Trivia: Though perhaps best-known internationally for playing tough-guy roles in Romper Stomper (1993), L.A. Confidential (1997), and Gladiator (2000), New Zealand-born actor Russell Crowe has proven himself equally capable of playing gentler roles in films such as Proof (1991) and The Sum of Us (1992). No matter what kind of characters he plays, Crowe's weather-beaten handsomeness and gruff charisma combine to make him constantly watchable: his one-time Hollywood mentor Sharon Stone has called him "the sexiest guy working in movies today."Born in Wellington, New Zealand, on April 7, 1964, Crowe was raised in Australia from the age of four. His parents made their living by catering movie shoots, and often brought Crowe with them to work; it was while hanging around the various sets that he developed a passion for acting. After making his professional debut in an episode of the television series Spyforce when he was six, Crowe took a 12-year break from professional acting, netting his next gig when he was 18. In film, he had his first major roles in such dramas as The Crossing (1990) and Jocelyn Moorhouse's widely praised Proof (1991) (for which he won an Australian Film Institute award). He then went on to gain international recognition for his intense, multi-layered portrayal of a Melbourne skinhead in Geoffrey Wright's controversial Romper Stomper (1992), winning another AFI award, as well as an Australian Film Critics award. It was Sharon Stone who helped bring Crowe to Hollywood to play a gunfighter-turned-preacher opposite her in Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead (1995). Though the film was not a huge box-office success, it did open Hollywood doors for Crowe, who subsequently split his time between the U.S. and Australia. In 1997, the actor had his largest success to date playing volatile cop Bud White in Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential (1997). Following the praise surrounding both the film and his performance in it, Crowe found himself working steadily in Hollywood, starring in two films released in 1999: Mystery, Alaska and The Insider. In the latter, he gave an Oscar-nominated lead performance as Jeffrey Wigand, a real-life tobacco industry employee whose personal life was dragged through the mud when he chose to blow the whistle on his former company's questionable business practices.In 2000, however, Crowe finally crossed over into the public's consciousness with, literally, a tour de force performance in Ridley Scott's glossy Roman epic Gladiator. The Dreamworks/Universal co-production was a major gamble from the outset, devoting more than 100 million dollars to an unfinished script (involving the efforts of at least half a dozen writers), an untested star (stepping into a role originally intended for Mel Gibson), and an all-but-dead genre (the sword-and-sandals adventure). Thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign and mostly positive notices, however, the public turned out in droves the first weekend of the film's release, and kept coming back long into the summer for Gladiator's potent blend of action, grandeur, and melodrama -- all anchored by Crowe's passionate man-of-few-words performance.Anticipation was high, then, for the actor's second 2000 showing, the hostage drama Proof of Life. Despite -- or perhaps because of -- the widely publicized affair between Crowe and his co-star Meg Ryan, the film failed to generate much heat during the holiday box-office season, and attention turned once again to the actor's star-making role some six months prior. In an Oscar year devoid of conventionally spectacular epics, Gladiator netted 12 nominations in February 2001, including one for its lead performer. While many wags viewed the film's eventual Best Picture victory as a fluke, the same could not be said for Crowe's Best Actor victory: nudging past such stiff competition as Tom Hanks and Ed Harris, Crowe finally nabbed a statue, affirming for Hollywood the talent that critics had first noticed almost ten years earlier.Crowe's 2001 role as real-life Nobel Prize-winning schizophrenic mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. brought the actor back into the Oscar arena. The film vaulted past the 100-million-dollar mark as it took home Golden Globes for Best Picture, Supporting Actress, Screenplay, and Actor and racked up eight Oscar nominations, including a Best Actor nod for Crowe. The film cemented Crowe as a top-tier leading man, and he would spend the following years proving this again and again, with landmark roles in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Cinderella Man, A Good Year, 3:10 to Yuma, Robin Hood, and State of Play.

Trivia: Tall and handsome in a meat-eating sort of way, Ben Affleck has the looks of a matinee idol and the résumé of an actor who honed his craft as an indie film slacker before flexing his muscles as a Hollywood star. A staple of Kevin Smith films and such seminal indies as Dazed and Confused, Affleck became a star and entered the annals of Hollywood legend when he and best friend Matt Damon wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting, winning a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for their work.Born in Berkeley, California on August 15, 1972 to a schoolteacher mother and drug rehab counselor father, Affleck was the oldest of two brothers. His younger brother, Casey, also became an actor. When he was very young, Affleck's family moved to the Boston area, and it was there that he broke into acting. At the age of eight, he starred in PBS's marine biology-themed The Voyage of the Mimi, endearing himself to junior high school science classes everywhere. The same year he made Mimi, Affleck made the acquaintance of Matt Damon, a boy two years his senior who lived down the street. The two became best friends and, of course, eventual collaborators. After a fling with higher education at both the University of Vermont and California's Occidental College, Affleck set out for Hollywood. He began appearing in made-for-TV movies and had a small role in School Ties, a 1992 film that also featured Damon. Further bit work followed in Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused (1993) and Kevin Smith's Mallrats (1995). Around this time, both Affleck and Damon were getting fed up with the lack of substantial work to be found in Hollywood, and they decided to write a screenplay that would feature them as the leads. Affleck's brother Casey introduced them to Gus Van Sant, who had directed Casey in To Die For. Thanks to Van Sant's interest, the script was picked up by Miramax, and in 1997 the story of a troubled mathematical genius living in South Boston became known as Good Will Hunting. Before the film's release, Affleck starred in Smith's Chasing Amy that same year; the tale of a comic book artist (Affleck) in love with a lesbian (Joey Lauren Adams), it received good reviews and showed Affleck to be a viable leading man. The subsequent success of Good Will Hunting and the Best Original Screenplay Oscar awarded to Affleck and Damon effectively transformed both young men from struggling actors into Hollywood golden boys. Having won his own Golden Boy, Affleck settled comfortably into a reputation as one of the industry's most promising young actors. His status was further enhanced by widespread media reports of an ongoing relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow.The following year, Affleck could be seen in no less than three major films, ranging from his self-mocking supporting role in the Oscar-winning period comedy Shakespeare in Love to the thriller Phantoms to the big-budget box-office monster Armageddon. In 1999, Affleck continued to keep busy, appearing in a dizzying four movies. He could be seen as a dull bartender in 200 Cigarettes, an errant groom in Forces of Nature, a stock market head hunter in The Boiler Room, and a supporting cast member in Billy Bob Thornton's sophomore directorial effort, Daddy and Them. Finally, Affleck reunited with Smith and Damon for Dogma, starring with the latter as a pair of fallen angels in one of the year's more controversial films. In 2000, he would appear as an ex-con trying to mend his ways in Reindeer Games, with Charlize Theron. Re-teaming with Armageddon cohort Michael Bay again in 2001 for another exercise in overbudgeted excess, Affleck flew into action in Pearl Harbor. Despite unanimous lambasting from critics, Pearl Harbor blasted to number one at the box office, earning $75.2 million on its Memorial Day weekend opening and beginning a summer-2001 trend of high profile films with precipitous box-office runs. Following a self-mocking return to the Smith collective in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) and spearheading, along with Damon, the innovative HBO series Project: Greenlight, Affleck returned to the Hollywood machine with roles in Changing Lanes and The Sum of All Fears (both 2002). Filling the shoes of Harrison Ford as a green version of Ford's famous Jack Ryan persona, The Sum of All Fears contemplated a radical group's plan to detonate a nuclear weapon at a major sporting event during a time of particularly sensitive public distress at such an idea. With the massive success of Spider-Man in the summer of 2002 prompting numerous comic-book superhero revivals, Affleck would next suit up for the role of Daredevil. As a lawyer turned into a true public defender following a mishap involving radioactive waste, Daredevil's incredibly enhanced senses enable him to get the jump on New York City evil-doers and with his athletic physique and heroically protruding chin Affleck seemed just the man to suit-up for the job. If Affleck's turn as a blind crimefighter found dedicated comic book fans turning up their noses in disgust, the lukewarm performance of that particular effort would hardly compare to the critical lashing of his subsequent efforts Gigli, Paycheck, and Jersey Girl. A notorious flop that couldn't be mentioned to movie lovers without fear of derisive laughter, Gigli alone would have likely sunken the career of a lesser star. Though Hollywood gossip rags were indeed talking about Affleck, it was more the result of his turbulent relationship with singer and Gigli co-star Jennifer Lopez than it was anything to do with his acting career. Just when it seemed that the ubiquitous "Ben and Jen" gossip that fueled the tabloids couldn't get more tiresome, the celebrity power-couple broke up their frequently discussed engagement to the surprise of only the most optimistic {E! Channel viewer. Wed to Alias star Jennifer Garner in 2005, Affleck subsequently skewered Hollywood materialism in the showbiz comedy Man About Town before making a cameo in pal Smith's eagerly-anticipated sequel Clerks II. By this point Affleck was certainly no stranger to Hollywood controversy, a fact that likely played well into his decision to strap on the famous red cape to portray original television Superman George Reeves in the 2006 Tinseltown mystery Hollywoodland. As the 2000's rolled onward, Affleck would appear in a number of films that garnered a lukewarm reception, like Smokin' Aces, He's Just Not That Into You, and State of Play. He would reverse that trend with a vengeance in 2007, directing and writing the critically acclaimed crime thriller Gone Baby Gone. He followed that up by directing and starring in The Town, and that film put Affleck squarely back into audiences' good graces. He immediately got to work on his next big project, working both behind and in front of the camera once again for the political thriller Argo which garnered strong reviews, solid box office, and a slew of year-end awards and nabbed Affleck his second Oscar, as a producer of the film, when it won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, even though Affleck was not nominated for Best Director. He appeared in Runner, Runner, opposite Justin Timberlake, in 2013 and played the accused husband in the hit 2014 film Gone Girl. Affleck was announced as the next Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and is scheduled to reprise the role in later Justice League films.

Trivia: Possessing the sort of stylish, model-esque good looks that wouldn't be out of place in the glossy pages of Vogue, actress Rachel McAdams got her start on Canadian television before graduating to Hollywood features. Though McAdams' early screen roles found her specializing in the bitchy teen princess to maximum effect, closer inspection reveals a skilled dramatic actress who no doubt has the talent to move beyond the high-school trappings of such comedies as The Hot Chick and Mean Girls.Born to a truck driver and a nurse in London, Ontario, Canada, McAdams warmed to the spotlight early on by taking up competitive skating at just four years old. Though she would remain on the ice well into her teens, the toll of constant competition eventually frazzled her nerves, and she soon began gravitating toward the stage. Beginning in summer theater camp at the age of 13, the burgeoning actress' smooth handling of Shakespeare eventually led her to enroll in theater studies at York University. In the years that followed, McAdams' comfort on the stage translated exceptionally well to the screen, and a role as a bulimic teen in the popular Disney series The Famous Jett Jackson found the rising starlet making an impressive small-screen debut. Supporting roles in such television series as Shotgun Love Dolls and made-for-TV features such as Guilt by Association were quick to follow. After climbing the credits to make her feature debut in My Name is Tanino, McAdams was nominated for a Genie award (the Canadian equivalent of an Oscar) for her performance in 2002's Perfect Pie. The film, which cast her as a small-town girl whose best friend makes the big time by becoming a celebrated opera singer, provided McAdams with her breakout role, and she soon set her sights on Hollywood. Her bags packed for the trip west and stars shining in her eyes, the talented McAdams soon caught the eyes of studio heavies and was cast as a popular but excruciatingly cruel high-school teen who learns a hard lesson in The Hot Chick. McAdams made a move to weekly television in 2003 with a supporting role in Slings and Arrows before once again returning to torment the unpopular crowd in 2004's Mean Girls. A big-screen adaptation of Rosalind Wiseman's popular book Queen Bees and Wannabes, the film was also notable as the screenwriting debut of Saturday Night Live writer/cast member Tina Fey. Moving away from the cruel halls of high school, McAdams next appeared opposite Ryan Gosling in The Notebook, the feature adaptation of author Nicholas Sparks' top-selling novel. A romantic drama concerning a young couple separated by war, The Notebook found McAdams in a notably more sympathetic role.In 2005, she pulled off an impressive triple-feat with roles in three very different movies. First, she played the female lead in Wedding Crashers, a surprise, raunchy comedic hit. Her next film was in the thriller Red Eye, where she squared off against Cillian Murphy. Her third film of the year was the family dramedy The Family Stone, with McAdams playing the sardonic younger sister of the family. After this busy year, McAdams opted to take a nearly two-year break.She returned quietly, doing some smaller films, before returning in 2009 to main-stream fare with State of Play and The Time Traveler's Wife, and finally, playing Irene Adler in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes. In 2011, she was nominated for a SAG Ensemble Award for Midnight in Paris, once again paired up with Owen Wilson (her co-star from Wedding Crashers), in a film that won Woody Allen an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. She also reprised her role in the Sherlock Holmes sequel, A Game of Shadows. In 2012, McAdams returned to her romantic-drama roots and starred in The Vow, opposite Channing Tatum.McAdams continued to alternate between romcoms and other genres, like Richard Curtis' About Time and Brian De Palma's thriller Passion. In 2015, she took on a supporting role in Spotlight, earning McAdams her first Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actress.

Trivia: Perhaps the ultimate thinking man's sex symbol, Helen Mirren is also one of the most respected actresses of British stage, screen, and television. With classical training, years of work on the London stage, an acclaimed television series, and dozens of films to her name, Mirren has proven herself an actress of talent, versatility, and unforgettable presence.Born Ilynea Lydia Mironoff on July 26, 1945, in London, Mirren is a descendant of the White Russian nobility. Her father was a member of an aristocratic Russian military family who came to England during the Russian Revolution, but while Mirren was growing up, he worked in turn as a violinist with the London Philharmonic, a taxi driver, and a driving instructor. His daughter, on the other hand, knew her true calling by the age of six, when she realized she wanted to become an actress, in the "old-fashioned and traditional sense." After trying to please her parents with a stint at a teacher's college, Mirren joined the National Youth Theatre, where she first made her mark playing Cleopatra. The acclaim for her performance led the way to other work, and she was soon a member of the vaunted Royal Shakespeare Company, with whom she performed a wide range of classics. Her stage career thriving, Mirren made her screen debut in 1968 in the somewhat forgettable Herostratus. The same year, she made a more auspicious appearance as Hermia in Peter Hall's lauded adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and her screen career soon took off. She worked steadily throughout the late '60s and '70s, starring in 1969's Age of Consent and working with such directors as Robert Altman on The Long Goodbye (1973) and Lindsay Anderson on O Lucky Man! (also 1973). In 1977, Mirren earned permanent notoriety for her work in Caligula, a mainstream porn offering from the powers at Penthouse that also starred such notables as Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud, and Malcolm McDowell.During the subsequent decade, Mirren continued to work on the stage, and she also broadened her cinematic resumé and fan base with such films as Excalibur (1981) and Cal (1984). Her portrayal of an older woman in love with a younger man in the latter film earned her a Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival and further established her reputation as an actress willing to explore the kind of unconventional relationships often ignored on the screen. The actress' willingness go beyond safe conventionality was demonstrated with her work in such films as The Mosquito Coast (1986), Pascali's Island (1988), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989), and The Comfort of Strangers (1991). She again took on the role of an older woman in love with a younger man in Where Angels Fear to Tread in 1991, proving that seven years after Cal, her powers of attraction had been in no way tempered by time.At the beginning of the 1990s, Mirren began appearing on the television series Prime Suspect. Her character, Jane Tennison, a hard-boiled detective, proved immensely popular with viewers and critics alike, and she stayed with the series for its seven incarnations. Mirren also continued to do acclaimed work for the stage and screen, earning a Cannes Best Actress award and Oscar and BAFTA nominations for her work in The Madness of King George in 1994, and making her Broadway debut in Turgenev's A Month in the Country in 1995. The following year, she earned further acclaim for her work in Some Mother's Son, in which she played the mother of a Belfast prison hunger striker. In 1997, Mirren found the time to marry producer/director Taylor Hackford before signing on to provide the voice of the Queen in the Disney animated film The Prince of Egypt (1998). In 1999, she played the titular teacher in Kevin Williamson's disappointing Teaching Mrs. Tingle, earning the only good reviews given the movie, and she again won over critics with her title role in the made-for-television The Passion of Ayn Rand, earning an Emmy for her performance. Back on the big screen, Mirren continued with a lighthearted role as a master gardener in Greenfingers (2000), turned up in director Hal Hartley's comic monster fable No Such Thing (2001) and earned her second Oscar nomination for her re-teaming with Altman in the director's acclaimed comedy Gosford Park (2001).This pattern solidified for Mirren as her career moved through the new millennium. She was well received for her performance in yet another quirky British sleeper in 2003, with Calendar Girls. In it she played a middle-aged woman who raises money (as well as eyebrows) for a Women's Institute by posing nude with her peers. She also made notable appearances in movies like the thriller The Clearing (2004) and the romantic comedy Raising Helen (2004), before awing audiences with a performance in Shadowboxer (2005) as an assassin who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. 2005 would prove to be a special year for Mirren as September of that year would kick off a full 12 months of nonstop praise and excitement. Two of Mirren's projects would emerge during this period that would usher her into the upper tier of cinema's lead actresses -- a place that critics and fans had known she belonged all along. Coincidentally, these two projects would find her playing two different English monarchs who shared the same name. First, her performance as Queen Elizabeth I in the BBC miniseries Elizabeth I aired in September 2005, blowing viewers away with her ability to convey the full power and command of perhaps the most important crowned head in British history, all while confined to the small screen. Immersing herself into the opulent 16th century costumes and sets, Mirren tackled the Virgin Queen as a leader, a woman, and a human being, leaving such an impression that the miniseries was later aired in the U.S. By September 2006, the commotion over Mirren's performance had died down just enough for her to make an even bigger splash with her acclaimed role as Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears' film The Queen. Despite the shared name, playing the modern-day figure was as different from her earlier role as it could be. Taking place in 1997 after the death of the globally beloved Princess Diana -- whose divorce from Prince Charles had been a source of epic tabloid controversy -- The Queen found Mirren playing a monarch who wielded little-to-no executive power, but whose title derived all its meaning from tradition, symbolism, and national pride. Mirren handled this queen with gentle attention to detail, following her on confused journeys both personal and in the national consciousness, showing her surprise and bewilderment as the stoic exterior on which a queen's public face had always been built suddenly caused her to be reviled. Mirren's two Elizabeths were both honored with Golden Globe wins, one for Best Actress in a Drama, and one for Best Actress in a TV Movie or Mini-Series. She was further rewarded for her efforts by capturing the Oscar for Best Actress in The Queen.In the next year she appeared in the blockbuster sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets, but in 2009 she starred opposite Christopher Plummer in The Last Station as the wife of the dying Leo Tolstoy. For her work in that drama Mirren garnered acting nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, the Independent Spirit Awards, and the Academy. Substantial roles continued to rack up honors and acclaim for the actress in 2010, as she played an intriguing role as a former Mossad agent in The Debt, and no-longer-retired secret agent in Red, and none other than the leading role in William Shakespeare's The Tempest - with the gender of the part changed to female. Mirren would then make a comic turn in the 2011 remake of Arthur alongside British comedian Russell Brand, before delving back into drama once more with the reflective 2012 film The Door.

Trivia: Became a model at age 14 after being spotted rollerskating by a photographer; worked in France and Japan before quitting the business and deciding to be an actor. Received three Daytime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Ingenue in a Drama Series for her work on the NBC soap Santa Barbara (1986-88); also chosen as Outstanding Heroine by readers of Soap Opera Digest in 1988. Her wedding to Sean Penn was attended by Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, and the best man was producer Art Linson (Fast Times at Ridgemont High). Shortly after marrying Penn in 1996, was carjacked in their Santa Monica driveway; neither she nor their children were hurt, and both perpetrators were apprehended. Was a juror at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival; ex-husband Sean Penn was the jury's president in 2008.

Trivia: The younger brother of Family Ties star Justine Bateman, actor Jason Bateman has been a mainstay on television since the 1980s, starring in countless sitcoms of varying success. He first displayed his scene-stealing propensity in the role of young sharpster Derek Taylor, best friend of star Ricky Schroder, on Silver Spoons. The audience response to Bateman was so positive that the 15-year-old was given his own sitcom vehicle in 1984, as "teenaged con man" Matthew Burton on It's Your Move. When this series was cancelled after one season, Bateman moved to the long-running role of wise-guy teen David Hogan on the mid-1980s series Valerie, which of course later changed names (and leading actresses) to emerge as The Hogan Family. During this period, Bateman also found time to star or co-star in a handful of feature films, such as the 1985 made-for-TV summer-camp comedy Poison Ivy, Teen Wolf, Too, and 1991's Necessary Roughness. However, none of the projects were successful enough to give Bateman a springboard to bigscreen stardom.Following the conclusion of The Hogan Family in 1991, Bateman embarked on a decade plagued by failed TV outings. On top of several pilots that never even saw the light of day, he was the lead in no less than four ill-fated sitcoms, Simon, George and Leo, Chicago Sons, and Some of My Best Friends. Fortunately, as the new millenium was ushered in, things started to look bright for Bateman. After a supporting turn in the Cameron Diaz comedy The Sweetest Thing, his first major theatrical feature in a decade, he was tapped to lead the eclectic ansemble cast of the Ron Howard-produced Fox sitcom Arrested Development. Acclaimed for its smart humor and fresh concept, the show became a hit with critics and viewers.In the wake of Arrested Development's success, Bateman continued to increase his presence in the world of comedy, but henceforth on the silver screen. He made memorable appearances in 2004 comedies like Starsky and Hutch and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, as well as more serious fare, like the 2007 Iraq War movie The Kingdom, but Bateman's next major hit seemed to come later that year, with a memorable supporting role in the comedy Juno. He would continue to be a mainstay in comedy, however, with appearances in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Invention of Lying, Extract, Couples Retreat, and The Switch, but the actor would continue to surprise audiences with more dramatic films as well, like 2009's State of Play and Up in the Air. For comedy fans, Bateman couldn't be avoided in 2011, with roles in Horrible Bosses as well as The Change-Up. Soon, he was signing up to star alongside Olivia Wilde and Billy Cruddup in The Longest Week, and Alexander Skarsgard in Disconnect.

Trivia: A memorable voice and a major talent, Chicago-born Harry J. Lennix first caught audiences' attention with the role of Dr. Greg Fischer on the medical drama ER. He would go on to make waves in films like Collateral Damage, The Matrix sequels, and Ray. as the 2000's and 2010's unfolded, Lennix would add more prominent TV roles to his resume, memorably starring on 24, Commander in Chief, and Dollhouse.

Trivia: Fans of Zach Braff's comedy Garden State (2004) will invariably be able to identify actor Michael Weston from his participation in that film; he played Kenny, the loudmouthed (and profane) cokehead-turned-cop who turns up to read Braff's character the riot act for speeding. The impression made here was not unique; Weston first bowed onscreen during the very late '90s and developed and honed a reputation for memorable one- and two-scene performances over the course of many Hollywood projects. Credits included the slick urban comedy Coyote Ugly (2000), the light crime comedy Lucky Numbers (2000), and the war drama Hart's War (2002). With his performance as hayseed deputy Enos Strate in The Dukes of Hazzard (2005), Weston ascended to supporting billing; he subsequently joined the cast of the Jason Biggs comedy Wedding Daze (2006) and Marc Schoelermann's medical thriller Pathology (2008).

Trivia: Though he has never achieved the high profile or widespread acclaim of a Robert De Niro, Jeff Daniels ranks as one of Hollywood's most versatile leading men and over his career he has played everything from villains and cads to heroes and romantic leads to tragic figures and lovably goofy idiots, in movies of almost every genre. Daniels has also worked extensively on television and stage, where he first distinguished himself by winning an Obie for a production of Johnny Got His Gun. Blonde, cleft-chinned, and handsome in a rugged all-American way, Daniels made his screen debut playing PC O'Donnell in Milos Forman's Ragtime (1981). His breakthrough came when he was cast as Debra Winger's inconstant husband in Terms of Endearment (1983). Daniels has subsequently averaged one or two major feature films per year with notable performances, including: his memorable dual portrayal of a gallant movie hero/self-absorbed star who steps out of celluloid to steal the heart of lonely housewife Mia Farrow in Woody Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo (1984); his turn as a man terrified of spiders who finds himself surrounded by them in the horror-comedy Arachnophobia; and his role as Union officer Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, who led his troops into doom in Gettysburg (1993). In 1994, Daniels took a radical turn away from drama to star as one of the world's stupidest men opposite comic sensation Jim Carrey in the Farrelly brothers' hyperactive Dumb and Dumber. This lowest-common-denominator comedy proved one of the year's surprise hits and brought Daniels to a new level of recognition and popularity. Since then, Daniels has alternated more frequently between drama and comedy. His television credits include a moving portrayal of a troubled Vietnam vet in a Hallmark Hall of Fame production, Redwood Curtain. Daniels still maintains his connection to the stage and manages his own theatrical company. Before launching his acting career, he earned a degree in English from Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, MI. The later '90s found Daniels turning homeward and venturing into new territories through his labor of love, the Purple Rose Theater. Located in the small town of Chelsea, MI, the bus garage turned playhouse was designed to give Midwestern audiences the opportunity to enjoy entertainment generally reserved for big-city dwellers. Though he continued to appear in such films as Fly Away Home (1996) and Pleasantville (1998), Daniels made his feature directorial debut with the celluloid translation of his successful Yooper stage comedy Escanaba in da Moonlight (2000). Set in the Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P., hence "Yooper"), the tale of redemption by means of bagging a buck mixed the regionally accented humor of Fargo with the eccentricities inherent to northerners and served as an ideal directorial debut for the Michigan native. A modest regional success, Daniels would subsequently appear in such wide releases as Blood Work and The Hours (both 2002) before returning to the director's chair for the vacuum-salesman comedy Super Sucker (also 2002). Later reprising his role as Lt. Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain from Gettysburg, Daniels once again went back in time for the Civial War drama Gods and Generals (2002). In 2004 he appeared in the adaptation of fellow Michigander Mitch Albom's best-seller The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and the next year he earned rave reviews for his role as a self-absorbed academic and terrible father in The Squid and the Whale. He continued to work steadily in a variety of projects including the Robin Williams vehicle RV, the indie thriller The Lookout, and Away We Go. He portrayed a Senator in the American remake of the British miniseries State of Play in 2009, and three years later he was cast as the lead in Aaron Sorkin's first cable series, The Newroom, playing the host of a cable news program who decides to tell it like it really is.

Trivia: A square-jawed, stark-countenanced actor whose features naturally projected more than a passing undercurrent of menace, David Harbour gravitated almost by default to edgy characterizations. He debuted on-camera with appearances on television series programs including Hack and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, then transitioned to the big screen with a portrayal of Robert Kinsey, a relative of controversial sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, in Bill Condon's well-received period biopic Kinsey (2004), before signing for additional supporting roles in Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds (2005) and Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain (2005). In the meantime, Harbour also eked out an impressive stage career, reaching his pinnacle as Nick in the 2005 Broadway revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opposite Kathleen Turner, Bill Irwin, and others.

Trivia: A graduate of the Juilliard School, Viola Davis built an exceptional background in theater productions and has continued to perform on-stage throughout her television and film career. Making her feature-film debut in 1996 as a nurse in The Substance of Fire, she followed that up with several TV movies and guest-star appearances on dramatic series like Law & Order and NYPD Blue. She went on to play another nurse in City of Angels, a hospital drama with a predominately African-American cast that didn't last long on CBS. She began collaborating with Steven Soderbergh for Out of Sight, and went on to star in two of the director's next few films, Traffic and Solaris. In 2001, she appeared in Kate and Leopold and in Oprah Winfrey's television presentation of Amy & Isabelle. The next year she played parts in both Far From Heaven and Denzel Washington's directorial debut, Antwone Fisher.Davis continued to work steadily in a variety of notable projects including Steven Soderbergh's Solaris, Syriana, and played a notable part in the television movie biopic of American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino. However, in 2008 she landed the small but crucial role of the mother in John Patrick Shanley's adaptation of his award-winning play Doubt. Although her screen time is minimal, her indelible performance garnered her Best Supporting Actress nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy. Davis became a well known entity almost instantly, and was soon filling her docket with projects like 2009's State of Play, 2010's Knight and Day and Eat Pray Love, and an arc on the series United States of Tara.Davis next appeared in the box office hit 2011 big screen adaptation of Kathryn Sockett 's period novel The Help, garnering still more praise as well as Best Actress nominations from the Academy, BAFTA, the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Golden Globes, and the Screen Actors Guild. Her performance was still making waves when the critics began lauding her agian, this time for her role in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close that same year.

Trivia: An actor of unusual talent, Edward Norton attained almost instant stardom with his film debut in 1996's Primal Fear. For his thoroughly chilling breakthrough performance as a Kentucky altar boy accused of murder, Norton was credited with saving an otherwise mediocre film and further rewarded with Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. Remarkably disconnected from all of the hype that is usually associated with fresh talent, Norton has gone on to further prove his worth in such films as American History X, The People vs. Larry Flynt, and Fight Club.The son of a former Carter Administration federal prosecutor and an English teacher, as well as the grandson of famed developer James Rouse, Norton was born in Boston on August 18, 1969. He was raised in the planned community of Columbia, MD, and from an early age was known as an extremely bright and somewhat serious person. His interest in acting began at the age of five when his babysitter, Betsy True (who went on to become an actress on stage and screen), took him to a musical adaptation of Cinderella. Shortly after that, Norton enrolled at Orenstein's Columbia School for Theatrical Arts, making his stage debut at the age of eight in a local production of Annie Get Your Gun. Although young, Norton already exhibited an unusual amount of professionalism and took his subsequent roles seriously. After high school, he studied astronomy, history, and Japanese at Yale, and was also active in the university's theatrical productions. After earning a history degree, Norton spent a few months in Japan and then moved to New York, where he worked for the Enterprise Foundation, a group devoted to stopping urban decay. Again, Norton continued acting at every opportunity and eventually decided to become a full-time actor. In 1994, he appeared in Edward Albee's Fragments after deeply impressing the distinguished playwright during an audition. Norton then joined the New York Signature Theater Company, which frequently premieres Albee's plays. With a number of off-Broadway credits to his name, Norton won his role in Primal Fear after being chosen out of 2,100 hopefuls. He nabbed the part after telling casting directors in a flawless drawl that he was a native of eastern Kentucky, the same area where the character came from; legend has it that the actor watched Coal Miner's Daughter to learn the accent. The intensity of Norton's screen test readings stunned almost all who saw them, and the actor became something of a hot property even before the film was released. The same year, Norton was cast as Drew Barrymore's affable fiancé in Woody Allen's tribute to Hollywood musicals, Everyone Says I Love You. Like all of the other actors in the film (excepting Barrymore), Norton did his own singing, further impressing audiences and critics alike with his versatility. Then, as if two completely different films in one year weren't enough, Norton again wowed audiences that same year with his portrayal of a determined defense attorney in Milos Forman's widely acclaimed The People vs. Larry Flynt. In 1998, Norton turned in two more stellar performances. The first was as Matt Damon's low-life buddy, the appropriately named Worm, in Rounders. The fact that Norton's work was more or less overshadowed by the film's lackluster reviews was almost negligible when compared to the controversy surrounding his other major project that year, American History X. Norton's stunningly powerful portrayal of a reformed white supremacist won him an Oscar nomination, but the film itself was both a box-office disappointment and the subject of vituperative disassociation on the part of its director Tony Kaye, who insisted that Norton and the studio had edited his film beyond recognition. Despite such embittered controversy, Norton managed to emerge from the mess relatively unscathed. After serving as one of the narrators for the acclaimed documentary Out of the Past the same year, he went on to star opposite Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter in Fight Club in 1999. Though that film garnered a mixed reaction at the box office, a stellar DVD release helped the film to form a solid fan base and Norton next moved on to the slightly more successful crime drama The Score (2001). After dropping a full-fledged bomb with his appearance as a naive children's show host in Danny DeVito's black comedy Death to Smoochy, Norton assisted love interest Salma Hayek by offering an uncredited re-write of the script. Norton would also make a brief appearance as Nelson Rockefeller in the film. Drawn to the mystique of screen villain Hannibal Lecter, Norton's next major film was that of FBI agent Will Graham in the well-recieved 2002 thriller Red Dragon. Though a virtual remake of Michael Mann's 1986 effort Manhunter, Red Dragon stood tall enough on its own terms to gain the respect of both fans of the previous version as well as fans of the book. His appearance as a drug dealer celebrating one last night on the town before serving a prison term in Spike Lee's 25th Hour drew decent enought reviews, though its ultimate take at the box office proved fairly disappointing. An appearance in the high profile 2003 remake The Italian Job caused something of a rift in industry headlines when Norton made it publicly known that his participation in the film was strictly a result of contractual obligation, and in 2005 the actor would return to quieter, more challenging territory with his portrayal of a delusional cowboy wannabe in Dahmer director David Jacobson's Down in the Valley. A headlining performance as a turn-of-the-century Vienna magician who uses his powers to win the love of the woman he longs for in the romantic fantasy The Illusionist found Norton making a particularly powerful impression opposite Paul Giamatti and Jessical Biel, and later that same year he would return to the screen in director John Curran's screen adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel The Painted Veil. Meanwhile, the sneaking suspicion that Norton wasn't quite living up to early career expectations was growing difficult to ignore; though his turn as Bruce Banner in 2008's The Incredible Hulk drew generally favorable reviews (it didn't hurt that the film itself was markedly more exciting than Ang Lee's misguided 2003 take on the material), Norton's next film Pride and Glory proved somewhat forgettable, and his quirky duel role in Tim Blake Nelson's Leaves of Grass only received a limited theatrical release before getting lost in the shuffle. Poor reviews for Norton's 2010 film Stone didn't help much to reinvigorate his career, and when it was announced that Mark Ruffalo would be taking over the role of Banner in Joss Whedon's all-star comic book romp The Avengers, some feared that the actor's previous rift with Marvel Studios had come back to haunt him.In 2012, when he took high-profile roles in two eagerly anticipated films -- Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom and Tony Gilroy's The Bourne Legacy, and two years later he earned rave reviews for his supporting turn as a monstrously egotistical and hugely talented actor in Alejandro Inarritu's Birdman, a part that earned him an Oscar nomination and a slew of other industry accolades.

Trivia: An actress best known for her ongoing series portrayal of Tammi Littlenut, best friend of Jerri Blank on the Comedy Central Afterschool Special send-up Strangers with Candy, actress Maria Thayer specialized in farce. She went on to distinguish herself in offbeat comedies including the teen-oriented Accepted (2006) and the Judd Apatow-produced romantic comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008).

Trivia: Studied classical harp as a child, playing at Carnegie Hall at age 10. Danced ballet with the Balanchine Company at the New York City Ballet, but was forced to quit dance after an injury at age 18. Made her Broadway debut in a 1987 production of Pygmalion. Has appeared regularly on stage, including 1987's Pygmalion with Peter O'Toole and 1996's The Shawl with Dianne Wiest.

Trivia: A child of artists, Brooklyn native Zoe Lister-Jones graduated from the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts before scoring her big break on screen with a role in 2009's State of Play. She would go on to enjoy prominent roles in other films, like the action thriller Salt, before finding particular success in the realm of comedy TV, on shows like Delocated and Whitney.

Trivia: Supporting actor Michael Jace was a regular on the short-lived ABC network drama Dangerous Minds (1996-1997). He has also appeared in feature films since 1996. The tall African-American did not originally aspire to perform, but a smart-aleck comment and a challenge led him to the bright lights. It happened while Jace was in college: A marketing major, he'd gone to watch his then-girlfriend rehearse for a campus play. Acting looked easy and he said so. The director overheard him and suggested he go up and read some lines. Jace accepted and proved to be a natural. Thus inspired, he enrolled in drama classes at the Classic Stage Conservatory in New York. Following graduation, Jace worked in regional theater across the U.S. before he moved to Los Angeles to further his career. It wasn't long before opportunity knocked and he was cast as the leader of the militant Black Panthers in Forrest Gump (1994). He has subsequently appeared in several films, including Strange Days (1995). Among his other television credits include guest-starring roles on L.A. Law, Bridges, and N.Y.P.D. Blue, though he became best known for his portrayal of a sexually confused police officer on The Shield (2002-2007), a gritty police drama from FX. In 2009 he took on a small role in State of Play, a political thriller starring Ben Affleck and Helen Mirren, and appeared in the sports comedy Football's Finiest in 2011. He had a recurring role on the TNT cop drama Southland.

Trivia: A wide-eyed actor with a knack for playing strange characters, Rob Benedict is perhaps best known for playing Keri Russell's peculiar dorm mate Richard on the critically acclaimed series Felicity. Before his days as a professional actor, Benedict graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor's degree in performance studies, and even after he'd achieved a successful career as a working actor, Benedict continued to play guitar for his band, Louden Swain. Benedict's career blossomed throughout the 2000s, with a role in The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest opposite Rosario Dawson, and in Waiting with Ryan Reynolds. In 2007, Benedict took a role on the ABC series Women's Murder Club.

Trivia: Before moving to Los Angeles, actress Katy Mixon studied at the Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama, and later appeared in the Utah Shakespeare Festival. She began her onscreen career with a role in the 2005 thriller The Quiet, and subsequently continued to find herself on camera, appearing in films like Four Christmases and State of Play. In 2009 she landed a lead role in the HBO comedy series Eastbound & Down. She had a memorable supporting turn in Take Shelter, and also appeared in the Nicolas Cage vehicle Drive Angry.

Trivia: Moved to Hollywood with only one show business contact, a friend who wrote movie-trailer scripts. Was the TV spokesperson for fast-food chain Del Taco from 2000 to 2006. Met his wife in an acting class. Gives speeches to high-school students for Media Fellowship International, a Christian media and entertainment organization.