Trivia: Even those who fail to recognize her name would instantly know the lithe, slightly diminutive, and ethereally beautiful Ukranian-American actress Vera Farmiga by her distinctive look. Born August 6, 1973, in Passaic County, NJ, to Ukranian immigrant parents Michael and Luba Farmiga, Vera grew up with six brothers and sisters, in an isolated Ukranian enclave -- so isolated that the young girl purportedly did not learn spoken English until the age of six. As a teenager, she attended a Ukranian Catholic secondary school, and spent much of her free time touring with a Ukranian folk dancing troupe. Though she originally planned to build a career as an optometrist, Farmiga instead ventured off in the opposite direction by enrolling as an undergraduate at Syracuse University's School of Visual and Performing Arts. She began to tour as a theatrical performer shortly after graduation, in the American Conservatory Theater's 1996 production of Shakespeare's Tempest, then took her Broadway bow later that same year, as an understudy in David Jones' mounting of Ronald Harwood's Taking Sides. Television work ensued, with spots in such series as Law & Order, Trinity, UC: Undercover, and Touching Evil. At about the same time (around 1998), Farmiga made her rather modest cinematic debut in Sleeping With the Enemy director Joseph Ruben's little-seen Return to Paradise, starring Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche. Many additional roles followed throughout the first years of the new millennium, including that of Lisa, Richard Gere's estranged daughter, in the soapy melodrama Autumn in New York; Lorena, Adrien Brody's unemployment counselor in the Greg Pritikin-helmed 2002 comedy Dummy; and Allison in Eric Schaeffer's fine (albeit overlooked) ensemble film Mind the Gap (2004), where she appears alongside such notables as John Heard and the late Alan King. Farmiga joined the cast of Jonathan Demme's 2004 Manchurian Candidate remake, alongside Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, and Liev Schreiber; though not among the top-billed performers, the appearance served her career favorably. She fared much better (on all fronts) with a starring role in that same year's visceral indie addiction drama Down to the Bone, winner of the Special Jury Prize at Sundance and a critical darling. As Irene, a coke-addled supermarket checker and mother of two, Farmiga drew raves from such sources as The New York Times and The Village Voice for, in one reviewer's words, "a pitch-perfect performance." (She also reeled in a Los Angeles Film Critics' Association award for that role -- no small accomplishment, indeed.) 2006 brought with it a role as Teresa in Wayne Kramer's thriller Running Scared, and appearances in such features as Anthony Minghella's Breaking & Entering and Martin Scorsese's The Departed (both 2006). The Minghella drama concerns a group of ethnic locals whose lives intersect -- and catalyze violent hostilities -- in the scuzzy King's Cross section of London; as Oana, Farmiga draws heavily on her Eastern European background. In the Scorsese picture, a Beantown cops-and-mobsters crime drama, Farmiga plays Madeleine, the female lead opposite heavyweights Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jack Nicholson. Meanwhile, Farmiga signed for the role of Fiona, a woman who enters an affair with paraplegic radio personality Isaac (portrayed by In the Bedroom's Nick Stahl) in Carlos Brooks' Quid Pro Quo (2007).In 2009 Farmiga appeared as a mother whose life is threatened by an evil foster child in Orphan, but it was her supporting turn opposite George Clooney in Up in the Air that earned her excellent reviews as well as acting nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy. In the coming years, Farmiga would appear in a host of other acclaimed films, like Source Code and Safe House. Farmiga would also earn massive critical praise for her directorial debut, helming and starring in the 2012 drama Higher Ground.

Trivia: A handsome actor whose skills on stage and screen are only rivaled by his remarkable voice, Patrick Wilson made a name for himself in theater before making a gradual transition to the silver screen. The Norfolk, VA, native pursued his higher education at the famed Carnegie Mellon University, where he stood out from the pack when he was awarded the Charles Willard Memorial Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Music Theatre before earning his B.F.A. in drama in 1995. The next year, Wilson took the lead for a national tour of Carousel, followed by a performance in a Goodspeed Opera House production of Lucky in the Rain. After a memorable turn as pianist Erwin "Chopin" Boots in a La Jolla Playhouse production of Barry Manilow's Harmony, Wilson performed in the nonmusical, six-hour stage version of The Cider House Rules. Though his supposed "breakthrough" role in a stage production of Bright Lights, Big City failed to cement his career, the rising star made his Broadway debut in The Gershwin's Fascinating Rhythm shortly thereafter. Wilson's true breakthrough did eventually come when he took the lead for a stage version of the popular film The Full Monty, and in 2001, he made his screen debut in Dark Stories: Tales from Beyond the Grave. Though that film went largely unseen, a role in HBO's acclaimed miniseries Angels in America found his transition to the big screen moving along smoothly. The following year, Wilson tackled his biggest role to date in the eagerly anticipated historical drama The Alamo (2004) before gearing up for a key part in Joel Schumacher's Phantom of the Opera (also 2004).

Trivia: From bringing the characters of Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest), Jane Austen (Mansfield Park), and Gustave Flaubert (Madame Bovary) to life on the big screen to escaping into the outback with a wanted man (Kiss or Kill), nurturing an android (A.I.), and even inspiring a man to sell his soul to the Devil (Bedazzled), there's little that Golden Globe-nominated actress Frances O'Connor hasn't accomplished -- both literary and otherwise -- since emerging onscreen in the mid-'90s.As a young girl, O'Connor always knew that she wanted to become an actor, and after making her screen debut on the Australian television series Law of the Land, she was well on her way to achieving her dream. Later, after making a name for herself on Australian television, O'Connor achieved her breakthrough role -- as a desperate fugitive in the stylish 1997 crime thriller Kiss or Kill. Not only did that film earn O'Connor the first of two Best Actress nominations at the 1997 Australian Film Institute awards (the other being for her performance in the romantic comedy Thank God He Met Lizzie), but it also brought her the international attention that eventually led to roles in such lavish period pieces as Mansfield Park and Madame Bovary (the later of which earned O'Connor a Golden Globe nomination). In 2000, O'Connor crossed the Atlantic to appear as the waitress who prompts a hapless line cook to sell his soul to the Devil in Harold Ramis' Bedazzled, and the following year she remained stateside to film Steven Spielberg's A.I. -- in which she played a grieving mother who turns to technology after her son is stricken with an incurable disease.By this point in O'Connor's career, audiences across the globe were beginning to catch on to the rising star's talent. She returned to the classics with The Importance of Being Earnest, followed by a pair of misfires (Windtalkers and Timeline); nonetheless, prominent roles in Piccadilly Jim, Iron Jawed Angels, Book of Love, and The Lazarus Child followed in short order. In 2007, O'Connor could be seen opposite Lucy Liu in the sexy ABC comedy Cashmere Mafia, which was executive produced by Sex and the City writer/executive producer/director Darren Star. That show ended quickly, but O'Connor went on to appear in Blessed, Darwin's Darkest Hour, and The Hunter.

Trivia: As a young girl, moved with her family from Dublin to County Wexford and later to Bray in County Wicklow, a town to which she still claims a close connection. Did not consider a professional career as a singer until after graduation. Released her first album When Justice Came in 1989 as part of the Black Velvet Band. Did not consider becoming an actress until she had established herself as a singer. Made her film debut in The Commitments (1991), playing a backup singer. Appeared in The Blue Macushla at the Druid Theatre in Galway in 1996. Founded the music label Mermaid Records in 2001 and released her debut solo album, Charm. Teamed with her husband, singer Kieran Kennedy, on the 2011 album The Storms Are On The Ocean. Has admitted she still suffers from nerves before performing but uses breathing techniques to control them. Considers herself first and foremost a singer; has said she could live without acting but not without singing.

Trivia: Best known to international audiences for her portrayal of the flame-haired, hyper-kinetic heroine of Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run (1998), Franka Potente is one of Germany's fastest rising young actresses. Born on July 22, 1974, in the town of Dülmen, Potente was educated at Munich's Otto Falkenberg Schule and the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York. According to legend, she was "discovered" as an actress by a casting agent who saw her in a bar restroom one night and asked her to describe herself in one sentence.Potente made an auspicious film debut in Hans-Christian Schmid's 1996 film Nach Fünf im Urwald, for which she won that year's Bavarian Film Prize for Young Talent; she subsequently did a good deal of television work before enjoying her international breakthrough in Run Lola Run. A huge hit in Germany and a sleeper success in the States, the film featured Potente in a state of constant locomotion, running through time and fate to save her boyfriend from the clutches of his gangster employers. Her performance, which combined urgency, unflappable verve, and surprising warmth, earned her the respect of any number of critics, and she found herself -- alongside director and then-boyfriend Tom Tykwer -- being hailed as one of the European cinema's most exciting new talents.Earning a German Shooting Stars award from the European Film Promotion in 1998, Potente went on to do starring work in a number of films, including Tykwer's The Princess and the Warrior (2000), which cast her as a lonely mental hospital nurse who falls in love with a disturbed army veteran-cum-thief. The actress' growing international stature was also reflected in her casting as Johnny Depp's girlfriend in Blow (2001), Ted Demme's account of the life of George Jung (Depp), a drug dealer who was instrumental in the rise of cocaine use in the 1970s. International fame continued to grow for the striking actress when, following a small role in the Todd Solandz satire Storytelling (2001), she was cast opposite Matt Damon in director Doug Liman's fast-paced thriller The Bourne Identity. Inspired by Run Lola Run (it not only utilized that film's star, but prominently featured a track from the Lola soundtrack in its advertising campaign), the action thriller started to expand Potente's strong cult appeal into full-blown commercial viability.After spending the next two years mostly absent from movie houses, Potente re-teamed with Damon for the sequel, The Bourne Supremacy in 2004. Potente would continue to enjoy stateside success in the years to come, appearing on shows like The Shield and House M.D., and starring on the series Copper.

Trivia: Englishman Simon McBurney enjoyed two distinct phases of his screen career; he began as a character player, who excelled at playing ruddy-faced, wizened, vaguely sinister types, often of a European or Eastern European origin. His resumé -- in this capacity -- includes such films as Kafka (1991), Eisenstein (as the famous Russian director), and Jonathan Demme's political thriller remake The Manchurian Candidate (2004). As of 2007, however, McBurney shifted gears somewhat by stepping behind the camera, when he executive produced and authored the screen story of the Rowan Atkinson vehicle Mr. Bean's Holiday.

Trivia: Made her film debut in the 2013 zombie apocalypse flick World War Z with Brad Pitt.First recurring TV role was Lily Bowers in the NBC crime drama Deception.Frequently plays a member of a family in peril, fighting for survival, such as in World War Z and No Escape.Has modeled for BabyGap and appeared in a commercial for Johnson and Johnson.Studied ballet since she was six and has training from Ballet Academy East, Harkness Ballet and French Academy of Ballet and The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

Trivia: Since first being introduced to television audiences as the object of Claire Danes' angst-ridden lust in My So-Called Life, Jared Leto has enjoyed a growing popularity that has allowed him to make a name for himself in a steady stream of films. Born December 26, 1971, in Bossier City, LA, Leto led a peripatetic childhood under the care of his mother, who moved her family to places ranging from Haiti to a Colorado commune. Leto, who was interested in becoming a painter, enrolled in Philadelphia's University of the Arts, but then discovered acting and transferred to the School of Visual Arts in New York City. While he was a student there, he wrote and starred in his own film, Crying Joy.Leto moved to Los Angeles in 1992 to pursue his acting career. In 1994, he got his big break playing My So-Called Life's oblivious heartthrob, Jordan Catalano. Although the show didn't have a long run, it accumulated a loyal cult following from being ceaselessly re-run on MTV. Leto soon became daydream fodder for teenage girls, a status furthered by his selection as one of People's "50 Most Beautiful People" in both 1996 and 1997. After starring with a pre-Clueless Alicia Silverstone in the 1994 TV movie The Cool and the Crazy, Leto was cast in his first big screen role in How to Make an American Quilt (1995). More work followed in The Last of the High Kings (1996), in which he co-starred with Christina Ricci, and in Switchback (1997), opposite Danny Glover and Dennis Quaid. Leto then took on an athletic part in the Disney-produced Prefontaine (1997), the story of legendary runner Steve Prefontaine.1998 proved a good year for Leto, who appeared in Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line as part of a powerhouse cast including Nick Nolte, George Clooney, and Sean Penn. In addition, he had a major role in Urban Legend, one of the more successful exploitations of the teen horror genre. Leto did hit one stumbling block, however, with Basil, a straight-to-video period drama co-starring Christian Slater and Claire Forlani. This misstep didn't seem to hurt the actor, whose name was already attached to a number of high-profile projects that would no doubt further increase his star wattage.Two such projects were the edgy indie films American Psycho and Requiem for a Dream, both released in 2000. Though passed up for the lead in the former film, Leto made an impression in a supporting role as an arrogant yuppie doomed to be the first victim of vapid serial killer Patrick Bateman. Later that year, Leto landed the plum lead role in up-and-coming director Darren Aronofsky's sophomore effort, the addiction drama Requiem for a Dream. Playing a young Brooklyn man struggling with heroin and a severely unhinged mother, Leto had the opportunity to play against the legendary Ellen Burstyn as well as future Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, and garnered the best reviews of his career.Though two other Leto-starring films -- a would-be Boogie Nights ensemble piece named Sunset Strip (2000) and a grungy, Tarantino-esque road film eventually titled Highway (2001) -- quickly went the way of the video store shelf, the performer would find himself better employed as a supporting actor in two of director David Fincher's more notable films. In the controversial Fight Club (1999), Leto had a small part as a masochistic anarchist wannabe; in 2002's Panic Room, he played the most verbose and bumbling of the three burglars tormenting Jodie Foster's character.In the coming years, Leto would divide his time between an acting career and his rock band, 30 Seconds to Mars. Some of the movies he would appear in over the ensuing decade would include Lord of War, Alexander, Lonely Hearts, and Chapter 27.

Trivia: For years recognizable solely for her work as "the Noxzema Girl," Rebecca Gayheart has become one of many models to attempt the transition to acting. Gayheart, if not widely known, has certainly increased her recognition with her work in films such as Urban Legend and Jawbreaker. Born August 12, 1972 in Hazard, KY, Gayheart moved to New York at the age of 15 following a summer modeling job in the city. She studied acting at the prestigious Lee Strasberg Studio, and during her education there, she landed her first role, on the NBC soap opera Loving. Her stint on the show lasted from 1992 to 1993 and led to further television work, most notably on Beverly Hills 90210. During this time, she also acted in a number of forgettable television shows, and it wasn't until her part as a sorority girl in 1997's Scream 2 that she started to find film work. Her first project after Scream 2 was in Nothing to Lose, but her following film, 1998's Urban Legend, was successful enough to earn her a place among Hollywood's latest batch of up-and-coming starlets.After Legend, Gayheart co-starred with fellow Scream-er Neve Campbell in the obscure Canadian film Hair Shirt (1998). Her next project, the Heathers take-off Jawbreaker, faltered both at the box office and with critics, but did Gayheart the service of casting her in another leading role, helping to increase her fresh-scrubbed profile. After portraying a grim reaper in 2003 in Showtime's fantasy comedy Dead Like Me, she went on to play the role of Trudy Nye, a blind woman who, albeit briefly, won the attention of plastic surgeon and ladies man Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) in FX's prime-time medical drama Nip/Tuck (2004-2006).

Trivia: Born in Houston in 1949, actress Loretta Devine rose to fame on-stage in the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls before parlaying her acclaim into a career in film and television. Her first major onscreen role came in 1987, when she was cast as a resident advisor on the Cosby Show-spin-off A Different World. Though she left the series after the first season, it was far from her final gig as a TV series regular.Throughout the early '90s, Devine appeared in small supporting roles in features films such as Class Act and Amos & Andrew as well as a number of TV guest spots on shows ranging from Roc to Picket Fences. In 1995, Devine's career was given a shot in the arm when she was cast as one of the leads in Waiting to Exhale, an ensemble film that proved to be a success with both critics and audiences. More supporting work followed, and in 2000 she was cast as a lead on David E. Kelley's Fox drama Boston Public, a show that would go on to be nominated for multiple Emmys over the course of its four seasons on the air.Devine's career came full-circle in 2006 when she was cast in a small role in the film adaptation of Dreamgirls, the stage musical that launched her career. The following year, she was cast as a regular on ABC's supernatural legal drama Eli Stone.In 2010 she appeared in the American remake of Death at a Funeral, the comedy Lottery Ticket, and Tyler Perry's ambitious For Colored Girls. In 2011 she appeared in Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family, and the next year she had a role on the TV series The Client List.

Trivia: As one of the stars of the 1999 summer smash American Pie, Tara Reid experienced an almost meteoric ascent into overnight celebrity. Possessing the kind of buxom blond good looks that ensure future employment and Internet shrines, Reid was best-known for her role as The Big Lebowski's trophy wife, Bunny Lebowski, before being cast in Pie. A native of Wyckoff, New Jersey, where she was born on November 8, 1975, Reid broke into acting at the age of six, when she was a contestant on the CBS children's game show, Child's Play. She went on to study at New York's Professional Children's School, where her classmates included Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jerry O'Connell, and Macaulay Culkin. After appearing in commercials for such products as Jell-O and Crayola, Reid landed a role on the sitcom Saved by the Bell: the New Class in 1994 and then had a recurring role on the daytime drama Days of Our Lives the following year. She got her first substantial film roles in 1998, appearing in the Ed Wood-scripted I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, The Big Lebowski, the independent film Around the Fire, and Urban Legend, the latest in a long line of teen slasher flicks. Reid won some amount of recognition for the last film, which featured a Who's-Who line-up of post-pubescent stars and cast her as a campus radio talk show host. The following year, Reid earned a form of screen immortality with her role as the girlfriend of one of four high school guys who make a pact to lose their virginity in American Pie. She also appeared in more low-profile roles in the independent film Girl and in Cruel Intentions, which featured her as one of Ryan Phillippe's more unfortunate conquests. Later that year, she had a starring role in Body Shots, playing one of a group of twenty-something friends on the prowl for love and/or sex in Los Angeles.Edging ever closer to leading woman status, Reid's star continued to rise as the vibrant young actress took on roles in such high profile efforts as Dr. T and the Women (2000), Josie and the Pussycats (2001) and, of course, American Pie 2 (also 2001). After taming the savage party animal in the lowbrow comedy Van Wilder, Reid gave screen heartthrob Ashton Kutcher the runaround in the romantic comedy My Boss's Daughter. Sadly, Reid's star dwindled throughout the 2000s with a series of critical and commerical flops that failed in comparison to her highly publicized personal troubles. Reid was able to find some success when she rejoined the original cast of American Pie for American Reunion in 2012.

Trivia: British lead actor, onscreen from 1960.

Trivia: The daughter of screenwriter Richard Gregson and legendary actress Natalie Wood, Natasha Wagner (also known as Natasha Gregson Wagner) has become recognized as an actress in her own right. Born on September 29, 1970, in Los Angeles, Wagner was six months old when her parents divorced. Her mother next married actor Robert Wagner, who later adopted Natasha.Wagner began appearing onscreen in the early '90s, taking supporting roles in such films as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) and S.F.W. (1994). In 1997, she earned recognition for her portrayal of one of Robert Downey Jr.'s girlfriends in James Toback's Two Girls and a Guy. That same year, she starred in David Lynch's Lost Highway and First Love, Last Rites, which cast her opposite Giovanni Ribisi. Wagner closed out the century with appearances in a number of obscure films that tended to cast her as troubled young women; she changed gears in 2000 with a supporting role in High Fidelity, Stephen Frears' adaptation of Nick Hornby's comedic novel about a record store owner (John Cusack) trying to confront his own adulthood.

Trivia: Robert Englund began his acting training at age 12, taking drama courses at the University of Oakland, U.C.L.A., California State-Northridge, the Michigan Academy of Dramatic Arts, and the Rochester, NY, branch of R.A.D.A. Englund made his first professional appearance in a Cleveland production of Godspell. His first film role was the bumptious backwoodsman Whitey in Buster and Billie (1974), after which he paid his dues in a series of villainous bit parts: shooting down Burt Reynolds at the end of Hustle (1975); beating up Kris Kristofferson in A Star is Born (1976); and so on. In 1984, he was cast as Willie, one of the few sympathetic Earth-invading extraterrestrials in the sci-fi TV miniseries V.Impressed by this performance, director Wes Craven buried Englund under several layers of latex and collodion and cast him as malevolent, mass-murdering wraith Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). The actor became an instant star, appearing in five Nightmare sequels, hosting a 1988 television spin-off, and basking in the glow of a plenitude of fan clubs. Although Freddy's only redeeming quality was his morbid sense of humor, Englund became an idol to the young, who emulated the actor each Halloween donning Freddy masks and plastic claws. Far from concerned that this idolatry might lead to delinquency, Englund allowed that he enjoyed playing Freddy, and felt pride at having created so memorable a screen persona. (In all fairness, he also emphasized to his most impressionable fans that it was all play-acting, and that his homicidal tendencies were strictly confined to the screen.) Unlike such horror icons of the past as Boris Karloff and Vincent Price, however, Englund was not able to shed his famous character's image when he wanted to move on to other roles. Outside of his Nightmare appearances, Englund's most significant credits were his one-shot directorial stint on the theatrical feature 976-EVIL (1988); his characterization of the title role in a medium-budget film adaptation of Phantom of the Opera (1989); and his hosting chores on the Craven-produced TV anthology Nightmare Café (1992).

Trivia: Actress Danielle Harris spent much of her childhood playing small supporting roles on television and in feature films. She made her feature film debut portraying Jamie Lloyd, the confused niece of slasher Michael Myers in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) and its follow-up Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989). She has also appeared in films such as Free Willy (1993), City Slickers (1991), and Daylight (1996). Harris' television credits include appearances on Growing Pains, One Life to Live, and a regular role on Roseanne. She also appeared in the made-for-television movies Don't Touch My Daughter and The Women Who Loved Elvis.

Trivia: Since making her film debut in 1984's Dune, Alicia Witt has matured into one of the more steadily employed young actresses in Hollywood. With a resumé that includes both film and television work, the flame-haired Witt has become known for her roles in projects as varied as the TV sitcom Cybill and 1998's teen horror flick Urban Legends.Born August 21, 1975, in Worcester, MA, Witt displayed a remarkable precocity from an early age. Talking by age two and reading by the age of four, she made her film debut in Dune at the age of nine and earned her high school GED when she was 14. Her next role of any import was on David Lynch's TV series Twin Peaks (1990) and was later followed by a secondary role in 1993's Bodies, Rest & Motion, co-starring Bridget Fonda, Phoebe Cates, Eric Stoltz, and Tim Roth. In 1994, Witt earned Sundance credibility with her turn as a murderous teen in Fun and the following year was introduced to a wider audience with her role as Cybill Shepard's daughter on Cybill. A variety of roles followed in films ranging from the desultory (1995's Four Rooms) to the delightful (Alexander Payne's 1996 satire Citizen Ruth). 1996 also saw Witt in one of her more recognizable roles, as one of Richard Dreyfuss' struggling band students in Mr. Holland's Opus. Her recognition was further heightened with her appearance in 1998's Urban Legends, in which she co-starred with a number of other nascently twinkling stars, including Jared Leto, Joshua Jackson, and Rebecca Gayheart. She had a memorable part in John Waters scathing satire Cecil B. Demented, and went on to appear in Vanilla Sky, Two Weeks Notice, The Uspide of Anger, the Al Pacino thriller 88 Minutes, Peep World, and Cowgirls 'n Angels.

Trivia: From The Mighty Ducks to the mighty Dawson, Joshua Jackson has proven to be one of the more promising members of the Hollywood teen invasion. The Canadian actor, best known for his portrayal of hellion-with-a-heart-of-gold Pacey Witter on Dawson's Creek, has enjoyed a rising popularity since Dawson's 1998 premiere and was named one of Teen People's "21 Hottest Stars Under 21" in 1999.Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 11, 1978, Jackson spent most of his early childhood in California with his casting director mother. After moving back to Vancouver, Jackson got his start in commercials, and from there went on to appear in a number of forgettable films. His big break came in 1992 with The Mighty Ducks and its two sequels. Following these, he got a bit role in a film that was helping to usher in the teen horror flick craze, Scream 2 (1997). Then, in 1998, Jackson landed the part that was to give him stardom in Dawson's Creek. As the show gained popularity among both critics and television viewers, Jackson was able to broaden his film experience with 1998's Apt Pupil and Urban Legend. In 1999 he appeared as the gay and peroxided Blaine Tuttle in Cruel Intentions, which he starred in with fellow teen sensations Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Reese Witherspoon. For his next role, however, Jackson chose to stray from the teen genre with his appearance in Muppets From Space (1999), where his co-stars were more likely to do advertisements for the Children's Broadcasting Network than Noxzema.In 2000, the young actor returned to the teen genre with two separate projects, The Skulls and Gossip. Both films were set on elite college campuses and featured Jackson as upright young men forced to right the wrongs committed by their peers, something that signified the audience's growing identification with the actor as an unlikely hero for the new millennium.When Dawson's Creek finally came to a close, he kept plugging away at a movie career showing up in the indie comedy I Love Your Work, Cursed, and Emilio Estevez's Bobby. However, he found his greatest success on the small screen when he was the center of Fringe, a J.J. Abrams sci-fi show that built and maintained a cult audience and ran from 2008 to 2013. Once Fringe wrapped up, he was immediately cast in The Affair, opposite Dominic West, Ruth Wilson and Maura Tierney. The show was critically lauded and Jackson received a People's Choice Award nomination for his work.

Trivia: The second of three children, David Thewlis grew up in an apartment above his family's combination toy store and wallpaper shop. He received his training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. A veteran of the London stage and English television (Prime Suspect 3), Thewlis found his particular cinematic niche as the antihero of director Mike Leigh's Naked (1993). From the moment that Thewlis, playing an indigent from Manchester, showed up unannounced at the doorstep of his old girlfriend and immediately proceeded to verbally trash everyone in sight, the audience knew it wasn't in for a Noël Coward revival. The result of Thewlis's antisocial screen behavior was the unqualified praise of discriminating moviegoers, not to mention awards from the Cannes jury, the New York Film Critics, and the National Society of Film Critics. He went on to demonstrate his versatility in a number of diverse roles, including Paul Verlaine in 1995's Total Eclipse, an animated earthworm in James and the Giant Peach (1996), a mountaineer in Seven Years in Tibet (1997, a role for which the actor was subsequently banned from entering China), and an expatriate British composer living in Rome in Bernardo Bertolucci's Besieged in 1998. Also that year, Thewlis could be seen doing a brief but hilarious turn as a giggling conceptual artist in The Big Lebowski. As rare as it is for an actor to possess the versatility needed to alternate between such adult-oriented fare as director Mike Leigh's Naked and such innocent fun as James and the Giant Peach, Thewlis could be as effective in the former as he was endearing in the latter. Following a chilling performance as the leader of a London gang in the 2002 crime drama Gangster No. 1, Thewlis switched gears somewhat to portray the villain in the made-for-television family adventure Dinotopia shortly thereafter. In 2003, Thewlis expanded his resumé by making his feature directorial debut with Cheeky, a comedy drama concerning a mournful widower (Thewlis) whose life takes a change for the better after appearing in a popular game show of questionable taste. His profile steadily increasing thanks to roles in such high-profile releases as Timeline and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (as Professor Remus Lupin), the actor began to make as big a name for himself in large-scale Hollywood blockbusters as he previously had in intimate independent dramas. Of course, that's not to say that Thewlis had lost his taste for smaller-scale films, just that his skills were now in increased demand stateside as a direct result of his powerful early-career performances. After a busy year in 2005 with roles in the historical dramas Kingdom of Heaven and The New World, Thewlis drifted back into modern times to play a small but pivotal role in an American-shot segment of the international short anthology All the Invisible Children -- a powerful meditation on the modern mistreatment of youth by the increasingly jaded adult population. A brief turn as the Scotland Yard homicide detective trailing Sharon Stone in the belated and ill-fated sequel Basic Instinct 2 may have gone unseen by many fans after the film received considerably negative word of mouth, though a fun turn as the paranoid, bubblegum-chomping reporter hot on the trail of the young Antichrist in the 2006 remake of The Omen gave audiences much more to chew on and offered Thewlis the opportunity to have a bit of fun, to the delight of fans everywhere. The following year, Thewlis reprised his role of Prof. Lupin in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and appeared in the title role in The Inner Life of Martin Frost. He could next be seen in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, a film adaptation of the John Boyne Holocaust novel, which focuses on the friendship that develops between the child of a Nazi commander at a concentration camp and a young Jewish prisoner. Thewlis enjoyed a high-profile 2011 when the last of the Harry Potter films hit screens, as did other films he was cast in including the Shakespearean drama Anonymous, and Steven Spielberg's Oscar nominated War Horse.