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: One of the most original, versatile, and steadily employed actors in Hollywood, Philip Seymour Hoffman made a name for himself playing some of the most dysfunctional characters in movie history. Although he had been acting for years, most audiences were first introduced to the actor in the award-winning Boogie Nights, where he played a nebbishy soundman with a jones for Mark Wahlberg's Dirk Diggler. Imbuing his character with both humor and poignant complexity, Hoffman was one of the more memorable aspects of an unforgettable film.Born in Fairport, NY, in 1968, Hoffman trained at New York's Tisch School of Drama. Before breaking into film, he did a host of theater work, performing in New York, Chicago, and on a European tour. He made his film debut in the 1992 film Scent of a Woman, a critically acclaimed picture starring Al Pacino and Chris O'Donnell. Roles in a number of films of varying quality followed, including My New Gun (1992) and When a Man Loves a Woman (1994). The actor then nabbed a sizable role in Jan de Bont's 1996 tornado thriller Twister and the same year began an ongoing working relationship with Paul Thomas Anderson by appearing in his directorial debut Hard Eight. The crime drama, which also starred Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L. Jackson, received positive critical attention, although it didn't create more than a minor blip at the box office. However, Hoffman's next feature and second collaboration with Anderson, Boogie Nights (1997), was both a critical and financial success, scoring a host of Academy Award nominations and simultaneously reviving the careers of some of its stars, such as Burt Reynolds and Mark Wahlberg, while providing a breakthrough for others, such as Heather Graham and Hoffman himself. He next appeared in the Robin Williams comedy Patch Adams (1998), and the same year starred in two critically acclaimed independent films, Todd Solondz's Happiness and Brad Anderson's Next Stop Wonderland. The prolific actor added an appearance in The Big Lebowski (also 1998) to his already impressive resumé. In addition to his burgeoning acting career, Hoffman won favorable notices for his directing debut with the off-Broadway In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings. Hoffman came into his own with three notable performances in 1999. He reunited with Paul Thomas Anderson to play empathic hospice nurse Phil Parma, one of the emotional anchors in Magnolia. His portrayal of upper-crust snob Freddie Miles in The Talented Mr. Ripley earned him strong notices from many critics. Hoffman's peers awarded him with a Screen Actors Guild nomination for his role as a cross dresser in Flawless opposite Robert De Niro. He returned to the Broadway stage with fellow Anderson regular John C. Reilly to play very different brothers in Sam Shepard's True West. They took a risk by switching the lead roles every three days. Their hard work earned critical raves, and each was nominated for a Tony award. In 2000, Cameron Crowe cast Hoffman as Crowe's childhood hero Lester Bangs in Almost Famous, and David Mamet tapped him to be part of the impressive ensemble in State and Main.Hoffman maintained his status as one of the most respected and hardest-working actors in the new decade by delivering an excellent supporting turn in Red Dragon as an unctuous tabloid reporter. That same year he co-starred in Spike Lee's 25th Hour, and played the bad guy for old collaborator Paul Thomas Anderson in the offbeat romantic comedy Punch-Drunk Love. 2002 also saw the release of Love Liza, a very low-budget film scripted by Hoffman's brother and directed by actor Todd Louiso that starred Phil as a grieving husband addicted to huffing gas fumes. The next year found Hoffman starring as a gambling addict in the small scale Canadian drama Owning Mahowny, and turning in a memorable supporting performance as an amoral preacher in the big screen adaptation of Cold Mountain. Hoffman was in theaters again at the beginning of 2004 as the best friend in the Ben Stiller comedy Along Came Polly. He was also part of yet another outstanding ensemble in the small screen adaptation of Richard Russo's Pulitzer prize-winning novel Empire Falls.In 2005, Hoffman took the role of a lifetime when he assumed the title role in Bennett Miller's Capote. The film had critics in agreement that Hoffman's portrayal of complex and idiosyncratic real-life author Truman Capote was the stuff of Hollywood legend. Hoffman not only mastered the character's distinct body-language and speech but also hauntingly interpreted the subtle psychological and emotional self that made the character whole-leading many to declare that he very nearly made the film everything it was. The performance earned him the Oscar for Best Actor, as well as a Golden Globe and countless other accolades. The attention also provided a boost in profile for the actor who had for so long proved his worth in the background. After playing the bad guy in the third Mission Impossible movie opposite Tom Cruise, Hoffman had a remarkable 2007, a year that saw him play a central part in three well-regarded films. His conniving brother in Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead was a model of self-loathing fermenting into fatal action. In addition to a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor, his highly-educated, emotionally fractured brother to Laura Linney's neurotic sister in The Savages offered him the chance to play numerous subtle and sharply observed scenes with her, the first meeting of these two revered performers. But it was his turn as the intense CIA operative in Charlie Wilson's War that won Hoffman the most widespread praise including Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor.Hoffman continued to solidify his status as one of his generation's finest actors in 2008 with two very different roles. By choosing to play the lead in Charlie Kaufmann's directorial debut Synecdoche, New York, Hoffman again displayed his fearlessness, as well as his desire to work with the very best writers and directors he can find. That willfully difficult film never connected with mainstream audiences, but that was not true at all for Hoffman's other picture of 2008, Doubt. John Patrick Shanley's cinematic adaptation of his own award-winning play earned acting nominations for Hoffman and his three costars (Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis) from both the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy.Over the following years, Hoffman would continue to appear in a variety of interesting films, like Pirate Radio, The Ides of March, and Moneyball. In 2012 he again collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson, playing a cult leader in the drama The Master opposite Joaquin Phoenix. For his work in that movie, Hoffman got a Best Supporting Actor nomination from both the Screen Actors Guild and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The following year, he appeared in the smash The Hunger Games: Catching Fire as rebel Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee. Sadly, personal problems cut his illustrious career short, as Hoffman was found dead in his apartment of an apparent drug overdose at age 46.

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: Initially known for his work on the stage, Billy Crudup emerged in the late '90s as a young actor of considerable talent, gracing the screen in an increasing number of films. Tall, lean, and possessing one of the best-defined jaws in the Western Hemisphere,Crudup was born on Long Island, NY, on July 8, 1968. Raised in Florida and Texas, he earned an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and then received a Master's degree from New York University.Crudup first won audience attention and critical acclaim in his role as an amorous tutor in the widely praised New York production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia. His performance netted him both an Outer Critics Circle Outstanding Newcomer Award and a Theater World Award. He followed this success with a lead in the stage production of Bus Stop, winning similarly excellent reviews for his performance. He made his film debut in 1996 with a small part in Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You, and the same year he got a more sizable part among the all-star cast of Sleepers. Acting alongside Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, and Minnie Driver, Crudup received some recognition for his portrayal of a troubled survivor of childhood abuse. This recognition was amplified the following year, when he starred with Joaquin Phoenix in Inventing the Abbotts, a small film that cast him as an amorous, destructive ladies' man. That same year, he starred with Woody Harrelson in Stephen Frears' critically maligned The Hi-Lo Country (1998), and he won kudos for his performance as runner Steve Prefontaine in Without Limits. Critics praised both his physical resemblance to the late athlete and his ability to portray him with a vivid blend of arrogance, pathos, and sympathy. In 1999, Crudup could be seen starring in the acclaimed independant film Jesus' Son, but his mainstream breakthrough would happen the following year in Cameron Crowe's ode to 70s-era rock-and-roll, Almost Famous. Cruddup's performance as an up-and-coming rock star made him a stop tier star as well as a sex-symbol, and he would capitalize on his success over the coming years with selective, prominent roles in films like Charlotte Grey, Big Fish, The Good Shepherd, Watchmen, Eat Pray Love, and Too Big to Fail.

Trivia: Michelle Monaghan enjoyed a successful modeling career with plans to pursue a career in journalism before a full-time acting career became an option. She'd made some minor appearances on TV shows such as Young Americans and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as some nationally run commercials, but it was a recurring role on the acclaimed series Boston Public in 2002 that really opened doors for the young actress. Over the next few years, she scored big-screen parts in It Runs in the Family, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and The Bourne Supremacy. She shortly thereafter scored a role alongside Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand in North Country and a starring role in the black comedy Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang with Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. In 2005, she appeared as the love interest of Tom Cruise in the hotly anticipated Mission: Impossible III, making her a far more familiar face and name. She immediately signed on to next appear in the Ben Affleck film Gone, Baby, Gone, which she followed with a starring role in the critically acclaimed independent film Trucker. She would go on to keep up her interest in the thriller genre, with roles in Eagle Eye in 2008 and Source Code in 2011.

Trivia: Bearing the sort of sensual, androgynous looks that would have landed him in Calvin Klein ads if he hadn't gone into acting, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers has been making a name for himself in roles that call for a certain kind of alluringly deviant behavior. Since 1996, Rhys-Meyers has given trouble a good name in such films as Velvet Goldmine and The Governess. Born July 27, 1977, in Dublin, Ireland, Rhys-Meyers led a tumultuous childhood after his father abandoned his family when the actor was only two and a half. His troubles accumulated as he grew older, culminating with his being kicked out of school at the age of 16. Rhys-Meyers took to hanging about in pool halls, where he was discovered by a casting agent. The agent encouraged him to audition for the film War of the Buttons; when Rhys-Meyers failed to get the part, he gave up on acting. However, he was soon asked to do some commercials, which in turn led to his film debut with a small role in A Man of No Importance (1994). A starring role as an errant runaway in The Disappearance of Finbar (1996) followed, as did a brief but memorable turn as the assassin of the titular hero in Michael Collins (1996). After more film work, including a supporting role as Brad Renfro's nemesis in Telling Lies in America, Rhys-Meyers landed the lead in Todd Haynes' much-anticipated Velvet Goldmine (1998). Despite the hype surrounding the director's celebration of and requiem for the early-'70s glam rock scene, as well as the presence of actors Christian Bale, Toni Collette, and Ewan McGregor, the film was far from a critical or box office smash, despite developing a loyal cult following. However, Rhys-Meyers continued to stay busy, making The Governess with Minnie Driver the same year and Michael Radford's B. Monkey the next (the film would eventually be released the following year). In 1999, he starred in a number of high-profile projects: in addition to Mike Figgis' The Loss of Sexual Innocence, he appeared as part of a "hot young things" lineup in Ang Lee's Ride With the Devil, starring with such up-and-comers as Tobey Maguire and Skeet Ulrich, and then turned his talents to interpreting Shakespeare in Titus, Julie Taymor's adaptation of Titus Andronicus.While continuing to appear in independent, left-of-center films such as Prozac Nation and Happy Now, Rhys-Meyers had a bit of a mainstream breakthrough when the indie comedy Bend It Like Beckham became a surprise hit in 2003. This might have made the actor's unique face more familiar to movie makers, as he was soon seen with Reese Witherspoon in the period movie Vanity Fair, and in the Oliver Stone epic Alexander. These main-stream successes were nothing, however, compared to the coveted role of Elvis Presley that he won in 2005. The high-profile CBS mini series Elvis exposed Rhys-Myers to American audiences like never before, and he picked up a Golden Globe Award for his performance. That same year, the Irish lad starred with Scarlett Johansson in the Woody Allen drama Match Point. Widely regarded as the best movie from the legendary director in well over ten years, the role helped to cement Rhys-Myer's position in American cinema, as evidenced by the fact that he soon afterward joined the cast of action thriller Mission Impossible III.

Trivia: With green eyes, clear skin, and a head of hair that any pre-Raphaelite would envy, Keri Russell became one of the most recognizable young actresses of the late 1990s. Propelled to fame by her title role on the WB Network's Felicity, Russell quickly endeared herself to critics and viewers with her searching and honest portrayal of a college freshman facing life on her own for the first time.Born Keri Lynn Russell on March 23, 1976 in Fountain Valley, California, Russell studied dancing from an early age. She later found that her love of dancing was good preparation for acting, insofar as both disciplines demanded self-discipline and an adherence to timing and choreography. Dancing led to a modeling stint, which in turn led to a trip to Los Angeles, where in 1991 she was cast as herself on the newly-revived Mickey Mouse Club. Russell stayed with the show until 1993, during which time she lived at Disney World, where the show was taped. During her time on the Mickey Mouse Club, Russell landed her first film role in 1992's Honey, I Blew Up the Kid. After her TV commitment ended, Russell moved to Los Angeles and in 1996 was cast in Aaron Spelling's Malibu Shores. In the same year, she did more film work in the little-seen The Babysitter's Seduction, and she continued her film work in 1997 with the comedy Eight Days a Week. In 1998, with her career flagging, Russell got her big break playing confused college freshman Felicity Porter, a part she nearly wasn't considered for because the show's creators felt she was too beautiful to have the problems her character did.Suddenly the subject of countless interviews and magazine covers, Russell found herself as one of television's hottest commodities, especially in the wake of the Golden Globe she netted for her portrayal of Felicity. Unsurprisingly, this new status led to a new range of opportunities, including her role in The Curve (1998), a thriller which had its premiere at Sundance and co-starred Matthew Lillard. After the conclusion of Felicity in 2001, Russell worked steadily in small but valuable roles in the films We Were Soldiers, The Upside of Anger, and The Management of Ordinary Days. Russell played a major role as a covert operative kidnapped by a weapons dealer in Mission Impossible III. Though she didn't manage to secure the role of Lois Lane for Superman Returns (2006) (that honor went to Kate Bosworth), Russell snagged the lead role of a small-town waitress in the highly acclaimed independent comedy Waitress (2007) and also played the lead in the modest hit August Rush (2007). The following year, she played Adam Sandler's love interest in Bedtime Stories.In 2010, Russell made an attempt to return to television in the Fox series Running Wilde, opposite Will Arnett. The show was canceled after only 13 episodes. However, in 2013, she scored a hit series with FX's Soviet spy-drama The Americans, playing a KGB officer posing as an American in 1980s Washington DC; she nabbed an Emmy nomination for her work on the show in 2016.

Trivia: Born Maggie Quigley in Honolulu, exotic actress Maggie Q first made a name for herself in Hong Kong cinema, starring in such actioners as Gen-X Cops 2 and Naked Weapon. Her first appearance in a state-side film came with a bit part in 2001's Rush Hour 2, but her first large U.S. role wouldn't come until 2006's Mission: Impossible III. With a genuine American blockbuster under her belt, Q soon landed a number of Hollywood films. In 2007 alone, she could be seen in the sports comedy Balls of Fury, the action sequel Live Free or Die Hard, and the suspense thriller The Tourist. Q would also go on to star in the successful 2010 TV reboot Nikita. Nikita ran for four season; when the series ended, she wasted no time picking up a recurring role in the Divergent movie series, playing Tori Wu, and landing another TV series, Stalker.

Trivia: Perhaps the busiest television actor on either side of the pond, British standup comedian-turned-actor Simon Pegg has become a ubiquitous presence to U.K. television viewers since making his debut in the popular 1995 comedy series Six Pairs of Pants. With his role as the writer and hapless title character in the British "zom-rom-com" (zombie romantic comedy) Shaun of the Dead, Pegg's popularity set sail for U.S. shores as well. A Glouchester native who completed his education at Bristol University before segueing into film and television, Pegg showed considerable promise as an actor in his early television appearances. It was during the production of Six Pairs of Pants that Pegg made the acquaintance of future collaborators Jessica Stevenson and Edgar Wright, and in the years that followed, the trio would find notable small-screen success in such efforts as Asylum and Spaced -- with the latter finding an especially strong following on U.K. television. Additional roles in Saturday Live, the outlandish Big Train, and as the lead in Hippies also served to boost Pegg's profile, and in 2001 he joined an impressive cast for a small role in Tom Hanks' acclaimed miniseries Band of Brothers. Though the majority of Pegg's exposure had been limited to the small screen at the dawn of the new millennium (save for brief appearances in such features as The Parole Officer and 24 Hour Party People), the prolific television comic made a successful leap to the big screen as the writer and eponymous character in 2004's Shaun of the Dead. Cast as a put-upon electronics-store employee who attempts to rescue his friend (played by Pegg real-life best friend and Spaced co-star Nick Frost), mother, and ex-girlfriend as the zombie apocalypse rages around them, Pegg drew big laughs with Shaun, and it wasn't long before the film was scheduled for stateside release. A film championed by the likes of even zombie-genre inventor George A. Romero for its witty writing and cleverly constructed chills, Shaun of the Dead found considerable success when released into stateside theaters in September 2004 (it would come as no surprise to fans of the film that it won the award for Best Screenplay at the 2004 British Independent Film Awards). Back on the BBC, Pegg joined I'm Alan Partridge star Steve Coogan in the bizarre genetically modified talking-animals comedy I Am Not an Animal before joining Shaun mate Peter Serafinowicz for a few episodes of Look Around You and making an appearance in the 2005 series of his favorite childhood television program, Doctor Who. A brief cameo in Romero's eagerly anticipated Land of the Dead quickly followed, and after lending his voice to the scatological computer-animated comedy Free Jimmy, Pegg would "go-Hollywood" in a very big way by joining the Tom Cruise team in Alias director J.J. Abrams' Mission: Impossible III.Though Pegg went on to play a substantial role in director Jean-Baptiste Andrea's Big Nothing shortly thereafter, the film was released straight to DVD in the U.S., and it wasn't until the release of Hot Fuzz that American audiences would once again get a good look at Pegg and pal Frost as they re-teamed with director Wright to parody the action-packed police thrillers that fueled their imaginations as impressionable young children. Pegg would go on to enjoy sustained success in the comedy world, appearing in movies like Run, Fatboy, Run, and Paul. He would also cement himself into a hugely popular franchise, taking on the role of Scotty in the J.J. Abrams reboot of Star Trek.

Trivia: A prolific character actor in his native Britain, Eddie Marsan specialized in challenging and provocative roles, in slightly tough and edgy projects that often took advantage of his unique, immediately identifiable countenance. After debuting as a bit player and guest star in English television series including Casualty, Game On, and The Bill, Marsan took one of his premier big-screen bows in Michael Radford's crime thriller B. Monkey (1998), then effectively played one of Tammany Hall's minions opposite Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's period crime epic Gangs of New York (2002). On a much different note, Marsan subsequently teamed up with English cause célèbre director Mike Leigh in the abortion-themed character study Vera Drake (2004) -- in which the actor ushered in a partly improvised portrayal of a kindly road worker who romances the title character's daughter. Drake brought Marsan an upsurge of attention, and thereafter, assignments rolled in quickly and furiously from both sides of the Atlantic. These included supporting roles in Isabel Coixet's gentle, atmospheric drama The Secret Life of Words, Neil Burger's period supernatural drama The Illusionist, and the mega-budgeted action extravaganza Mission: Impossible III. 2008 marked a busy period for Marsan; that year, he both tackled a supporting part opposite Will Smith and Charlize Theron in the superhero comedy Hancock, and -- on a much-anticipated note -- re-teamed with Mike Leigh for a prominent role as an angsty teacher in the slice-of-life comedy Happy-Go-Lucky.

Trivia: Dramatic actor Laurence Fishburne gained widespread acclaim and an Oscar nomination for his gripping performance as the Svengali-like Ike Turner in the Tina Turner biopic What's Love Got to Do With It (1993) and went on to rack up an impressive string of credits playing leads and supporting roles on stage, screen, and television.Born in Augusta, GA, the sole child of a corrections officer and an educator, Fishburne was raised in Brooklyn following his parents' divorce. An unusually sensitive child with a natural gift for acting, he was taken to various New York stage auditions before landing his first professional role at the age of ten. Two years later, he made his feature film debut with a major role in Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975). A turning point in the young actor's career came when he lied about his age and won the role of a young Navy gunner in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. On location in the Philippines, the teenage actor effectively bade farewell to childhood as he endured the many legendary problems that befell Coppola's production over the next two years. In between shooting days, Fishburne hung out with the adult actors, often exposing himself to their offscreen drinking and drugging antics.Back in Hollywood by the late '70s, he continued playing small supporting roles in features and on television. Like many black actors, he was frequently relegated to playing thugs and young hoodlums. He would continue to appear in Coppola productions like Rumble Fish (1983) and The Cotton Club (1984) throughout the 1980s. Wanting a change from playing heavies, he accepted a recurring role as friendly Cowboy Curtis opposite Paul Reubens on the loopy CBS children's series Pee-Wee's Playhouse. By the early '90s, Fishburne had begun to escape the stereotypical roles of his early career. In 1990, he played a psychotic hit man opposite Christopher Walken in Abel Ferrara's King of New York and a chess-playing hustler in Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993). Following his great success in the Tina Turner biopic, he became one of Hollywood's most prolific actors, appearing in films such as John Singleton's Higher Learning (1995). Fishburne, who had known Singleton when the latter was a security guard on the Pee-Wee's Playhouse set, had previously appeared in the director's debut film Boyz 'N the Hood (1991). After Higher Learning came Othello (1995) and Always Outnumbered, which he also produced. Fishburne had previously produced Hoodlum (1997), in which he also starred. In 1999, he stepped into blockbuster territory with his starring role in the stylish sci-fi action film The Matrix. Increasingly geared towards action films, Fishburne could be seen in the fast and furious motorcycle flick Biker Boyz as fans prepared for the release of the upcoming Matrix sequels. Indeed, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (2003) earned Fishburne further praise from both fans and critics. The same year, Fishburne co-starred with Tim Robbins and Sean Penn in the role of a homicide detective for the Academy Award-winning thriller Mystic River. The actor went on to star as a cop-killing mobster for the crime drama Assault on Precinct 13 (2005), and as a somber professor of English in the critically acclaimed urban drama Akeelah and the Bee (2006). He would co-star in the ensemble political docudrama chronicling the life and death of Robert F. Kennedy (also in 2006), and join the cast of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in 2007. Fishburne found success again in director Steven Soderbergh's Contagion (2011), and co-stars in the Superman reboot Man of Steel (2013) as the editor-and-chief of "The Daily Planet". In addition to his work in cinema, Fishburne has established a distinguished stage career, winning a Tony Award in 1992, for his role in August Wilson's Two Trains Running.

Trivia: Adopted at six weeks old. Legal name is Amy Maria Young; there was another Amy Young registered in the Screen Actors Guild, so she adapted her first name to Bellamy. Was North Carolina's Junior Miss in 1987 (the national scholarship program changed its name to Distinguished Young Women in 2010). Made her Broadway debut in 1997 in the original production of The Life, a musical by Cy Coleman (music, book), Ira Gasman (lyrics, book) and David Newman (book) that was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Musical. Other stage work includes a 1994 off-Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical Merrily We Roll Along; and Randy Newman's Faust at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego and the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in 1995. In addition to a starring role, has an associate-producer credit for the family drama Country Remedy (2007), aka Simple Things and Mountain Time, which was filmed in her native Asheville, NC.

Trivia: Something many fans of Greg Grunberg may have noticed is that the actor has appeared in a noticeably large number of projects by producer J.J. Abrams. This is because Grunberg and Abrams, in fact, grew up together and remained friends. His first big break came when his friend set to work on a one-hour dramedy called Felicity. Grunberg was cast in the role of Sean Blumberg -- a role he would continue to play for all of the show's four-year run. His next notable part came when he assumed the recurring role of Agent EricWeiss on the spy show Alias. He then popped up in the Abrams pilot for the series Lost, as the pilot of the crashed airplane, before joining the cast of the wildly popular sci-fi series Heroes as police officer Matt Parkman, whose superhuman power is that he is able to hear other people's thoughts.

Trivia: Raised in Yonkers, NY, with five brothers, and admits to growing up a tomboy. Began modeling as a teen. Worked as a bartender in Hollywood. Enjoys traveling, hiking, cooking and boxing. Originally thought she would be playing a basketball player on Showtime's The L Word, instead of a captain in the National Guard. After The L Word ended in 2009, she took a role on NBC's crime drama The Chase in 2010.

Trivia: Los Angeles native Sasha Alexander honed her interest in acting with roles in school plays, but soon graduated to a professional career with roles on shortlived series like the drama Wasteland and the wild comedy Greg the Bunny, on which she shared an on-screen kiss with comedian Sarah Silverman. In 2003, Alexander took on the role of Agent Caitlin Todd on the series NCIS. She would play the role for many seasons to come, in addition to roles in movies like Yes Man and Love Happens, and other TV shows, like Rizzoli & Isles.

Trivia: Left high school during her senior year to study drama in Miami. Made her television debut in Days of Our Lives in 1992. Received the Ovation Award for leading actress in a play in 1999, for her work in Summer and Smoke. Formed a website to raise money for educating women around the world called Shutter to Think.

Trivia: Many know actor Aaron Paul for his role as Jesse Pinkman on the series Breaking Bad. The Idaho native began his career in the early 2000s, with a long list of appearances on shows like Suddenly Susan, The X-Files, CSI: Miami, Judging Amy, Criminal Minds, and Veronica Mars. In 2008, he took on a steady gig, joining the cast of Breaking Bad as a small-time drug dealer who joins up with Bryan Cranston to form the world's most unlikely meth manufacturing team. The following year he also began making recurring appearances on the HBO series Big Love, as well as taking on feature film work with roles in Last House on the Left and Wreckage. In 2009, he was nominated for an Emmy for his work on Breaking Bad in the acclaimed drama's second season, and the next year he would the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a drama series.

Trivia: Began studying theater at the age of 12 at the Seattle Children's Theater. Was Washington State Debate Champion in Dramatic Interpretation for two years. Worked as a hot-tar roofer between college semesters. Received the Jack Nicholson and James A. Doolittle Awards while attending USC for achievements in acting.

Trivia: Of Chinese-American nationality. Trained in the martial art of Kung Fu. Has portrayed Chinese ambassadors in The West Wing and Lost. Has voiced characters for tv shows and video games. Best known for Rush Hour (1998), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Starsky & Hutch (2004).