he can find. That willfully difficult film never connected with mainstream audiences, but that was not true at all for Hoffman's other picture of 2008, Doubt. John Patrick Shanley's cinematic adaptation of his own award-winning play earned acting nominations for Hoffman and his three costars (Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis) from both the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy.Over the following years, Hoffman would continue to appear in a variety of interesting films, like Pirate Radio, The Ides of March, and Moneyball. In 2012 he again collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson, playing a cult leader in the drama The Master opposite Joaquin Phoenix. For his work in that movie, Hoffman got a Best Supporting Actor nomination from both the Screen Actors Guild and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The following year, he appeared in the smash The Hunger Games: Catching Fire as rebel Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee. Sadly, personal problems cut his illustrious career short, as Hoffman was found dead in his apartment of an apparent drug overdose at age 46.

Trivia: With an Oscar before the age of 30, repeated comparisons to Audrey Hepburn, and the drool of a thousand critics at her feet, Natalie Portman has emerged as one of the most promising actresses of her generation. Born in Jerusalem on June 9, 1981, to an artist mother and doctor father, Portman moved to New York when she was three. Raised on Long Island, she was discovered by a modeling agent who signed her on the spot. Her modeling stint led to an audition for Luc Besson's Leon (or The Professional, as it was called in the United States). Due to her age (she was 12 when the film was cast), Portman was initially turned down for the lead role of Mathilda, a girl who asks a hit man (Jean Reno) to train her as an assassin to avenge her brother's death and falls innocently in love with him in the process. However, she ultimately won the part and her 1994 film debut earned a number of positive notices. In interviews, Portman allowed that making her first film in the toughest sections of Spanish Harlem was frightening, but not quite so frightening, she claimed, as going back to school once shooting wrapped.Portman then took on the role of Al Pacino's step-daughter in another demanding film, Michael Mann's Heat (1995). She followed this up with lighter fare, like Mars Attacks! (1996), Everyone Says I Love You, and Beautiful Girls. After turning down title roles in both Lolita and William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, Portman took on another title role with her 1997 Broadway debut in The Diary of Anne Frank. She stayed with the show until May 1998, during which time she received positive notices for her performance. After lending her voice to The Prince of Egypt (1998), Portman took on her most talked-about role to date, that of Queen Amidala in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999). Despite very mixed reviews, the film went into box-office hyperdrive, further propelling Portman toward her status as a rapidly emerging talent for the new millennium. She would end the 20th century with projects like Wayne Wang's Anywhere But Here and Where the Heart Is. Offscreen, Portman also did some growing up, enrolling for her college education at Harvard University. A psychology major, she made it clear upon her enrollment that, aside from her role as Queen Amidala in the Star Wars films, she would not accept any film roles for the duration of her education. Perhaps to the disappointment of fans, she stuck to her word, remaining absent from the screen (save Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones) until she received her degree in 2003. Luckily, upon her return to acting, it was immediately evident that it had been worth the wait.Portman's first foray following graduation was the 2003 Civil War ensemble drama Cold Mountain, alongside Renee Zellweger and Nicole Kidman. But in 2004, Portman was at the forefront of both Garden State, a moody dramedy that endeared her to fans, and Closer, a taught, intimate drama that earned her massive critical accolades, as well as her first Oscar nomination. In 2005, as the curtain finally closed on the Star Wars franchise with the release of Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Portman could be seen with a now iconic pixie haircut after shaving her head for a role in the graphic-novel adaptation V for Vendetta. The dystopic action thriller received mixed reviews, but Portman's performance, as usual, earned accolades. Per her usual M.O. as an actress, she would complete a number of independent, arthouse, or otherwise challenging projects for every blockbuster under her belt, like the 2006 Milos Forman directed period drama Goya's Ghosts, and the Wes Anderson 2007 road (or rather, train) movie The Darjeeling Limited. After appearing opposite Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana as Anne Boleyn, the famously beheaded wife of King Henry VII in the 2008 period drama The Other Boleyn Girl, Portman turned her high-brow image on its ear the very next year, playing a small town cheerleader turned army wife in the Iraq War drama Brothers. Portman had even more impressive turns awaiting her, however, as 2010 brought the lead role in the hallucinatory Darren Aronofsky film The Black Swan, about an obsessively diligent ballerina who, in order to play both the innocent and dark sides of femininity with the leading role in Swan Lake, must battle her own conflicting inner demons as a woman. Portman trained in ballet rigorously for six months to perform the role, and her efforts paid dividends. Her performance received massive adoration from critics and audiences alike, and she emerged with an Academy Award for Best Actress - which Portman accepted while five months pregnant with a baby she was expecting with fiancé Benjamin Millepied, her choreographer whom she met while filming.Professionally, Portman had a mind to keep a balance with her choice of roles. In a change of pace from the gritty material in The Black Swan, she appeared in the stoner comedy Your Highness, the rom-com No Strings Attached, and the comic-book action thriller Thor.Portman had her first child with husband Benjamin Millepied in June of 2011.

Trivia: Born December 17, 1974, in Los Angeles, Giovanni Ribisi began his career in network television, with recurring and guest roles on a number of shows, including The Wonder Years. As a teenager, he was typecast for several years as a dimwitted slacker in films and on television, with a memorable guest spot in an episode of The X-Files and a recurring role as Lisa Kudrow's brother on Friends. Ribisi was eventually able to break the grunge mold, first with a secondary role in Tom Hanks' That Thing You Do! (1996) and then in Richard Linklater's SubUrbia (1997). It was his role in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998) that caused many critics to dub him one of the leading actors of his generation, a status confirmed by his appearance on the cover of Vanity Fair with a number of fellow up-and-comers. Ribisi was given further opportunities to showcase his sleepy-eyed versatility in such films as 1999's The Mod Squad and The Other Sister. If Ribisi's best roles had been unfairly weighed down by an overabundance of commendable but little seen roles in the previous years, all this would change as the young actor began to focus increasingly on roles that were not only high quality, but high profile as well. His role in the high stakes 2000 drama The Boiler Room may have went largely unseen in theaters, but healthy word of mouth combined with an impressive cast of up and comers found the film an enduring shelf life on cable and DVD. After burning rubber in the fast and furious Nicolas Cage action thriller Gone in Sixty Seconds, Ribisi's memorable performance in director Sam Raimi's southern gothic flavored chiller The Gift preceded a touching turn in the affecting made-for-television drama Shot in the Heart. Ribisi's subsequent role as a conflicted police officer in the 2002 drama Heaven may have been a well-intended commentary on the state of crime and terrorism, but audiences largel dismissed the effort as pretentious tripe and the actor took a brief turn into blockbuster territory with Basic before a turn as an aloof, celebrity obsessed photogapher in director Sophia Coppola's art-house hit Lost in Translation. If his turn as a celebrity who turns convention in its head by stalking a fan in I Love Your Work didn't strike home with viewers, an appearance in the same year's Cold Mountain offered him the chance to flex his dramatic skills alongside an impressive cast that included Jude Law and Nicole Kidman. Of course Ribisi never was one to be predictable with his choice of roles, and following the romantic comedy Love's Brother he essayed a supporting role in the 2004 sci-fi thriller Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow. A handful of largely forgettable roles followed, and on the heels of recurring television roles in My Name is Earn and Entourage, Ribisi dove back into sci-fi with a role as villainous Chief Administrator Parker Selfridge in James Cameron's phenominally successful Avatar. And if Ribisi's performace in that film failed to make your skin crawl, his turn as a psychotic, heavily-tattooed drug dealer in the fast paced 2012 action thriller Contraband was sure to do the trick. He continued his villainous run as a stalker in the surprise hit film Ted (2012). Ribisi later re-teamed with his Ted director, Seth MacFarlane, in 2014's A Million Ways to Die in the West. He also appeared in the Oscar-nominated film Selma that same year.

Trivia: Certainly one of the most distinctive looking men ever to be granted the title of movie star, Donald Sutherland is an actor defined as much by his almost caricature-like features as his considerable talent. Tall, lanky and bearing perhaps the most enjoyably sinister face this side of Vincent Price, Sutherland made a name for himself in some of the most influential films of the 1970s and early '80s.A native of Canada, Sutherland was born in New Brunswick on July 17, 1935. Raised in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, he took an early interest in the entertainment industry, becoming a radio DJ by the time he was fourteen. While an engineering student at the University of Toronto, he discovered his love for acting and duly decided to pursue theatrical training. An attempt to enroll at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art was thwarted, however, because of his size (6'4") and idiosyncratic looks. Not one to give up, Sutherland began doing British repertory theatre and getting acting stints on television series like The Saint. In 1964 the actor got his first big break, making his screen debut in the Italian horror film Il Castello dei Morti Vivi (The Castle of the Living Dead). His dual role as a young soldier and an old hag was enough to convince various casting directors of a certain kind of versatility, and Sutherland was soon appearing in a number of remarkably schlocky films, including Dr. Terror's House of Horrors and Die! Die! Darling! (both 1965). A move into more respectable fare came in 1967, when Robert Aldrich cast him as a retarded killer in the highly successful The Dirty Dozen. By the early '70s, Sutherland had become something of a bonafide star, thanks to lead roles in films like Start the Revolution without Me and Robert Altman's MASH (both 1970). It was his role as Army surgeon Hawkeye Pierce in the latter film that gave the actor particular respect and credibility, and the following year he enhanced his reputation with a portrayal of the titular private detective in Alan J. Pakula's Klute.It was during this period that Sutherland became something of an idol for a younger, counter culture audience, due to both the kind of roles he took and his own anti-war stance. Offscreen, he spent a great deal of time protesting the Vietnam War, and, with the participation of fellow protestor and Klute co-star Jane Fonda, made the anti-war documentary F.T.A. in 1972. He also continued his mainstream Hollywood work, enjoying success with films like Don't Look Now (1973), The Day of the Locust (1975), and Fellini's Casanova (1976). In 1978, he won a permanent place in the hearts and minds of slackers everywhere with his portrayal of a pot-smoking, metaphysics-spouting college professor in National Lampoon's Animal House.After a starring role in the critically acclaimed Ordinary People (1980), Sutherland entered a relatively unremarkable phase of his career, appearing in one forgettable film after another. This phase continued for much of the decade, and didn't begin to change until 1989, when the actor won raves for his starring role in A Dry White Season and his title role in Bethune: The Making of a Hero. He spent the 1990s doing steady work in films of widely varying quality, appearing as the informant who cried conspiracy in JFK (1991), a Van Helsing-type figure in Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992), a wealthy New Yorker who gets taken in by con artist Will Smith in Six Degrees of Separation (1993), and a general in the virus thriller Outbreak (1995). In 1998, the actor did some of his best work in years (in addition to the made-for-TV Citizen X (1995), for which he won an Emmy and a Golden Globe) when he starred as a track coach in Without Limits, Robert Towne's biopic of runner Steve Prefontaine. In 2000, Sutherland enjoyed further critical and commerical success with Space Cowboys, an adventure drama that teamed the actor alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Clint Eastwood, and James Garner as geriatric astronauts who get another chance to blast into orbit.Sutherland didn't pause as the new millennium began, continuing to contribute to several projects a year. He won a Golden Globe for his performance in the 2003 Vietnam era HBO film Path to War, and over the next few years appeared in high-profile films such as The Italian Job, Cold Mountain, and Pride and Prejudice, while continuing to spend time on smaller projects, like 2005's Aurora Borealis. The next year, Sutherland appeared with Mira Sorvino in the TV movie Human Trafficking, which tackled the frightening subject matter of modern day sexual slave trade. He also joined the cast of the new ABC series Commander in Chief, starring Geena Davis as the American vice president who assumes the role of commander in chief when the president dies. Sutherland's role as one of the old boys who is none too pleased to see a woman in the Oval Office earned him a Golden Globe nomination in 2006, as did his performance in Human Trafficking. In 2006, Sutherland worked with Collin Farrell and Salma Hayek in one of screenwriter Robert Towne's rare ventures into film direction with Ask the Dust. Sutherland has also earned a different sort of recognition for his real-life role as the father of actor and sometimes tabloid fodder Kiefer Sutherland. The elder Sutherland named his son after producer Warren Kiefer, who gave him his first big break by casting him in Il Castello dei Morti Vivi. In 2009 he voiced the part of President Stone in the film Astro Boy, an adventure comedy for children. Sutherland played a supporting role in the action thriller The Mechanic (2011), and joined the cast of The Hunger Games in the role of the coldhearted President Stone.

Trivia: Frequently cast as a working-class hard man, British actor Ray Winstone gained his first dose of international recognition for his brutal portrayal of an abusive, alcoholic family patriarch in Gary Oldman's Nil by Mouth (1997).Born in Hackney, London, on February 19, 1957, Winstone spent much of his youth as an amateur boxer. He first stepped into the ring at the age of 12 and over the course of the next several years won over 80 medals and trophies. Reportedly deciding to give acting a try because he was tired of getting hit, Winstone studied drama for a couple of years at the Corona School. He got his first break when director Alan Clarke cast him in the BBC's televised production of Scum (1977), a harsh depiction of life in a Borstal for young offenders. Due to its content, the film was banned before being released theatrically two years later. Winstone began appearing in other films that same year, notably the Who's Quadrophenia.Winstone continued to work in both film and television throughout the next decade, doing most of his work in countless TV series. In 1994, he earned strong notices for his starring role in Ken Loach's Ladybird, Ladybird. Three years later, Winstone's harrowing performance in Oldman's Nil by Mouth garnered him a Best Actor BAFTA nomination, as well as recognition on both sides of the Atlantic. He subsequently could be seen in a number of diverse projects, ranging from Face, Antonia Bird's 1997 crime drama, to the romantic comedy Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence (1998) to Tim Roth's The War Zone (1999), in which Winstone earned further acclaim as the abusive patriarch of a wildly dysfunctional family. Also in 1999, he could be seen playing a loan shark who gives Anjelica Huston a hard time in Huston's Agnes Browne.Winstone gained wide international notice for his starring role in 2000's Sexy Beast, holding his own opposite Ben Kingsley, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance. He followed that up with a well-received part in 2001's Last Orders and parlayed his success into a supporting role in Anthony Minghella's 2003 star-studded Civil War drama Cold Mountain. He continued to work steadily appearing in a variety of films including Martin Scorsese's Best Picture winner The Departed, Beowulf, Fool's Gold, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Hugo, and Snow White and the Huntsman.

Trivia: An earthy strawberry blonde who has skirted typical leading lady roles to build a respectable career out of commendable supporting performances, talented Kathy Baker has time and again proven her cinematic worth with indispensable turns in such films as Edward Scissorhands (1990) and The Cider House Rules (1999). A native of Midland, TX, who received a degree in French from the University of California at Berkley, Baker studied briefly at the California Institute of Arts before abandoning her further education to reside in Paris for a number of years. After returning stateside to make a name for herself on stage and screen, Baker found 1983 to be a pivotal year for her career when she won an Obie for her role in Sam Shepard's Fool for Love and made a lasting impression in director Philip Kaufman's space program drama The Right Stuff. Subsequent roles as a prostitute in Street Smart (1987) and a recovering alcoholic and victim of domestic abuse in Clean and Sober (1988) proved a testament to Baker's considerable onscreen skills; her performance in Street Smart earned her Best Supporting Actress awards from the Boston Society of Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics as well as an Independent Spirits awards nomination.Baker was increasingly prevalent in quirky dramas throughout the 1990s, but it was her work on the small screen that earned Baker the majority of her recognition in that decade. Her winning performance as a small-town doctor and family woman proved a key component in the success of the small-screen drama Picket Fences during the show's 1992-1996 run, and though she would focus her attention on the series, Baker still made time to appear in such theatrical releases as Mad Dog and Glory (1993) and To Gillian in Her 37th Birthday (1996). Frequently alternating between high-profile releases and independent efforts, no matter what the quality of the films, Baker's performances were consistently solid. The new millennium once again found Baker scoring a hit with her role in the popular television comedy drama Boston Public, and though she only served a two-season stint on the series, she soon returned to television work with Murphy's Dozen on 2003. Her role as an overbearing mother tackled the issue of teenage pregnancy to surprising effect in the 2002 made-for-television effort Too Young to Be a Dad. Following a supporting performance in Robert Duvall's Assassination Tango (also 2002), Baker could be spotted in director Anthony Minghella's eagerly anticipated Civil War romance Cold Mountain (2003).

Trivia: Gravel-voiced, American character actor James Gammon was first seen on screen as Sleepy in Cool Hand Luke (1967). Looking like a Frederic Remington painting come to life, Gammon has been a welcome presence in many a western feature, notably Silverado (1985), Wyatt Earp (1994) and Wild Bill (1995). His earthy screen persona is flexible enough to accommodate both avuncularity (team manager Lou Brown in the two Major League films) and menace (Horsethief Shorty in 1988's Milagro Beanfield War). Gammon has been a regular on two TV series, playing roadside diner habitue Rudy in Bagdad Café (1990) and divorced, laid-off paterfamilias Dave Nelson in Middle Ages (1992). When not appearing before the cameras, James Gammon has kept busy as a California community-theatre director.

Trivia: Fair-haired, hunky British performer Charlie Hunnam began life in Newcastle, England, and moved to Hollywood at the age of 19 (around 1999) in a quest for movie and television stardom. He found it almost instantly as homosexual character Nathan on the first two seasons of the groundbreaking Showtime series drama Queer as Folk (1999-2001), then signed on to work for executive producer Judd Apatow and others with a role as a college student in the short-lived but critically worshipped situation comedy Undeclared (2001). Hunnam's feature film contributions began shortly thereafter and witnessed him specializing in intense, angry, often psychotic characterizations; memorable assignments included a portrayal of the nasty villain in Anthony Minghella's period drama Cold Mountain (2003) and a gold-toothed, dreadlocked psychopath in the dystopian saga Children of Men (2006). The role that truly rocketed Hunnam to acclaim, however, cut closest to his British roots: a scarily accurate evocation of a thuggish English footballer in the gritty drama Green Street Hooligans (2005). He appeared in the well-regarded dystopian sci-fi film Children of Men as well as Robert Towne's long-planned adaptation of the novel Ask the Dust. He appeared in the first season of the TV series Sons of Anarchy in 2008, and had a major role in the 2011 thriller The Ledge.

Trivia: Born May 25th, 1976, Manhattan native Ethan Suplee began to realize his love for acting early in life through school plays and drama projects. Lacking a sense of direction after graduating from high school, Suplee was prompted by friend and fellow actor Giovanni Ribisi to attend acting classes; Suplee took his friend's advice. Frustrated at his teacher's lack of promotion and encouragement, Suplee dropped out after one year and soon landed his first major role, as a recurring character on the television sitcom Boy Meets World in 1994. After making his feature debut in Mallrats, Suplee stuck mainly to the big screen, with diverse roles in such films as Desert Blue and the controversial American History X (both 1998). Frequently appearing in later Kevin Smith efforts, as well as comedies like Road Trip (2000) and Evolution (2001), Suplee also appeared in the drama Blow (2001), and with Denzel Washington in both Remember the Titans (2000) and the emergency room hostage drama John Q. (2001). Suplee found success on the small screen on My Name is Earl (2005), when he took on the role of Lee's dimwitted friend. In 2009 Suplee appeared in the critically acclaimed drama Brothers, and later joined the cast of the USA Network's sitcom Wilfred in 2011.

Trivia: A child actress who made her film debut as the star of Anjelica Huston's 1996 adaptation of Dorothy Allison's Bastard out of Carolina, Jena Malone has appeared in films ranging from Contact (1997), in which she played the younger version of Jodie Foster's character, to Stepmom (1998), which featured her as one of Susan Sarandon's children. A native of Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where she was born November 21, 1984, Malone was influenced to become an actress by her mother, who was active in community theatre. After persuading her mom to move to L.A., the aspiring actress began working in commercials and music videos. Following her debut in Bastard out of Carolina, she went on to do steady work, and in 2000, she starred in Christmas with J.D., which also featured Devon Sawa, Neve Campbell, and Christian Campbell. That same year, the young actress made headlines when she filed charges against her mother accusing her of squandering her earnings; the lawsuit resulted in Malone's legal emancipation from her mother, who was forbidden from interfering with her daughter's career and earnings. Coming out on the up side of the bitter family feud, Malone could next be seen in both the slightly surreal teen fantasy Donnie Darko and the bittersweet family drama Life as a House (both 2001). Following future appearances in The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys and The United States of Leland (both 2002), Malone would announce her intentions of studying photography at a northern California community college in the fall of 2002. She had a key role in The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys in 2002, and the next year had a cameo in Cold Mountain. In 2005 she was one of the younger sister in Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice, and two years later she was the younger sister in Sean Penn's Into the Wild. She had a brief but memorable turn as the ex-girlfriend of a soldier in The Messenger, and in 2011 she was one of the kick-ass girls at the center of Sucker Punch. In 2012 she appeared in Hatfields & McCoys as one of the McCoy clan. In 2013, she joined the Hunger Games series as fan-favorite Johanna Mason, appearing in Catching Fire and Parts 1 and 2 of Mockingjay. Malone was cast as Barbara Gordon in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), but her scenes were ultimately cut in the editing room, and she only appeared in the home version of the film.

Trivia: A versatile actress who can bring a keen emotional edge to either comic or dramatic roles, Melora Walters is best known for her work with director Paul Thomas Anderson, who, more than anyone, seems to have known how to best utilize her gifts onscreen. Melora Walters began her career in acting doing off-Broadway theater in New York before she began to make a name for herself in television, in 1989 scoring a small recurring role as Debbi on the popular sitcom Roseanne. After making her film debut in an undistinguished low-budget thriller, 1988's Underground Terror, Walters earned her Screen Actors Guild card for her work as Gloria in the 1989 hit Dead Poets Society. Over the next several years, Walters made a number of appearances on episodic television shows, including such hits as The Wonder Years, Seinfeld, and NYPD Blue, while playing small roles in several forgettable films, as well as occasional high-profile items such as Cabin Boy, Ed Wood, Eraser, and the critically respected indie film Twenty Bucks. In 1996, Walters was cast in a small role in a little-seen independent film called Hard Eight. However, the film's director, first-time feature filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, was impressed enough to cast her in a much meatier role in his second feature. Walters played Jessie St. Vincent, a soft-hearted second-string porn actress in the breakthrough hit Boogie Nights, and the film made a name for both Anderson and Walters. Walters' new notoriety helped her land a regular role as Felicity on the television drama series L.A. Doctors, but the show only lasted a single season. Thankfully, Anderson once again had plans for Walters, and cast her as Claudia, a cocaine-addled woman on the verge of emotional collapse in Magnolia; hers was one of the strongest performances in one of the year's most eagerly anticipated films, and the critical response to her intense portrayal led to a string of leading roles in independent films, including Rain, Desert Saints, and Jupiter City. She continued to work steadily, bouncing between Hollywood projects and indie fare like Wisegirls, Runaway Jury, Cold Mountain, Melvin Goes to Dinner, and The Butterfly Effect. In 2006 she was cast in the HBO drama series Big Love as Wanda Hendricks. After her run on that show came to an end, she could be seen in I Melt With You, and she made cameo in Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master.

Trivia: Though he has proven to be a natural, allegedly Lucas Black's ambition is not to be an actor when he grows up. Born and raised in Alabama, Black became a professional actor when an open casting call landed him a bit part in Jon Avnet's The War (1994). After starring on TV's American Gothic (1995), Black definitively caught the audience's attention with his pivotal role in Billy Bob Thornton's award-winning drama Sling Blade (1996). Resisting child actor treacle, Black turned in a genuinely charming and moving performance as the young boy who befriends Thornton's mentally challenged ex-con. Despite the acclaim, however, Black opted to stay home in Alabama rather than go Hollywood. Black continued to act throughout his high school years, playing supporting roles in the racial drama Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) and the big-screen version of The X-Files (1998), and starring in the TV movie Flash (1997) and as the politically aware Peejoe in Crazy in Alabama (1999). In Thornton's second directorial effort All the Pretty Horses (2000), Black's performance as the young drifter who gets Matt Damon into trouble once again revealed his ability to hold his own against -- indeed outshine -- Hollywood's best. Black, however, has asserted that his ultimate goal is to become a professional fisherman. High profile roles as everything from a piano savant in Killer Diller to a high school football star in Friday Night LIghts and a fresh-faced Marine in Jarhead proved without question that Black had the acting range needed to craft and impressive and enduring career, and in 2006 Black put the peddle to the metal as a troubled teen whose trip to Tokyo finds him mastering the art of the drift in the adrenaline-charged sequel The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Trivia: Taryn Manning is an actress featured alongside many pop culture icons, usually within the teenage limelight. Gaining loads of attention from her role in 2002's Crossroads starring pop music superstar Britney Spears, Manning developed increasing correlations between herself as a performer and the music industry. Born on November 6, 1978, in Tucson, AZ, she moved with her family to California at the age of 12. There she attended Orange County High School of the Arts, and would go on to find career success in show business just a few years after graduation. Her ties with music began early, as she would collaborate on song compositions with her brother, a practice which would itself be incorporated into a film in which Manning appeared. In 1999, she was featured in an independent film called Speedway Junkies, which gave rise to later roles on television. Besides appearances in episodes of the TV series The Practice, NYPD Blue, and Boston Public, Manning had a starring role on the series Get Real in 1999. Television stardom led to roles in major motion pictures, and she made her film debut with a part in Crazy/Beautiful starring Kirsten Dunst in 2001. A romantic teen drama dealing with racial issues, Crazy/Beautiful gave Manning a chance to make a statement as a hardcore partier named Maddy. In 2002, she played the role of Britney Spears' spunky and adventurous friend Mimi, in romantic road-trip story Crossroads, also starring Anson Mount and Zoe Saldana. Continuing her connection with pop music, she appeared in 8 Mile, a loosely biographical drama starring rap star Eminem. Rounding out her experience for the year within the realm of teen drama, she also appeared in Peter Kosminksy's White Oleander, the story of a teenager's struggle with a parent being sentenced to prison, based on a novel of the same name.

Trivia: Actor Tom Aldredge is one of the few actors who are perhaps equally well remembered for careers on the screen and the stage. Aldredge made his Broadway debut in the musical The Nervous Set in 1959 when he was 31, and began making appearances on TV soon afterward, appearing in TV movies like The Mouse on the Moon and The Troublemaker in the early '60s. As the decades rolled on, Aldredge would continue to nurture his stage career, earning particular accolades for his performance in the Stephen Sondheim production Into the Woods. All the while, he racked up role after role in movies and on TV, playing memorable characters like Ozzie in 1973's Sticks and Bones and William Shakespeare on the CBS Festival of the Lively Arts for Young People in 1977 - for which he won a Daytime Emmy Award. He would also find no trouble picking up regular parts on television, co-starring in the series Ryan's Hope in the early 80s, and The Sopranos, Damages, and Boardwalk Empire in the 2000's. Aldredge passed away in July of 2011 at the age of 83.

Trivia: One of America's most recognizable character actors, James Rebhorn was a veteran of over 100 television shows, feature films, and plays. While best known for portraying lawyers, politicians, doctors, and military men, he delivered equally notable performances in a variety of other roles, including that of a brutal serial killer on NBC's Law & Order, a shipping magnate in Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), and a comically doomed restaurateur in Billy Morrisette's Scotland, PA (2001).Born in Philadelphia, PA, on September 1, 1948, Rebhorn moved to Anderson, IN, as a child. A devout Lutheran, he attended the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Wittenburg University in Ohio, where he studied political science. After graduating in 1970, Rebhorn moved to New York City, where he earned a Master's of Fine Arts in acting from Columbia University's School of the Arts and joined the metropolitan theater scene.After making his television debut on the NBC soap opera The Doctors in 1977, Rebhorn starred on Another World: Texas and The Guiding Light, as well as earned a 1989 Soap Opera Digest Award for his performance as Henry Lange on As the World Turns. He displayed his comic talents during a recurring role on Kate and Allie, and in an unforgettable turn as the district attorney who jails the Seinfeld gang in the show's final episode. He also garnered recurring roles on some of television's most heralded dramas -- including Law & Order, Third Watch, Now and Again, and The Practice -- and memorable telefilms -- including Sarah, Plain and Tall (1981), North and South (1985), Skylark (1993), From the Earth to the Moon (1998), and A Bright Shining Lie (1998).Rebhorn's feature-film career began in the early '80s with roles such as "Lawyer" in Soup for One (1982), "Los Alamos Doctor" in Silkwood (1983), and "Drunken Business Man" in Cat's Eye (1985). As the decade progressed, his parts increased in importance and he emerged in the '90s as an established supporting actor with roles in several high-profile films. After appearing in 1991's Regarding Henry with Harrison Ford and Annette Bening, Rebhorn gave stand-out performances opposite Marisa Tomei and Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny (1992), Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas in Basic Instinct (1992), Chris O'Donnell and Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman (1992), and Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte in Lorenzo's Oil (1992). He went on to earn prominent roles in Carlito's Way (1993), Guarding Tess (1994), I Love Trouble (1994), Up Close & Personal (1996), Independence Day (1996), If Lucy Fell (1996), and My Fellow Americans (1996). Rebhorn rounded out the '90s by playing the mysterious Consumer Recreation Services representative in The Game (1997), the prosecuting attorney in Snow Falling on Cedars (1999), and Jude Law's shipping magnate father in the above-mentioned The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). The new millennium saw him starring as Robert De Niro's future in-law in Meet the Parents (2000) and a modern-day version of Macbeth's Duncan in the above-mentioned Scotland, PA, before gearing up for the Eddie Murphy sci-fi vehicle The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002), and Todd Haynes' long-awaited return to directing, Far From Heaven (2002).Towards the end of his career, Rebhorn returned to television, playing recurring characters on several different shows, playing the CEO of Abbadon Industries on HBO's Enlightened, an FBI special agent on USA's White Collar and, his final role, Carrie Mathison's father on Showtime's Homeland.While juggling his film and television work, Rebhorn frequently returned to the stage. He appeared at the Manhattan Theater Club, Playwright's Horizons, the New York Shakespeare Festival, the LaJolla Playhouse, the Ensemble Studio Theater, and Lincoln Center. In 2002, he earned rave reviews for his performance in the Roundabout Theater's production of Arthur Miller's first play, The Man Who Had All the Luck, with Chris O'Donnell and Samantha Mathis.Rebhorn was diagnosed with melanoma in 1992 and struggled with the disease for the next two decades, before succumbing in 2014 at the age of 65.

Trivia: An actress whose piercing, pale blue eyes could give even Meg Foster a run for her money, Emily Deschanel has come quite a long way since being listed as one of Interview magazine's "Six Actors to Watch" back in 2001. The firstborn daughter of Oscar-winning cinematographer Caleb Deschanel and actress Mary Jo Weir (their second was starlet Zooey), Emily received her B.F.A. in theater from Boston University before launching her career on the stage and screen. Early roles in It's a Shame About Ray and Rose Red found the rising starlet gradually gaining her footing before the cameras, and as her confidence as an actress increased, so did her screen time. By the time Deschanel appeared in such features as Cold Mountain and The Alamo, viewers were already beginning to pick up on her talent, while she could also still be seen acting on-stage, frequently appearing in plays for the Interact Theatre Company. In 2003, Deschanel appeared in minor capacity as a receptionist in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2, with her role in Ghost House Pictures' 2004 frightener Boogeyman serving to prove that she was much more than just another pretty face.As the 2000's rolled on, Deschanel would prove to be an even bigger force on the small screen, playing forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan, partner of FBI agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz), on the popular Fox crime drama series Bones.

Trivia: The youngest of four children.His father was a vicar.Has performed in multiple stage plays with the Royal Shakespeare Company.Was nominated for a U.K. Theatre Award for his performance as Biff in Gregory Doran's Death of a Salesman.Co-founder and Artistic Director of The Factory Theatre Company.

Trivia: Character actor Afemo Omilami built a career out of portraying gritty, urban types in Hollywood features, often with an aggressive edge, such as taxi drivers, longshoremen, barkeeps, drill sergeants, and angry spouses. Omilami debuted onscreen in the late '70s and evolved into an increasingly common screen presence as the years passed. The dozens of projects in which he appeared include the Tom Hanks-Shelley Long disaster comedy The Money Pit (1986), the Sydney Pollack-directed legal thriller The Firm (1993), Best Picture winner Forrest Gump (1994) (as a screaming drill sergeant), and the Ray Charles biopic Ray (2004). In 2007, Omilami joined the cast of director Deborah Kampmeier's rape-themed period drama Hounddog.

Trivia: Best known as the son of late director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) and Chinese choreographer Carolyn Choa, Max Minghella began life in Hampstead, England, and opted to become an actor in his teens for reasons that were (as he later recalled) entirely unrelated to his father's business. He attended Columbia University beginning in the early 2000s, then moved into feature roles, first with a bit part in his dad's Civil War opus Cold Mountain (2003), then striking out on his own with parts in Hollywood features including Syriana (2005), Art School Confidential (2006), How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2008), and Hippie Hippie Shake (2009). In the years to come, Minghella would appear in numerous major films, like The Social Network, The Ides of March, and The Darkest Hour. In 2013, he landed a recurring role on The Mindy Project.