Trivia: Whether he's acting or co-writing brilliantly quirky character studies with director/writing partner Wes Anderson, Owen C. Wilson's work exudes an insouciant yet earnest charm and eccentric comic sensibility, making him one of the most promising new talents to emerge in the 1990s.Born in Dallas on November 18th, 1968, Wilson raised enough hell in high school to get expelled from one institution in tenth grade, but he managed to attend college at the University of Texas in Austin and graduate in 1991. Along with his degree, Wilson's Austin years resulted in a budding partnership with a like-minded creative classmate, aspiring filmmaker Wes Anderson. Their first film together, a short about a bookstore heist called Bottle Rocket, played at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, attracting the attention of producer Polly Platt and writer/director James L. Brooks. With Brooks' support, Wilson and Anderson expanded the short into a feature, indie cult favorite Bottle Rocket (1996). Though it made little impression at the box office, Anderson and Wilson's distinctly offbeat, wry, and optimistic tale about aspiring criminal Dignan and his best friend Anthony (played by Wilson's brother Luke Wilson) earned ardent fans among cinéastes. Wilson's inspired performance as Dignan, not to mention his blond hair, large grin, and affable drawl, became his Hollywood calling card. That same year, Wilson also began a fertile association with actor/director Ben Stiller, appearing in one memorable scene as a smooth, ill-fated date in Stiller's black comedy The Cable Guy (1996).Alternating between supporting roles in Hollywood spectacles, collaborations with Anderson and Stiller, and smaller independent projects, Wilson worked steadily for the rest of the 1990s. Though he always seemed to fill the generic slot of Guy Marked for Death, Wilson still managed to bring a reliably laid-back, humorous spark to the bombastic proceedings in Anaconda (1997), Armageddon (1998), and The Haunting (1999). On a more artistically successful front, Wilson's next script with Anderson resulted in the lauded coming-of-age film Rushmore (1998). With its singular cast of characters, distinctive combination of deadpan humor and true emotion, and superb performances by Jason Schwartzman as teen prodigy Max Fischer and Bill Murray as depressed millionaire Blume, Rushmore earned prizes from the critics (if not the Academy) and proved that Bottle Rocket was no fluke. As far as acting, Wilson's ability to suggest complexity beneath a breezy surface earned positive notice for his unsettling performance as a laconic, self-styled Good Samaritan serial killer in indie thriller The Minus Man (1999).By 2000, Wilson began to take center stage in larger Hollywood projects as well. Though it was another Jackie Chan vehicle, Wilson's hilarious co-starring turn as a surfer dude-tinged outlaw in the chop socky Western Shanghai Noon (2000) nearly stole the movie. Wilson's brief appearance as a Jesus-loving, super rich romantic rival to Ben Stiller's put-upon Greg Focker was a comic highlight of the hit Meet the Parents (2000). Stiller's supermodel farce Zoolander (2001) further sealed Wilson's status as a superlative comic actor. As Zoolander's rival Hansel, Wilson's offbeat timing made him the ultimate bubble-headed mannequin; his catwalk competition with Stiller provided the biggest laughs in a hit-or-miss movie. Even as he flourished in broad Hollywood comedy, Wilson continued his partnership with Wes Anderson, co-writing with Anderson and co-starring (with his brother Luke and Stiller among others) in the unusual family story The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). Branching out into serious roles, Wilson then co-starred with The Royal Tenenbaums patriarch Gene Hackman in the military drama Behind Enemy Lines (2001). An increasingly prevalent figure in action films following the millennial turnover, Wilson followed Behind Enemy Lines with I Spy (2002) and the Shanghai Noon sequel Shanghai Knights (2003) before appearing opposite Morgan Freeman in the critical and commercial disappointment The Big Bounce and co-starring in the underwhelming big screen adaptation of Starsky & Hutch. He made his third appearance in a Jackie Chan vehicle in the 2004 Disney production Around the World in 80 Days; though poised to be a blockbuster, the mega-budgeted film was one of the biggest flops of the season.A rebound was in order, and if his supporting turn in the 2004 holiday-season blockbuster sequel Meet the Fockers wasn't enough, Wilson found his greatest leading-man success to date as foil to the bawdy Vince Vaughn in 2005's raunchy, runaway hit The Wedding Crashers. The Wilson-Vaughn pairing challenged the Wilson-Stiller hilarity quotient as a pair of divorce consultants who bide their free time crashing weddings to get laid. The $200-million smash was indeed a tough act to follow, and while 2006's You, Me and Dupree - a thematic reprise of his Wedding Crashers role in which he plays an irritating houseguest who refuses to vacate - was something of a letdown, Wilson more than made up for it that same year with a leading voice role in Pixar's Cars and a supporting turn in Stiller's special-effects comedy A Night at the Museum.For the next couple of years, Wilson continued to stick with what worked - collaborations with Anderson (The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)) and sequels in his hit franchises (Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian (2009), Little Fockers (2010) and Cars 2 (2011)). He also starred in Woody Allen's Mightnight in Paris (2011), earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.Romantically linked, by turns, with a pre-Ashton Demi Moore, rocker Sheryl Crow, and actress Kate Hudson, Wilson, with his shaggy blond mane, blue eyes, and (as one magazine cited humorously in its front cover headline) "unusual nose," also found himself the unlikely forebear of a new wave of Hollywood sex symbols.

Trivia: Jennifer Aniston makes a good case for proving that acting talent can be absorbed by osmosis. From her father John Aniston's stardom on Days of Our Lives to her godfather Telly Savalas, the actress was surrounded by plenty of inspiration from an early age. As Aniston attended the Rudolph Steiner School as a child, she was interested in many forms of art and proved to be a talented painter, eventually having one of her pieces displayed at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. Acting also appealed to her, and became her primary focus after graduating from New York's prestigious High School for the Performing Arts in 1987. She took roles in off-Broadway productions such as For Dear Life and Dancing on Checker's Grave before she began honing her skills in television acting with appearances on shows like Quantum Leap and Herman's Head. Before long, Aniston's film and television résumé had grown into a laundry list of one-time appearances, short-lived series, and B-level movies. By 1994, the handful of bit parts and failed shows on Aniston's résumé had established her as a working actress but created little foreshadowing about her future as a star. Her upcoming audition for the role of Monica Gellar in a pilot for a sitcom at that point titled "Friends Like These," however, would prove to be quite auspicious. The role in question would eventually be filled by Courteney Cox, as Aniston changed her mind and opted to try out for Rachel Green, a young suburbanite living on her own for the first time and working as a coffee-shop waitress in New York City. The rest, as they say, is history -- "Friends Like These" would become Friends, the hugest sitcom in years, quickly making Aniston America's sweetheart. Friends' obsessive following churned up a particular interest in Aniston's signature hairstyle. The shag cut known as "The Rachel" could be seen on heads all over the country. Even as the fad fell out of popularity in the salons, Aniston's star continued to rise. Still adored on one of the most popular television shows in history, she moved to the big screen in romantic comedies like She's the One (1996), Picture Perfect, 'Til There Was You (1997), and The Object of My Affection (1998). In the late '90s, she also began dating actor Brad Pitt. Talk of Pitt's recently ended engagement to actress Gwyneth Paltrow quickly dissipated as "Gwen and Brad" turned to "Jen and Brad." The two young stars became the ultimate Hollywood power couple and celebrated with a star-studded wedding in July of 2000. The new millennium found Aniston at the top of her game. Raking in a million dollars an episode for her role on the still popular Friends and married to one of the hottest men in Hollywood, she seemed to have it all. Secure in her A-List position, she took the opportunity to work on low-profile films and cult hits, such as 1999's Office Space, and 2000's Rock Star. Aniston's talent for dramatic roles was finally given a proper outlet when she played the lead in 2002's The Good Girl, which found critics surprised and impressed with her range. She made no attempt to shy away from comedy, however, starring alongside Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty, and Ben Stiller in 2004's Along Came Polly. In 2004, as Friends began what would be its final season, Aniston's immediate future was filled with tremendous turmoil and change. Only a week into 2005, she and husband Brad Pitt legally separated, surrounded by rumors that Pitt had sparked a serious romantic connection with his Mr. and Mrs. Smith co-star Angelina Jolie. The media leapt onto the story, desperate to sate the public's curiosity about how such a seemingly perfect union could come to an end. Rumors swilled about the circumstances of their break-up, citing everything from disagreements over children to taste in interior decorating. Aniston's steady poise and willowy figure created a division in the public perception between herself and the more curvaceous and risqué Jolie.Media frenzy buzzed around the breakup long after she and Pitt officially filed for divorce in March. Vendors even started selling T-shirts reading "Team Aniston" and "Team Jolie," though most of the public seemed to side with the slighted Aniston. The actress plowed ahead, however, marking 2005 by starring with Clive Owen in the gritty thriller Derailed and with Shirley MacLaine and Kevin Costner in the comedy Rumor Has It.... 2006 brought the ensemble film Friends With Money, as well as another movie that would help put her divorce in the past...in more ways then one. While Pitt made headlines by becoming legal guardian of Jolie's adopted children and father to a baby Jolie gave birth to in Namibia, Aniston starred alongside comedy and character actor extraordinaire Vince Vaughn in The Break-Up. The comedy cast the two as an ex-couple going to war over which of them should keep their beloved condo, but the real life connection between the actors was quite the opposite. Though reluctant to speak about their relationship publicly, Aniston and Vaughn appeared quite clearly to have become a couple, bolstering the success of The Break-Up, and seeming to put Aniston's fans at ease regarding her personal life, even after she and Vaughan amicably split later that year. By 2007, Aniston's public image had left her divorce in the past, and was ready for new territory.Aniston found her next success in the 2008 tearjerking pet-comedy Marley & Me, opposite Owen Wilson. As the 2000's gave way to the 2010's, Aniston would all but completely cement her position as the number one actress in Hollywood when it comes to broadly appealing comedies, winning over audience after audience with He's Just Not That Into You, Love Happens, The Switch, Just Go With It, Horrible Bosses, and Wanderlust. She won rave reviews for her work in the film Cake in 2015, earning her a Golden Globe nomination.

Trivia: Like a lot of young, hopeful actors, Eric Dane set his sites on Hollywood after showing his stuff in high-school theater productions. He moved to L.A. after graduation, and immediately started paying his dues appearing in things like the TV movie Seduced by Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story and The Basket. Almost ten years of getting by with minor appearances finally paid off for Dane in 2003, when he began appearing regularly on the popular sci-fi dramedy Charmed. He would continue to appear on the show through the next year, a year that would also see him get married to actress Rebecca Gayheart. He appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006, which was, oddly enough, directed by Brett Ratner, his new wife's former fiancé, and that same year he joined the cast of the wildly popular series Grey's Anatomy. Dane played womanizing plastic surgeon Dr. Mark Sloan (aka "McSteamy"), whose prior affair with Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd (Kate Walsh) contributed to the end of her marriage to his colleague and former best friend, Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). In 2008 he was cast in the hit Marley & Me even as he continued work on Grey's Anatomy. In 2010 he appeared in the musical Burlesque and was part of the large ensemble in the romantic comedy Valentine's Day.

Trivia: Was inspired to attend Holy Cross by her father, who passed away during her senior year in high school. Planned to become a doctor before turning to acting. Made her Broadway debut in Candida in 1993. Has made guest appearances on four different Law & Order series.

Trivia: The second of four sons, he had his first experience of theatre in a school production of My Fair Lady. Moved to London in 1973, briefly working as a backup singer. Continued working as a backing vocalist during the 1970s but later chose to become an actor. Received a 1990 Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical, for his writing on the revue Five Guys Named Moe. In 1999, was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role in Chicago. Played the role of Billy Flynn in the 2000 Broadway revival of Chicago. Between 2002 and 2008, starred as Detective Lester Freamon in The Wire. Between 2010 and 2013, starred as Albert Lambreaux in Treme. Is a follower of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, a movement dedicated to personal transformation and world renewal.

Trivia: Child actor Nathan Gamble was born on January 12, 1998. By his tenth birthday he had racked up an impressive resumé, earning a nomination for a Young Artist Award for his role in the hit film Babel, and was cast as the son of Commissioner Gordon in the hit 2008 blockbuster The Dark Knight. He also made several television appearances in his rather busy first decade, including roles on Ghost Whisperer and the hit CBS series CSI. For the holiday season of 2008-2009, moviegoers could catch him in Marley & Me. He appeared in the TV series Hank, and the family film Dolphin Tale.

Trivia: An inimitable comedian (and comedic actor) who billed himself as "America's favorite gaysian sweetheart," Alec Mapa (pronounced moppa) indeed played off of his Asian American identity and open homosexuality, to such a degree that they became veritable cornerstones of his shtick, as well as his spate of role choices. Mapa grew up in San Francisco during the 1970s, raised in a conservative, Catholic Filipino family but surrounded by bohemian lifestyles and multiculturalism that influenced and shaped him. He formally broke into show business with a role in an ABC After School Special and small turns in Alan Alda's seriocomedy A New Life (1988) and James Bridges' urban addiction drama Bright Lights, Big City (1988). The actor scored his broadest acclaim, however, in 1991, with a lead role as the transvestite opera star Song Liling, in the Broadway production of David Henry Hwang's play M. Butterfly. In the years that followed, Mapa moved into television and enjoyed guest bits on series including NYPD Blue, Friends, Roseanne, and Seinfeld. With many subsequent roles (including assignments as series regulars), Mapa aggressively strove to break new ground and open new doors in small-screen depictions of gay culture and lifestyles, and won broad acclaim and support in the LGBT community for doing so. Key assignments in this vein included a role as gay, plutonic best friend of homosexual writer Jason Bateman on the short-lived CBS sitcom Some of My Best Friends (2001), a multiseason turn as the gossip-driven executive assistant Adam Benet on the UPN sitcom Half & Half (2003); and, even more visibly, a portrayal of Vern, Gaby's gay best friend, on the series blockbuster Desperate Housewives. Additional features in which Mapa costarred included Connie and Carla (2004), Tru Loved (2007), and You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008).

Trivia: Blonde, loquacious American actress Joyce Van Patten was being sent out for modelling assignments at the age of eight months. Her stagestruck mother advertised Van Patten and older brother Dick as "the Van Patten Kids," ready and willing to step into any juvenile roles available. At age 5, Joyce made her Broadway debut in Love's Old Sweet Song, which also featured Dick. Joyce was nine years old when she won the Donaldson award for her performance in the stage drama Tomorrow the World. She interrupted her stage career for a brief marriage at age 16 (her equally brief second marriage was to actor Martin Balsam), then at 20 played her first adult role in the Broadway comedy Desk Set. Her first film assignment was an unbilled bit in the Manhattan-lensed Fourteen Hours (1951), and her first regular TV stint was on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in the late '50s. Joyce has since been seen on a weekly basis in such TV series as The Danny Kaye Show (1963-66), The Good Guys (1968) (as Herb Edelman's good-natured wife), The Don Rickles Show (1972) (as Don's goodnatured wife) and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979) (as Mary's personal secretary, yet again good-natured). Joyce Van Patten's films have included The Goddess (1958), I Love You Alice B. Toklas (1968), St. Elmo's Fire (1984), and a rare "bitchy" appearance as the antagonistic athletic coach in The Bad News Bears (1976).