Trivia: A distinguished actor of stage, television, and movies who is at home playing everything from menacing villains, big-hearted transsexuals, and loopy aliens, John Lithgow is also a composer and performer of children's songs, a Harvard graduate, a talented painter, and a devoted husband and father: in short, he is a true Renaissance man. Once hailed by the Wall Street Journal as "the film character actor of his generation," Lithgow is the son of a theater director who once headed Princeton's McCarter Theater and produced a series of Shakespeare festivals in Ohio, where Lithgow was six when he made his first theatrical bow in Henry VI, Part 3. His parents raised Lithgow in a loving home that encouraged artistic self-expression and took a broad view of the world. As a youth, Lithgow was passionate about painting and at age 16, he was actively involved with the Art Students League in New York. When the acting bug bit, Lithgow's father was supportive. After Lithgow graduated from Harvard, he received a Fulbright scholarship to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art; while in England, Lithgow also worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and for the Royal Court Theatre. He returned to the U.S. in the early '70s and worked on Broadway where he won his first Tony and a Drama Desk Award for his part in The Changing Room (1973). Lithgow remained in New York for many years, establishing himself as one of Broadway's most respected stars and would go on to appear in at least one play per year through 1982. He would subsequently receive two more Tony nominations for Requiem for a Heavyweight and M. Butterfly. He made his first film appearance in Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1972). The film itself was an inauspicious affair as were his other subsequent early efforts, though by the early '80s, his film roles improved and diversified dramatically. Though capable of essaying subtle, low-key characters, Lithgow excelled in over-the-top parts as the next decade in his career demonstrates. He got his first real break and a Best Supporting Actor nomination when he played macho football player-turned-sensitive woman Roberta Muldoon in The World According to Garp (1982). In 1983, he provided one of the highlights of Twilight Zone--The Movie as a terrified airline passenger and earned a second Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination in Terms of Endearment where he appeared with Shirley Maclaine and Jack Nicholson, as well as playing a fiery preacher in Footloose. That year, he won his first Emmy nomination for his work in the scary nuclear holocaust drama The Day After. In 1984, he played the crazed Dr. Lizardo in the cult favorite The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. In Ricochet (1992), Lithgow proved himself a terrifying villain with his portrayal of a psychopathic killer hell-bent for revenge against Denzel Washington, the man who incarcerated him. In 1990, he made Babysong video tapes of his performing old and new children's songs on the guitar and banjo. Though he had already established himself on television as a guest star, Lithgow gained a large and devoted following when he was cast as an alien captain who, along with his clueless crew, attempts to pass for human in the fresh, well-written NBC sitcom Third Rock From the Sun (1996). The role has won him multiple Emmys and Golden Globe awards. When that show's run ended in 2001, Lithgow kept busy with roles in such high-profile features as The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) (in which he essayed the role of comedy legend Blake Edwards), Kinsey, Dreamgirls, and Leap Year. Yet through it all the small screen still beckoned, and in 2010 the Lithgow won an Emmy for his role as Arthur Mitchell (aka The Trinity Killer) on the hit Showtime series Dexter. A poignant turn as a once-brilliant scientist stricken with Alzheimer's disease revealed a gentler side of Lithgow in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and in 2012 he reminded us that he could still get big laughs with roles in both This is 40 (Judd Apatow's semi-sequel to Knocked Up) and the Will Ferrell/Zach Galifianakis political comedy The Campaign. When not busy working on the show, in theater, or in feature films, Lithgow is at home playing "Superdad" to his children and his wife, a tenured college professor at U.C.L.A.

Trivia: Famed for (and lucky enough to be) one of Saturday Night Live's original Not Ready for Primetime Players, Jane Curtin made her debut in 1975 among such heavies as John Belushi, Chevy Chase, and Gilda Radner. Together they formed the sketch comedy troupe that wrote a new chapter in American comedy. Curtin is different from many of her famous SNL cohorts in that she left the show without being easily identified with a single character. Audiences loved her as Mrs. Conehead and as the co-anchor of Weekend Update with Dan Akroyd, but Curtin remained as understated as someone could be with a two-foot cone on her head.After her two Emmy nominations from Saturday Night Live, Curtin went on to star in a number of other series. In the 1980s, viewers empathized with her as Allie Lowell in Kate and Allie (for which she won back-to-back Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmys in 1984 and 1985); in the 1990s, she kept audiences in stitches with her wacky characterization of Dr. Mary Albright, the anthropologist love interest of John Lithgow on 3rd Rock From the Sun. As the 2000's unfolded, Curtin would remain active in a vareity of roles, appearing most notably in comedies like I Love You, Man and on TV series like the crime drama Unforgettable.

Trivia: French Stewart, a native of New Mexico, received his professional training from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, from which he earned a B.F.A. Stewart has numerous stage credits on his resumé, ranging from contemporary theater to the classics and has earned many awards for his work on stage. He is said to have earned his S.A.G. card by portraying Yogi Bear with a traveling children's show, from which he was eventually fired for removing the head of his costume in front of children. Stewart is primarily known for his portrayal of the goofy alien Harry on the NBC sitcom, 3rd Rock From the Sun, which is, by his own account, a character study of silent film comedians. Stewart reportedly owns a substantial collection of silent films. He is married to actor Katherine LaNasa. In the years to come, Stewart would remain active on screen, appearing in films like Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2.

Trivia: Best known as the husky-voiced, no-nonsense Lt. Sally Solomon on the hit NBC fantasy sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996-2001) -- a role she played, opposite heavyweights John Lithgow and Jane Curtin, for the entire six-year run of the series -- fair-haired Kristen Johnson parlayed her success from that effort into a handful of A-list cinematic releases, beginning in 1999. After 3rd Rock wrapped in spring 2001, Johnston's movie activity crescendoed dramatically, and she became ever-present as a character player in the supporting casts of Hollywood feature films.Born January 20, 1967, in Washington, D.C., Johnston moved with her family to Wisconsin and attended high school in suburban Milwaukee, where prescient classmates voted her "Biggest Ham" and "Most Likely to be a Celebrity." Unusually tall for her age (6 ft. at age 13), with a booming, authoritative voice and an outsized personality, Johnston stood out from the crowd and reportedly struggled with self-doubt as a result; she later termed her height "incredibly distressing." The aspiring actress learned self-acceptance early on, however, as she attended NYU and studied drama there. For almost ten years, Johnston struggled as an up-and-coming actress, holding down assorted jobs and working on Broadway and off-Broadway productions, until an NBC executive noticed her and was instrumental in enlisting her as Sally on 3rd Rock. Johnston doubled this up with a 1998 guest appearance as herself on The Larry Sanders Show, then debuted cinematically the following summer as Ivana Humpalot in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999). Johnston ascended to higher billing as Wilma Slaghoople, the wife of Fred Flintstone (a role she inherited from Elizabeth Perkins) in the family-friendly, effects-heavy Stone Age comedy The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000).Although 3rd Rock from the Sun, as indicated, ended its original network run in mid-2001, Johnston took a couple of years off, resurfacing in 2003 with a guest appearance on the shortlived courtroom seriocomedy Queens Supreme (produced by Julia Roberts). Johnston followed this up with several additional big-screen turns over the next few years. These included a supporting role in William Tannen's all-star showbiz satire Nobody Knows Anything (2003); the part of Fran -- an envious friend of newly involved Caroleen Feeney -- in Hal Salwen's quirky indie romantic comedy Duane Incarnate; a brief supporting turn as Coach Divers in Paul Dinello's big-screen prequel to the wild television comedy series Strangers with Candy (2005); and Rhonda in Marc Lawrence's romantic comedy Music and Lyrics (2007), co-starring Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. Appearances on The New Adventures of Old Christine and Ugly Betty followed, and in 2009 Johnston began teaching acting classes at New York University. Two years later, she documented her struggles with addiction in her memoir Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster.In addition to Johnston's film work, she acts in theatrical productions. Several of Johnston's higher-profiled stage productions include the Scott Elliott-directed revival of Clare Boothe Luce's play The Women (2001, alongside Rue McClanahan, Cynthia Nixon, and Jennifer Coolidge); the Mark Brokaw-directed 2004 production of Paula Vogel's one-act play The Baltimore Waltz (as Anna); and the 2006 John Crowley-directed production of John Kolvenbach's Love Song (as Joan).

Trivia: Born in Los Angeles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt grew up in front of the camera as a child and teen actor. Winning his first major role at age seven in the TV movie Stranger on My Land (1988), Gordon-Levitt appeared in a number of TV movies and series during the late '80s and early '90s, including a recurring role on the hit sitcom Roseanne from 1993 to 1995. After making his feature film debut as the young version of Craig Sheffer in A River Runs Through It (1992), the young actor garnered further notice as the boy whose prayers are answered in the sleeper Angels in the Outfield (1994) and as Demi Moore's son in The Juror (1996). Gordon-Levitt achieved considerable TV fame, though, when he was cast in NBC's critical and popular hit Third Rock From the Sun (1996-present). As old/young alien Tommy Solomon, he cracked wise with multiple Emmy-winner John Lithgow and attracted teen fans. Making the most of the late-'90s teen movie resurgence during the series' hiatuses, Gordon-Levitt appeared in the teen slasher sequel Halloween: H20 (1998) and starred as one of the romantic schemers in the popular Shakespeare-via-high school comedy 10 Things I Hate About You (1999). After voicing the lead in the expensive animated flop Treasure Planet, Levitt made a conscious decision to shed his TV image. He appeared in a series of challenging indie films including Mysterious Skin, Brick, and The Lookout, and succeeded in redefining his public image. He appeared in Spike Lee's Miracle At St. Anna and the Iraq War drama Stop-Loss in 2008. The next year he starred in the big-budget action film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, but earned better reviews and more respect as the lead in the hit indie romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer. He was cast opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception the next year, and earned arguably the best reviews of his career in 2011 when he starred in the cancer comedy 50/50 as a young man learning to cope with an unexpected, and possibly lethal, illness. He would team with director Chriotpher Nolan again in 2012 as part of the cast in The Dark Knight Rises, and Steven Spielberg cast him as Robert Todd in the director's long gestating biopic Lincoln. Levitt made his feature-length directorial debut in 2013, with Don Jon, which he also wrote and starred in.

Trivia: Versatile American character actor Wayne Knight has been frequently on stage, screen and television since the late 1970s. In the early '80s, he temporarily left acting (after appearing over 1,000 times in the play Gemini) to become a private detective. In 1986, Knight returned to film in The Sex O'Clock News. He has worked with a number of distinguished directors including Oliver Stone, Kenneth Branagh and Steven Spielberg playing roles ranging from comics to villains. On television, he is best known for playing the oily, self-serving postman Newman on the long-running sitcom Seinfeld, and Officer Don on the outworldly comedy Third Rock From the Sun.