Trivia: Both exotic and classic, Wales-born actress Catherine Zeta-Jones began acting as a child. By ten she was part of the Catholic congregation's performing troupe, and by 18 she was performing professionally in the West End. It was in there that she caught the eye of French director Philippe de Broca, who offered her the lead in his film Les 1001 Nuits in 1989. After traveling to France to film the movie, she returned to Britain, where she landed a starring role in the Yorkshire Television comedy drama series The Darling Buds of May, based on a series of novels by H.E. Bates. The show was a huge hit, and made Zeta-Jones one of the U.K.'s most popular TV actresses. After the series ended in 1993, she steadily found work playing lead roles in TV movies and miniseries such as Catherine the Great and The Cinder Path. She also played supporting roles small films, including Christopher Columbus: The Discovery and Splitting Heirs. The big screen role that undoubtedly put Zeta-Jones on the map, however, came in 1998 when she was cast opposite Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas in 1998's The Mask of Zorro. America was enchanted by the dark-haired actress' charisma and beauty, and she began to be offered better and better roles in American film. She starred in films like Entrapment, The Haunting, and High Fidelity, before taking the prominent role of a white-collar drug kingpin's wife in 2000, in Steven Soderbergh's treatise on the drug war, Traffic. Her performance was impressive to critics and audiences, many of whom felt that she deserved an Oscar nomination.The actress had no time to quibble over awards, however, as she married actor Michael Douglas in November that year, and gave birth to their son Dylan Michael nine months later. Zeta-Jones' took it easy during the next year, appearing only in the romantic comedy America's Sweethearts, but her next project would be the one to cement her as Hollywood royalty: a starring role in the Broadway adaptation Chicago. Few fans were aware of the singing and dancing skills that she'd honed on the musical stage at the beginning of her career, much less that she had sometimes performed with the English National Opera. Her performance blew audiences away, and won her the 2002 Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Zeta-Jones lightened things up in 2003, making audiences laugh alongside George Clooney in the Coen Brothers' movie Intolerable Cruelty, then as an airport employee who falls for stranded immigrant Tom Hanks in The Terminal (2004).The actress' screen time, however, began to diminish at about that point, given her decision to shift priorities and hone in on raising a family with Douglas; her film appearances grew decidedly less frequent, and she thus found time to give birth to a baby girl named Carys Zeta Douglas in April of 2003. On the side, however, she continued to appear in occasional commercials, and the paparazzi often published candid photos of the actress in public, baby-in-arms, which held her in the limelight. The motion pictures in which Zeta-Jones appeared during this period took fewer chances by banking off of recent successes (gone, at least temporarily, were the challenges of such films as Chicago and Traffic). Efforts during this period included the blockbuster sequel Ocean's Twelve (with Clooney, 2004), the onscreen reunion with Antonio Banderas The Legend of Zorro and even the musical concert film Tony Bennett: An American Classic, which reunited Zeta-Jones and Chicago wunderkind Rob Marshall.In 2007, she teamed with Shine director Scott Hicks for an Americanized remake of the German-language comedy Mostly Martha, retitled No Reservations. She followed that up with Australian director Gillian Armstrong's period piece Death Defying Acts -- a cinematization of Harry Houdini's 1926 tour of Britain, co-starring Timothy Spall and Guy Pearce, and scripted by Brian Ward and Tony Grisoni. Zeta-Jones returned to the musical fold in Rock of Ages, a 2012 adaptation of the 2006 Broadway show. She next took on several supporting roles, in films like the sports rom-com Playing for Keeps, the psychological thriller Side Effects and the action sequel Red 2.

Trivia: Fort Lauderdale-born, West Bloomfield, MI-raised actor Justin Bartha earns a footnote for one of the more eccentric debuts in American film, when he signed to portray a mentally impaired, rapping kidnap victim in Martin Brest's colossal turkey Gigli (2003). Given the film's poor reception, the assignment represented something of a setback for Bartha, but the role at least clocked in a memorable one and paved the way for continued work in Hollywood A-listers -- notably in the outings National Treasure (2004) and National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), and the Sarah Jessica Parker/Matthew McConaughey romantic comedy Failure to Launch (2006). He would go on to appear in the major comedy landmark The Hangover franchise and in the sitcom The New Normal, which was canceled after only one season.

Trivia: African American leading lady Lynn Whitfield made her film bow in 1983's Dr. Detroit. Three years later, the Louisiana born and bred Whitfield played the title character in the fact-based TV movie Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI, the story of the first black female FBI agent. After gaining recognition for her work in a number of TV dramas, including The Women of Brewster Place (1990), Whitfield won an Emmy award and international acclaim for her starring performance in the HBO biopic The Josephine Baker Story in 1991. Whitfield subsequently split her efforts between TV and film, doing particularly strong work in Kasi Lemmons' much-feted Eve's Bayou (1997) as a family matriarch struggling with her husband's infidelity. In 1999, she earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for her work in Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding, a 1950s drama in which she was cast as the wealthy mother of a young woman (Halle Berry) intent on marrying a poor white musician.

Trivia: Versatile actress Kate Jennings Grant graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in music composition and English, and did her graduate studies at the prestigious Juilliard in Manhattan. Thereafter, Grant divided her time and energies between theater, film, and television, with a particularly strong emphasis on stage work. Theatrically, Grant graced such Broadway productions as An American Daughter and Proof, while off-Broadway her early credits included The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Radiant Baby, and The Beard of Avon. She moved into filmed work in the early 2000s, with guest-star turns on series including Jag, Law & Order and Sex and the City, and supporting contributions to features such as Bill Condon's biopic Kinsey (2004) and the 9/11 docudrama United 93 (2006). In 2008, Oscar-winning director Ron Howard (Apollo 13) tapped Grant to play a young Diane Sawyer in the broadcasting saga Frost/Nixon (2008).

Trivia: Was part of the comedy troupe Commedus Interruptus in college. Co-founded the comedy troupe Summer of Tears with Todd Waldman in 2004. Won the U.S. Comedy Art Festival's jury prize for best sketch comedy in 2007 with Summer of Tears. Was a writer for ABC's Happy Endings.

Trivia: Joanna Gleason trained for an acting career at UCLA then made her Broadway debut in 1977's I Love My Wife, which earned her a Theatre World Award. She was later honored with an Emmy for her portrayal of several characters in the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods. Her film manifest includes a brace of Woody Allen pictures, Hannah and Her Sisters (1985) and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). She was also seen on episodic TV as Morgan Winslow on Hello Larry (1979) and Nadine Berkus on Love and War (1992-95). She enjoyed a brief run on NBC's hit medical drama ER, and also appeared on such programs as Murphy Brown, King of the Hill, and Friends. She appeared in the Jennifer Lopez romantic comedy The Wedding Planner, and appeared in the 2008 remake of The Women.Joanna Gleason is the daughter of Canadian game-show host Monty Hall.

Trivia: In order to land the part of Bo Duke in the TV series The Dukes of Hazzard, John Schneider adopted a Cracker dialect and shambling good-ole-boy manner, claiming that he hailed from the tiny -- and fictional -- community of Snailville, Georgia. In fact, Schneider was born in Upstate New York, and was raised in Atlanta by his mom. During his teen years, Schneider picked up spending money by working as an entertainer at parties and public events, playing the guitar, telling jokes and performing a magic trick or two. He briefly attended the Georgia School of High Performance, hoping to become a race-car driver. His prowess behind the wheel enabled him to land his Dukes of Hazzard job, which he held down from 1979 to 1985, save for a brief 1982 walkout due to contract dispute. Schneider's Hazzard success allowed him to have both a recording career as a country music artist, and an ongoing presence on the small screen. In addition to numerous made-for-TV movies, he had a recurring role on the popular program Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Schneider gained a whole new legion of fans as the Earth father of Superman when he began playing Jonathan Kent on the teen-oriented superhero series Smallville in 2001. He returned to the big screen with a starring role in 2006's Collier & Co., which he also directed. He would also appear in movies like Super Shark and on the TV series Hero Factory. In 2013, he took a starring role in The Haves and Have Nots, a sopa opera created by Tyler Perry.

Trivia: Tall, lanky, and curly topped Art Garfunkel has one of the most beautiful tenor voices in pop music. He is best known for performing with singer/songwriter Paul Simon as Simon and Garfunkel, but he has also had a sporadic acting career. He made his feature-film debut playing Nately in Mike Nichol's adaptation of Joseph Heller's Catch-22 in 1970. The following year, Garfunkel appeared opposite Jack Nicholson in another Mike Nichols film, Carnal Knowledge.

Trivia: The son of actors Jason Robards and Lauren Bacall, actor Sam Robards made his feature debut in The Tempest (1982). He has gone on to work in television, starring on shows like Get a Life, Law & Order, Gossip Girl, and Treme, as well as feature films like Bounce, Life as a House, and The Rebound.

Trivia: Was rejected by Toronto's Second City branch, so he moved to Chicago and studied comedy with the original Second City troupe and with iO. Joined Chicago's Improvised Shakespeare Company during its initial season in 2005. Garnered millions of views for his I'm Into Nuggets, Y'all rap video. Was featured in Upright Citizens Brigade's improvised comedies Diamond Lion, Baby Wants Candy and Gravid Water. Landed the lead in the 2009 romantic-comedy Splinterheads. In 2011 Variety named him as one of their 10 comics to watch. Has been featured in numerous comedy videos on the College Humor Web site. Self-released the music CD Semi-Serious.

Trivia: Perhaps most recognizable from television on the campy sci-fi The Lost Saucer series on The Krofft Supershow from the 1970s, Alice Playten did voicework on countless animated features, including the remake of Felix the Cat, Aladdin, and My Little Pony: The Movie. She played a recurring role, or voice, rather, in the animated Doug series as Beebee Bluff. Ironically enough, she was also the voice of the demon in Amityville II: The Possession. More known for her stage work than television or screen acting, Playten was nominated for a Tony Award for her role in Henry Sweet Henry. She won an Obie Award for her portrayal of Mick Jagger in the stage show National Lampoon's Lemmings in the early '70s, which also starred John Belushi, Chevy Chase, and Christopher Guest. She won another Obie for her work as Maimie Eisenhower in First Ladies Suite. She was in the original Broadway cast of many a musical, including Oliver!, Henry Sweet Henry, and Promenade, and appeared on Broadway in W.C. and Seussical.

Trivia: Strikingly dark-haired actress Stephanie Szostak began her career in the early 2000s, appearing in films like Si' Laraby and Zimove vesilya. By 2006, she'd scored a part in The Devil Wears Prada, and by 2009, she was appearing alongside Uma Thurman in the movie Motherhood. Szostak would enjoy a recurring role on Law & Order: Criminal Intent that same year, before stepping up into more prominent film roles in projects like Dinner for Schmucks and R.I.P.D..