Trivia: An actor whose remarkable versatility has often been described as chameleon-like, Kevin Spacey has made an art of portraying a gallery of morally ambiguous characters ranging from the mildly shady to the all-out murderous. His reputation as one of the best-respected actors of his generation was bolstered by an Oscar, a Tony, and an award as Best Actor of the Decade from England's Empire magazine in 1999.The son of a technical procedure writer and a secretary, Spacey was born in South Orange, NJ, on July 26, 1959. His family moved a great deal thanks to his father's job, eventually settling for a time in Los Angeles. It was there that Spacey -- who had previously done a stint at military school -- attended Chatsworth High School, where he was very active in the theater. After an attempt at standup comedy, Spacey went to Juilliard, though his time was cut short after his second year, when he decided to quit school and begin his career.He made his theatrical debut in 1981 with Shakespeare in the Park, performing alongside the likes of Mandy Patinkin and John Goodman. The actor continued to be a fixture on the theater scene throughout the decade, performing both on Broadway and in regional productions. It was through the theater that he got his first big break: While auditioning for a Tom Stoppard play, Spacey was approached by director Mike Nichols, who cast him in his production of David Rabe's Hurlyburly. The actor's work in the play led Nichols to cast him as a subway mugger in his 1986 Heartburn. Two years later, the director and actor worked together again in Working Girl, in which Spacey had a small but memorable role as a sleazy businessman.By this time, Spacey was starting to work steadily in film, although he maintained his stage work, winning a 1990 Tony Award for his role in the Broadway production of Lost in Yonkers. He also did a substantial amount of television work, appearing on the series Wiseguy as deranged criminal Mel Proffitt. Criminal or morally questionable activities were to figure largely in Spacey's subsequent portrayals: His first starring role in a film was as the husband of a murdered woman in the 1992 Consenting Adults. The same year, he won acclaim for his portrayal of a foul-mouthed, leech-like real estate agent in James Foley's screen adaptation of the David Mamet play, Glengarry Glen Ross. Spacey landed his next memorable film role as yet another foul-mouthed jerk in the 1994 Swimming With Sharks, which he also co-produced. He was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his portrayal of an abusive studio executive, and he gained further recognition the same year for his entirely different role in The Ref, in which he played one half of a constantly arguing married couple. However, it was with his performance in the following year's The Usual Suspects that Spacey fully stepped into the spotlight. As the enigmatic, garrulous "Verbal" Kint, Spacey was one of the more celebrated aspects of the critically lauded sleeper hit, winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work. The actor won additional acclaim the same year for his role as a serial killer in the stylish and unrelentingly creepy thriller Seven. Spacey went on to make his directorial debut the following year with Albino Alligator. A New Orleans-based crime drama starring Matt Dillon, Faye Dunaway, and Gary Sinise, the film won some positive reviews, though it made little impact at the box office. In addition to directing, Spacey kept busy with acting, appearing the same year in A Time to Kill and Al Pacino's documentary Looking for Richard. The actor went on to star in Clint Eastwood's highly anticipated 1997 adaptation of John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and then had a sizable role in the big-budget The Negotiator in 1998. The same year, he also lent his voice to the computer-animated A Bug's Life and starred in the screen adaptation of Hurlyburly. While doing steady film work, Spacey also continued to appear on the stage, winning raves for his performance in an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, first on the London stage in 1998, and then on Broadway the following year. Also in 1999, Spacey won an Academy Award as Best Actor for American Beauty, director Sam Mendes' dark comedy about a man experiencing a mid-life crisis. Following up Beauty with starring roles in The Big Kahuna and Ordinary Decent Criminal, Spacey would later appear as a mental patient who claims to be from a distant planet in K-PAX. K-Pax proved to be a minor flop, as did the actor's other major film in 2001, Lasse Hallstrom's adaptation of The Shipping News. Although Spacey drew positive notices for his portrayal of a man trying to start a new life in Newfoundland, the film, which also starred Julianne Moore, Cate Blanchett, and Judi Dench, quickly sank at the box office and received only a lukewarm reception from critics.Spacey maintained a busy schedule throughout 2003, appearing in three disparate projects that reflected his extraordinary versatility. Besides cropping up as himself in the third Austin Powers outing, Austin Powers: Goldmember, he played the title character of The Life of David Gale, the story of a University of Texas professor whose anti-capital punishment stance assumes very personal meaning when he is convicted of rape and murder and lands on death row; the picture received a critical drubbing and faded quickly from view. That year, Spacey also starred in The United States of Leland, playing the father of a fifteen-year-old (Ryan Gosling) who murders an autistic child.2004 marked a key year for Spacey. The actor -- who had dreamed of portraying crooner Bobby Darin since childhood, and spent years striving to produce a biopic of the late singer through his production house, Trigger Horse Productions, ultimately realized that goal in December '04. In addition to starring Spacey as Darin, the biopic, entitled Beyond the Sea, enlisted Kate Bosworth as Sandra Dee, John Goodman as Steve Blauner, and Brenda Blethyn as Polly Cassotto. Beyond earned a decidedly mixed critical reception.In 2005, Spacey cut back on his acting schedule and devoted more attention to his role as artistic director of the legendary Old Vic Theatre in London -- a position he had assumed in 2003, under ten-year contract. In a Charlie Rose appearance c. 2005, the actor openly discussed his desire to use his position to revive a series of theatrical classics and reestablish The Vic as one of the world's premier stage venues. Unfortunately, Spacey's work here also earned some derision; under his aegis, The Vic mounted Arthur Miller's Resurrection Blues in May 2006 - an effort helmed by Robert Altman - and it drew vicious critical pans, one from a reviewer who demanded that Spacey resign. Although Spacey listened to the complaints about the Altman effort, (shelving the production during the theater's busy summer tourist season), he vowed to continue his efforts at the Vic unabated.Summer 2006 also saw the actor appearing in the highly anticipated big-budget extravaganza Superman Returns, playing Lex Luthor to Brandon Routh's Superman/Clark Kent and Kate Bosworth's Lois Lane. With a powerhouse supporting cast that includes Frank Langella (Good Night, and Good Luck.), and Eva Marie Saint (North by Northwest), the picture predictably opened up to spectacular box office (becoming one of summer's top grossers) and enthusiastic critical notices. Those who did criticize the film singled out Spacey's interpretation of the Luthor role.About a month prior to the Superman debut, Spacey signed with Warner Brothers to co-star in Joe Claus (originally titled Fred Claus), a Christmas comedy that reteamed Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin with funnyman Vince Vaughn, and enlisted Paul Giamatti (American Splendor, Sideways) as a co-star. Additional roles in the years that followed further reflected Spacey's penchant for the offbeat, such as his portrayal of an envious military man caught up in psychic phenomena in the satire The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009), corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff in the acerbic comedy Casino Jack (2010) and a sadistic boss with a taste for humiliation in Horrible Bosses (2011). Meanwhile, at about the same time, Spacey took on the role of one of Shakespeare's most iconic villains in the Old Vic's production of Richard III - for which he earned considerable critical praise. In 2013, Spacey returned to television on Netflix's House of Cards, playing ruthless congressman Frank Underwood, earning Spacey nominations from the Emmys, SAGs and Golden Globes. In 2015, he earned both a Special Olivier Award for his work as the artistic director of the Bristol Old Vic, and was awarded an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II (though, as he's not a British or Commonwealth citizen, he's not entitled to be called "Sir.")

Trivia: The youngest member of the Baldwin clan, Stephen Baldwin is one of the few Hollywood actors versatile enough to boast roles in everything from The Usual Suspects (1995) to Bio-Dome (1996). Equally adept at comedy and drama, Baldwin's popularity surged in the '90s and carried the increasingly busy actor into a series of low-budget action thrillers. A Massapequa, NY, native, Baldwin gained notice in his teens as a successful opera singer and took home top prizes in numerous local competitions. Opting for a career as an actor a few short years later, the aspiring thespian refined his talents at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts before making his way to the screen in the mid-'80s. Baldwin made his film debut in the 1987 made-for-TV feature The Prodigious Mr. Hickey, with small screen appearances in Family Ties and China Beach soon to follow. In 1989, he took a featured role in the short-lived television Western The Young Riders. His feature career gained momentum with the adaptation of Hubert Selby Jr.'s Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989), and it wasn't long before he was turning up in such highbrow Hollywood fare as Born on the Fourth of July. After putting his Young Riders experience to good use in Mario Van Peebles' Posse (1993), Baldwin turned up in the Hollywood sex comedy Threesome (1994). It was around this time that roles in 8 Seconds and A Simple Twist of Fate (also 1994) began to catch the attention of the movie-going public. The following year's The Usual Suspects, however, found the rising star gaining both top billing and the best reviews of his career. Taking top billing as a criminal taken in by police for questioning following a truck hijacking, Baldwin's kinetic and humorous performance propelled him through such comedies as Bio-Dome (1996) and Fled (both 1996). Taking a stab at dramatic action with One Tough Cop (1998), the film did little to forward public perception of Baldwin as a serious actor, although he would make a successful transition into thrillers with Scarred City (1999) and Mercy (2000). His roles in big-budget Hollywood fare began decreasing after that, but the youngest Baldwin sibling was still as busy as ever with an average of four films per year. In 2002, he took to the screen for the comedy sequel Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice. Outside of his film work, Baldwin is well known for charitable contributions to such organizations as the Los Angeles AIDS Project. Married to Kennya Deodato in 1990, the couple reside in Tucson, AZ, with their children when Baldwin is not on location.Although Baldwin continued to work regularly, he gained notoriety with the release of an autobiography in 2006 in which he explained his conversion to born-again Christianity, and began to campaign for different conservative politicians, often putting him at odds publically with his liberal-minded brother Alec. Baldwin became enough of a name that he appeared on a pair of reality programs - I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and The Celebrity Apprentice.

Trivia: Whereas many stars are bitten by the acting bug early in life, Gabriel Byrne did not become interested in the craft until he was in his late twenties. Since then, he has worked steadily as a leading and supporting actor in a wide variety of Hollywood and international films, gaining a reputation as one of th e most reliably solid performers on either side of the Atlantic. As a youth, the Dublin-born and bred actor aspired to become a Catholic priest. He was thus sent to a seminary in England, where he studied for four years. His time there came to an abrupt end after the 16-year-old Byrne was caught smoking and expelled. Upon returning to Ireland, he worked at assorted jobs, eventually receiving a scholarship to Dublin's University College. After studying linguistics and archeology, Byrne worked as an archeologist for three years and then taught Spanish and Gaelic at a Catholic girls school for four years. During his teaching tenure, Byrne appeared in an amateur theatrical production and was good enough to attract the interest of an actor from the highly regarded Abbey Theatre, who encouraged him to try acting professionally.After appearing in a few more community theater productions, Byrne became a member of the Abbey Theatre. He also began to work in television, and in 1979 made his film debut in The Outsider. Although his film roles were steady -- albeit small -- TV was where he was most recognizable, particularly thanks to his work in the popular Irish series Bracken. Another notable television role was that of Christopher Columbus in an American miniseries of the same name. Byrne's film career during the 1980s was decidedly uneven. Although there were a few hits, such as the 1981 Excalibur, the number of misses was substantial. One of those misses was the 1987 film Siesta, in which he starred opposite Ellen Barkin. Although the film failed to do well, it did result in a marriage between Byrne and his co-star. The two married in 1988, and during the course of their marriage they collaborated on one film, the children's adventure Into the West (1993). They divorced in 1993.Byrne's film career did not take flight until he starred as an Irish mobster in the Coen brothers' memorable Miller's Crossing (1990). The film helped to establish him as an actor to be taken seriously, and since 1993 -- when he starred in The Point of No Return -- Byrne has enjoyed steady work, appearing in three to four films per year, notably, Little Women (1994), Dead Man (1995), The Usual Suspects (1995), Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997), and The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), in which he and Jeremy Irons, Gérard Depardieu, and John Malkovich starred as the Three Musketeers. In 1999, Byrne starred as a priest asked to investigate the case of a woman (Patricia Arquette) who has developed Christ-like wounds in Stigmata. That same year, he took on an entirely different role, playing Satan himself in the action-thriller End of Days.In 2000 Byrne had a huge success on Broadway as the lead in a revival of Moon for the Misbegotten, a role which earned him a Tony nomination. The next year he had a major role in David Cronenberg's psychological drama Spider. He continued to work steadily in projects including the 2004 adaptation of Vanity Fair, and got good notices for his work in 2006's Jindabyne. In 2008 he took the lead part as the psychiatrist on HBO's In Treatment, a role that earned him a pair of nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Trivia: Actor, playwright, and screenwriter Chazz Palminteri is anything but an overnight success. For him, stardom was the result of nearly 20 years of relative obscurity as he worked his way from nightclubs to off-Broadway to small television roles. It was only after he penned his one-man 35-character autobiographical play A Bronx Tale that the then-36-year-old actor hit the big time. A big, burly Italian, he has since specialized in playing heavies and other bad guys. Born Calogero Lorenzo Palminteri, the son of a Bronx bus driver, he first dreamed of an acting career at age 13. Following high school, however, Palminteri became a singer and spent over a decade as a lounge crooner; he was also a member of a pop group. Though he made a decent living, Palminteri couldn't forget his initial aspiration and, in 1982, devoted himself full-time to acting. While attending acting classes and auditioning, Palminteri supported himself as a doorman and spent the next few years working off-Broadway in small roles. In 1988, he headed to Southern California to work as a bit-player on television, making his debut appearance on Hill Street Blues. After two years of playing relatively inconsequential parts, a frustrated Palminteri took matters into his own hands and, on five yellow legal pads, wrote the script for A Bronx Tale. The play debuted at the West Coast Ensemble theater to critical raves. He then took it to Playhouse 91 in New York, where it played to standing-room-only crowds for four months. One night, Robert DeNiro caught it and was greatly impressed by both Palminteri and his play. Shortly afterward, Palminteri was visited by Hollywood producers wanting to by the film rights. Cagily, he refused to sell unless he was guaranteed the lead. Four years later, with help from DeNiro, who would use it for his directorial debut and play a supporting role, Palminteri's wish came true. Released in 1993, A Bronx Tale received critical praise but did not catch on with audiences. Still, it was enough to jump-start Palminteri's film career and, in 1994, he co-starred in Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway as Cheech, a gangster thug with a love of the theater. Palminteri's portrayal of Cheech earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 1996, another of Palminteri's plays, Faithful, the offbeat story of a strange relationship between a suicidal housewife and the thug her husband hires to kill her, became a film starring himself and Cher. A subsequent turn as the malevolent headmaster of a prestigious private school in the same year's Diabolique found Palminteri hanging up his gangster hat to turn in an especially menacing performance, with subsequent roles in Mulholland Falls, Analyze This, and Just Like Mona showing an actor who had perfected roles on both sides of the law and seemed to show little interest in branching out. Vocal performances in Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure and the computer animated 2005 comedy Hoodwinked made impressive use of the screen heavy's distinctive voice, and gave the longtime screen actor a chance to have some fun without necessarily having the stress of being on camera. A rare voyage into weekly television followed when Palminteri served as boss to one of television's greatest detectives in the 2005 revival of Kojack (this time featuring actor Ving Rhames in the role of the lollipop -munching cop), with a subsequent role as a crooked cop in Wayne Kramer's hyper-stylized action entry Running Scared finding the actor remaining safely behind the badge. One of six co-recipients of a Special Jury Prize for Dramatic Ensemble Performance at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival for his participation in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Palminteri cold next be seen as a diamond-hunting gangster searching for a most unusual thief in the Wayans brothers comedy Little Man (2006). Since then, Palminteri has divided his time between family life and his film career.

Trivia: It sounds apocryphal, but it's true: 13-year-old Kevin Pollak did begin his Bar Mitzvah speech with "A funny thing happened on the way to the temple..." In fact, Pollak's rabbi had encouraged him to do so: even at this early stage, the boy evinced a gift for comic timing. By 17, he was doing stand-up in his native San Francisco. He went on to play the West Coast comedy-club and improv circuit, and was briefly teamed with Dana Carvey, a professional collaboration that ended amicably when Carvey was hired by Saturday Night Live. Though Pollak himself didn't make it to SNL, he flourished as an impressionist, writer and film and TV supporting actor. He was given several opportunities to shine in such films as Barry Levenson's Avalon (1990), Mick Jackson's LA Story (1991) and Rob Reiner's A Few Good Men (1992). Reiner went on to team Pollak with Bob Amaral in the weekly TVer Morton and Hayes (1991) a hit-and-miss homage to the 2-reel comedies of the 1930s and 1940s (Pollak had previously played a featured role in the short-lived 1988 sitcom Coming of Age). Kevin Pollak's film career went into warp-drive in the 1990s, with such choice roles as Jacob in the two Grumpy Old Men flicks, Todd Hockney in The Usual Suspects (1995), Phillip Green in Casino (1995), and Boss Vic Koss in That Thing You Do (1996).His film and television career still going strong into the 2000s, Pollak found a way to work his passion for poker into his schedule as host of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown in 2003, and in 2009 he launched a weekly internet series entitled Kevin Pollak's Chat Show.

Trivia: Was a drama teacher before becoming an actor. Studied at the Bristol Old Vic Drama School in Bristol, England. Appeared in plays with the Royal Shakespeare Company in England. Breakthrough film performance came playing the role of a violent father in Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988). His role in In the Name of the Father (1993) won him widespread acclaim and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. First portrayed a romantic lead in 1997's Among Giants. In 2002, he performed in the one-man play Scaramouche Jones. Awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2004. Appeared in the 2009 climate-change film The Age of Stupid. Portrayed Spyros, the adoptive father of Perseus, in 2010's Clash of the Titans. Passed away in January 2011 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Trivia: Known for his dark intensity and idiosyncratic performances, Benicio Del Toro became one of Hollywood's more unique actors. His looks suggesting a hidden background as Wednesday Addams' hunky older brother, he first became known to film audiences in 1995 with his breakthrough performance in The Usual Suspects. Born February 19, 1967 in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Del Toro was the son of lawyers. His mother died when he was nine, and, four years later, his father moved the family to Mercersberg, PA, where they lived on a farm. While attending the University of California at San Diego, where he was working toward a business degree, Del Toro took an acting class and was soon hooked. He appeared in a number of student productions, one of which led to a stint performing at a drama festival at New York's Lafayette Theatre. Del Toro decided to remain in New York to study acting at the Circle in the Square Acting School and won a scholarship to the Stella Adler Conservatory.A move to Los Angeles, where he studied at the Actors Circle Theatre, led to Del Toro's first television roles, which included a guest spot on Miami Vice and an appearance as a drug dealer on the miniseries Drug Wars: The Camarena Story (1990). The actor also began showing up in feature films, perhaps most notably as Duke the Dog-Faced Boy in Big Top Pee-wee (1988). Despite fairly steady work, Del Toro was still virtually unknown when he was cast as the eccentric criminal Fenster in Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects. His slurred, otherworldly performance earned widespread praise, an Independent Spirit Award, and, coupled with the film's great success, Del Toro was soon thrust into the limelight that had hitherto eluded him. The actor followed up The Usual Suspects with a supporting role as the titular artist's best friend in Julian Schnabel's Basquiat (1996). Despite intriguing subject matter and a stellar cast, the film was something of a critical and commercial disappointment, although Del Toro's work did earn him a second Independent Spirit Award. Having thus put his trademark on offbeat character acting -- something that was also helped by his role as a gangster in Abel Ferrara's The Funeral (1996) -- Del Toro played a romantic lead opposite Alicia Silverstone in Excess Baggage (1997), a botched caper comedy that cast the actor as a bumbling car thief.Del Toro's next film, Terry Gilliam's much anticipated 1998 adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, would receive an intensely mixed critical reception. A drug-addled, hallucinatory odyssey, it starred Del Toro as Dr. Gonzo, protagonist Raoul Duke's (Johnny Depp basically playing Thompson) partner in crime. Del Toro earned strong notices for his portrayal of the portly, freewheeling, Samoan lawyer (based on real-life Thompson cohort Oscar Acosta), and his performance was widely touted as one of the best aspects of the film. Del Torogained further notice when he won several awards -- including the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe and Oscar -- for his role as a Mexican cop entangled in the international drug-trade war in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic (2000). The next year, Del Toro played a mentally disabled man wrongly accused of murder in director Sean Penn's sad tale of obsession, The Pledge, and earned his second Academy Award nomination for his performance in 21 Grams in 2003. Del Toro made his directorial debut in 2004, reuniting with Depp for an adaptation of another Hunter Thompson book, The Rum Diaries. He was also starred in Che (2008), Terrence Malick's biopic about Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara. This role led t many awards, including the Best Actor Award at the celebrated Cannes Film Festival. Later, in 2010, Del Toro starred in a remake of The Wolf Man, the classic creature feature from Lon Chaney, Jr.

Trivia: Advertised as "the face of the '80s," one-time model and Actors Studio-graduate Suzy Amis made her film bow in Fandango (1985). While making the film, Amis met her future husband Sam Robards, the son of Jason Robards, Jr. and Lauren Bacall. She followed Fandango with an off-Broadway appearance in Fresh Horses and next essayed an unprepossessing "goodie two-shoes" film role in The Big Town (1987). Despite having the least interesting assignment in that film, Amis managed to steal several scenes away from villainess Laura Dern. She further proved her acting mettle as the titular heroine of The Ballad of Little Jo (1993), portraying a young woman who passes herself off as a man to survive a harsh existence in the Old West. Unfortunately, although Amis earned a number of plaudits for her performance, the film all but disappeared at the box office. The actress turned up in lead and supporting roles in a number of varied films, including Rocket Gilbraltar (1988), Rich in Love (1993), The Usual Suspects (1995) -- which cast her as the film's only substantial female character -- and Titanic (1997), in which she played heroine Kate Winslet's great-granddaughter.

Trivia: Versatile American actor Giancarlo Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, but grew up in Manhattan from the age of six. His mother was an African-American nightclub singer (who once shared a bill with Josephine Baker) and his father was an Italian stagehand. In show business most of his life, Esposito made his Broadway debut in a 1966 production of Maggie Flynn. His other stage credits include Sacrilege, Miss Moffatt, and Balm in Gilead. He won a 1981 Theatre World Award for his performance in Zooman and the Sign.On the big screen, Esposito started appearing in Spike Lee films during the late '80s in a wide range of roles with great character names. He was the frat leader Julian "Big Brother Almighty" in School Daze, the outspoken reactionary Buggin' Out in Do the Right Thing, the dandy pianist Left Hand Lacey in Mo' Better Blues, and the criminal Thomas Hayer in Malcolm X. Esposito's other film roles include an investigative journalist in Bob Roberts, an activist in Amos & Andrew, and a game show host in Reckless. In 1995, he earned an Independent Spirit award nomination for his supporting role of doting drug dealer Esteban in Boaz Yakin's debut drama Fresh. Esposito also appeared in Wayne Wang and Paul Auster's Smoke, along with the sequel Blue in the Face. The next year, he turned briefly to producing with the independent prison film The Keeper, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.On television, Esposito appeared on NYPD Blue, Law & Order, and the short-lived Fox comedy Bakersfield, P.D. In 1999, he earned an Image award nomination for his role as FBI Agent Michael Giardello on Homicide: Life on the Street. He also has contributed to the Fox television dramas The $treet and girls club. While teaching at the Atlantic Theatre Company, Esposito found time to portray real-life figures in the biopics Ali (as Cassius Clay Sr.) and Piñero (as Miguel Algarin). Projects for 2004 included James Hunter's feature Back in the Day and the television movie NYPD 2069. He played a detective in the thriller Derailed, and appeared in the indie drama SherryBaby. In 2008 he directed, starred in, and helped write the drama Gospel Hill. In 2010 he joined the cast of the highly-respected AMC drama series Breaking Bad, and appeared in the 2012 big-screen thriller Alex Cross.

Trivia: Dan Hedaya has played a wide variety of characters on the stage, screen, and television. Fans of the long-running sitcom Cheers will remember Hedaya for his portrayal of barmaid Carla's grease bag husband Nick Tortelli. Following studies in literature at Tufts University, Hedaya launched his acting career. He then went on to act in the New York Shakespeare Festival for many years. Hedaya made his feature film debut in The Passover Plot (1975). Since 1980, Hedaya has appeared in over 20 feature films, and is frequently cast as cops, criminals, or rough-edged regular joes. In Blood Simple (1984), he got the opportunity to play a leading role as Marty, the jealous husband who hires a creepy detective to kill his faithless wife. It is on television, that Hedaya has found most of his work. He has guest-starred on numerous shows ranging from police and courtroom dramas like Hill Street Blues and Law and Order, to sitcoms such as Family Ties.

Trivia: American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker Paul Bartel is perhaps best known as the director and star of the quirky sleeper Eating Raoul (1982). Born in New York City, Bartel was a film aficionado since childhood and entered the industry at age 13 working as an assistant animator for UPA. He later studied film at UCLA and while there, made several short animated films and documentaries; for his work as a student actor and playwright, Bartel won several awards. Later he studied at Rome's prestigious Centro Sperimental di Cinematografica on a Fulbright Scholarship; there his graduation film, Progetti, was shown at the Venice Film Festival. Soon after coming back to the U.S., Bartel began working as an assistant director for military films; he then went on to make films for the U.S. government. As a feature filmmaker, Bartel is consistently drawn to the darkly funny, more perverse aspects of life. His provocative directorial debut was Private Parts (1972) which centered on a runaway teenage girl who encounters several residents involved with bizarre sexual practices in her aunt's ramshackle San Francisco hotel. Though it was a box office flop, the film earned Bartel decent notice from critics. He next involved himself with B-movie king Roger Corman and worked for him as both an actor and a second unit photographer. In 1974, he again tried directing with Big Bad Mama. He directed one more film before coming up with the screenplay for Eating Raoul. Directed by and starring Bartel, it is the ghastly but hilarious tale of an average couple who comes up with an unusual scam for making money involving sex for sale and a very large frying pan. Bartel was unable to find a distributor for the film until he entered it in the Los Angeles Film Festival where it generated such acclaim that 20th Century-Fox obtained the distribution rights. The film has since become a cult favorite. After the success of Raoul, Bartel continued directing a variety of films through the 1980s. Notable efforts from this time period include his wild satire of westerns Lust in the Dust (1985) and Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989). In the early '90s, he directed Shelf Life and then began focusing on his acting career and appearing in such films as The Jerky Boys (1994) and Basquiat (1996). He died of a heart attack, following surgery for liver cancer, on May 13, 2000.

Trivia: Clark Gregg has spun a successful career on the New York stage into a growing profile in motion pictures and television as an actor, writer, and director. Clark Gregg's career as an actor began when he was a student at New York University, where he became a protégé of noted playwright and director David Mamet. Mamet cast Gregg in his first film role -- a small part in 1988's Things Change -- and that same year he made his off-Broadway debut in Howard Korder's play A Boy's Life. With Mamet's help, Gregg co-founded the esteemed Atlantic Theater Company in New York in the late '80s, and in 1990, Gregg made his Broadway debut in Aaron Sorkin's drama A Few Good Men. Through the 1990s, Gregg gave a number of strong supporting performances in such films as Clear and Present Danger, The Usual Suspects, and Magnolia, with Gregg earning a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the Independent Spirit Awards for his striking turn as a transsexual in the independent feature The Adventures of Sebastian Cole. In television, Gregg scored recurring roles on the shows The Commish and Sports Night, as well as guest appearances on Sex and the City and The West Wing. And he remained a near-constant presence on the New York stage, earning Outer Critics Circle, Obie, and Drama Desk nominations for his work. Gregg also began directing for the stage, including well-received productions of Mamet's Edmond and Kevin Heelan's Distant Fires. In the late '90s, Gregg developed an interest in screenwriting, and began working on a supernatural thriller in his spare time. As chance would have it, Gregg's script came to the attention of Robert Zemeckis, who was eager to direct a thriller; Gregg's first screenplay became What Lies Beneath, which starred Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford, and became a major box-office success. He continued to work in a variety of indie and big-budget films including Lovely & Amazing, the Steven Spielberg sci-fi film A.I., Spartan, and In Good Company. In 2006 he landed a recurring role on the well-respected CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine. He became part of the Marvel universe when he took the part of Agent Coulson in Iron Man, a role he would return to in different comic-book adaptations. He returned to screenwriting and directing with the 2008 adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel Choke. His steady acting career continued with the indie hit (500) Days of Summer and Mr. Popper's Penguins.

Trivia: Heavyset, memorably colorful character actor Louis Lombardi attained recognition for his ability to tackle both aggressive and jovial roles with equal deftness. A Bronx native, Lombardi specialized in a down-to-earth, unaffected acting style he later termed "naturalistic." The thespian debuted on film at age 25 (around 1993) in the drama Amongst Friends. Though it received limited theatrical exposure, its run on the festival circuit and appearance at Sundance caught the eye of Oliver Stone, who felt impressed by Lombardi and cast him as Deputy Sparky in the ultraviolent media evisceration Natural Born Killers. 1994 represented Lombardi's breakthrough year -- one that witnessed him not merely working with Stone, but with such heavyweights as John Landis (in Beverly Hills Cop 3) and Tim Burton (in Ed Wood). By affording the actor the exposure he needed, that triple play left the door wide open for Lombardi to tackle new and successive projects on the big screen and television, including the features 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001), Animal (2001), and Wonderland (2003), and such series as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Ugly Betty, and 24.

Trivia: An actor with publicized demons, Peter Greene made a name for himself with his ability to convey raw yet quiet menace. Born and raised in New Jersey, Greene headed to New York as a teenager, but did not discover acting until his mid-20s. Trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, Greene acted in several plays and made his film debut as one of the central thieves in Nick Gomez's edgy New York story Laws of Gravity (1991). Burnishing his baleful screen presence with performances as an insane father in the violent indie Clean, Shaven (1993) and a gangster in Judgment Night (1993), Greene relocated to Hollywood and made his intense presence felt in a trio of hit films. Following a substantial supporting role as one of the bad guys in the Jim Carrey comedy The Mask (1994), Greene played small yet crucial parts in two key 1990s gangster films: the infamous sadist (and chopper owner) Zed in Pulp Fiction (1994) and the sinister fence Redfoot in The Usual Suspects (1995). Following his performance as a blackmailer in The Rich Man's Wife (1996), Greene went into rehab to kick a near-lethal drug addiction. After his release, Greene returned to playing the heavy in both indie and Hollywood productions, including a bad cop in Bang (1997), Martin Lawrence's former criminal partner in Blue Streak (1999), and one of Ben Stiller's drug buddies in the addiction memoir Permanent Midnight (1998).