Trivia: Solidly built American actor Craig T. Nelson started out as a comedy writer and performer, doing radio and nightspot gigs in the Los Angeles area. Success was not immediately forthcoming, and Nelson took a four-year sabbatical from show business, moving with his family to a remote cabin in Northern California. In 1979, he made his first film, ...And Justice For All, written by his onetime partner Barry Levinson. While subsequent roles in Poltergeist and Silkwood followed, Nelson would find true stardom on television. For eight seasons beginning in 1989, he starred as college athletics instuctor Hayden Fox on the top-ranked ABC sitcom Coach. Appearing alongside supporting players Jerry Van Dyke and Shelly Fabares, Nelson received an Emmy for his work on the show in 1992.After Coach, Nelson showed up in a few small roles in feature films and television mini-series before returning to series work in 2000, leading the cast of CBS's D.C.-based cop-drama The District. While enjoying the success of that show, Nelson found time for his first high-profile feature film role in over a decade, providing the voice of the head of a family of superheroes in the 2004 Disney/Pixar animated film The Incredibles. In 2005 he played the patriarch of the dysfunctional clan in The Family Stone, and followed that up two years later as skating coach in the comedy Blades of Glory. He was Ryan Reynolds disapproving dad in the hit comedy The Proposal in 2009. He was cast as the head of the Braverman clan in NBC's relaunch of Parenthood in 2010, and appeared in the inspirational Soul Surfer in 2011.

Trivia: American actress Lynne Thigpen was part of the original cast of the stage musical Godspell in 1971. She reprised her role for the 1973 film and went on to work for three decades on both the stage and screen. Theatrical audiences may remember her for her Tony-nominated lead role in Tintypes, but she is probably best known as the Chief, the host of the PBS educational game shows Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? and Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? On the big screen, Thigpen appeared in the mainstream features Tootsie, Lean on Me, and Bob Roberts. However, she fared much better in powerful roles on television. She was Aunt Grace Keefer on All My Children, DA Ruby Thomas on L.A. Law, and Judge Ida Boucher on Law & Order. Other TV appearances include thirtysomething, Homicide: Life on the Street, and several Hallmark Hall of Fame features. Possessing rich, powerful speech, Thigpen lent her voice to several different projects. Already known on PBS as the Chief, she narrated stories on Reading Rainbow and provided voices for Bear in the Big Blue House. She also read best-selling novels audiobooks, including titles by Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston. After a lengthy career on-stage, two Obie awards, and an L.A. Drama Critics award, Thigpen finally received her first Tony award in 1997 for her portrayal of Dr. Judith Kaufman in Wendy Wasserstein's An American Daughter. She reprised her role for the 2000 made-for-TV adaptation, released on home video with the title Trial by Media. That same year, she was cast as statistics clerk Ella Mae Farmer in the CBS dramatic series The District. On the big screen, she played authority figures like President Marjorie Bota in Bicentennial Man and Judge Brenda Daniels in Anger Management. A shock to her fellow cast members on The District, Thigpen died of a heart attack in her Los Angeles home in 2003. She was 54.

Trivia: A talented actor who began to win due notice in the late '90s, Sean Patrick Thomas broke through to mainstream audiences with winning turns in such films as Cruel Intentions (1999) and Save the Last Dance (2001). The son of immigrants from Guyana, Thomas was born in Wilmington, DE, in 1970. While attending the University of Virginia, where he studied English and planned to become a lawyer, Thomas decided to pursue a career in acting after auditioning for a student production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. Thomas broke into film with small roles in productions that included Courage Under Fire (1996), Conspiracy Theory (1997), and Can't Hardly Wait (1998). In 1996, he further added to his acting credentials by earning an M.A. in drama from New York University. Relative fame and even a blush of notoriety greeted the actor in 1999, with a pivotal role in Cruel Intentions, Roger Kumble's free and loose adaptation of Choderlos De Laclos' Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Co-starring alongside alpha-teens Sarah Michelle Gellar, Reese Witherspoon, and Ryan Phillippe in the torrid tale of lust, betrayal, and negligent parenting on Manhattan's Upper East Side, Thomas earned (literal) exposure as the cello teacher/illicit lover of one of the film's principle characters. Even greater exposure followed for Thomas the subsequent year, when he was cast in a substantial role as Detective Temple Page on the critically acclaimed TV series The District. Riding high, he then won his first starring role on the big screen in Save the Last Dance (2001), an interracial love story set in Chicago's South Side that featured him as a black high school student in love with a white classmate (Julia Stiles). Although the film earned mixed reviews, it found an appreciative audience, and with it, a growing fan base for the young actor.

Trivia: Is a practicing Quaker. Her first professional role was as Isabella in Measure for Measure at the Stratford Festival in Ontario. Made her Broadway debut as an understudy in The SeagulI in 1992. Performed as Katherine in the New York Shakespeare Festival stage production of Henry V. Played Brooke Wyeth in the off-Broadway premiere of Other Desert Cities in 2011; when the show transfered to Broadway, she was replaced by Rachel Griffith, but later joined the show as a replacement.

Trivia: Worked for three years as a medical doctor in Adelaide, Sydney and London before relocating to the U.S. to pursue a career in acting. Got his first break in 1996, when he joined the cast of the U.S. TV show New York Undercover. After living in the U.S. for 17 years, he had to work with an accent coach to recapture his Australian accent. Is a bit of a "motor-head"; rebuilt a 1973 Dodge Challenger by himself.

Trivia: Was adopted. Is a trained dancer. For four years, performed with the Boston Ballet. During her junior year in college, took some time off to perform in a national tour of West Side Story. Moved to New York in 1995.

Trivia: First full-time role was playing Chad Rollo on Another World. Best known for portraying Teri Hatcher's ex-husband Karl on Desperate Housewives. Supports a number of environmental charities, including the Orange County Bird of Prey Center, the Surfrider Foundation and the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. Enjoys surfing in his spare time.

Trivia: For athlete/musician-turned-actor Antwon Tanner life is all about goals. From his early days on the south side of Chicago to a flourishing screen career that has included roles in such hits as The Wood, Never Die Alone, and Coach Carter, Tanner cites every successful career step taken as a direct result of well-defined goals and unwavering faith in God. Tanner is good-humored and has a handsome screen presence; his likable persona plays as well on the small screen as the silver screen. He has also become a familiar face to television viewers thanks to prominent supporting roles in such shows as Boston Public and One Tree Hill. With Tanner's substantial role opposite Samuel L. Jackson in the acclaimed 2005 sports drama Coach Carter it appeared as if his career was finally about to break big. Though the streets of Chicago offered little in the way of creative inspiration during Tanner's formative years, the athletically inclined youth made quite a name for himself in the two-guard position during his time at both Corliss and King high schools. After graduating from high school, Tanner eschewed sports in favor of developing his musical talents following a chance meeting with an agent who represented a close friend. It didn't take the aspiring talent long to parlay his musical abilities into an acting career. A role opposite former Cheers star Rhea Pearlman in the 1996 basketball drama Sunset Park served as an ideal introduction to the screen for the former baller with numerous supporting roles in both film and television serving to increase his public profile. In 1997 Tanner received the chance of a lifetime when he received the opportunity to appear on screen opposite personal role model Samuel L. Jackson in the downbeat drama One Eight Seven. A successful run during the millennial changeover found the increasingly in-demand star coming into his own as an actor, and following an appearance in the Takeshi Kitano gangster drama and a turn as a wisecracking thug in Never Die Alone, Tanner could once again be seen opposite Jackson -- basketball in hand -- in 2005's Coach Carter. In 2005, Tanner strapped on his spurs for a role opposite David Carradine in the revisionist Western Brothas in Arms. He went on to appear in Dead Tone, the TV series One Tree Hill, and I Do…I Did.

Trivia: Worked as a teacher for nearly 13 years to help supplement her acting income. Won the first Natalie Schafer Award for Comedic Actress in 1996. Won the Ovation Award in Los Angeles for her role in the theatrical production of Our Country's Good. Appeared in commercials for AT&T and Hometown Buffet. Was cast in director Doug Atchison's films The Pornographer and Akeelah and the Bee. Costarred with her husband, John Billingsley, in The 12 Dogs of Christmas and The Nine. Became a series regular in the fourth season of Chuck.