Trivia: American leading actor Tom Hanks has become one of the most popular stars in contemporary American cinema. Born July 9, 1956, in Concord, CA, Hanks spent much of his childhood moving about with his father, an itinerant cook, and continually attempting to cope with constantly changing schools, religions, and stepmothers. After settling in Oakland, CA, he began performing in high-school plays. He continued acting while attending Cal State, Sacramento, and left to pursue his vocation full-time. In 1978, Hanks went to find work in New York; while there he married actress/producer Samantha Lewes, whom he later divorced.Hanks debuted onscreen in the low-budget slasher movie He Knows You're Alone (1979). Shortly afterward he moved to Los Angeles and landed a co-starring role in the TV sitcom Bosom Buddies; he also worked occasionally in other TV series such as Taxi and Family Ties, as well as in the TV movie Mazes and Monsters. Hanks finally became prominent when he starred opposite Daryl Hannah in the Disney comedy Splash!, which became the sleeper hit of 1984. Audiences were drawn to the lanky, curly headed actor's amiable, laid-back style and keen sense of comic timing. He went on to appear in a string of mostly unsuccessful comedies before starring in Big (1988), in which he gave a delightful performance as a child in a grown man's body. His 1990 film Bonfire of the Vanities was one of the biggest bombs of the year, but audiences seemed to forgive his lapse. In 1992, Hanks' star again rose when he played the outwardly disgusting, inwardly warm-hearted coach in Penny Marshall's A League of Their Own. This led to a starring role in the smash hit romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle (1993).Although a fine comedic actor, Hanks earned critical respect and an even wider audience when he played a tormented AIDS-afflicted homosexual lawyer in the drama Philadelphia (1993) and won that year's Oscar for Best Actor. In 1994 he won again for his convincing portrait of the slow-witted but phenomenally lucky Forrest Gump, and his success continued with the smash space epic Apollo 13 (1995). In 1996, Hanks tried his hand at screenwriting, directing, and starring in a feature: That Thing You Do!, an upbeat tale of a one-hit wonder group and their manager. The film was not particularly successful, unlike Hanks' next directing endeavor, the TV miniseries From Earth to the Moon. The series was nominated for and won a slew of awards, including a series of Emmys. The success of this project was outdone by Hanks' next, Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998). Ryan won vast critical acclaim and was nominated for 11 Oscars, including a Best Actor nomination for Hanks. The film won five, including a Best Director Oscar for Spielberg, but lost Best Picture to Shakespeare in Love, a slight that was to become the subject of controversy. No controversy surrounded Hanks' following film, Nora Ephron's You've Got Mail (1998), a romantic comedy that paired Hanks with his Sleepless co-star Meg Ryan. Although the film got mixed reviews, it was popular with filmgoers, and thus provided Hanks with another success to add to his resumé. Even more success came soon after when Hanks took home the 2000 Golden Globes' Best Actor in a drama award for his portrayal of a shipwrecked FedEx systems engineer who learns the virtues of wasted time in Robert Zemeckis' Cast Away. Though absent from the silver screen in 2001, Hanks remained in the public eye with a role in the acclaimed HBO mini-series Band of Brothers as well as appearing in September 11 television special America: A Tribute to Heroes and the documentary Rescued From the Closet. Next teaming with American Beauty director Sam Mendes for the adaptation of Max Allan Collins graphic novel The Road to Perdition (subsequently inspired by the Japanese manga Lone Wolf and Cub, the nice-guy star took a rare anti-hero role as a hitman (albiet an honorable and fairly respectable hitman) on the lam with his son (Tyler Hoechlin) after his son witnesses a murder. That same year, Hanks collaborated with director Spielberg again, starring opposite Leonardo Dicaprio in the hit crime-comedy Catch Me if You Can.For the next two years, Hanks was essentially absent from movie screens, but in 2004 he emerged with three new projects: The Coen Brothers' The Lady Killers, yet another Spielberg helmed film, The Terminal, and The Polar Express, a family picture from Forrest Gump and Castaway director Robert Zemeckis. 2006 was a very active year for Hanks starting with an appearance at the Oscar telecast that talented lip-readers will remember for quite some time. In addition to helping produce the HBO Series Big Love, he scored a major international success by reteaming with director Ron Howard for the big-screen adaptation of {Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code, which was such a success that he signed on for the sequel in 2009, Angels and Demons. His Playtone production company would have a hand in the animated feature The Ant Bully in 2008, and that same year he filmed The Great Buck Howard co-starring his son Colin Hanks. He also signed on to co-star with Julia Roberts in two different films: Mike Nichols' Charlie Wilson's War in 2008 and the romcom Larry Crowne in 2011. Later that same year, Hanks would make dramatic waves in the post-9/11 drama Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture.Ranked by Empire Magazine as 17th out of "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" in October 1997, Hanks is married to actress Rita Wilson, with whom he appeared in Volunteers (1985). The couple have two children in addition to Hanks' other two from his previous marriage.

Trivia: The daughter of respected off-Broadway playwright Romulus Linney, Laura Linney was born in New York City on February 5, 1964. Her parents divorced when she was six months old. Thanks to her father's job, Linney grew up working in the theater, both behind the scenes and, in her late teens, on the stage. Following prep school in Massachusetts, she attended both Brown University and Juilliard, and she was soon appearing in a number of Broadway productions. She garnered notice for her roles in plays like The Seagull and Six Degrees of Separation, and won particular acclaim for her performance in Hedda Gabler.Linney made her onscreen debut in 1992 with a small role as a teacher in Lorenzo's Oil. The following year, she had a brief but pivotal role as Kevin Kline's presidential mistress in Dave, appeared in Searching for Bobby Fischer, and landed a lead as one of the protagonists of Armistead Maupin's acclaimed Tales of the City, which aired on PBS. Linney later reprised her role as Mary Ann Singleton for More Tales of the City in 1998. Following leads in two box-office failures, A Simple Twist of Fate (1994) and Congo (1995), Linney had a supporting role as Richard Gere's lawyer/ex in Primal Fear (1996). Based on the strength of her performance, Clint Eastwood chose her to play his daughter -- another lawyer -- in Absolute Power the following year. In 1998, Linney sent up her wholesome, fresh-scrubbed appearance to great effect as Truman Burbank's wife in Peter Weir's highly acclaimed The Truman Show.The actress finally came into her own in 2000, thanks to two very different parts in two highly acclaimed independent features. Writer/director Kenneth Lonergan's You Can Count on Me featured Linney as Sammy, a small-town single mother whose placid life takes some interesting turns when she's visited by her errant brother Terry (Mark Ruffalo). Aided by Lonergan's precise script and her own copious note-taking, Linney turned in her most nuanced, accomplished performance to date. Critics paid attention: after its much-heralded debut at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, the film went on to garner a slew of recognition for its lead actress, including Best Actress of the Year awards from the National Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Circle, and an eventual Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Linney further polished her reputation with a supporting turn as the icy Bertha Dorset in director Terence Davies' adaptation of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, released in late 2000.She continued working steadily and garnered great critical respect throughout the next decade. In addition to returning for Further Tales of the City, she was one of the many talented actors who appeared in the controversial The Laramie Project. She had a few big-budget films that missed their mark in The Mothman Prophecies and The Life of David Gale, but those came around the same time as her superb turn as Sean Penn's wife in Mystic River, and as one of the few Americans in the very British romantic comedy Love Actually. She continued to earn strong reviews as the headstrong wife to Liam Neeson's Kinsey, and in 2005 offered a subtle but penetrating portrayal of a selfish mother and divorcee opposite Jeff Daniels in The Squid and the Whale. The next year she acted opposite Robin Williams in Barry Levinson's political and social satire Man of the Year.In 2007 Linney offered a spot-on portrayal of a dissatisfied Manhattan wife and mother in The Nanny Diaries, and earned a wealth of strong reviews for her work in Tamara Jenkins' The Savages. Playing a neurotic woman opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman as her brother, Linney scored her third Academy Award nomination.2008 brought Linney her fourth Golden Globe nomination, and first win, for the portrayl of first lady Abigail Adams in the acclaimed HBO miniseries John Adams. In the following years, Linney would continue to appear in several projects, including movies like Morning and The Details, and the acclaimed Showtime series The C Word.

Trivia: From Neil LaBute mainstay to romantic lead and brainy action hero, versatile screen presence Aaron Eckhart has the talent to convincingly portray everything from the most despicable misogynist to affable love interests with equal zeal. How many other actors could purposefully and gleefully crush the soul of an innocent deaf woman before successfully charming one of the '90s most notable onscreen feminists with equal conviction? Born on March 12, 1968, to a computer executive father and a mother who wrote children's books in Santa Clara County, CA, Eckhart spent most of his childhood in Cupertino before moving with his family to England and Australia in his teens. Although he dropped out of high school before graduation, Eckhart eventually earned his equivalency before taking a few years off to hit the waves in Hawaii and the slopes in France. He later attended Brigham Young University as a film major, and it was there that he made the acquaintance of a young, aspiring director named Neil LaBute. Eckhart eventually moved to Manhattan and found himself swimming in a virtual sea of unemployed actors, though he did land a few notable commercial parts before returning to L.A., where he worked in a series of small supporting roles. He had done well enough on his own to this point, but it was only under the direction of his old college friend that he truly broke out of the mold and crafted one of the most despised cinematic characterizations of the decade. Cast in the lead of LaBute's pitch-black debut In the Company of Men, Eckhart's performance of a woman-hating, low-level executive was a cruel, but three-dimensional, villain that both repelled and fascinated moviegoers. After sticking with LaBute and gaining 30 pounds for the role of a sexually frustrated husband in LaBute's follow-up, Your Friends & Neighbors, Eckhart branched out in 1999 with a pair of memorable and entirely unexpected performances: Molly and Any Given Sunday. Cast as a caring brother of an autistic sibling in the former and a gridiron giant in the latter, his versatility began to attract casting agents. By the time he romanced Julia Roberts' eponymous character in Steven Soderbergh's acclaimed drama Erin Brockovich, Eckhart had become one to watch. He re-teamed with LaBute for Nurse Betty and Possession, but by this point, the rising star was gaining quite a reputation on his own. In 2001, Sean Penn tapped him to appear opposite Jack Nicholson in the searing drama The Pledge, and soon Eckhart was plunging headfirst into the center of the Earth alongside Oscar-winner Hilary Swank in the big-budget summer disaster flick The Core. By this time, the actor had truly established himself as a diverse talent capable of donning many hats, and following his role in Ron Howard's brutal thriller The Missing, the action flew fast and furious in John Woo's Paycheck. Eckhart next appeared in Suspect Zero (2004), which was experimental filmmaker E. Elias Merhige's eagerly anticipated follow-up to 2000's acclaimed Shadow of the Vampire.If some fans had lamented the gifted Eckhart's turn towards overly seriously roles as of late, a scathing performance in director Jason Reitman's critically-acclaimed 2005 comedy Thank You for Smoking would serve as a refreshingly funny change of pace. Alas, the laughs wouldn't keep coming for long, as it was soon back to grim dramatics with his turn as a well-schooled psychiatrist in the dramatic mystery Neverwas preceding a turn as a determined L.A. detective whose attempts to solve a particularly confounding murder lead him down a dark path of Hollywood corruption in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia. In 2008 he starred alongside Christian Bale inThe Dark Knight as good-man-gone-bad Harvey Dent/Two-Face, while 2010 found the actor co-starring with Nicole Kidman in the film Rabbit Hole (2010). In 2011, Eckhart played a wealthy real estate developer in The Rum Diary, an adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's autobiography of the same name.

Trivia: The red-haired and slightly ruddy-faced American character actor Sam Huntington first established his reputation with supporting roles in a series of goofy, off-the-wall comedies such as Jungle 2 Jungle (1997), Detroit Rock City (1999), and actor-cum-director Thomas Haden Church's stoner farce Rolling Kansas (2002). Huntington shifted genres and delivered a respectable (if unremarkable) lead performance under the aegis of another actor-turned-helmer, William Katt, in the family-oriented coming-of-age drama River's End (2005). Unfortunately, it received mostly negative reviews and severely limited distribution that kept it out of most mainstream theaters. In 2006, however, Huntington earned greater recognition with a memorable turn as newspaper photographer Jimmy Olsen in the blockbuster Superman Returns. In fall 2007, he took on a regular role as a Neanderthal on the bizarre ad campaign-turned-sitcom Cavemen. The actor joined the cast of Syfy's Being Human (the American version of the BBC's series of the same name) in 2011 to play a werewolf.

Trivia: Is of American and Canadien descent.Was raised in Indonesia and moved during her childhood to several countries including Nigeria, United Kingdom, and Canada.Moved to Austin, Texas, at the age of 16.Made her debut as an actress in Broadway in the musical Rex.Made her debut as an actress on television in 1979.

Trivia: A native of La Jolla, CA, actress Autumn Reeser grew up in nearby Oceanside and Carlsbad and gravitated to drama as a young girl; she reportedly discovered her life's calling when she felt inspired by a child's portrayal of a mouse in a local stage version of Cinderella. Reeser commenced tryouts for local theatrical productions not long after her sixth birthday and continued to appear in a variety of plays and musicals through her late teens, then enrolled in the University of Southern California at the age of 17 and studied acting while supporting herself by waiting tables on the side.The thespian scored her first major acting coup in 2001, with a bit part on an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, then signed for a series of guest roles on programs including Cold Case, George Lopez, and Grounded for Life, in addition to films such as the independent drama Americanese (2006) and the collegiate-themed ensemble film Palo Alto (2007). She only came into her own, however, with a portrayal of backward and maladroit Taylor Townsend on seasons 3 and 4 of the prime-time teen-oriented soaper The O.C. (2005-2007). In 2008, Reeser signed on to play Phoebe Valentine, one of a family of Greek immortals whose collective mission involves bringing human soulmates together, on the Kevin Murphy-produced romantic comedy series Valentine. The show was quickly cancelled, and Reeser joined the HBO series Entourage, playing the recurring role of junior agent Lizzie Grant for a handful of episodes. She was next cast in two more short-lived series: superhero dramedy No Ordinary Family (2010-11) and submarine drama Last Resort (2012-13).

Trivia: A graduate of the University of New Hampshire, comedian-cum-actor Mike O'Malley discovered a passion for drama during his collegiate years. After completing university, O'Malley moved to Manhattan, did graduate studies in theater for two years, and toiled away at a lengthy series of menial jobs (one of which reportedly involved selling typewriters), meanwhile essaying scattered acting assignments on the side. Early work included a role as a spokesperson in television commercials (with some particularly high-profile spots for ESPN) and an emcee on children's programs including the Nickelodeon cable network's sports-themed series Guts. O'Malley's breakthrough arrived in late 1999, when NBC (doubtless encouraged by the success of Seinfeld and other standup-headlined sitcoms) signed him to executive produce, script, and star in his own eponymous television series, The Mike O'Malley Show; unfortunately, it bowed to horrendous reviews and ratings, and received almost immediate cancellation by the network.Not long after, O'Malley moved into feature film work, with supporting roles in films including the Sandra Bullock alcoholism-themed seriocomedy 28 Days (2000), the George Clooney/Renee Zellweger period screwball comedy Leatherheads (2008) and the Eddie Murphy-headlined sci-fi comedy Meet Dave (2008). O'Malley then returned to NBC -- albeit not in a starring vein -- as a supporting cast member of the series drama My Own Worst Enemy (2008). That program starred Christian Slater as a victim of multiple personality disorder. And though occasional high profile film roles in Eat Pray Love and Cedar Rapids proved he had what it took to impress on the silver screen, it was O'Malley's guest appearance as Kurt Hummel's father Burt on Glee that earned the actor his first Emmy nomination in 2010, and led to a recurring role on one of television's most popular shows.

Trivia: Raised in Santa Fe, NM, she once costarred in a 1997 film called Santa Fe, which starred Gary Cole and Lolita Davidovich. There's also a New Mexico connection with her TV series, Breaking Bad, which is set in Albuquerque. Landed her first professional acting job, in The Beggar's Opera at the Court Theatre in Chicago, in 1990, while still an undergraduate at Northwestern University. Made Broadway debut the 1996's revival of The Rehearsal, which also starred Roger Rees. Played Marie Curie in Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie, a play written by Alan Alda, in 2011.

Trivia: At 14, ran away from home and took a Greyhound bus to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an actor, but his parents tracked him down and sent him to a boarding school in Ireland. After graduating from high school in Omaha, he studied French, art history and theatre in Paris. Was cast as an understudy in the Broadway production of Biloxi Blues. As a 46-year-old training for the lead role in the FX series Lights Out, McCallany fulfilled a lifelong dream to fight in an amateur boxing competition, winning a three-round decision against a German heavyweight.

Trivia: Names Marlon Brando and Peter Sellers as two of his biggest acting influences. Has been a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago and David Mamet's Atlantic Theater Company in New York. First big-screen appearance was in the 1997 romantic comedy Fools Rush In. Made his Broadway debut in 2005, playing Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire. Auditioned for the role of detective Jimmy McNulty on HBO's The Wire, but was later cast as longshoreman Frank Sobotka. Has been a regular on several other TV series, including Third Watch, Tilt, Smith and True Blood.

Trivia: Aspired to be a professional dancer, but lost her college dance scholarships following a knee injury. Worked as a dancer for Carnival Cruise Line. Won a Drama Desk Award and an Obie Award for her role as Lauren in the 2011 off-Broadway production of Circle Mirror Transformation. Made her Broadway debut as Fanka Silberman in Irena's Vow in 2009. Honored with the 2011 Clarence Derwent Award for her role as Regan in Bachelorette. Played the role of Myrtle Mae Simmons opposite Jim Parsons and Jessica Hecht in the 2012 Broadway production of Harvey. Received the Alumni Rising Star Award from her alma mater, Salem State University, in 2013. Won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for her role as Daphna in Joshua Harmon's Bad Jews.

Trivia: Michigan native Graham Sibley could have been a pro-water polo player instead of an actor. He took up the aquatic sport in college after a season of basketball, but when the young student enrolled in his first acting class, he was hooked. He switched his major from film to theater, earning a BFA before going on to appear in nearly 50 shorts and student films, and act in stage roles all over the L.A. area. He also appeared in some commercials, which paid a little better than his more artistic work. In 2004, Sibley had saved some money so he left California and headed for New York. There, Sibley scored a prominent role in the gory flick Zombie Honeymoon. After a year in the city that never sleeps, he headed back to L.A. -- but he had no intention of resting. He returned to the stage, joining a theater company called Ensemble Studio Theater, and appearing in TV series like Boston Public and The O.C.. In 2006, he signed on to appear in Nanking, Bill Guttentag's documentary about the 1937 massacre of the Chinese city.

Trivia: Inspired by a teacher to pursue a career in acting while studying theater in college. Made his professional acting debut in 2000 on an episode of The King of Queens. Has used the alias Zack Morris while staying at hotels because Saved by the Bell was his favorite TV show while growing up. Has considered himself less outgoing and less outspoken than Turtle, his character on Entourage. Was the best man at the 2006 Las Vegas wedding of his Entourage costar Kevin Dillon. Co-owner of the Los Angeles deli Fat Sal's, which opened in 2010. Hobbies include golfing and playing video games; is a self-described homebody who doesn't do a lot of clubbing. Is not an avid traveler because he doesn't enjoy flying. Is a huge sports fan who dreamed of being a sports analyst before turning to acting.

Trivia: Character actor Jamey Sheridan has had a prolific acting career in theater, television, and film productions. Born in California to a family of actors, he made it to Broadway and earned a Tony nomination in 1987 for his performance in the revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons. After several TV movie appearances, he landed a reoccurring role as lawyer Jack Shannon on Shannon's Deal, which ran for one season in 1990. His later television roles include Dr. John Sutton on Chicago Hope (from 1995-1996) and Captain Deakins on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (since 2001). Sheridan started his film career in the late '80s with small roles, and by the '90s he was playing the token family man, a role he would continue in both film and television. He was also capable of playing villains, as he did in the 1994 miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand. Other interesting roles include Marty Stouffer in Wild America and the psychotic neighbor in Video Voyeur: The Susan Wilson Story. After a long history of performing Shakespeare on the stage, Sheridan appeared in Campbell Scott's production of Hamlet in 2000 as well as the Hamlet-inspired modern noir film Let the Devil Wear Black in 1999. He's also given fine supporting performances in The Ice Storm, Cradle Will Rock, Life as a House, and numerous TV movies. In teh early 2000s Sheriden frequently alternated between film and television, though it was his role on the popular detective series Law and Order: Criminal Intent that offered him the most exposure. It was during his five year run on that show that he was diagnosed with Bell's palsy, a nerve disorder that temporarily causes partial facial paralysis, and the writers ultimately incorporated that condition into the show. In 2011 Sheridan joined the cast of the Showtime drama Homeland, which centered on a Marine sergeant and war hero who returns home to the U.S. after eight years missing in Iraq, only to be pursued by a CIA officer who's convinced he's been turned into a terrosit by Al-Qaeda.Sheridan and his wife, actress Colette Kilroy, have two children.

Trivia: The newscaster with the thousand-watt smile, Katie Couric became a vital companion to millions of Americans getting ready for work when she assumed hosting duties of the Today show in 1991. Effervescent, intelligent, and always energetic, Couric became a cultural icon during her 15-year run on the program, sharing the sympathy of legions when her husband died in 1998 of colon cancer. In order to spread public awareness about the preventative nature of colon cancer, Couric surprised viewers in 2000 by broadcasting her own colonoscopy on national television. Always a risk taker, Couric announced in 2006 that she'd be leaving the program to become the first solo female anchor of a nightly national news program at CBS.

Trivia: Supporting actor, onscreen from the '80s.

Trivia: Began studying acting at the age of six with her grandfather, actor Joseph Bernard, who served as Executive Director of the prestigious Lee Strasberg School in Los Angeles. Made her Yale Repertory debut in 2013 in Dario Fo's Accidental Death of an Anarchist. Graduated alongside actress Lupita N'yongo at Yale School of Drama. In 2014, was recipient of the Leonore Annenberg Performing Arts Fellowship. Studied at the Moscow Art Theatre. Performed with SITI Company in various stage productions. Played the role of Celia in Jackson Gay's production of As You Like It. Performed the role of Dinah in the Chautauqua Theater Company's stage production of The Philadelphia Story.

Trivia: As the eldest member of the Cusack acting dynasty -- the sister of John, Joan, Susie, and Bill Cusack -- Ann Cusack was raised, like her siblings, in the affluent Chicago suburb of Evanston, but achieved fame and success as a comedic actress somewhat later than the others. Born in 1961, Cusack received her formal education at the Piven Theater Workshop (studying basic improvisation with Joyce and Byrne Piven) and later at New York University's Tisch School for the Arts, where she studied dramatic performance under the aegis of the legendary playwright and theatrical and film director David Mamet. Cusack landed her premier feature-film role at the age of 30, as Shirley Baker, a WWII-era baseball player with a more than slight illiteracy problem, in Penny Marshall's summer 1992 comedy A League of Their Own (alongside Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, and Rosie O'Donnell). In the process, Cusack imparted to the film some of its biggest and most unanticipated laughs -- no mean feat, given that cast.The turn did not go unnoticed, and parts rolled in steadily for the remainder of the 1990s and into the 2000s. The characterizations began small, with low billing -- such as that of a waitress in Harold Becker's poorly received 1993 thriller Malice, and that of a TV woman in Mike Nichols' 1996 La Cage aux Folles redo The Birdcage. Not long after, however, Cusack received her highest television billing (up through that time) when cast as Karen Foxworthy, TV wife and second-string to redneck-obsessed comedian Jeff Foxworthy, in the second season (1996-1997) of the short-lived sitcom The Jeff Foxworthy Show. Unfortunately, the show folded in 1997.The parts continued unabated, however, in films of varying reception. Cusack teamed up with her brothers John and Bill and sister Joan, as well as Dan Aykroyd and Minnie Driver, in the sadly overlooked dark comedy Grosse Pointe Blank (1997, a work that John co-produced and co-scripted). Ann fared worse (as did the entire cast) by signing on for a re-team with director Mike Nichols in that helmer's 2000 turkey What Planet Are You From?, starring Annette Bening and Garry Shandling. Cusack then made intermittent appearances on such series programs as Charmed and Frasier during the late '90s and early 2000s. In 2006, Cusack essayed the supporting role of Deanna in Aaron Wiederspahn's The Sensation of Sight (2006), a moody, evocative drama (and festival cause célèbre) about a dissatisfied middle-class man (David Strathairn) who drops out of his life and takes a job selling encyclopedias.

Trivia: A Minneapolis native, spunky actress Molly Hagan grew up in the Fort Wayne, IN, area. She reportedly exhibited a love of theatrics from early childhood, and later came into her own as a drama major at Illinois' famed Northwestern University. Hagan moved to the Windy City and traveled the path of many an ingénue by supporting herself with waitressing jobs and accepting various roles; her Hollywood break arrived when her Chicago-based agent Joan Ellis decided to relocate to the West Coast, and Hagan followed. Under the management of Ellis, she racked up everything from supporting roles in TV miniseries (Dallas: The Early Years, 1986) to guest roles on a myriad of series (ALF, Dream On, Monk) to supporting turns in big-screen projects. These included the 1985 Chuck Norris action programmer Code of Silence, the 1998 Jerry Springer farce Ringmaster, and Alexander Payne's critically worshipped satire Election (1999). In 2007, Hagan signed for a supporting turn in director Neil Burger's The Lucky Ones (2008), a drama concerning three Iraqi war veterans who undertake a cross-country road trip in the U.S.

Trivia: New Jersey native Jeffrey Nordling attended Wheaton College in Illinois before beginning his professional acting career, making small appearances in movies like Working Girl and Shooter in the early '80s. He would continue to work regularly as the years passed, eventually becoming particularly well known to audiences for parts like ex-husband Jake on Now and Again, and Brent Barrow on Dirt, as well as FBI agent Larry Moss on the seventh season of 24. He joined the cast of Desperate Housewives in that show's sixth season, and in 2010 he could be seen on the big-screen in Tron: Legacy.

Trivia: Actor Noel Fisher began his screen career on a conventional note with unremarkable adolescent roles in genre material, including the family comedy Max Keeble's Big Move (2001), the romantic comedy A Guy Thing (2002), and the formulaic teen thriller Final Destination 2 (2003). In the years to follow, however, he unveiled a propensity for edgier and more emotionally challenging role assignments. Some of his more memorable parts included the son in a family of con artists on the short-lived FX series The Riches (2007), and a by-the-throat turn as a malevolent, dog-slaying teen in the meditative revenge drama Red (2008).

Trivia: Within four years of his film debut in Zebrahead (1993), Michael Rapaport (born March 20th, 1970) became one of Hollywood's hardest-working and most versatile supporting/character actors. He began as a standup comedian, but turned to acting after landing a guest-starring role in a 1990 episode of the ABC television drama China Beach. Rapaport's portrayal in Zebrahead of a Jewish teen struggling to survive in an African-American-dominated Detroit neighborhood while romantically involved with a black girl earned him considerable acclaim and a nomination for an Independent Feature Project Spirit Award. After that, he did a bit more television work and his career remained low-key until the following year, when he suddenly burst back onto the screen in four major films: True Romance, Point of No Return, Money for Nothing, and Poetic Justice. Some of Rapaport's notable subsequent roles include that of a college student who mistakenly attempts to find his niche by becoming a skinhead in John Singleton's Higher Learning (1995) and that of a slightly dim prizefighter set up for a blind date with a goodhearted hooker in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (1995). In 1998, Rapaport co-starred in the Showtime cable network's black comedy series about the zany world of substance abuse recovery programs Rude Awakening. That year, Rapaport also appeared in the films Palmetto and Some Girls. Rappaport worked in film sporadically throughout the 2000, but found some success in Metro, Deep Blue Sea, and Higher Learning. However, the actor is much more recognized for his work in the television shows Boston Public, Prison Break, and the War at Home.