Trivia: Belgian-born film star Jean-Claude Van Damme can be called an actor, although it would be more accurate to describe him as a bodybuilder and kickboxer. It evidently wasn't in the genes; Van Damme's father was an accountant and flower salesman. Taking up the study of Shotokan karate at the age of ten, Van Damme went on to win the middleweight championship of the European Professional Karate Association, where he thrilled one and all with his 360-degree leap-kick. Cashing in on his fame, the 18-year-old Van Damme launched the California Gym in Brussels. When he moved to L.A., he had 7,000 dollars to his name and spoke only French and Flemish. At first, he took many odd jobs, the least prepossessing of which was as a carpet layer. Van Damme's first film was a bit part in Chuck Norris' Missing in Action (1984). Groomed for stardom by Cannon Films' Menahem Golan, Van Damme became a big box-office commodity via such epics as No Retreat, No Surrender (1986); Bloodsport (1988); Cyborg (1989); Kickboxer (1989), which he co-wrote; Lionheart (1990); and Universal Soldier (1992). Fully cognizant of his own histrionic limitations, Van Damme didn't branch out into comedy or "sensitive" roles as has Arnold Schwarzenegger; when starring in the popular futuristic-action film Timecop (1994), Van Damme wisely left the acting to villain Ron Silver. He made his directorial debut with The Quest in 1996, and was so popular he made a cameo appearance in an episode of Friends that aired after the Super Bowl. He paired up with Dennis Rodman for 1997's Double Team and closed out the decade with Universal Soldier: The Return. Like many of his action star contemporaries, he lost some of his luster going into the 21st century appearing in a string of titles such as Replicant, In Hell, and The Hard Corps. However, in 2008 he earned some of the best reviews of his career with the meta action film JCVD. He followed up that success with Universal Soldier: Regeneration, Assassination Games, and joining up with other familiar faces for The Expendables 2.

Trivia: Raised in Chicago by his divorced mother, Michael Rooker lived a hand-to-mouth existence until his teens. Rooker successfully auditioned for the Goodman School, and upon graduation, appeared in Chicago-area stage productions. He made a spectacular film debut in the sociopathic title role of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, which was filmed in 1986 but not given a general release until four years later. Henry established Rooker as a gifted purveyor of "don't screw with me" roles, such as chief "Black Sox" conspirator Chick Gandil in Eight Men Out (1988). Michael Rooker's more rugged film assignments of the 1990s included Cliffhanger (1993) and Tombstone (1994).

Trivia: A skilled actress with the unique ability to toggle between tough-as-nails conviction and all-too-human vulnerability, actress Catherine Dent possesses the sort of classy timeless beauty that -- when combined with modern sensibility -- makes her the perfect addition to the cast of the acclaimed television police drama The Shield. Though she has received widespread recognition for her role as the street-smart officer Danielle "Danny" Sofer on the series, Dent has also made impressive appearances on the big screen with memorable supporting roles in such features as Auto Focus and 21 Grams. Dent is a Baton Rouge, LA, native who studied her craft at the North Carolina School of the Arts. It didn't take long for the ambitious actress to make her feature debut opposite screen legend Paul Newman in the 1994 drama Nobody's Fool. Her subsequent roles opposite Jim Carrey and Ashley Judd in The Majestic and Someone Like You proved that Dent had what it takes to make it in Hollywood. She did stage work in both Broadway and regional theater giving testament to her deep-rooted love of acting. Though she was an increasingly familiar face to television viewers throughout the '90s -- thanks to guest roles in The X-Files, Frasier, Law & Order, and The Sopranos -- it was a recurring role in the long-running soap One Life to Live (beginning in 1997) that truly put Dent on the map with television viewers. That same year, Dent made a lasting impression by joining the cast of The Shield; she also made her first foray into science fiction territory as a mother whose contact with extraterrestrials profoundly affects her life in the Steven Spielberg produced Sci Fi Channel miniseries Taken. A supporting role in 21 Grams was quick to follow, with a substantial role in the 2005 black comedy The Unseen, assuring audiences that they'll be seeing plenty more of Dent in the years to follow.

Trivia: During the 1940s, which many scholars regard as the heyday of British films, Allan Gray was one of the busiest and most visible film composers in England. Ironically, despite his years of association with British films, he was neither English nor was he really "Allan Gray." He was born Joseph Zmigrod in Poland in 1902 and was a student of Arnold Schoenberg during the 1920s. He later went to work for producer Max Reinhardt, writing music for his stage productions, and also composed a children's opera called Wavelength ABC. Gray began his career writing music for motion pictures with the 1933 German feature F.P. 1, but after the rise of the Nazis in the mid-'30s, he was forced to leave Germany, following his scoring of the 1936 version of Emil and the Detectives. He came to England and took the name Allan Gray. By the late 1930s, he was established in the British film industry, working at Alexander Korda's London Films, on pictures like The Challenge, and at other major studios. Gray reached the peak of his influence and visibility in the first half of the 1940s when he wrote the scores for a series of films by the writer/producer/director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Gray was responsible for the music in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Canterbury Tale (1944), and I Know Where I'm Going (1945). Blimp's soundtrack had an Elgarian splendor and opulence, while A Canterbury Tale and I Know Where I'm Going incorporated elements of folk song, hymns, and popular music in portions of their scores. Gray's greatest work for the Powell/Pressburger team was A Matter of Life and Death (aka Stairway to Heaven), a 1946 fantasy-drama with a canvas that moved from the infinitely small to the infinitely large and utilized scoring across a similar range. In particular, the eight-note theme at the center of the score is transmuted in a series of variations, reappearing in guises ranging from solo to a grand, near-symphonic treatment; this was also the first of Gray's film scores to be recorded -- in 1946 by the Queen's Hall Light Orchestra under Charles Williams. After 1946, Powell and Pressburger turned to Brian Easdale for their film compositions, but by then Gray was well established, and he got some prominent assignments in the 1950s, including John Huston's The African Queen. Like most English composers of his generation, Gray disappeared from the scene after the 1950s, as British films got smaller and also more daring, and producers began abandoning symphonic-style scores in favor of those with tunes that could become popular hits. His music has undergone a mild renaissance in recent decades with the rediscovery and restoration of most of Powell and Pressburger's major films.

Trivia: Hometown is Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.First credited role was on the 1993 episode "I'd Die for You" of the action TV series Cobra.First film role was Dental Nurse in the 1995 family fantasy adventure Once in a Blue Moon.

Trivia: After a short string of small roles in even smaller films, actress Lana Parrilla got her first big break in 2000 when she was hired as a regular on the ABC sitcom Spin City. While the gig only lasted one season, it was just the beginning of Parrilla's small-screen career, with a main-cast role on the short-lived cop drama Boomtown following in 2002. In 2005, Parrilla joined the cast of Fox's 24 for a supporting arc as a counter-terrorism agent that lasted for half of the fourth season. The following year, she starred opposite Luke Perry on NBC's Windfall, but the show was cut short after less than a season. In 2007, she was again cast as a series lead, this time on the CBS ensemble drama Swingtown. An ambitious period drama that examined the swinger culture of the 1970s, the series failed to become a hit for CBS. But that didn't slow Parrilla down, and following a prominant role in yet another failed series Miami Medical, the buoyant actress essayed a number of television guest roles. In 2012, however, Parrilla seemed to finally find a role she could sink her teeth into -- that of the villainous Regina Mills in the dark, fairy tale-themed ABC fantasy/drama Once Upon a Time.