Trivia: An athlete practically from birth, Patrick Swayze was a football player in high school and then earned a gymnastics scholarship to pay for college. His father had been a dancer/choreographer, and Swayze began to study dance early on, eventually working with the prestigious Harkness and Joffrey Ballet companies. He made his professional debut as a dancer with the lead role of Prince Charming in a traveling company of Disney on Parade, but an old knee injury from his football days threatened to cut his dancing career short at any moment. Hedging his bets, Swayze opened his repertoire up to acting and made the transition to Broadway, landing the role of Danny in the hit musical Grease before heading to Los Angeles to make yet another transition, this time to the screen.Swayze cut his teeth on TV guest appearances, scoring a memorable role as a dying soldier in an episode of M*A*S*H. Finally, he got a role in Francis Ford Coppola's youth ensemble film The Outsiders (1983), a film of massive critical acclaim and box-office success. Steadily continuing his upward trajectory, he followed The Outsiders with the Cold War classic Red Dawn (1984) and with the Civil War TV miniseries North and South (1985). His real big break came in 1987, however, with a starring role in the hit Dirty Dancing. The film gave Swayze the chance to showcase both his acting and dancing abilities and, additionally, he wrote and performed one of the film's songs, "She's Like the Wind," which went on to become a major hit. The role made Swayze an undisputed star, and he scored big again with a tough-guy role in the movie Road House, as well as the romantic lead in the supernatural drama Ghost (1990), a box-office smash that ended up grossing more than $200 million.The '90s had started out for Swayze with a bang, but with so much of his success wrapped up in the films of the 1980s, the actor soon found himself fighting against the mentality that he was out of date. He found iconic roles like surfer Bodhi in the police thriller Point Break and even played a drag queen in 1995's To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, but transitioning into the next phase of his career proved challenging. In 2001, Swayze found a film to help him facilitate this change with the role of twisted self-help guru Jim Cunningham in the dark mystery drama Donnie Darko. There was an element of self-parody in Swayze's portrayal of the über-positive, deceptively clean-cut Cunningham, and audiences found the role refreshing. He continued to pick up projects as they appealed to him, appearing in everything from the romantic drama One Last Dance to the quirky British comedy Keeping Mum.Sadly, however, by the late 2000s some upsetting news arrived. Swayze announced to the press in March 2008 that he was suffering from inoperable stage IV pancreatic cancer. The star battled his illness for a reported 20 months, but in the end it took his life. He died at the relatively young age of 57 in September 2009.

Trivia: Actress, tabloid fodder, provocative Vanity Fair cover piece: the husky-voiced brunette Demi Moore is nothing if not an unforgettable roadside attraction on the pop culture highway. Rising to prominence with a string of successful films during the '80s and early '90s, Moore became known for both her onscreen and offscreen ability to draw attention for everything from her grin-and-bare-it roles in films like Striptease to her well-publicized marriage to (and divorce from) Bruce Willis.Born Demetria Guynes in Roswell, NM, on November 11, 1962, Moore led a troubled childhood. To call it tumultuous would be something of an understatement: along with her mother, half-brother and stepfather, she moved no less than 30 times before her adolescence, thanks to her stepfather's job as a newspaper ad salesman. The problems that went along with such an itinerant lifestyle were compounded by the dysfunctional, sometimes abusive relationship between Moore's mother and stepfather. The latter committed suicide when Moore was 15, around the time that she discovered that he was not her biological father. She dropped out of school a year later and did some modeling in Europe. When she was 18, Moore married rocker Freddy Moore; the union lasted four years, during which time the actress landed her first role playing Jackie Templeton on the TV daytime drama General Hospital. Moore made her film debut in 1981, appearing in both the coming-of-age drama Choices and the schlock-tastic Parasite. Following a bit role in 1982's Young Doctors in Love, she had her first lead role in No Small Affair (1984) as an aspiring rock singer opposite Jon Cryer. Her real breakthrough came the next year, when she starred as an unstable member of a group of college friends in St. Elmo's Fire. Apparently, her onscreen instability mirrored her offscreen condition at the time; she was reportedly fired from the film at one point and then rehired after going into drug rehab. The film was a hit, and Moore, along with such co-stars as Emilio Estevez (to whom she was engaged for three years), Rob Lowe, and Ally Sheedy, became a member of the infamous "Brat Pack."Fortunately for Moore, she managed to avoid the straight-to-oblivion fate of other Brat Pack members, increasing her fame and resume with films like About Last Night (1986) and The Seventh Sign (1988). Her fame further increased in 1987 when she wed Bruce Willis in a Las Vegas ceremony presided over by singer Little Richard. In 1990, Moore had her biggest hit to date with Ghost, a romantic drama that cast her as the grieving girlfriend of the deceased Patrick Swayze. A huge success, Ghost secured Moore a place on the A-list, something she managed to sustain despite the subsequent twin flops of The Butcher's Wife and Mortal Thoughts, both released in 1991. That same year, Moore gained exposure of a different sort when she appeared nude and hugely pregnant on the cover of Vanity Fair; the resulting hoopla gained her more attention than either of her movies that year. She was back on the magazine's cover the following year, nude again but fetus-free and sporting a layer of artfully applied body paint. The controversy surrounding her cover-girl appearances may have helped Moore weather similar flak around her next feature, 1993's Indecent Proposal. The story of a woman (Moore) who agrees to a one-night stand with a wealthy man (Robert Redford) for one million dollars after she and her husband (Woody Harrelson) find themselves in dire financial straits, Proposal was decried by a number of feminist groups as well as various film critics and went on to be another big, if controversial, hit for Moore.Following the commercial success of Indecent Proposal, Moore's career hit something of a downward spiral. 1994's Disclosure proved a disappointment, and the following year's Now and Then (which she also produced) staged a similarly wan performance at the box office; however, it was Moore's other film that year, a "free,"or, as some would say, staggeringly misguided, adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, that had critics howling and audiences cowering like small children being forced to watch German expressionist films. An unintentionally hilarious rendering of the classic tale, it featured Moore's Hester Prynne exposing plenty of skin, luxuriating in what must have been one of Puritan New England's few hot tubs, having steamy sex on a shifting bed of grain, and walking off into the sunset with her beloved Reverend Dimmesdale (a moody Gary Oldman). Following this debacle, Moore took refuge on safer grounds, lending her voice to Disney's animated The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1996; however, that same year, she encountered another career pitfall in the form of Striptease. Based on Carl Hiaasen's satirical novel about a divorcée who turns to stripping so that she can raise money to win back custody of her daughter, the tonally inconsistent film proved a failure, despite titillating advertisements promising that Moore would bare all for audiences. The actress' career suffered a further blow with the disappointment of Ridley Scott's G.I. Jane in 1997, and she found herself getting more attention for her offscreen life as she was, by that point, embroiled in a very public divorce from Willis. The two formally separated in 1998. Although her career in front of the camera suffered, Moore managed to do well for herself as a producer. In 1997, she produced the hugely successful Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and served in the same capacity for its mega-hit sequels, 1999's Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and 2002's Austin Powers in Goldmember. In 2000, Moore returned to the screen to star in Alain Berliner's Passion of Mind, a psychological drama that cast the actress in a dual role as two women who lead different lives but are tied by a single identity.The year 2003 brought Moore back to the spotlight in a big way -- not only did the 41-year-old actress play the shockingly buff-bodied bad guy in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, she gave the paparazzi something of a godsend by dating Punk'd and That '70s Show heartthrob Ashton Kutcher, sixteen years her junior. The two wed in late September 2005, at a ceremony attended by hundreds, including Bruce Willis and his three daughters with Moore; they later divorced amid tremendous media scrutiny in 2011. Moore maintained a lower profile after this union, but returned to the spotlight for former flame Estevez's ambitious political period-ensemble Bobby, about the events leading up to Robert Kennedy's assasination. Among the star-studded cast, Moore was given a showy, standout role as an alcoholic lounge singer; there was room, too, for Kutcher, as an acid-dropping hippie. The film garnered decidedly mixed reviews, even if Moore attracted some attention for her part.In 2007 the actress joined the cast of director Bruce A. Evans's psychological thriller Mr. Brooks, as a tough-as-nails detective on the trail of Kevin Costner's titular, obsessive suburban serial killer. The movie suffered an ignominious fate at the box office, and Moore was singled out by critics for her implausibility. This didn't stop her from taking on new projects, however, starring with Parker Posey in the 2009 comedy Happy Tears in 2009, and playing the female lead in the 2011 Wall Street drama Margin Call, before joining the cast of the romantic comedy LOL in 2012.

Trivia: Though best known as an outspoken comedienne, Whoopi Goldberg is also a talented dramatic actress. By virtue of her distinctive appearance and a persona that is both no-nonsense and empathic, Goldberg has emerged as one of the most recognizable celebrities of the '80s and '90s.Born Caryn Johnson on November 13, 1955 in New York City, Goldberg began her long career when she was eight years old, performing with New York's Helena Rubenstein Children's Theater. She then went on to study with the Hudson Guild children's arts program and attended the prestigious High School for the Performing Arts. After graduating, Goldberg occasionally won small parts in Broadway productions such as Hair, Pippin and Jesus Christ Superstar, but also supported herself doing odd jobs like bricklaying and serving as a funeral parlor make-up artist. In 1975, Goldberg moved West and helped found the San Diego Repertory Theater, where she appeared in a number of plays, including Brecht's Mother Courage and Marsha Norman's Getting Out. After several stints with the Spontaneous Combustion improvisational troupe and work in avant-garde productions at Berkeley's Blake Street Hawkeyes theater, Goldberg devised The Spook Show, a one woman satirical production in which she played several characters. The show, which originated in San Francisco, eventually toured the U.S. and Europe, earning acclaim and the attention of director Mike Nichols. Nichols went on to direct a 1984 Broadway version of the show, which earned Goldberg Drama Desk and Theatre World awards, as well as a Grammy for the album recording.Goldberg made an auspicious Hollywood debut with her portrayal of Celie, the lead character in Steven Spielberg's controversial 1985 adaptation of Alice Walker's novel. Goldberg's moving performance was rewarded with an Oscar nomination and Best Actress Golden Globe, as well as instant stardom for the actress. Although Goldberg's film career looked promising, the actress unfortunately spent much of the decade's remainder appearing in terrible action comedies such as Fatal Beauty and Burglar (both 1987) that did not do her comic gifts justice. Her one partial success during this period was her first action comedy, Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986), which did relatively well at the box office and gave her a certain cult status. In 1988, Goldberg took a break from comedy with a memorable turn as a worldly Jamaican nanny in the otherwise unremarkable Clara's Heart. She also made numerous appearances in television specials, most notably as a co-host for the annual Comic Relief benefit for the homeless. Her attempt at sitcoms failed with the short-lived series Bagdad Cafe, but she did find greater television success with a small but crucial recurring role as the sagacious intergalactic bartender Guinan on the syndicated Star Trek: The Next Generation. Around the same time, Goldberg's film career underwent a sharp turn-around. She won acclaim playing a selfless housekeeper opposite Sissy Spacek in the provocative Civil Rights drama The Long Walk Home (1989), and then played an eccentric con artist possessing unexpected psychic powers in the 1990 smash hit Ghost. Goldberg's funny yet moving performance earned her her first Oscar and the widespread opinion that this marked her comeback performance. After a couple of missteps that had a few people rethinking this verdict, Goldberg scored again with the 1992 hit comedy Sister Act. Nominated for Golden Globes and two NAACP awards, the film spawned mass ticket sales and an unsuccessful 1993 sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. Meanwhile, Goldberg also continued her television work with a 1992 late night talk show. A laid back affair that ran for 200 episodes, it was praised by critics but failed to secure high ratings and went on permanent hiatus after only six months. However, Goldberg continued to appear on TV with her recurring role as a Comic Relief co-host and as an MC for the Academy Awards ceremony, a role she reprised multiple times. At the same time, Goldberg continued to work in film, doing both comedy and drama and experiencing the obligatory highs and lows. Some of her more memorable roles included that of a single mother who discovers that Ted Danson, not a black genius, fathered her daughter in Made in America (1993), a lesbian lounge singer in Boys on the Side (1995), a white-middle-aged corporate executive in The Associate (1996), Angela Bassett's best friend in the 1998 hit How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and a private detective in the drama The Deep End of the Ocean (1999). In addition, Goldberg also appeared in two notable documentaries, The Celluloid Closet (1995), and Get Bruce! a piece about comedy writer Bruce Vilanch that also featured fellow comedians such as Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Nathan Lane and Bette Midler.As the new decade dawned, Goldberg could be seen in supporting roles in projects like Rocky and Bullwinkle and the ensemble comedy Rat Race. Then, in 2003, she tried her hand at a starring sitcom role for the first time with Whoopi. The show found Goldberg playing an irreverent hotel owner and was met with mixed reviews before being cancelled mid-season.In 2004, Goldberg focused her career on voice work with appearances in Doogal, The Lion King 1 1/2, and P3K: Pinocchio3000. She continued this trend in the following years with such films as Racing Stripes and Everyone's Hero. Then, in 2007, Goldberg returned to the small-screen, replacing Rosie O'Donnell on the ABC panel show The View. Goldberg lent her voice to Pixar's Toy Story 3 in 2010, and as the narrator for 2011's documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey.

Trivia: The grandson of movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn, actor Tony Goldwyn favored his grandmother's side of the family (she was film actress Frances Howard) by pursuing an acting rather than an executive career. Goldwyn's first major film was 1987's Gaby: A True Story, in which he was eighth-billed. His breakthrough feature was 1990's Ghost, in which he played Carl, the "lying snake" who sets up the murder of his best friend (Patrick Swayze) and then callously moves in on the dead man's grieving girlfriend (Demi Moore). A master at playing charming-but-shallow yuppies, Goldwyn went on to appear in films ranging from The Pelican Brief (1994) to Nixon (1995) to the thriller Kiss the Girls (1997). In 1998, Goldwyn played astronaut Neil Armstrong in the made-for-TV docudrama series From the Earth to the Moon; the following year he made his directorial debut with the similarly-titled A Walk on the Moon. Starring Diane Lane as a dissatisfied housewife who finds physical and emotional enlightenment with a blouse salesman (Viggo Mortensen) in 1969 upstate New York, the film enjoyed an overwhelmingly favorable reception. Also in 1999, Goldwyn earned additional kudos for voicing the title character of Disney's animated Tarzan. Audiences were able to see more of the actor in 2000, when he appeared in Don Roos' romantic drama Bounce and in the Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi thriller The 6th Day. When his sophomore effort as a director, the romantic comedy Someone Like You..., failed to generate much interest, Goldwyn would turn toward television to helm episodes of The L Word, Without a Trace, Grey's Anatomy, and Law & Order (many of which he also appeared in as an actor) while racking up an impressive list of credits in such efforts as the Christian-themed drama Joshua, The Last Samurai, and as a haunted writer whose attempt to clean the skeletons out of the family closet lead to tragedy in Ghosts Never Sleep. A 2005 performance as a cop whose life is profoundly affected by a firearm in American Gun found Goldwyn as strong as ever in front of the camera, and the following year it was time once again to take the reins for the romantic comedy drama re-make The Last Kiss; a contemporary tale of love and anxiety starring Scrubs and Garden State actor Zach Braff. .

Trivia: Rick Aviles was a stand-up comedian and actor who played small supporting roles in several major films of the early '90s. The Manhattan native launched his career as a street performer in Greenwich Village's Washington Square Park. He gained a following and made it to cable television where he hosted Showtime at the Apollo and One Night Stand on HBO. Aviles made his film debut in Cannonball Run (1981) and went on to appear in features ranging from Street Smart (1987), to Ghost (1990), to Carlito's Way (1993). Aviles made his final film appearances in Kevin Costner's Waterworld (1995) and Joe's Apartment (1996).

Trivia: Grew up in Brooklyn, New York.Performed in church plays when she was a child.Studied at P.S. 44 and P.S. 258 in New York.Attended the Fashion Industry School to major in fashion design.Studied acting at Herbert Berghoff Drama School.

Trivia: Had he been in Hollywood in the 1930s or 1940s, Vincent Schiavelli's Halloween-mask countenance, shock of unkempt hair and baleful voice might have permanently consigned him to minor roles in horror or gangster pictures. As it happened, Schiavelli became an actor during the 1960s, a period when, thanks to unpretty stars like Elliott Gould and Dustin Hoffman, homeliness opened more career doors than it closed. After several seasons' worth of stage experience, Schiavelli made his first film appearance in Milos Forman's Taking Off (1971) playing a pot-smoking support group leader by the name of...Schiavelli. He would work with Forman again on several occasions, most memorably as Salieri's(F. Murray Abraham) phlegmatic valet in the opening scenes of Amadeus (1984). In 1972, Schiavelli played his first regular TV-series role, gay set designer Peter Panama in The Corner Bar. Fourteen years later, he could be seen as oddball science teacher Hector Vargas in the weekly sitcom Fast Times, repeating his role from the 1982 theatrical feature Fast Times at Ridgemont High. One of his best-known screen roles was the ill-tempered Subway Ghost, who teaches newly dead Patrick Swayze how to move solid objects with sheer "hate power" in the 1990 blockbuster Ghost. Tim Conway fans are most familiar with Schiavelli through his appearances as Conway's dull-witted assistant in the popular Dorf videocassettes. Previously married to actress Allyce Beasley, the couple would part ways in 1988 and Schiavelli would subsequently wed Carol Mukhalian.

Trivia: Diminutive American actor Phil Leeds has been trafficking in comedy character roles for well over 50 years. When not showing up on Broadway or on tour, Leeds has been a regular visitor to television. He was seen on a weekly basis as an ensemble player on the DuMont Network's 1950 variety series Front Row Center; as Moscow apartment dweller Vladimir in Ivan the Terrible (1976); as delicatessen habitue Lou Gold in Singer and Sons (1990); and as "The Kid," a 75-year-old con man, in Double Rush (1995). A relative latecomer to films, Phil Leeds has made up for lost time with a steady stream of select character roles; notably his poignantly amusing cameo as the long-dead husband in the hospital emergency room in Ghost (1990), eagerly anticipating a reunion with his about-to-die widow.

Trivia: Though best known for his work as radio station bigwig Jimmy James on the television series NewsRadio, Stephen Root is one of the busier character actors at work today, and a familiar face to television and movie audiences. Born in Sarasota, FL, on November 17, 1951, Root received a degree in acting and broadcasting from the University of Florida, and after graduating passed an audition to join the touring company of the National Shakespeare Company. After three years with the NSC, Root settled in New York City, where he began working in off-Broadway theater, making his debut in a revival of Journey's End. His first Broadway role, in So Long on Lonely Street, was a bust at the box office, but the 1987 revival of All My Sons was a big hit which generated plenty of enthusiastic press for Root. 1988 saw Root making his motion-picture debut in the George Romero horror opus Monkey Shines, and over the next several years Root worked steadily in feature films, episodic television, and made-for-TV movies, scoring recurring roles on L.A. Law, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Blossom; guest spots on Northern Exposure, Murphy Brown, and Quantum Leap; supporting parts in Ghost, Dave, and Robocop 3; and an acclaimed turn in A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story, as well as its sequel, Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, The Last Chapter. In 1993, Root was cast as R.O. on the television series Harts of the West; the show only lasted a season, but his next role on a series would last a bit longer; cast as Jimmy on the sitcom NewsRadio in 1995, Root would last with the show for five seasons, until the show was canceled after a disappointing final season following the death of co-star Phil Hartman. During hiatus from NewsRadio and after the series ended, Root continued his busy schedule, making memorable appearances in feature films (including Office Space and O Brother, Where Art Thou?) and guesting on other shows. Root also began doing voice work, speaking for Buck Strickland and Bill Dauterive on the animated series King of the Hill and the Sheriff on Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.Root's small-screen voice-work would soon lead to his involvement in two popular big-screen animated features. In 2002's Ice Age, audiences could hear him along with Cedric the Entertainer as a pair of Rhinos. And the next year, Root lent his pipes to the blockbuster underwater adventure Finding Nemo. While his voice became more familiar to moviegoers, Root continued to become more of a presence in live-action films as well. Turning in no less than four supporting performances in high-profile films, Root spent 2004 reteaming with the Coen brothers for The Ladykillers, showing up in a prominent role in Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl, and costarring in the broad comedies Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Mad Money, and Leatherheads.He remained one of the most respected and in-demand character actors of his generation appearing in a variety of projects including Mad Money, The Soloist, Everything Must Go, Red State, Cedar Rapids, and J. Edgar. He also provided numerous voices for the Oscar-winning animated feature Rango.