Trivia: Matthew Modine probably developed his love of performing through multiple viewings of films exhibited in the many Utah drive-in theaters managed by his father. His family moved a lot, so his adaptability as an actor may have grown out of learning to adapt as a child, as well. After dropping out of college and working a variety of odd jobs, Modine moved to New York, where he studied acting with Stella Adler and eventually began appearing in TV commercials and soap operas. He made his screen debut in 1983 in the film comedy Baby It's You, and won the Venice Film Festival's Best Actor award that year for his work in Robert Altman's Streamers. Refusing to trade on his freshly scrubbed, all-American good looks, Modinemade a point of treating each film role as a challenge and a chance to grow. How many other pretty-boy Brat Packers would have been willing to play a disturbed Vietnam vet who's thinks he's a bird in 1984's Birdy? His other film roles included dual characters in The Hotel New Hampshire (1984); Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987); love-struck FBI agent Mike Downey in Married to the Mob (1988); swashbuckler William Shaw in Cutthroat Island (1995); and the title role in the made-for-cable Biblical spectacle Jacob (1994). Modine was nominated for an Emmy for his performance as aloof AIDS researcher Don Francis in the 1993 TV movie And the Band Played On, and continued to accept occasional stage roles in between his film and TV projects. He made his screen directorial debut in 1994 with a short subject entitled Smoking. Modine woulds spend the next few decades appearing in a number of interesting projects, like Funky Monkey, Transporter 2, and The Dark Knight Rises.

Trivia: Eric Stoltz has appeared in a number of major and minor features and on television. While growing up, the pale, slender, and red-haired Stoltz spent time in American Samoa. His interest in acting began in high school where he not only acted in productions, but also occasionally accompanied them on piano. While attending U.S.C., Stoltz studied theater arts but left the program to study under Stella Adler, William Taylor, and Peggy Feury. Afterward, Stoltz spent a season in Edinburgh performing with an American repertory company. Upon his return stateside, Stoltz appeared in the television movie version of humorist Erma Bombeck's novel The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank (1978). He would appear in three more television films before making his film debut in Amy Heckerling's Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) alongside such other would-be stars as Sean Penn, Anthony Edwards, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. From there, Stoltz appeared in a series of low-budget films such as Running Hot (1982) and Surf 2 (1984), and he might well have remained at that level had he not been cast as Rocky Dennis in Peter Bogdanovich's Mask (1986). Playing a young teen suffering from lionitis, a terminal disease that drastically deforms the skull, Stoltz had to wear pounds of makeup and prosthetics (the makeup won Oscars for designers Zoltan Elek and Michael Westmore) that left him with only his voice, his eyes, and his body with which to convey emotions. Starring opposite Cher, who played his drug-addicted biker-chick mother, Stoltz gave a moving performance that earned him critical and audience acclaim. But though it made Stoltz popular, full-fledged stardom eluded him and he continued appearing in moderately successful and low-budget films, including John Hughes' romantic drama Some Kind of Wonderful (1987). In addition to his film work, Stoltz has had a busy Broadway career that began in 1988 with a Tony-nominated starring role in a revival of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, and a sporadic television career making guest appearances on such series as Mad About You and in TV movies. Stoltz has occasionally produced films such as Mr. Jealousy (1997). In 2002 Stoltz reteamed with Killing Zoe director Rogery Avery for the pitch-black college comedy The Rules of Attraction, and the following decade found him increasingly active on the small screen with roles in Will & Grace, Close to Home, Grey's Anatomy, and the 2009 Battlestar Galactica spin-off Capricia. Meanwhile, back on the silver screen, Stoltz earned accolades for his leading role as a conflicted barber of German heritage forced to suppress his American patriotism after moving his family to a post-World War II military base which houses a German POW camp.

Trivia: With his handsome, everyman looks and strong abilities on stage and screen, actor Tate Donovan has endured to become one of the most talented actors that no one recognizes. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing; with previous girlfriends such as Sandra Bullock and Jennifer Aniston and solid performances in Clean and Sober (1988) and Memphis Belle (1990), it's readily apparent that he has the charm to match his talent. A Tenafly, NJ, native who took up acting in his teens, Donovan's early screen appearances came with troubled teen roles in such efforts as Not My Kid and Into Thin Air (both 1985), as well as a memorable appearance in the 1986 sci-fi adventure Space Camp. A move to Los Angeles found Donovan closer to the world of film production while he pursued his higher education at U.S.C., and it was there that he made the acquaintance of longtime friends such as George Clooney. A post-collegiate role in Memphis Belle (1990) proved that Donovan was indeed honing his skills in front of the camera to good effect, and following an appearance as a recovering drug addict in Clean and Sober (1988), he took his first leading role in the 1992 romantic comedy Love Potion No. 9. Though a relationship with that film's co-star, Sandra Bullock, would result in an engagement, the couple parted ways two short years later, and Donovan began a series of appearances in such art-house efforts as Ethan Frome (1993). A role in the Buena Vista comedy Holy Matrimony (1994) found Donovan getting in good with the folks at Disney, and in three short years he would be providing the voice for the eponymous character in the animated Disney adventure Hercules. More success came in the late '90s with appearances in the popular television series Ally McBeal and Friends, and in addition to a memorable appearance in Homicide: Life on the Street, Donovan gained even more exposure when he was spotted around Tinseltown with high-profile squeeze Jennifer Aniston. Though such later efforts as The Office Party (2000) and Exposed (2002) went largely unseen, Donovan returned to the small screen in 2003 with supporting roles in the series The O.C. and Mister Sterling. Over the coming years, Donovan would continue to appear in several projects, including movies like The Pacifier, Shooter, and Argo, as well as TV series like The O.C. and Damages.

Trivia: Empire State native D.B. Sweeney attended both Tulane and New York University. Though he had trouble getting sizeable roles in student productions, upon his graduation he was immediately cast in the Broadway revival of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial. He went on to guest-star stints on such TV series as The Edge of Night and Spencer: For Hire before entering movies, where he scored with the critics for his portrayal of an idealistic, gung-ho Vietnam enlistee in Francis Ford Coppola's Gardens of Stone (1987). While he has accrued several noteworthy screen assignments (including the starring role of a nasty hockey player in 1992's The Cutting Edge), D.B. Sweeney is best remembered for his even-keel portrayal of the tragic Shoeless Joe Jackson in Eight Men Out (1988); if he looked like a "natural" on the ballfield, it was because Sweeney had once actually played minor league baseball with the Kenosha Twins, hanging up his spikes after a knee injury. In addition to his film roles, Sweeney continues working on television. He played Dish Boggett in the miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989) and in 1996 starred in the unfortunately short-lived Fox series Strange Luck in which he played an amnesiac freelance photographer with strange powers that resulted from his being the sole survivor of an airline disaster. Sweeney also still appears in theatrical productions. In the years to come, Sweeney would remain active on screen, appearing in films like Taken 2.

Trivia: Actor Billy Zane kicked off his stage career in his hometown of Chicago. Able to harness his spoiled-brat countenance and quirky gestures to invoke either sympathy or repulsion, Zane has been seen principally in secondary roles in such films as Back to the Future (1985), Memphis Belle (1990), Orlando (1992), and Posse (1993). His most flamboyant role was as the young drifter who -- obvious to everyone but the hero and heroine -- is not what he seems in the Australian thriller Dead Calm (1989). Zane had a rare starring role in the filmization of the once popular comic strip The Phantom (1996), in which he showed off his lithe, muscular physique in a form-fitting purple body suit and performed many of the stylish film's daring stunts himself. The following year he had a lead role in the most successful film of his career, playing Kate Winslet's vile fiancé in Titanic. Zane is the younger brother of film and TV actress Lisa Zane.

Trivia: Sean Astin had starred in ten movies, directed a short film, and formed his own production company all before his 21st birthday. The elder son of actress Patty Duke and actor/director John Astin, he knew the hazards of Hollywood life: As a popular child star, Astin refrained from drinking, drugs, and narcissism. He juggled acting with attending classes at Crossroads High School for the Arts and Los Angeles Valley College, eventually graduating cum laude from the University of California at Los Angeles with dual degrees in History and American Literature and Culture. When his younger brother, fellow kid actor Mackenzie Astin, temporarily fled Los Angeles to pursue journalism, Astin doggedly remained in town -- he once half-heartedly considered a law career, but could never part with being an entertainer. Astin was born in Santa Monica, CA, on February 25, 1971. His famous parents actively supported his childhood ambition to become an actor, and Astin was cast in TV specials, movies, and even series until 1983. Barely a year later, screenwriter Steven Spielberg handpicked the 13-year-old Astin to star as Michael "Mikey" Walsh in Richard Donner's children's adventure film The Goonies (1985). Astin earned his first Young Artist Award for his work on the film and went on to act in a host of teen pictures. He headlined the Disney Channel television movie The B.R.A.T. Patrol (1986), joined Kevin Bacon for the wilderness adventure White Water Summer (1987), and appeared with Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron in the comedy Like Father, Like Son (1987).In 1988, Astin directed his first short film, a Vietnam picture about the unexpected relationship between an American GI and a Viet Cong soldier titled On My Honor. Astin's own production company, Lava Entertainment, financed the film. While continuing to develop projects through Lava Entertainment, Astin starred with Dermot Mulroney in 1989's Staying Together. He won his second Young Artist Award for his performance in the picture. Also in 1989, Astin portrayed the teenage son of feuding couple Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas in Danny DeVito's The War of the Roses. He finished off the '80s by enlisting in the all-star cast of Michael Caton-Jones' World War II drama Memphis Belle (1990). The film -- which also features Matthew Modine, Harry Connick Jr., Billy Zane, and Eric Stoltz -- followed the crew of the Memphis Belle bomber on their harrowing final run over Germany. Astin's stocky build and comic timing lent well to his incarnation as the group's tail gunner, Sergeant Richard "Rascal" Moore. When Astin initially lost the lead role in his next picture, Toy Soldiers (1991), to Wil Wheaton, he treated the film's director, Dan Petrie Jr., to a screening of Memphis Belle. Petrie was so impressed by his work that he relegated Wheaton to a supporting part and cast Astin as Toy Soldiers' hero, a rebellious student who saves his prep school from South American terrorists.In the spring of 1992, Astin starred with Pauly Shore and Brendan Fraser in Encino Man, a comedy about two California high school students who discover a caveman. He then reunited with Dermot Mulroney in the drama Where the Day Takes You (1992), which also stars Will Smith, Christian Slater, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Ricki Lake. 1993 saw Astin play the title character in Rudy, the memorable film about a tenacious boy determined to play football for Notre Dame despite the fact that he is too small. Football coaches around the United States still show the film before games to inspire their players, and, to this day, strangers still chant "Rudy! Rudy!" when they spot Astin on the street.After filming Safe Passage (1994) with Susan Sarandon and Sam Shepard, Astin appeared in the independent film The Low Life (1995), for which he won the Best Actor Award at the 1995 Fort Lauderdale Film Festival. That same year, he wrote, directed, and produced his second short film, Kangaroo Court. The picture tells the story of a police officer who is put on trial by an inner-city gang and stars Gregory Hines and Michael O'Keefe. It earned Astin an Academy Award nomination for Best Short Film (coincidently, John Astin was nominated in the same category for his film Prelude in 1969).Astin continued to work steadily throughout the '90s. In 1995, he starred in Showtime's adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s futuristic short story Harrison Bergeron. In 1996, he made a cameo as a doomed soldier in the first feature film to depict Desert Storm, Edward Zwick's Courage Under Fire. In 1997, he directed and starred in an episode of HBO's Perversions of Science called "Snap Ending" and was one of several narrators in the Academy Award-winning Holocaust documentary The Long Way Home. In 1998, Astin took a small role in Warren Beatty's Bulworth and began work on a string of independent films -- including Boy Meets Girl (1998), Dish Dogs (1998), Kimberly (1999), Deterrence (1999), and Icebreaker (1999). The decade also brought changes to Astin's personal life. On July 11, 1992, he married Christine Astin (born Harrell) at Patty Duke's Idaho farm. The couple met when she worked at Astin's talent agency and they co-founded Lava Entertainment together. Then, in 1994, Astin underwent DNA testing that revealed rock promoter Michael Tell to be his biological father (Patty Duke and Tell had been briefly married before her engagement to John Astin). Though the actor is friendly with Tell, he still considers those who raised him to be his parents. Two years later, Astin and his wife had their first child, Alexandra Louise, in November of 1996. In the summer of 1999, Astin landed the coveted part of portly hobbit Samwise "Sam" Gamgee in Peter Jackson's highly anticipated three-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Auditions for the role were held over several months in every English-speaking country in the world. Astin's father had appeared in Jackson's horror film The Frighteners, and the veteran actor's fondness for the director made Astin determined to get the part. When he found that his only competition was an overweight English thespian, Astin gained 30 pounds to secure the role. All three installments of the trilogy -- The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003) -- were filmed simultaneously over an 18-month period in New Zealand. Astin's wife and daughter accompanied him to the shoot and Alexandra made her acting debut as a young hobbit in Sam Gamgee's family. The couple had a second child, Elizabeth Louise, between the release of the first and second films.After the success of the Lord of the Rings franchise, Astin kept busy with a slew of projects throughout the 2000s, like 50 First Dates, Click, and an arc on the TV series 24. Astin would also do extensive voice acting in the 2000s and 2010s, on kids shows like Special Agent Oso and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Trivia: Harry Connick Jr. is, first and foremost, known for his abilities behind a piano and for his smooth, baritone vocals. Connick is a prodigious performer, having released some 15 albums by the age of 30. He was approached by Rob Reiner to put together some music for the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally. He brought together an orchestra and covered many popular big-band era songs. An album was put together and prompted a whirlwind tour that helped the album sell amazingly well. Because of this success and Connick's Aw Shucks personality, film appearances were inevitable. His first was in 1990's Memphis Belle and he has consistantly worked in film since then, most notably as Will Smith's wisecracking friend in Independence Day, and in an unexpected turn as the mimicking, murdurous psychopath in Copycat (1995). The late '90s found Connick in larger roles that were a testament to his versatility, including Hope Floats (1998) and Wayward Son (1999). In 2000, Connick brought in the new millennium with a role in My Dog Skip. In 1994, Connick married model Jill Goodacre and together they have two daughters.

Trivia: One of the more underrated actors in Hollywood, tall, soft-spoken David Straithairn has earned almost consistent critical appreciation for his work in a number of films, most notably his many collaborations with director John Sayles. Born in San Francisco on January 26, 1949, Straithairn gained an entrance into acting via his days at Williams College. It was there that he met fellow student Sayles, and the two had their first collaboration with Return of the Seacaucus Seven. The 1980 film, which told the story of a group of friends reuniting after college, inspired a number of similar efforts, including The Big Chill. Following his debut, the actor -- whose additional performing experience came from his training at the Ringling Brothers Clown College -- appeared in supporting roles in a number of films, including Silkwood (1983) and Dominick and Eugene (1988). He continued to collaborate with Sayles, acting in The Brother From Another Planet (1984), Matewan, (1987), and Eight Men Out (1988). Straithairn was also introduced to television audiences with his role as bookstore owner Moss Goodman on the popular dramedy series Days and Nights of Molly Dodd.In the 1990s, Straithairn had prominent roles in a number of critically acclaimed films and television miniseries. In addition to his continuing work with Sayles, in 1991's City of Hope and Passion Fish (1992), the actor lent his talents to such films as Bob Roberts (1992), Sneakers (also 1992), The River Wild (a 1994 film which reunited him with Silkwood co-star Meryl Streep), and Losing Isaiah (1995). He also appeared in miniseries such as the 1991 O Pioneers! and In the Gloaming (1997), in which he played the father of an AIDS-stricken Robert Sean Leonard. In 1997, Straithairn had a memorable turn as a high-class pimp with a dodgy mustache in the wildly lauded L.A. Confidential and after a supporting role in Simon Birch (1998), once again collaborated with Sayles, this time playing a fisherman with a past in the 1999 Limbo. He remained one of the most respected character actors of his generation appearing as the father in the remake of The Miracle Worker, and starring in the drama Blue Car as a manipulative teacher. In 2005 he garnered an Oscar nomination and the biggest high-profile success of his career playing Edward R. Murrow in George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck. He followed up that success with appearances in such films as We Are Marshall, The Bourne Ultimatum, Howl, and Temple Grandin. In 2012 he was cast in Steven Spielberg's long-planned biopic Lincoln as William Seward.

Trivia: A distinguished actor of stage, television, and movies who is at home playing everything from menacing villains, big-hearted transsexuals, and loopy aliens, John Lithgow is also a composer and performer of children's songs, a Harvard graduate, a talented painter, and a devoted husband and father: in short, he is a true Renaissance man. Once hailed by the Wall Street Journal as "the film character actor of his generation," Lithgow is the son of a theater director who once headed Princeton's McCarter Theater and produced a series of Shakespeare festivals in Ohio, where Lithgow was six when he made his first theatrical bow in Henry VI, Part 3. His parents raised Lithgow in a loving home that encouraged artistic self-expression and took a broad view of the world. As a youth, Lithgow was passionate about painting and at age 16, he was actively involved with the Art Students League in New York. When the acting bug bit, Lithgow's father was supportive. After Lithgow graduated from Harvard, he received a Fulbright scholarship to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art; while in England, Lithgow also worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and for the Royal Court Theatre. He returned to the U.S. in the early '70s and worked on Broadway where he won his first Tony and a Drama Desk Award for his part in The Changing Room (1973). Lithgow remained in New York for many years, establishing himself as one of Broadway's most respected stars and would go on to appear in at least one play per year through 1982. He would subsequently receive two more Tony nominations for Requiem for a Heavyweight and M. Butterfly. He made his first film appearance in Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1972). The film itself was an inauspicious affair as were his other subsequent early efforts, though by the early '80s, his film roles improved and diversified dramatically. Though capable of essaying subtle, low-key characters, Lithgow excelled in over-the-top parts as the next decade in his career demonstrates. He got his first real break and a Best Supporting Actor nomination when he played macho football player-turned-sensitive woman Roberta Muldoon in The World According to Garp (1982). In 1983, he provided one of the highlights of Twilight Zone--The Movie as a terrified airline passenger and earned a second Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination in Terms of Endearment where he appeared with Shirley Maclaine and Jack Nicholson, as well as playing a fiery preacher in Footloose. That year, he won his first Emmy nomination for his work in the scary nuclear holocaust drama The Day After. In 1984, he played the crazed Dr. Lizardo in the cult favorite The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. In Ricochet (1992), Lithgow proved himself a terrifying villain with his portrayal of a psychopathic killer hell-bent for revenge against Denzel Washington, the man who incarcerated him. In 1990, he made Babysong video tapes of his performing old and new children's songs on the guitar and banjo. Though he had already established himself on television as a guest star, Lithgow gained a large and devoted following when he was cast as an alien captain who, along with his clueless crew, attempts to pass for human in the fresh, well-written NBC sitcom Third Rock From the Sun (1996). The role has won him multiple Emmys and Golden Globe awards. When that show's run ended in 2001, Lithgow kept busy with roles in such high-profile features as The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) (in which he essayed the role of comedy legend Blake Edwards), Kinsey, Dreamgirls, and Leap Year. Yet through it all the small screen still beckoned, and in 2010 the Lithgow won an Emmy for his role as Arthur Mitchell (aka The Trinity Killer) on the hit Showtime series Dexter. A poignant turn as a once-brilliant scientist stricken with Alzheimer's disease revealed a gentler side of Lithgow in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and in 2012 he reminded us that he could still get big laughs with roles in both This is 40 (Judd Apatow's semi-sequel to Knocked Up) and the Will Ferrell/Zach Galifianakis political comedy The Campaign. When not busy working on the show, in theater, or in feature films, Lithgow is at home playing "Superdad" to his children and his wife, a tenured college professor at U.C.L.A.

Trivia: Perhaps best-known to international audiences for her role as Bubble, Edina Monsoon's gloriously vapid assistant on Absolutely Fabulous, Jane Horrocks is a well-established stage and screen actress in her native Britain.Born in Lancashire, England, to working-class parents on January 18, 1964, Horrocks began performing in a non-professional capacity (or "showing off" as she has said) at an early age, wowing her informal audiences with her gift for mimicry. Although an acting career was seen as unrealistic in her Northern English town, Horrocks nevertheless ended up winning a place at London's prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where her classmates included Ralph Fiennes, Imogen Stubbs, and Iain Glen. During her studies at RADA, Horrocks was advised to lose her distinctive Lancashire accent. Fortunately, she rejected this "advice;" her decision to nurture her way of speaking would later result in her casting in a number of plum character roles.Following graduation, Horrocks joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. Despite the RSC's prestige, the actress felt unchallenged and underused in her work with the company. Thankfully, she found some form of relief in her collaboration with playwright Jim Cartwright while performing in a production of one of his plays; Cartwright was so impressed with Horrocks' uncanny impersonations of such singers as Edith Piaf and Judy Garland that he promised to write a play expressly to showcase her talents. A few years later, he made good on his promise with The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, a play about a painfully shy girl (Horrocks) possessing a remarkable ability to mimic some of history's most famous singers. Horrocks earned lavish praise for her performance; in 1998, the play was made into a well-received film, Little Voice, in which Horrocks co-starred with Ewan McGregor, Brenda Blethyn, and Michael Caine. Horrocks also began appearing on both the big and small screens during the late '80s, doing supporting work in a number of films and television series. She had her screen breakthrough in Mike Leigh's acclaimed family comedy Life Is Sweet (1991), earning awards from the Los Angeles film critics and the National Society of Film Critics for her portrayal of an anorexic girl who at one point asks her boyfriend (David Thewlis) to lick chocolate off her breasts.Bouncing back and forth between comedy and drama and film and television during the rest of the decade, Horrocks continued to establish herself as one of her country's most versatile performers. The 1998 release of Little Voice brought with it lavish acclaim for the actress, who earned a number of international award nominations and honors for her singular performance in the film.

Trivia: With the blond, knowing looks of a choir boy gone wrong and a resumé boasting some of the more offbeat films and television series of the last decade, British actor Steven Mackintosh is one of the more versatile and unpredictable actors on either side of the Atlantic. Although largely unknown in the United States, Mackintosh has worked steadily in his native England since his first role at the age of 13.Born in Cambridge in 1967, Mackintosh got his start on the stage but segued into television in 1985, with parts in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 and The Browning Version. After touring with the National Theatre Company for two years, Mackintosh won his first screen role in 1987, as a minor character in the critically acclaimed story of playwright Joe Orton, Prick Up Your Ears. After secondary parts in two more features, 1989's Treasure Island and 1990's Memphis Belle, Mackintosh landed a leading role in Hanif Kureishi's London Kills Me (1991). Mackintosh, in his role as a hustler by the name of Muffdiver, was one of the odder and thornier aspects of an odd and thorny film. The actor's off-kilter versatility was further displayed via performances in subsequent films and television miniseries such as Roger Michell's 1993 miniseries The Buddha of Suburbia; Dennis Potter's final project, the comedy spoof Midnight Movie (1994); and an obscure 1995 film called The Grotesque, co-starring Alan Bates and Sting.In 1996, Mackintosh came to the attention of American art house audiences, first with his turn as Sebastian in Trevor Nunn's lavish screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Co-starring Helena Bonham Carter, Richard E. Grant, and Nigel Hawthorne, the film received favorable reviews which nicely complemented those garnered by Mackintosh's other outing, Different for Girls. Mackintosh co-starred with Rupert Graves as a prim transsexual in the comedy, which was remarkable for both its complex subject matter and the honesty with which such matter was dealt. The release of the film in such close context with that of Twelfth Night also gave Mackintosh further opportunity to display his startling flexibility, something he did again the following year with the World War II drama The Land Girls. After his turn as an amorous farmer, Mackintosh characteristically went in a completely different direction, with his hilarious portrayal of a ne'er-do-well pot grower in the 1998 film Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. The film, which was equal parts Quentin Tarantino and testosterone, was a smash hit in Britain, and made another offbeat addition to Mackintosh's already diverse resumé.

Trivia: Best known for playing Cdr. John Crichton on Farscape (1999-2003) and Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell on Stargate SG-1 (2005-07). Family owns and operates NASCAR race cars. Wanted to be an astronaut while growing up. Studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Played Leonardo in a 1989 London production of The Merchant of Venice that starred Dustin Hoffman; in 1990, the production moved to Broadway. Made his movie debut with a small part in 1990's Memphis Belle. Had a recurring role on Party of Five as Sam Brody during the 1996-97 season. Was originally cast to play football coach Red Raymond on the CW drama Hellcats in 2010, but dropped out so he could focus on films.

Trivia: Moved to Glasgow in the 1980s. Recorded the song "Diamonds Rap (We Are The Diamonds)" in 1986 to promote the Glasgow Diamonds American football team. Has performed in many plays at the Old Vic in London including Spooks and Inherit the Wind. Produced, directed and appeared in the feature-length documentary film U & Me & Tennessee: An American Romance in 2007. Has been a longtime supporter of Meher Baba, an Indian spiritual master who died in 1969 and claimed to be the Avatar, God in human form. Is an experienced theatre and film actor. Created the voice-over for one of the main characters in the video game, Crysis 2, in 2011. His son, Ross Matthew Birchard, is a music producer also known as Hudson Mohawke.

Trivia: Pleasant-looking and genial American character player Reed Diamond delivered a number of early performances prior to his first major assignment -- as Detective Mike Kellerman on the series Homicide: Life on the Street. Diamond carried the role from 1995 through 1998, and reprised it in Jean de Segonzac's 2000 feature Homicide: The Movie. After essaying the Lloyd Bridges role in that same year's telemovie remake of High Noon, Diamond then branched off into cinematic work. He was memorable as John Aaron in George Clooney's Edward R. Murrow biopic Good Night, and Good Luck., and lent supporting roles to the horror picture The Darkroom (2006) and the thriller Adrenaline (2007). Diamond continued to work on the small screen as well, playing Stuart Collins for many episodes of Judging Amy and appearing in episodes of such popular series as CSI, Law & Order, The West Wing, and Ghost Whisperer. In 2007, he scored a regular role on the short-lived sci-fi drama Journeyman, as Jack Vassar, the brother of main character Dan Vasser (Kevin McKidd). He also appeared in the first season of Joss Whedon's short-lived series Dollhouse in 2009, and the next year he landed a recurring part on the 8th season of the FOX action series 24. He returned to the big screen in 2011 playing Mark Shapiro in Moneyball, and returned to the Whedonverse with a role in the director's 2012 adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

Trivia: Supporting actor Reed Edward Diamond first appeared onscreen in 1990.