Trivia: Began acting at the age of 9 with his brother, Alexander, in the Swedish movie White Water Fury (2000). Studied science in high school with the intention of becoming a doctor, before deciding on acting. Was a model for H&M.

Trivia: Actress Jessica Chastain studied her craft at the Julliard School in New York, before launching into her professional career. After landing a few appearances on TV shows like Veronica Mars and ER, Chastain eventually landed the title role in the 2008 independent film Jolene, and soon found herself in other prominent roles, like a Mossaad agent in the 2009 mystery The Debt, though that film didn't reach American screens unti 2011, a year in which Chastain seemes to be in every movie. In addition to playing the loving mother in Terrence Malick's Tree of Life, and playing the struggling wife of a schizophrenic in the underrated Take Shelter, and being cast as the wife to Ralph Finnes' Coriolanus, and earning good reviews for the indie drama Texas Killing Fields, Chastain played a kooky, mentally unstable Southern woman in the box office smash The Help, and earned her first Oscar nomination for her supporting work in the film. She was back in the Oscar race the very next year, this time in the Best Actress field for her work as a determined CIA agent hunting Osama Bin Laden in Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty.

Trivia: Onscreen for nearly a decade at the time he was cast in director Kevin McDonald's The Last King of Scotland, Glasgow-born actor James McAvoy seemed to many an overnight sensation. The fact is, however, that the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama alumnus had already formed the foundation of an enduring career at the time he was charged with holding his own opposite the formidable -- and, eventually, Oscar-winning -- Forest Whitaker.McAvoy's parents divorced when he was just seven years old. In the aftermath, he and his mother would go to live with his grandparents in Glasgow's housing projects, with the youngster's notable interest in stage and film work eventually leading him to study at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. At 16, McAvoy made his professional acting debut in the child abuse drama The Near Room, with a role in the long-running British crime drama The Bill following in short order. On the heels of a part in 2001's Emmy Award-winning WWII miniseries Band of Brothers, McAvoy caught the eye of critics in the small-screen adaptation White Teeth before being cast in a pivotal role in the sci-fi effort Children of Dune. While roles in such U.K. television dramas as Early Doors, Shameless, and State of Play found McAvoy growing increasingly comfortable on the small screen, feature performances in Bright Young Things, Wimbledon, and Inside I'm Dancing (aka, Rory O'Shea Was Here) brought him to the attention of Hollywood. In 2005, the actor went global in a very big way with a pivotal appearance as Mr. Tumnus in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. But it was his Last King role the following year, as a hard-partying doctor who gradually becomes a captive to one of the 20th century's most notorious dictators, that truly propelled him to international acclaim. With his star-making role in The Last King of Scotland, McAvoy became not only a critical darling, but a serious dramatic talent whose future appeared to hold great things as well. Indeed, his follow-ups to Last King proved to feature him in one lead role after another. He romanced Anne Hathaway in Becoming Jane, a story about the young Jane Austen; anguished over his separation from Keira Knightley in the Oscar-nominated WWII-era romance Atonement; and fell unexpectedly in love with Christina Ricci in the fantasy Penelope. After this string of romantic leading-man roles, McAvoy did an about-face and co-starred as a reluctant but innately talented assassin in the action-packed thriller Wanted opposite Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. He had the lead role in 2009's drama The Last Station, and played a layer in the historical drama The Conspirator one year later. He voiced the part of Gnomeo in the animated family film Gnomeo & Juliet in 2011, and that same year he was cast as the young Professor X in the action spectacle X-Men: First Class. That role kept him busy for the next couple of years, as he reprised the character in several sequels, including X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016).

Trivia: Started acting at age 8. Made TV debut in Young Hercules in 1998. Starred in a one-man show titled The Packer, which he performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and took on tour in Australia, New Zealand and Los Angeles. Shadowed working doctors in preparation for his role as a hospital employee in the Australian series Offspring. Changed his surname from Bunyan to Ryan, a name from his mother's family, when he began auditioning for roles in L.A.

Trivia: Square-jawed comedic actor Bill Hader emerged as an onscreen presence in the mid- to late 2000s, both as a regular player on the hallowed Saturday Night Live and as an occasional performer in movies such as the animated Doogal (2004) and the Owen Wilson vehicle You, Me and Dupree (2006). Hader rose to higher billing with his guffaw-inducing turn in the frat-boy comedy Superbad (2007), playing a seriously irresponsible cop and the partnered with Seth Rogen. He was the brother to Jason Segel's character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, had a brief but memorable cameo right at the beginning of Pineapple Express, and played a sycophantic assistant to Tom Cruise's monstrous Hollywood mogul in Tropic Thunder, all in 2008. The next year he had a huge hit voicing a character in the animated smash Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and earned good reviews for his work in Adventureland. He appeared in the sci-fi comedy Paul in 2011. Hader continued to appear in supporting and cameo roles in films, appearing in an impressive nine films in 2013 (many of them voice roles, including Monsters University and reprising his role in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2), before annoucing he was leaving Saturday Night Live. Once leaving SNL, he stretched his acting legs by starring opposite Kristen Wiig in the dramedy The Skeleton Twins in 2014.

Trivia: Was a track star in high school before walking on to the football team at Moorpark College. Transferred to Arizona State and played in the 1997 Rose Bowl. Was a member of NFL practice squads for Oakland and Cleveland and also played in NFL Europe. Once owned a restaurant called Jo Jo's Barbecue on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Began working as the Old Spice Man in February 2010. Bested Fabio in an online competition "Mano a Mano en El Bano," a series of videos that included contests for staring and whistling competitions, giving advice on writing love letters and working out. Won almost $50,000 on The Weakest Link.

Trivia: Of Swiss-German, Irish and Polish descent.Her brother Jake is her fraternal twin.Was encouraged by her stepfather to take acting classes at Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute when she was 7.Featured in Sia's "Santa's Coming for Us" and The War on Drugs' "Nothing to Find" music videos.Despite having an acting career, attends regular high school in New York City.

Trivia: Played bass in metal band Early Man. Starred as Ziggy Sobotka in the second season of The Wire. Won the 2009 OFTA Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries, for his role in Generation Kill. Won the 2012 Robert Altman Award for Best Ensemble Cast as part of the ensemble for Starlet. As of 2018, stars as Nick Fletcher on The First.

Trivia: Grew up in Carrollton, Texas. Made his TV debut playing FBI agent Greg Knox on the Starz crime drama series Power. Made his feature film debut in 2016's The Divergent Series: Allegiant, playing Romit.

Trivia: Is of Korean, English, Canadian, and German descent.Practiced baseball for three years before moving from Philadelphia to Los Angeles.At the age of 8, he moved to Los Angeles with his mother, Angela.Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, started his acting career by doing commercials.In 2013, he made his debut in the film industry with a small role.Supports Film2future and non-profit organization that helps underserved students by providing them education and new opportunities.

Trivia: Starred in the music video for "Guilt Trip" by Canadian rock band PUP in 2014. Became close friends with his young co-stars on Stranger Things, especially Gaten Matarazzo whom he considers his best friend. Enjoys playing the guitar and records cover versions of hit songs for his social media followers.

Trivia: Stephen King wrote his first short story at seven, and was first published (in a comic fanzine) at 18. After attending the University of Maine, he worked as a sportswriter for his local newspaper and labored away for a while in an industrial laundry. He was teaching high school English at Maine's Hampden Academy when his first novel, Carrie, was published in 1974. Over the next decade he blossomed into the most popular writer in America, as well as one of the most prolific; in addition to the books published under his own name, he also wrote five pseudonymously as Richard Bachman (one of these, The Running Man, was filmed in 1989, with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead). No mere hack or dilettante, as has sometimes been alleged, King puts his whole heart and soul in every chiller he writes: His criteria is that if it can scare him, it will scare everyone else. Beginning with 1976's Carrie, virtually all of King's novels have been adapted to the screen -- but only a third or so of the filmizations have been truly worth the effort. For every above-average effort like The Shining (1980), The Dead Zone (1983), and Misery (1990), there has been a failure like Pet Cemetery (1989) and Needful Things (1993). While he claims to have adopted a "take the money and run" philosophy concerning most of his filmed novels, King has, in fact, taken a more active part in movies than most of his contemporaries. He often plays small roles in the films based on his works, and in 1986 he made his directorial bow with Maximum Overdrive. He also directed the first five episodes of the 1991 TV series Stephen King's The Golden Years, and essayed a small role as a bus driver. His other TV contributions have included the miniseries It! (1990), Sometimes They Come Back (1991), The Tommyknockers (1993), The Stand (1994), and The Langoliers (1995). In 1997, King oversaw a television miniseries remake of The Shining to insure that it would be closer to his original vision than the 1980 Kubrick film. Not entirely confined to hair-raisers, Stephen King has also turned out "straight" tales like The Body and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, both of which have been filmed as, respectively, Stand by Me (1986) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994). In the years that followed The Shawshank Redemption drew a massive cult following on home video and DVD, and became on of King's most celebrated celluliod adaptations. Of course this would eventually lead to many more film adaptations of King's more dramatic works, and with such efforts as Dolores Caliborne, The Green Mile and Hearts in Atlantis, King adaptations began to take on an air of sophistication (a great irony considering the author himself has deemed his writings to the literary equivilant of a Big Mac and fries) that attracted the likes of such respected dramatic actors as Tom Hanks and Anthony Hopkins. Of course endless sequels to such earlier adaptations as Sometimes They Come Back and Children of the Corn continued to flood the straight-to-video and lend some air of truth to his statements regarding his work, and it seemed that every few years a miniseries based on one of King's novels was almost mandatory. If a belated 1999 sequel to Brian De Palma's 1976 film adaptation of Carrie seemed little more than an attempt to cash in on the current trend towards post-Scream teen horror, a made-for-television remake of the original in 2002 was simply unnecessary. In 2002 The Dead Zone was adapted into a well-recieved television series, and though such feature efforts as 2003's ambitious but laughably flawed Dreamcather proved that filmmakers were willing to take risks with some of the King's more unconventional stories. After adapting Lars Von Trier's acclaimed Danish television chiller The Kingdom into Kingdom Hospital in 2004, fans could look forward to yet another made-for-television adaptation of Salem's Lot and the David Koepp directed Johnny Depp vehicle Secret Window later that same year. Of course as always the line forming to adapt King novels to screen could last be seen winding around the block, and screen versions of Riding the Bullet, The Talisman, Bag of Bones and Desperation wer all in the making as of early 2004. King's writing would continue to spawn several movie and TV projects per year for the next decade, in everything from short films like Survivor Type, to feature films like Grey Matter, to TV series like Heaven.On a personal note, King suffered massive injuries when struck by a minivan while walking outside in June of 1999, a mere month after announcing that he would likely go blind as a result of being stricken with Macular Degeneration. Though King would eventually recover from the injuries he sustained in the minivan incident, there was little doctors could do to halt the devastating effects of his incurable eye condition and an announcement that he would cease writing in 2002 proved a sad blow to legions of loyal fans.

Trivia: Anointed as one of New Hollywood's golden boys with his neo-classical homages to John Ford and Howard Hawks, Peter Bogdanovich's personal and professional lives crashed and burned in the late '70s. Though he was redeemed somewhat with Mask (1985), his directorial career never fully recovered. By the late '90s, however, Bogdanovich returned to his original training as an actor and found success as a supporting player in films and on HBO's acclaimed series The Sopranos.Raised in Manhattan, the precocious Bogdanovich began studying acting with Stella Adler at age 15 and spent his teens at the movies, developing a devotion to Hollywood. Though he acted in and directed several off-Broadway plays, Bogdanovich decided movies were his calling. While working as a film programmer in his early twenties, Bogdanovich began writing about cinema, publishing articles in Esquire and monographs on Orson Welles, Howard Hawks, and Alfred Hitchcock; he married aspiring production designer Polly Platt in 1962. Inspired by the French critics-turned-New Wave directors, Bogdanovich headed to Hollywood in 1964, where he and Platt met both their graying heroes and a generation of unruly newcomers. Like fellow gatecrashers Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, Bogdanovich's directorial career was jump-started by B-movie giant Roger Corman. Familiar with his Esquire writing, Corman hired Bogdanovich to work on his Peter Fonda motorcycle flick The Wild Angels (1966). Bogdanovich's experience encompassed rewrites, second unit direction, editing, and dubbing; Corman also cast Bogdanovich alongside Fonda and Dennis Hopper in The Trip (1967). Corman subsequently gave Bogdanovich a cheapie feature to write and direct, with the stipulation that he use Boris Karloff. With an assist from Platt, Bogdanovich came up with Targets (1968), a skillful thriller about an aging star and a nihilistic assassin. Cross-cutting between the two stories on the way to a suspenseful drive-in climax, Targets proved that Bogdanovich could make a movie as well as worship them, even if the assassination-weary 1968 audience stayed away. While he got his movie-making career off the ground, Bogdanovich continued to write, publishing books on John Ford and Fritz Lang. After Targets, Bogdanovich spent several weeks locking horns with producer Sergio Leone on pre-production for Duck, You Sucker! (1971) in Rome before pulling out and returning to the states. Back in Hollywood, Bogdanovich put together the lauded AFI documentary Directed by John Ford (1971) and wrote a book on Allen Dwan. Bogdanovich's second fiction feature came together when BBS Films (home of Fonda and Hopper's Easy Rider [1969]) enlisted Bogdanovich to write and direct a project of his choice. On Platt's advice, Bogdanovich adapted Larry McMurtrey's coming-of-age novel The Last Picture Show. Working closely with Platt, Bogdanovich crafted The Last Picture Show (1971) as a nostalgic look back to 1950s small town America and Hollywood tradition combined with a more clear-eyed, "European" view of the period's sexual mores and personal weaknesses. Starring Ford stalwart Ben Johnson as the town patriarch alongside newcomers Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, and Cybill Shepherd as the troubled youth, and shot in crisp Ford-ian deep focus black-and-white, The Last Picture Show was hailed as one of the best films by a neophyte since Citizen Kane (1941) and earned eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Director. A popular success as well, The Last Picture Show was still playing when Bogdanovich's next film, What's Up, Doc?, opened in 1972. An update of Howard Hawks' screwball classic Bringing Up Baby (1938), starring Barbra Streisand as the dizzy dame and Ryan O'Neal as the uptight, bespectacled object of her affection, What's Up Doc? was a funny enough facsimile of Hawks to become one of the year's top hits. An A-list phenom, Bogdanovich signed on to form the creatively autonomous (and potentially lucrative) Directors Company with fellow wunderkind Coppola and William Friedkin. His first film for the company, Paper Moon (1973), lived up to the hype. A Depression-era story about a grifter and his foul-mouthed daughter shot once again in Ford-esque monochrome, Paper Moon earned an Oscar for child actress Tatum O'Neal's performance opposite her father Ryan O'Neal, as well as big box office. Bogdanovich's personal life, however, began to intrude on his professional fortunes after Paper Moon. Though he left her for Shepherd in 1970, Platt had continued to work with Bogdanovich on What's Up Doc? and Paper Moon; after Platt severed their professional relationship, Bogdanovich's work floundered.That relationship with Shepherd dealt a more visible blow to Bogdanovich's career when he decided to showcase her in his next two films. While she had been ideally cast as Picture Show's thoughtless beauty, the meticulous period design and strong supporting cast couldn't disguise Shepherd's failings in the title role of Bogdanovich's adaptation of Henry James' Daisy Miller (1974). Bogdanovich's homage to lavish 1930s musicals, At Long Last Love (1975), was a disaster; Shepherd's companion record, unfortunately titled Cybill Does It to Cole Porter, didn't help. The Directors Company (and his relationship with Shepherd) dissolved shortly thereafter. Bogdanovich's stylish silent movie tribute, Nickelodeon (1976), became his third consecutive flop.Though Saint Jack (1979) was a succès d'estime, the troubled history of They All Laughed (1981) sent Bogdanovich into a tailspin. Reeling after one of the movie's stars and his new girlfriend, Dorothy Stratten, were murdered by her estranged husband, Bogdanovich then went bankrupt when he had to distribute the movie himself and it flopped. Retreating from Hollywood, Bogdanovich spent the early '80s revising his early books and writing a biography of Stratten; he raised eyebrows when he married Stratten's younger sister, Louise, in 1988. They split in 2001.Working as a director for hire, Bogdanovich returned to favor with Mask (1985). A compelling study of a disfigured teen and his forceful mother, Mask won Cher Cannes' Best Actress prize and sterling reviews. The wretched comedy Illegally Yours (1988) and the poorly received Picture Show sequel Texasville (1990) squandered the professional goodwill; the barely released The Thing Called Love (1993) was better known as one of River Phoenix's last movies. Relegated to directing TV-movies, straight-to-videos, and contributing to documentaries, Bogdanovich declared bankruptcy again in the 1990s. He remained visible, though, as an actor in such films as Mr. Jealousy (1997). By 2000, Bogdanovich landed a part on the award-winning series The Sopranos as Lorraine Bracco's quizzical psychiatrist and returned to subjects close to his heart with the independent feature The Cat's Meow (2001), about the mystery surrounding Hollywood pioneer Thomas Ince's death.

Trivia: Actress Jess Weixler grew up in Louisville, KY, then later attended and graduated from the drama program at Juilliard. She scored her first major screen role as a stripper taking a swim class in Ishai Setton's comedy drama The Big Bad Swim (2005), but attained much broader recognition as a young virgin cursed with a bizarre and grisly anatomical aberration in Mitchell Lichtenstein's eccentric horror comedy Teeth (2007).

Trivia: Perhaps best known for playing Luke Snyder on the CBS soap opera, As the World Turns.Made his film debut as a hall monitor in the 2008 neo-noir comedy, Assassination of a High School President, with Bruce Willis, Mischa Barton and Zoë Kravitz.Played central antagonist, Kevin, in 2012's Fred: The Movie, its two sequels and Nickelodeon television adaptation, Fred: The Show.Is also an accomplished musician, and has been writing, producing and recording his own music since the age of 12.Released his album Agendas in 2011, Tons in 2012 and Reflections of the Dead in 2018.

Trivia: Previously taught high school Drama and English.Performed in Theatresports and Big City Improv.Gained much popularity internationally for his role of redneck radio broadcaster Fred Tupper in the successful CBC series Little Mosque on the Prairie.Authored the children's books I Am Dead at Recess and Coby Builds a House.Is a Second City Alum.Regularly writes articles for Durham Region newspaper This Week.

Trivia: From the time of his onscreen debut in the early '90s, Ari Cohen came to specialize in portrayals of everymen, frequently (though not always) nice guy figures with warm and sincere personas; throughout his career, Cohen maintained a particularly strong presence in telemovies. He began his acting tenure on an unusual and uncharacteristic note, with a turn in Canadian avant-garde filmmaker Guy Maddin's 1990 Archangel, then essayed a portrayal of Saturday Night Live progenitor Lorne Michaels in the telemovie It's Always Something: The Gilda Radner Story (2002), and joined Jason Alexander for the heartwarming holiday prime-time movie The Man Who Saved Christmas (2002). In 2007, Cohen played the emotionally abusive and apathetic father of a troubled young woman (Ellen Page) in Bruce McDonald's critically acclaimed drama The Tracey Fragments.

Trivia: Started acting when she was a kid in summer theater.Landed the role of the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz after her first audition even though she auditioned for the role of Dorothy.Moved to Toronto after graduating high school.Landed the lead role in the TV series Family Biz after graduating college.Studied at the Canadian Film Centre's Acting Conservatory.