Trivia: Moving to London with his family at an early age, Irish-born actor Pierce Brosnan made ends meet as a commercial illustrator and cab driver before turning to acting full-time. After training at the London Drama Centre, Brosnan made his West End stage bow in 1976, and appeared in his first film, The Long Good Friday, four years later. American audiences got their first glimpse of the charismatic, muscular young actor in the 1981 network miniseries The Manions of America. The following year, he was cast as the suave adventurer hero of the weekly TV series Remington Steele. Brosnan's casual panache and his gift for quippery led the producers of the James Bond movies to select him as the new Bond upon the departure of Roger Moore in 1986. However, at the last moment, the canceled Remington Steele was renewed, and Brosnan was contractually obligated to remain with the program, forcing him to relinquish the James Bond role to Timothy Dalton. Insult was later added to injury when it became evident that the renewal of Steele was something of a subterfuge by its producers to keep Brosnan on their leash. This professional setback was further compounded by personal tragedy seven years later when Brosnan's actress wife Cassandra Harris died after a long illness. The actor began to regain his motion picture bankability when he was cast in a choice secondary role in the 1993 comedy megahit Mrs. Doubtfire. In 1995, he finally got his chance to play Agent 007 in GoldenEye, and proved that the producer's instincts were right on target. Brosnan not only provided a much-needed boost for the ailing series, but also cemented his status as a capable leading man in a variety of roles, ranging from the title character in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1996) to a stuffy, love-struck professor who meets a ludicrous fate in Mars Attacks! (1996) to a courageous vulcanologist trying to save a town threatened by a reawakened volcano in Dante's Peak (1997). Brosnan played Bond for the second time in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), essaying the role with great success. Following his turn as the titular thief in the stylish 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, the actor went on to his third Bond outing in The World is Not Enough, again proving that saving the world was most convincingly done by those with convincing tans, straight teeth, and plenty of fun gadgets. And the world isn't the only thing Bond saved. While, the next half-decade found Brosnan stumbling with disappointments like The Tailor of Panama and The Laws of Attraction, he found box office success with the Bond franchise yet again 2002 with his final film in the franchise, Die Another Day. He soon followed this with a critically acclaimed comedic performance in the sleeper hit The Matador, before signing on for the highly anticipated film adaptation of the Abba inspired musical Mama Mia!. Next up, Brosnan would appear in some more dramatic fare like Remember Me before lightening up once more for the romantic comedy I Don't Know How She Does It.

Trivia: The stepdaughter of the fire chief of Salisbury, MD, Linda Hamilton began her acting career with local children's theater groups. After college training and dramatic lessons conducted by former director Nicholas Ray, Hamilton was cast in a handful of inexpensive film programs. She briefly costarred in the prime-time TV soap opera Secrets of Midland Heights (1980) which led to an equally short stint on the weekly series King's Crossing (1982). Hamilton's stock in the film industry rose substantially when she was cast as Sarah Connor, the target for the homicidal intentions of futuristic android Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator (1984). No shivering ingenue, the agile and athletic Hamilton proved a formidable foe for the forces of evil in both The Terminator and its sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, where at times she came off tougher than the "kinder, gentler" Arnold. From 1987-1989, Hamilton starred as Catherine Chandler on the cult TV fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, eventually leaving the show to have her first child. In 1995 Hamilton earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance as a single mother who learns she has contracted AIDS in A Mother's Prayer, and though with the exception of Dante's Peak (1997) she stuck mainly to made-for-television movies in the following decade, notable guest spots on Showtime's Weeds and NBC's Chuck served as strong reminders of her onscreen charisma. Married to actor Bruce Abbot throughout much of the '80s, Hamilton later wed Terminator 2 director James Cameron, though their union ended after just two years.

Trivia: Supporting actor Charles Hallahan played character roles on stage, television and in feature films. Fans of the Stephen J. Cannell police drama Hunter will know Hallahan for playing Captain Charlie Devane between 1986 and 1991. A Philadelphia native, Hallahan earned an undergraduate degree at Rutgers and a master's from Temple University six years before heading to Los Angeles in 1977. Hallahan had little trouble finding acting jobs. His stage credits include playing the lead in a long-running San Francisco production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest during the late '90s, roles in plays ranging from Equus to The Threepenny Opera. In 1976, Hallahan toured the Soviet Union in two classic plays. On television, Hallahan guest-starred on over 200 episodes of shows ranging from Lou Grant to The Paper Chase. He made his feature film debut in Nightwing (1979). He made his last film appearance playing Paul Dreyfuss in Dante's Peak (1997). Hallahan died during a car crash in which he apparently suffered a heart attack on November 25, 1997. He was 54.

Trivia: Loaned George Clooney $100 to pay for headshots when Clooney was still a struggling actor. Transitioned from being a character actor to behind-the-camera work in the early 2000s, receiving his first coproducer credit on the 2003 film Intolerable Cruelty. In 2005, he and his wife used their airline miles to purchase 16 plane tickets to evacuate survivors of Hurricane Katrina; they also opened their home to a family who had lost everything in the storm for five months while they put their lives back together. Cofounded the production company Smokehouse Pictures in 2006 with his longtime friend George Clooney.

Trivia: Child actor Jeremy Foley made his first screen appearance playing Graham Wando opposite Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton (who played his mother) in the disaster thriller Dante's Peak (1997). That same year, Foley also characterized the voice of Casper the Friendly Ghost in the direct-to-video children's movie Casper -- A Spirited Beginning. Prior to his filmwork, Foley had appeared on television and as a regular in the children's action series VR Troopers.

Trivia: Chinese American actor Tzi Ma has an impressively long résumé, with roles on everything from The Cosby Show to Walker, Texas Ranger. Guest appearances would be Ma's bread and butter, but the versatile actor would also cultivate a successful career in film, portraying many memorable characters in movies, like The Ladykillers. In 2005, Ma took on the recurring part of Chinese Consulate Cheng Zhi for the fourth season of the series 24, a role he would reprise for seasons five and six.

Trivia: Specializing in roles as cranky authority figures and unassuming mothers, longtime character actress Lee Garlington has the kind of familiar face that makes people wonder, "Where have I seen her before?" With numerous roles on some of the most popular television series of the past 20 years -- including Family Ties, Seinfeld, NYPD Blue, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and CSI -- most TV viewers probably have seen her face before, though wading through her exhaustive list of credits to find out where might be a daunting task. In addition to a busy television career, Garlington found a steady stream of work in features. Averaging about three films per year since her debut in the 1983 sequel Psycho II. The actress turned up again opposite Anthony Perkins three years later in Psycho III, and parts in Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), The Seventh Sign (1988), and Field of Dreams (1989) rounded out the decade. Though Garlington had a featured role in the 1989 Seinfeld pilot, her character was replaced by Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) when the series came to fruition the following year. Throughout the '90s, Garlington frequently alternated between the big and small screens, and though most of her TV appearances were only guest spots, she had a rare recurring role in the 1996 series Townies. Garlington became an increasingly familiar supporting player over the next few years in such features as Evolution (2001), American Pie 2 (2001), One Hour Photo (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002), and The Hot Chick (2002). In 2003, the longtime actress once again returned to weekly television with a role on the popular evening drama Everwood.

Trivia: Supporting actor, onscreen from the '70s.

Trivia: Jamie Renee Smith started acting in early childhood and went on to build a career in television commercials, on TV series, and in feature films. Her television credits include a role in the Fox movies Roseanne: An Unauthorized Autobiography and on the series Saved By the Bell: The College Years.

Trivia: Frail-looking but iron-willed American actor Henry B. Walthall set out to become a lawyer, but was drawn to the stage instead. After several seasons appearing opposite such luminaries as Henry Miller and Margaret Anglin, Walthall was firmly established in New York's theatrical circles by the time he entered films in 1909 at the invitation of director D.W. Griffith. Clearly, both men benefited from the association: Griffith was able to exploit Walthall's expertise and versatility, while Walthall learned to harness his tendency to overact. The best of the Griffith/Walthall collaborations was Birth of a Nation (1915), in which Walthall portrayed the sensitive Little Colonel. Walthall left Griffith in 1915, a move that did little to advance his career. A string of mediocre productions spelled finis to Walthall's stardom, though he continued to prosper in character parts into the 1930s. One of his best showings in the talkie era was a virtual replay of his Little Colonel characterization in the closing scenes of the 1934 Will Rogers vehicle Judge Priest. Henry B. Walthall died while filming the 1936 Warner Bros. film China Clipper; ironically, he passed away just before he was scheduled to film his character's death scene.