Trivia: Born February 18, 1954, in Englewood, John Travolta was the youngest of six children in a family of entertainers; all but one of his siblings pursued showbusiness careers as well. By the age of 12 Travolta himself had already joined an area actors' group, and soon began appearing in local musicals and dinner-theater performances. By age 16, he dropped out of high school to take up acting full-time, relocating to Manhattan to make his off-Broadway debut in 1972 in Rain, and a minor role in the touring company of the hit musical Grease followed.In 1975, Travolta was cast in an ABC sitcom entitled Welcome Back, Kotter. As Vinnie Barbarino, a dim-witted high school Lothario, he shot to overnight superstardom, and his face instantly adorned T-shirts and lunch boxes. Before the first episode of the series even aired, he also won a small role in Brian De Palma's 1976 horror picture Carrie, and at the early peak of his Kotter success he even recorded a series of pop music LPs -- Can't Let Go, John Travolta, and Travolta Fever -- scoring a major hit with the single "Let Her In." Approached with a role in Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven, he was forced to reject the project in the face of a busy Kotter schedule, but in 1976 he was able to shoot a TV feature, director Randal Kleiser's The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, which won considerable critical acclaim. Diana Hyland, the actress who played Travolta's mother in the picture, also became his offscreen lover until her death from cancer in 1977.In the wake of Hyland's death, Travolta's first major feature film, John Badham's Saturday Night Fever (1977), emerged in the fall of that year. A latter-day Rebel Without a Cause set against the backdrop of the New York City disco nightlife, it positioned Travolta as the most talked-about young star in Hollywood. In addition to earning his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, he also became an icon of the era, his white-suited visage and cocky, rhythmic strut enduring as defining images of late-'70s American culture. In 1978, he starred in Kleiser's film adaptation of Grease, this time essaying the lead role of 1950s greaser Danny Zuko. Its box-office success was even greater than Saturday Night Fever's, becoming a perennial fan favorite and, like its predecessor, spawning a massively popular soundtrack LP. In the light of his back-to-back successes, as well as the continued popularity of Welcome Back, Kotter -- on which he still occasionally appeared -- it seemed Travolta could do no wrong - but things wouldn't always be so rosy for the performer.Travolta's first misstep was 1978's Moment By Moment, a laughable May-December romance with Lily Tomlin. He then reprised the role of Tony Manero in the Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive. Directed by Sylvester Stallone as a kind of Rocky retread, the film was released in 1983 to embarrassing returns and horrendous reviews. It would prove to be just one in a string of '80s stinkers for the actor, followed by disappointments like Two of a Kind, Perfect, and The Experts. He made a minor comeback with 1989's Look Who's Talking, which fared well at the box office, but the movie did little for Travolta's reputation, and the performer was all but completely washed up by the beginning of the '90s.Then, in 1994, Travolta made one of the most stunning comebacks in entertainment history by starring in Pulp Fiction, a lavishly acclaimed crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, a longtime Travolta fan who wrote the role of Vincent Vega specifically with the actor in mind; Travolta reportedly waived his salary to play the role. A critical as well as commercial smash, Pulp Fiction introduced Travolta to a new generation of moviegoers, and suddenly he was again a major star who could command a massive salary, with a second Academy Award nomination to prove it.In the wake of Pulp Fiction, the resurrected Travolta became one of the hardest-working actors in Hollywood, and on Tarantino's advice he accepted the starring role in director Barry Sonnenfeld's 1995 Elmore Leonard adaptation Get Shorty. Acclaimed by many critics as his finest performance to date, it was another major hit, and he followed it by appearing in the 1996 John Woo action tale Broken Arrow. Phenomenon was another smash that same summer, and by Christmas Travolta was back in theaters as a disreputable angel in Michael. The following year he reunited with Woo in the highly successful thriller Face/Off, which he trailed with a supporting turn in Nick Cassavetes' She's So Lovely. After 1997's Mad City, Travolta began work on Primary Colors, Mike Nichols' political satire, portraying a charismatic, Bill Clinton-like U.S. President. An adaptation of the acclaimed book A Civil Action followed, as did the 1999 thriller The General's Daughter, in which Travolta co-starred with Madeline Stowe. Travolta did suffer an embarrassment in 2000, when he produced and starred in the sci-fi thriller Battlefield Earth, based on the novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard (whose teachings Travolta publicly admired and advocated). The film was universally panned as so bad it was funny, but Travolta bounced back, shedding some pounds to play the baddie in 2001 action thriller Swordfish. A complex tale of mixed loyalties, computer hacking, and espionage, Swordfish teamed Travolta with X-Men star Hugh Jackman in hopes of dominating the summer box office. This put Travolta in good shape to weather another disappointment, when his dramatic Oscar contender A Love Song for Bobby Long, was not well received by audiences or critics. While he received more praise for his performance in Ladder 49, a film about the lives of firefighters, his career took another hit in 2004 when he reprised the role of Chili Palmer in Be Cool, a sequel to Get Shorty that proved to have none of the magic that made its predecessor so successful. Unfazed, Travolta signed on to star in the 2007 Baby Boomer comedy Wild Hogs, alongside a dream cast of Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy, who played four listless suburbanites who decide to "live on the edge" by grabbing their sawed-off choppers and hitting the open road as would-be Hell's Angels. Later that year, Travolta took another comedic turn in Hairspray, Adam Shankman's screen adaptation of the stage musical (which, in turn, is an adaptation of John Waters's 1988 feature), which put Travolta in drag to play the heavy set, bouffant hair-do'd mother once played by drag queen Divine. He would follow this up with some middling action fare, with The Taking of Pelham 13 and From Paris with Love, as well as a sequel to Wild Hogs, 2009's Old Dogs.

Trivia: An actress noted as much for her exotic, almost otherworldly beauty as she is for her considerable talent, Uma Thurman is one of the most renowned actors of her generation. The daughter of celebrated professor of Buddhist studies Robert A.F. Thurman and Nena von Schlebrugge, a model and psychotherapist who was once married to Timothy Leary, Uma was born in Boston on April 29, 1970. Raised with three brothers in Amherst, where her father taught at Amherst College, she enjoyed a fairly bohemian upbringing, one that was marked by visits from Eastern holy men and Tibetan refugees. Encouraged to think for herself and be independent, Thurman, who had been interested in acting from an early age, left her Massachusetts boarding school at the age of 15 to pursue an acting career. Moving to New York, she earned a living by washing dishes and modeling, though the latter means of support never agreed with her.The fledgling actress made her debut in Kiss Daddy Goodnight (1987), a forgettable film that cast her as a teen vamp who seduces and robs unsuspecting men. She had a starring role in the teen comedy Johnny Be Good (1988) and also made an eye-catching appearance in Terry Gilliam's underseen fantasy adventure film The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988). But it wasn't until her casting in Stephen Frears' Dangerous Liaisons (1988) as Cécile de Volanges, the impressionable convent girl deflowered by John Malkovich's slimy Vicomte de Valmont, that Thurman first gained recognition. Her scenes with Malkovich, particularly the one in which he offers to teach her a few bedroom terms in Latin, proved to be some of the most memorable of the year, resulting in a sizable helping of fame for the young actress. Further recognition followed with Thurman's portrayal of Henry Miller's wife -- and the object of both his and Anaïs Nin's affections -- in Philip Kaufman's Henry & June (1990). Unfortunately, the actress' role in the NC-17 film -- which required her to take part in explicit love scenes with Maria de Medeiros -- inspired a great deal of unwelcome, stalker-like attention from any number of "fans," causing Thurman to shy away from doing a subsequent number of films. The projects she did take part in all proved to be forgettable affairs: Robin Hood (1991), Final Analysis (1992), Jennifer 8 (1992), Mad Dog and Glory (1993), and Gus Van Sant's Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1994). By the time Thurman received the script for Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, her career was in great need of resuscitation. Fortunately, Pulp Fiction provided just that. A huge, unanticipated success, it was the most talked-about film of the year, eventually becoming recognized as one of the most influential films of the decade. For her part, Thurman gave a sly, smoldering performance as Mia Wallace, the coke-snorting wife of gangster Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), and soon found herself enjoying both a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination and an accompanying resurgence in Hollywood popularity. She followed the success of Pulp Fiction with three relatively modest romantic comedies: A Month by the Lake (1995), The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996), and Beautiful Girls (1996). The 1997 future dystopia Gattaca did little for Thurman but introduce her to co-star and future husband Ethan Hawke. (The two married in May of 1998 and had a daughter later that year; Thurman had been married once before, to Gary Oldman). Batman & Robin, that same year, was less than a high point in Thurman's career. 1998 proved to be similarly disappointing, with both The Avengers, which cast the actress as the cat-suited Emma Peel opposite Ralph Fiennes' John Steed, and Bille August's Les Miserables experiencing swift deaths at the box office. Thurman resurfaced in 1999 in Woody Allen's widely acclaimed Sweet and Lowdown. The story of a famed jazz guitarist (Sean Penn) whose talent is inversely proportional to his merits as a human being, the film cast Thurman as his worldly, unfaithful wife. The following year, she had starring roles in two lavish period dramas, Merchant-Ivory's The Golden Bowl and Roland Joffé's Vatel. The former, a Henry James adaptation that premiered to great acclaim at the 2000 Cannes Festival, featured Thurman as a commoner caught up in a forbidden love affair with an impoverished prince (Jeremy Northam); the latter, which also premiered at Cannes, cast Thurman as a French noblewoman during the reign of King Louis XIV. Supporting performances in Richard Linklater's Tape and husband Hawke's Chelsea Walls (both 2001) were soon to follow, and though Thurman's performances were solid as ever, the limited release of both films found her gaining minimal exposure. Though Thurman was virtually unrecognizable in her role as a lovelorn Jersey girl in the HBO feature Hysterical Blindness (2002), her bravado performance earned her a Best Actress Golden Globe and the downbeat drama found audiences once again compelled by her marked versatility. Little did audiences know that her next role couldn't be more different. Thurman may had done action before in such efforts as Batman & Robin and The Avengers, but her role as the vengeful Bride in Quentin Tarantino's eagerly anticipated Kill Bill nevertheless found viewers' jaws planted firmly on the popcorn-littered multiplex floors. With the production initially delayed due to Thurman's pregnancy, the two-time mother quickly shed her excess weight shortly after giving birth to son Roan; after a vigorous training program, the violent revenge epic was back on track. Even though Thurman made no secret of the fact that balancing the difficult tasks of motherhood and superstardom often took their toll on her during the production of Kill Bill, the dedicated actress pulled off the physically demanding role without a hitch. Debuting in October 2003 to overwhelmingly positive reviews, Kill Bill Vol. 1 (the film was split into two halves after being deemed too long by studio Miramax) still managed to split audiences due to its virtually nonstop, extremely graphic violence. With Kill Bill Vol. 2 scheduled to roll into theaters four months later, fans wasted no time in speculating on The Bride's carnage-laden quest to even the score with the titular Bill (David Carradine) after the ruthless killer gunned her down on her wedding day.In the wake of the Kill Bill extravaganza, it seemed that Thurman was having an especially difficult time finding her footing at the box office when the Get Shorty sequel Be Cool, the romantic comedy Prime, and the musical comedy remake The Producers failed to make any real impact with viewers. Her career in serious need of a pick-me-up after three notable misfires, Thurman would make yet another grab for laughs when, in the summer of 2006, she starred as needy superhero who uses her powers to seek revenge against an ex-boyfriend attempting to move on in My Super Ex-Girlfriend. In 2010, Thurman joined the cast of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief in the role of Medusa, the snake-haired gorgon who could turn a man to stone with no more than a look. The actress played a decidedly different type of character in Ceremony (2010), a critically acclaimed independent comedy that featured Thurman as a woman in her late thirties with a tendency to date the wrong type of guy. In 2012, Thurman co-starred in the period drama Bel Ami and had a recurring role on the musical TV series Smash. She had a supporting role in Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac in 2013.

Trivia: An actor whose strong features and sinewy 6'4" physique appear to have been chiseled from a slab of testosterone, Vince Vaughn is Hollywood's closest human approximation of a Chevy pick-up. Born March 28th, 1979, Vaughn's roles invariably reflect these qualities, and have given him a genial affability among middle Americans. Thanks to Vaughn's skills as a performer, however, he continues to resist typecasting, lending effortless portrayals to characters ranging from slick bachelors to raging psychopaths to morally conflicted limo drivers. A tried-and-true Midwestern boy, Vaughn was born in Minneapolis on March 28, 1970, and raised in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Lake Forest. The son of a self-made businessman and a stock and real-estate broker, Vaughn diverged from the upwardly mobile path forged by his parents. A hyperactive teen (and lackluster student), Vaughn spent time in special ed. and ran with a fast crowd (though he later claimed that he never felt the need for all-out rebellion). Despite his poor scholastic performance, Vaughn derived ambition from his interest in acting -- an interest that first blossomed at the age of seven -- and even served as senior class president. Upon graduation, with only his diploma and a role in a Chevy commercial as his credentials, Vaughn headed for Hollywood. Upon arrival, he proceeded to work in almost complete obscurity for the next seven years.During this period, Vaughn made the acquaintance of Jon Favreau, another struggling actor who hailed from the East. Their ensuing friendship and real-life adventures provided the inspiration for their ticket to the bigtime, 1996's Swingers. Directed by Doug Liman, the comedy stars Vaughn and Favreau (who also co-wrote the script) as two amiable, Rat Pack-obsessed, "so money" bachelors prowling the streets and bars of L.A. for "beautiful babies" and the occasional job opportunity. This irreverent-but-insightful Miramax release became a bona-fide sleeper hit. Vaughn, whose character, Trent, was the film's resident fast-talking ladies' man, emerged as a sex symbol in the making. A supporting role in Steven Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park heightened the actor's profile and revealed his ability to transition with great fluidity between indie films and box-office blockbusters. Nevertheless, Vaughn subsequently took the small, quiet film route, starring in The Locusts (1997), an overheated but half-baked melodrama in debt to both Tennessee Williams and East of Eden, and A Cool, Dry Place, a family drama that garnered a cool, dry reception from both audiences and critics. In 1998, the actor fared substantially better with his turn as a limo driver who is called upon to make a great sacrifice for a friend in Joe Ruben's Return to Paradise, and he brought a fine admixture of dark humor and sublimated menace to his part as a charismatic sociopath in Clay Pigeons. Vaughn evoked colossal mental dysfunction as Norman Bates in Gus Van Sant's truly ugly and ill-advised remake of Psycho that same year. Critics and viewers regarded his performance -- like the film itself -- with a tepid blend of indifference and bewilderment. After that egregious misfire, Vaughn wisely took a couple of years off before re-emerging with a number of projects in 2000. These included The Cell, a surrealistic horror picture co-starring Jennifer Lopez and Vincent D'Onofrio, Prime Gig, with Vaughn as California's best telemarketer, and South of Heaven, West of Hell, an ensemble western that marked the directorial debut of country singer Dwight Yoakam. Following-up with a part in writer Favreau's Made, Vaughn's next big role arrived in the form of a deceptive stepfather harboring a dark secret in the thriller Domestic Disturbance. Unfortunately, the film bombed on a critical front. Vaughn again ducked out of sight for several years, but Todd Phillips's 2003 comedy Old School brought him back to the top of the heap. Teaming Vaughn with Will Ferrell and Luke Wilson as a trio of over-the-hill party animals who relive their Animal House days by returning to frat house life, Old School became a sleeper hit, and inspired the press to term Vaughn, Wilson, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Jack Black and others as The Frat Pack. The next of the "Frat Pack" vehicles arrived in 2004, with Todd Phillips's spoofy retread of the 1970s hit Starsky & Hutch, featuring Vaughn as the slimy villain, Reese Feldman. The picture (predictably) became a mega-hit, and the actor's newfound momentum continued to build when, only a few months later, he starred in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Apparently channeling Bill Murray circa-1985, Vaughn received positive reviews for playing the good-guy opposite muscle-bound baddie Ben Stiller.Vaughn next graced the Will Ferrell vehicle Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) with a small but memorable role, before he made an about-face for the comedy-drama Thumbsucker. Vaughn impressed critics with his characterization and received praise for his funny and heartfelt performance. He returned to the popcorn humor that initially made him a star, however (and joined the $200-million-gross club in the process) with a leading part in the comedy The Wedding Crashers, a raunchy, R-rated film that proved once and for all the actor could open a movie.Throughout 2006, rumors swarmed about Vaughn's offscreen life, and alleged romantic relationship with newly divorced Jennifer Aniston -- a relationship that blossomed on the set of The Break-Up (ironically, a comedy about an couple ending their two-year relationship and trying to divide their possessions, friends and condo without killing each other). Gossip amped up anticipation and heightened curiosity. Meanwhile, Aniston aggressively denied rumors of an engagement. Upon release, The Break-Up bolstered Vaughn's reputation as a strong comic lead, and became another surprise hit.In the holiday comedy Joe Claus -- which marks Vaughn's third outing with director David Dobkin -- he plays the title character, the no-account, loser brother of Santa Claus who teams up with his more famous sibling at the North Pole to defeat villain Kevin Spacey. Vaughn undertook a personal venture for the documentary Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show, tooling around the country on a tour bus with four aspiring stand-up comics as they travel from gig to gig. And he stayed true to form with another "Frat Pack" comedy, Outsourced. In the years to come, Vaughn would remain an ever present force in the comedy world, appearing in movies like Four Christmases, Couples Retreat, and The Watch, as well as producing projects like The Internship and the sitcom Sullivan & Son.

Trivia: A man with a gift for wringing laughter from commonplace situations, Cedric the Entertainer has parlayed a career as one of the top standup comics in America into a steadily growing resumé as an actor in film and television. Born Cedric Kyles in 1964, Cedric the Entertainer adopted his stage name early on in his career; having also worked as a singer and dancer, Cedric wanted audiences to know he was more than just another comedian, though after being named "most humorous" in his high school graduating class, he seemed destined early on to be best known for his wit. Cedric's career as a standup comic got its first major boost when he won the "Johnny Walker National Comedy Contest" in Chicago. This led to regular gigs at nightclubs in his hometown of St. Louis, and a victory in another Chicago comedy competition. With plenty of experience in the Midwest under his belt, Cedric began touring comedy clubs around the United States, and in 1993, he scored his first regular spot on television, as the host of the BET series Comicview. While touring the Southwest, Cedric dropped by a club in Dallas, TX, where the headlining act was not going over with the audience. Cedric persuaded the management to let him do a set, and his five-minute routine brought down the house. Cedric soon discovered fellow comic Steve Harvey was in the audience. The two rising stars struck up a friendship, and when Harvey scored his own sitcom, The Steve Harvey Show, in 1996, he brought Cedric along to play his friend, Cedric Jackie Robinson. Cedric was a hit on the show, and his work on the series earned him the NAACP Image Award as Best Supporting Actor on a Comedy Series three years in a row. In 1997, Cedric and Harvey joined forces with funnymen Bernie Mac and D.L. Hughley for a concert tour. Billed as The Kings of Comedy, the tour was a major success, selling out large venues across the country and grossing 37 million dollars over a two-year run. After his success on The Steve Harvey Show and with the Kings of Comedy tour, it was inevitable that Hollywood would come calling, and Cedric scored his first screen role in 1998 in the comedy Ride. The Original Kings of Comedy, a concert film shot by Spike Lee during a tour stop in North Carolina, hit theaters in 2000, and Cedric was also seen that year in the Martin Lawrence vehicle Big Momma's House. In 2001, Cedric scored a supporting role in the comedy-drama Kingdom Come, and did voice work for Dr. Dolittle 2 as well as the animated television series The Proud Family.As one of the stars of 2002's Barbershop, Cedric showed Hollywood that he could deliver a major box-office hit, and larger film roles soon followed. After a scene-stealing turn in the Coen Brothers' 2003 Intolerable Cruelty, Cedric geared up for what looked to be his biggest year to date. 2004 saw the comedian with starring roles in the sequel to Barbershop, Johnson Family Vacation, and the big-screen adaptation of the classic sitcom The Honeymooners, as well as prominent supporting parts in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, with Jim Carrey and Meryl Streep, and Be Cool, the long-awaited sequel to Get Shorty.He lent his distinctive voice to a number of animated projects including the Madagascar films and the live-action Charlotte's Web. He also acted in projects as diverse as Talk to Me, Code Name: The Cleaner, Cadillac Records, and Tom Hanks' sophomore directorial effort Larry Crowne.When not making people laugh in person or onscreen, Cedric has an interest in charitable work, and in St. Louis he's established the Cedric the Entertainer Charitable Foundation, which helps to fund youth scholarships and family outreach programs in his hometown.

Trivia: Began his career as a drummer but turned to singing before forming Aerosmith in 1970; also plays harmonica, keyboards and guitar. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Aerosmith in 2001. Appeared as Santa Claus in a 2002 episode of Lizzie McGuire on the Disney Channel. Awarded an honorary degree from Boston's Berklee College of Music in 2003. In 2006, told Access Hollywood that he had been diagnosed with Hepatitis C in 2003. In 2007, motorcycle enthusiast Tyler co-founded Red Wing Motorcycles, a company featuring custom-made vehicles that changed its name to Dirico Custom Motorcycles in 2011. On January 19, 2011, made his debut as an American Idol judge. In 2011, joined other celebrities, including Al Roker and Katherine Heigl, whose likenesses have become Cabbage Patch Kid dolls to raise money for the Children's Action Network, which increases awareness of foster care and adoption.

Trivia: A burly, but handsome, supporting player whose gruff exterior lent itself to tough characters with an underlying sentimentality, actor Robert Pastorelli overcame personal hardships to become a prominent fixture in both films and television. A New Jersey native and former boxer, his most challenging bout was a harrowing struggle with drug addiction. He later pursued a career in the New York theater, and initial stage roles in Rebel Without a Cause and Death of a Salesman led to an interest in films. He headed for Hollywood in 1982, and was a natural as rough-and-tumble characters on such popular TV shows as Cagney and Lacey, Hill Street Blues, and Newhart. In 1984, he made his movie debut with a small role in the made-for-TV feature I Married a Centerfold. Roles in Outrageous Fortune and Beverly Hills Cop II (both 1987) followed, and, in 1988, Pastorelli began a seven-year stint as Candice Bergen's housepainter on the popular sitcom Murphy Brown (for which he would earn an Emmy nomination). Two years later, he was cast in his most substantial big-screen role to date when he appeared as Kevin Costner's disheveled traveling companion in the epic Western Dances With Wolves, a performance which got Pastorelli more screen work in the '90s, including roles in such releases as Sister Act 2 (1993), Eraser (1996), and Michael (1996). In 1997 Pastorelli essayed a rare lead by taking the lead in the shortlived stateside adaptation of the popular UK mystery series Cracker. In later years, Pastorelli was increasingly active on the small screen with roles in such made-for-TV features as The Ballad of Lucy Whipple (2001), South Pacific (2001), and Women vs. Men (2002). He made a return to feature territory in 2004 with a supporting role in the eagerly anticipated Get Shorty sequel, Be Cool. Though Pastorelli's career had been experiencing a bit of a surge thanks to such projects as Be Cool, fans were dismayed when the actor was found dead in his Hollywood Hills home of a suspected drug overdose.

Trivia: A talented young singer/songwriter whose initial rise to fame came in the wake of collaborations with Ja Rule and Jennifer Lopez, Christina Milian has -- much like her more famous musical partners -- opted to pursue a career not only on-stage, but onscreen as well. A native of New Jersey, Milian was raised by Cuban immigrant parents in Waldorf, MD. An early role in the popular play Annie seemed the idea vehicle to fuse the youngster's singing talent and acting ambitions, and before she had even reached her teens, Milian had also served as a junior journalist on the Disney Channel's Movie Surfers. Numerous television guest roles were quick to follow, and in 1998, the young actress voiced characters in the popular animated feature A Bug's Life. Subsequent roles in American Pie and The Wood found Milian gaining face time in front of the camera, and in 2001 she landed a prime role as hostess of the popular television series Wannabe -- which was soon followed by the release of her self-titled solo debut album. As her presence on the big screen gained momentum, her musical career exploded when the young songstress teamed with rapper Ja Rule for the breakthrough hit "Between Me and You." Of course, with that kind of exposure it doesn't take long for the phones to start ringing, and soon thereafter Milian was teaming with none other than Jennifer Lopez to pen the hit single "Play." As Milian began production on her second full-length album, she could be seen on the big screen in such high-profile releases as Love Don't Cost a Thing (2003) and Torque (2004).Never one to forsake her musical career simply for the silver screen, Milian keptthe grooves coming with the release of her sophomore album It's About Time in 2004. By this time Milian had grown to be as comfortable in front of the camera as she was in front of the microphone, with roles in 2005's Man of the House and Be Cool somehow managing to keep the laughs coming despite her increasingly crowded schedule. Her 2006 album So Amazin' drawing fair enough reviews from critics, Milian would next take a break from the funny to get her fans screaming in the 2006 horror remake Pulse.

Trivia: Paul Adelstein originated in Chicago, and traveled that well-tread road of so many aspiring actors: he waited tables while working toward the proverbial big break. A stint as a server at the Windy City's Café du Midi helped him put food on the table, while -- in off-hours -- he trained with John Cusack's New Crimes stage ensemble and at the Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston. Following a one-episode appearance on television's ER (1999) and involvement in the short-lived series Cupid (1998-1999), Adelstein signed on to work for Harold Ramis, in the director's late 2000 remake Bedazzled -- and tackled multiple roles in the picture. Adelstein collaborated with the Coen Brothers and fellow ER vet George Clooney on their late 2003 divorce comedy Intolerable Cruelty, and played opposite John Travolta and Vince Vaughn in the poorly received crime comedy Be Cool (2005), then participated in two series: the 2005 Prison Break (as a federal agent) and the 2007 Private Practice (as a key member of a Santa Monica medical team). He maintained a film career by appearing in the indie films The Missing Person and Frenemy. Once Private Practice wrapped in 2013, he stayed in the Shonda Rimes family with a reccuring gig on Scandal, and also landed a series regular role on Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce.

Trivia: Known for her feline eyes and brash New York attitude, Queens native Debi Mazar began her show business career behind the scenes as a makeup artist for a star-studded clientele, the most lucrative of the bunch being Madonna. Attracted by her unique features, the iconic pop singer cast Mazar in the music videos for "True Blue," "Deeper and Deeper," and "Papa Don't Preach." It wasn't until 1990, however, that Mazar made her film debut as the cokehead girlfriend of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) in Martin Scorsese's GoodFellas. After portraying a series of small but indelible characters in Oliver Stone's The Doors, Spike Lee's Jungle Fever, and Jodie Foster's Little Man Tate (all 1991), Mazar had developed a small but devoted following and a reputation solid enough to land her the tough-talking role of legal defense secretary Denise Iannello on ABC's legal drama Civil Wars (1991-1993), a role she would reprise for NBC's L.A. Law in 1994.After taking on several more tiny supporting parts throughout the early '90s, including one which would reunite her with Jungle Fever director Spike Lee (in the Oscar-winning Malcolm X [1992]), Mazar made her debut as a lead character in Money for Nothing (1993), a blue-collar crime comedy co-starring John Cusack, with whom she would work for a second time in Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway (1994). After a brief performance as a manicurist in television's Witch Hunt (1994), Mazar could be found in the role of a femme fatale alongside Drew Barrymore, Jim Carrey, and Val Kilmer in Batman Forever (1995), and would portray an idealistic HIV-positive thief in Red Ribbon Blues (1995). Red Ribbon Blues wasn't the last time Mazar would delve into the complex world of sex and gender-related prejudice -- in 1996's Girl 6, Mazar co-starred as an anonymous member of a phone sex business, while Things I Never Told You found her playing a transsexual. Shortly afterward, Mazar chewed a respectable amount of scenery as one of Long Island barfly Tommy's (Steve Buscemi) potential hook-ups in 1996's Trees Lounge. The actress continued to exhibit her versatility in a series of roles during 1997, including those of a sleazy television show producer in Meet Wally Sparks, an intergalactic waitress in Space Truckers, and two decidedly more serious performances in the gay & lesbian drama Nowhere and Nick Cassavetes' romantic drama She's So Lovely.With the notable exceptions of bleaching her trademark jet-black tresses for 1998's Frogs for Snakes with Robbie Coltrane, and her role as Debbie De Luca in Michael Mann's tobacco industry exposé The Insider (1999), Mazar spent much of the late '90s on the small screen. After the failure of CBS's sitcom Temporarily Yours (1997), Mazar played lead roles in David and Lisa (a psychological drama co-produced by Oprah Winfrey) and NBC's Witness to the Mob. Following another NBC sitcom appearance in the short-lived Working (1998), the actress starred in 2000's CBS drama That's Life as an advice-dispensing hairdresser. In 2002, Mazar played right-hand woman to multi-millionaire Clark Devlin (Jason Isaacs) in Jackie Chan's The Tuxedo, and went on to offer a poignant monologue in Ten Tiny Love Stories the same year. In 2004, Mazar took on a supporting role in the crime comedy Be Cool with John Travolta and Uma Thurman, and starred in Dennis Brooks' independent film Goodnight, Joseph Parker.She had a major role in 2008's A Beautiful Life, and that same year had a small part in the ensemble of The Women. In 2012 she could be seen in the porn queen biopic Lovelace.

Trivia: Sporting a Brooklyn accent and bulldog features, Harvey Keitel first gained recognition with a series of gritty roles in the early films of Martin Scorsese, and he was for a long time cast as one lowlife thug after another. His career experienced a renaissance in the 1990s, when roles in such films as Thelma & Louise, Bad Lieutenant, and The Piano demonstrated his versatility and his willingness to let it all hang out (literally) in the service of an authentic characterization.A product of Brooklyn, where he was born on May 13, 1939, Keitel grew up as something of a delinquent. At the age of 16, his truancy was put to an end when he was sent to Lebanon with the Marine Corps. Upon his return, he sold shoes and nurtured an interest in acting. He studied the craft with Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler and began appearing in off-off-Broadway productions. When he was 26, fate struck in the form of a casting ad placed by Scorsese, at that time a fledgling student director at New York University; Keitel's response to the ad began a collaboration that would last for years and produce some of the more memorable moments in film history. Keitel and Scorsese made their onscreen feature debuts with Who's That Knocking at My Door? (1968), in which the former played the latter's alter ego. Five years later, they collaborated on Mean Streets; that and their subsequent collaborations of the '70s, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) and Taxi Driver (1976), were some of the decade's most memorable films. Unfortunately, despite these achievements, Keitel's career suffered a great blow when he lost the lead in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now to Martin Sheen. He spent much of the '80s appearing in obscure and/or forgettable films, save for Scorsese's controversial The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and by the time he was cast in Thelma & Louise in 1991, he was in a career slump. 1991 and 1992 marked a turning point in Keitel's career: his role in Thelma and Louise as a sympathetic detective -- much like his role in that same year's Mortal Thoughts -- helped him break through the stereotypes surrounding him, and his Oscar nomination for his portrayal of gangster Mickey Cohen in Bugsy (1991) put him back in the forefront. Keitel's work in 1992's Bad Lieutenant, Reservoir Dogs, and Sister Act further established him as an actor of previously unappreciated versatility, and in 1993 he proved this versatility when he starred in Jane Campion's exotic art drama The Piano, in which he famously appeared in the nude as Holly Hunter's lover.Keitel continued to demonstrate his ability to play both hard-boiled gangsters and rough-edged nice guys throughout the rest of the decade, turning in one solid performance after another in such films as Pulp Fiction (1994), Clockers (1995), and Copland (1997). One of his most memorable characterizations, cigar shop owner Auggie Wren, came from his collaboration with Paul Auster on Smoke and Blue in the Face (both 1995); he also worked with Auster on his 1998 romantic drama Lulu on the Bridge. In 1999, Keitel could be seen in variety of films, notably Tony Bui's Three Seasons, in which he played an American soldier searching for his lost daughter in Vietnam, and Jane Campion's Holy Smoke, in which he played a man sent to deprogram Kate Winslet of the teachings she received while part of a religious cult.In 2001, Keitel's performance as the contemptuous Major Steve Arnold in Taking Sides was met with rave reviews; the same year, Keitel played a Holocaust victim in The Grey Zone. Keitel worked on and off throughout the 2000s, and landed a regular role in ABC's short-lived series Life on Mars in 2008.

Trivia: Perhaps no Hollywood actor continually stirs up more of a gleeful admixture of feelings in his viewers than Danny DeVito. Singlehandedly portraying characters with mile-long, obnoxious jerk streaks that are nonetheless somehow loveable, DeVito -- with his diminutive stature, balding head, and broad Jersey accent -- made an art form out of playing endearingly loathsome little men.Born November 17, 1944, in Neptune, NJ, Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. survived a Catholic school upbringing and started his career from the ground up, laboring as a cosmetician in his sister's beauty parlor. Working under the name "Mr. Danny," DeVito decided to enter New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts for the purpose of acquiring additional makeup expertise. However, he soon discovered his true theatrical calling and made his screen debut with a small part in the 1968 drama Dreams of Glass. After a few discouraging experiences within the film industry, DeVito decided to concentrate on stage work. During this time, he met actress Rhea Perlman, whom he later married in 1982. In 1972, the actor made his way back into films with a role in Lady Liberty, a comedy starring Sophia Loren. His first notable film part came three years later, when he reprised his stage role of Martini, a sweet-natured mental patient, in Milos Forman's screen version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Produced by DeVito's old friend Michael Douglas and co-scripted by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman, the film won wide acclaim and nine Oscar nominations, eventually gleaning five statuettes (including Best Picture). Despite the adulation surrounding the film, DeVito's screen career remained lackluster, but he skyrocketed to fame three years later with his role as the obnoxious dispatcher Louie on the long-running television sitcom Taxi. From there, DeVito's career swung upward and he spent the next decade playing similarly repugnant characters with enormous success. He reunited with Douglas for Romancing the Stone (1984) and its 1985 sequel, Jewel of the Nile, teamed up with co-star Joe Piscopo and director Brian De Palma (as a scam artist on the run) in Wise Guys (1986), and signed with Disney's R-rated offshoot, Touchstone, for two comedies, the 1986 Ruthless People, and the 1987 Barry Levinson-directed Tin Men.Throw Momma from the Train (1987) marked DeVito's premier directorial outing. A madcap farce directed from a script by Benson and Soap scribe Stu Silver, Momma cast DeVito as Owen, a dim-bulb student living under the thumb of his loudmouthed mother, who is enrolled in a writing course taught by failing novelist Larry Donner (Billy Crystal). Stumbling into a repertory screening of Strangers on a Train one night, Owen has the not-so-bright idea of emulating the film, by bumping off Larry's conniving ex-wife in exchange for having Larry rub out his momma -- without asking Larry first.Throw Momma from the Train opened during the Christmas season of December 1987 and received mixed reviews. The picture nonetheless became a massive hit, grossing upwards of 57 million dollars, and thus paving the way for future DeVito-directed efforts. The War of the Roses (1989) recast DeVito with his Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile co-stars, Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, but could not have been any more different in terms of theme, content, tone, or intended audience. Co-adapted by Warren Adler and Michael Leeson (from Adler's novel), this acerbic, black-as-coal comedy tells the story of Oliver and Barbara Rose, a seemingly happy and well-adjusted married couple whose nuptials descend into a violent hell when Barbara announces that she wants a divorce -- and Oliver refuses to give her one. DeVito plays the cherubic lawyer who relays their story to another client, and famously reflects, "If love is blind, then marriage must be like having a stroke." The picture instantly grossed dollar one, garnered legions of fans, and delighted critics across the board.Ida Random produced Momma, and DeVito's Taxi collaborator, James L. Brooks, produced War, but by the early '90s, DeVito gained additional autonomy by branching out into production duties himself, with the establishment of his own Jersey Films. Some of Jersey's more successful endeavors were 1994's Pulp Fiction (on which DeVito served as executive producer), Reality Bites (1994), Get Shorty (1995), Gattaca (1997), Out of Sight (1998), and Living Out Loud (1998). In the meantime, DeVito continued to act in a number of movies throughout the late '80s and '90s, his most notable being Twins (1988, in which he played the "twin" of Arnold Schwarzenegger), the disappointing Jack the Bear (1993), the delightful Other People's Money (1991, for which he took on the role of corporate monster Larry the Liquidator), Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty, the screen adaptation of Roald Dahl's Matilda (1996, which he also directed and produced), L.A. Confidential (1997), and Living Out Loud. For the last of these DeVito won particular acclaim, impressing critics with his touching, sympathetic portrayal of a lonely elevator operator. In 1999, he added to his already impressive resumé with a role in Milos Forman's biopic of Taxi co-star Andy Kaufman, Man on the Moon, and a supporting turn in Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides.Despite solid performances in a series of recent high-profile hits and decades of big-screen success, the millennial turnover found DeVito's star somewhat clouded as such efforts as Screwed (2000), What's the Worst That Could Happen? (2001), Death to Smoochy (2002), and Duplex (2003) failed to live up to box-office potential. DeVito fared only slightly better as producer of the critically acclaimed 2003 television series Karen Sisco and the ugly Get Shorty sequel, Be Cool. He also acted as executive producer for the acclaimed Zach Braff dramedy Garden State and could be spotted in director Tim Burton's imaginative fable Big Fish. As 2005 rolled around, audiences could spot DeVito in films such as The OH in Ohio, as well as on television as the actor found himself accepting a role in the quirky, taboo-busting series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.During 2006, DeVito balanced a full plate of work, temporarily retiring from the director's chair, but juggling small roles in no less than three A-list features. These included Brad Silberling's 10 Items or Less, a drama about the unlikely friendship that evolves between a has-been Hollywood star (Morgan Freeman) and a supermarket checkout clerk (Paz Vega); Jake Paltrow's directorial debut, The Good Night, a slice-of-life dramedy starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Penélope Cruz; and the holiday comedy Deck the Halls. The latter starred DeVito and Matthew Broderick as neighbors who go to "war" with competing decorations at Christmastime to see who can be the first to make his house visible from space. The film co-starred Kristin Davis and Kristin Chenoweth. Meanwhile, Jersey Films geared up to produce the 2007 Freedom Writers, directed by Richard LaGravenese -- a kind of retread of Stand and Deliver and Dangerous Minds, with Hilary Swank as a teacher determined to break through to her difficult students. Also in 2007, DeVito starred in Randall Miller's violent black comedy Nobel Son, DeVito joined longtime friend and collaborator Michael Douglas with a supporting role in the 2009 Solitary Man, then in 2012 voiced Dr. Seuss's title character in the classic animated fable The Lorax. DeVito and Perlman have three children.

Trivia: One of Hollywood's most intense supporting and leading actors, James Woods has built a distinguished career on stage, screen, and television. Early in his career, Woods, with his lean body, close-set eyes, and narrow, acne-scarred face, specialized in playing sociopaths, psychopaths, and other crazed villains, but in the 1990s, he added a sizable number of good guys to his resumé.The son of a military man, Woods was born in Vermal, UT, on April 14, 1947. Thanks to his father's job, he had a peripatetic childhood, living in four states and on the island of Guam. As a young man, he earned a scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; after obtaining a degree in political science, he set out to become a professional actor in New York. While in school he had appeared in numerous plays at M.I.T., Harvard, and with the Theater Company of Boston, as well as at the Provincetown Playhouse on Rhode Island. After working off-Broadway, Woods debuted on Broadway in 1970, appearing in Borstal Boy. Off-Broadway, he earned an Obie for his work in Saved.In 1971, the actor made his first television appearance in All the Way Home, and the year after that debuted in Elia Kazan's thriller The Visitors (1972). He then played a small part in The Way We Were (1973), but did not become a star until he played a vicious, remorseless cop killer in The Onion Field (1979). Subsequent film appearances quickly established Woods as a scene stealer, and though not among Tinseltown's most handsome actors, he developed a base of devoted female fans who found his rugged, ruthless appearance sexy. This appearance would serve him well throughout his career, notably in one of his first major films, David Cronenberg's Videodrome (1983). Cast as the film's morally ambiguous hero, Woods gave a brilliantly intense performance that was further enhanced by his rough-hewn physical attributes. Throughout the 1980s, Woods continued to turn in one solid performance after another, earning a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of an American journalist in South America in Oliver Stone's Salvador (1986). He gave another remarkable performance as a Jewish gangster in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America (1984), and in 1989 tried his hand at playing nice in the adoption drama Immediate Family. That same year, he won an Emmy for his portrayal of Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson in My Name Is Bill W. After beginning the subsequent decade with an Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated performance in the title role of the made-for-TV Citizen Cohn (1992), Woods appeared in a diverse series of films, playing a boxing promoter in Diggstown (1992), H.R. Haldeman in Nixon (1995), a drug dealer in Another Day in Paradise (1998), and a vampire slayer in John Carpenter's Vampires. In 1996, he won his second Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Medger Evers' suspected assassin in Ghosts of Mississippi. In 1999, the actor continued to demonstrate his versatility in a number of high-profile films. For The General's Daughter, he played a shady colonel, while he appeared as a newspaper editor in Clint Eastwood's True Crime, the head of an emotionally disintegrating Michigan family in The Virgin Suicides, and a football team orthopedist in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday.As the 21st century began, Woods could be seen as a doctor in the medical/hostage thriller John Q., and he lent his voice to a number of documentaries and animated projects including the sequel Stuart Little 2. He was part of the ensemble in the Polish brothers' Northfork, and appeared in Be Cool, the sequel to Get Shorty. In 2007 he began work as the lead on the TV series Shark, and in 2011 he appeared in the remake of Straw Dogs and the well-reviewed made-for-HBO docudrama about the collapse of the American economy, Too Big to Fail.

Trivia: Raised by his aunt and uncle in Haiti from ages 2 to 9 after his parents immigrated to the U.S. in pursuit of a better life. Moved to Brooklyn with his parents when he was 9. Father was pastor at Newark's Good Shepherd Church of the Nazarene. Played bass for his high-school swing choir. Formed the Tranzlator Crew, a rap group, with his cousin Prakazrel ("Pras") Michel and Lauryn Hill in the late '80s; they eventually renamed themselves the Fugees. Released his first solo album, the triple-platinum Carnival, in 1997. Wrote and produced hits for Destiny's Child, Whitney Houston, Carlos Santana and Shakira. Bought his parents their dream home with his first major paycheck. Began taking classes at the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2009. Founded the Yéle Haiti charity to benefit the people of his native Haiti.

Trivia: A musician turned actor/director primarily associated with his tenure as the frontman and co-founder of the popular rap-metal act Limp Bizkit, Fred Durst began his occupational life as a tattoo artist after his honorable discharge from the Navy. He formed Bizkit in Florida circa 1994 at the age of 23 by teaming up with percussionist John Otto, guitarist Wes Borland, and bassist Sam Rivers. Another act, Korn, soon got its hands on the group's demo tape and felt so impressed that it passed it along to producer Ross Robinson. That coup helped Limp Bizkit land a spot opening for The Deftones and House of Pain; a contract with Flip/Interscope Records and numerous albums followed, catapulting the outfit to the forefront of the rap metal genre.Unsurprisingly, Durst's early film-oriented work consisted primarily of music videos for Bizkit, but by the mid-2000s, he began to branch out into non-musical acting roles, where the rough-cut, tattoo-laden rapper made a unique and memorable impression among audiences. Assignments included a small supporting role in the psychologically charged social issues drama Sorry, Haters (2005) and a lead opposite Jeremy Sisto in the small town-set supernatural thriller Population 436 (2006). Durst then stepped behind the camera with a pair of directorial efforts: the psychodrama The Education of Charlie Banks (2007) weaves the tale of a disturbed young man (Jason Ritter) who aggressively insinuates himself into the life of a college student (Jesse Eisenberg) in whom he provoked fear and terror during childhood. The much different picture The Longshots, on the other hand, is a sports comedy about an ex-football player (Ice Cube) who trains his sports-happy 11-year-old niece to qualify as the first female quarterback in her children's football league.

Trivia: Gene Simmons is best known as the co-founder and arguable leader of the rock band Kiss (he's the one who wears the "demon" makeup and spits blood on-stage, among other antics). After the band became popular in the late '70s, Simmons embarked upon a relatively short-lived acting career that began with the made-for-TV movie Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978). He made his solo acting debut as a villain in Never Too Young to Die (1986). He went on to play villains in more films until his acting began interfering with his music. Simmons was born Chaim Witz in Israel but was raised in the U.S. After graduating from college, he spent a few months teaching sixth grade, but then left to become a musician.

Trivia: Rapper RZA (born Robert Diggs but alternately credited, at various junctures, as Prince Rakeem, Bobby Steels, The Rzarector, and The Abbott) initially rose to fame as a member of the rap group All in Together Now, then branched out into a career as a solo artist. Though he achieved tremendous commercial success in this capacity, RZA nonetheless made his most enduring musical impact not as a performer but as a producer, of the rap supergroup the Wu-Tang Clan. His spare, lean, and razor-sharp approach to rap production for the group laid the groundwork and set the bar for dozens of other rap acts throughout the 1990s. Cinematically, RZA placed his strongest emphasis on contributions to soundtracks, scoring and lending featured music to such opuses as the Jim Jarmusch-helmed crime drama Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004), and the urban farce Soul Plane (2004). Though RZA's acting roles officially began with a bit part in Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), he went on to grace the supporting casts of films as diverse as Scary Movie 3 (2003), Derailed (2005), and The Take (2007). Also in 2007, RZA tackled a supporting role as Moses Jones in Ridley Scott's period crime drama American Gangster, starring Denzel Washington.

Trivia: Credited as being the biggest Playboy Playmate of the Year in terms of height, weight, and measurements, former-model-turned-actress Anna Nicole Smith was, in the mid-'90s, the epitome of the classic voluptuous blonde. Drawing comparisons to such legendary beauties as Marilyn Monroe due to her penchant for white dresses and sleepy bedroom eyes, the one-time Guess? model courted controversy for both her marriage to an elderly billionaire and the heated lawsuit pertaining to his estate following his death. Born Vickie Lynn Hogan in Houston, TX (she moved to Mexia, TX, as a teenager), Smith's ascent to fame began when she was chosen as May 1992's Playboy Playmate of the Month. Voted Playmate of the Year shortly thereafter, the plus-sized platinum-blonde soon appeared in a pair of Playboy videos before making her feature debut in 1994's The Hudsucker Proxy. Following an appearance in that same year's Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, Smith continued her association with the legendary men's magazine by appearing in a series of videos in addition to producing and starring in the steamy action thriller Skyscraper (1995). In 1987, Smith separated from her first husband Billy Smith, with whom she had one son; the couple later divorced and Anna Nicole married oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall in June 1994. Following Marshall's death in August the following year, Smith embarked on a heated legal battle with the former billionaire's remaining family in which she was ultimately rewarded 88 million dollars. Though she faded from the spotlight moving into the new millennium, Smith reemerged when, following the success of the MTV reality series The Osbournes, she was approached by E! Entertainment Television to be the subject of a similar series. The Anna Nicole Show debuted to general critical malaise in August 2002. Against all odds, the show remained on the air for the better part of two seasons, thanks largely to the morbid curiosity of viewers who found it virtually impossible look away from the disaster that seemed to be unfolding right before their very eyes. In the turbulent three years that followed, Smith endured a series of disheartening blows. On September 10, 2006, just 20 days after the birth of her daughter Dannielynn, Smith's 20-year-old son Daniel died suddenly due to a lethal combination of antidepressants and methadone. November of that same year found the former model hospitalized for pneumonia in the same Bahamas medical center in which her son had recently died, and it was right around that time that Smith became involved in a bitter legal dispute over her lavish waterfront mansion in the Atlantic Ocean paradise. Her troubles showed no signs of slowing when, in January of 2007, Smith was ordered to by the court to submit her baby daughter for DNA testing as a result of a heated custody battle with a celebrity photographer who claimed to be the girl's biological father (Smith remained insistent that her longtime lawyer and companion Howard K. Stern was the father). Just a few short weeks later, the case that Smith had filed against her landlord was thrown out of the court by a Bahamas judge, leaving the path clear for the owner of the home to proceed with his eviction lawsuit against her, and on February 7, 2007, a woman dissatisfied with the results of Trimspa X32 -- a weight-loss supplement for which Smith served as spokeswoman -- filed a lawsuit against Smith citing "false and misleading" advertising. The following afternoon, Smith was discovered unresponsive in her Hard Rock Hotel room in Seminole, FL, and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead within the hour.

Trivia: Exploding out of Atlanta in 1994 to become one of the most original and invigorating voices in modern hip-hop, versatile musician-turned-actor Andre Benjamin (aka Andre 3000) took the music world by storm by bridging the gap between hip-hop and pop with his band OutKast before making the leap to the big screen with a bit role in the 2003 action comedy Hollywood Homicide. Though the role was a minor one, audiences and filmmakers were quick to take note of the stylish screen newcomer's notable onscreen charisma, and in the years that followed, Benjamin would become an increasingly familiar face to filmgoers thanks to roles in such features as the Get Shorty sequel, Be Cool. It was while growing up in Atlanta and attending high school in East Point that Benjamin first made the acquaintance of future OutKast collaborator Antwan Patton (aka Big Boi). After OutKast scored a hit on the LaFace label with the red-hot single "Players Ball," their success continued with such releases as Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, ATLiens, Aquemini, and Stankonia. In 2001, Benjamin technically made his first foray into film by joining an impressive cast of hip-hoppers such as Snoop Dogg and Method Man in taking on vocal duties for MTV's English-language dub of the international cult hit Volcano High (with the aforementioned appearance in Hollywood Homicide serving as the aspiring screen star's formal introduction into the realm of cinema). Though Benjamin's next screen appearance -- as a quirky rapper in the 2005 comedy misfire Be Cool -- may have done little to advance Benjamin's career onscreen, it did find him taking acting tips from such notables as John Travolta, Uma Thurman, and Vince Vaughn. When it was announced that OutKast would be teaming up for a throwback gangster musical drama entitled My Life in Idlewild, fans couldn't wait to see what the successful musical duo would offer when given the chance to shine on the big screen. Benjamin continued his momentum onscreen by recording vocal work for Charlotte's Web before appearing opposite Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, and Garrett Hedlund in John Singleton's revenge drama Four Brothers.

Trivia: If you can smell what the Rock is cookin' then you're no doubt familiar with superstar wrestler Dwayne Johnson's swaggeringly cocky alter ego. With his trademark right eyebrow raised and a penchant for implementing the patented "People's Elbow" to unwary opponents, the self-proclaimed "Most Electrifying Man in Sports-Entertainment" slammed, crashed, and crushed his way to becoming the youngest Intercontinental Champion in WWF history at the age of 24 before winning the WWF title record six times. After conquering the world of sports-entertainment, Johnson next set his sights on conquering Hollywood.Born May 2, 1972 in Hayward, CA, Johnson became a third-generation wrestler after shifting from a career in professional football to professional wrestling when an injury sidelined his gridiron aspirations. After flexing his acting muscles on television in Saturday Night Live, That '70s Show (in which he played his own father), and The Net, Johnson made his feature debut with his role as the dreaded Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns (2001). Returning as the same character the following year in the appropriately titled The Scorpion King, Johnson did little to enhance his reputation of a trained thespian, though he did get the summer film season off to a rousing start for audiences hungering for some energetic escapist fun. Recalling John Milius' 1982 hit Conan the Barbarian (another film that launched the cinematic action career of a then-little-known athlete named Arnold Schwarzenegger), the sword-and-sandal adventure raked in 36 million dollars on its opening weekend and stayed at the top of the box office in the weeks following its impressive debut.Though he would return to the ring for the remainder of 2002, it didn't take Johnson long to soften on the prospect of a return to the silver screen -- and with the following year's The Rundown, he did just that. Cast as a bounty hunter who is sent to Brazil to retrieve the son of a well-known mob boss (American Pie's Seann William Scott), the film provided Johnson with the sort of opportunity to display his comic flair -- a notable talent that was mostly neglected in the special-effects-laden Scorpion King. By this point, his screen career had earned the wrestler-turned-actor a notable fan base that reached well beyond the WWE universe, and in 2004 he took the law into his own hands with the feature remake (in name and general concept only) Walking Tall. Based on the exploits of hard-case Southern sheriff Buford Pusser (played by Joe Don Baker in the original 1973 version) -- the film found Johnson cast as an honest, retired soldier who -- upon return to his small, rural Washington State hometown -- discovers his former high-school rival Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough) has corrupted the once-prosperous town by introducing drugs and gambling and effectively shutting down the formerly successful lumber mill. Anyone who saw the original (and even those who didn't) could no doubt tell what follows -- and if there ever was a man to lay the smack down on the criminal element, few could doubt that Johnson would be up for the task. With his role as a gay bodyguard in the 2005 Get Shorty sequel, Be Cool, Johnson showed once and for all that he wasn't above poking a little fun at his tough-guy persona, and though he would return to the action genre with the sci-fi video-game adaptation Doom, the next year found the increasingly prolific entertainer cast in the complex role of a sporadically amnesiac actor who begins to have trouble separating reality from fantasy in Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly's apocalyptic sophomore effort, Southland Tales. Later that same year, Johnson turned his attention toward the sport of football to tell the inspirational true story of a detention-camp probation officer who teaches his troubled young charges the meaning of self-respect and social responsibility in Gridiron Gang -- a feature adaptation of the Emmy-winning 1993 documentary of the same name.He would appear in Get Smart and Race to Witch Mountain the following year, followed by Why Did I Get Married Too? in 2010 -- all films that grounded the actor in relatable, humorous roles. Never one to shy away from his roots, however, Johnson was back to action fare soon enough, and he joined the Fast & Furious series for the fifth installment (Fast Five) in 2011 and played Roadblock in G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Johnson once again mixed action and comedy in Michael Bay's Pain & Jain. In 2014, he built up his already-impressive physique even more to play the title character in Hercules, and continued on the action route with roles in San Andreas and another Furious film.

Trivia: The fair-haired, fresh-faced and photogenic Arielle Kebbel lived the dream of many an American teenage girl by traveling the direct, one-shot path from obscurity to an instantly flourishing career. Just after high school, this former victor of teen beauty pageants (and Hollywood hopeful) hit the road with her mom and undertook a cross-country journey in the family car from the Kebbels' hometown of Winter Park, FL, straight to Southern California. In no time at all (reportedly less than one week), Kebbel auditioned for a recurring guest role on the WB's series comedy drama Gilmore Girls -- and was hired immediately by series producers, thus realizing instantly her dreams of becoming a respected Tinseltown actress.In the popular Gilmore program, Kebbel portrayed Lindsay Lister, the woman who dates, then marries, then divorces small-town hunk Dean Forester (Jared Padalecki). The turn lasted from the midpoint of season three (2003) into the fall of 2004, concluding with the Foresters' estrangement. Kebbel then graduated from the small to the big screen with a series of turns in high-profile but (unfortunately) consistently schlocky and critically maligned Hollywood films. Kebbel traveled as one of the few white passengers on a "jive" purple airplane commandeered by Snoop Dogg in the neo-blaxploitation comedy Soul Plane (2004), then received second billing as one of the busty, "all-American" campers (and the child sweetheart of the lead) in 2005's direct-to-video sexploitationer American Pie Presents: Band Camp. Kebbel's profile would continue to raise throughout the 2000's, as she appeared in films like John Tucker Must Die, The Grudge 2, and on popular shows like The Vampire Diaries, and 90210.

Trivia: Born and raised in New Jersey, press-shy James Gandolfini forged a film career as a prolific character actor before finally emerging as a bona fide star in the critically-lauded HBO series The Sopranos. After earning his college degree in 1983, Gandolfini headed to New York to study at the Actors Studio. Supporting himself for almost ten years as a bartender and nightclub manager, Gandolfini's major break came in 1992 with a role in a Broadway version of A Streetcar Named Desire starring Alec Baldwin and Jessica Lange, and his film debut in Sidney Lumet's A Stranger Among Us. Following small parts in several 1993 films, including the Quentin Tarantino-scripted True Romance, Gandolfini played more substantial roles as one of the heavies in Terminal Velocity (1994), Geena Davis' neighborhood boyfriend in Angie (1994), one of the submarine crew in Crimson Tide (1995), and a stuntman-turned-Mob enforcer in Get Shorty (1995). Equally gifted at playing characters on either side of the law, Gandolfini appeared as the violent neighbor who assaults Robin Wright Penn in She's So Lovely (1997) and a cop in Lumet's legal drama Night Falls on Manhattan (1997).Gandolfini played supporting roles in several more films, including Fallen (1998) and A Civil Action (1998), before he was cast as the head of a dysfunctional Mafia family in The Sopranos. Anchored by Gandolfini's superbly-nuanced performance as Prozac-popping, mother-bedeviled capo Tony Soprano, The Sopranos was hailed as a TV masterpiece for its alternately funny, surreal and deadly-serious look at New Jersey Mob life. Though he was passed over for the Emmy, Gandolfini won the SAG and Golden Globe Awards for Lead Actor in a TV drama for The Sopranos' 1999 season. During the series break, Gandolfini appeared as a slimy pornographer in 8MM (1999).Gandolfini finally added the Emmy to his trophies in 2000 for the second season of The Sopranos. Despite the inevitable criticism about the series' sophomore slump, there was no question as to Gandolfini's continuing excellence as the New Jersey Mob paterfamilias. Gandolfini followed his Emmy triumph with a supporting role as a gay hit man in The Mexican (2001), easily stealing the film from co-stars Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt. Even as he was earning The Mexican's few good notices in theaters, Gandolfini was garnering still more plaudits for The Sopranos' controversial third season, as Tony's increasingly delinquent son elicited anguished soul-searching from Tony about his legacy. Though his third Emmy nomination spoke to his formidable TV presence as Tony, Gandolfini also further burnished his movie credits with a small part in Joel Coen and Ethan Coen's Cannes Film Festival award winner The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), and a major starring role as a corrupt Army colonel who goes head-to-head with Robert Redford's incarcerated general in The Last Castle (2001). Gandolfini continued to impress on The Sopranos for the show's run, which finally ended in 2007. He would also find success on screen, appearing in a wide and impressive variety of roles in films like All the King's Men, The Taking of Pelham 123, and Violet & Daisy. Tragically, Gandolfini died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 2013 at the age of 51.

Trivia: At age 5, danced at quinceañeras (birthday parties for turning 15). Took lessons in Jeet Kune Do, a martial art, as a child. Once worked at Disneyland cleaning up after horses. Joined music group Black Eyed Peas in 1995. Made feature-film debut in the 2005 crime drama Dirty. Was a substance abuser until a car crash in 2007 resulted in jail time and prompted him to go into rehab for the addictions. In 2010 premiered a brand of footwear called Taboo Deltah 3008. Released his autobiography, Fallin' Up: My Story, in 2011. Has stated that acting, not music, is his main passion.