Trivia: First acting role was Scottie in the 1989 movie Crystal Ball. Cites Band of Brothers as the high point in his career.

Trivia: Originally studying to be a jazz musician at the Berklee School of Music, Bronx native Frank John Hughes instead has made a career of playing hitmen and edgy guys. In 1991, he began collaborating with writer/director Robert Celestino for his film debut in True Convictions. He played a hitman in Bad Boys, a man on the run in Layin' Low, and a mobster in The Funeral. He got his first starring role in the black-and-white independent film Mr. Vincent, where he played the title character. He followed that with another low-budget indie, Urban Jungle (aka Blink of an Eye), playing an ex-con trying to start over. On the small screen, Hughes played Wild Bill in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and switched gears (getting rid of the mustache) for the clean-cut role of Charlie in the NBC series Players with Ice-T. Numerous television guest appearances would follow, from Law & Order to Homicide: Life on the Street. After appearing in the thriller Anacardium in 2001, Hughes got a part in Steven Spielberg 's Catch Me If You Can.

Trivia: London-born actor Damian Lewis cultivated a reputation in the press not only for his well-received performances, but for his ability to effectively slip out of his English accent and into American characterizations. The actor first came to prominence in the early 2000s via his participation in the Steven Spielberg WWII miniseries Band of Brothers (2001) on HBO, then delivered a pair of high-profile cinematic portrayals over the next three years: as a man who gets possessed by an extraterrestrial in the widely panned Stephen King/Lawrence Kasdan horror opus Dreamcatcher (2003) -- and a critically acclaimed lead role as a schizophrenic father bereft of his little girl in Lodge Kerrigan's psychodrama Keane (2004). Lewis's turn as a volatile and psychotic ex-husband opposite Jennifer Lopez in Lasse Hallström's An Unfinished Life turned a few heads; unfortunately, Miramax shelved the film after its production in 2003, and it failed to reach theaters before the fall of 2005. Thereafter, Lewis signed for a lead role opposite Connie Nielsen and Mido Hamada in the politically charged thriller The Situation (2006) and garnered a lead on the small-screen series drama Life, as a former police officer once sentenced to years in jail for a crime he did not commit, who, now exonerated, returns to his old career. He appeared in The Baker and The Escapist 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: A native of Manhattan, Puerto Rican-American actor Kirk Acevedo attended and earned his BFA from SUNY Purchase, then founded a theatrical ensemble in the Big Apple christened The Rorschach Group. Acevedo racked up some of his most prestigious assignments in his early years on stage, which included roles in the plays Roberto Zucco (1995) and The Tooth of Crime (1997), and also made guest appearances on series programs including Law & Order and New York Undercover. He received the most attention, however, for his multiseason turn as Latino gang member and prison inmate Miguel Alvarez on all the seasons of HBO's gritty prison drama Oz (1997-2003). After additional scattered appearances on Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Trial By Jury, as well as roles in low-profile films including Paradise (2004) and 5 Up, 2 Down (2005), Acevedo returned to television in a big way. He played the roles of FBI Agent Charlie Francis on Lost creator J.J. Abrams' Fox science-fiction series Fringe (2008), and Detective Luisito Calderon on the prime time proceedural Prime Suspect (2011).

Trivia: Tall, dark, and classically handsome in a familiar male-model-turned-actor kind of way (think Billy Zane), stage and screen performer Eion Bailey has come a long way since his role as a teen outcast whose new friendship yields tragic consequences in View Askey historian Vincent Pereira's affecting 1997 teen drama A Better Place. Though a subsequent series of fleeting appearances in such high-profile releases as Fight Club and Almost Famous offered audiences a passing glimpse of the up-and-coming star's true onscreen talent, it wasn't until his Golden Satellite-nominated performance in the made-for-cable drama And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself that Hollywood truly began to sit up and take notice. Born in California and raised by his pilot father in the Santa Ynez Valley, the young drama hopeful spent much of his spare time taking flying lessons from his father and playing baseball with friends. Eventually finding his footing on the high-school stage, Bailey continued to hone his skills at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts following graduation. His undeniably heartfelt role in A Better Place offered Bailey an unusually complex role for such a young actor with little screen experience, and in the years that followed, the emerging actor would move to the small screen with appearances in such popular series as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dawson's Creek. Supporting performances in Fight Club and Almost Famous followed suite shortly thereafter, and after once again stepping into the lead for the little-seen indie Seven and a Match, Bailey joined the talented ensemble cast of HBO's acclaimed miniseries Band of Brothers. Rumors that Bailey was one of the few contenders being considered to answer the call of the "bat signal" in the planned updating of the Batman franchise soon began to circulate, and though that responsibility eventually went to Christian Bale, Bailey earned positive critical acclaim for his portrayal of a filmmaker sent to cover the exploits of the eponymous character in HBO's And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself. With top-billed roles in Mindhunters, Sexual Life, and Glory Days set to follow in 2004, Bailey was poised to become a familiar face to filmgoers.

Trivia: Lead actor Dexter Fletcher first appeared onscreen in the '80s.

Trivia: Many know actor Rick Gomez as "Endless Mike" Hellstrom on the cult hit series The Adventures of Pete & Pete. The New Jersey native moved to New York City after graduating from high school, where he started auditioning for parts, and gaining small appearances in films like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He soon found regular work in TV and movies, and eventually branched into voice acting as well. In 2006, Gomez found himself cast in two different TV series, scoring the role of Slips on the series My Gym Partner's a Monkey, and in the part of Dave on the series What About Brian.

Trivia: Former adolescent actor Scott Grimes first appeared onscreen at age 15 in Critters (1986).

Trivia: Is of Polonium and Irish descendent.At a young age, he was sent to drama class with his sister, actress Amy Huberman.Once in Trinity College in Dublin, he enrolled into the Players Drama Club and discovered his passion for acting.First professional gig was in the movie Borstal Boy, directed by Peter Sheridan.Was raised as a Catholic, but has stated that he is proud of his father's Jewish heritage.

Trivia: Ron Livingston first came to the attention of film audiences in 1996, when he portrayed one of Jon Favreau's Rat Pack-obsessed cronies in Swingers. Over the next few years, the actor began taking more and more leading roles, earning recognition and making a name for himself in the process. A graduate of Yale, where he received a B.A. in Theatre Studies and English Literature, Livingston began acting at the Williamstown Theatre Festival while in college. After graduation, he headed to Chicago, where he performed at the Goodman Theatre. Livingston made his film debut in the 1992 Dolly Parton comedy Straight Talk, and the following year he had a supporting role in the independent film Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade. After catching the eyes of audiences in the cult-hit Swingers, Livingston began to take on increasingly more prominent film roles. In 1999 he could be seen in no less than three films, beginning with the comedy Office Space, in which he had the starring role. While the film performed theatrically, it slowly gained an audience on home-video and was later regarded as a modern comedy classic. In 2001, Livingston turned to the small screen, first in the Stephen Spielberg-produced miniseries Band of Brothers, then with a short-lived starring role on ABC's The Practice. He could be seen in theaters again in 2002, stealing scenes as a smarmy agent in the critically-acclaimed Adaptation and returned to television the following year, with a recurring role as one of Carrie's boyfriends on Sex and the City.Livingston would go on to appear in a number of feature films over the coming years, like Little Black Book, Dinner for Schmucks and The Life Coach, before going on to find success on the small screen once again with shows like Standoff and Defying Gravity.

Trivia: A square-jawed blonde with steely blue eyes, actor Neal McDonough had essayed every role from psychopath to dunce before roles in HBO's Band of Brothers and Minority Report (2002) found him gaining a reputation as the man to cast if a script called for a dependable, all-American tough guy. Though his screen presence has been growing steadily in the first years of the new millennium, it wasn't long ago that McDonough was considering abandoning his career as an actor. A native of Dorchester, MA, easygoing McDonough attended Barnstable High School before graduating from Syracuse University and later training as an actor at the London Academy of Dramatic Arts and Sciences. Taking to the stage following his graduation, it wasn't long before McDonough was appearing in such productions as Waiting for Lefty and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and in 1991 he took home a Best Actor Dramalogue Award for his role in Away Alone. McDonough began his move into film with a minor role in 1990's Darkman, and the same year appearances in such popular television series as China Beach and Quantum Leap ensured that his face would remain a familiar one to audiences. Following a turn as Lou Gehrig in the 1991 made-for-television feature Babe Ruth, McDonough's television career began to take off, and through the mid-'90s he found frequent work on the small screen with the exception of such features as Angels in the Outfield (1994). A childhood dream came true for the lifelong Star Trek fan when he was cast in the Star Trek: First Contact (1996), and that same year McDonough voiced Dr. Bruce Banner in the animated television series The Incredible Hulk. His career shifting increasingly toward feature work in the late '90s, McDonough took on memorable roles in such features as Circles (1998) and the quirky pseudo-horror film Ravenous (1999). Though the frustration of never receiving a truly gratifying role caused him to reconsider his chosen career, McDonough's big break was just around the corner. Cast as 1st Lt. Lynn "Buck" Compton in director Steven Spielberg's acclaimed HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, McDonough's role as the troubled soldier who suffers a nervous breakdown in the chaos of war finally gave the actor a chance to flex his chops and caught the attention of series producer Spielberg, who immediately approached him for a role in Minority Report. Cast as the best friend of Tom Cruise's character, McDonough was now a recognizable Hollywood figure and was quickly developing a solid screen persona. Subsequently returning to the small screen for the television series Boomtown, McDonough was cast in the role formerly occupied by Jimmy Smits, who dropped out at the last minute. As McDonough began preparation for roles in Timeline (2003) and Walking Tall (2004), it seems as if the dependable actor might finally be edging toward leading-man status. Though that may not have been the case when McDonough accompanied his onscreen brothers into the woods to expose the skeletons in the family closet in the 2005 drama American Gothic, a more amiable turn as a dedicated friend attempting to help his best pal find a man to father her child in the comedy drama Silent Men went a long way in making the actor a bit more likeable to viewers. The following year McDonough could be seen treading water opposite Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher in the Coast Guard drama The Guardian. He continued to work steadily in a variety of films including Clint Eastwood's Flags of our Fathers, The Hitcher, I Know Who Killed Me, 88 Minutes, and Traitor. In 2008 he joined the cast of the successful ABC drama Desperate Housewives in that program's fifth season.

Trivia: If one were to base one's judgment of David Schwimmer's talent on his low-key performance as the anxious, awkward but lovable paleontologist Ross on NBC's smash hit comedy Friends, one might never suspect that beneath the affable exterior lies a versatile, multi-talented actor and filmmaker. Tall, dark-haired, and lanky, Schwimmer was born in Queens, but later raised in Southern California, where he attended the famed Beverly Hills High School. He then enrolled in Chicago's Northwestern University, where he briefly considered pursuing his family's traditional profession and becoming a lawyer, but by that time, the acting bug had bitten him deeply and he was committed to it. Following graduation from Northwestern, Schwimmer gained enough stage experience in Chicago theater to co-found the Lookingglass Theatre Company with fellow actors. Schwimmer remains passionate about his involvement with the troupe and has starred in or directed many of their productions. In 1989, he made the first of several attempts to break into Hollywood, when he was cast as a killer in the made-for-TV thriller A Deadly Silence. It was apparently an unpleasant experience and the young actor hastened back to the familiarity of Lookingglass. Still, the lure of Hollywood was great and Schwimmer returned to guest star and play recurring roles on several television series. One of his best-known early TV roles was that of Olivia D'Abo's hippie fiancé on The Wonder Years. On the gritty crime drama NYPD Blue, he garnered critical acclaim for his portrayal of a lawyer who goes over the edge and becomes a vigilante. He had another bad television experience when he was cast opposite Henry Winkler in Fox's sitcom Monty. The series crashed before it got off the ground and Schwimmer swore he'd never do another comedy show. Up until 1994, he continued to play a wide variety of roles and to divide his time between stage and television.Despite his earlier vow, Schwimmer reluctantly accepted the role of Ross in Friends, a role that the show's creators wrote especially for him. The series, about a group of good-looking, but rather aimless buddies in their twenties, was an immediate hit and Schwimmer's lovable nerd character made him a star and got him an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series With his newfound stardom came offers for feature film roles. Though he had actually begun appearing in films in 1990, he had, thus far, played only small roles. He made his debut as a star playing a virtual clone of Ross in the Pallbearer (1996). He played a dramatic role as one of the inventors of silicon breast implants in the made-for-television docudrama Breast Men (1997). Schwimmer signed a lucrative contract with Miramax that will not only star him in several pictures, but also allow him to direct. But while nearly a decade of experience directing television prepared Schwimmer well for his feature directorial debut, the 2007 comedy Run, Fatboy, Run, not even the presence of rising comedy star Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) could save the film from the bargain bins. Fortunately for Schwimmer, the animated comedy Madagascar proved enough of a hit to warrant at least two sequels, giving the able voice actor plenty of time to plan his sophomore feature, 2010's cautionary internet predator thriller Trust.

Trivia: Donnie Wahlberg is one of the few performers who has been able to go from early stardom as a teen idol to a respected career as a dramatic character actor. Born Donald Edmund Wahlberg in Dorchester, MA, on August 17, 1969, Donnie came from a large family (he has five brothers and three sisters), and first became interested in performing as a way of getting attention in a busy household. Wahlberg developed an interest in music early on, and was only ten years old when he joined his first band, a local group called Risk. Wahlberg became a passionate hip-hop fan, learning how to breakdance and write his own raps; a few years later, Wahlberg joined an R&B-styled group called the Kool Aid Bunch, which also featured singer Danny Wood. In 1986, producer and entrepreneur Maurice Starr, who had guided the R&B harmony group New Edition to platinum success, decided to form a similar act with young white singers, and Wahlberg and Wood were both tapped to become members of what would become New Kids on the Block. While their first album made little impact in the marketplace, New Kids on the Block's second LP, 1988's Hanging Tough, made them into one of the biggest pop music phenomena of the 1980s and '90s. Wahlberg's persona in the group was that of the "bad boy," and true to form he had a few minor brushes with the law, including a widely reported incident at a Kentucky hotel in which he was charged with using alcohol to start a fire. But Wahlberg also established himself as one of the musical forces behind New Kids on the Block, helping to write and produce material for the group, and going on to produce recordings for other artists, most notably Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, featuring his brother Mark Wahlberg. In 1994, New Kids on the Block broke up, and while Wahlberg continued to work in music as a songwriter and producer, he soon set his sights on a career in acting. In 1995, Wahlberg snagged a small role in an action film called Bullet opposite Mickey Rourke and Tupac Shakur, and a year later he won a much showier role as a kidnapper with a conscience in the Mel Gibson vehicle Ransom. In 1998, Wahlberg did double duty as leading man and executive producer for the independent drama Southie, and in 1999 he surprised critics with his turn as Vincent Gray in the runaway hit The Sixth Sense. Wahlberg has also enjoyed a successful career on television; he played 2nd Lt. Lipton on the acclaimed HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, starred in the action series Boomtown, and played a recurring role on the well-reviewed but short-lived police drama Big Apple. In 2005, Wahlberg joined the Saw movie franchise, appearing as Detective Eric Matthews in Saw II and later reprising his role in Saw III (2006) and Saw IV (2007). Continuing his trend of playing police officers, Wahlberg joined the CBS drama Blue Bloods in 2010 as Detective Danny Reagan. In addition to his careers in acting and music, Wahlberg also co-owns a restaurant in the Boston area with several of his brothers called Wahlburgers which was featured on an A&E reality series of the same name.

Trivia: At age 19, Matthew Settle moved to New York City and joined a rock band. When his lack of musical talent eventually forced him to rethink his career, he chose to become an actor. Numerous drama classes, failed pilots, and television films later, this Johnny-come-lately to the movie business landed his first high-profile role as the oldest principal cast member in the teen scream flick I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998). He was almost 29 years old.Born on September 17, 1969, in Hickory, NC, Settle is the youngest of two girls and four boys. In 1983, his father, a Baptist preacher, and his mother, a church organist, relocated the family to Sevierville, TN. Settle sold records at Dolly Parton's nearby theme park, Dollywood, before deciding to become a musician himself. After getting kicked out of his New York-based rock group, he hawked meat and seafood off a truck on Long Island before Jay Julian, Robert De Niro's lawyer, got him into acting school. Settle borrowed money from friends to afford the classes, and then moved out to Los Angeles to begin his career.Settle made his small-screen debut opposite Sarah Paulson as an Irish-American settler in the 1996 CBS pilot Shaughnesy. He went on to portray a frat boy in the movie of the week What Happened to Bobby Earl? (1997) with Kate Jackson and Kristian Alfonso, land a small role in the television film Murder in Mind (1997) with Ellen Burstyn and Kristin Davis, and play Green Lantern in the pilot for Justice League of America (1997) with David Ogden Stiers and Miguel Ferrer. In 1998, Settle graduated to feature films when he starred as Jennifer Love Hewitt's deceptively perfect college boyfriend in the thriller I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, the much-hyped sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997). After a brief return to television to play a young Bugsy Siegel in the Emmy-nominated HBO biopic Lansky (1998) and real-life teenage rapist Alex Kelly in the CBS television film Crime in Connecticut: The Story of Alex Kelly (1999), Settle joined Bill Paxton, Matthew McConaughey, and Harvey Keitel in the cast of the World War II submarine film U-571 (2000).Settle's next two films, The In Crowd (2000) and Attraction (2000), were psychosexual thrillers that failed both critically and commercially. In fact, after a disappointing premiere at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival, Attraction went straight to video. Yet, Settle's work in U-571 helped him join David Schwimmer, Ron Livingston, and Donnie Wahlberg as the officers of Easy Company in HBO's unforgettable World War II miniseries Band of Brothers. Executive-produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, the series earned unprecedented acclaim and garnered numerous awards, including the Golden Globe for Best Miniseries.After returning home from Band of Brothers' European shoot, Settle began taking fencing instruction, sailing classes, and tap-dancing lessons in an effort to widen his skills as actor. He landed a guest-starring role on five episodes of NBC's ER as Brian Westlake, the abusive young husband of Maura Tierney's next-door neighbor. Shortly after his ER stint ended, Settle appeared as Ashley Judd's love interest in Callie Khouri's Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002), which also featured Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, James Garner, and Maggie Smith. He went on to play Warren Beatty in The Mystery of Natalie Wood and had a major part in The Celestine Prophecy. In 2007 he was cast in the hit teen soap opera Gossip Girl as Rufus Humphrey.No stranger to the theater, Settle has also performed on-stage in productions of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, Eugene O'Neill's Beyond the Horizon, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and Anton Chekov's The Seagull.

Trivia: Enlisted in the U.S. Marines at age 19; was wounded three times (and received a Bronze Star) during three tours of duty in Vietnam. Was a public-affairs officer in Beirut when the Marine base there was attacked by terrorists in 1983; retired from the USMC as a captain in 1984. Trained anti-communist guerrillas in Nicaragua and El Salvador while writing for Soldier of Fortune magazine in 1984-85. Founded Warriors, Inc., a company offering military advice to filmmakers, in 1985. First client: Oliver Stone, for Platoon (the first of seven Stone collaborations). All told, has advised on more than 40 movies and TV shows, including Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, The Pacific,The Thin Red Line, and Forrest Gump. Has acted in many of the films he advised on, as well in as such TV series as L.A. Law, JAG, Chuck, Cold Case and Entourage. Hosted a talk show on KFI radio in Los Angeles from 2003 to 2010. Has published numerous novels, including a novelization of Platoon. Son Chris is a member of the rock band The Fire Violets.