Trivia: With cool-eyed charisma and looks suggesting he had borrowed DNA from Paul Newman and Dennis Hopper, Barry Pepper first caught the attention of audiences and critics as the Bible-quoting Private Jackson in Saving Private Ryan. Before his role in the hit 1998 World War II epic, Pepper, a native of Canada, had been largely unheard of outside of his homeland. Born in Campbell River, British Columbia, on April 4, 1970, Pepper had what can only be described as a unique upbringing. When he was five years old, his parents built a boat and, setting sail with Pepper and his two older brothers, spent the next three years traveling around the world. Pepper was schooled in places as far-flung as Tahiti, Fiji, and New Zealand, and after returning to Canada, went to college to study graphic design. By his own account a poor student, Pepper dropped out of college and decided to give acting a try. He made his professional debut on the popular Vancouver TV series Madison and stayed with the show for four years. After parts in a couple of obscure films and a stint on the television series Titanic with George C. Scott, Pepper attracted the attention of director Steven Spielberg, who cast him in Saving Private Ryan. The critical and commercial success of the film put Pepper -- and several of his co-stars -- in the spotlight, and he soon had a coveted spot on the cover of Vanity Fair's 1999 Hollywood issue, alongside several other up-and-coming young actors. That same year, Pepper further enhanced his visibility with a role in the action thriller Enemy of the State. Hollywood hype being Hollywood hype, Pepper was soon being hailed as a Next Big Thing by any number of publications and his role as a prison guard in the hotly anticipated The Green Mile (1999) seemed to attest to this status. Whether the young actor really was a star in the making or not, his career had gotten off to an inarguably positive start.Over the next several years, Pepper would find success in movies like Flags of Our Fathers and True Grit, as well as the TV mini-series The Kennedys.

Trivia: Actor Jon Bernthal went to great lengths to learn his craft, moving from his native Washington, D.C., to Russia where he attended the Moscow Art Theatre School. Following his return to the U.S., Bernthal then obtained his M.F.A. from Harvard University's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at the American Repertory Theatre. After graduating, he pursued a career in theater, appearing in numerous Broadway and off-Broadway plays, before he began transitioning into onscreen work with appearances on shows like Boston Legal and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In 2006, Bernthal was cast in a starring role on the short-lived CBS sitcom The Class, after which he appeared alongside Elijah Wood in the indie feature Day Zero. Berenthal scored the part of Al Capone in the sequel to the mega-successful Night at the Museum, and he had his most high-profile success to that point in 2010 when he was cast as Shane in the AMC zombie series The Living Dead. He also appeared in Oren Moverman's sophomore film, the cop drama Rampart.

Trivia: A native of North London -- born into a Jewish family with a British father and an American mother -- film actor Rafi Gavron grew up in the fashionable Primrose Hill district of his native city and attended an elite private school, but acquired an extreme distaste for academia and left at the age of 15. As fate would have it, at about the same time Gavron landed his first major film role -- with a supporting turn opposite Jude Law and Juliette Binoche in the late Anthony Minghella's well-received romantic drama Breaking and Entering (2003) -- making it unnecessary for Gavron to continue with his studies. A number of additional assignments followed, including the youth-oriented romantic comedy Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008) and the elaborate Iain Softley-directed fantasy Inkheart (2009).

Trivia: With her genuine smile, earthy beauty, and striking green eyes, Melina Kanakaredes staked her claim on daytime television in The Guiding Light before expanding her talents to numerous other popular series and, eventually, the silver screen.Born and raised in Akron, OH, the second-generation Greek-American was the third daughter of an insurance salesman and homemaker who began her career as an actress in a community theater production of Tom Sawyer at the age of eight. Later enrolling in Ohio State University to study music, dance, and theater but disheartened at poor inter-departmental relations, Kanakaredes opted for a conservatory education at Point Park College in Pittsburgh. Soon performing with the Pittsburgh Playhouse and appearing in commercials and industrial videos, Kanakaredes moved to New York after graduating magna cum laude and began working in dinner boat theater and off-Broadway productions. Taking her role as Greek immigrant Eleni Andros Cooper in The Guiding Light after being spotted by the William Morris Agency in 1991, Kanakaredes was nominated for two Emmys and soon began to expand to roles on NYPD Blue and OZ. Soon turning up in such features as The Long Kiss Goodnight and Rounders, the natural beauty began to gain even more footing in her feature aspirations with her turn in the Robert DeNiro heist-thriller The Score in 2001. Kanakaredes would spend the ensuing 2000's appearing frequently on TV, joining the cast of the police proceedural CSI: NY.

Trivia: Benjamin Bratt was already an experienced film and TV actor by the time his four-year stint as Det. Reynaldo "Rey" Curtis on NBC's long-running hit Law and Order made him famous. Born and raised in San Francisco, Bratt studied acting at UC-Santa Barbara and in his hometown. After roles in two short-lived 1980s TV series, Bratt made his film debut as John Travolta's foe in the shelved, then straight-to-cable Chains of Gold (1991). Concentrating on building a movie career, Bratt played supporting roles in the action films Demolition Man (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), and The River Wild (1994), as well as one of the lead roles in Bound by Honor (1993), about Chicano gang life. After joining Law and Order in 1995 as the coolly-passionate Curtis, the half-Peruvian Indian, half-Caucasian Bratt's chiseled looks received positive notices along with his acting, but rather than rest on his laurels, Bratt used his hiatus time to produce (with his director brother Peter Bratt) and star in the indie film Follow Me Home (1997). After leaving the show in 1999 (girlfriend Julia Roberts guest-starred in one of Bratt's last episodes), Bratt moved back to San Francisco to be closer to his family and focus on making movies. He costarred as Madonna's paramour in The Next Best Thing (2000).Untouched by The Next Best Thing's failure, Bratt joined the prestigious ensemble cast of Steven Soderbergh's acclaimed, Oscar-winning narcotics drama Traffic (2000), becoming nearly unrecognizable in a brief appearance as a sleazy drug dealer. Scoring his second Christmas 2000 hit, Bratt played off his smooth, sexy law enforcement officer image as Sandra Bullock's FBI ally-turned-love interest in the comedy Miss Congeniality (2000).Though the first half of 2001 was marked by his well-publicized break-up with Roberts, Bratt was poised to leave his days as tabloid fodder behind with his lead performance in the independent biopic Piñero (2001). Winning the title role over such high profile Latino actors as Jimmy Smits, Bratt's uncanny evocation of troubled Nuyorican writer and drug casualty Miguel Piñero attracted early dark horse Oscar buzz.Bratt would go on to find continued success on the small screen throughout the 2000's, in mini-series like The Andromeda Strain , and continually on Law and Order, which he would stick with until 2007. Bratt would also star on the TV series The Cleaner, as well as on the Grey's Anatomy spin-off Private Practice.

Trivia: Began his career as a model. Appeared in advertising campaigns for Gucci, Skechers and Tommy Hilfiger. Portrayed a transgender character in the 2006 Lifetime movie A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story. To better understand the role, he would go out in public while dressed as a woman.

Trivia: A square-jawed, stark-countenanced actor whose features naturally projected more than a passing undercurrent of menace, David Harbour gravitated almost by default to edgy characterizations. He debuted on-camera with appearances on television series programs including Hack and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, then transitioned to the big screen with a portrayal of Robert Kinsey, a relative of controversial sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, in Bill Condon's well-received period biopic Kinsey (2004), before signing for additional supporting roles in Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds (2005) and Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain (2005). In the meantime, Harbour also eked out an impressive stage career, reaching his pinnacle as Nick in the 2005 Broadway revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opposite Kathleen Turner, Bill Irwin, and others.

Trivia: Began acting at the age of 15 in his high school's drama club, Echostage, performing plays and musicals. After high school, was cast as Roger in Fabrefaction Theatre's production of Rent in 2010 before going on to work in films and TV. Since 2017, has appeared in podcasts on YouTube.

Trivia: Of Russian, Polish and English descent.Her family moved to Logan City, Australia, when she was three.Worked as a tour guide at Warner Brothers Studios.Moved to Los Angeles in 2004.Played the first murder victim on the television series Castle.Is a member of the high IQ society MENSA.Author of the book The Hollywood Survival Guide For Actors.

Trivia: Joined a gang in East Los Angeles at age 13. Spent 27 months in prison on an attempted murder charge; upon his release, he worked for Homeboy Industries, which gives ex-gang members jobs. Began acting when a casting director for CSI: Miami came to Homeboy Industries looking for extras. Studied at the Anthony Gilardi Acting Studio. Wrote and performed in a one-man show based on his life, titled Fighting Shadows, in 2013.

Trivia: A native of Brooklyn, NY, actor Michael Kenneth Williams fell into a typecast with repeated portrayals of hoods, toughs, and career criminals from project to project. Williams entered acting courtesy of professional dancing, which he began at the age of 22; in that arena, his unique and individualistic moves caught the attention of producers and landed him in a string of music videos. Williams subsequently decided to pursue classical training as an actor, which he received via participation in the National Black Theater Company and New York's La' MaMA Theatre Company, though his breakthrough arrived at the hands of the late gangster rapper Tupac Shakur, who discovered Williams and cast him as his own little brother in the Julien Temple-directed urban crime drama Bullet (1995). Work for Martin Scorsese followed, with a minor role in the grueling psychodrama Bringing Out the Dead (1999), though Williams scored much broader acclaim and exposure via participation in HBO's popular crime drama series The Wire, where he played stick-up man Omar Little for multiple seasons. Williams then moved back into features with a supporting turn as Devin in actor-turned-director Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone (2007), then starred opposite Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron in director John Hillcoat's post-apocalyptic thriller The Road (2008).

Trivia: An accomplished young actor who has graced the stage, screen, and television, Harold Perrineau Jr. has earned a well-deserved reputation as a performer willing to take on just about anything, with roles ranging from drag queens to hardened criminals. A native of Brooklyn, Perrineau studied music and theatre at the Shenandoah Conservatory, but began his career as a dancer with the Alvin Ailey Company, performing with the troupe for a year and a half. A gradual shift to acting led Perrineau to the theatre, where he acted in a number of shows including Dreamgirls, the critically acclaimed Avenue X, and the off-Broadway revival of Godspell.While he was working on the stage, Perrineau also began appearing on TV in such shows as The Cosby Show, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, I'll Fly Away, and Law & Order. He segued onto the big screen in the late '80s, but had his first memorable role as Rashid Cole, a young man searching for his long-absent father (Forest Whitaker) in Smoke, an acclaimed 1995 drama directed by Wayne Wang and based upon the writings of Paul Auster. The following year he gained further exposure for his flamboyant, explosive portrayal of Mercutio in Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. At one point outfitted in a glitter miniskirt and platform heels, Perrineau proved a worthy, if idiosyncratic, foil for Leonardo Di Caprio's Romeo and gave a performance that marked him as one of the more distinctive Mercutios in the play's history.Perrineau subsequently appeared in a number of supporting roles in films ranging from Auster's Lulu on the Bridge (1998) to The Best Man (1999), a celebrated romantic comedy directed by Malcolm D. Lee (cousin of Spike Lee) that saw Perrineau share the screen with other members of a group widely billed as a new generation of African-American actors, including Taye Diggs, Morris Chestnut, and Nia Long. In addition to appearances in various independent films, Perrineau starred in Woman on Top (2000), a comedy that cast him as the drag queen best friend of a young woman (Penelope Cruz) experiencing romantic woes.In 1997, Perrineau made the move to the small screen, assuming the role of paraplegic convict and narrator Augustus Hill on the acclaimed HBO series Oz. The brutally violent, hard-hitting series generated Perrineau thousands of fans, and he stayed with the show until 2003 - the same year he took up the role of Link in The Matrix Reloaded, the second film in the explosive Matrix franchise. He would reprise the role the next year for the third and final installment in the series, The Matrix Revolutions, before returning to television just months later for the role of Michael on the cryptic ABC sci-fi/mystery/drama Lost. Playing a conflicted and sometimes morally ambiguous character, Perrineau soon proved to be a vital member of the cast, taking a hiatus from the series in 2007 only to return in 2008.Despite becoming a pivotal component of primetime TV, the actor remained as active in movies as ever. He took on the role of Flynn in the 2007 horror sequel 28 Weeks Later, and starred alongside Michael Madsen in the 2008 thriller The Killing Jar. After Lost ended in 2010, Perrineau continued to alternate between TV and film, playing the villain in season 5 of Sons of Anarchy and a decidedly lighter role as the bass player in a wedding band in the short-lived TBS comedy Wedding Band. He also played a supporting role in the controversial Oscar-nominated film Zero Dark Thirty (2012).