Trivia: Perhaps most famous for his dramatic work on TV series like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Christopher Meloni has also been praised for his comedic appearances on screens of all sizes. His resumé proves him a versatile actor, indeed, with experience on television, in feature films -- both comedic and dramatic -- and even on-stage. (He acted in the 2001 Williamstown Theatre Festival.)He was born on April 2, 1961, in Washington, D.C., and earned his degree in 1983 at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Having grown interested in acting in college, he next studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City with Sandford Meisner. First noted for his role that began in 1990 on the hit series The Fanelli Boys on NBC, Meloni's accomplished television background consists of appearances on NYPD Blue (1993), the HBO's prison series Oz (1997), and numerous other series and TV movie roles. His lengthy list of supporting appearances on film includes major features like 12 Monkeys (1995), Bound (1996), and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). In 1999, he played one of Julia Roberts' husbands-to-be in Runaway Bride. Building upon his Oz experience, he starred in the PBS feature Shift in 2001, in a dramatic role as a prison inmate lovesick over a woman whom he only knows via telephone, and who doesn't know his whereabouts. Also in that year, he played a crazy 'Nam vet chef -- who provided some of the most accessible laughs of the absurd comedy -- at summer camp in David Wain's Wet Hot American Summer.In the years to come Meloni would appear in films like Nights in Rodanthe, Carriers, and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, as well as the series True Blood.

Trivia: The daughter of legendary sex symbol Jayne Mansfield and former Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay, Mariska Hargitay appears born to play the type of larger-than-life roles that would make her a Hollywood idol. Instead, from her breakthrough performance as a vulnerable single mother on ER to her starring turn as a somber detective on Law & Order: SVU, the talented actress has built her career by portraying real-life characters and keeping out of the spotlight. Raised in Los Angeles, Hargitay was a child of divorce before she celebrated her first birthday. In 1967, her mother died tragically when her car collided with a truck outside of New Orleans. Hargitay, then only three years old, was asleep in the backseat of the vehicle, but escaped uninjured. Days later, she moved in with her father and stepmother, Ellen Siano, a flight attendant. Hargitay participated in scores of activities throughout grade school, including cheerleading, student government, and athletics. She also developed a passion for performing: at 18, after being crowned 1982's Miss Beverly Hills, she enrolled in the University of California at Los Angeles' prestigious undergraduate theater program. Hartigay began her professional acting career while she was still a student with a bit part in Bob Fosse's Dorothy Stratten biopic Star 80 (1983). In 1985, she appeared in the B-movie Ghoulies and agreed to portray a teenage parolee inCBS' short-lived series Downtown. Roles in the teen comedies Welcome to 18 (1986) and Jocks (1987) quickly followed. In 1988, the actress joined her dad in the biopic of his own career, Mr. Universe. That same year, Hargitay earned the recurring role of Carly Fixx on television's Falcon Crest. The next several years found Hargitay acting in B-movies, such as a martial arts film called The Perfect Weapon (1991), and a handful of television films, such as Blind Side (1993) and Gambler V: Playing for Keeps (1994). She earned a small role in Mike Figgis's Leaving Las Vegas (1995) and replaced Gabrielle Fitzpatrick as Dulcea in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995), but her scenes were eventually re-shot with Fitzpatrick in the role. Throughout the late '80s and early '90s, Hargitay also appeared in numerous popular television shows -- In the Heat of the Night, Baywatch, Wiseguy, thirtysomething, Booker, Seinfeld, Ellen, The Single Guy -- and in quite a few failed series -- Tequila and Bonetti, Key West, Can't Hurry Love, Prince Street, and Cracker. In subsequent years, producer Dick Wolf tapped the actress for his Law & Order spin-off, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999). As NYPD Detective Olivia Benson, Hargitay became a familiar and a celebrated face: She earned several award nominations for her performance on the show, as she stuck with the popular show for over ten years.In addition to working in film and television, Hargitay found time for the theater -- appearing on the Los Angeles stage in Salad Days, Women's Work, and Porno -- and read Rochelle Majer Krich's crime story Regrets Only on a mystery-themed audiobook. She also established her own charity, Spirit of the Dolphin, which gives abused children the chance to swim with dolphins in Hawaii. In 2007, Hargitay served as the National Ambassador for Lee National Denim Day to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. In terms of off-camera activity, Hargitay's successful pregnancy at the age of 42 (with her husband, SVU co-star Peter Hermann) made headlines as well.

Trivia: Launching his career as a standup comic, American performer Richard Belzer entered the 1970s as a member of an odd New York-based comedy troupe called Channel One. Anticipating the home video explosion by over a decade, Channel One staged satirical, scatological routines lampooning the banalities of television -- and staged them in front of TV cameras, which transmitted the routines to little TV monitors, which in turn were watched by the live audience. Some of the best sketches were assembled into an X-rated comedy feature, The Groove Tube (1970), which featured Belzer, Ken Shapiro, and a brash newcomer named Chevy Chase. For the next decade, Belzer played the comedy-club circuit, popped up as a talkshow guest, and appeared in occasional films like Fame (1982). He joined still another comedy troupe in 1983, which appeared nightly on the syndicated interview program Thicke of the Night. The host was Allan Thicke, and Belzer's comic cohorts included such incipient stars as Charles Fleischer, Chloe Webb and Gilbert Gottfried. Thicke of the Night was one of the more notorious bombs of the 1983-84 season, but it enabled Belzer to secure better guest-star bookings, and ultimately a hosting job on his own program, debuting in 1986 over the Lifetime Cable Service. It was on this series that wrestler Hulk Hogan, demonstrating a stranglehold on Belzer caused the host to lose consciousness -- which prompted a highly publicized lawsuit instigated by Belzer against the Hulkster. In the early 1990s, Richard Belzer could be seen as a non-comic regular on the TV series Homicide. His Homicide character, John Munch, would become one of the longest-running fictional creations on TV appearing in more than a half-dozen other television shows, most notably Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Trivia: Often cited as the founding father of gangsta rap, Ice-T has also crafted a successful film career from his hardened street persona. Despite the fact that his early roles stuck closely to his public image as a thuggish West Coast pimp, T has since proved both his versatility and his sense of humor by appearing as everything from a mutant kangaroo (Tank Girl [1995]) to, in a surprisingly effective about-face, a police officer (New Jack City [1991]). Born Tracy Marrow in Newark, NJ, in 1958 and later adapting his better-known persona as a tribute to pimp-turned-author Iceberg Slim, T was sent at age 12 to live in Califorina with an aunt after his father died of a heart attack (his mother had died four year earlier, also of a heart attack). Ice-T soon began to develop an obsession with rap music, and after serving a two-year stint in the Army, he began recording and appeared in the films Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (both 1984). Following a near death auto accident in 1986, T devoted his life to music and released his debut album, Rhyme Pays, the following year. T gained positive accolades for his first major film role in 1991's New Jack City, in which he played a dedicated police officer, and the irony was not lost on fans the following year when he caused a stir with a song entitled "Cop Killer." After sticking close to the streets in Ricochet (1991), Trespass (1992), and Surviving the Game (1994), T took a sci-fi detour with Tank Girl and Johnny Mnemonic (both 1995). Generally appearing in straight-to-video schlock from the mid-'90s on, Ice-T could be seen as a naval pilot in Stealth Fighter (1999) and stealing a magic flute from a vengeful green meanie in Leprechaun in the Hood (2000). Though his appearances in such films grew nearly too frequent to count, T occasionally appeared in such theatrical releases as 3000 Miles to Graceland and Abel Ferrara's 'R Xmas (both 2001). After offering curious insight into the life of a pimp in the documentary Pimps Up, Ho's Down, T continued to expound on the life of a hustler in Pimpin' 101 (2003). He also took on a recurring role on the Law & Order spin-off Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and later joined the cast as a regular in the show's second season, soon becoming a popular fixture on prime time TV. T would also enjoy success on the reality circuit, starring in the candid reality show Ice Loves Coco with his wife, Nicole "Coco" Austin.

Trivia: Dann Florek was a working actor for 15 years, on stage, in movies, and on television before he became a television star on Law and Order. Born in Flat Rock, MI (near Detroit) in 1950, he was a physics major at Eastern Michigan University until he discovered his affinity for acting and theater. He moved to New York in the early 1970s and became a member of The Acting Company at The Juilliard School. Florek's New York theater credits included work in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Love's Labour's Lost, and Death of a Salesman. He later performed in many productions staged at the La Jolla Playhouse and the Old Globe Theater in San Diego. Florek's film credits include Sweet Liberty, Hard Rain, Angel Heart, and The Flintstones, and he has made appearances on NYPD Blue, Wings, The Pretender, and The Practice. Additionally, he played Abraham Lincoln in the short-lived Fox Network series The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer. It was as Dave Meyer on L.A. Law that Florek first came to the attention of television viewers, but it was his four seasons on Law and Order that made him a star. He became a familiar and popular actor as Lieutenant (and later Captain) Donald Cragen, the head of the detective squad on whose investigations the series focuses from week to week. Florek also directed several episodes of the series after leaving the cast of the show in 1993, and is an active member of the Directors Guild of America. In 1999, he joined the cast of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, reprising and greatly expanding his role of Captain Cragen, now head of a detective unit specifically assigned to the investigation of sex crimes. Equally skilled at comedy and drama (although more familiar for his work in the latter), Florek is one of a new generation of triple-threat actor/directors to emerge from television in the 1980s and 1990s. Florek continued to work on Law & Order until 2010.

Trivia: The comely blonde supporting actress Diane Neal is best known for her ongoing portrayal of District Attorney Casey Novak on the blockbuster series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Her resumé also includes appearances in such direct-to-video exploitationers as Dracula II: Ascension and Dracula III: Legacy.

Trivia: For his role in the Broadway production of M. Butterfly, talented stage and screen actor B.D. Wong (born Bradley Darryl Wong) would enter into history as the only actor ever to be honored with a Tony, a Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Clarence Derwent Award, and a Theater World Award for a single performance. Proving equally adept onscreen, Wong's memorable early roles in The Freshman (1990) and Father of the Bride (1991) found him simultaneously attempting to break out of the Asian-American cinema stereotype while seeking out roles that would expand his dramatic capabilities. A native of San Francisco whose musical experimentation during his childhood eventually lead to the discovery of acting, Wong's parents were consistently supportive in nurturing his creative energy. Wong worked his way into Bay Area community theater while still a student at Lincoln High School, and his association with the San Francisco Unified School District proved an essential component in developing his skills as an actor. Following his subsequent graduation from San Francisco State University Wong moved to New York City, where he performed in dinner theater and off-Broadway productions. After making his professional bow in a New York Town Hall production of Androcles and the Lion, Wong began to essay small television roles on such series as Simon & Simon and Sesame Street about the time of his feature debut in The Karate Kid II (1986). Soon thereafter, Wong received coaching from Donald Hotton to prepare for his role in M. Butterfly, and following much critical acclaim, Wong slowly gained onscreen momentum with roles in Jurassic Park (1993) and the HBO AIDS-drama And the Band Played On (both 1993). In his constant search to portray original and diverse characters, Wong had a recurring role as Father Ray Makuda on the HBO series Oz. Subsequent performances included roles in Seven Years in Tibet (1997), voice work in the animated Disney film Mulan (1998), and the crime thriller The Salton Sea (2002). Television viewers became acquainted with Wong through his role on Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit.

Trivia: Born in Washington D.C., actor James McDaniel studied veterinary medicine at the University of Pennsylvania before moving to New York to work in theater, film, and television. His stage credits include Balm in Gilead, A Soldier's Play, and Someone to Watch Over Me. He was also the lead character in both off-Broadway and Broadway productions of John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation. (The role was later played by Will Smith in the 1993 film version.) McDaniel made plenty of TV movies and television guest-star appearances in the '80s, and ended up meeting writer/producer Steven Bochco on shows like L.A. Law, Law & Order, Cop Rock, and Hill Street Blues. When Bochco's NYPD Blue premiered in 1993, McDaniel was cast as Lt. Arthur Fancy. As the man in charge of the 15th Precinct, he earned nominations at the Emmy Awards, Image Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. He was also the only cast member to direct an episode. In the meantime, McDaniel appeared in the feature films Malcolm X, Truth or Consequences, N.M., and several TV movies. When his character was promoted to captain and sent on assignment in another district, McDaniel left NYPD Blue in search of other projects. In 2000, the actor played Nat "King" Cole in the NBC drama Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story, directed by Robert Townsend. Two years later, McDaniel played opposite Angela Bassett in John Sayles' ensemble drama Sunshine State. He also played an army general in Steven Spielberg's overblown miniseries Taken, broadcast on the Sci Fi channel. McDaniel finally earned his first major starring role in the Showtime original movie Edge of America as a black school teacher who coaches a girls basketball team on an Indian Reservation.

Trivia: Rarely do beauty and talent combine in a form so complimentary to each other than in the case of actress Zoe Saldana. Whether gracefully gliding across the stage in dance, pounding the boards in a play, or lighting up the screen in such popular films as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, the multi-faceted Saldana seems capable of achieving anything she puts her mind to. The New Jersey native was raised in Queens until the age of ten, when her family relocated to the Dominican Republic. The move proved a fateful blessing when young Saldana discovered her love of dance and enrolled in the ECOS Espacio de Danza Academy shortly thereafter, where she would study ballet, jazz, and modern Latin dance. Following her sophomore year in high school, Saldana and her family returned to the U.S. It was while completing her primary studies stateside that Saldana became involved with the Faces theater troupe, whose aim was to make a positive impact on teenage audiences by performing improvisational skits on such issues as substance abuse and sexuality. Involvement with another troupe, the New York Youth Theater, provided more traditional stage experience through such productions as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, and it was while performing with that troupe that a talent agent recognized great potential in the burgeoning actress. In 1999, Saldana received what seemed to be the ideal first film role when she was cast as a talented but snippy dancer vying for a spot at the fictional American Ballet Company in the dance drama Center Stage. Other film roles followed, including Get Over It, Snipes, and a featured part in the Britney Spears teen drama Crossroads, which offered Saldana's first major theatrical release. Widely panned by critics but performing moderately at the box office thanks to legions of Spears fans, Crossroads proved just the fuel needed to get Saldana's struggling feature career running. The following year, she was back on the big screen in Drumline, which found her once again utilizing her dance skills as a college dance major and love interest of the talented but conflicted protagonist. Though her subsequent role as the sole female pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean offered little screen time, her performance as the only woman able to cast a spell over Johnny Depp's charismatic Jack Sparrow offered one of the film's most memorable comic scenes. Back on the indie circuit, Saldana headlined the 2003 rock musical Temptation as a talented singer facing hard times. A brief turn as a by-the-books customs officer in Steven Spielberg's The Terminal found the charming Saldana slowly warming to an immigrant stuck in bureaucratic limbo (played by Tom Hanks).She was the female lead in Guess Who in 2005 and continued to work steadily. However, in 2009 she broke through in a big way when she was cast as Uhura in J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot, and later that year she was the female lead in James Cameron's mega-smash Avatar. She followed that up with the action film The Losers in 2010, and was front and center in another action spectacle, Columbiana, the year after that. She reprised her role in the sequel Star Trek Into Darkness in 2013, and played Gamora in the 2014 smash Guardians of the Galaxy, ensuring her place in yet another action franchise.

Trivia: Versatile supporting and occasional leading actor Michael Boatman has worked steadily on stage, screen, and television since making his feature film debut playing Motown in Hamburger Hill (1987). Fans of the late-'90s ABC sitcom Spin City will recognize him for playing Carter, while those who loved the ABC drama China Beach will remember him for playing the caustic but funny Private Sam Beckett. Though born in Colorado Springs, CO, Boatman was raised in Chicago. His initial interest in acting as a teen was purely mercenary, in that he thought it might be a way to meet girls. He proved to have a knack for acting and went on to study theater at Western Illinois University, where he played leads in a variety of classic dramas. He won a Best Supporting Actor Award after competing in the Irene Ryan National Competition at the Kennedy Center. Following the filming of Hamburger Hill, Boatman spent 18 months in New York establishing his acting credentials off-Broadway. The role of Private Beckett lured him to Los Angeles and he remained on China Beach for its entire run. Other television appearances include guest shots on The Larry Sanders Show and Living Single, as well as co-starring roles in such made-for-TV movies as Donor and Conspiracy of Terror. In 1994, Boatman played the lead in the film The Glass Shield.Boatman is also recognizable for his work on the long-running HBO series Arli$$; his role as uptight CFO Stanley Babson would earn him nominations for four Image Image Awards. The actor continued to work in a supporting capacity throughout the mid-2000s, appearing in feature films including Woman, Thou Art Loosed (2004), Once Upon a Mattress (2005), and 2007's And Then Came Love. However, Boatman found more success on the small screen for his work on Sherri, the Lifetime comedy series starring Sherri Shepherd, and in the role of attorney Julius Cane in CBS' The Good Wife. In 2012, Boatman worked with Charlie Sheen in a recurring role for the television series Anger Management.

Trivia: Born Douglas Bourne in Brooklyn in 1970, Doug E. Doug emerged in the 1990s as a triple-threat actor, writer, and director, with a particular flair for comedy. Best known in feature films for his acting work in Cool Runnings (1993), he also became a television star during the second half of the decade on Cosby, the sitcom starring Bill Cosby, which ran from 1996 until 2000. For four years, he and Cosby in their scenes together comprised one of the funniest comedy double acts seen on television, his innocent yet conniving Griffin Vesey making the perfect foil to Cosby's ill-tempered curmudgeon Hilton Lucas; another highlight of his portrayal (and a clever "in" joke referring back to his work in Cool Runnings) were Griffin's occasional attempts to impress women by passing himself off as a West Indian, affecting a Jamaican accent. Doug later wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the spoof Citizen James (2000). In 2002, he portrayed Harlan, the comically paranoid radio personality in Eight Legged Freaks.

Trivia: Made her television debut as the title character in Cindy, a retelling of Cinderella with an all African-American cast. In 1978, made her professional stage debut in the original Broadway cast of Ain't Misbehavin', receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Made her feature film debut in 1982's Hard Feelings. Was nominated for a Genie Award in 1983 for Best Performance by a Foreign Actress in Hard Feelings. Between 2002 and 2011, played the recurring role of Sister Peg in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2011, won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Solo Performance for her performance in the one-woman play The Night Watcher. A former board-member of the Sundance Institute and Manhattan Theatre Club, she currently serves on the Council of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Trivia: She might not be a household name, but the statuesque character actress Tamara Tunie sports a resumé as distinctive as she is innately glamorous. Tunie landed her first major role as litigator Jessica Griffin McKechnie Harris on the soap opera As the World Turns in 1986 -- a part she played for 11 years. In the mean time, Tunie signed for a small role in the endearing yet sadly overlooked coming-of-age dramedy Sweet Lorraine (1987), an unsung predecessor to the box-office blockbuster Dirty Dancing, starring Maureen Stapleton and Trini Alvarado. Tunie signed for a bit part in the 1989 period murder mystery Bloodhounds of Broadway, but despite the fact that it claimed a pedigree as impressive as Lorraine (with Matt Dillon, Madonna, Jennifer Grey, and others), the movie unfortunately failed to deliver on its noble intentions. Over the course of the next several years, Tunie turned up several times on Steven Bochco's NYPD Blue, and landed the bit part of Leslie Christos in the Al Pacino big-city crime drama City Hall (1996), directed by Harold Becker (Taps). She re-teamed with Pacino for the darkly comic supernatural horror film The Devil's Advocate (1997), then worked with Brian De Palma and Nicolas Cage on the 1998 thriller Snake Eyes. Tunie's most high-profile work, however, was yet to come. In 2002, she delivered a compelling performance as Alberta Green in the first season of the series thriller 24. In 1999, the actress resumed her portrayal of Jessica Harris on As the World Turns and continued to sporatically return to the role through the 2000s. Beginning in 2000, Tunie also portrayed Melinda Warner on the popular series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Trivia: For many fans, the image of fair-haired actress Stephanie March includes a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses, which she wore for the role of Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot on the series Law & Order: SVU. The role was one of the Texas native's first TV gigs, and she remained with the series from 2000 to 2004, then rejoined the series in 2009. March made her Broadway debut opposite Brian Dennehy in Death of a Salesman, and later appeared in a filmed version of the show. She also appeared in a number of other projects, like the Angelina Jolie spy movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith, before reprising the role of Alexandra Cabot for the Law & Order spinoff Conviction. March continued to make memorable guest appearances in shows like Grey's Anatomy, 30 Rock and Happy Endings. She had a supporting role in the film Innocence in 2014.

Trivia: Wrote an essay that was published in the book Struggle for Ethnic Identity: Narratives by Asian American Professionals. In 2001, played the role of Florizel in Winter's Tale at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Was the Artistic Associate of the National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO) in 2005 and has appeared in five NAATCO productions. Played Ariel in the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's stage production of The Tempest in 2009. In 2013, received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Solo Performance for his role as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata's one-person play Hold These Truths.

Trivia: Began acting in community theater productions at age 6. Played on her high-school softball team. Appeared in the short-lived Broadway-bound play Bobbi Boland opposite Farrah Fawcett after arriving in New York in 2002. Costarred in the Web sitcom The Burg. Made television debut on the ABC soap opera All My Children in 2005. Filmed Past Life in Atlanta, Georgia, located about 45 minutes from her hometown of Cumming. Spent a week with real U.S. Marshals to prepare for her starring role in NBC's Chase.

Trivia: Is the son of Cuban immigrants. In his youth, aspired to become a baseball player or a lawyer, or join the Coast Guard. Was a lifeguard in Miami as a teen. Met his future wife, Lilly, during a middle-school theater class when they were just 13. They continued their education together through junior high, high school, college and graduate school. Off-camera pursuits include writing; received writing credits on the Cold Case episodes "Stealing Home" (2009) and "Metamorphosis" (2010).

Trivia: UCLA grad Joanna Merlin made her first film appearance in 1956, as one of Jethro's daughters in the Cecil B. DeMille superspectacular The Ten Commandments. Five years later she first stepped on a Broadway stage in Jean Anouilh's Becket. Her subsequent theatrical credits include the role of Tzeitel in the original 1964 production of Fiddler on the Roof. In films, she has specialized in such ethnically oriented character roles as the landlady in Hester Street (1975). From bag ladies to judges, Merlin has played 'em all. More recently, Joanna Merlin has functioned as a Hollywood casting director.

Trivia: Met her husband onstage during a theater production, which is the same way her parents met. Considers her parents the most influential people in her career. Appeared on Broadway in Getting Away With Murder in 1996. Won a Robby Award (a California theater award) for her performance in The Violet Hour with South Coast Repertory in 2002.

Trivia: Philadelphia-born, British-educated actress Lauren Cohan studied drama and English literature at the University of Winchester and King Alfred's College in England, then spent a healthy amount of time touring with a theatrical ensemble that she had co-established before moving into film and television work. Ever a versatile performer, Cohan showcased her talents in both classically oriented fare (such as the big-screen historical saga Casanova, in 2005) and more commercially oriented outings, such as 2006's National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj. In 2007, the actress secured a role as Bela in the cult TV series Supernatural.

Trivia: Is a practicing Quaker. Her first professional role was as Isabella in Measure for Measure at the Stratford Festival in Ontario. Made her Broadway debut as an understudy in The SeagulI in 1992. Performed as Katherine in the New York Shakespeare Festival stage production of Henry V. Played Brooke Wyeth in the off-Broadway premiere of Other Desert Cities in 2011; when the show transfered to Broadway, she was replaced by Rachel Griffith, but later joined the show as a replacement.

Trivia: Is of Cuban heritage. Made his Broadway debut in the 2000 revival of Rocky Horror Picture Show, playing Riff Raff. Took over the role of Master of Ceremonies in the Broadway production of Cabaret in 2001; played opposite both Gina Gershon and Molly Ringwald as Sally Bowles. Famously called out castmate Jeremy Piven for his unprofessional antics during a live performance of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow in 2008. With his 2009 Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow, he became only the second performer to be nominated in all four Tony acting categories. Has narrated a number of audio books, including The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.

Trivia: At age 17 was involved in a nearly fatal car accident. Originally enrolled at Northeastern University as a biochemical engineering major. First major TV role was on the Steve Bochco series Civil Wars.