Trivia: His high school senior class voted him most likely to recede.While working on a dog food commercial, the producer's girlfriend suggested he audition for Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!Originally auditioned for the role of Scooby in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!Voiced eight of the original Decepticons and two of the original Autobots on the animated series The Transformers (1984).His Doctor Claw voice is the result of an impression of singer Barry White.His voice of the Cave of Wonder in Aladdin (1992) was based on Sir Sean Connery.Has voiced most of Scooby-Doo's Fred Jones, including animated series, parodies and cameos.The first voice actor to appear in two films that made $1 billion.Was honored with an Emmy Award for lifetime achievement in 2016.

Trivia: Of all the "break out" performers from the series The Facts of Life, Mindy Cohn was the most improbable. The others were all child actors with experience in performing, but Cohn never trained as an actress and knew little or nothing about the series when she first came to the attention of the producers. Born in Los Angeles, she was an ordinary high school student attending the Harvard-Westlake School when the makers of The Facts of Life, planning their first season, arrived there to observe and photograph an actual girls' school in operation. It was reportedly series star Charlotte Rae who first spotted Cohn, a student at the school, entertaining some friends, and brought her to the attention of the producers. All involved agreed that she was a "natural," one of those uncanny, untrained individuals who simply looked good and memorable and funny in front of the camera, in a manner comparable to the child performers they had already cast, and with that ability added something extra special in terms of verisimilitude -- and a good deal of wry humor -- to the cast they already had. And so Cohn was cast as Natalie Green and was one of the three original young first-season cast members to get spotlighted when the program moved to its second season, achieving stardom in the course of a seven-season run for the series. One very ironic moment came later in the run of the show when Cohn, who had always been on the heavy side and whose character had been conceived with that as an attribute, began to slim down. According to Cohn, in an interview for the DVD release of the first two seasons, the producers actually asked her to put the weight back on, if possible; when she refused, they came up with a compromise by having her character dress in clothes that made her look like she was still overweight. Since the series ended production, she has somewhat limited her acting work while earning a degree in cultural anthropology. Cohn has specifically taken parts that were devised to capitalize on her work from the series and has still found enough roles to keep her occupied. She has also been extremely busy as a voice artist, including portraying the role of Velma on Scooby-Doo.

Trivia: Of Irish, Dutch, French and Mexican descent.Was raised by her maternal grandmother.Graduated high school in the same class as actor and host Mario Lopez.Was interested in goth bands like The Cure, but her mother forbade her to listen to goth music.Started performing stand-up comedy in her late teens.A casting director watched her imitating voices in her comedy routine and advise she try voice acting.In 2002, along with Murry Hammond, participated in the documentary series A Wedding Story.

Trivia: Making a career out of playing either sociopaths or the hyperkinetically weird, Matthew Lillard has established himself as one of the more promising, to say nothing of idiosyncratic, actors of his generation. Originally hailing from Lansing, MI, where he was born on January 24, 1970, Lillard was raised in California. His first break came in the form of Ghoulies 3: Ghoulies Go to College (1993), in which he was credited as Matthew Lynn. More auspicious work followed in John Waters' lovably warped Serial Mom (1994), which cast Lillard as the gore-obsessed son of the decidedly unhinged Kathleen Turner. The role was one of the first in which Lillard played the type of superficially normal yet profoundly wacked-out character that was to become his trademark. It was followed by a minor role in the Drew Barrymore/Chris O'Donnell doomed love vehicle Mad Love (directed by Antonia Bird in 1995) and a cyberpunk turn in Hackers (also 1995). Next up was the film that would make him famous, Wes Craven's Scream (1996). The film, in addition to simultaneously parodying and reviving the teen horror genre, helped to enhance the careers of more than a few of its actors, including David Arquette, Courtney Cox, Neve Campbell, and Skeet Ulrich.Lillard's next project of any acclaim (following such disappointments as Dish Dogs, The Curve, and Senseless, all made in 1998) was Robert Towne's Without Limits (1998), the critically lauded, if little-seen, story of the life of runner Steve Prefontaine (played by Billy Crudup, with Donald Sutherland as his coach). Lillard's subsequent film, SLC Punk! (1999), met with similarly good reviews, with praise being singled out for both Lillard's performance and that of his co-star, Michael Goorjian. The film told the story of two punks growing up in staid Salt Lake City during the Reagan years, and contained the type of small-budget charm lacking in Lillard's next two projects, Wing Commander and She's All That. Both films featured Lillard co-starring with Freddie Prinze Jr., as well as a score of bad reviews. However, while the former also succumbed to dismal box-office performance, the latter met with widespread success, virtually guaranteeing future work for Lillard and his young co-stars. Following the release of such efforts as Summer Catch and 13 Ghosts (both 2001), Lillard would take on the role of the fragile-nerved Shaggy in the live-action adaptation of the enduring cartoon Scooby-Doo in 2002. He appeared in The Baker and The Escapsit in 2008, and in 2011 he was cast in the well-reviewed made-for-cable series Homeland. That same year he appeared in the period pot comedy Your Highness.

Trivia: Standup comics everywhere may rely on angry cynicism as a staple of their material, but if an award were bequeathed to the man most responsible for honing irate sarcasm, refining it, and turning it into an art form, that honor would almost certainly be handed to Lewis Black. Self-dubbed "America's Foremost Commentator on Everything," Black's infuriated, ultra-left wing comedic rants (which eviscerate political figures, pop cultural trends, and societal currents) ultimately garnered such popularity and such a loyal cult following that they landed him a recurrent Tuesday night spot on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, called the "Back in Black" segment. Younger generations will, doubtless, instantly associate Black with these appearances. They may be surprised to discover that, like fellow comedian, pundit, and television personality Ben Stein (who shares a birthplace and hometown with Black but sits on the opposite side of the political fence), Black's emergence as a public figure stretches back several decades. He nonetheless proves the old adage that sometimes the most thrilling acts arrive later in life. Born in the U.S. capital and raised in Silver Spring, MD, Black attended UNC Chapel Hill as an undergrad and earned an MFA from Yale School of Drama in 1977. He recognized his own inherent gift for storytelling as an adolescent, and thus began to pursue work across the country as a playwright and actor after graduate school. A long string of theatrical gigs followed, (many certifiably eccentric, such as a directorial assignment in the Coloradoan wilderness). Black's growing desire for mainstream theatrical involvement eventually carried him to Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen, where he took a full-timer as Associate Artistic Director and Resident Playwright at Steve Olsen's West Bank Café Downstairs Theatre Bar from 1981 through 1989. During this eight-year stint (and shortly thereafter), Black and the late Rusty McGee teamed to author hundreds of one-act musicals, including -- most famously -- the high-profile Czar of Rock and Roll, which premiered in Houston in 1990. Black also became a comedic fixture on the university circuit throughout the '80s. In the mid- to late '80s, Black segued into bit parts in movies and television. He made his cinematic debut when fellow New Yorker Woody Allen cast him as Paul in the 1986 Hannah and Her Sisters. When Black left the West Bank in 1989, he focused more heavily on film roles, but for a decade or so, the parts he landed were somewhat scattered; he adorned the cast of a feature or cropped up on a small-screen episode every two or three years, and thus derived the majority of his income from a recurring summer stint, when he taught acting to students at the Williamstown Theater Festival. Key roles during this period included: Jacob Singer's unnamed physician in Jacob's Ladder, Franklin Frome in the 1991 "Aria" episode of Law & Order, Marty Holder in Warren Leight's The Night We Never Met (1993), and Lazlo "Punchy" de Leon in the "Deception" episode of Homicide: Life on the Street (1997), directed by the legendary Peter Medak (The Changeling, The Krays). In 1998, Black's friend and fellow character actor Don Scardino (He Knows You're Alone) directed a 20-minute film adaptation of Black's play The Deal. Black authored the script. After a couple of well-received concert films in 2003 and 2004 (Lewis Black: Unleashed and Lewis Black: Black on Broadway, respectively), the comedian found more consistent work -- and concomitant success -- in front of the camera, with offers pouring in. He contributed a sketch to the infamous 2005 Provenza/Jillette documentary The Aristocrats, voiced fellow Aristocrat Bob Saget's 2006 spoof Farce of the Penguins, and headlined a third standup film for HBO, Lewis Black: Red White & Screwed. 2006 was indeed Black's year: that summer, his new book, the Al Franken-like politically tinged Nothing's Sacred hit stores, and he contributed to two mainstream features: Barry Levinson's "unofficial" Good Morning, Vietnam follow-up Man of the Year (as Eddie Langston), and director Steve Pink's Accepted. The latter concerns a bunch of teenage burnouts -- with no college prospects -- who wish to placate their parents by creating a fake university and announcing their acceptance to it. Black plays Uncle Ben, the guileless adult schemer who assists them by feigning a position as dean of the "College." In addition to Black's performance roles and standup, he is a fervent social activist and spends much of his time working for charity; recent contributions include teaching impoverished Hell's Kitchen children to author and act in plays, as well as donating to -- and spreading awareness of -- the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. In 2006, Black continued his Daily Show appearances but launched a spin-off, produced by Comedy Central and Castle Rock Entertainment and entitled The Red State Diaries. The program features Black traveling around the country and investigating, first-hand, the subjects he rants about on the Jon Stewart program.

Trivia: Vivacious actress Vivica A. Fox has been attracting attention for performances that mix equal parts sass and class since making her 1989 screen debut in Born on the Fourth of July. A native of Indianapolis, where she was born July 30, 1964, Fox got her start on television with a stint on the daytime soap Days of Our Lives. After making her debut as a hooker in Oliver Stone's aforementioned Born on the Fourth of July, the actress continued to do much of her work on television while appearing in the occasional film. She first attracted notice as Will Smith's girlfriend in the blockbuster Independence Day (1996); her dynamic turn earned her -- together with Smith -- the MTV Award for Best Kiss that year. Fox subsequently appeared in a diverse array of films, ranging from the acclaimed black ensemble romantic drama Soul Food (1997), which cast her as one of three sisters (the other two were played by Vanessa L. Williams and Nia Long), to Batman & Robin (1997), in which she played femme fatale Ms. B. Haven, to Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998), which featured her in a critically lauded portrayal of one of the three wives of singer Frankie Lymon.Fox's profile declined somewhat in the new millenium, although an appearance in the battle-of-the-sexes comedy Two Can Play That Game caught the attention of Quentin Tarantino, who was casting his long-gestating fourth feature, Kill Bill. As the first victim of hired killer Uma Thurman, Fox brought a little blaxploitation-era sass to the role, making for a memorable, suburban-kitchen battle scene.In addition to her flourishing film work, Fox continued to work on the small screen, most notably as Dr. Lillian Price on Steven Bochco's predominately African American hospital drama City of Angels. 2005's one-season-only reality show The Starlet offered Fox the opportunity to pass on her actorly wisdom -- alongside head judge Faye Dunaway -- to a group of young hopefuls. The following year, she could be seen hoofing it up as a contestant on the astronomically popular ABC competition Dancing With the Stars. Though she worked steadily throughout the 2000s and continues to be active in the film industry, Fox has yet so far been unable to achieve the success she enjoyed in earlier years.

Trivia: Possessing a pair of the most elegantly piercing steel blue eyes ever to be captured on celluloid, German cult actor Udo Kier has made a distinct mark for himself in the world of cinema with roles in everything from obscure European exploitation films to the most mainstream of Hollywood fare. Though as an actor Kier has made a name for himself by essaying frequently bizarre and sometimes sadistic film roles, the man himself is almost the complete opposite of the characters he portrays onscreen, exuding a flamboyant and personable earthy elegance that stands in stark contrast to his unforgettably cold, vampiric screen presence. Born in October of 1944 in Cologne, Germany, it may come as no surprise that Kier's incredibly dramatic birth would easily rival the intensity of any of the future actor's film roles. As war raged outside the serene confines of the hospital, Kier's mother requested a few moments alone with her newborn son immediately following his birth. Moments later the hospital was bombed and Kier's mother began the grueling task of digging herself and her son from out of the rubble. His father absent for much of his youth, Kier had a chance encounter with an aspiring young filmmaker named Rainer Werner Fassbinder before moving to Britain at the age of 18 to study English and acting. Shortly after Kier's arrival, director Mike Sarne offered him the role of a gigolo in The Road to St. Tropez (1966), and with that film the young actor made his screen debut. Though Kier would appear in a few films rounding out the 1960s, it was his part in the controversial 1970 film The Mark of the Devil that would truly set his career path in motion. His role as a witch hunter apprentice who meets a gruesome demise horrified audiences, and the film was subsequently banned in many areas of the world. Increasingly prolific in the following years, it was a pair of Paul Morrissey films from the mid-'70s that would leave an indelible impression on not only European audiences, but American audiences as well. It was while on a flight from Rome to Munich that Kier made the acquaintance of director Morrissey, and shortly thereafter Kier was cast in the role of Baron Frankenstein in Andy Warhol's Frankenstein (aka Flesh for Frankenstein). Filled to the brim with satirical gore and graphic violence, the notorious film immediately garnered an X-rating though it would become a hit with strong-stomached audiences who could appreciate its dark humor. Released that same year, Andy Warhol's Dracula (aka Blood for Dracula) once again found Kier relishing in gore-drenched satire. In 1977 Kier would appear before old friend Fassbinder's lens in the television drama The Stationmaster's Wife and play a small role in Italian horror director Dario Argento's Suspiria. The remainder of the 1970s as well as the majority of the 1980s, found Kier appearing frequently in European exploitation films with such lurid titles as G.I. Bro (1977) and Prison Camp Girls, Jailed for Love (1982). Though sharp-eyed American audiences could catch glimpses of Kier in such films as Moscow on the Hudson (1984) (in which he appeared uncredited), it was during this period that Kier would work almost exclusively in Europe. Though American audiences didn't necessarily bear witness to most of Kier's work in the 1980s, his career continued to flourish overseas and the actor began to develop a strong personal and professional relationship with director Lars von Trier. Following his appearance in von Trier's Medea (1987), Kier would not only appear in all of the director future films, but also become the godfather of von Trier's daughter Agnes as well. It was Kier's role in director Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho (1991) that brought the actor back to stateside audiences, and following his memorable appearance in the film, Kier would appear in such big-budget American films as Johnny Mnemonic (1995), Armageddon (1998), and Blade (also 1998). Despite appearances in such mainstream comedies as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), Kier would remain true to his European roots by simultaneously appearing in numerous foreign films such as von Trier's Europa (1991) and the gleefully amoral Terror 2000 (1992). With the millennial turnover bringing Kier more stateside exposure than ever, following a memorable turn in Shadow of the Vampire (2000), the tireless actor would appear in no less than eight films in 2001 alone, including Werner Herzog's Invincible and the apocalyptic thriller Meggido: The Omega Code 2. His feature career continuing to flourish, Kier could now be considered a full-fledged star, as appearances in numerous commercials and music videos by such popular acts as Korn virtually guaranteed that while he might not necessarily be a household name, his face would be instantly recognizable by virtually anyone. Though he continued to appear in numerous mainstream films, his experimental side could be evidenced with his participation in director von Trier's film Dimension. The production of the film would span 30 years, following the actors (without makeup) as they aged. The actors and director got together once a year to shoot a scene. Spending much of his free time in nature, Kier enjoys gardening, enjoying the company of his dog, and working on his home in California.

Trivia: Made his voice acting debut in 1979 at the age of 8 in an episode of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo.Played bass guitar in the rock band Boy Hits Car since their founding in 1993, but left in 2006.Has done brand endorsement work for Netflix, Nextel and Best Buy.Got the callback for Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters a year after his audition.Has voiced characters in cartoons, anime and animation, radio, commercials, films and video games.

Trivia: A renowned character actress, Mindy Sterling honed her skills as a member of the Groundlings improv troupe in 1984. She had already begun building up her acting résumé by this time, making minor appearances on TV, and she would continue to find steady work with small but memorable roles, like as a writer on The Larry Sanders Show in 1992. Sterling's notoriety went up several notches in 1997, however, when she took on the role of stone-cold henchwoman Frau Farbissina in the Mike Myers comedy Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. In the years following, the comedienne would reprise the role for two sequels, but she would also find significant work in television, landing regular roles on series like Robot Chicken, iCarly, and Chowder. She would also find success in the role of voice acting, lending her vocal talents to projects like Mars Needs Moms.

Trivia: Started her professional acting career on stage when she was 11.Received the Presidential Scholarship in 1989 when she was a high school senior.Received the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Debut Performance in 1994 for her work in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice.Notably voiced Starfire on Teen Titans Go!, Teen Titans, New Teen Titans and DC Super Hero Girls; and Princess Bubblegum on Adventure Time.Founded the Hillside Produce Cooperative, a free exchange of local, organically grown food.

Trivia: Squared-jawed beefcake Patrick Warburton leapt into pop culture consciousness as David Puddy, Elaine's on-again, off-again boyfriend on the hit sitcom Seinfeld in 1995, and has since then steadily found his deadpan talents in ever-greater demand. With his squinty eyes and hard-boiled detective's voice, Warburton has become a humorous personality who can generate giggles with almost no effort, whether onscreen or in voice-overs.Warburton was born on November 14, 1964, in Paterson, NJ, and raised in Southern California, a son of little-known television actress Barbara Lord. The future Bugle Boy model studied marine biology at Orange Coast College, where he met his wife, Cathi, before dropping out to pursue modeling and acting at age 19. In his first screen appearance, the 17th century slave film Dragonard (1987), Warburton was subject to what is thought to be the longest onscreen flogging on film, a 100-lash scene that consumes nearly four minutes of screen time. He also appeared in the sequel, Master of Dragonard Hill (1989), before turning his attention to television.Warburton had guest spots on such shows as Murphy Brown, Designing Women, and Quantum Leap before scoring a recurring role on the short-lived Dave Barry sitcom Dave's World in 1993. But it was not until he appeared in the 1995 episode of Seinfeld entitled "The Fusilli Jerry" that Warburton really started to attract attention. As Puddy, Jerry's lunkhead mechanic who spits out dialogue in macho spurts, notably the catchphrase affirmation "Yeah that's right," Warburton quickly became a popular semi-regular, involved in a running joke about his frequent breakups and reconciliations with Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). He stayed with the show until it finished in 1998, and provided the voice for Superman in a series of commercials starring Seinfeld.Warburton had another recurring role as unscrupulous businessman Johnny Johnson on News Radio in 1999, then contributed his memorable voice to characters on the animated shows Family Guy, Hercules, and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. By this time the big screen was really beckoning, as Warburton flexed his comic talents as a bodyguard in Scream 3 (2000), then toned them down as an American astronomer in Australia in The Dish (2000). His voice was again called upon, this time by Disney, for the role of a sorceress' thug assistant in The Emperor's New Groove (2000). Going zanier than on Seinfeld, Warburton signed on as the star of the Fox sitcom The Tick, about a muscle-bound but dimwitted superhero in a blue costume, which premiered in the fall of 2001. High-profile projects in 2002 would include a role in the delayed ensemble farce Big Trouble and as Agent T alongside Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in Men in Black 2.Warburton became an in demand voice actor working on a variety of projects including TV series like The Venture Brothers and Family Guy, as well as movies such as Home on the Range, Chicken Little, The Wild, and Bee Movie. In 2007 he started on a successful run with the sitcom Rules of Engagement, and in 2012 he appeared in Seth McFarland's directorial debut, Ted.