Trivia: African American actor Dennis Haysbert first appeared on the TV scene as "Stuff" Wade on the weekly actioner Code Red (1981). Haysbert went on to play such TV-series roles as Cletus Maxwell in Off the Rack (1985) and Coach Duane Johnson in Just the Ten of Us (1988-89). He was also featured as Cherokee Jack in the 1993 miniseries Return to Lonesome Dove. Dennis Haysbert's best-loved film assignment was as voodoo-worshipping ballplayer Pedro Cerrano in the two Major League movies.

Trivia: After commencing minor on-camera appearances in the early '80s, multi-talented African-American actress Regina Taylor juggled careers as a character actress and playwright with great aplomb. As both a thespian and a scribe, Taylor often dealt with material that grappled with race relations and civil rights. This was hardly accidental, for she rose up out of a bitter and tumultuous youth in the Deep South that forced her to face racism head-on and thus marked her for life. After an appearance as Mrs. Carter in John G. Avildsen's uneven Joe Clark biopic Lean on Me (1989), Taylor first made members of the press sit up and take notice with her pivotal role on I'll Fly Away. This thoughtful and heartfelt series drama -- set in the apocryphal Southern town of Bryland in the late '50s -- starred the venerable Sam Waterston as D.A. Forrest Bedford, a conservative prosecuting attorney grappling with shifting attitudes about race relations as he took on a new black housekeeper, Lilly Harper (Taylor). The program's consistent inability to land an audience, in spite of across-the-board critical acclaim, marked one of the most unfortunate events to befall a prime-time series program during the early '90s. Taylor returned to similar themes -- albeit in a much earlier setting -- with the 1995 Children of the Dust, a telemovie starring Sidney Poitier, about the tensions between black and white homesteaders. The actress also graced the casts of such noteworthy theatrical features as Spike Lee's Clockers (1995), Ed Zwick's Courage Under Fire (1996), and F. Gary Gray's The Negotiator (1998) before hearkening back to television as military man Jonas Blane's (Dennis Haysbert) beleaguered wife, Molly, on the CBS drama The Unit. As a playwright, Taylor received her first significant break with the 1983 Watermelon Rinds, and spent the following decades authoring such critically acclaimed productions as Oo-Bla-Dee (2000) and Urban Zulu Mambo (2001). She debuted on Broadway in 2004 with her work Drowning Crow, a loose adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull posited in the Gullah Islands of South Carolina. At one point, she was reported to have been involved with the Broadway musical production of The Color Purple, but it was ultimately credited to other writers.

Trivia: Born on July 15, 1972, in Kansas City, KS, Foley is the oldest of three sons. Thanks to his father's job as an international banker, Foley grew up all over the world, spending the most time in Sydney, Australia and Tokyo, Japan. He caught the acting bug at age six after his mother took him to see the children's musical Annie. Foley made his theatrical debut only a few years later, singing "I'll Do Anything" in his school's production of Oliver. When he was a teenager, his family settled in St. Louis, MO, where he participated in community and regional theater. Shortly after graduating high school, he bought a one-way plane ticket to Hollywood.Foley's big break came when he landed a role on the WB's teen drama Dawson's Creek, playing all-American high school quarterback Cliff Elliot, Dawson's (James Van Der Beek) romantic rival. Originally hired to guest star in the series' first three episodes, Foley hung around for five. With his popularity steadily increasing, WB executives cast Foley in Felicity, a one-hour drama about a college freshman who follows her lifelong crush from their California high school to a university in New York City. Originally hired to portray the object of Felicity's (Keri Russell) affection, Foley stepped in to play her resident advisor and confidante, Noel Crane, when producers could not find an actor for the role. The show, which first aired in the fall of 1998, became a critical favorite and earned a Golden Globe nomination in its first year.Foley would stick with Felicity for its four year run, cementing his position as a TV star. After the show wrapped, Foley would continue to find starring roles on a series of popular shows, like A.U.S.A., Scrubs, The Unit, Grey's Anatomy, and True Blood. Foley booked another series regular gig on the hit series Scandal, joining the show during the second season, playing Captain Jake Ballard.

Trivia: Ethereally beautiful Hollywood actress Audrey Marie Anderson first attained recognition for her work on the prime-time military drama The Unit, as Kim Brown, the wife of super-aggressive recruit Bob Brown (Scott Foley). Her resumé also includes small appearances in such features as Moonlight Mile (2002), Beerfest (2006, in which she was billed as "The Giddy Girl"), and Drop Dead Sexy (2006).

Trivia: Born in upstate New York in 1969, actor Max Martini performed on the stage throughout college before landing small but memorable roles in the high-profile feature films Saving Private Ryan and Contact. A number of TV guest spots followed, including multiple-episode arcs on Fox's 24 and the acclaimed Canadian cop show Da Vinci's Inquest. In 2006, Martini landed a lead role opposite Dennis Haysbert on CBS's The Unit, a military drama from Pulitzer Prize-winning writer David Mamet.

Trivia: From the time of her debut in the early 2000s, Tennessee-born actress Abby Brammell graced the casts of innumerable television series, initially in one- or two-shot stints. Brammell's resumé packs in appearances on such programs as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Push, Nevada, The Shield, and Crossing Jordan. She landed her first regular role, as Tiffy Gerhardt, on the CBS military drama The Unit, starring Dennis Haysbert.

Trivia: Hollywood supporting actor Michael Irby's mixed ethnicity enabled him to play characters from a broad array of cultural backgrounds -- from Obaid, one of the Middle Eastern men mistaken by Jodie Foster for a terrorist, in Robert Schwentke's ham-handed thriller Flightplan (2005), to Hispanic writer-in-training Reinaldo Povod (the brief recipient of Miguel Piñero's bisexual overtures) in the 2001 biopic Piñero. Irby's multiethnic quality also accounted for the malleability of his on-camera appearance (depending upon the dramatic situation); he was able to guest as multiple characters, for instance, on the series Law & Order. Irby culled the most widespread attention, however, for his series work on the prime-time military actioner The Unit, as special ops team member Charles Grey.

Trivia: Well-known for the sense of gravitas he imparts to his characters, the tall and appealing Canadian actor Demore Barnes chalked up his broadest fan base with his portrayal of Hector Williams, a special forces ops member on the David Mamet-created action series The Unit. Barnes' resumé also includes bit parts in such big-screen features as Blackout (2001) and Jasper, Texas (2003).

Trivia: Though she also has a successful recording career as a jazz/folk singer/songwriter, actress Rebecca Pidgeon is perhaps more familiar for her work with her husband, hard-edged playwright/filmmaker David Mamet. Born in Massachusetts and raised in Scotland, Pidgeon studied acting at London's prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Along with performing on stage in Great Britain, Pidgeon made her film debut acting with Trevor Howard, Anthony Hopkins, and Hugh Grant in the 1920s-set Irish political drama The Dawning (1989). Further burnishing her thespian resumé, Pidgeon appeared in the BBC TV film She's Been Away (1990) with Dame Peggy Ashcroft and co-starred as Sonya in a TV version of Anton Chekov's Uncle Vanya (1991). Pidgeon's career came to a key turning point, however, after she starred in the London premiere of David Mamet's play Speed-the-Plow. Marrying Mamet in 1991, Pidgeon moved to the United States and co-starred in her first major American film, Mamet's provocative cop drama Homicide (1991). Pidgeon subsequently acted in Mamet projects throughout the 1990s, including the telefilm based on Mamet's book The Water Engine (1992); the controversial off-Broadway sexual harassment play Oleanna; and the Broadway production of The Old Neighborhood. Though she was off the screen during the mid-'90s, Pidgeon still composed the music score for the film version of Oleanna (1994). By the late '90s, Pidgeon was an integral member of Mamet's film repertory company. After co-starring as the pertly efficient assistant/potential femme fatale in Mamet's hit art house mind game The Spanish Prisoner (1997), Pidgeon returned to period films as liberated Winslow daughter Catherine in Mamet's adaptation of Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy (1999). Softening her style somewhat, Pidgeon surprised critics with her charming, if no-nonsense, turn as Philip Seymour Hoffman's sweet, literary small town love interest in Mamet's Hollywood satire State and Main (2000). Pidgeon and Mamet have two daughters.

Trivia: African-American supporting actor Paul Butler has appeared onscreen from the '80s.

Trivia: Began appearing in TV commercials when he was 8 years old. At age 10, landed the role of Frank Errol in the Australian series The Sullivans; he received three Logie nominations for his work on the show. Appeared alongside his father, Noel Herriman, in Candy (2006). Appeared in the Sydney Theatre Company's Tot Mom, directed by Steven Soderbergh, in 2009.

Trivia: Sturdy, reliable character actor Jon Hamm debuted onscreen at the turn of the millennium, with a series of key supporting roles in features including Space Cowboys (2000), Kissing Jessica Stein (2001), and Mel Gibson's We Were Soldiers (2002). He also appeared on such TV series as Providence, The Division, What About Brian, and The Unit. Hamm scored his first major lead as executive Don Draper in the AMC network's series Mad Men (2007) -- a period serial about a group of boozing, chain-smoking, and sexist advertising suits toiling away at their jobs in a Manhattan high rise, circa 1960. He earned a variety of award nominations for his work on the show, which itself won the Emmy for best drama series each of its first four years on the air. He parlayed this high-profile success into a recurring gig on 30 Rock, and appeared in films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still, Howl, and Sucker Punch. He was the cop chasing thief Ben Affleck in The Town (2010), and, the next year, had an uncredited appearance in the hit Bridesmaids. In 2012 he appeared in Friends With Kids, which was written and directed by his then-longtime girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt. While continuing to build his film résumé, Hamm snuck in some television appeances as a voice actor, including guest spots on shows like The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers and Archer. He had a memorable two episode stint on Parks and Recreation (essentially a stretched-out cameo). When Mad Men drew to a close in 2015 (with Hamm finally winning an Emmy Award for the final season), Hamm had significant guest arcs on two new web series lined up - The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp. Hamm also expanded his film work with Million Dollar Arm, Minions and Keeping up with the Joneses.

Trivia: Is the youngest of five children. First stage role was in Arthur Miller's Danger: Memory. Discovered by a TV casting director at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he was playing Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. Starred on the short-lived Fox series American Embassy and had recurring roles on the crime dramas Bones and Women's Murder Club. Lent his voice to the animated movie Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010) and the video games Army of Two: The 40th Day and Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. Is an avid reader and chess player.

Trivia: Received a Drama Desk nomination in 2004 for Intimate Apparel. Has been a guest star in episodes of numerous crime dramas, including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, NYPD Blue, CSI: Miami and the original Law & Order series. Cast in productions where numbers are titular, with roles in Numb3rs, The Nine and The Number 23. Worked for director Paul McGuigan in Lucky Number Slevin and Push. Appeared in a Broadway production of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge with Scarlett Johansson and Liev Schreiber. Landed a leading role on Law & Order: Los Angeles as Det. T.J. Jaruszalski in 2010.

Trivia: Wasn't allowed to watch TV while growing up. Her math tutor in high school was Nicole Steinwedell, who would go on to star in CBS's The Unit, which was created by Zosia's father, David Mamet. Filmed her audition video for Girls while battling pneumonia-like symptoms. Her acting wasn't affected though—she was cast as series regular Shoshanna.

Trivia: Refined comedic actor Meshach Taylor was most well known for his role as Anthony Bouvier on the CBS series Designing Women (1986-1993) and as the flamboyant Hollywood Montrose in the fantasy comedy features Mannequin and Mannequin 2: On the Move. He started his career by touring in national theater companies and appearing on the TV series Buffalo Bill with Dabney Coleman. He has been in several made-for-TV movies, including the Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen title Double, Double, Toil and Trouble. Some of his feature films included the sci-fi adventure Explorers, the Susanna Hoffs vehicle The Allnighter, and the Kid 'N Play movie Class Act. In 1993, he joined the cast of Dave's World as Harry Anderson's neighbor, Sheldon. After hosting his very own series on HGTV, The Urban Gardener with Meshach Taylor, he appeared on Broadway as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast. In addition to being a regular panelist on the game show To Tell the Truth, he also appeared in the feature film Friends and Family, a comedy about a literally gay mafia. He had a recurring role on the Nickelodeon sitcom Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, playing the school principal. Taylor had four children with his wife, veteran General Hospital actress Bianca Ferguson. He died in 2014, at age 67.

Trivia: Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet is one of a handful of American playwrights whose work has found almost as much success on the screen as it has on the stage. Noted for his spare, gritty work that reflects the hardened attitudes of his native Chicago and often revolves around domineering male characters and their macho posturing, Mamet has time and again spurred both discussion and controversy, inciting particularly angry reactions from feminists.Born in Chicago on November 30, 1947, Mamet studied at Vermont's Goddard College and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre in New York. He returned to his hometown to found the St. Nicholas Theatre Company and also worked for a time as the artistic director of the famed Goodman Theatre. Mamet first earned acclaim in 1976 for a trio of Off-Off Broadway plays, The Duck Variations, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and America Buffalo. The latter two works were later adapted for the screen, the first becoming About Last Night (1986, it was not adapted by Mamet), and the latter released in 1996 with a script by the playwright himself. Mamet began writing for the screen in 1981 with a re-make of The Postman Always Rings Twice, his script emphasizing the base sexuality and brutal violence of the material in a way that the original 1947 film could not. After winning a Pulitzer for his play Glengarry Glen Ross in 1984 (a damning indictment of American business practices, it was made into a film in 1992 with Mamet's own script), Mamet had his first true screen success as a screenwriter with Brian De Palma's The Untouchables in 1987. That same year, he earned further critical acclaim for his directorial debut, House of Games, a crime thriller starring Mamet's then-wife Lindsay Crouse as a psychologist caught up in an elaborate con game.After directing two more celebrated features, the (uncharacteristic) comedy Things Change (1988) and Homicide (1991), Mamet turned primarily to screenwriting (stepping back behind the camera to direct an adaptation of his controversial play Oleanna in 1994), giving voice to such films as Hoffa (1992), Malcolm X (1992), and Vanya on 42nd Street (1994). In 1997, his screenplay for Barry Levinson's political satire Wag the Dog earned Mamet both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Screenplay. That same year, he returned to directing with The Spanish Prisoner, a twisting, inventive thriller that had the added attraction of Steve Martin in an uncharacteristically dark performance.After writing the fairly unsuccessful The Edge (1997), an adventure drama starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin, Mamet returned to the screen in 1999 with The Winslow Boy. Despite a radical change in material for Mamet -- an Edwardian courtroom drama originally written by Terence Rattigan, it was worlds apart from the raw, foul-mouthed work to which Mamet owed his fame -- it was widely embraced by the critics, and stood as a sizable testament to the playwright's versatility. If the subsequent State and Main didn't quite live up to expectations, Mamet could at least his screenplay for the popular Silence of the Lambs sequel Hannibal yielded a box office hit. The following year Mamet once again stepped behind the camera for the incisive crime drama Heist to moderate success. Embraced by crime buffs but largely ignored by the rest of the moviegoing public, Heist nevertheless offered memorable performances by such notable actors as Gene Hackman, Danny De Vito and Sam Rockwell. As the prolific writer/director became increasingly comfortable pulling double duty, audiences eagerly anticipated the release of the political thriller Spartan in 2004. In 2006 he tried his hand at the small screen as executive producer and overseer of the CBS drama The Unit. Two years later he wrote and directed the martial-arts drama Redbelt.