Trivia: First rising to fame for her deadpan performance as receptionist Pam Beesly on NBC's The Office, Jenna Fischer was born in Indiana and spent the first several years of her career primarily appearing in bit parts in small indie films and guest spots on TV shows.In 2000, while auditioning for what would be one of her first onscreen jobs, Fischer met filmmaker James Gunn. Not only did she land a small role in the film, she and Gunn were subsuquently married for eight years. In 2004, they collaborated on the satirical mockumentary LolliLove, which saw Fischer directing and the couple co-writing and starring together. But it was in 2005 when Fischer's career truly took off. Cast as Pam on the U.S. adaptation of the acclaimed Britcom The Office, Fischer soon found herself perhaps the most beloved cast member of one of the country's most popular television shows. She was even named to People's 50 Most Beautiful People. Fischer would parlay her TV fame into a movie career as well, appearing in a number of comedies, like Blades of Glory, The Brothers Solomon, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, A Little Help, Hall Pass, and more.

Trivia: Best known to small-screen devotees as sales representative Jim Halpert, the eternally patient, undeclared admirer of Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) on Greg Daniels' hit NBC sitcom/mockumentary The Office, Massachusetts native John Krasinski graduated from Rhode Island's Brown University in 2001 as an honors playwright, but quickly segued into acting. Within three years launched himself into films, predominantly with bit roles and supporting parts, but consistently echoing the promise that he would soon find himself among number-one box-office draws and Tinseltown heartthrobs. By 2006, in fact, People Magazine featured Krasinski in its "Sexiest Men" issue, a testament to the actor's rapidly growing recognition in the eyes of the public.Born October 20, 1979, Krasinski grew up and attended high school in Newton, an affluent western suburb of Boston. After receiving his degree from Brown, Krasinski studied at the National Theater Institute. 2004 marked the actor's "breakthrough year," with fleeting appearances in no less than four A-list productions. That year, he had bit parts as Ben in the American Zoetrope film Kinsey, a biopic of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, directed by Bill Condon and starring Liam Neeson; Bob Flynn in Matt Mulhern's finely wrought (and underappreciated) alcoholism drama Duane Hopwood starring David Schwimmer; Messenger #3 in Tim Story's urban comedy Taxi, with Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon; and the British CG-animated fantasy Doogal (aka, The Magic Roundabout), which didn't find U.S. release until early 2006. The first two of these films were widely lauded sleepers, the last two critically despised (though they failed to hurt Krasinski's career, given the low profile of his involvement).The Office followed in 2005. Adapted by Daniels from a hit 2001 British series of the same title, the program -- a ratings bonanza on NBC -- stars Daily Show vet Steve Carell as Michael Scott, the tactless, vain, pushy, and loudmouthed (yet well-meaning) director of the Dunder-Mifflin paper company. While Carell's off-the-wall antics spiked the series with a never-ending source of hilarity, the gradually developing relationship between Krasinski's Jim and Fischer's Pam (two straight roles) brought the series weight and solicited interest from those viewers seeking deeper and more meaningful character development. Perhaps sensing this, Daniels opted to stretch their courtship at a snail's pace over the course of several seasons. Krasinski would appear in several movies even as The Office's success continued on the small screen, like Jarhead, The Holiday, For Your Consideration, License to Wed, Leatherheads, Away We Go, and Big Miracle. In 2015, he appeared in Cameron Crowe's Aloha and acted as executive producer on the highly-successful TV series Lip Sync Battle.

Trivia: Born January 26th, 1966, Rainn Wilson is best known for playing über-nerd Dwight Schrute on the NBC comedy The Office, actor Rainn Wilson parlayed a Broadway career into screen work that began with a role on the daytime soap One Life to Live. Bit parts in features such as Galaxy Quest and Almost Famous soon followed before Wilson landed the part of apprentice mortician Arthur on HBO's Six Feet Under during the show's third season. After Six Feet Under bowed in 2005, Wilson was cast in his most prominent role to date, the aforementioned Dwight Schrute, the resident oddball on the critically acclaimed U.S. version of The Office. Wilson so embraced the part that he even personally penned a weblog by the character on the NBC website. In 2006, Wilson was the fourth lead in Ivan Reitman's fantasy romantic comedy My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and a year later he scored his first starring feature role in the children's sci-fi adventure The Last Mimzy.

Trivia: B.J. Novak plays permanently apathetic temp Ryan so well on the hit comedy The Office, that you'd never guess he's actually a producer of the show. The actor and comedian grew up near Boston in the suburb of Newton, and graduated from high school with his Office co-star John Krasinski. He then attended Harvard University, where he earned a degree in English and Spanish Literature, graduating in 2001. Novak worked in standup comedy and joined the show Punk'd in 2002, where he helped pull pranks on celebrities like Hilary Duff and Mya. In 2005, he joined the team of The Office as not only a cast member but also a producer and occasional writer. He also began making appearances in movies like Reign Over Me, Knocked Up, and Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds.

Trivia: Known to many as the humorless Stanley on TV's The Office, Leslie David Baker studied psychology at Loyola University and human services administration at Spertus College of Judica before making several small appearances in commercials and on shows like Scrubs. He also appeared in the movie Elizabethtown before joining the cast of The Office in 2006.

Trivia: With only a handful of TV guest appearances under his belt, Atlanta-born Brian Baumgartner was a relative unknown when the U.S. version of The Office premiered on NBC in 2005. Playing pencil pusher Kevin Malone on the hit sitcom quickly garnered the actor prominence, and in 2007 he landed a supporting role opposite fellow Office cast member John Krasinski in the romantic comedy License to Wed. Once the series ended in 2013, he continued to work in television, with guest appearances on Hot in Cleveland and Mike & Molly.

Trivia: Accomplished stage actress Kate Flannery graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia before diving headfirst into professional comedy. As a member of Second City's National Touring Company, Chicago's Annoyance Theater, and her own act, The Lampshades, Flannery has created over 15 shows. She's also starred in successful plays like Valley of the Dolls and The Phacts of Life. Flannery has appeared in numerous independent movies and on shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm, but she's most well known for playing the divorced, alcoholic, single mother Meredith on the hit NBC comedy series The Office.

Trivia: Known to countless Office fans as the uptight accountant, Angela Kinsey would surprise many with the warm, sunny personality she has offscreen. Born June 25th, 1971, in Texas, Kinsey's family relocated to Indonesia when she was two, and they lived in the country until she was 14, making her fluent in Indonesian. Kinsey went on to attend Baylor University before interning for Late Night with Conan O'Brien and attending classes with Improv Olympic and The Groundlings. She worked in commercials and in various areas of the corporate world to pay her bills, sometimes landing roles on episodes of popular TV shows, until 2005 when she auditioned for the role of Pam Beesly on The Office. Producers liked Kinsey, but they felt she had a feistiness to her that would make her better in the role of Angela Martin. She returned, auditioned for the part, and became a member of the cast. The show became a huge success, and Kinsey worked on other projects in her off time, appearing in co-star John Krasinski's romantic comedy License to Wed in 2007.

Trivia: Probably best known as Oscar from the TV comedy The Office, Oscar Nuñez was born in Cuba but raised in New Jersey. In addition to graduating from the Warner Bros. Comedy Writer's Workshop, Nuñez performed with The Shock of the Funny Theatre Company in New York, and with the Groundlings in California. He would lend his comedic writing and acting abilities to Reno 911!, 24, Halfway Home, and more before joining up with The Office in 2006. His work on that series as Oscar, the homosexual accountant, gave him his highest profile success to that point and led directly to his appearance as an exotic dancer in the Sandra Bullock hit The Proposal.

Trivia: Fans of the comedy series The Office know Phyllis Smith as soft-spoken employee Phyllis Lapin, who's infamously mentioned a colored past in which she was once a cheerleader and a burlesque dancer. Few fans know, however, that Smith did actually do both of those jobs before she was a cast member on a hit TV show. In fact, Smith was never just a career actress; the Missouri native was always a dancer as well, receiving a full scholarship in dance to Kansas University and studying with the San Carlo Opera Company for ballet and tap. She danced ballet with the St. Louis Civic Ballet and the St. Louis Dance Theater, and cheered for the St. Louis Cardinals. She also toured with the vaudeville burlesque show Able's Baggy Pants Burlesque and the Mercer Brothers' show Giggles Galore as a dancer as well as a comedy-skit performer.Smith also received a degree in elementary education from the University of Missouri and has worked extensively in the casting industry. That was how she found herself at the auditions for The Office, where even though she wasn't auditioning, producers were so impressed with her line readings that they created a part for her. While her work on The Office continued for nearly a decade, she appeared in a handful of big-screen comedies including I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, Bad Teacher, Butter, and the third Alvin and the Chipmunks flick.

Trivia: Born June 24, 1979, comedian and actress Mindy Kaling's portrayal of airhead Kelly Kapoor on the hit series The Office is so good, it's easy to forget that in real life, her considerable brain power has gone into producing and writing the show as well. Kaling graduated from Dartmouth College in 2001, but not before leaving her mark on the school's improv troupe The Dog Day Players, creating a comic strip in the Dartmouth newspaper called Badly Drawn Girl and portraying none other than male actor Ben Affleck in a satirical play that she co-wrote entitled Matt & Ben. The play went on to make Time Magazine's "Top Ten Theatrical Events of the Year" for 2003. Kaling joined the cast and crew of The Office in 2005. She also began appearing in feature films, starting with a cameo in Steve Carell's The 40-Year-Old Virgin and later appearing in Office co-star John Krasinski's romantic comedy License to Wed. Kaling left The Office at the beginning of the show's ninth season to produce and star in her own sitcom, The Mindy Project, on FOX.

Trivia: Known to many as the office worker with a mysterious past from the series The Office, Creed Bratton, a California native, began his career as a musician and was a member of the folk groups the Young Californians, the 13th Floor, and the Grass Roots, with whom he traveled the world many times on tour. Bratton began cultivating an acting career in the late '60s, appearing in films like With Six You Get Eggroll, eventually joining the cast of The Office in 2006 and standing out in the part of the sociopathic Creed.

Trivia: Known to many as downtrodden accountant Toby on TV's The Office, Paul Lieberstein began his award-winning career as a writer helping pen the young adult series Clarissa Explains it All for Nickelodeon. He would go on to write for King of the Hill, The Drew Carey Show, in addition to The Office, for which he would also act as a producer. In all, Lieberstein would take home Emmies, SAG Awards, WGA Awards, Primetime Emmies, and Daytime Emmies for his work in the industry.

Trivia: A former standup comedian whose four-year stint as a Daily Show correspondent laid the groundwork for a successful onscreen career, Atlanta, GA, native Ed Helms has since gone on to keep fans in stitches as abrasive cubicle drone Andy Bernard on the hit television series The Office and as an undead flesh-eater who only wants a girlfriend and equal rights in the popular comedy short Zombie-American (2005). It was after a stint at Oberlin College in Ohio that Helms first began working the standup circuit, with regular appearances at some of the top comedy clubs in New York City quickly gaining him a loyal fan base. Helms' poker-faced sense of humor was an ideal fit for The Daily Show, and with only a handful of credits to his name, the rising star quickly became a regular fixture on the show. In 2006, shortly after wrapping a four-year stint on the Emmy Award-winning Comedy Central faux-newscast, Helms turned up as a member of the Stamford branch on The Office -- a series that also helped launch former Daily Show correspondent Steve Carell to stardom. When the Stamford branch eventually merged with the Scranton branch in the series, Helms' angry ass-kisser became a regular fixture on the show -- his decidedly short-fused character quickly becoming a foil for office prankster Jim Halpert (played by John Krasinski). Having previously studied improvisational comedy with the Upright Citizens Brigade, Helms became a semi-regular fixture at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City while simultaneously preparing for appearances in the Carell comedy Evan Almighty and the stoner-friendly sequel Harold and Kumar 2. He continued to get good reviews for his work on The Office, but he had a smash hit as one of the three bachelors trying to piece together their night in The Hangover. He would star in the very funny Cedar Rapids two years later, but that film would not do nearly as well at the box office as The Hangover Part II that same year. In 2012 he had a major part in The Duplass Brothers' Jeff, Who Lives At Home, and voiced one of the main characters in the smash animated film Dr. Seuss' The Lorax.

Trivia: The burly African-American comic-turned-character actor Craig Robinson broke through to fame and success when his standup act at the 1998 Montreal Just for Laughs Comedy Festival caught the eye of executives at Fox Broadcasting. The impressed suits offered Robinson a covetable development deal, which led to a series of plum roles within a few years. The actor scored his first significant part circa 2003, opposite Northern Exposure vet John Corbett in the short-lived television series Lucky, but his recurring role as Darryl, the stone-faced Dunder-Mifflin warehouse supervisor on the blockbuster NBC series The Office, finally brought him national recognition. Robinson followed this up with supporting turns in the 2007 A-list features Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls and Knocked Up. He was among the people who tried to help Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and was one of the circle of friends who travel back to the '80s in Hot Tub Time Machine. In addition to The Office, he found additional work on the small screen hosting Last Comic Standing for that program's seventh season.

Trivia: Missouri native Ellie Kemper may have studied English at Princeton University, but her real passion was theater. After learning all she could with an improvisational comedy troupe, she would go on to write for the satirical newspaper The Onion and literary journal McSweeney's, participate in troupes like Upright Citizen's Brigade and People's Improv Theatre, and appear in comedy videos at CollegeHumor.com. Kemper's big break came in 2009, when she was cast as Erin the receptionist on the popular sitcom The Office. She would go on to appear in several movies over the coming year, including Get Him to the Greek, Bridesmaids, and 21 Jump Street.

Trivia: Has been a member of the Upright Citizens Brigade Touring Company comedy troupe. Member of the improvisational sketch-comedy troupe The Stepfathers. Taught improv at Columbia University and Duke University. Had a recurring role on The Office, and was promoted to full-time cast member for the 2010-11 season. Is a writer and performer for the Cutman Films production company.

Trivia: Actress Kathy Bates has been involved in the arts in one way or another since graduating from Southern Methodist University. Among the Memphis native's earliest jobs were a stint as a singing waitress in a Catskill resort and a sojourn as a gift shop cashier in New York's Museum of Modern Art. Bates was type-cast in character roles early on, which assured her a lot more work than the thousands of faceless ingenues in the business. Her film debut occurred with 1971's Taking Off, and she made her off-Broadway debut five years later in Vanities.For a long while, Bates made her name on the stage, only to see her roles go to other actresses in the plays' subsequent film adaptations. In 1983, she was nominated for a Tony award for her stage appearance as a garrulous would-be suicide in 'Night, Mother, a role played on screen by Sissy Spacek. She also appeared as Lenny McGrath in Beth Henley's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Crimes of the Heart, a role played on screen by Diane Keaton. And in 1987, playwright Terrence McNally wrote a part specifically tailored to Bates' talents: the much-abused waitress Frankie in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, a role which won her an Obie award, and, following a familiar pattern, was played on screen by Michelle Pfeiffer.Bates finally got to star in a movie herself in 1990. And what a starring role it was: in Misery, she portrayed the psychotic "Number One Fan" of romance writer Paul Sheldon (James Caan), a searing performance which earned the actress an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Appropriately enough, Hollywood screenwriters subsequently began making more room for Bates in their scripts. She worked steadily throughout the rest of the decade in films of greatly varying quality. Particular highlights included Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), A Prelude to a Kiss (1992), Dolores Claiborne (1995), Titanic (1997), and Primary Colors (1998), the latter of which featured Bates giving an Oscar and Golden Globe nominated performance as a political muckraker. Following her firey, foul-mouthed performance in that thinly veilied political biopic, Bates added a new credential to her resume, that of director. Initially taking the helm for the made-for-cable feature Dash and Lilly, Bates would subsequently direct episodes of the quirky HBO drama series Six Feet Under, simultaniously taking minor film roles before returning to more substantial roles with the CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame entry My Sister's Keeper. Roles in Love Liza and Dragonfly (both 2002) were soon to follow, and with her turn as an extroverted mother who catches the attention of Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt Bates would recieve her third Oscar nomination.She directed a number of episodes of the HBO series Six Feet Under before joining the cast in season 3 as Bettina. The next year she portrayed Queen Victoria in the big-budget remake of Around the World in 80 Days. She directed he feature Ambulance Girl in 2005. She continued to act steadily in a variety of projects including Failure to Launch, P.S. I Love You, Fred Claus, Bee Movie, and Revolutionary Road. She provided expert support for Sandra Bulock as the younger actress was winning an Oscar in The Blind Side, and Bates joined the cast of The Office in 2009. She was part of the large ensemble in 2010'ss Valentine's Day, and in 2011 starred as Gertrude Stein in Woody Allen's Oscar winning Midnight in Paris. That same year she launched her own network Drama series Harry's Law.

Trivia: Arguably the top screen comedian of the 1990s, Canadian-born entertainer Jim Carrey has combined equal parts of his idol Jerry Lewis, his spiritual ancestor Harry Ritz, and the loose-limbed Ray Bolger into a gleefully uninhibited screen image that is uniquely his own.Carrey's life wasn't always a barrel of laughs; he was born on January 17, 1962, into a peripatetic household that regularly ran the gamut from middle-class comfort to abject poverty. Not surprisingly, Carrey became a classic overachiever, excelling in academics while keeping his classmates in stitches with his wild improvisations and elastic facial expressions. His comedy club debut at age 16 was a dismal failure, but Carrey had already resolved not to be beaten down by life's disappointments (as his father, a frustrated musician, had been). By age 22, he was making a good living as a standup comic, and was starring on the short-lived sitcom The Duck Factory -- a series which curiously did little to take advantage of its star's uncanny physical dexterity. Throughout the 1980s, Carrey appeared in supporting roles in such films as Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and Earth Girls are Easy (1990). Full television stardom came Carrey's way in 1990 as the resident "white guy" on Keenan Ivory Wayans' Fox TV comedy In Living Color. The most popular of the comedian's many characterizations on the program was the grotesquely disfigured Fire Marshal Bill, whose dubious safety tips brought down the wrath of real-life fire prevention groups -- and also earned Carrey the ultimate accolade of being imitated by other comics. 1994 proved to be "The Year of Carrey," with the release of three top-grossing comedy films to his credit: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber. By the end of the year, Carrey was commanding seven to ten million dollars per picture. In 1995, the actor/comedian took over for Robin Williams as The Riddler in the blockbuster film Batman Forever, and, in 1996, he tried his hand at a darker and more menacing role as a maniacal cable repairman in The Cable Guy. The film, and Carrey's at-times frightening performance, received decidedly mixed reviews from critics and audiences. Despite the generally negative response to the film, Carrey still retained an interest in branching out into more dramatic roles. Following a return to all-out comedy in Liar, Liar (1997) as a chronically dishonest attorney, Carrey explored new territory with his lead role in the highly acclaimed The Truman Show (1998), Peter Weir's eerie comedy drama about the perils of all-consuming media manipulation. Critical respect in hand, Carrey returned to comedy of a different sort with the lead role in Milos Forman's Man on the Moon (1999), a much-anticipated biopic of the legendary comic Andy Kaufman. Although the film boasted a powerhouse performance from Carrey, it earned less than stellar reviews and did poor business at the box office. Such was the strength of the actor's portrayal, however, that his exclusion from the Best Actor nominations at that year's Academy Awards was a source of protest for a number of industry members. Carrey returned to straight comedy the following year with the Farrelly brothers' Me, Myself & Irene, in which he starred as a cop with a split personality, both of whom are in love with the same woman (Renée Zellweger). Though that film fared the least successful of the Farrellys' efforts to that point, Carrey's anarchic persona was given seemingly free range and the result was his most unhinged role since The Mask. That same year, he assumed the lead role in Ron Howard's Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, raking in the money at the box-office and receiving a Golden Globe nomination despite widespread critical-contempt for the film. Continuing to seek acceptance as a skilled dramatist, Carrey next appeared in the 2001 box-office bomb The Majestic.Undeterred by the failure of The Majestic, Carrey returned again to both comedy and box-office success with 2003's Bruce Almighty. After handily proving that his power as a big-screen star was very much intact, Carrey wasted no time switching gears once again as he embarked on his most ambitious project to date, the 2004 mind-bending romantic-dramedy Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Scripted by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry, the film garnered rave reviews and featured what was arguably Carrey's most subtly complex and subdued performance to date.Carrey's cartooney presence on screen would make him a natural fit for the kids' movie Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events in 2004, as well as other family films over the coming years like A Christmas Carol and Mr. Popper's Penguins. The actor would continue to explore dramatic roles, however, such as the dark thriller The Number 23 and the critically acclaimed I Love You, Phillip Morris.

Trivia: After almost a decade of starring in failed pilots, Toronto-born Will Arnett finally hit pay dirt in 2003 when Fox picked up Arrested Development, an irreverent sitcom that cast him as a spoiled rich kid-turned-aspiring illusionist. While the show struggled in ratings, it won loads of critical praise and garnered an incredibly loyal fan base that helped keep it on the air for three seasons before Fox finally gave up and pulled the plug. In the wake of Arrested Development's cancellation, Arnett quickly and smoothly transitioned into big-screen work. His first starring role came in 2006 with the comedy Let's Go to Prison! Though the film failed to find success at the box office, Arnett's momentum wasn't hampered in the least. In 2007, his film career exploded with supporting roles in Blades of Glory, Hot Rod, and Ratatouille, and a starring slot opposite Saturday Night Live's Will Forte in The Brothers Solomon. That same year also saw Arnett starting a scene-stealing recurring role on NBC's 30 Rock and a memorable voice-over cameo in Edgar Wright's faux-trailer contribution to Grindhouse, "Don't."Thanks to his distinctive deep voice, Arnett found steady work in animated films including Ratatouille, Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who, Monsters vs. Aliens, Despicable Me, and The Lego Movie. He had a failed sitcom, Running Wilde, in 2010 that was cancelled after just one season, but he quickly found himself as the lead on the NBC sitcom Up All Night opposite Christina Applegate, a show that did earn a second season before it too was cancelled. Arnett tried again with the CBS comedy The Millers in 2013 and also reprised his role in the resurrected fourth season of Arrested Development on Netflix.

Trivia: Born in Reading, England, Ricky Gervais worked in the music industry as a radio DJ, band manager, and music supervisor before getting into comedy. As a writer, he provided scripts for the U.K. television series Bruiser and The Sketch Show. As an actor, he was seen quite a bit on The 11 O'Clock Show and provided the voice of the Penguin in the animated show Robbie the Reindeer: Legend of the Lost Tribe. In 2000, he had his own show called Meet Ricky Gervais. On the big screen, Gervais appeared as the bouncer in the U.K. comedy Dog Eat Dog. He's most known, however, as the writer/director/star of the hit BBC comedy series The Office. He plays David Brent, regional manager of the Wernham Hogg paper company in the London industrial suburb of Slough. A brilliant observation of the contemporary workplace, the show has won a variety of awards over in Britain. Gervais received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2003. Projects for 2004 include voice work on the animated film Valiant and producing an Americanized version of The Office with director Greg Daniels. He created and starred in Extras, another bitingly funny TV series, this one about a struggling actor. In 2008 he had a leading role for the first time in an American film, the supernatural comedy Ghost Town. The next year he wrote, directed, and starred in the acerbic comedy The Invention of Lying. He earned a ton of buzz in 2010 for his prickly hosting of the Golden Globes, a job he would repeat the next two years as well. In 2011 he debuted a new show he created with actor Warwick Davis, Life's Too Short.

Trivia: Recalling two of her forerunners, Dawn French and Tracey Ullman, the auburn-haired and rubber-faced British comedienne Catherine Tate scored hugely in her native England for The Catherine Tate Show, a compendium of irreverent, off-the-wall sketches in which she played a broad array of nutty characters, often with the added element of elaborate makeup. Favorite recurring portrayals included the Cockney nag Lauren Cooper (famous for her catchphrase "Am I bovvered?"), upper middle class Briton The Aga Saga Woman (an absurdly perfectionist housewife and mother given to fits of anxiety), and Derek Faye, a bald and overtly homosexual gentleman with a falsetto voice who repeatedly draws accusations of being gay but responds with, "How very dare you." Unlike, say, the work of Sacha Baron Cohen, Tate's sketches were invariably scripted, even one in which Tony Blair made a cameo appearance.Raised as an only child by her florist mother, her grandmother, and her godmother in the Brunswick Council Estate of Central London, Tate reportedly struggled with shyness from early on, but also claimed a streak of flamboyancy that prompted a life-changing discovery: when she acted humorously, people habitually examined her with much less scrutiny. As an adolescent, she attended a Catholic convent school, but was forced out at the age of 16 when the nuns couldn't provide her with the resources to develop her acting abilities; in the years to follow, she trained as an actress at the University of London's famed Central School of Speech and Drama, then, after accepting a series of minor "straight" roles, decided to give stand-up comedy a shot. Her success in that venue is of course well-known (The Catherine Tate Show evolved into a minor institution on British television), but it ultimately left her dissatisfied and she wanted to be taken seriously as a non-comedic actress. That dream materialized with plum roles in features including the Jewish-themed coming-of-age seriocomedy Sixty Six (2006) (as Aunty Lila), director Edward Blum's ensemble-driven romantic comedy Scenes of a Sexual Nature (2006), and Billie Eltringham's period political comedy Mrs. Ratcliffe's Revolution (2007). She did a stint on the cult favorite series Dr. Who, and in 2010 she played Queen Isabelle in the Jack Black vehicle Gulliver's Travels. In 2011 she joined the cast of The Office for a brief period, and appeared as the mother of a socialite in the teen rom-com Monte Carlo.

Trivia: Often noted for his comment that he enjoys working in all of his films -- as long as he doesn't have to see any of them -- actor James Spader (born February 2nd, 1960) may have missed out on seeing a few good performances in some pretty memorable films.Though descended from a long line of scholars and professors, Spader, in ironic contrast to his theatrical image as the definitive terminal yuppie, dropped out of Phillips Andover prep school to pursue a career as an actor. Forsaking his formal education, Spader instead decided to focus his attention on acting by studying at the Michael Chekhov school in New York, while also working a variety of odd jobs to support himself until he found success as a thespian. Making his debut in the 1978 comedy Team Mates, Spader began the slow process of gaining more frequent work with roles of increasing substance. Spader's first role came in Franco Zeffirelli's soft-core teen melodrama Endless Love (1981) (also notable as the debut of another young unknown actor named Tom Cruise. After a brief, mid-'80s stint in teen exploitation including Tuff Turf and The New Kids (both 1985), Spader gained mainstream recognition with his first fore in yuppiedom as Molly Ringwald's insincere suitor in Pretty in Pink (1986). Over the course of the next few years, Spader would refine his slimy persona to perfection in Wall Street (1987) and Less Than Zero (1987), and take an interesting turn as a possible serial killer in the Jack the Ripper thriller Jack's Back (1988), but it was the end of the decade that brought the defining role in Spader's career.Though his role in independent filmmaker Steven Soderbergh's voyeurism-obsessed sex, lies and videotape did little to propel his persona into more likeable territories, it showed an actor with considerable talent who wasn't afraid to take risks, winning him the Best Actor award at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. Spader's dark portrayal of the ominously seductive videophile struck a chord in audiences and critics alike and turned him into a household name. The '90s found Spader expanding his yuppie image into more sympathetic territory with roles in White Palace and Bad Influence (both 1990), and he continued his likeable trend in the first of the mega-budget Dean Devlin/Roland Emmerich collaborations, Stargate (1994), before reverting back as Jack Nicholson's manipulative lycanthropic rival in Mike Nichols' imaginative satire Wolf (1994). Controversy soon followed with David Cronenberg's widely panned study of fetishistic alienation Crash (1996), and Spader has worked steadily since, with roles in Supernova (2000) and Speaking of Sex (2001). With the release of Secretary (2002), Spader once again found himself in the favor of art house audiences for his portrayal of a demanding lawyer who hires a recently released mental patient for the eponimous duty.Spader found success on the small screen once again for his work on Boston Legal from 2004 to 2008 as the character of Alan Moore, a vehemently moral attorney who resorts to unethical methods during his pursuit of justice (a role that would win the actor two Emmys). Spader made a guest appearance on an episode of The Office, and returned to the sitcom in 2011 as part of the main cast.

Trivia: A true-to-life case of childhood dreams coming true, one gets the impression that the success of humble comedian turned actor Ray Romano is more of a surprise to him than it is to those who supported him in his years as a struggling futon deliveryman moonlighting in standup. Born in Queens, NY, in 1957 and raised in nearby Forest Hills, Queens, Romano found happiness early in life by tickling the funny bones of family, friends, and of course, girls. The middle child of three sons, the aspiring funnyman refined his comic talents when he formed the bravely titled "No Talent" comedy troupe at age 16 to the delight of the congregation they regularly performed for. Romano later put his spotlight aspirations on hold when he enrolled in Queens College as an accountants major after graduating high school in 1975. Dabbling in odd jobs as he developed his stage skills on the late-night comedy circuit, Romano began an exhausting decade-long struggle to succeed as a standup while holding a more reliable day job. Married to wife Anna in the mid-'80s, Romano decided to pursue comedy full-time in 1987. It was shortly after winning a N.Y.C. radio station-sponsored comedy contest two years later that Romano acquired a manager and his dreams began to become a reality. One of those dreams, to perform in front of legendary late-night television host Johnny Carson, came true in 1991. Finally gaining national exposure and seemingly on the fast track to stardom, more television appearances soon followed, with a 1995 appearance on Late Night With David Letterman prompting Letterman to begin talks with Romano about the idea of developing a sitcom. Premiering in September 13, 1996, Everyboy Loves Raymond found the now-popular comic's offbeat domestic observations striking a chord with both audiences and critics alike. Nominated multiple times for numerous awards (including three Emmy and two Golden Globes), ELR carried on well into the new millennium, which saw the now-established comic branching out into other arenas as well. A June 1999 recording of a Carnegie Hall performance was nominated for a Grammy, and his novel Everything and a Kite turned up on the New York Times bestseller list. Television appearances on Hollywood Squares, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and a somber turn in America: A Tribute to Heroes found American households increasingly willing to welcome the good-humored everyman into their homes. It was only a matter of time before Romano tackled feature films, and with his vocal role in 2002's Ice Age, the likable comic did just that. A lighthearted animated romp which followed the adventures of a group of animals weathering the new frozen landscape in order to return a human child to its father, Ice Age gave Disney a run for their money and further proved that popular computer-animated family fare was no longer exclusive to the Mouse House. Romano lent his voice to the Ice Age franchise again in 2006 for Ice Age: The Meltdown, as well as Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in 2009. The actor delivered a solid performance in a supporting role for 2007's The Grand, a mockumentary following a television star trying to win a high-stakes poker tournament, and was praised for his lead performance in TNT's comedy-drama Men of a Certain Age.

Trivia: Possessing a sort of surreal, outlandish, and childish comic persona that is only enhanced by his deceptively straight-laced appearance, comic performer Steve Carell first gained a faithful following thanks to an enduring run as a correspondent on the popular Comedy Central news satire series The Daily Show. Though Carell had been performing on the small screen in such shows as The Dana Carvey Show and Over the Top since the early '90s, it was his grating but hilariously obnoxious reports on The Daily Show that truly made him a talent to watch.A native of Concord, MA, and an alumni of Chicago's famed Second City comedy troupe, Carell gained early experience with stints at the Windy City's Goodman and Wisdom Bridge Theaters. Following his feature debut in the 1991 comedy Curly Sue, Carell made a name for himself in television as a writer/performer on The Dana Carvey Show. In the years that followed, he would frequently alternate between film and television, and he continued to do so after joining the cast of The Daily Show in 1999. Sharp-eared television viewers would recognize Carell as the voice of crime-fighter Gary (a role that he played opposite Daily Show co-star Stephen Colbert) on Saturday Night Live's popular TV Funhouse segment "The Ambiguously Gay Duo." Following roles in such little-seen features as Tomorrow Night and Suits, Carell would return to the small screen for a key supporting role in ex-Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus' short-lived sitcom Watching Ellie.In 2003, Carell nearly stole the show from comic megastar Jim Carrey with his role as an obnoxious television newscaster in the heavenly comedy Bruce Almighty, before once again stepping into a faux television studio to portray cerebrally challenged weather forecaster Brick Tamland in the 2004 Will Ferrell vehicle Anchorman. Carell then stepped out of the newsroom and into cubicle-land for the lead in NBC's American remake of the popular British sitcom The Office, for which he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2005. Carell also made a brief but indelible cameo opposite Anchorman co-star Ferrell in the big-screen adaptation of Bewitched.Carell's Anchorman colleagues also aided him in realizing his breakout role, later that same summer: the hapless innocent title character of The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Written by Carell and co-scripted and directed by Anchorman producer Judd Apatow, the raunchy-yet-sweet comedy had an inauspicious August release, yet its bawdy, adult-oriented laughs resonated with much of the same audience that made The Wedding Crashers an R-rated success story just a few weeks prior. Like Ferrell before him, Carell suddenly found himself in the enviable position of being able to pick and choose from a number of high-priced, high-profile comedic starring roles, among them the Bruce Almighty sequel Evan Almighty, as well as Get Smart, Horton Hears a Who!, and Dinner For Schmucks. Carrel would continue to pepper his resume with low-key roles as well, however, appearing in dramedies like Dan in Real Life and Crazy, Stupid, Love.He continued to work steadily in smaller films like The Way Way Back and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, as well as sequels like Despicable Me 2 and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. In 2014 Carell picked up the first Oscar nomination of his career for playing against type as the billionaire John DuPont in Bennett Miller's true-crime psychological drama Foxcatcher.