Trivia: An actor with handsome, everyman good looks and undeniable screen presence, Thomas Jane has turned up in everything from low-budget indies to sprawling, big-budget Hollywood action spectacles. Born January 29th, 1969, the Baltimore native's unusual entry into show business found him cast in a Romeo and Juliet-inspired Bollywood musical while still in high school. At just 17 years old, Jane was spotted by a pair of Indian producers looking to cast a young, fair-haired American to act as Romeo to a young Indian actress' Juliet. Alas, the lure of Bollywood weighed heavier than the prospect of another year in high school, so Jane soon dropped out to film Padamati Sandhya Ragam in Madras, India. When filming wrapped, he quickly returned stateside despite some tempting offers in India, and a year later, the struggling actor was making the move to Los Angeles. Finding work in L.A. didn't prove easy, but thanks to persistence and hard work, Jane eventually made his way into the local theater scene. A small role in the gay-themed drama I'll Love You Forever...Tonight was followed by a small part in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer.Two short years later, Jane stepped into the lead for the quirky crime comedy At Ground Zero, and a role in the ill-fated Crow sequel The Crow: City of Angels followed in 1996. The next year, Jane was cast in the major starring role of real-life beatnik Neal Cassady for the independent film The Last Time I Committed Suicide with Keanu Reeves. By late 1997, Jane's star was steadily rising thanks to supporting parts in Face/Off and Boogie Nights. In 1998, he went indie once again with a role as a former heroin dealer looking to go straight in Thursday and then took a small part in the all-star ensemble cast of the war drama The Thin Red Line.With his role as a shark wrangler in the open-water thriller Deep Blue Sea in 1999, Jane graduated to full-on Hollywood action hero. After returning to Paul Thomas Anderson's fold for Magnolia later that year, he portrayed baseball legend Mickey Mantle in the acclaimed, made-for-HBO feature 61* (2001). His role as a quick-tempered detective working alongside Morgan Freeman's character in Under Suspicion (2000) found Jane at the top of his game, and though performances in The Sweetest Thing (2002) and Dreamcatcher (2003) went largely unseen due to poor box-office performances, audiences could rest assured that they would see plenty of the newly buff actor when he donned the famous skull T-shirt and loaded up to rid the streets of crime in the eagerly anticipated comic book adaptation The Punisher (2004). Two years later Jane would continue his onscreen love-affair with firearms as a Federal Witness Protection program particpant whose cover is dangerously blown in the Elemore Leonard adaptation Killshot. While Jane's performance as an infamous gangster was solid in the action thriller Give 'Em Hell Malone, he wouldn't find true success with mainstream audiences until he took on the leading role in HBO's Hung (2009-2012), a dark comedy following a history teacher (Jane) who moonlights as a prostitute.

Trivia: Often noted for her striking feature debut as a gun-toting seductress in the Coen brothers' noirish gangster crime thriller Miller's Crossing (1990), Marcia Gay Harden has since bounced between disparaging disappointment and critical prosperity, and is commonly praised for her chameleon-like ability to immerse herself in characters that are often the polar opposite of the cheerfully optimistic actress.Born in La Jolla, CA, on August 14, 1959, as the third of five children in a military family, Harden's clan moved constantly. Her passion for drama sparked by a period that the family spent in Greece (when she attended Athenian plays), Harden studied drama in college, earning a B.A. in theater from the University of Texas, and an M.F.A. in theater from New York University. After graduation, Harden continued to hone her acting talents on stage in Washington, D.C. Immediately evincing an innate ability to portray a wide range of characterizations, Harden earned two Helen Hayes Award nominations - one for her role in Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart and one for her role in The Miss Firecracker Contest. Angels in America brought Harden to Broadway, where she found further success in earning both Tony Award and Drama Desk nominations, as well as winning the Theater World Award for Best Actress. Though she had made an impressive screen debut in Miller's Crossing, disappointment soon followed with a slew of critically shunned successes mixed with a series of creative misfires. Though discouraged in the critics' failure to recognize what Harden considered to be some of her best work, Harden began to focus less on Hollywood validation for happiness, and instead shifted her attention to refining her acting abilities. Moving from quirky dramatic roles, such as her manipulative character in Crush (1992), to quiet dramas like 1996's The Spitfire Grill, and such mainstream efforts as The First Wives Club (also 1996) and Meet Joe Black (1998), Harden felt comfortable in a wide variety of roles. She also occasionally compromised on her choice of material during this period (perhaps out of necessity) - such as the dumb-dumb comedy Spy Hard, with Leslie Nielsen, and the 1997 Absent Minded Professor rehash Flubber (starring Robin Williams).But her fortunes began to turn with a supporting role in Ed Harris' long-anticipated Jackson Pollock biopic Pollock (2000) that finally brought the actress much-deserved, mainstream critical recognition for her work. Reunited with Harris from their pairing in an earlier stage production of Sam Shepard's Simpatico, Harden's role as Pollock's dysfunctional muse earned her the Best Supporting Actress Oscar at the 2000 Academy Awards. The dawning years of the new millennium were undeniably kind to the tireless actress, and after a trio of made-for-television movies in the year 2000 Harden essayed the role of a stylish but enigmatic catalyst to a mystery with decidedly comic undertones in Susan Seidelman's Gaudi Afternoon, and portrayed the NASA engineer love interest of Tommy Lee Jones's crop duster, Hawk, in Clint Eastwood's Space Cowboys; Harden and Eastwood forged a strong professional bond and would work together again, several years later.A brief foray into sitcom territory followed soon thereafter, when Harden co-starred with Richard Dreyfuss in shortlived television series The Education of Max Bickford (2001), and the following year, she stuck to the small screen for the mini-series Guilty Hearts and the made-for-television feature King of Texas (the latter earning her a a Golden Sattelite nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Made for Television). An adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear set in the Old West, King of Texas found Harden essaying the role of cattle-baron John Lear's (Patrick Stewart) eldest daughter. Equally busy in 2003, Harden abandoned the small screen to work with some of the most acclaimed filmmakers in Hollywood. Following her second onscreen assignment for Clint Eastwood - in his deeply flawed but commendable ensemble piece Mystic River - Harden essayed the role of a mother attempting to adopt a South American girl in longtime indie filmmaker John Sayles' Casa de Los Babys and provided a key supporting performance in Mike Newell's Mona Lisa Smile. She contributed to the disappointing (and eminently forgettable) Gene Hackman/Ray Romano onscreen pairing Welcome to Mooseport (as president Hackman's campaign manager) but fared better by joining the cast of Richard Linklater's remake The Bad News Bears, starring Billy Bob Thornton (Harden plays the mom who brings Thornton's slovenly Morris Buttermaker in to coach the team). After relatively limited work throughout 2005 - including a small-scale voiceover assignment as Willa Cather in Joel Geyer's Willa Cather: the Road is All and Mrs. Merriman in the heartwarming family drama Felicity: An American Girl Adventure - Harden's activity crescendoed over the course of 2006, with appearances in no less than three A-list features. These entailed work in multiple genres, and suggested a broad array of fun and challenging characterizations. In Lasse Hallstrom's late 2006 docudrama The Hoax, Harden plays Edith Irving, the wife of scam artist Clifford Irving (portrayed by Richard Gere) during his notorious early-1970s scheme to forge an autobiography of the late Howard Hughes. In Paul Weitz's American Dreams, she plays yet another matron - this time the wife of American president Dennis Quaid, as the generally clueless fellow (!) is sent on a nationally-broadcast talent program. And Harden joins the celebrity-studded ensemble of the more conventional Dead Girl - a murder mystery directed by Karen Moncrieff, whose cast members include Harden, Giovanni Ribisi, Brittany Murphy, Piper Laurie, Josh Brolin, and Mary Steenburgen. The plot recalls Ray Lawrence's Lantana, in its investigation of several seemingly-unrelated lives that intersect in unforeseen ways as the mystery surrounding a woman's death is gradually disclosed to the characters and audience. In 2007 she acted in both The Hoax and Sean Penn's Into the Wild. She joined the cast of the hit show Damages in the second season. In 2009 she played a concerned mother in the roller derby comedy Whip It, and played a harried school administrator in Detachment for director Tony Kaye in 2011.Offscreen, Harden married property master and occasional location scout Thaddaeus Scheel (Boys on the Side, Houseguest, The Spitfire Grill) in 1996. The couple has three children.

Trivia: Laurie Holden took one of her first on-camera bows as a teenager, in Michael Anderson's sex farce Separate Vacations (1986), then forked off into a series of programmers that included the 1989 Burt Reynolds cop drama Physical Evidence; the 1996 historical saga The Pathfinder, based on the novel by James Fenimore Cooper; and the 2004 animal picture Bailey's Billion$. Holden also found some success on the small screen, playing a memorable recurring role on the seminal sci-fi series The X-Files, that of Marita Covarrubias, a mysterious government worker who becomes an informant to Special Agent Fox Mulder starting in the fourth season of that show through the final one (1996-2002). She also had a supporting role, as Mary Travis, on the shortlived Western series The Magnificent Seven (1998-2000). Holden achieved her cinematic big break in 2001 -- when producers tapped her to appear as the sunny romantic interest of Jim Carrey in Frank Darabont's colossal fantasy The Majestic; Holden followed it up with an equally lucrative and exciting part in yet another A-list film: Debbie McIlvane in the effects-heavy summer blockbuster Fantastic Four (2005). She also essayed a prominant role, as a police woman, in the critically panned but fiscally successful horror opus Silent Hill (2006), adapted from the popular video game of the same title, and re-teamed with Darabont for both the 2007 Stephen King adaptation The Mist (2007), and the hit AMC zombie series The Walking Dead. In addition to her film and television work, Holden is active with such children's charities as Planet Hope and Feed the Children.

Trivia: Gaining notice in the early '90s for his Emmy-winning portrayal of Detective Francis Xavier "Frank" Pembleton on the popular television police drama Homicide: Life on the Street, tireless Chicago native Andre Braugher remained with the show through 1998 while simultaneously building a feature career with roles in such theatrical releases as Primal Fear (1996) and City of Angels (1998). A graduate of Stanford University who also received a M.F.A. from the prestigious Juilliard School, Braugher claims to have originally taken up acting to meet girls. He later changed his major after realizing his true calling during a production of Hamlet, and his first professional role came in a performance at the Berkley Shakespeare Festival. Making the leap from stage to screen with the 1989 civil war drama Glory proved an eye opening experience, and following numerous appearances as Detective Winston Blake in a series of made-for-TV Kojak features, Braugher held onto his badge by joining the cast of Homicide in 1993. Later alternating successfully between film and television, Braugher was voted one of the "50 Most Beautiful" people in a 1997 issue of People magazine; the following year, the handsome actor turned down a prominent role in the sci-fi drama Sphere in order to spend more time with his family. Jumping back into features in 2000, roles in Frequency, Duets and A Better Way to Die proved that Braugher was still in top form, and, in 2002, he turned back to the small screen with the made-for-TV feature Hack (and later reprised his role when the feature was turned into a weekly series). Following a role in the made-for-TV feature A Soldier's Girl (2002), Braugher joined the cast of the television remake of the Stephen King vampire chiller Salem's Lot (2004), then returned to television - and changed camps to tap into the underground element - on the weekly crime drama Thief. As Nick Atwater, one of the most genial and principled of all television criminals (!), Braugher evoked an unusual ethical balance in his character and tapped into the fence's deep-seated devotion to his family, even as he drummed up a fiery intensity from episode to episode. Successive years found the actor moving into supporting roles in Hollywood A-listers with a heightened emphasis on effects-heavy action, adventure and fantasy-themed material; projects included Poseidon (2006), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) and Stephen King's The Mist (2007).Braugher would star in the TV mini-series The Andromeda Strain in 2008, before taking on a role in the cult favorite comedy series Men of a Certain Age from 2009-2011. He would also enjoy a recurring role on House M.D., and play a memorable supporting role in the Angelina Jolie action flick Salt.

Trivia: A man with a peculiar face and small stature born into a long line of performers, Toby Jones might seem born to be a character actor. Jones' father, Freddie Jones, has graced the screen in a multitude of projects, from David Lynch's enigmatic sci-fi epic Dune to BBC adaptations of classic works of literature. Meanwhile, Jones' mother was born to a family whose legacy in acting went back seven generations, setting the stage for Toby's career almost before he was born. Jones took to the stage at his school in Oxfordshire, England, where he discovered an aptitude for theatrical acting. Though stage work would remain an important element of his professional life, Jones eventually tried his hand at screen work, beginning with a minor role in the 1992 film adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Orlando. Many of these bit parts would follow in movies like Ever After and Les Miserabes, as Jones' distinct and memorable visage set him apart from the masses. This same unique quality eventually began to win him more substantial roles, like a four-episode run as a pathologist on the U.K. detective show Midsomer Murders, and a chance to explore vocal acting as the voice of the animated Dobby the House Elf in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. More of Jones' usual small but memorable parts would follow, such as Smee, right-hand man to Captain Hook in Finding Neverland. Then in 2004, Jones got the chance to sink his teeth into not one but two substantial characters -- both with considerably more screen time than he was accustomed to. In the U.K. made-for-TV biopic Elizabeth I, Jones played Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, spymaster, and later secretary of state to Queen Elizabeth, a man infamous for his odd, slight appearance. Exaggerating his quirky physical characteristics and delving deeply into the complex character, Jones was lauded by audiences and critics alike. That same year, Jones won the starring role of controversial writer Truman Capote in Infamous, the big-screen American telling of the writing the true-crime novel In Cold Blood. A dream role both for his artistic sensibilities and the furthering of his career, Jones joined a cast of American stars including Sigourney Weaver, Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Isabella Rossellini, and Daniel Craig. In typical Hollywood style, the film was green-lit around the same time that another studio was beginning production on a feature with the same subject matter, and Bennett Miller's Capote was scheduled to be released first. The buzz surrounding this rival production, however, was not the kind that Infamous producers were hoping for; instead of generating interest in their film, they feared that the overwhelming praise that Capote was receiving for its script, direction, and acting by star Philip Seymour Hoffman would only overshadow their own film. The release date for Infamous was pushed back as Capote went on to sweep the awards circuit, picking up over 40 awards and nominations including Oscar nods for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (for Catherine Keener's performance as Harper Lee), and Best Screenplay, as well as an Oscar win for Hoffman in the category of Best Actor. With Capote seeming to have already carved a place in the history of cinema and Philip Seymour Hoffman moving to the top of the list of gifted and respected actors, the cast and crew of Infamous had to worry that for all their hard work, their production would be seen as little more than the "other Truman Capote movie." Its release was finally set for late fall of 2006, roughly a year after its original date. Jones, however, was not going to spend the meantime biting his nails. By the time Infamous hit theaters, Jones had already completed filming on an adaptation of the Somerset Maugham novel The Painted Veil, and begun production on Nightwatching, a film about the life of the artist Rembrandt in which Jones would play the Dutch painter Gerard Dou.

Trivia: If you're a fan of movies, you've no doubt seen William Sadler's face countless times. With a versatile career that has spanned from long-haired, small-town rock star to banjo-plucking entertainer to Shakespearean actor to his role as Death in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (1991), William Sadler attacks all roles with equal gusto with his characters never ceasing to leave an impression on viewers, even if they can't recall the name of "that guy in that movie."Born in April of 1950 in Buffalo, NY, Sadler's imagination was fueled from a young age on his family's sprawling farm where he would pass the time with friends reenacting scenes from their favorite television and radio programs. Around the age of eight, Sadler's father's interest in music sparked a passion in the young boy as well with his father's gift of a ukulele. The two frequently performed at family functions together: Sadler Sr. on the guitar and Jr. on the uke. Later taking interest in a number of stringed instruments, after following in his father's footsteps and taking up the guitar, Sadler quickly learned that the mystique of the musician's life was difficult to resist. Forming a cover band with his Orchard Park High schoolmates, he began to gain popularity and a surprising amount of attention from the opposite sex. Armed with a banjo and a fistful of jokes, Sadler soon took on the persona of "Banjo Bill Sadler" for the school's annual variety show, and the result was an instant success. The students and teachers loved the performance, and English teacher Dan Larkin soon persuaded Sadler to audition for a role in Harvey, the senior play. Winning the lead and igniting a fire within the young performer, Sadler would soon follow his dreams and enroll in the drama program at State University College in Geneseo, NY. After spending two intense years in Cornell University's Fine Arts following his tenure at State University College, Sadler was finally prepared to be humbled in the grueling trials of the aspiring actor.Sadler took his first post-school role in Florida and soon relocated to Boston, moving in with his sister while scrubbing the floors of a lobster boat by day and cutting his acting chops at night. Slowly working up the nerve to take a shot at the big time in New York, a chance meeting with an old schoolmate on a trip into the city resulted in Sadler's casting in an off-off-Broadway production of Chekhov's Ivanov. After a brief turn at the Trinity Square Repertory Company in Providence, RI, Sadler moved back to New York and rented an apartment in the East Village, beginning a grueling 12 years in which he appeared in over 75 productions. It was here that Sadler would meet Marni Bakst, the woman who would soon become his wife, and a young actor named Matthew Broderick, in a Broadway production of Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues, who would kick-start Sadler's film career with a role in Project X (1987).After memorable turns in such films as Die Hard 2 (1990), Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, and The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Sadler found himself becoming one of the most sought-after character actors working in Hollywood. His friendly demeanor and warm sense of humor standing in stark contrast to his usually villainous onscreen antics, Sadler has gained a reputation among actors as a helpful and good-natured craftsman, always willing to offer advise and assistance without being pushy or overbearing. Increasingly busy in both television and films in the latter '90s, Sadler gained widespread recognition with his film roles in Disturbing Behavior (1998) and The Green Mile (1999) and on television with his role as Sheriff Jim Valenti on Roswell.

Trivia: Began acting as a member of the Mountebanks, the oldest student theater group in the U.S. In college, planned to be an engineer. Was a member of the National Shakespeare Company and did summer seasons at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center. Actually voiced O'Neill in the 1983 PBS documentary A Glory of Ghosts. Made his Broadway debut in 1976 in Comedians. Has appeared in a number of projects for writer-director Frank Darabont, who considers him a "good-luck charm." One of his most thrilling acting moments was his scene with James Cagney in 1981's Ragtime. Won a Cable ACE Award for his performance in HBO's Citizen X (1995).

Trivia: Frances Sternhagen was still in her teens when she made her first professional stage appearance as the thirtyish Laura in a 1948 summer-stock production of The Glass Menagerie. After graduating from Vassar with a BA degree in drama, Frances attended the Perry-Mansfield School of the Theatre and New York's Neighborhood Playhouse. She briefly worked as a teacher at Massachussett's Milton Academy before her off-Broadway debut as Juliette in Girardoux' Thieves' Carnival--one of the last times that this dynamic character actress would ever portray a flighty ingenue. She went on to spend several seasons at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. Back in New York, Sternhagen won two Obie Awards for her performances in Admirable Bashville and The New Pinter Plays, and in 1973 received the Tony Award for her multiple characterizations in Neil Simon's Good Doctor 1973. She followed this personal triumph by creating two of her all-time favorite stage roles: Dora in Equus (1974) and Ethel Thayer in On Golden Pond (1979). Launching her film career in 1967, Sternhagen has been seen in an exhausting variety of movie roles; among the best of these was no-nonsense Dr. Marion Lazarus in Outland (1982), matching wits and witticisms with outer-space peacekeeper Sean Connery. On television, Frances Sternhagen enjoyed sizable roles on such daytime dramas as Love of Life, One Life to Live, Secret Storm, and was seen on a regular basis in the prime-time series Spencer (1985, as Millie Sprague), Stephen King's the Golden Years (1991, as Gina Williams) and The Road Home (1994, as Charlotte Babineaux).

Trivia: After a quintessentially bohemian childhood that found her straddling New York, Paris, and Los Angeles (with a photographer father and actress mom), Alexa Davalos packed up, left the nest, and headed to Manhattan, flying solo. In the Big Apple, she instantly snagged lucrative assignments as a photographer's model for the likes of Peter Lindbergh, then discovered an inborn passion for acting and decided to make it the focus of her life. In 2002, Davalos -- desirous of Hollywood fame and success -- migrated to Los Angeles and began signing for guest parts on series such as Angel and Undeclared. Her big break arrived when producers selected her to play Kyra, the heroine in the 2004 futuristic fantasy vehicle The Chronicles of Riddick, starring Vin Diesel. Davalos next took on a prominent role as Samantha on the high-concept mystery-period series Reunion (2005). When highly touted series failed to catch on with viewers and was canceled after half a season, Davalos bounced back with a convincing portrayal as Diane Keaton's daughter in the well-received made-for-television feature Surrender, Dorothy (2006). The following year, Davalos stepped up several notches with a lead role in Robert Benton's much-anticipated drama Feast of Love -- an ensemble piece about a free-spirited woman who arrives in a small Northwestern town and recolors the life of everyone she meets. Also in 2007, Davalos appeared in the Stephen King horror adaptation The Mist, directed by Frank Darabont. The following year she co-starred with Daniel Craig and Jamie Bell in the war drama Defiance, and in 2010 she took on a supporting role in The Clash of the Titans.

Trivia: Child actor Nathan Gamble was born on January 12, 1998. By his tenth birthday he had racked up an impressive resumé, earning a nomination for a Young Artist Award for his role in the hit film Babel, and was cast as the son of Commissioner Gordon in the hit 2008 blockbuster The Dark Knight. He also made several television appearances in his rather busy first decade, including roles on Ghost Whisperer and the hit CBS series CSI. For the holiday season of 2008-2009, moviegoers could catch him in Marley & Me. He appeared in the TV series Hank, and the family film Dolphin Tale.

Trivia: Attended the same high school as Emily Bergl and Jamie Gertz. First acting job was in a Chicago Bulls commercial. Records and performs with the rock band the Crashtones. Made big-screen debut in the 2007 film The Mist. Played Alex "Crashdown" Quartararo in the Battlestar Galactica series. Provides the voice of the character Starkiller in The Force Unleashed, a George Lucas Star Wars video game.

Trivia: Worked behind the scenes as a casting agent while also pursuing a career in acting. Began her professional acting career in 1991 in Atlanta, GA. Made her TV debut on a 1993 episode of Matlock. Working with producer-director Frank Darabont on The Mist (2007) directly led to her role in The Walking Dead. Was the voice-double for Anne Bancroft in the 2008 animated feature Delgo. Has a strong interest in psychology.

Trivia: American actor Buck Taylor was the son of western comical sidekick Dub "Cannonball" Taylor. Buck was born in 1938, coincidentally the same year that Taylor pere made his film debut in You Can't Take it with You. True to his heritage, Buck showed up in the occasional western, notably Cattle Annie and Little Britches (1980) and Triumphs of a Man Called Horse (1983). For the most part, Taylor's film roles fell into the "young character" niche, notably his appearances in Ensign Pulver (1964), The Wild Angels (1966) (as motorcycle punk Dear John), and Pickup on 101 (1972). Buck Taylor will probably be seen on TV in perpetuity thanks to his recurring role as Newly O'Brian on the marathon TV western Gunsmoke, a role which he recreated for a 1987 Gunsmoke reunion film.

Trivia: Worked for Citigroup in Dallas for five years after college. After appearing in a friend's grad-school film, began working in independent films on the weekends; finally left the business world when he was cast in The Mist (2007). Formerly known as Ryan Hurst, but changed his stage name to Jackson, in tribute to Jack Kerouac, to avoid confusion with a Sons of Anarchy actor with the same name. Made his television debut in 2006 in a guest role on Inspector Mom. Appeared in The Closer and NCIS before being cast as a regular on Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva as Grayson Kent.

Trivia: Actor Amin Joseph initially made his mark with supporting roles in horror- oriented productions that included the low-budget shocker Nightmare (2005), the hip-hop-themed psychological horror piece Rapturious (2006), and the Frank Darabont-directed supernatural chiller Stephen King's The Mist (2007).