Trivia: With his brooding good looks, well-scrubbed image, and friendly smile, it might seem ironic that actor Luke Goss made his big-budget Hollywood film debut as Nomak, one of the revoltingly menacing Reapers in the vampire-action extravaganza Blade II. Born in London, England, in 1968, Goss spent his early years preparing for a career in music. His childhood dreams would come true soon enough when, at the age of 20, Goss' band Bros spent 16 weeks in the U.K. charts with their hit single "When Will I Be Famous." Since that question had already been answered by the overwhelmingly positive reception of the single both in his homeland and overseas, it would come as no surprise that Bros' debut album Push also topped the international charts and sold 4.5 million albums worldwide. Subsequently releasing two more albums and performing to packed arena crowds throughout Europe, Goss next topped the best-seller lists with his book I Owe You Nothing. It was only a matter of time before Goss began seeking out further venues for his talents, and with his stage debut in the musical Plan Nine From Outer Space (based on Ed Wood's screenplay that spawned the infamous 1958 film of the same name), the successful singer/author began to develop his acting talents. He followed up his successful debut with roles in other musical plays such as What a Feeling and Grease. After branching with appearances on numerous MTV and VH1 specials, Goss made his film debut in 2000 with Two Days, Nine Lives. Becoming increasingly comfortable in front of the camera in Zigzag, Nine Tenths, and Love Life (all 2001), Goss took a turn for the gruesome with his role as a new breed of "suckhead" in the eagerly anticipated sequel Blade II.

Trivia: When Jay Mohr was a boy growing up in Verona, NJ, he dreamed of becoming a comedian. By the time he was a young adult, he had fulfilled that dream, first finding popularity in standup comedy and then making his way to television and feature films. Early in his career, he gained recognition for his uncanny and hilarious impressions, particularly for that of stony Christopher Walken. He made his television debut as part of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players on NBC's Saturday Night Live. While on the show, Mohr received an Emmy nomination for his work. After leaving SNL, Mohr began guest starring on other shows and landed regular parts on The Jeff Foxworthy Show and Local Heroes. For hosting the MTV network's Lip Service, Mohr won an Espy Award. He made his feature film debut in 1995, with The Barefoot Executive, but gained real recognition playing Tom Cruise's rival sports agent, Bob Sugar, in Jerry Maguire (1995). Following a nice-guy role in Picture Perfect (1997) and a turn as Ellen Burstyn's AIDS-stricken son in Playing By Heart (1998), Mohr had starring roles in two high-profile 1999 projects, the eagerly awaited but ultimately disappointing 200 Cigarettes and Doug Liman's acclaimed Go. In both films, Mohr acted as part of a Who's Who of Up-and-Comers cast, appearing as the man who screws over Kate Hudson in the former, and as a gay soap opera actor in the latter. The same year, he returned to his television roots with Action, a Fox show that featured him as a loathsome, foul-mouthed film executive. Despite rave reviews and a cult following, the show was given the axe by the network.After supporting roles in such high-profile box-office bombs as The Adventures of Pluto Nash and S1mone, Mohr took a couple more stabs at the small-screen. First he hosted the talk-show Mohr Sports on ESPN, which began airing in 2002. Then, in 2003, he served as both host and executive producer on NBC's Last Comic Standing, a reality show that attempted to find the funniest undiscovered stand-up comedian in America.In between a starring role in the sex-comedy Seeing Other People and several stand-up performances, Mohr spent much of 2004 promoting his first book, Gasping for Airtime. In the years to come, he would enjoy major roles on The Ghost Whisperer, Gary Unmarried, and Suburgatory, while continuing his work in stand-up and hosting gigs.

Trivia: Although many would likely recognize Bill Duke from his roles in such high-profile releases as Predator, Menace II Society, and Red Dragon, perhaps only a few connect the face in front of the camera with the name of the man who also directed such features as A Rage in Harlem and Hoodlum. A native of Poughkeepsie, NY, and the first in his family to graduate from college, the actor/director studied speech and drama at Boston University before earning his M.F.A. from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Subsequently penning off-Broadway plays and launching a film career with roles in Car Wash (1976) and American Gigolo (1979), Duke's early breakthrough came with a featured role in the critically acclaimed Alex Haley miniseries Palmerstown U.S.A. in 1980. Deciding to refine his skills behind the camera, the burgeoning actor later studied at the American Film Institute, where his student project The Hero earned him a solid reputation as a director to watch. In the years that followed, Duke earned a reputation as an efficient and effective television director as he took the helm for episodes of Hill Street Blues, Fame, Miami Vice, Spenser: For Hire, and Matlock. He soon moved into feature territory with the PBS drama The Killing Floor (which screened at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and earned the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival). In 1989, Duke's adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun showed that, although his directing had thus far been limited to the small screen, he also had the potential to launch a lucrative career in theatrical features. After acting in such features as Commando (1985), Predator (1987), and Bird on a Wire (1990), Duke's first theatrical feature, A Rage in Harlem, was released in 1991. An effective crime drama featuring a gangster's moll, a trunk load of gold, and a slew of unsavory heavies, the film was unfairly interpreted by audiences to be a rip-off of the popular 1989 comedy Harlem Nights. For the dark crime thriller Deep Cover, Duke teamed with future collaborator Laurence Fishburne for the first time, and after lightening things up a bit with The Cemetery Club (1993), Duke earned a direct hit at the box office with the popular sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit the same year. The remainder of the '90s found the actor/director evenly dividing his duties on both sides of the camera, and, in 1997, he re-teamed with Fishburne for the throwback gangster drama Hoodlum. With all of his directorial duties, Duke found little time to accept onscreen roles, though performances in Payback and Fever in 1999 reminded audiences that he was still a compelling screen presence. Duke returned to the small screen the following year to direct an episode of City of Angels and the Nero Wolfe mystery The Golden Spiders, and remained in television to shoot episodes of Fastlane and Robbery Homicide Division. In 2003, Duke directed the moving, made-for-TV drama Deacons for Defense. As roles in Red Dragon (2002) and National Security (2003) continued to fuel his feature career, Duke was also seen on the small screen in episodes of Fastlane and the Out of Sight (1998) spin-off Karen Sisco.

Trivia: An American leading man with hooded eyes and curled lip, Pare worked as a sous-chef at Cafe Europa on New York's Upper West Side after training at the New York Culinary Institute. While there he was spotted by a modeling agent and soon began to model. Later he spent two years studying acting with Uta Hagen and Marvin Nelson, and was hired to play the lead in a TV series, "The Greatest American Hero." The series fell through (though it was later produced without him), but he managed to get the lead in a TV movie, Crazy Times, which led to the role of the rock icon Eddie in the film Eddie and the Cruisers (1983). Filmmaker Walter Hill spotted him in that part and cast him in Hill's next film, Streets of Fire (1984). After that film did very poorly at the box office, his career faltered and he made a string of silly B-movies. He has yet to break back into major films.

Trivia: An esteemed African-American playwright and actor whose roles almost invariably contend with the politics and dynamics of race (frequent collaborator Spike Lee once famously described him as a "racial cheerleader"), thespian Roger Guenveur Smith grew up in Berkeley and debuted onscreen in the late '80s. Over the ensuing years, Smith cultivated and sustained a reputation for tackling demanding, challenging, and thought-provoking assignments with immense aplomb. He achieved much of his success thanks to repeated collaborations with Lee, who cast him as Yoda in the musical School Daze (1988) and Smiley, the hipster street philosopher in Do the Right Thing (1989); in fact, Lee later noted that Smith was the one who devised the idea for the juxtaposed photographs of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in one of Thing's pivotal scenes. Meanwhile, Smith remained extremely active in regional theater, both by authoring his own efforts (such as a musical about Christopher Columbus that painted commonly accepted versions of the man's life story as historical revisionism) and by teaching drama to juvenile delinquents. As the years passed, Smith's onscreen activity crescendoed; he signed for plum roles in such contemporary classics as King of New York (1990), Deep Cover (1992), and Eve's Bayou (1997), and, significantly, extended his professional relationship with Lee to many additional projects. The celebrated director cast Smith in such features as Malcolm X (1992), Get on the Bus (1996), He Got Game (1998), and Summer of Sam (1999), all of which received considerable acclaim. Their actor-director working relationship culminated in the little-seen (but arguably brilliant) A Huey P. Newton Story (2001) -- a Lee-directed film of Smith's one-man stage show on the life of controversial Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton. The film preserves the original Smith-authored play, and stars the thespian as Newton; Lee augments the film with visual pyrotechnics and interpolates archival footage to give the feature depth and dimension. Unfortunately, the project failed to receive even a limited theatrical release, and premiered instead on the Black Starz cable network. Thereafter, Smith continued his theatrical work (albeit very infrequently) with such plays as the 2003 Iceland, a psychological drama about four unrelated characters that debuted in Philadelphia. He also continued his frequent film roles, with assignments including Shade (2003), God's Waiting List (2006), Confessions of a Call Girl (2006), and Ridley Scott's American Gangster (2007).

Trivia: Was a professional tennis player, and gave lessons to executives in Los Angeles prior to his acting career.Has been acting since 1993.Decided to become a standup comedian in 2002 after being on stage for the first time.Is very active on social media.Is an avid golf player.