Trivia: Another member of the Saturday Night Live Screen Actors Guild, Will Ferrell made his major film debut as Steve Butabi, one of the spectacularly clueless brothers who serve as the protagonists of A Night at the Roxbury (1998). The character originated on SNL, where Ferrell had been a regular since 1995, entertaining audiences with his celebrity impressions and such characterizations as Craig the Spartan Cheerleader and junior high-school teacher Marty Culp.Born in Irvine, CA, on July 16, 1967, Ferrell attended the University of Southern California, graduating with a degree in sports information. Following graduation, he worked as a sportscaster on a weekly cable show, but he soon found his interests leaning toward acting and standup comedy. He enrolled in classes and workshops given at a local community college, and after only a year of training, he was invited to join the Groundlings, an infamous L.A. comedy improv group. Ferrell's involvement with the Groundlings led to his SNL discovery; from that point on, the previously unknown comic found himself enjoying growing recognition and a steady paycheck.Although A Night at the Roxbury turned out to be a complete and utter flop, it did little to prevent Ferrell from finding more screen work; the following year, he could be seen as journalist Bob Woodward in Dick and as the object of fellow SNL castmate Molly Shannon's unwanted affection in Superstar. A series of scene-stealing supporting roles followed for Ferrell in such films as Drowning Mona, Zoolander, and, most-notably, Old School. In the 2003 Todd Phillips film, Ferrell sunk his teeth into the role of Frank "The Tank", delivering several lines that would forever be quoted by frat guys the world over.But it was Ferrell's other 2003 film that truly announced his arrival as a Hollywood star. As the oversized titular character in director Jon Favreau's holiday comedy Elf, Ferrell delighted audiences and critics alike, making the modestly-budgeted film a surprise box-office smash.In the wake of Elf's success, Ferrell's 2004 plate was full, starring as fictional '70s TV newscaster Ron Burgundy in Anchorman (a film which had enough outtakes to merit an entire second feature upon being released to home video), taking a role in the Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda, and signing on for lead roles in two long-anticipated projects: the filmed adaptation of John Kennedy Toole's cult novel A Confederacy of Dunces and the big-screen version of the classic sitcom Bewitched. Though the curse that had plagued the big-screen adaptation of Confederacy seemed to persist when, by mid-2006, there still seemed to be no signs that the film would be going before the cameras anytime soon, Ferrell continued to crack-up audiences with a hilarious cameo in the popular Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson comedy Weddng Crashers, as well as a memorable turn in The Producers - a big screen adaptation of the smash Broadway hit that was inspired by Mel Brooks' 1968 comedy classic of the same name. As the 2000's unfolded, it became clear that Ferrell's comic fame could not be matched. He would score box office gold with many movies to comes, such as Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Stranger Than Fiction, Blades of Glory, Step-Brothers, Everything Must Go, and The Campaign, in addition to popular runs on TV series like The Office and Eastbound & Down.

Trivia: Before he started acting, Mark Wahlberg was best known as Marky Mark, the pants-dropping rapper who attained fame and notoriety with his group the Funky Bunch. In the tradition of Will Smith and Ice Cube, Wahlberg has made a successful transition from music to film, garnering particular early praise for his role in Boogie Nights.Born June 5, 1971, in Dorchester, MA, Wahlberg had a troubled early life. One of nine children, he dropped out of school at 16 (he would later earn his GED) and committed a number of minor felonies. After working various odd jobs, Wahlberg briefly joined brother Donnie and his group New Kids on the Block before forming his own, Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch. The group had widespread popularity for a time, most notably with its 1992 hit single "Good Vibrations." However, it was Wahlberg himself who received the lion's share of attention, whether it was for the homophobia controversy that surrounded him for a time, or for the 1992 Calvin Klein ad campaign featuring him wearing nothing more than his underwear, Kate Moss, and an attitude. In 1993, Wahlberg turned his attentions to acting with a role in The Substitute. The film, co-starring a then-unknown Natasha Gregson Wagner, was a critical and commercial failure, but Wahlberg's next project, 1994's Renaissance Man, with Danny De Vito, gave him the positive notices that would increase with the release of his next film, The Basketball Diaries (1995). Although the film received mixed reviews, many critics praised Wahlberg's performance as Mickey, Leonardo Di Caprio's friend and fellow junkie. Following Diaries, Wahlberg appeared in Fear (1996) in the role of Reese Witherspoon's psychotic boyfriend.It was with the release of Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights in 1997 that Wahlberg finally received across-the-board respect for his commanding yet unassuming performance as busboy-turned-porn-star Eddie Adams/Dirk Diggler. The film was nominated for three Oscars and a slew of other awards by associations ranging from the British Academy to the New York Film Critics Circle to MTV. The positive attention landed Wahlberg on a wide range of magazine covers and gave him greater Hollywood pulling power. He had, as they say, arrived. Wahlberg's follow-up to Boogie Nights was 1998's The Big Hit, an action comedy that, particularly in the wake of Boogie Night's acclaim, proved to be a disappointment. This disappointment was hardly lessened by the relative critical and commercial shortcomings of Wahlberg's next film, The Corruptor (1999). An action flick that co-starred Chow Yun-Fat, The Corruptor showcased Wahlberg's familiar macho side and indicated that success in Hollywood is a strange and unpredictable thing. Though he gained positive notice for his role in David O. Russell' s unconventional war film Three Kings the same year, the film was only a moderate success, paving the way for an even more dramatic turn in the downbeat true story of the ill-fated Andrea Gail, The Perfect Storm, in 2000.The following year found Wahlberg filling some big shoes -- and receiving some hefty criticism as a result -- with his lead role in Tim Burton's much-anticipated remake of Planet of the Apes. Taking over the role that Charlton Heston made famous, Wahlberg found himself pursued onscreen by sinister simians, as well as offscreen by critics who decried the lack of depth that the actor brought to the role. Late that summer, Wahlberg came back down to Earth -- specifically to the everyday-Joe-rises-to-fame territory of Boogie Nights -- with Rock Star, the story of a tribute-band singer who gets a chance to sing for the band he idolizes. Though his noble attempt to fill the considerable shoes of Hollywood legend Cary Grant in the 2002 Charade remake The Truth About Charlie would be only slightly exceeded by his assumption of the role originally played by Michael Caine in the following year's remake of The Italian Job, Wahlberg would subsequently prove that there's nothing like the fresh breeze of an original script in director David O. Russell's existential 2004 comedy I Heart Huckabees. Of course, Wahlberg was never one to let a crowd down, and after riling audiences alongside Tyrese Gibson and André Benjamin in the Detroit-based revenge flick Four Brothers, the athletic actor would take to the gridiron to tell the inspirational story of one football fan whose dreams of playing in the NFL actually came true in the 2006 sports drama Invincible. Also released in the fall of 2006, The Departed allowed Wahlberg to act opposite such heavy hitters as Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, and his old Basketball Diaries co-star Leonardo Di Caprio under the direction of Martin Scorsese. Not only did Wahlberg hold his own against the cast of critics' darlings, he landed the film's only acting Academy Award nod. In 2007, Wahlberg starred in the suspense actioner The Shooter, as well as in director Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Lovely Bones. Wahlberg starred as the leader of a ragtag group trying to survive amidst murderous plant life in M. Night Shyamalan's so-bad-it's-good The Happening (2008), and played the titular role of Max Payne, which was adapted from a video game of the same name. In 2010 the actor starred in the inspirational docudrama chronicling the life of brothers Micky and Dicky Ecklund as they take on the world of boxing. Wahlberg earned an Academy Award nomination for producing the film; that same year, he began producing a new show for HBO, Boardwalk Empire. Wahlberg had a huge hit in 2012 with Seth MacFarlane's Ted, and joined the Transformer franchise in Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014. Wahlberg continued his steady work, starring and producing both Deepwater Horizon (which was nominated for two Oscars) and Patriots Day (about the Boston Marathon bombing) in 2016.

Trivia: A fiercely independent actress who refuses to be pressed into a conventional mode or typecast, Eva Mendes was studying marketing in the late '90s when an agent stumbled across her photo while perusing Mendes's neighbor's portfolio. She soon appeared in an Aerosmith video and made her film debut in Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror. Mendes next appeared in a few made-for-television productions and hammed it up with Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan in A Night at the Roxbury before being cast in a prominent role in Urban Legends: Final Cut. Working against typecasting despite her teen horror resumé, Mendes next took roles in Exit Wounds, Training Day, and All About the Benjamins. Mendes next began work on a children's book titled Crazy Leggs Beshee in which she wanted to introduce art, history, vocabulary, and values to children in a fun and easily comprehendable medium.In 2003, Mendes' career took off, with the actress taking on large roles in an ecclectic quartet of high-profile films. In 2 Fast 2 Furious she played a customs agent working with Paul Walker to bring down a Miami drug cartel. Out of Time found her reteaming with Training Day costar Denzel Washington. Flexing her comedic chops, Mendes was the love interest of half a pair of conjoined twins in the Farrelly brothers' Stuck on You. And in Once Upon a Time in Mexico she played another government agent, this time opposite Johnny Depp.Mendes would go on to appear in a number of films over the coming years, like The Wendell Baker Story, Hitch, Ghost Rider, The Other Guys, and Girl in Progress. She took several years off in order to focus on her growing family, but in 2015, it was announced she would reprise her role from 2 Fast 2 Furious in a future Fast film.

Trivia: Equally adept at sober drama and over-the-top comedy, Michael Keaton has a knack for giving ordinary guys an unexpected twist. This trait ultimately made him an ideal casting choice for Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, and it has allowed him to play characters ranging from Mr. Mom's discontented stay-at-home dad to Pacific Heights's raging psychopath.The youngest of seven children, Keaton was born Michael Douglas on September 5th, 1951 in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania on September 9, 1951. After two years of studying speech at Kent State University, he dropped out and moved to Pittsburgh. While working a number of odd jobs--including a stint as an ice cream truck driver--Keaton attempted to build a career as a stand-up comedian, which proved less than successful. He ended up working as a cameraman for the Pittsburgh PBS station, a job that led him to realize he wanted to be in front of the camera, rather than behind it. Following this realization, Keaton duly moved out to Los Angeles, where he joined the L.A. Branch of Second City and began auditioning. When he started getting work he changed his last name to avoid being confused with the better-known actor of the same name, taking the name "Keaton" after seeing a newspaper article about Diane Keaton. He began acting on and writing for a number of television series, and he got his first big break co-starring with old friend Jim Belushi on the sitcom Working Stiffs (1979). Three years later, he made an auspicious film debut as the relentlessly cheerful owner of a morgue/brothel in Night Shift. The raves he won for his performance carried over to his work the following year in Mr. Mom, and it appeared as though Keaton was on a winning streak. Unfortunately, a series of such mediocre films as Johnny Dangerously (1984) and Gung Ho (1985) followed, and by the time Tim Burton cast him as the titular Beetlejuice in 1988, Keaton's career seemed to have betrayed its early promise. Beetlejuice proved Keaton's comeback: one of the year's most popular films, it allowed him to do some of his best work in years as the ghoulish, revolting title character. His all-out comic performance contrasted with his work in that same year's Clean and Sober, in which he played a recovering drug addict. The combined impact of these performances put Keaton back in the Hollywood spotlight, a position solidified in 1989 when he starred in Burton's Batman. Initially thought to be a risky casting choice for the title role, Keaton was ultimately embraced by audiences and critics alike, many of whom felt that his slightly skewed everyman appearance and capacity for dark humor made him perfect for the part. He reprised the role with similar success for the film's 1992 sequel, Batman Returns. Despite the acclaim and commercial profit surrounding Keaton's work in the Batman films, many of his subsequent films during the 1990s proved to be disappointments. My Life (1993), Speechless (1994), and The Paper (1994) were relative failures, despite star casting and name directors, while Multiplicity, a 1996 comedy featuring no less than four clones of the actor, further demonstrated that his name alone couldn't sell a movie. Some of Keaton's most successful work of the 1990s could be found in his roles in two Elmore Leonard adaptations, Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown (1997) and Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight (1998). An ATF agent in the former and Jennifer Lopez's morally questionable boyfriend in the latter, he turned in solid performances as part of a strong ensemble cast in both critically acclaimed films. In 1999, Keaton went back to his behind-the-camera roots, serving as the executive producer for Body Shots. Keaton continued to act throughout the early 2000s, and starred in Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005) alongside Lindsay Lohan. the actor took on another vehicle-oriented role when he agreed to voice the character of Chris Hicks in Pixar's Cars (2006). In 2010, Keaton voiced the Ken doll in Toy Story 3. Keaton enjoyed an unexpected career renaissance in 2014 playing the lead in Birdman, an older actor trying to stage a comeback by putting on a Broadway production. His work in the film was widely praised, and he earned his first Academy Award nomination when he was given a nod in the Best Actor category.

Trivia: If you can smell what the Rock is cookin' then you're no doubt familiar with superstar wrestler Dwayne Johnson's swaggeringly cocky alter ego. With his trademark right eyebrow raised and a penchant for implementing the patented "People's Elbow" to unwary opponents, the self-proclaimed "Most Electrifying Man in Sports-Entertainment" slammed, crashed, and crushed his way to becoming the youngest Intercontinental Champion in WWF history at the age of 24 before winning the WWF title record six times. After conquering the world of sports-entertainment, Johnson next set his sights on conquering Hollywood.Born May 2, 1972 in Hayward, CA, Johnson became a third-generation wrestler after shifting from a career in professional football to professional wrestling when an injury sidelined his gridiron aspirations. After flexing his acting muscles on television in Saturday Night Live, That '70s Show (in which he played his own father), and The Net, Johnson made his feature debut with his role as the dreaded Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns (2001). Returning as the same character the following year in the appropriately titled The Scorpion King, Johnson did little to enhance his reputation of a trained thespian, though he did get the summer film season off to a rousing start for audiences hungering for some energetic escapist fun. Recalling John Milius' 1982 hit Conan the Barbarian (another film that launched the cinematic action career of a then-little-known athlete named Arnold Schwarzenegger), the sword-and-sandal adventure raked in 36 million dollars on its opening weekend and stayed at the top of the box office in the weeks following its impressive debut.Though he would return to the ring for the remainder of 2002, it didn't take Johnson long to soften on the prospect of a return to the silver screen -- and with the following year's The Rundown, he did just that. Cast as a bounty hunter who is sent to Brazil to retrieve the son of a well-known mob boss (American Pie's Seann William Scott), the film provided Johnson with the sort of opportunity to display his comic flair -- a notable talent that was mostly neglected in the special-effects-laden Scorpion King. By this point, his screen career had earned the wrestler-turned-actor a notable fan base that reached well beyond the WWE universe, and in 2004 he took the law into his own hands with the feature remake (in name and general concept only) Walking Tall. Based on the exploits of hard-case Southern sheriff Buford Pusser (played by Joe Don Baker in the original 1973 version) -- the film found Johnson cast as an honest, retired soldier who -- upon return to his small, rural Washington State hometown -- discovers his former high-school rival Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough) has corrupted the once-prosperous town by introducing drugs and gambling and effectively shutting down the formerly successful lumber mill. Anyone who saw the original (and even those who didn't) could no doubt tell what follows -- and if there ever was a man to lay the smack down on the criminal element, few could doubt that Johnson would be up for the task. With his role as a gay bodyguard in the 2005 Get Shorty sequel, Be Cool, Johnson showed once and for all that he wasn't above poking a little fun at his tough-guy persona, and though he would return to the action genre with the sci-fi video-game adaptation Doom, the next year found the increasingly prolific entertainer cast in the complex role of a sporadically amnesiac actor who begins to have trouble separating reality from fantasy in Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly's apocalyptic sophomore effort, Southland Tales. Later that same year, Johnson turned his attention toward the sport of football to tell the inspirational true story of a detention-camp probation officer who teaches his troubled young charges the meaning of self-respect and social responsibility in Gridiron Gang -- a feature adaptation of the Emmy-winning 1993 documentary of the same name.He would appear in Get Smart and Race to Witch Mountain the following year, followed by Why Did I Get Married Too? in 2010 -- all films that grounded the actor in relatable, humorous roles. Never one to shy away from his roots, however, Johnson was back to action fare soon enough, and he joined the Fast & Furious series for the fifth installment (Fast Five) in 2011 and played Roadblock in G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Johnson once again mixed action and comedy in Michael Bay's Pain & Jain. In 2014, he built up his already-impressive physique even more to play the title character in Hercules, and continued on the action route with roles in San Andreas and another Furious film.

Trivia: After spending the 1980s playing a series of drug addict and character parts, Samuel L. Jackson emerged in the 1990s as one of the most prominent and well-respected actors in Hollywood. Work on a number of projects, both high-profile and low-key, has given Jackson ample opportunity to display an ability marked by both remarkable versatility and smooth intelligence.Born December 21, 1948, in Washington, D.C., Jackson was raised by his mother and grandparents in Chattanooga, TN. He attended Atlanta's Morehouse College, where he was co-founder of Atlanta's black-oriented Just Us Theater (the name of the company was taken from a famous Richard Pryor routine). Jackson arrived in New York in 1977, beginning what was to be a prolific career in film, television, and on the stage. After a plethora of character roles of varying sizes, Jackson was discovered by the public in the role of the hero's tempestuous, drug-addict brother in 1991's Jungle Fever, directed by another Morehouse College alumnus, Spike Lee. Jungle Fever won Jackson a special acting prize at the Cannes Film Festival and thereafter his career soared. Confronted with sudden celebrity, Jackson stayed grounded by continuing to live in the Harlem brownstone where he'd resided since his stage days. 1994 was a particularly felicitous year for Jackson; while his appearances in Jurassic Park (1993) and Menace II Society (1993) were still being seen in second-run houses, he co-starred with John Travolta as a mercurial hit man in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, a performance that earned him an Oscar nomination. His portrayal of an embittered father in the more low-key Fresh earned him additional acclaim. The following year, Jackson landed third billing in the big-budget Die Hard With a Vengeance and also starred in the adoption drama Losing Isaiah. His versatility was put on further display in 1996 with the release of five very different films: The Long Kiss Goodnight, a thriller in which he co-starred with Geena Davis as a private detective; an adaptation of John Grisham's A Time to Kill, which featured him as an enraged father driven to murder; Steve Buscemi's independent Trees Lounge; The Great White Hype, a boxing satire in which the actor played a flamboyant boxing promoter; and Hard Eight, the directorial debut of Paul Thomas Anderson.After the relative quiet of 1997, which saw Jackson again collaborate with Tarantino in the critically acclaimed Jackie Brown and play a philandering father in the similarly acclaimed Eve's Bayou (which also marked his debut as a producer), the actor lent his talents to a string of big-budget affairs (an exception being the 1998 Canadian film The Red Violin). Aside from an unbilled cameo in Out of Sight (1998), Jackson was featured in leading roles in The Negotiator (1998), Sphere (1998), and Deep Blue Sea (1999). His prominence in these films added confirmation of his complete transition from secondary actor to leading man, something that was further cemented by a coveted role in what was perhaps the most anticipated film of the decade, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), the first prequel to George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy. Jackson followed through on his leading man potential with a popular remake of Gordon Parks' seminal 1971 blaxploitation flick Shaft. Despite highly publicized squabbling between Jackson and director John Singleton, the film was a successful blend of homage, irony, and action; it became one of the rare character-driven hits in the special effects-laden summer of 2000.From hard-case Shaft to fragile as glass, Jackson once again hoodwinked audiences by playing against his usual super-bad persona in director M. Night Shyamalan's eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable (2000). In his role as Bruce Willis' brittle, frail antithesis, Jackson proved that though he can talk trash and break heads with the best of them, he's always compelling to watch no matter what the role may be. Next taking a rare lead as a formerly successful pianist turned schizophrenic on the trail of a killer in the little-seen The Caveman's Valentine, Jackson turned in yet another compelling and sympathetic performance. Following an instance of road rage opposite Ben Affleck in Changing Lanes (2002), Jackson stirred film geek controversy upon wielding a purple lightsaber in the eagerly anticipated Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones. Despite rumors that the color of the lightsaber may have had some sort of mythical undertone, Jackson laughingly assured fans that it was a simple matter of his suggesting to Lucas that a purple lightsaber would simply "look cool," though he was admittedly surprised to see that Lucas had obliged him Jackson eventually saw the final print. A few short months later filmgoers would find Jackson recruiting a muscle-bound Vin Diesel for a dangerous secret mission in the spy thriller XXX.Jackson reprised his long-standing role as Mace Windu in the last segment of George Lucas's Star Wars franchise to be produced, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). It (unsurprisingly) grossed almost four hundred million dollars, and became that rare box-office blockbuster to also score favorably (if not unanimously) with critics; no less than Roger Ebert proclaimed it "spectacular." Jackson co-headlined 2005's crime comedy The Man alongside Eugene Levy and 2006's Joe Roth mystery Freedomland with Julianne Moore and Edie Falco, but his most hotly-anticipated release at the time of this writing is August 2006's Snakes on a Plane, a by-the-throat thriller about an assassin who unleashes a crate full of vipers onto a aircraft full of innocent (and understandably terrified) civilians. Produced by New Line Cinema on a somewhat low budget, the film continues to draw widespread buzz that anticipates cult status. Black Snake Moan, directed by Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow) dramatizes the relationship between a small-town girl (Christina Ricci) and a blues player (Jackson). The picture is slated for release in September 2006 with Jackson's Shaft collaborator, John Singleton, producing.Jackson would spend the ensuing years appearing in a number of films, like Home of the Brave, Resurrecting the Champ, Lakeview Terrace, Django Unchained, and the Marvel superhero franchise films like Thor, Iron Man, and The Avengers, playing superhero wrangler Nick Fury.

Trivia: Steve Coogan's inspired, off-the-cuff lead performance in 2002's Brit-rock biopic 24 Hour Party People had American critics heralding the arrival of a unique new talent -- but to U.K. audiences, his star turn was the next logical step for one of that country's most celebrated comics. Born into a working-class, Catholic family in Manchester, England, Coogan took to performance in his teens, and hit the standup scene soon thereafter. It was there that television casting agents took notice of his spot-on impersonations of world leaders, pop stars, and sundry celebrities, and they soon put him to work playing various comedic bit parts in network shows. One of his early breakthroughs came when he provided several recurring voices on the long-running puppet show Spitting Image, a weekly satirical review that took aim at Margaret Thatcher, Michael Jackson, and Ronald Reagan, among others.Coogan's talents led him away from the small screen to radio, where he made an even bigger splash with the comedy program On the Hour. The show gave the comedian free reign to try out a number of vocal characterizations, among them the arrogant, ignorant radio announcer Alan Partridge, whose hilariously lame puns and non-sequiturs quickly made him -- and, by proxy, Coogan -- an audience favorite. Coogan parlayed the Partridge character into a mini-empire, first with his own mock radio talk show -- cheekily titled Knowing Me, Knowing You...With Alan Partridge -- then in the flesh on 1994's BBC 2 news satire The Day Today, and finally with the wildly successful TV show Knowing Me, Knowing You...With Alan Partridge.Not content to rest on Partridge's laurels, Coogan developed many other characters through the '90s, taking them on the road for a wildly successful standup tour late in the decade. It was around this time that he was approached by iconoclastic director Michael Winterbottom to play the part of Tony Wilson, the charismatic Manchester TV personality who found himself the unlikely founder of one of the most influential record labels of the '80s. 24 Hour Party People charted the rise and fall of Factory Records, home to such bands as Joy Division, New Order, and the Happy Mondays, all of which were nurtured by the intuitive, unpredictable Wilson. In Coogan, Winterbottom saw a spiritual heir: Both men were born and raised in Manchester, and both had been impetuous on-air performers. The director wouldn't take "no" for an answer, and as the two forged ahead on the picture, Coogan began to develop his own slant on Wilson, improvising dialogue and talking directly to the camera. The unconventional biopic won raves at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, with Coogan in particular singled out for the wit and ingenuity of his freewheeling interpretation. Though touted in the press as British cinema's "next Trainspotting," 24 Hour Party People failed to perform at the U.K. box office, where it was effectively steamrolled by two other hit British comedies, Bend It Like Beckham and Ali G: Indahouse. 24 Hour's arthouse U.S. run later that year was solid, if unremarkable, as American audiences had less of a vested interest in the subject matter. Still, Hollywood casting agents were duly impressed with Coogan, and lured him to Tinseltown for the plum role of Phileas Fogg in the big-budget updating of Around the World in 80 Days, which was prepped for a high-profile summer 2004 release.Coogan would continue to enjoy his success on screen over the coming years in films like Hamlet 2 and The Trip.

Trivia: Born the middle child of a Royal Air Force pilot and an Irishwoman, actor Ray Stevenson was born in Ireland but was largely raised in North East England. His parents would frequently drop him and his brothers off at the local cinema on Saturday mornings, and as a little boy staring up at the big screen, he knew that he wanted to become an actor but just didn't think it was a realistic dream. Though Stevenson entered into a career as an interior designer, the acting bug slowly ate away at him well into young adulthood. It was only after gaining courage through drink that he shared his dreams with a helpful Australian actor, who convinced him to enroll in evening classes, and Stevenson secured a spot at the Bristol Old Vic Theater School at the tender age of 27. Later, after training on the boards and honing is talents with a series of small-screen roles, Stevenson gradually transitioned to film work with parts in Paul Greengrass' The Theory of Flight and Antoine Fuqua's King Arthur. In 2005, the handsome star landed his highest profile role to date as the passionate Roman soldier Titus Pullo on the critically acclaimed BBC/HBO television co-production Rome.

Trivia: Born in 1977, actress Lindsay Sloane enjoyed a series of assignments during her adolescent years, including a stint on The Wonder Years (as Alice Pedermeir, the girlfriend of high schooler Chuck Coleman) and another on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. In her early years, she found herself somewhat typecast in playing the quirky best friends of female lead characters, but shortly after her 20th birthday, she aggressively changed her image (by virtue of rhinoplasty) and scored a key role as a cheerleader, Big Red, in the farcical sports comedy Bring It On (2000). Following enlistment in a couple of very short-lived television series (the 2000 Grosse Pointe and the 2001 Going to California), and an assignment as Albert Brooks' daughter in the comedy remake The In-Laws (2003), Sloane chalked up a series of parts in big-screen outings, including In The Land of Women (2007), The Accidental Husband (2007), and Over Her Dead Body (2008).

Trivia: The lithe and graceful Lone Star actress Natalie Zea attended Monahans High School in her hometown of Pasadena, TX, in the early '90s, graduating in 1993. In pursuit of a dramatic career, Zea subsequently moved to the Big Apple, where she enrolled in the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, and built a solid foundation as a theatrical player in such off-Broadway productions as Chekhov's The Three Sisters and William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. After graduation, Zea shifted focus; honing in almost exclusively on filmed work, she appeared in innumerable student and low-budget productions, and partially supported herself with work on television commercials, promoting such brands as Lucky Strike, Dove, Hellman's, and Snickers. A low-budget film collaboration with fellow actors John Glover and Gloria Reuben, Macbeth in Manhattan (1999), followed, along with a two-year stint as Gwen Hotchkiss on the daytime drama Passions. Zea also made her way into prime time, with guest work on such series as CSI, Two and a Half Men, and Without a Trace, as well as a recurring part on The Shield, as Lauren Riley. Then, in the mid- to late 2000s, Zea locked down two regular small-screen roles with ABC: Trish Agermeyer on the short-lived "financial intrigue" series Eyes (co-starring Tim Daly) and filthy rich divorcée Karen Darling on the weekly prime-time soap Dirty Sexy Money. She appeared in the first season of Hung, and enjoyed the regular role of Winona Hawkins in the well-regarded series Justified. In 2013, she was dropped to a recurring role on Justified, which enabled her to join the cast of the crime-drama The Following. On the big screen she could be seen in the comedy The Other Guys and the thriller InSight.

Trivia: Comedian Rob Riggle earned his chops in the theater and film program at the University of Kansas. Also, perhaps surprisingly, the successful comic cut his teeth in the military, joining the Marines in 1990 and eventually earning the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Riggle would go on to forge a creative partnership with fellow comedian Rob Huebel, working together in the sketch comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade, projects for VH1, and more. Riggle would go on to be a featured player on Saturday Night Live, and become an extremely popular member of the staff on The Daily Show, in addition to appearing in movies like The Hangover, Step Brothers, Talladega Nights, and Pushing Tom.

Trivia: Son of comedic legend Damon Wayans, Damon Wayans Jr. began following in his dad's footsteps in 1994 when, at the age of 12, he played the younger version of David Alan Grier's character Kevin in the movie Blankman. He would spend the next several years honing his stand-up comedy skills, eventually joining the cast of the sitcom My Wife and Kids in 2001. He would also become a writer on the show, penning several episodes before departing in 2004. In 2006, Wayans became a writer and actor on the outrageous sketch comedy series The Underground, joining forces with his father, who also helped create the show. Then in 2009, the comedian kept it in the family once again, playing Thomas in the parody Dance Flick, which was directed by Wayans' cousin Damien Wayans. He then appeared in the Will Farrell action comedy The Other Guys.

Trivia: Growing up in Union City, NJ, Bobby Cannavale participated in the school play because his mother wanted him off the streets. Today, he is a recognizable New York-based character actor with roles in the city's best theater, television, and film productions. Cannavale was born in New Jersey to an Italian father and a Cuban mother. His parents insisted that he attend St. Michael's Catholic School in Union City where he took part in almost every after school activity, from the alter boys to the chorus. When he was eight, Cannavale secured the plum role of "the lisping boy" in his school's production of The Music Man and a part in Guys and Dolls. Ever since then, he wanted to do nothing but perform. Cannavale's parents divorced when he was 13 and his mother moved the family to Puerto Rico. After two years in Latin America, they returned to the United States and settled in Coconut Creek, FL. Cannavale returned to New Jersey after graduating high school in the late '80s -- he needed to be closer to New York in order to begin his acting career. Forgoing acting lessons for actual performance experience, Cannavale became involved with Manhattan's prestigious Circle Repertory Theater. He served as a "reader" for several plays and was eventually cast as Mark Linn-Baker's understudy in Georges Feydeau's French farce A Flea in Her Ear. Cannavale soon ended up replacing Baker for two weeks. His first-rate performance secured him a role in the company's next play, Paul Rudnick's The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told. Television powerhouse John Wells attended one of the shows and cast Cannavale in his television series Trinity. Cannavale's character, a tugboat operator, was supposed to appear in only three episodes of the show, but starred in nine. Trinity was canceled in 1998, but Wells immediately secured Cannavale for his next television venture, 1999's Third Watch. As dedicated and lovesick paramedic Robert "Bobby" Caffey, Cannavale struck a cord with female audiences. The show was renewed for a second season, but Cannavale felt that Caffey's character was not being developed. He asked Wells to let him exit the series and to make sure he exited "big." The producer obliged his friend: Caffey left the show mid-season after being fatally shot in the chest. The dramatic two-part episode even included a "beyond the grave" meeting between Caffey and his deceased dead-beat dad. In 2001, Cannavale joined the cast of his then-father-in-law, Sidney Lumet's heralded television courtroom drama, 100 Centre Street. Cannavale's brazen, ambitious prosecutor, J.J. Jellinek, is a far cry from the softhearted paramedic he portrayed on Third Watch. Debuting on the show at the beginning of its second season, Jellinek shook up 100 Centre Street -- immediately romancing a fellow lawyer and shamelessly advancing his career in any way possible. Cannavale's television career has not kept him away from theater or film. He appeared on-stage throughout the '90s, participating in productions such as Lanford Wilson's Virgil Is Still the Frog Boy and Noel Coward's In Two Keys. His movie credits include Herbe Gardner's I'm Not Rappaport (1996) with Walter Mathau and Ossie Davis, Lumet's Night Falls on Manhattan (1997), and Gloria (1999), John Irvin's HBO original film When Trumpet's Fade (1998), Phillip Noyce's The Bone Collector (1999) with Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington, Spike Lee's 3 A.M. (2001) with Danny Glover, Alec Baldwin's The Devil and Daniel Webster (2002), and Daisy Von Scherler Mayer's The Guru (2002). Cast as friendly and outgoing lunch truck vender Joe in the critically acclaimed 2003 indie hit The Station Agent, Cannavale provided the perfect contrast to Peter Dinklage's introverted protagonist. WIth subsequent small screen roles in Kingpin and OZ that same year, the up and coming actor would become a familiar face to television viewers before once again returning to the silver screen for supporting roles in Shall We Dance?, Haven, and Romance and Cigarettes.A recurring, Emmy-winning role on Will and Grace ensured Cannavale's continued presence on the small screen right through to the final episode of the series aired in May of 2006, with a slew of supporting performance in such the features The Night Listener, Fast Food Nation, Snakes on a Plane, 10 Items or Less, and Dedication that same year proving that Cannivale was the go-to guy for producers in search of quality supporting players. This trend would continue for the actor in the coming years, as he turned up in everything from the quirky Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, to the family friendly Paul Blart: Mall Cop. In 2010 he took a small part in the Will Ferrell comedy The Other Guys. The next year he reteamed with Tom McCarthy for Win Win. Cannavale continued to showcase his incredible range in the years to come. In 2012, he had a season-long arc on Boardwalk Empire, winning an Emmy for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He then had a recurring role on Nurse Jackie (opposite his son, Jake, playing Cannavale's character's son). After playing Chili in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine in 2013, Cannavale took supporting roles in Chef, Adult Beginners and the remake of Annie, all in 2014. The following year, he appeared in Danny Collins (opposite Al Pacino), and took smaller roles in big movies like Spy, Ant-Man and Daddy's Home.

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: Born in 1968, the television sketch comedy scripter, big screen writer/director, and occasional performer Adam McKay first entered the public eye (and established himself professionally) when he helped found the Upright Citizens Brigade comic improv troupe in 1990, alongside Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Horatio Sanz, and others. McKay subsequently worked at the ImprovOlympic theater in Chicago and joined the cast of SCTV, contributing heavily to its infamous sketch "The Piñata Full of Bees." Later (in the early '90s), McKay auditioned for the cast of Saturday Night Live. He failed to make the cut as an SNL performer, but submitted (highly politicized) material to the program which was so sharp and funny that it secured him a position as a regular SNL contributor (of scripts and occasional short films) from 1995 through 2001. For three of those years, McKay served as SNL head writer; longtime friend (and SCTV alumnus) Tina Fey succeeded him in the role.During his SNL stint, McKay met and befriended funnyman Will Ferrell. Not long after McKay departed from the program, the two formed a professional partnership, teaming up to co-write the summer 2004 big screen comedy vehicle Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy; McKay took the director's chair for that turn. Unsurprisingly, the film -- about an oversexed, chauvinistic, mentally-deficient San Diego newsman in the mid-'70s (Ferrell) -- became a massive hit. It prompted a follow-up, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, with the same pedigree as Anchorman, but this time around, McKay posed a triple threat, not only co-authoring the script with Ferrell, but portraying Terry Cheveaux in the cast.He continued his association with Ferrell, directing him in films like Step Brothers (2008), The Other Guys (2010) and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013), while continuing to produce and write other films. He was briefly considered to direct Ant-Man in 2015, but instead only contributed to the screenplay. In 2015, McKay directed two films- Daddy's Home, reuniting him with Ferrell, and The Big Short, his first directing venture without Ferrell. The film, about the 2007-08 financial crisis, starred Christian Bale and Steve Carell, and earned a slew of rave reviews and an Academy Award nomination for Best Director and a win, for Best Adapted Screenplay, for McKay.

Trivia: Despite her efforts to be taken seriously as an actress, Brooke Shields has been unable to escape her youth, during which time she found herself in the precarious position of simultaneously being idolized as a late-'70s icon of adolescent wholesome virginal innocence and being constantly photographed in manners verging on the mildly pornographic. Shields' early career was managed and pushed by her mother, Teri Shields, a small-time actress who placed her daughter in front of the camera before she was even one. As the Ivory Snow baby, Shields was once hailed as the "most beautiful baby in America." After spending many years hawking products, she was in such demand that her mother started marketing her under the logo "Brooke Shields & Co." Shields made her feature film debut in Alice Sweet Alice (1976), but did not become a bona fide star until French director Louis Malle cast her as a 12-year-old New Orleans prostitute who becomes the romantic obsession of a much older painter in Pretty Baby (1978). The film was released amidst great controversy because of the scenes in which Shields (or a body double representing her) appeared nude. But while she did participate in some adult scenes, those moments were handled with taste and discretion by Malle and his cinematographer, Sven Nyquist, and the general consensus was that Shields was not exploited in the film. Thus far, her acting in Pretty Baby remains Shields' best. Through her teens, Shields was among the world's top fashion models and her countenance was everywhere. Controversy again stirred when she did some provocative ads for Calvin Kline in which she was seen wearing a too tight pair of jeans and cooed, "Nothing comes between me and my Calvins." This was in contrast to her other ads in which she advised young girls to abstain from sex and a different campaign against smoking. At the peak of her fame, Shields appeared three times on the cover of Life magazine and once on the cover of Time. Her film career picked up around this time with appearances in such venues as King of the Gypsies (1978) and Wanda Nevada (1979), but her best-known film is the so-bad-it's-good The Blue Lagoon (1980) in which she and teenage hunk Christopher Atkins find themselves shipwrecked for years on a desert island. Ostensibly, the film is a tender tale about innocence and true love, but it's primarily a titillating romp filled with plenty of flesh shots of Shields and Atkins' taut, tanned, and partially clad bodies. In 1981, Shields tried her hand with a more serious role in Franco Zeffirelli's tepid teen romance Endless Love, but did not succeed. Shields decided it was time for college and so enrolled in Princeton, where but for the occasional appearance on a Bob Hope television special, made-for-TV movie, or other special event, she immersed herself in college life. While there, she majored in French Literature and also became interested in the theater, gaining experience in two regional productions of Love Letters. Shields graduated from Princeton with honors. Upon her graduation, Shields returned to acting full time and appeared in films that can most kindly be described as mediocre. In 1996, Shields was given her own situation comedy on NBC network's Suddenly Susan, where she played a single career girl struggling to reassemble her life following her breakup with her wealthy fiancé. Though never among the most natural and relaxed of actresses, Shields gradually grew into her role and proved to be a competent, charismatic comedy actress, turning in guest appearances on popular television shows such as That 70s Show, Nip/Tuck, Two and a Half Men, and Hannah Montana after Suddenly Susan went off the air in 2000. Meanwhile, on Broadway, Shields could bee seen in revivals of Grease, Cabaret, and Chicago before taking over the role of Morticia Addams in the Broadway musical version of The Addams Family. In 1997 Shields married tennis great Andre Agassi, but the union only lasted two years and in 2001 she was wed to television producer Chris Henchy.

Trivia: Brooklyn-born actress/choreographer Rosie Perez attended Los Angeles City College before making the cattle-call rounds for dancing jobs. She worked a few seasons with the TV variety series Soul Train, then went on to perform at the LA club Funky Reggae. Here she was spotted by director Spike Lee, who cast her in a choice role in his 1989 film Do The Right Thing. She can also be seen dancing to the title tune under the opening credits. As a choreographer, Perez has staged shows for Diana Ross and Bobby Brown, and was Emmy-nominated for her work on the Fox comedy/variety series In Living Color (1990-94). She has been shown to best advantage on screen in explosive supporting roles, such as the Jeopardy-obsessed girlfriend of Woody Harrelson in White Men Can't Jump (1992) and the hilariously covetous wife of lottery winner Nicholas Cage in It Could Happen to You (1994). On a more sombre note, Perez was excellent as the troubled plane-crash survivor in Fearless (1993) and received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 1997, Perez travelled to Spain to play the title role in Alex de Iglesia's wild Perdita Durango -- a semi-sequel to David Lynch's Wild at Heart that co-starred Oscar-winner Javier Bardim as a sexually adventurous practitioner of Santeria. Roles in The 24 Hour Woman and Lackawanna Blues followed, and in 2008 Perez turned up as a crooked cop in director David Gordon Green's stoner action comedy Pineapple Express. Additionally, Perez has lent her distinctice voice to such animated television shows as Go, Diego! Go! and Seth MacFarlane's The Cleveland Show.

Trivia: Wrote about his desire to become a Yankees' shortstop in an eighth-grade essay. Authored Game Day: My Life On and Off the Field and The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your Dreams. Both titles were released in 2001. In 1996, founded the Turn 2 Foundation, which strives to help youths stay away from drugs and alcohol. Was named the American League Rookie of the Year in 1996 and the MVPs of the 2000 World Series and the 2000 All Star game. Named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. In 2009, broke the record for most hits in New York Yankees franchise history. The record had previously been held by Lou Gehrig with 2721 hits. Took part in contentious negotiations with the Yankees between the 2010 and 2011 seasons before signing a three-year contact (with a fourth-year option). Jeter's statistical decline the previous year made for edgy words between the shortstop and Yankee management, concerned about further performance erosion. Set Yankees franchise stolen base record in May, 2011, when he swiped bag number 326. Collected his 3,000 career hit on July 9, 2011, with a home run; Jeter had five hits in all in that game, and the final one proved to be the one that won the game.

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: After graduating from Stanford, decided to move to New York City to focus on acting. After struggling a few years, he turned his attention to the finance world. Was part of the comedy group "House of Floyd" with future Bridesmaids costars Melissa McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone. Appeared in the Reba McEntire video for "I'd Rather Ride Around With You" and the sequel "What If It's You" as the singer's love interest. Landed a "life imitates art" role on the NBC series The Office—his character is CFO for the fictional Dunder-Mifflin, while Buckley is a wealth-management adviser for an investment bank.

Trivia: Irreverent sketch comic Rob Huebel gained recognition for producing episodes of several of television's most popular comedy showcases during the 1990s, including Michael Moore's politically charged The Awful Truth and Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Huebel also appeared in guest roles on the sitcoms Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm. In 2007, Huebel, Aziz Ansari, and Paul Scheer signed with MTV as the lead players in Human Giant, a weekly compendium of offbeat and humorous short films.

Trivia: Was inspired to become a comedian after watching the Marx Brothers movie A Night at the Opera at age 6. Appeared in high-school productions of The Grapes of Wrath and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Performed with the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York and L.A. Began broadcasting his own podcast, Gelmania, in 2011. Performs in a comedy-rap duo under the name Cracked Out with partner Jon C. Daly.

Trivia: Actor and veteran of the Upright Citizen's Brigade comedy troupe Ben Schwartz began making his way into the world of television by appearing on shows like Parks and Recreation and in sketches on CollegeHumor.com. He eventually began making appearances in feature films, like 2009's Everybody's Fine and 2010's The Other Guys, before moving on to more prominent roles, like in the 2011 comedy Peep World.

Trivia: Character actor, onscreen from 1970.

Trivia: Though best known for his work in screen comedies, actor Zak Orth felt at home in a surprisingly diverse array of genres including earnest drama. An Illinois native and the son of a piano teacher and opera singer, Orth began his acting career on the New York-area stage, with plum roles in productions including Suburbia (1994), Misalliance (1997), and The Eros Trilogy (1999), but concurrently branched off into film, landing one of his first A-list parts with a bit role in the Frank Oz-directed comedy In & Out (1997). Orth then traveled to the other end of the emotional spectrum with a small role in Scott Hicks' sincere historical drama Snow Falling on Cedars (1999), and landed supporting roles in the teen-oriented comedies Loser and Down to You ( both 2000).Beginning in 2001, Orth commenced a longstanding association with the cast members of the MTV sketch comedy program The State, appearing in their big-screen outings Wet Hot American Summer (2001), The Baxter (2005), and The Ten (2007). Supporting roles in two additional features -- the comedies Melinda and Melinda (2004) and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) witnessed Orth collaborating with maestro Woody Allen.

Trivia: An actress who is known as much -- if not more -- for her offscreen life as for her onscreen performances, Anne Heche had the distinction of being one of Hollywood's most surprising success stories and also one half of its most famous lesbian couple. Heche's hyper-publicized former relationship with actress and comedienne Ellen DeGeneres was particularly notable -- and refreshing -- for its degree of openness, something that made the two women veritable poster children for gay pride in Hollywood and elsewhere.Born in the small town of Aurora, OH, on May 25, 1969, Heche was raised as part of a fundamentalist Christian family. Her father, an itinerant choir director, was constantly running from both debt and his immediate family; the former was due to his lack of a steady job and the latter to his secret life as a gay man. Both conditions resulted in a tumultuous childhood for Heche, who began performing in dinner theatre at the age of 12 to help pay her family's bills. Her life changed dramatically when she was 13 and her father died of AIDS, something that revealed his other identity and confounded Heche's entire family. Compounding the tragedy was her brother's death in a car accident just months later; following this double blow, Heche lived with her mother in Chicago and kept acting to help pay the rent. When she was 17, she moved to New York and was cast as identical twins on the long-running soap opera Another World; Heche stayed with the show through 1991, earning a Daytime Emmy Award for her work in the process.Following her departure from Another World, Heche struggled in obscurity for a few years, turning up on the occasional TV show. Her fortunes began to shift in 1996, when she had her breakthrough film role in Nicole Holofcener's Walking and Talking, a well-received independent that co-starred Heche and Catherine Keener as best friends experiencing various romantic ups and downs. That same year, she had a supporting role as Demi Moore's best friend in The Juror and although the film wasn't particularly successful, it did give Heche greater exposure. Her exposure increased exponentially when, after appearing in Wag the Dog and as Johnny Depp's wife in Mike Newell's highly acclaimed Donnie Brasco in 1997, she made public her relationship with Ellen DeGeneres. Heche's disclosure came directly against the advice of her agents -- whom she subsequently fired -- and the intense amount of hooplah surrounding it severely compromised her casting opposite Harrison Ford in the romantic comedy Six Days Seven Nights. Fortunately, Ford stood firm on his insistence that Heche star with him in the film and the actress managed to weather the ridiculous skepticism voiced by those who doubted a lesbian actress -- one who had made a career thus far out of portraying blatantly heterosexual women -- could convincingly play Ford's love interest. Although Six Days Seven Nights was savaged by most critics and failed to perform as well as had been expected, Heche earned a number of positive reviews for her performance, as well as a choice position on many Hollywood casting lists. She went on to give another strong performance as a lawyer in Return to Paradise and then landed the much-sought-after role of Marion Crane in Gus Van Sant's relentlessly publicized 1998 remake of Psycho. The film, which also starred Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates and Julianne Moore as Lila Crane, turned out to be a sizable disappointment, and after starring alongside Ed Harris in the similarly disappointing religious drama The Third Miracle, Heche decided to try her hand at directing. She made her directorial debut with Reaching Normal in 1999 and the following year, wrote and directed a segment of the HBO drama If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000). Her segment centered on a lesbian couple willing to do anything to have a baby and starred Sharon Stone and DeGeneres. That same year, Heche returned to acting as one of the stars of Auggie Rose, a drama about a man who gets the opportunity to assume a new identity.While Heche and DeGeneres chose to amicably part ways in 2000, their high-profile relationship left an indelible mark on US culture, helping to usher in an era of increased tolerance toward homosexuals within mainstream America. Along with the much publicized break-up, Heche found herself in the news for another reason that year. Upon having an emotional breakdown, the actress was found on a stranger's doorstep claiming to be Celestia, the daughter of God. However, rather than shy from the controversy, Heche chose to tackle it head-on, documenting the experience in the 2001 autobiography Call Me Crazy. Capping off a rollercoaster period of her personal life, Heche married camera-man Coley Lafoon in September of 2001.While she had certainly remained in the public eye, it had been a while since audiences had seen much acting from Heche, so it certainly pleased her fans when she assumed a recurring role on the quirky Fox series Ally McBeal. Next up, she could be seen on the big screen in the Denzel Washington thriller John Q and with Nicole Kidman in 2004's Birth. Heche lent her voice to the 2007 animated fantasy adventure Superman: Doomsday, and took on the lead role of Marin Frist, a relationship expert who finds herself in an isolated Alaskan town following the dissolution of her own marriage in the television series Men in Trees (2007-2008). Though she participated in several moderately successful films in the coming years (The Other Guys, That's What She Said, Rampart), the actress wouldn't find mainstream success until 2011, when she worked with Ed Helms and John C. Reilly in the role of an insurance salesperson in the comedy Cedar Rapids.

Trivia: Like his older brother, Keenan Ivory Wayans, African-American performer Damon Wayans matriculated from standup comedy to series television to movies. He was a regular on TV's Saturday Night Live and -- along with virtually everyone else in the Wayans family -- In Living Color. Exhibiting a fondness for the outrageous, Wayans attracted both adulation and condemnation for his many In Living Color characterizations, notably the dour Homey the Clown and the excessively effeminate co-host of the "Men on Film" skits. Damon's first film was 1984's Beverly Hills Cop 2; he has since functioned as co-star (with brother Marlon Wayans), co-producer, co-writer, and director of Mo' Money (1992), and has been heard but not seen as the voice of a troublesome baby in Look Who's Talking 2 (1992). In 1995, Damon Wayans played a role once essayed by Charlton Heston, in Major Payne, a remake of Heston's The Private War of Major Benson (1955).