Trivia: A performer who carries equal weight in the twin arenas of pop recording and film and television acting, Drake Bell first staked out a career as an actor, signing for his premiere small-screen commercial at age five, in the early '90s. Bell commenced A-list film roles by 1996, when he made a memorable impression as a sports figure's son who bitterly curses agent Tom Cruise in Cameron Crowe's drama Jerry Maguire. Following small guest turns on such blockbuster series as The Drew Carey Show (1997) and Seinfeld (1998), Bell joined the cast of the Nickelodeon variety series The Amanda Show (1999-2002), as a regular member of the program's resident sketch comedy ensemble. In 2002, the show took its final bow, but Bell and co-star Josh Peck received their own spin-off sitcom, also on Nickelodeon: Drake & Josh (2004). Meanwhile, Bell began to pursue musical interests, and established himself as a pop-rock star, thanks in no small part to the tutelage of the Who's Roger Daltrey, whom he met on the set of the 2001 telemovie Chasing Destiny, and who reportedly gave Drake his first music lessons. As a performer, Drake bore self-professed (and unmissable) stylistic ties to the Beatles, as well as echoes of the Beach Boys and Elvis Presley. Bell's recording career in fact neatly dovetailed with the debut of Drake & Josh on two levels: he both recorded the theme song and played a slightly exaggerated version of his guitarist self on the program. The up-and-comer self-produced his first album, Telegraph, in 2005, and its success prompted Universal Records to sign him for a sophomore release, the 2006 It's Only Time. Alongside these efforts, Bell's acting efforts continued unabated, and he geared up for big-screen leads in the 2008 comedies College and Superhero -- the latter an Airplane!-style farce skewering the clichés of superhero movies.

Trivia: Character actress Sara Paxton debuted on-camera in her mid-teens, in the early 2000s. With bleached-blonde hair and steel-blue eyes that radiated a healthy middle-American appeal, Paxton seemed tailor-made for stardom and drew audience attention within an unsurprisingly brief period of time. However, she also maintained a somewhat low profile for the first several years, in terms of choice of material and narrow genre focus. Paxton premiered cinematically in 2001, with a small role in the Neal Israel-directed, made-for-television family comedy Hounded, and followed it up with similar programmers, such as the antiseptic farces Sleepover (2004), Return to Halloweentown (2006), and Aquamarine (2006). Paxton ascended to much higher billing (and expanded into slightly edgier material) with a plum role in the Amanda Bynes teen comedy Sydney White (2007), about a young sorority pledge who makes an aggressive attempt to rebuild the collegiate social hierarchy. She continued to work regularly in projects such as Superhero Movie, the 2009 remake of The Last House on the Left, and the 2011's The Innkeepers.

Trivia: Hollywood character actor Christopher McDonald at first specialized in playing uptight and slightly vexing young urban professionals. When the material demanded it, McDonald occasionally heightened these qualities to the obnoxious level for persuasive villainous portrayals, appearing as philandering husbands, condescending jocks, and manipulative powermongers to tremendous effect.The Manhattan native grew up in Romulus, NY. A Renaissance man and overachiever in high school, McDonald studied dentistry at Hobart College in the upstate New York town of Geneva but soon discovered an enduring passion for drama, studying after his 1977 graduation at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. When plum adolescent roles in the musical clunkers Grease 2 (1982) and Breakin' (1984) did little to further McDonald's career, he moved to Manhattan and sought tutelage from the legendary acting coach Stella Adler -- with such aggressive determination that he actually convinced the 83-year-old Adler to offer her services in exchange for domestic chores.The actor landed one of his most visible parts circa 1986, in the Bette Midler-Shelley Long female buddy comedy Outrageous Fortune (1987). He also essayed a memorable nice-guy turn opposite Cybill Shepherd and Ryan O'Neal in the first act of the wonderful reincarnation comedy Chances Are (1989). But McDonald's watershed moment came with his portrayal of Geena Davis' browbeating husband, Darryl Dickinson, in Ridley Scott's blockbuster feminist road movie Thelma & Louise (1991). Thanks to the success of that picture, McDonald's screen time escalated, and he began tackling an average of four to six roles per year. He ushered in an outstanding portrayal of Jack Barry, the natty host of Twenty-One, in the Robert Redford-directed Quiz Show (1994); played an abusive golf pro in the Adam Sandler comedy Happy Gilmore (1996); and was suitably annoying as an ignorant dad in John Duigan's suburban drama Lawn Dogs (1997). That same year, McDonald also portrayed Ward Cleaver in the big-screen version of Leave It to Beaver.McDonald resumé during the first several years of the millennium includes such Hollywood blockbusters as 61* (2001) and Spy Kids 2 (2002) and such arthouse hits as Requiem for a Dream (2000) and Broken Flowers (2005). In 2007, McDonald played Boss Hogg in the big-budget sequel The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning and Marty Schumacher in the Jamie Kennedy vehicle Kickin' It Old Skool. Four years later he essayed a recurring role on the hit HBO drama Boardwalk Empire.

Trivia: After cutting his teeth on the stand-up comedy circuit on the East Coast, comic Kevin Hart got his big break when he was cast in the Judd Apatow series Undeclared in 2000. The then 21 year old had grown up using his sense of humor to help his family cope with issues like his father's drug addiction and incarceration, and eventually learning to thrive in the stand-up scene helped give Hart the tenacity to make it on a national scale, both on stage and on screen. Hart would headline several successful national stand-up tours over the coming years, in addition to his successful movie career, which would find him appearing in a host of films like Soul Plane, Fool's Gold, The Five Year Engagement, This is the End. In 2014, he had a trio of hits, Ride Along, About Last Night and Think Like a Man Too. His success continued into the following years, headlining The Wedding Ringer and Get Hard in 2015, and Ride Along 2 and a stand-up film, What Now? in 2016.

Trivia: Best known for playing the android Data on the syndicated television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and in its feature film spin-offs, Brent Spiner is also a talented singer. Before agreeing to play Data, Spiner had spent a decade on the New York stage. A native of Houston, TX, he was raised by his mother and her second husband (Spiner's real father died when he was a baby). The Quaid brothers Randy and Dennis were among his high school classmates and the three learned about acting under Cecil Pickett. Eventually Pickett would leave the school to take a teaching job at the University of Houston. Spiner enrolled there soon after graduation, but only remained at the university through 1974 when he decided to become a professional actor in New York City. Like many other aspiring thespians, Spiner had dues to pay in the form of taking a job as a cab driver before launching his career off-Broadway. He made his Broadway debut with Sunday in the Park With George opposite Mandy Patinkin. He made his television debut in a miniseries, The Dain Curse, and first appeared in films with a bit part in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980). Spiner had a rare starring role in Rent Control (1981). He moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and launched a career as a television guest star on series and as a supporting actor in telemovies and miniseries. He most frequently appeared on the sitcom Night Court as the man who establishes a snack bar in the courthouse. He then successfully auditioned for the role of Data. Interestingly, Spiner claims no particular love for science fiction and was not a big fan of the original Star Trek. He says he mainly took the job because he didn't think the new series would last and because he needed to pay a few bills. The show lasted seven years also spawning a successful film series, and from the start, his was the most popular character on the show. In an effort to capitalize and satirize his nonhuman role on the show -- and perhaps to poke fun at actors William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy who capitalized on their Star Trek fame by each recording equally awful albums (can anyone forget Nimoy's bouncy rendition of "Bilbo Hobbitt"?) -- Spiner recorded his own album, Old Yellow Eyes Is Back (1991), with an 80-piece orchestra and fellow castmates Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, and Michael Dorn. Though the bulk of his fame comes from being Data, Spiner is not content to spend the rest of his career typecast and so occasionally plays other characters. His portrayal of prissy singing cruise director Gil Godwin was the funniest thing about Martha Coolidge's waterlogged Out to Sea (1997).

Trivia: Born July 8th, 1944, character actor Jeffrey Tambor has built his career in comedies playing the role of the uptight boss, or more generally, the stuffy guy. After graduate school, teaching, and a prolific stage career, Tambor started making television guest-starring appearances in the early '70s. He showed up on Three's Company enough that he eventually got a spot on the spin-off series The Ropers as the disapproving next-door neighbor Jeffrey. After the show's two-season run, he did a few TV movies before landing a reoccurring roles on the television version of 9 to 5, naturally playing the Dabney Coleman boss character. Throughout the '80s and early '90s, he continued to play the role of the stuffy guy on television (The Golden Girls, L.A. Law, Max Headroom) and movies (Mr. Mom, City Slickers, Life Stinks). His big break came in 1992, when he was cast as Garry Shandling's smiling sidekick, Hank Kingsley, on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show, his most recognizable role. For the rest of the '90s, he frequently returned to playing snide characters for movies (Teaching Mrs. Tingle, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Muppets From Space), although he would be more well-known for his work on television. In 1999, he appeared on the AMC series The Lot for its two-season run and provided voice talent for the MTV cartoon show 3 South. He played another boss type in the heist film Scorched in 2002.In 2003, Tambor joined the cast of Arrested Development for the role of George Bluth, an imprisoned millionaire and patriarch to a seriously dysfunctional family. The role would earn two Emmy nominations. Tambor tried his luck at television success once again in Welcome to the Captain, a short-lived sitcom in 2006, and returned to the big screen for the buddy comedy Twenty Good Years. He played a supporting role in 2009's critically acclaimed comedy the Invention of Lying, and played father of the bride in the megahit The Hangover. In 2011, Tambor took another supporting role for the comedy drama Win Win, and reprised his role in The Hangover for The Hangover Part 2.

Trivia: Involved in the Invisible Children charity that aids youngsters in war-torn northern Uganda. One of the stars of an online series called Rockville CA, which was created by Josh Schwartz (The O.C., Gossip Girl). Among his hobbies are dancing, surfing, skating, skateboarding and snorkeling. Father is a pastor. Member of CYT (Christian Youth Theater). Shaved his head for a role in Power Rangers.

Trivia: A graduate of San Diego State University and a veteran of the San Francisco theatre scene, Robert Hays began showing up on TV in the mid-1970s, first as co-star of the well-received television movie Young Pioneers, then in the regular role of Dr. Brad Benson on the 1979 sitcom Angie. On the basis of his dead-pan comedy performances in such films as Airplane (1980) and Take This Job and Shove It (1981), Robert Hays should have been a big-time movie star of the 1980s. Alas, the momentum of Hays' career was laid low by too many bad scripts and too many desultory TV series like Starman (1986) and FM (1989). Robert Hays remains a likeable screen presence into the 1990s, even if it's only in the occasional TV commercial or such Disney family fare as Homeward Bound: An Incredible Journey (1993).

Trivia: Marian Ross dreamed of stardom from childhood, going so far as to change the spelling of her first name to Marion because she thought it would look nicer on a marquee. When her family moved from Minnesota to California, the 16-year-old aspiring actress plunged into the busy world of amateur theatricals in the San Diego area. She was voted Outstanding Actress at San Diego State University in 1950, then went on to work at the prestigious La Jolla Playhouse. Mel Ferrer, La Jolla's resident director, recommended that Ross try her luck in Hollywood. She worked steadily in TV and films from 1953 onward, but stardom was still outside her reach. Ross played a succession of maids, nuns, nurses, and that nebulous classification, the Heroine's Best Friend. She showed up in small roles in such films as Forever Female (1953), Lust for Life (1955), and Operation Petticoat (1959), earning the respect of her fellow workers but very little in the way of public recognition. "I've always had a way of not attracting attention," she would note with resignation later in life. On television, Marion played unstressed recurring roles on such series as Life with Father, Mrs. G Goes to College and Mr. Novak. She finally achieved stardom as Marion Cunningham, mother of 1950s high-schooler Richie Cunningham, on the weekly sitcom Happy Days. What started out as a shaky midseason replacement in January of 1974 ended up ABC's number-one hit; Ross hitched her wagon to the ever-rising Happy Days star until its final episode in 1983. During this period, she reactivated her stage career, with considerably more success than she'd enjoyed in the 1950s. Ross' post-Happy Days TV gigs included a 1986 guest shot as the new bride of Captain Stubing (Gavin MacLeod) on The Love Boat and the brief 1989 series Living Dolls. In 1991, Marion Ross earned an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of archetypal Jewish mother Sophie Berger on the TV "dramedy" Brooklyn Bridge. In the decades to come, Ross would find ongoing success with recurring roles on TV series like The Drew Carey Show and Gilmore Girls, as well as providing voice acting for animated series such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Handy Manny.

Trivia: Canadian actor Robert Joy has been appearing in films on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border since the 1970s. He has always been a welcome presence, even when the scripts took pains not to make him feel welcome. As Susan Sarandon's husband in Atlantic City (1981), Joy stuck around just long enough to be bumped off by drug dealers. And as demented socialite Harry K. Thaw in Ragtime (1981), Joy existed principally to shoot Stanford White (Norman Mailer) full of holes and then get thrown in the looney bin. One of Robert Joy's largest, and most unorthodox, film assignments was as the would-be political demagogue (and one-time flamenco dancer) in the Newfoundland-based The Adventures of Faustus Bidgood (1986). Over the next several years, Joy would continue to remain an ongoing force on screen, appearing in films like Joe Somebody, Pretty Persuasion, Land of the Dead, and Superhero Movie. He would find success with a starring role on the long running crime proceedural CSI: NY.

Trivia: Bleached blonde, buxom, but slender bombshell Pamela Anderson stands out in any crowd as one of the sex symbols of the mid-'90s. Known first as a spokesmodel for Labatt beer, then as one of Playboy magazine's most popular models, Anderson gained international recognition after she was cast as C.J., the sweet but tough lifeguard in the impossibly tight red bathing suit in the phenomenally popular syndicated television series Baywatch. Her popularity has led to several film roles, notably that of the black leather bustier-wearing title heroine in the comic-book actioner Barb Wire (1996). The role was appropriate, for there is something indeed cartoonish about Anderson, who had enhanced her petite frame with big hairdos, surgically inflated lips, and silicon breast implants. Anderson made a splash on the day she was born, as she was the first centennial baby in her region of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. She first attracted media notice in 1989, when a roving camera caught a glimpse of her during a professional football game in Vancouver. The picture of the cheering Anderson, who was wearing a Labatt's tee shirt at the time, was simultaneously shown on the arena's Jumbotron screen. Though her body was, surgically speaking, still in its original condition, her attributes and beauty were enough to cause a sensation. Labatt's executives remembered the crowd's positive reaction and hired her to become the brewery's spokeswoman. She attracted the attention of Playboy and was hired to do a photo layout. She has since gone on to appear on the magazine's cover an unprecedented five times. Once in Hollywood, she changed her appearance and soon found work guest starring on television shows. Her first recurring role was on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement where she played Lisa, the Tool Time Girl. Anderson made her film debut playing a cheerleader in the low-budget actioner The Taking of Beverly Hills (1992). She has also appeared in a few television movies, including Come Die With Me: A Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer Mystery (1994). Although an attempt to translate her small-screen success to the silver screen in the comic-book Casablanca adaptation Barb Wire proved unsuccessful to say the least, Anderson continued to thrill television audiences in Baywatch and stirred up much controversy when an extremely intimate honeymoon video of herself and then-husband Tommy Lee began making the rounds in 1998. Though the couple parted ways that same year in a highly publicized divorce case, Anderson went on to marry another bad boy, Detroit musician Kid Rock after returning to television as a sexy secret agent on the series V.I.P. .Anderson shocked her fan base in early 2002 when she announced that she had contracted the Hepatitis C virus, but this wouldn't kept he bombshell down. She provided the voice for the sexy tongue-in-cheek star of the Spike TV animated series Striperella and made appearances on shows like Less Than Perfect and 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. In 2006, she starred in two seasons of the sitcom Stacked, before appearing in Sacha Baron Cohen's mockumentary Borat. The minor appearance resonated with audiences, and Anderson would continue her comedy streak with films like Blonde and Blonder, Superhero Movie, and Hollywood & Wine.Though Anderson continued acting in smaller projects, she became more well-known for her personal life and her passionate advocacy. She frequently works with PETA and other animal rights groups, and is a prominent vegan.

Trivia: Although his career stretches back half a century and includes over 100 films and countless TV programs, Leslie Nielsen gained true fame late in his career, when he starred in a series of comic spoofs beginning with 1980's Airplane!.The son of a Canadian Mountie and the brother of Canada's future Deputy Prime Minister, Nielsen was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, on February 11, 1926. He developed an early knack for acting when he was forced to lie to his disciplinarian father in order to avoid punishment, and he went on to become a radio announcer after serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WWII (despite being legally deaf, the result of a childhood illness). To prepare himself for his future career, Nielsen studied at Toronto's Academy of Radio Arts, which was run by CBC commentator and future Bonanza star Lorne Greene. After several years in radio, he won a scholarship to New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, where he studied acting under Sanford Meisner and dance under Martha Graham. He then spent five years appearing on such live television programs as Tales From Tomorrow before making his film bow in Ransom! (1956). With the exception of his starring roles in the sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet (1956) and the popular Debbie Reynolds-vehicle Tammy and the Bachelor (1957), much of Nielsen's early work was undistinguished; he was merely a handsome leading man in an industry overstocked with handsome leading men. An attempt to do a "Davy Crockett" by starring as Francis Marion in the Disney TV saga The Swamp Fox resulted in a nifty title tune but little else. Nielsen went on to star in such series as The New Breed, Bracken's World, and Hawaii Five-O (1968), but found he was more in demand as a heavy than as a hero.A notorious offscreen practical joker and cut-up, Nielsen was not given an onscreen conduit for this trait until he was cast in the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker spoof Airplane (1980). This led to his deadpan characterization of monumentally inept police lieutenant Frank Drebin on Z.A.Z.'s cult TV series Police Squad, which in turn spawned the 1988 hit The Naked Gun and two sequels. Nielsen also found success in a number of other film spoofs, so much, in fact, that those familiar only with his loopy comedy roles are invariably surprised that, once upon a time, he took himself deadly seriously in films like Harlow (1965) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972). Nielsen died at the age of 84, of pneumonia, in late November 2010.

Trivia: Forever associated with his ongoing voice work as Homer J. Simpson on Matt Groening and James L. Brooks' long, long-running Fox animated sitcom The Simpsons, Dan Castellaneta is well-reputed for his modest, unassuming presence in real life and his paradoxical ability to spin characters -- seemingly from out of nowhere -- that instantly take on lives of their own. Groening once famously remarked that "Dan can do everything, and he practically does....You might never notice him, but then he opens his mouth and he completely creates one character after another.'' Born in 1957, Castellaneta grew up in the small town of Oak Grove, IL, in the northwestern corner of the state, near the Iowa border. As a self-described introvert who developed and honed a facility for slipping into the guise of characters to entertain and make social situations easier (read: class clown), Castellaneta nevertheless diverged from this path in college and worked toward a career as a high-school art teacher via his studies at Northern Illinois University. Then, one of Castellaneta's professors (perhaps sensing some dissatisfaction) wisely admonished him to only work at a field, and in a job, that he loved. Castellaneta reasoned that acting fit the bill, and auditioned for the infamous sketch comedy troupe Second City shortly after graduation. The troupe hired him, and in time, the skills that the actor projected led to his involvement on the then-fledgling Fox network's sketch comedy series The Tracey Ullman Show, which premiered on Sunday, April 5, 1987. Castellaneta joined Ullman, Julie Kavner, Joe Malone, Sam McMurray, and for a time Anna Levine in live-action skits that parodied all aspects of Western culture.As a most unusual aspect of her program, Ullman opted to feature crudely animated, offbeat segments as Monty Python-style transitions between the individual sketches. The episodes in question were drawn by Gabor Csupo and Groening (at that time, comic-strip artist of growing infamy known for his Life Is Hell series starring a buck-toothed, bug-eyed rabbit named Bucky). Although the subjects of the shorts initially varied, within a few months they began to focus exclusively on a hyper-dysfunctional blue-collar family called the Simpsons; Kavner and Castellaneta voiced parents Homer and Marge Simpson, respectively. Those segments gained such massive popularity that they eventually outshone that of the Ullman show itself (which wrapped in September 1990), and executive producer James L. Brooks, following this cue, decided to spin off the Simpsons into their own weekly animated series. Kavner and Castellaneta, of course, followed Brooks to the new program, joined in time by longtime Brooks acquaintance Harry Shearer, as well as Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, and numerous others.The Simpsons premiered on Fox on December 17, 1989, and became not simply a hit but a phenomenon. It shot up to instantly become one of the highest-rated series on television, and attained iconic status. The program scored as a cause célèbre not simply with children (as expected) but with adult viewers as well, who appreciated the show's ability to skewer all aspects of society and culture. (It generated a billion-dollar marketing boom as well -- an onslaught of Bart Simpson-themed T-shirts, watches, dolls, beach towels, and everything else under the sun.) The program also drew an onslaught of celebrity guests -- everyone from Larry King to Tony Bennett to Beverly D'Angelo and Linda Ronstadt. Castellaneta himself will forever be tied to Homer Simpson -- the lunkheaded, potbellied, beer-swilling, donut-loving nuclear-plant worker with not a whole lot upstairs, and a thoroughly crass lifestyle, but also a big, soft heart (a quality which Castellaneta's co-workers insist that he alone brought to the character). But hardcore Simpsons cultists and even its less attentive devotees will realize that Castellaneta voices not only Homer (as mentioned), but also the gravelly voiced, booze-swilling, womanizing clown Krusty; local drunk Barney Gumble; Scottish elementary-school groundskeeper Willie; the octogenarian family patriarch Grampa Simpson; and innumerable others. Certainly, it would be difficult to imagine a program that took fuller advantage of Castellaneta's versatility with characterizations.Alongside The Simpsons, Castellaneta has also pursued a career as a live-action film and television performer, and spent most of the late '80s, '90s, and 2000s vacillating between the two mediums. His career on the big screen began at least a year prior to his involvement with Ullman and co., when he debuted with a bit part as Brian in the now-forgotten Garry Marshall dramedy Nothing in Common (1986), starring Jackie Gleason, Tom Hanks, Eva Marie Saint, and Sela Ward. In 1989, Castellaneta landed bit parts in two wildly different films: one as a maître d' in the Jim Belushi cop comedy K-9, and another (as one of Danny DeVito's clients) in the James L. Brooks-produced jet-black marital farce The War of the Roses. Castellaneta temporarily withdrew from live-action cinematic work in the early '90s, before returning to audiences as the narrator in Super Mario Bros. (1993) and Phil in Warren Beatty's Love Affair (1994). As the Castellaneta's career continued, he then segued into cinematic animated voice-over work (doubtless encouraged by the ongoing success of The Simpsons), doing voices in such features as 2000's Rugrats in Paris (under the aegis of old colleague Gabor Csupo) and Hey Arnold! The Movie (2002). In 2007, Castellaneta extended his Homer characterization to the big screen with his work on The Simpsons Movie -- the first cinematic appearance of Groening's famous animated family.As for television, Castellaneta appeared as a supporting actor in numerous sitcoms during the 1990s. These included ALF (as Steve Michaels in the 1990 episode "Stayin' Alive"), Married...with Children (as Pete in the 1990 episode "The Dance Show"), Wings (as George Wexler in the 1994 episode "Moonlighting"), and Murphy Brown (as Tony Lucchesi in the 1995 episode "Specific Overtures.") He also voiced Genie (inheriting the role from Robin Williams) on the animated Aladdin TV series. Of the Simpsons cast, Castellaneta is one of the only actors to regularly do on-stage comedic improvisation alongside his series work. He is married to Simpsons writer Deb Lacusta, whom he wed in 1987.He continued to work steadily in animated films such as Rugrats in Paris: The Movie and Hey Arnold! The Movie, and landed traditional acting parts every once in a while in movies as diverse as the indie comedy I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With and the Will Smith drama The Pursuit of Happyness. In 2007 he voiced nearly 20 different parts in The Simpsons Movie. He also landed a part in JJ Abrams 2011 Spielberg-influenced family sci-fi film Super 8.

Trivia: Modeled for Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and Levi's. Performed in several adult films in the early 1990s. In 1995, was hired as an MTV VJ, staying with the job for more than two years. Disney refused to consider him for a role in the 1999 sitcom Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane because of his adult-film notoriety. Has recorded as rap artist Dirt Nasty, releasing his self-titled debut album in 2007. Once co-owned a New York City nightclub called Plumm. Appeared in the 2009 video for Ke$ha's "Tik Tok."

Trivia: Actor, singer, and voice actor Keith David has spent much of his career on the stage, but also frequently works in feature films and on television. A native of New York City, David first performed as a child, singing in the All Borough Chorus and later attended the prestigious High School of Performing Arts. Shortly after graduating from Juilliard, where he studied voice and theater, David landed a role in a production of Coriolanus at Joseph Papp's Public Theater. He starred opposite Christopher Walken. David made his Broadway debut in Albee's The Lady From Dubuque (1980) and, two years later, had his first film role in John Carpenter's The Thing. He would not appear in another feature film until he played King in Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986). In between, David alternated between stage and television work. He appeared in five films in 1988, including Clint Eastwood's Bird, where he gave a memorable performance as jazz sax player Buster Franklin. In 1992, David showed his considerable skill as a singer and dancer and won a Tony nomination for starring in the musical Jelly's Last Jam, opposite Gregory Hines. David's film career really picked up in the mid-'90s, with roles ranging from a gunslinger in Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead to a New York cop in Spike Lee's Clockers to an amputee who owns a pool parlor in Dead Presidents (all 1995). In 1998, David had a brief but memorable role as Cameron Diaz's boisterous stepfather in the Farrelly brother's zany Something About Mary. In one of the film's funniest scenes, David tries to help Diaz's prom date, Ben Stiller, extricate himself from an embarrassingly sticky situation. He is also well known to animation fans for his voice work in, among other projects, Disney's Gargoyles, HBO's Spawn, and the English-dubbed version of the Japanese-animated film Princess Mononoke. In 2000 he appeared in Requiem for a Dream, Pitch Black, and Where the Heart Is, as well as providing the narration of Ken Burns documentary on the history of jazz. He continued to work steadily in a variety of projects including Barbershop, 29 Palms, Agent Cody Banks, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and the 2005 Oscar winner for Best Picture, Crash. He also found work in Transporter 2, The Oh in Ohio, Meet Monica Velour, Lottery Ticket, and the 2010 remake of Death at a Funeral.

Trivia: Following an early career that mainly included small parts on Empty Nest, Murphy Brown, and other assorted sitcoms, Craig Bierko made a number of unsuccessful stabs at stardom in feature films with leading-man roles in the poorly received comedies Sour Grapes, The Suburbans, and Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. He also starred opposite Gretchen Mol in 1999's sci-fi dud The Thirteenth Floor. In 2005, Bierko's career began to pick up steam when he bulked up to play boxer Max Baer in Ron Howard's Cinderella Man. Playing opposite acting heavyweights Russell Crowe and Paul Giamatti, Bierko held his own and received high marks from critics. He parlayed the success of the performance into an extended arc on ABC's Boston Legal, and in 2007 was cast as the lead on Fox's The Rules for Starting Over, a romantic sitcom about a divorced man's reluctant attempts at entering the dating scene. In 2012, he played a supporting role in Peter and Bobby Farrelly's reboot of The Three Stooges.

Trivia: Relatively unknown character actor Kurt Fuller has made a fairly consistent acting career in television and films since the late '80s, mostly playing authority figures. One of his earliest film appearances was as the head television executive in the Hulk Hogan movie No Holds Barred. Mostly working in comedies and dramas, he has also been in action thrillers (Eve of Destruction) and family-oriented adventures (Bingo). He has a lengthy list of television guest star credits, including L.A. Law, Ally McBeal, and The West Wing. In the '90s, he had starring roles in a few short-lived TV series like Capitol News, Timecop, and That's My Bush. After playing Kirk Douglas' son in the comedy Diamonds, he played the adult foil in the teen comedies The New Guy, Scary Movie, and Porn 'n Chicken. In 2002, he played Hogan's Heroes castmember Werner Klemperer in Paul Schrader's Auto Focus; the following year he appeared with Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler in Anger Management. He had a small part in the Oscar winning biopic Ray, as well as the Will Smith hit The Pursuit of Happyness. He played The Dean in 2009's Van Wilder: Freshman Year, and two years later he was part of the ensemble in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris.

Trivia: Lead actor John Getz first appeared onscreen in the '80s.

Trivia: Buxom, blonde Charlene Tilton is best known for playing Lucy Ewing on the long-running nighttime soap Dallas from 1978 to 1985 and again from 1988 to 1991. Tilton made her feature film debut in Disney's Freaky Friday (1976) and then had a starring role in the low-budget sex farce Sweater Girls (1978). Since the demise of the television series, Tilton's film career has been sporadic.

Trivia: Born Kimberly Jones in 1975, rapper Lil' Kim (her stage name) grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant borough of Brooklyn, NY. Just after her ninth birthday, her parents divorced and she fell into the custody of her father, who threw her out of the house several years later. She thus spent her teenage years in a state of virtual homelessness, living with friends and on the streets, but her life turned a promising corner when she encountered maestro rap producer Biggie Smalls. Smalls immediately sensed her ability to rap, reinvented her as Lil' Kim, and signed her to a recording contract, first as a member of Junior M.A.F.I.A., then as a solo artist. In the recording sphere, Kim distinguished herself with an unabashed sexually provocative image and some of the most explicit and graphic lyrics by any female performer in the rap genre.In terms of cinema, it was perhaps inevitable that Lil' Kim would make her strongest impression in urban material, not unlike rap contemporaries Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube. Thus, even though she first bowed in the Freddie Prinze, Jr.-headlined teen comedy She's All That (1999), Kim fell into a niche with projects including Juwanna Mann (2002), the adult-oriented animated feature Lil' Pimp (2003), and the urban comedy Nora's Hair Salon (2004). In 2008, Kim joined Leslie Nielsen, Drake Bell, and others for the genre spoof Superhero Movie. She served a one-year prison sentence for her knowledge of a shooting.

Trivia: New York-born Saturday Night Live cast member Tracy Morgan memorably spoofed everyone from Fat Albert to Tiger Woods' father during his time on the long-running comedy television staple. Working in mostly bit roles until a scathingly incisive skit in which he claimed that his biggest role each week was the guy waving in the background during the closing credits, Morgan then began a streak of standout characters that quickly placed his distinctive mark among his fellow cast members. Morgan appeared on television's Martin before joining the cast of SNL in September 1996, later appearing in 3rd Rock From the Sun and in such films as Half Baked (1998) and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001). With his film career picking up momentum with such comedies as 30 Years to Life and Frank McKlusky, C.I., it appeared that Morgan would enjoy a healthy career away from his Saturday Night Live home. Morgan appeared in the Chris Rock-directed comedy Head of State, and was the star of the short-lived sitcom The Tracy Morgan Show. He also contributed regularly to the prank-phone-calls-with-puppets series Crank Yankers. In addition to a video release compiling his most memorable moments from Saturday Night Live, Morgan appeared in Adam Sandler's remake of The Longest Yard, and played a role in the Wayans brothers comedy Little Man. Morgan was one of many contributors to Bob Saget's spoof Farce of the Penguins. In the fall of 2006, he joined the cast of 30 Rock, former SNL head writer Tina Fey's new sitcom about the backstage antics at a similar live sketch comedy show. A major hit for NBC, 30 Rock earned Morgan an Emmy nomination in 2009, and was still going strong three years later. Meanwhile, when he wasn't cracking up television viewers, Morgan could frequently be seen on the big screen in such films as the Kevin Smith buddy cop comedy Cop Out, and the Neil LaBute remake Death at a funeral. Though in 2011 Morgan received a verbal lashing from GLAAD following a stand-up routine that the organization viewed as homophobic, the quick witted writers at 30 Rock wasted no time turning versy into comedy gold by poking fun at the incident in primetime.

Trivia: Staking claim on her fame with her role in the comedy-horror spoof Scary Movie, Regina Hall has frequented the big screen in roles that far from betrayed her age. Born in 1971 in Washington, D.C., Hall earned a degree in journalism from N.Y.U. before embarking on a film career. In 1997, she began appearing in commercials at age 26, and then made the giant leap into movies. Her recurring role in Scary Movie and the sequel Scary Movie 2 exhibited the 30-year-old's ability to maintain her youthful appearance, as she portrayed the high-school-aged Brenda Meeks. Hall's first film role had come in 1999 with a small role in Malcolm D. Lee's drama The Best Man. The following year, she made several film appearances, including her starring role in Scary Movie. In addition, she played small parts in two films directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, the drama Love and Basketball, and the TV movie Disappearing Acts, featuring Sanaa Lathan and Wesley Snipes. In 2001, Hall's list of credits grew to include her first television role, as Corretta Lipp on the prime-time drama Ally McBeal, which was a recurring role for several episodes. Also that year, Scary Movie 2 was released, in addition to the Mandel Holland comedy The Other Brother, featuring Hall as Vicki. One year later, she starred in the action-drama Paid in Full, directed by Charles Stone III. She reprised her role as Brenda Meeks yet again for Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Scary Movie 4 (2006), and played a supporting role in the 2009 crime thriller Law Abiding Citizen. The following year she had some success for her supporting role in Neil LaBute's remake of Frank Oz's black comedy Death at a Funeral, in which she co-starred with Danny Glover, Peter Dinklage, and Martin Lawrence, among others. She co-starred with Kevin Hart and Michael Ealy in Think Like a Man (2012), which was adapted from Steve Harvey's non-fiction self-improvement book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man.

Trivia: Upbeat, high-octane actress and comedienne Nicole Sullivan gravitated to dramatic performance at age seven and reportedly caught the comedy bug from her New York state assemblyman father and antiques dealer mother. After high school, Sullivan enrolled in the prestigious Northwestern University, then studied at London's British American Dramatic Academy for one year before settling in Hollywood in the early '90s. The actress reportedly endured a long string of failed auditions and failed television pilots upon arrival, though she eventually broke through to public recognition as one of the resident performers on the Fox network's revue comedy program MADtv. That only marked the beginning, and within a few years of her MAD debut, Sullivan branched out in innumerable directions, such as voicing Mira Nova in the direct-to-video animated sequel Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (2000) and making guest appearances on series programs including Crank Yankers, Monk, and Family Guy. Sullivan connected with much steadier work by signing on to play Holly Shumpert on seasons 4-6 of the popular Kevin James sitcom The King of Queens from 2001-2004, then moved into features, including the animated outings The Ant Bully (2006) and Meet the Robinsons (2007), and mirrored these accomplishments on the small screen with voiceover work on the animated series Slacker Cats. In 2008, Sullivan returned to the sitcom format with Rita Rocks; she played Rita Clements, a working wife and mother who moonlights as a rock star. She went on to appear in Black Dynamite and Let It Shine

Trivia: Actor, stuntman, and college baseball player Michael Papajohn got his start in show business while he was attending Louisiana State University, where he played for the LSU Tigers. After having the opportunity to perform some stunts in the sports movie Everybody's All American in 1988, Papajohn began pursuing stunt and acting roles, appearing in movies like The Last Boy Scout and Mr. Baseball. He would find consistent acting work over the coming years, frequently making small appearances. He played an unnamed thug in 2000's Charlie's Angels and a security guard in the 2002 comedy The Hot Chick, and continued to take on several roles per year throughout the 2000s, notably appearing in I Know Who Killed Me, Spider-Man 3, and Terminator Salvation.

Trivia: Has training from Steve Eastin Studios, Actors Comedy Studio and Kalmenson & Kalmenson, among others.Was a member of the Sigma Nu Fraternity.Is a company member of the Acme Comedy Theatre. Was inducted into the Museum of Television and Radio's permanent collection for his work on the radio serial, Danger Cow.Became the Director of Sales and Marketing for Mountain Valley Water Los Angeles in 2010.