Trivia: An actor whose name became synonymous with all-American entertainment, Tom Cruise spent the 1980s as one of Hollywood's brightest-shining golden boys. Born on July 3, 1962 in Syracuse, NY, Cruise was high-school wrestler until he was sidelined by a knee injury. Soon taking up acting, he found that the activity served a dual purpose: performing satiated his need for attention, while the memorization aspect of acting helped him come to grips with his dyslexia. Moving to New York in 1980, Cruise's first big hit was Risky Business in 1982, in which he entered movie-trivia infamy with the scene wherein he celebrates his parents' absence by dancing around the living room in his underwear. The Hollywood press corps began touting Cruise as one of the "Brat Pack," a group of twenty-something actors who seemed on the verge of taking over the movie industry in the early '80s. Top Gun 1985 established Cruise as an action star, but again he refused to be pigeonholed, and followed it up with a solid characterization of a fledgling pool shark in the Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money in 1986, for which co-star Paul Newman earned an Academy Award. In 1988, he played the brother of an autistic savant played by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, a dramatic turn for sure, though Cruise had not yet totally convinced critics he was more than a pretty face.His chance came in 1989, when he played a paraplegic Vietnam vet in Born on the Fourth of July. Though his bankability faltered a bit with the expensive disappointment Far and Away in 1990 (though it did give him a chance to co-star with his-then wife Nicole Kidman), 1992's A Few Good Men brought him back into the game. By 1994, the star was undercutting his own leading man image with the role of the slick, dastardly vampire Lestat in the long-delayed film adaptation of the Anne Rice novel Interview with the Vampire. Although the author was vehemently opposed to Cruise's casting, Rice famously reversed her decision upon seeing the actor's performance, and publicly praised Cruise's portrayal.In 1996, Cruise scored financial success with the big-budget action film Mission: Impossible, but it was with his multilayered, Oscar-nominated performance in Jerry Maguire that Cruise proved once again why he is considered a major Hollywood player. 1999 saw Cruise reunited onscreen with Kidman in a project of a very different sort, Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. The film, which was the director's last, had been the subject of controversy, rumor, and speculation since it began filming. It opened to curious critics and audiences alike across the nation, and was met with a violently mixed response. However, it allowed Cruise to once again take part in film history, further solidifying his position as one of Hollywood's most well-placed movers and shakers.Cruise's enviable position was again solidified later in 1999, when he earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role as a loathsome "sexual prowess" guru in Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia. In 2000, he scored again when he reprised his role as international agent Ethan Hunt in John Woo's Mission: Impossible II, which proved to be one of the summer's first big moneymakers. He then reteamed with Jerry Maguire director Cameron Crowe for a remake of Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar's Abre los Ojos titled Vanilla Sky. Though Vanilla Sky's sometimes surreal trappings found the film receiving a mixed reception at the box office, the same could not be said for the following year's massively successful sci-fi chase film Minority Report, directed by Steven Spielberg , or of the historical epic The Last Samurai, directed by Edward Zwick.For his next film, Cruise picked a role unlike any he'd ever played; starring as a sociopathic hitman in the Michael Mann psychological thriller Collateral. He received major praise for his departure from the good-guy characters he'd built his career on, and for doing so convincingly. By 2005, he teamed up with Steven Spielberg again for the second time in three years with an epic adaptation of the H.G. Wells alien invasion story War of the Worlds.The summer blockbuster was in some ways overshadowed, however, by a cloud of negative publicity. It began in 2005, when Cruise became suddenly vocal about his beliefs in Scientology, the religion created by science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. Cruise publicly denounced actress Brooke Shields for taking medication to combat her postpartum depression, calling going so far as to call the psychological science a "Nazi science" in an Entertainment Weekly interview. On June 24, 2005, he was interviewed by Matt Lauer for The Today Show during which time he appeared to be distractingly argumentative in his insistence that psychiatry is a "pseudoscience," and in a Der Spiegel interview, he was quoted as saying that Scientology has the only successful drug rehabilitation program in the world.This behavior caused a stirring of public opinion about Cruise, as did his relationship with 27-year-old actress Katie Holmes. The two announced their engagement in the spring of 2005, and Cruise's enthusiasm for his new romantic interest created more curiosity about his mental stability. He appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on May 23, where he jumped up and down on the couch, professing his love for the newly-Scientologist Holmes. The actor's newly outspoken attitude about Scientology linked to the buzz surrounding his new relationship, and the media was flooded with rumors that Holmes had been brainwashed.Some audiences found Cruise's ultra-enthusiastic behavior refreshing, but for the most part, the actor's new public image alienated many of his viewers. As he geared up for the spring 2006 release of Mission: Impossible III, his ability to sell a film based almost purely on his own likability was in question for the first time in 20 years.Despite this, the movie ended up performing essentially as expected, and Cruise moved on to making headlines on the business front, when -- in November 2006 -- he and corporate partner Paula Wagner (the twin forces behind the lucrative Cruise-Wagner Productions) officially "took over" the defunct United Artists studio. Originally founded by such giants as Douglas Fairbanks and Charles Chaplin in 1921, UA was all but completely defunct. The press announced that Cruise and Wagner would "revive" the studio, with Wagner serving as Chief Executive Officer and Cruise starring in and producing projects.One of the fist films to be produced by the new United Artists was the tense political thriller Lions for Lambs, which took an earnest and unflinching look at the politics behind the Iraq war. This was followed by the World War II thriller Valkyrie. Cruise would find a solid footing as the 2010s progressed, with films like Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and Rock of Ages. Cruise and Holmes would announce they were divorcing in 2012.

Trivia: Dark and dashing in the tradition of his fellow countryman Sean Connery, Scottish actor Dougray Scott first reached American multiplex masses in 1998's Ever After, in which he starred as Drew Barrymore's fairy tale prince. Born in Fife on November 25, 1965, Scott was raised in a family of non-actors. His own interest in acting was routinely discouraged by various schoolteachers, but after graduating from the high school he attended in the small town of Glenrothes, he trained at the Welsh College of Music and Drama, where he was named "most promising student." After beginning his professional career on the stage, Scott got his first significant break in 1995 when he was cast on the popular British TV series Soldier, Soldier. He then won a measure of notoriety for his role as a thoroughly corrupt Welsh cop in Kevin Allen's Twin Town (1997), a black comedy that was a sleeper hit throughout Britain. Scott's work in the film also caught the attention of certain Hollywood casting directors, who chose him for his plum role in Ever After (1998). After returning to Scotland to portray a corrupt businessman in Gregory's Two Girls, the disappointing sequel to Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl, the actor appeared as part of a strong ensemble cast in the small British film This Year's Love, which cast him as a womanizing artist. Having proven himself adept at portraying morally questionable characters, Scott gave villainy another go in John Woo's Mission: Impossible II, in which he starred as a former IMF agent gone bad.

Trivia: Fine-boned and soft-spoken, Thandie Newton displays a deceptive fragility that is betrayed by the strong, resilient characters she often portrays. The actress was born in London in 1972 to a Zimbabwean mother and British father. It was while a student at a private school in North London that the actress met Australian director John Duigan, who was casting his coming-of-age tale Flirting (1991). Newton won a leading role as the smart, worldly girlfriend of the film's protagonist and starred alongside a then-relatively unknown Nicole Kidman. Her next film of any significance was 1994's Interview With the Vampire, in which she had a minor role alongside Kidman's then-husband, Tom Cruise.The same year, Newton acted as part of an ensemble cast in Loaded, a fairly obscure film directed by Anna Campion, sister of The Piano's Jane Campion. She was then reunited with Flirting director Duigan in 1995 for The Journey of August King, a little-seen feature in which she starred with Jason Patric. Greater recognition came in the form of the same year's Jefferson in Paris, a critically maligned but impressively cast film, in which Newton played Sally Hemings, slave and lover of Nick Nolte's Thomas Jefferson. Acting alongside individuals such as Nolte, James Earl Jones, and Gwyneth Paltrow certainly did little to hurt Newton's reputation and the next year she had yet another starring role, this time opposite Jon Bon Jovi in her third film with director Duigan, The Leading Man.Despite her leading status, Newton still hovered on the border of relative obscurity, something that finally began to change with three 1998 films in which she had major roles. The first was Vondie Curtis-Hall's Gridlock'd, a film that won Newton raves for her turn as a heroine-addicted jazz singer opposite Tim Roth and Tupac Shakur. Beloved, Newton's second film that year, won her further recognition, both for her mere presence in the highly anticipated adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel, and for her portrayal of the mysterious, ghostly girl who torments Oprah Winfrey's Sethe. Finally, it was with her third film of 1998, Besieged, that Newton graduated from relative obscurity to the rank of Hollywood Up and Comer. The film, which was directed by Bernardo Bertolucci and co-starred David Thewlis, received stellar reviews, many of which singled out Newton's performance for particular praise. This, along with a coveted spot on the April 1999 cover of Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood Issue, further cemented the actress' well-deserved status as one of the industry's latest Forces to Be Reckoned With.In 2000, Newton further ascended the ranks of recognition when she starred opposite former Interview With the Vampire co-star Tom Cruise in John Woo's Mission: Impossible II; although the film received mixed reviews, Newton earned almost unanimous approval from critics, who praised her strong, dynamic performance.Over the coming decade, Newton would remain a charismatic and beloved force on screen, appearing in films like Crash, The Pursuit of Happyness, W., and Retreat.

Trivia: A burly, bald black actor of stage, screen, and television, Ving Rhames specializes in playing villains and, indeed, having grown up on Harlem's meanest streets, is no stranger to violence. His onscreen persona, however, is no match for his real-life reputation as a deeply compassionate man, seriously dedicated to his profession. The actor ably demonstrated his capacity for abundant generosity during the 1998 Golden Globes ceremony when he handed over the award he had just won for portraying the title character of the cable film Don King: Only in America to fellow nominee Jack Lemmon, simply because he felt Lemmon's contributions to film exceeded his own.Though his upbringing in Harlem was rife with many temptations to engage in easy money criminal ventures, the deeply religious Rhames separated himself from street riffraff at a young age and focused his energies on school. It was his ninth grade English teacher who steered the sensitive young man toward acting, in large part because Rhames was unusually well spoken, frequently earning praise for his clear elocution. Inspired by a poetry reading he had attended with schoolmates, Rhames successfully auditioned for entrance into New York's prestigious High School for the Performing Arts. Once enrolled, he immersed himself in his studies and fell in love with acting. Following graduation in 1978, he attended the Juilliard School of Drama on a scholarship and focused his studies there on classical theater. After graduating from Juilliard in 1983, he went on to perform in Shakespeare in the Park productions. In 1984, Rhames made his television debut in Go Tell It on the Mountain and, the following year, landed his first Broadway role starring opposite Matt Dillon in The Winter Boys. Thus began a steady, fruitful theater career augmented by recurring roles on such daily soap operas as Another World and Guiding Light, and guest-starring parts on such primetime series as Miami Vice. He entered films in Native Son (1986), following that up with appearances in a series of modest films and television movies. Rather than getting a single big break into stardom, he made a gradual ascent that began with his appearance in Brian De Palma's grim Vietnam War saga Casualties of War (1989). Rhames again worked with Matt Dillon in 1993 on The Saint of Fort Washington. While filming on location in New York, Dillon introduced him to a man who had approached him, asking about the actor's involvement with Rhames on Broadway. It turned out that the stranger was Rhames' long-estranged older brother, Junior, who had lost contact with the family while serving in Vietnam. Troubled and unable to reintegrate into mainstream society, he had been living in a nearby homeless shelter. The compassionate Rhames was thrilled to see his big brother and promptly moved him into his apartment, helped him get a job, and later bought a home for his brother and parents to share. In 1994, Rhames gained considerable acclaim for his disturbingly convincing portrayal of the sadistic Marsellus Wallace in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. His performance paved the way for supporting roles opposite some of Hollywood's most popular stars in such big budget features as Mission Impossible (1996) (as well as John Woo's 2000 sequel to the film), Con Air (1997), Out of Sight (1998), and Entrapment (1999). In addition to his film credits, Rhames has also continued to appear frequently on such television shows as E.R. Rhames' performance as a former gangster turned honest, hardworking man proved a highlight of Boyz N the Hood director John Singleton's 2001 drama Baby Boy, and after lending his distinctive voice to the computer animated box-office disaster Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within the actor returned to the small screen for a pair of made-for-television features. If subsequent efforts such as Undisputed failed to make a sizable dent at the box office, Rhames continued to impress with contributions to such features as Lilo and Stitch (again providing vocals for the animated film) and as a conscientious cop in the 2002 police drama Dark Blue. A role opposite Gary Oldman in the 2003 crime drama Sin flew under the radar of most mainstream film audiences, and in early 2004 Rhames took up arms against the hungry legions of the undead in the eagerly anticipated remake Dawn of the Dead. Subsequently reprising his role as Luther Stickell in Mission Impossible III, the imposing Rhames flexed his comedy muscles with a role in 2007's I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry before hitting what could be considered a career low-point in Steve Miner's embarassing Day of the Dead remake. An outrageous performance in 2009's The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard garnered some big laughs, and the following year Rhames did over-the-top horror the right way in Alexandre Aja's outrageous remake Piranha. In the next few years, however, Rhames' film output seemed to grow increasingly erratic, with roles in such Z-grade fare as Death Race 2 and Zombie Apocalypse earning the Emmy-winning veteran steady paychecks but precious little artistic integrity.

Trivia: A handsome, sharp-featured actor who has played everything from action baddies to charming romantic comedy leads, Australian actor Richard Roxburgh became a familiar face to international audiences thanks to roles in such high-profile Hollywood features as Moulin Rouge and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Born the youngest of six siblings in Albury, Australia, Roxburgh's interest in acting wasn't sparked until he became somewhat disillusioned with studying economics (his father was a successful accountant) at A.N.U. in Canberra. An interest in acting prompted the young Roxburgh to enroll in Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Arts, though it wasn't a successful film career to which he aspired, but one in the theater. He gained a reputation as a talented actor and stage director capable of both classic and contemporary work, and soon found his star rising in Europe as well. The actor had an early supporting role in the made-for-TV feature The Saint: Fear in Fun Park, which showed the stage-oriented actor possessing remarkable onscreen charisma. Though he continued to work on-stage, Roxburgh also began making appearances in television miniseries, and grew increasingly comfortable in front of the cameras. After more supporting roles in such features as Billy's Holiday (1995) and Children of the Revolution (1996), Roxburgh landed his first feature lead in the country & western-themed road movie Doing Time for Patsy Cline (1997) -- a role that earned the rising star an AFI award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. That same year, he charmed Australian audiences opposite Cate Blanchett in the romantic comedy Thank God He Met Lizzie as a reluctant groom whose fantasies about an ex-girlfriend threaten to sour his wedding day. Though Roxburgh's onscreen exposure, to this point, had been limited mostly to European audiences, all of that changed in the early 2000s. Cast as the villainous henchman in John Woo's high-profile sequel Mission: Impossible II, Roxburgh made quite an impression despite his limited screen time. The following year, he made even more of an impact on international audiences thanks to a role as the sniveling Duke of Worcester in Baz Luhrmann's breakout musical hit Moulin Rouge. Roxburgh's later role as legendary sleuth Sherlock Holmes in 2002's The Hound of the Baskervilles courted controversy by depicting Holmes as a drug addict, and, in 2003, he suited up to fight crime once again in the comic book adaptation The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Roxburgh played another famous character -- Count Dracula -- in the eagerly anticipated horror feature Van Helsing in 2004.

Trivia: A former teacher, burly Irish actor Brendan Gleeson spent the 1990s earning an increasing amount of acclaim for his work in a variety of films, most notably John Boorman's The General (1998). Gleeson, who made his feature film debut in Jim Sheridan's The Field (1990), first made an impression on audiences in the role of Hamish, William Wallace's hulking ally in Braveheart (1995).In 1997, the actor was given his first crack at a starring role in I Went Down, a likeable black comedy that cast him as a thick-skulled hitman. The role brought him a greater dose of recognition and respect on both sides of the Atlantic, but it was Boorman's The General (shot right after I Went Down wrapped) that truly demanded -- and received -- international attention. The story of real-life Irish criminal Martin Cahill, the film featured Gleeson in its title role, and his cocky, assured portrayal of Cahill was widely deemed the best part of an altogether excellent film. The numerous plaudits he won for his performance included awards from Boston and London film critics.His career flourishing, it was only a matter of time before Gleeson had the opportunity to expand his resumé to include the occasional Hollywood blockbuster. That opportunity came by way of John Woo's Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), which cast Gleeson, surprisingly enough, as one of the film's resident villains. After carefully balancing his roles between the mainstream and the more low-key, character-driven films in later 2000 and into 2001 (he gained notice for his starring role as a philanderous, boozing TV chef turned sensitive amnesiac in the romantic comedy Wild About Harry [2000]), Gleeson headed back to Hollywood with his lively turn as Lord Johnson-Johnson in Steven Spielberg's A.I. Appearing in Trainspotting director Danny Boyle's zombie thriller 28 Days Later the following year, it wasn't long before Gleeson was once again gracing stateside cinemas with appearances in such high-profile films as Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002) and the Kurt Russell police detective thriller Dark Blue (2003).Gleeson remained a presence in high-profile films over the ensuing two years. In 2004 he could be seen in both the M. Night Shyamalan brain-bender The Village and the sweeping historical epic Troy. The following year found the actor in another pair of big-budget Hollywood films, the box-office dud Kingdom of Heaven and the fourth installment in the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Subsequent years found him re-teaming with 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy for the Neil Jordan comedy Breakfast on Pluto and reprising his role of Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).He had a memorable turn in the Irish comedy In Bruges in 2008. Two years later he returned as Mad Eye for the final Harry Potter movie. That same year he turned in one of his best performances in The Guard. He played opposite the Oscar nominated Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs in 2011, and enjoyed roles in a couple of high-profile Hollywood films - The Raven and Safe House the next year.

Trivia: Considered one of the former Yugoslavia's finest actors, Rade Serbedzija (also credited as Rade Sherbedgia) appeared in over 40 of the fractured country's feature films and was a two-time winner of the Pula Film Festival's coveted Golden Arena for Best Actor. In addition to his film credits, Serbedzija was also a distinguished stage actor, once heralded as Yugoslavia's definitive Hamlet. In cinema, he gained international exposure in the Oscar-nominated Pred Dozhdot/Before the Rain (1994). The film earned ten awards at the 1994 Venice Film Festival, including the Grand Prix Golden Lion; Serbedzija also won the festival's Critics' Award for Best Actor. Thereafter, Serbedzija continued to star and co-star in international productions such as Italy's La Tregua (1997); however, beginning with the 1997 Hollywood adventure yarn The Saint, his presence in American films increased tenfold. He racked up subsequent A-list credits including Mighty Joe Young (1998), Polish Wedding (1998), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Mission: Impossible II (2000), and The Fog (2005). He also made memorable appearances on such U.S. television programs as the hit action thriller series 24 (as the villainous former Soviet Red Army general Dmitri Gredenko during season six) and the short-lived sci-fi show Surface (as a mysterious Serbian scientist). In 2008, Serbedzija teamed up with co-directors Xavier Palud and David Moreau and star Jessica Alba for a supporting role in the psychologically charged horror opus The Eye. He went on to appear in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as well as in Angelina Jolie's directorial debut In the Land of Honey.

Trivia: William Mapother has staked out a peripheral film career thanks to his cousin, Tom Cruise. With haunting eyes and a brooding demeanor, Mapother was a memorable choice to play Marisa Tomei's vicious ex-husband in In the Bedroom (2001), his most recognizable role. Cruise gave the Kentucky native his start with production assistant jobs on Cocktail and Rain Man (both 1988), then a small role in Born on the Fourth of July (1989), where he also worked as the actor's assistant. Mapother has continued to appear in the margins of Cruise films, ranging from Magnolia (1999) to Minority Report (2002), as well as undertaking a larger role in the Cruise-produced Without Limits (1998).

Trivia: With his barrel chest and oversized frame, British-born actor Dominic Purcell seemed almost tailor-made for a career as a character player. He remained in that sphere temporarily, but traveled a step beyond it in terms of complexity, playing not just one type time and again, but a broad array -- ranging from everyman heroes and monsters to occasional toughs. Consequently, Purcell shot rather quickly to top billing. After a scant few supporting turns, Purcell's first major starring role arrived with his lead portrayal in the series John Doe (2002), a kind of cross between Coronet Blue and The Bourne Identity about a supremely intelligent fellow with knowledge about everything in the world except for his own identity. Unfortunately, that program only lasted a single season. In 2004, Purcell signed for another lead, this one in Scott Ziehl's post-noir crime thriller 3-Way -- as a rather shady widower who blackmails a couple of would-be kidnappers into cutting him into their plan. Yet that series also folded almost instantaneously. The next year, the actor finally found a lasting role on the hit Fox drama Prison Break, playing Lincoln Burrows, an incarcerated man whose brother gets deliberately thrown into prison to spring him out. Purcell landed his next major cinematic role in the natural horror picture Primeval (2007), about a news team in hot pursuit of a 25-foot crocodile.Once Prison Break ended in 2009, Purcell appeared in a string of forgettable films, including House of the Rising Sun (2011) and Straw Dogs (2011). In 2014, he returned to television, playing the villain Heat Wave on CW's The Flash.