Trivia: Originally famous as the bodacious, brain-challenged Bundy offspring Kelly on Fox's long-running dysfunctional family sitcom Married...With Children, Christina Applegate parlayed her comic talents and sexy image into a parallel movie career. A natural blonde Hollywood baby, Applegate was raised by her actress mother, Nancy Priddy, after Priddy split from Applegate's father, record executive Bobby Applegate. Making her acting debut as an infant with her mother on TV's Days of Our Lives, Applegate subsequently landed her first movie role at age ten when she appeared with Priddy in the low-grade horror flick Jaws of Satan (1981). After playing Grace as a child in the TV biopic Grace Kelly (1983), Applegate guest starred on several TV shows before landing her own permanent series role in the short-lived Heart of the City (1986). Her next series, however, proved the charm. Debuting in 1987 on the fledgling Fox TV network, Married...With Children withstood criticisms about its all-around vulgarity to become one of Fox's first signature hits. During its ten-year run, Married...With Children also spawned the TV movie It's a Bundyful Life (1992), featuring Applegate and the rest of the Bundy clan in a spoof of holiday chestnut It's a Wonderful Life (1946). A bona fide teen heartthrob and star, Applegate attempted to show her serious side as a prostitute and drug addict in the gritty drama Streets (1990). Teen comedy Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991) tried to capitalize on Applegate's TV fame while showcasing her as a smart, resourceful, anti-Bundy character. Also during Married...With Children's run, Applegate appeared in the female road movie Across the Moon (1994), mutilated rock musician-drama Vibrations (1995), and as the town whore in Walter Hill's underrated Western Wild Bill (1995). Applegate's Married fame further landed her a small part in the all-star ensemble populating Tim Burton's science fiction parody Mars Attacks! (1996), and wryly shaded her presence in Gregg Araki's Los Angeles teen anomie opus Nowhere (1997), the slickest entrant in his "teen apocalypse trilogy."Ready to leave the TV-bred teen realm behind after Married went off the air in 1997, Applegate co-starred with Mark Wahlberg in the Hong Kong-tinged action comedy The Big Hit (1998) and played the WASP fiancée of a Mob scion in Jim Abrahams' Mafia movie parody Mafia! (1998). She co-starred with her eventual husband, Johnathon Schaech, and erstwhile teen idol Molly Ringwald in the high-school reunion thriller The Giving Tree (1999) as well. Inspired by her experience with her mother growing up, though, Applegate agreed to return to TV to star as a single mom balancing work and family in the sitcom Jesse (1998). Despite choice time slots, however, Jesse was canceled in 2000. Applegate returned to movie comedy co-starring with Jean Reno as a princess and modern gal in the ill-received remake of a French time-travel yarn Just Visiting (2001). Subsequently holding her own opposite some of her more lustrous film peers, Applegate earned far better reviews than the movie itself as Cameron Diaz's levelheaded best friend in the raunchy female bonding romp The Sweetest Thing (2002), and flew the friendly skies with Gwyneth Paltrow in the flight attendant comedy A View from the Top (2003).In 2004, Applegate landed herself leading-lady roles in two of the year's most anticipated films. First, in July, she starred opposite Will Ferrell in the 70s-era comedy Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Then, the following November, she could be seen with Ben Affleck in the holiday film Surviving Christmas.In 2007 Applegate finally found success on the small-screen yet again with the sitcom Samantha Who?, but the actress made headlines in 2008 when she revealed she was fighting breast cancer, an illness she survived. Meanwhile, on the big screen she scored major parts in the comedy The Rocker, and played Jason Sudeikis' long-suffering wife in the Farrelly Brothers comedy Hall Pass.In 2011 she was cast opposite Will Arnett in the sitcom Up All Night which would become her third television program to run for at least two years.

Trivia: Rising to fame as American family man Al Bundy on the lowbrow sitcom Married...With Children, actor Ed O' Neill was the physical embodiment of almost every stereotype leveled at lower-middle-class husbands and fathers. Although many sneered at the bathroom humor and questionable taste of the series (O'Neill himself admitted that he thought the show would be canceled after a mere six episodes), his perfection in the role was undeniably effective -- so much so that it was difficult for him to avoid typecasting despite the versatility he displayed in such features as Prefontaine and The Spanish Prisoner (both 1997). Following graduation from Ursuline High School, the Youngstown, OH, native worked a series of odd jobs before studying theater and history at Ohio University College and, eventually, Youngstown State University. A talented football player, O'Neill was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969, though was cut from the team shortly thereafter. His early stage auditions weren't much more encouraging, and between minor theater roles, the acting hopeful returned to his former high school to teach social studies. He continued to dream of becoming an actor, however, so moved to New York in 1977 and studied at the famed Circle in the Square. An early break came when O'Neill, an understudy for the lead role in the Broadway play Knockout, was asked to take the stage when the original actor abandoned the production. Although O'Neill had appeared in a brief (one-line), uncredited role in 1972's Deliverance, he had his first real part as a police detective in the Al Pacino thriller Cruising in 1980. As the decade progressed, O'Neill found steady work in made-for-TV features and occasional television guest appearances. In 1986, his performance in the title role in Popeye Doyle (a real-life character memorably portrayed by Gene Hackman in The French Connection) showed him to be a confident and effective lead. During a stage performance as Lenny in Of Mice and Men in Hartford, CT, an executive from FOX happened to be in the audience. After showing the script of Married...With Children to his wife, O'Neill knew that it was not an opportunity to let pass. He landed the role with ease, and his portrayal of the bumbling Al Bundy not only formed the backbone of the series, but created a caricature of American family life which would only be matched by the likes of Homer Simpson. O'Neill appeared in several feature films during the show's ten-year run, including Dutch (1991), Wayne's World (1992), Blue Chips, and Little Giants (both 1994). As the series drew to a close in 1997, the actor began to venture outside the confines of the Bundy family living room in such unexpectedly dramatic turns as The Spanish Prisoner and The Bone Collector. O'Neill later returned to the small screen in Big Apple (2001) and a 2003 remake of Dragnet, playing policemen in both series.He appeared in the David Mamet thriller Spartan in 2004, and worked with the director again on 2008's Redbelt. He was on the short-lived HBO series John From Cincinnati in 2007. However, in 2009 he scored a major career boost as the patriarch in the ABC sitcom Modern Family. His work on the show earned him an Emmy nomination, something that never happened during his days as Al Bundy.

Trivia: A versatile entertainer who first shot to fame as redheaded housewife Peg Bundy on the long-running television sitcom Married with Children, Katey Sagal has since established herself as one of the small screen's most reliable and prolific actresses.It was at the tender age of five that the talented youngster first began to show promise as a singer, and after honing her talent with years of practice, Sagal went on to perform as a Harlette opposite future superstar Bette Midler. After performing as a backup singer for the likes of Etta James, Olivia Newton-John, and Tanya Tucker in the mid-'80s, Sagal made her television debut on the Mary Tyler Moore sitcom Mary. Though that particular show didn't make it past the one-season mark, it did open up a world of opportunity for the aspiring young actress, who would subsequently earn three Golden Globe nominations as gaudily attired suburbanite Peg Bundy on the raunchy Fox Television sitcom Married with Children. A stinging satire of suburban dysfunction, Married with Children's gleefully lowbrow humor earned it as many fans as detractors over the course of the show's impressive ten-year run. When the plug was finally pulled on Married with Children in 1998, Sagal teamed with former Three's Company star John Ritter in the made-for-television romance Chance of a Lifetime before making appearances on such series as That '70s Show and Disney's animated show Recess.While performances in a number of made-for-television movies hinted at dramatic abilities that had never been tapped during her extended stint on Married with Children, it was cartoon voice-over work that would soon prove the bread and butter of her career during the millennial crossover. Despite the fact that it never achieved the popularity of The Simpsons, Matt Groening's animated sci-fi comedy series Futurama did gain a fairly devoted fan base during its four-year run, with Sagal in particular getting a fair amount of laughs in her role as voluptuous one-eyed alien Leela. In 2002, Sagal partnered with former Chance of a Lifetime star Ritter for the Emmy Award-winning sitcom 8 Simple Rules...for Dating My Teenage Daughter, though the tragic and unexpected death of star Ritter -- who collapsed on-set at the beginning of the second season -- brought the show to an untimely end in 2005. A pair of appearances on the phenomenally successful small-screen thriller Lost followed in 2005, and in 2006 Sagal traded barbs with William Shatner and James Spader on Boston Legal. She was a member of the cast of Sons of Anarchy when that show debuted in 2008, and she returned to voicing Leela on Futurama when the show began production again after a multi-year layoff.

Trivia: Best known for her portrayal of Marcy Rhoades D'arcy, the manic, feminist/careerist neighbor on the long-running series Married...With Children, Amanda Bearse is also a prominent spokesperson for lesbian and gay rights in the entertainment industry and a very busy director on television. Born in Winter Park, FL, Bearse came to acting through high school and community theater and later moved to New York, where she studied acting with Sanford Meisner. Her first major acting role was as Amanda Cousins on the daytime drama All My Children from 1982 to 1984. Her early film appearances consisted of small roles in features such as First Affair (made for television), Protocol, Fright Night, and Fraternity Vacation, before Married...With Children came along in 1987. Originally, her portrayal and image were that of a perky supporting player but as the series evolved, the writing for her character did as well and her portrayal became harder, much funnier, and much edgier. Bearse also studied directing at the American Film Institute and U.S.C., and most viewers were less aware of the fact that from the middle of the series' run, she became one of the program's regular directors and also wrote several scripts. During this period she emerged as a spokesperson for gay and lesbian rights, declaring her sexuality openly in October 1993, as part of National Coming Out Day. After the end of the series' run of ten seasons, Bearse concentrated largely on directing, on sitcoms such as Ladies Man, Dharma and Greg, and Two Guys and a Girl, among other programs.

Trivia: Perhaps best known for his long-running role as Bud Bundy, the juvenile delinquent son of shoe salesman Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill) and lazy housewife Peg Bundy (Katey Sagal) on Fox's popular blue-collar sitcom Married...With Children (1987-1997), actor David Faustino grew up in Northridge, CA. The son of a Hollywood costume designer and his wife, who guided each of their children into show business, David landed his first role at the age of three, playing a female clown in a Lily Tomlin special, then moved into commercials and landed guest appearances on such series as Family Ties, The Twilight Zone, and Little House on the Prairie, as well as appearances in movies including I Ought to Be in Pictures (1982) and The Star Chamber (1983). Faustino was tapped for the Married role in 1987, and rode to fame as the series soared in popularity (and controversy), remaining with the program for each of its ten seasons. By the early '90s, the performer had also branched out into an ambitious musical career; he founded an urban-themed nightspot called Club Balistyx in West Hollywood, where he frequently performed as a rap singer, and in 1992 issued his first audio recording, The Balistyx Album. After Married folded in 1997, Faustino resumed feature roles, with parts in films including The Heist (1999), MacArthur Park (2001), Freezerburn (2005), and National Lampoon's Pucked (2006). He continued to appear on TV, mostly playing himself in cameo roles in shows like Entourage and launched a successful voice-over career, voicing characters in The Legend of Korra and Dreamworks Dragons.

Trivia: Dividing his time more or less equally between big- and small-screen work, actor Ted McGinley enjoyed a considerably successful tenure as a character player, almost always appearing as beefcake heartthrob types. He began his career in the early '80s, with small roles in Garry Marshall's satirical farce Young Doctors in Love (1982) and the lurid Joan Collins telemovie Making of a Male Model (1983), but achieved his first significant break in the sitcom venue, as English teacher-cum-basketball coach Roger Phillips on the final four seasons of Happy Days (1980-1984). Fortuitously, at about the same time that Days folded, the producers of The Love Boat (on the same network, ABC) tapped McGinley to play photographer Ace Evans -- a last-ditch attempt to save the program from sagging ratings. The strategy ultimately failed when Boat ended its lengthy run in 1986, but in the meantime, McGinley landed what became a recurring role as jock Stan in the first three installments of Revenge of the Nerds. Eventually, McGinley also joined the cast of the long-running Married...With Children from 1991 through 1997, playing chauvinistic layabout Jefferson D'Arcy (second husband of the Bundys' neighbor Marcy Rhoades), and essayed roles in theatrical films including Physical Evidence (1989), Wayne's World 2 (1993), and Dick (1999). The late '90s and 2000s found McGinley evincing a heightened presence in television once again, first on Aaron Sorkin's critically worshipped yet short-lived seriocomedy Sports Night (1998-1999), then as Charley Shanowski on the sitcom Hope & Faith (2003-2006). In 2008 he competed in the reality program Dancing With the Stars, and in 2010 he appeared in the lighthearted, family-friendly Christmas with a Capital C. He would reach pop-culture immortality when the website Jumping the Shark named him as one of the signs that a TV show has run out of ideas.

Trivia: Propelled to stardom in 1994 as a result of his role on the long-running, hit television series Friends, handsome Matt LeBlanc has been singled out for his finely tuned deadpan skills on the popular television mainstay, and it may come as no surprise that the actor who was voted one of the 50 most beautiful people alive by People magazine broke into show business as a model.Born July 25, 1967, in Newton, MA, LeBlanc dreamed of a career as a professional racer after receiving a motorbike at the age of eight. His mother's vocal objections voiced concern over the youngster's safety on the track, and the aspiring king-of-the-course and momma's boy soon began training to become a professional carpenter. Later graduating from high school and finding money in short supply, LeBlanc took his friends' suggestion of becoming a model to heart and, after selling his truck to pay the way, he headed for New York and began appearing in print and later, commercials. A role in a Heinz ketchup commercial which won the prestigious Gold Lion Award at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival brought the aspiring star more recognition, and it wasn't long before he began proper thespian training. Scoring a role on the television series TV 101 found the fresh-faced actor relocating to sunny Los Angeles, and although the show was quickly canceled, LeBlanc continued with appearances in television's Married With Children and in such short-lived series as Top of the Heap and Vinny and Bobby in the early '90s. Following his breakthrough in Friends in 1994, Leblanc gained a reputation as somewhat of a party guy with a penchant for womanizing, though he would later deflect the image as he settled down in his marriage to Meliss McKnight. LeBlanc attempted to solidify a cinematic career with roles in such features as Ed (1996), Lost in Space (1998), and Charlie's Angels (2000), but his greater success would remain on the small screen. After Friends wrapped in 2004, Leblanc appeared on a spin-off called Joey for two seasons, and later joined the cast of the comedy series Episodes.

Trivia: The inspiration for over a dozen web shrines, B-movie queen and pop diva Kari Wuhrer has built an expansive list of credits since debuting in the early '80s. Born in Brookfield, CT, to Andrew, a police officer turned salesman, and Karin, a payroll accountant, Wuhrer began her career by singing in local talent contests. As a teenager, she would sneak into Manhattan to play with her punk rock band, Freudian Slip. She also began taking acting classes and persuaded her mother to take her to an audition for Ford Modeling Agency's Talent Division. The company signed her on the spot. She started appearing in commercials, and later juggled her acting roles with drama classes at N.Y.U.'s Tisch School of the Arts and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. After making her film debut in Fire With Fire (1986), Wuhrer became an MTV veejay and the co-host of network's quiz show Remote Control. She then paid her own way out to Hollywood to make a cameo in the Andrew Dice Clay vehicle The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990). Wuhrer eventually settled in Los Angeles, appearing in Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time (1991) and landing a guest spot on Fox's Married With Children. Her own 1993 Fox series, Class of '96, failed to attract viewers, but the network still hired Wuhrer to bed Brian Austin Green in two episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 in 1994. That same year, she began landing more substantial roles, acting opposite Jack Nicholson in Sean Penn's The Crossing Guard and Laurence Fishburne in John Singleton's Higher Learning (1995). Wuhrer played a gypsy in Stephen King's Thinner (1996), before increasing her fan base exponentially when she joined the cast of the sci-fi series Sliders in 1997. While portraying sultry Maggie Beckett on the hit show, she appeared with Jennifer Lopez in Anaconda (1997) and David Schwimmer in Kissing a Fool (1998), as well as headlined numerous B-films, straight-to-video releases, and television movies. In 1999, Wuhrer, who sang and composed songs for several soundtracks, released her first album. Entitled Shiny, it boasted the popular single "There's a Drug." The new millennium saw Wuhrer leaving Sliders and lending her talents (and internet following) to the computer game series Command & Conquer, starring as Agent Tanya in Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge. She made two guest appearances on CBS's CSI and appeared in a string of B-pictures and independent pictures, including Spider's Web (2001), The Rose Technique (2001), The Medicine Show (2001), Berserker (2001), and Malevolent (2002). A veteran of over 40 screen roles, Wuhrer then cashed in on her cult status for Centropolis Entertainment's big-budget homage to low-budget creature flicks, Eight Legged Freaks (2002) -- proving that she had both wit and staying power.

Trivia: Jon Lovitz is a versatile comedic actor instantly recognizable for his distinctive voice, acerbic wit, pear-shaped body, and hangdog eyes. He studied at the University of California, Irvine, and participated in the Film Actors Workshop. He then went on to do guest spots on TV and had a recurring role on Foley Square. Lovitz also played small roles in Last Resort (1986), and Ratboy (1986), and also provided a voice for the animated feature The Brave Little Toaster (1987). He got his first real break as a regular on TV's Saturday Night Live, where his characters such as Tommy Flanagan of pathological Liars Anonymous, the great Shakespearean ham Master Thespian, and the Devil himself became quite popular. His stint on Saturday Night Live put him in demand as a character actor and television guest star. His friendship with director Penny Marshall helped him get roles in some of her earlier films such as Big (1988), and his role as the fast talking baseball recruiter Ernie "Cappy" Capadino in Marshall's A League of Their Own (1992) earned him widespread acclaim. Lovitz has also appeared as a guest voice on the TV animated show The Simpsons and played lead voice in the critically-acclaimed animated show The Critic on ABC and the Fox Network.In the years following SNL and The Critic, Lovitz remained active with comedic roles in film (High School High, Little Nicky) and television (NewsRadio, Las Vegas), though it his performances in such films as Todd Solandz's acerbic black comedy Happiness and opposite Kevin Spacey in the semi-comedic Jack Abramoff biopic Casino Jack that displayed more range most filmmakers had previously failed to capitalize on. And thought the comic actor was never known to be overtly political, his scathing criticisms of U.S. President Barack Obama on the issue of taxes made headlines across the country in 2012, resulting in an unusually serious appearance on FOX News in which he passionately defended his comments.

Trivia: Green-eyed former model Denise Richards went in a few short years from complete obscurity to one of the many "Next Big Things" to entice filmgoers in the late 1990s. Born February 17, 1971 in a Chicago suburb, Richards moved with her family to San Diego at the age of twelve. Following a modeling stint in New York (which was of limited success due to Richards' 5' 6" height), Richards moved to Los Angeles to try her hand at acting. She found work in shows such as Doogie Howser, MD and Saved By the Bell before getting her first break in 1993 as Ben Affleck's girlfriend in the short-lived Against the Grain.1993 also marked Richards' film debut in National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1. This led to her first starring role in the bizarre 1994 "family film" Tammy and the T-Rex. Following a small part in Gregg Araki's Nowhere (1997), Richards acquired relative fame, not to mention a dedicated group of male followers, for her role in Paul Verhoeven's $100 million sci-fi action film Starship Troopers. Featuring an army of giant ants doing battle with an army of tawny-skinned, white-toothed young men and women who appeared to have wandered off a Nordic Track commercial, the movie met with enough success to constitute Richards' "big break." She gained further exposure (literally) and fame with her next venture, 1998's Wild Things. Cast as spoiled socialite Kelly Van Ryan, Richards gave a delightfully trashy performance in a film that called for her to lie, cheat, scheme, seduce, kill, and even perform a lesbian love scene with co-star Neve Campbell. The film was successful in its ability to satisfy its audience's desire for tacky and oversexed fun, and it provided Richards with further opportunities, including 1999's Drop Dead Gorgeous. Co-starring with Kirsten Dunst, Richards played a small-town beauty pageant contestant in a film that gleefully plays with America's beauty ideals, something that was undoubtedly familiar territory for the actress.Though 2001's horror flop Valentine and the straight-to-video Good Advice did little for her career, Richards saw her star rise further in 2002 with a set of high-profile films that did much to expand her range. In director Malcolm D. Lee's cheeky Blaxploitation send-up Undercover Brother, Richards was able to give her evil Wild Things persona an even broader, more satirical spin as White She-Devil, an operative for an evil caucasian conglomerate bent on converting the world to its mayonnaise-eating ways. Richards' intentionally wooden line readings and sly self-parody made her an invaluable part of Brother's comic ensemble, helping the film become a minor hit. The romantic comedy The Third Wheel came later that year.It was also in 2002 that Richards married actor Charlie Sheen, a somewhat notorious lothario in the Hollywood scene, whom she met of the set of Scary Movie 3. Gossip magazines predicted that the couple would inevitably split as a result of Sheen's wandering eye, but the couple had two daughters together, born in 2004 and 2005. Then in 2005, storm clouds gathered over the couple in the press, but instead of focusing on Sheen, they focused on Richards herself, with stories that she had been carrying on an affair with her family's neighbor, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, who was married at the time to Richards' friend, actress and bombshell Heather Locklear. Richards, in turn, accused Sheen of gambling, drug abuse, and violence, and the two finalized their divorce in 2006.Richards subsequently appeared minor films like Blonde and Blonder and Deep in the Valley, but by this time, public perception of her career was greatly overshadowed in by her personal life. Leveraging her fame in this regard, Richards then became the star of her own candid reality show, Denise Richards: It's Complicated, which premiered on the E! network in 2008. The show turned the cameras on Richards' home, her daughters, her many pets, and her recently widowed father, who had begun living at her house. In 2009, Richards began gearing up for another season of the show, while at the same time preparing for a stint on the ABC competitive reality series Dancing with the Stars. 2010 found the actress starring in the comedy Cougar's, Inc, and in 2012 she appeared in Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection.