Trivia: Born November 10th, 1969, actress Ellen Pompeo's career began to soar after a memorable turn as Jake Gyllenhaal's sympathetic love interest in director Brad Silberling's introspective family drama Moonlight Mile. With roles in such eagerly anticipated films as Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can (2002) and the comic-book adaptation Daredevil (2003) following close on the heels of what many considered an Oscar-worthy performance in Moonlight Mile, it seemed as if Pompeo was on the verge of becoming a well-known star. A native of Everett, MA, Pompeo got her start as an actress with a pair of appearances in the popular television drama Law & Order. Subsequently cast in the coming-of-age teen-sex comedy Coming Soon (1999), Pompeo continued to refine her skills as a harried waitress in the comedy In the Weeds (2000) while also appearing in a pair of comedic shorts entitled 8 1/2 x 11 (1999) and Eventual Wife (2000). In 2005, she landed the lead in ABC's medical drama Grey's Anatomy, playing Meredith Grey, a role she'd stick with for the next decade.

Trivia: Noted for playing quirky and shy guys in his youth and charming leading men in his adult life, contemporary American actor Patrick Dempsey became a rising star in Hollywood during the late '80s and '90s. A state downhill skiing champion in high school, he began performing nonprofessionally as a juggler, magician, and puppeteer. He would soon parlay his performing skills onto the screen, becomming well known for the role of a loveable geek in the 1987 teen romcom Can't Buy Me Love.He would go on to appear in a number of films over the coming years, like With Honors, Outbreak, and Sweet Home Alabama. Dempsey would find his most definitive role in 2005 however, when he was cast as Dr. Derek Shepherd on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy. Dempsey's portrayal of the handsom doctor made him so popular, he became regularly referred to by the nickname "Dr. McDreamy," and he would stick with the series for many seasons to come.

Trivia: One of Canada's most respected actresses, Sandra Oh is one of her country's growing number of talented performers to make their presence felt in Hollywood. Oh, who is of Korean heritage, was born in Nepean, Ottawa, and began acting at the age of ten. Despite the disapproval of her traditionally-minded parents, she embarked on a professional acting career when she was barely out of her teens. After attending the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal, Oh had her breakthrough in the 1993 CBC production of Runaway: The Diary of Evelyn Lau. Her portrayal of the title character, a 14-year-old runaway who endured hard times while living on the street, earned Oh a FIPA d'Or for Best Actress at Cannes.On the big screen, Oh first earned raves and recognition for her portrayal of a Chinese-Canadian woman struggling with both the demands of her conservative parents and those placed on her by society in response to her ethnic identity in Double Happiness. Her thoughtful, funny performance earned Oh her first Genie Award (Canada's equivalent of the Oscar), but unfortunately, further work was not immediately forthcoming. Things began to look up when Oh was cast on the popular HBO series Arli$$ in 1996, and in a bit part in the hit comedy Bean (1997).Oh found greater success as one of the stars of Don McKellar's Last Night (1998), a comedy-drama about the end of the world that cast the actress as a woman trying to get across town in time to make good on a suicide pact she has with her husband (David Cronenberg). An internationally praised film that enjoyed a particularly strong reception at the Toronto and Cannes Festivals, it received a number of awards, including a second Genie for Oh. The following year, Oh took part in another critical hit with Audrey Wells' Guinevere, in which she appeared alongside fellow Canadian Sarah Polley as one of a number of young women taken under the wing of a dubious mentor (Stephen Rea).Oh ushered in the new millenium with a role in the largely-improvised ensemble film Dancing at the Blue Iguana, and the ensuing years saw the actress primarily take on a variety of small character roles in such films as Big Fat Liar and Under the Tuscan Sun. In 2004, however, she garnered a number of positive responses playing the impulsive-but-tough Stephanie in then-husband Alexander Payne's dramedy Sideways. The role would be a breakthrough, even if Payne and Oh announced the end of their marriage shortly after the film was honored at the 2005 Academy Awards. Oh's professional life continued to improve landing a major role on the television series Gray's Anatomy. Her caustic, hilarious and often heartbreaking work in that series earned her strong reviews, as well as a Golden Globe Award and Emmy recognition. In 2006 she took time off from the show to appear opposite Robin Williams in the thriller The Night Listener. Oh would go on to appear in a number of feature films in the coming years, like Blindness, Defendor, and Ramona and Beezus.

Trivia: Television and movie heartthrob Justin Chambers began life on a difficult course; along with his fraternal twin brother, he reportedly battled multiple bouts of pneumonia, which forced the two boys to spend lengthy periods of time in oxygen tents. As a young man, this Springfield, OH, native flipped burgers at Hardee's and sold orthopedic shoes, then signed with a modeling agency and tackled print work across Europe in the early '90s. The leap from modeling to acting was a relatively short and easy one, and in 1996, Chambers commenced supporting roles in big-screen feature films, telemovies, and prime-time series. He began with a handful of TV movies, as well as a prominent role in Barry Levinson's gentle coming-of-age period piece Liberty Heights (1999). Chambers big break would come in 2005, however when he landed the role of cocky but emotionally guarded Dr. Alex Karev on the popular medical drama Grey's Anatomy.

Trivia: After a decade and a half of popping up in bit movie parts and TV guest spots, Chandra Wilson, born in Houston on August 27th, 1969, saw her acting career take off in 2005 when she was cast as a lead on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy. The show immediately became a hit, and Wilson was honored with an Emmy nomination in 2006 and a Screen Actors Guild Award (for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series) in 2007.

Trivia: African-American character actor James Pickens Jr. sustains one of the longest and fullest Hollywood resumés in recent memory, just in terms of sheer volume of work. Soap opera devotees may remember Pickens for one of his earliest achievements -- his portrayal of Zack Edwards on the long-running daytime drama Another World, from 1986 through 1990. Pickens subsequently divided his time between characterizations on such prime-time programs as Roseanne and Murder, She Wrote, and small roles in A-list Hollywood features. At least in the early years, these films were often, though not always, action vehicles with predominantly black casts, such as the Ice-T and Ice Cube action thriller Trespass (1992), the Wesley Snipes and Dennis Hopper cop picture Boiling Point (1993), and the bullet-ridden Hughes Brothers pictures Menace II Society (1993) and Dead Presidents (1995). Back on the small screen, Pickens could be seen on such popular series as The X-Files, The Practice, NYPD Blue, Six Feet Under, and Philly. Also, in spring 1998, he joined episode writer Larry David and co. as the detective who threw Jerry and his cronies in the slammer on the much-anticipated series finale of Seinfeld; David and Pickens re-teamed several years later for two 2005 episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Pickens drew his greatest attention and acclaim, however, when he ascended from bit player to a prominent supporting role as Chief of Surgery Richard Webber on the blockbuster medical drama Grey's Anatomy. This series premiered in 2005 to sensational ratings and quickly became an American institution, thanks in no small part to Pickens's work.

Trivia: Like a lot of young, hopeful actors, Eric Dane set his sites on Hollywood after showing his stuff in high-school theater productions. He moved to L.A. after graduation, and immediately started paying his dues appearing in things like the TV movie Seduced by Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story and The Basket. Almost ten years of getting by with minor appearances finally paid off for Dane in 2003, when he began appearing regularly on the popular sci-fi dramedy Charmed. He would continue to appear on the show through the next year, a year that would also see him get married to actress Rebecca Gayheart. He appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006, which was, oddly enough, directed by Brett Ratner, his new wife's former fiancé, and that same year he joined the cast of the wildly popular series Grey's Anatomy. Dane played womanizing plastic surgeon Dr. Mark Sloan (aka "McSteamy"), whose prior affair with Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd (Kate Walsh) contributed to the end of her marriage to his colleague and former best friend, Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). In 2008 he was cast in the hit Marley & Me even as he continued work on Grey's Anatomy. In 2010 he appeared in the musical Burlesque and was part of the large ensemble in the romantic comedy Valentine's Day.

Trivia: While she is best known for her role as the independent Dr. Callie Torres on ABC's popular medical drama Grey's Anatomy, actress Sara Ramirez is also a singer and Tony award-winning actress. In 2005, Ramirez took home the coveted award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in Monty Python's Spamalot. Ramirez can also be seen in a number of small television and film productions; among her credits are You've Got Mail, Spider-Man, and Law & Order: SVU. In 2011 she released her first album, and also got engaged to business analyst Ryan Debolt.

Trivia: Born Chyler Leigh Potts in Charlotte, NC, in 1982, the future actress and her family relocated to Virginia Beach, VA, in 1984. After spending her early years at Trentwood Elementary and Great Neck Middle School, Leigh's parents divorced and Chyler and brother Christopher Khayman Lee relocated with their mother to Miami, FL, to begin a new life. It was in Miami that young Chyler decided to drop out of high school to pursue a career as an actress by training with acting coach Sharon Lane. It was under Lane Management that Leigh began landing frequent modeling and commercial work, appearing in television spots for Coca-Cola and Wendy's among others. Landing the job as co-host of the syndicated talk show Hall Pass (1996) proved the widest exposure to date for the burgeoning talent, and it wasn't long before Leigh would subsequently appear in such series as Kinetic City Cuper Crew and Safe Harbor. Also appearing in unaired pilots for Saving Graces and Wilder Days (and inadvertently cast as the teenage lover of real-life brother Christopher in the former), Chyler dropped Lane Management in favor of representation by The Gersh Agency before auditioning for her biggest feature role to date in Not Another Teen Movie. Though she secretly longed for the role of "The Pretty Ugly Girl," Leigh auditioned for the role of "The Perfect Girl" under the advise of her new management, and, to everyone's surprise, walked out of the audition with the role of "The Pretty Ugly Girl" secured. As the years wore on, Leigh would continue to find success, especially on the small screen, starring on shows like The Practice, Reunion, and Grey's Anatomy.

Trivia: A Scottish actor whose heritage is betrayed as much by his pale skin and red hair as it is by his accent, Kevin McKidd first earned recognition in 1996 with parts in Trainspotting and Small Faces, two films that helped to put the Scottish film industry on the world cinema map. Born and raised in Elgin, a town in the northeast of Scotland, McKidd developed an interest in acting early on and was active with the Moray Youth Theatre throughout his childhood and adolescence. His time as an engineering student at the University of Edinburgh produced little in the way of engineering but did allow McKidd to rack up experience as part of the university's Bedlam Theatre. Finally deciding to chuck his course of study in order to pursue acting full-time, he enrolled in the Queen Margaret Drama School, where he trained until he graduated in 1994. Immediately after his graduation, McKidd auditioned for and won the lead role in The Silver Darlings, which was staged by Robert Carlyle's Rain Dog Theatre Company. This was followed by his casting as a vicious Glasgow gang leader in Gillies MacKinnon's Small Faces (1995) and his role as Tommy, an Iggy Pop-worshipping, AIDS-stricken heroin addict in Danny Boyle's Trainspotting (1996). The huge success of the latter film got McKidd noticed, although his performance was largely overshadowed by those of co-stars Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle. However, the actor soon found more work headed in his direction and spent the rest of the decade appearing in a steady stream of small art house pictures. Among the films he appeared in were Gilles MacKinnon's Hideous Kinky (1998), in which he had a cameo as a massively stoned traveler in Morocco and Rose Troche's Bedrooms and Hallways (1998), in which he starred as a gay man grappling with bisexual urges. In addition to his work on the screen, McKidd remained active on the stage, portraying the title character in the Almeida Theatre production of Jean Racine's Britannicus and starring alongside Jude Law in director Jonathan Kent's Albery Theatre production of John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. He worked steadily throughout the next decade in projects like Anna Karenina, Dog Soldiers, and the biopic De-Lovely. In 2005 he appeared in Ridley Scott's epic Kingdom of Heaven, and that same year he was cast in the historical series Rome. Two years later he had a major role in the Silence of the Lambs prequel Hannibal Rising. The following year, in 2008, McKidd joined the ensemble cast of Grey's Anatomy, which scaled back his film work. In 2010 he was cast as Poseidon, the father of the young hero in Percy Jackson & The Olympians. He joined the Pixar family in 2012 giving voice to Lord MacGuffin in Brave.

Trivia: Fair haired-beauty Jessica Capshaw had an easy means of entering the world of show business, as her stepfather is blockbuster director Steven Spielberg, but she didn't let that stop her from learning the ropes on her own. After graduating from Brown University, Capshaw attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. She then began wracking up a modest collection of supporting roles on episodes of shows like ER and the British series Odd Man Out, as well as in movies like Minority Report and The Groomsmen. In 2002, Capshaw joined the cast of the series The Practice, playing Jamie Stringer from 2002 to 2004. Another starring TV role came in 2009, when she signed on to play Dr. Arizona Robbins on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy.

Trivia: Jesse Williams earned his acting chops studying at Temple University and appearing in several off-Broadway plays. He soon transitioned into on-camera work, appearing in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and on shows like Greek and Beyond the Break. He would go on to appear in Red Tails and The Cabin in the Woods. Williams joined Grey's Anatomy in 2009 as a recurring guest star, before being promoted to a series regular the following season. In 2013, he appeared in Lee Daniels' The Butler as as civil rights activist James Lawson.

Trivia: With her long face and delicate features, actress Kim Raver has a screen image that is hard to forget. Long before she blossomed into a willowy beauty, Raver began her acting career as a performer on the children's show Sesame Street, starting in 1975 when she was just six. Raver's supportive parents soon got her involved in an off-Broadway youth theater project, and by the time the young thespian was 18, she was pursuing a fine arts degree from Boston University. By her early twenties, Raver paid her dues as well as her bills with appearances in commercials as well as shows like Law & Order and Spin City. She maintained a presence on the stage, acting in theatrical productions of plays like Holiday, but by the new millennium, Raver would be making some major commitments. Not only did she get married to director Manu Boyer in 2000, but she also signed on for a starring role on the series Third Watch that same year. She gave birth to her son Luke in 2002 and then left Third Watch in 2004 to join the cast of the hit real-time thriller series 24. Her recurring role as Jack Bauer's sometime love interest kept her quite busy, so busy in fact that her career was barely effected by the failure of a series she starred in called The Nine, which premiered in 2006 but was canceled after just eight episodes. Fans could catcher Raver later that same year on the big screen, as she played the ex-wife of Ben Stiller's character in the hit fantasy comedy Night at the Museum.Back on the small screen, a leading role on the Sex and the City-inspired Lipstick Jungle found Raver living large in New York City, and though that series only lasted two seasons it was durnig that time the actress gave birth to her second son Leo. If it had seemed that Raver couldn't find her footing on television in the last few years however, things started to look up when she joined the cast of Grey's Anatomy in 2009, and quickly became a series regular by the end of the sixth season.

Trivia: Actress Sarah Drew projected an amiable, down-to-earth quality that served her perfectly in Middle American, girl-next-door roles. An East Coast native, Drew grew up in a conservative evangelical household as the daughter of a Connecticut-based Presbyterian minister. She actually commenced work in the entertainment industry before she finished high school by voicing the character of Stacy on MTV's popular animated sitcom Daria from 1998-2002, and in the meantime received her formal education at the University of Virginia, marrying almost immediately after graduation. Within the following two years Drew began signing for supporting roles in features and series. Some of the more memorable included a portrayal of Ed Harris' daughter in the disability-themed inspirational drama Radio (2003), a brief but funny one-scene turn as a girlfriend lovestruck by another man in the Michael Showalter comedy The Baxter (2004), and -- on a higher profile note -- a multiseason portrayal of Hannah, a shy Colorado high schooler with a terminally ill father, on the third and fourth seasons of the popular television series Everwood. In 2007, Drew signed for a supporting role in director Desmond Nakano's racially themed period sports drama American Pastime. She had a recurring role on Mad Men, playing Sal Romano's clueless wife, before joining the regular cast of Grey's Anatomy, playing Dr. April Kepner.

Trivia: Born on July 15, 1972, in Kansas City, KS, Foley is the oldest of three sons. Thanks to his father's job as an international banker, Foley grew up all over the world, spending the most time in Sydney, Australia and Tokyo, Japan. He caught the acting bug at age six after his mother took him to see the children's musical Annie. Foley made his theatrical debut only a few years later, singing "I'll Do Anything" in his school's production of Oliver. When he was a teenager, his family settled in St. Louis, MO, where he participated in community and regional theater. Shortly after graduating high school, he bought a one-way plane ticket to Hollywood.Foley's big break came when he landed a role on the WB's teen drama Dawson's Creek, playing all-American high school quarterback Cliff Elliot, Dawson's (James Van Der Beek) romantic rival. Originally hired to guest star in the series' first three episodes, Foley hung around for five. With his popularity steadily increasing, WB executives cast Foley in Felicity, a one-hour drama about a college freshman who follows her lifelong crush from their California high school to a university in New York City. Originally hired to portray the object of Felicity's (Keri Russell) affection, Foley stepped in to play her resident advisor and confidante, Noel Crane, when producers could not find an actor for the role. The show, which first aired in the fall of 1998, became a critical favorite and earned a Golden Globe nomination in its first year.Foley would stick with Felicity for its four year run, cementing his position as a TV star. After the show wrapped, Foley would continue to find starring roles on a series of popular shows, like A.U.S.A., Scrubs, The Unit, Grey's Anatomy, and True Blood. Foley booked another series regular gig on the hit series Scandal, joining the show during the second season, playing Captain Jake Ballard.

Trivia: Originally planned to be a lawyer. Took his first acting class at the University of Virginia. Went to an open casting call in 1996 for the NBC daytime series Sunset Beach and landed the role of Michael Bourne; made his TV debut on the soap in 1997. In 1999, earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for his work on Sunset Beach. Movie debut was in 1998's Fallen. First prime-time TV appearance was in 1998 on the UPN comedy Moesha. In 2002, received the Lew Klein Alumni in the Media Award from Temple University; the acknowledgment also earned him a spot in the School of Communications and Theater Alumni Hall of Fame.

Trivia: With his tough-guy image and stocky build, American actor Dylan Bruno carved out a niche for himself as a character player in steel-toed action and adventure movies, beginning in the late '90s. These ran the gamut from critically praised masterworks -- such as Steven Spielberg's much-ballyhooed war opus Saving Private Ryan (1998) -- to John Irvin's less successful WWII telemovie When Trumpets Fade, that same year. Perhaps afraid of limiting himself, Bruno made a conscious attempt to expand his range into alternate genres, but successive roles essentially constituted variations on this original typecast. For example, Bruno appeared in the gentle romantic drama Where the Heart Is (2000) -- about an expectant blue-collar mother (Natalie Portman) who moves into an Oklahoma Wal-Mart -- as the rough-hewn redneck boyfriend, Willy Jack Perkins, who deserts her. Similarly, Bruno appeared in the TV drama The Pennsylvania Miners' Story (2002) as one of the gritty working-class men of the title who find themselves trapped in a mine with a decidedly slim chance of survival. Bruno subsequently built up his television resumé during the mid-2000s. He was particularly memorable as Colby Granger, a military veteran-cum-federal agent, on the popular detective drama Numb3rs (2005).

Trivia: At 14, was cast in her first movie, the short film Liminality starring Stephen Baldwin. Left home when she was 16 to study acting full-time in New York City. Beat out 500 hopefuls to land a role opposite Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart in the 2010 docudrama The Runaways. Was named after famed acting coach Stella Adler.

Trivia: Began studying at the Italia Conti Academy in England at the age of 11. Only had one public interview of Kate Middleton to use for research when she played the character in William & Kate. Joined Grey's Anatomy as a recurring guest star in season 9; she was promoted to a series regular the following year. In 2013, became the voice and motion capture artist for Lara Croft in the video game reboot of Tomb Raider.

Trivia: Performed with the Dallas Children's Theatre. Won the Rosenfield Award for Playwriting while at Southern Methodist University. Toured with the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Was a recurring character on the ninth season of Grey's Anatomy before being promoted to a series regular for the show's 10th season. Supports The Innocence Project.

Trivia: Made TV debut (at age 8) on the Canadian children's show Mr. Dressup; appeared in other Canadian series as a teen, including Goosebumps and Flash Forward, which were shown on U.S. cable. Received a 1999 supporting-actress Gemini nomination (Canada's Emmy equivalent) for Power Play, a CTV hockey drama. Played a psychic FBI agent in the 2003-'06 Lifetime crime drama Missing. Has costarred twice with her sister Francesca: in the 2001 coming-of-age comedy-drama My Horrible Year and a 2004 episode of Missing. Had the title role in Alice, the 2009 SyFy updating of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Is qualified to teach canoing.

Trivia: First appeared on stage in a sixth-grade musical. Studied acting in college and appeared in numerous plays and commercials. Appeared on the PBS series The Electric Company and Cyberchase. Had a recurring role on White Collar. Broadway debut was in the 2008 musical Passing Strange. Biggest break came in 2012 when she was cast as a surgical intern on Emily Owens, M.D., opposite Mamie Gummer. Is a founding member of the Jaradoa Theater company in New York City.

Trivia: Katherine Heigl was an experienced movie actress by the time she was cast as one of the out-of-this-world teenagers on WB's Roswell in 1999. Born and raised in Connecticut, Heigl began modeling and appearing in TV ads as a child. After making her film debut in That Night (1992), Heigl balanced movie work with high school, playing a small role in Steven Soderbergh's Depression-era drama King of the Hill (1993), starring as Gérard Depardieu's difficult daughter in My Father the Hero (1994), and Steven Seagal's niece in the action sequel Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995). Heigl headed to Los Angeles after high school to make acting her full-time job. Following a leading role in Wish Upon a Star (1996) and a small part as a Rita Hayworth stand-in in Stand-Ins (1997), Heigl made a foray into horror with Bug Buster (1998) and Bride of Chucky (1998).Branching out into television, Heigl co-starred with Peter Fonda in a Shakespeare-via-Civil War reworking of The Tempest (1998). Benefiting from the late-'90s wave of youth-driven TV shows, Heigl stayed with television and attracted an avid following as alien beauty Isabel on the cult hit Roswell. The doctors-in-love dramedy Grey's Anatomy, however, catapulted its entire cast to full-fledged stardom when it premiered in 2005; Heigl's role as the tough-cookie intern Izzie endeared her to countless fans of the show. The actress savvily parlayed this success into a movie career, although not by going the traditional three-hanky drama route. After winningly playing a Special Olympics counselor in 2005's broad comedy The Ringer, Heigl seemed the perfect choice for writer-director Judd Apatow's follow-up to The 40-Year-Old Virgin, 2007's Knocked Up. The improv-heavy tale of an unlikely one-night-stand - and its consequences - relied upon Heigl's charm and crack comedic timing to balance out the dude-centric humor supplied by co-stars Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd. The combination worked, as audiences made Knocked Up a bona-fide summer hit.In the coming years, Heigl woudl find herself becomming the go-to actress for successful, light, romantic comedies, like 27 Dresses (2008), The Ugly Truth (2009), Life as We Know It (2010), New Year's Eve (2011), and One for the Money (2012).

Trivia: A respected actor who became one of the more prominent figures in the growing African American cinema of the 1990s, Isaiah Washington has made his name in gritty crime dramas and romantic ensemble comedies alike. A native of Houston, Texas, Washington spent four years in the Air Force before studying drama at Washington, D.C.'s Howard University. Following graduation, he won a role in playwright Ntozake Shange's Spell 7 and then moved to New York to further pursue his career. He appeared in a number of stage productions, and he became one of the founding members of CityKids Repertory, a theatre group that visits high schools and community centers throughout New York.Washington began his screen career on television, appearing in the soap operas As the World Turns and One Life to Live. He made his big screen debut in Spike Lee's Crooklyn (1994), and he subsequently appeared in Lee's Clockers (1995), Girl 6 (1996), and Get on the Bus (1996), the last of which cast him as a gay man on his way to the 1995 Million Man March in Washington, D.C.Some of Washington's other memorable credits during the '90s included the Hughes brothers' Dead Presidents (1995), the warmly received ensemble romantic comedy Love Jones (1997), Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight (1998), in which Washington gave a memorable turn as a scheming con's violent brother-in-law; Warren Beatty's Bulworth (1998), and Clint Eastwood's True Crime (1999), which cast Washington as a man awaiting execution on death row after being falsely accused of murder. In 2000, Washington could be seen starring opposite Chinese action star Jet Li in Romeo Must Die, an urban update of Romeo and Juliet set between rival Asian and African American gangs in Oakland, California.In 2005, Washington was cast as Dr. Preston Burke, one of the leads on the ABC medical-drama Grey's Anatomy. The show quickly became a runaway hit, garnering a large and loyal audience as well as Emmys and Golden Globes. However, through the show, Washington would soon gain a great deal of unwanted notoriety. In late 2006, a controversy exploded after an onset altercation between Washington and costar Patrick Dempsey, wherein the former allegedly used an anti-gay epithet to describe castmate T.R. Knight. Months of media coverage followed, and in June 2007, ABC announced that Washington was being cut from the show.Despite the controversy, it wasn't long before Washington was fielding offers from other networks. In July 2007, NBC announced that they'd nabbed him for an extended arc on the remake of The Bionic Woman.

Trivia: Best known for his role as Dr. George O'Malley on ABC's hit medical drama Grey's Anatomy, T.R. Knight began his acting career on the stage in his hometown of Minneapolis, MN. In the early 2000s, he began appearing in a handful of guest spots on programs ranging from Frasier to Law & Order: Criminal Intent before landing one of the leads on the aforementioned Grey's Anatomy in 2005. Knight left the show af the end of the fifth season, choosing to return to the stage in the 2010 Broadway revival of David Mamet's A Life in the Theatre opposite Patrick Stewart. Knight remained focused on stage work after though, though he did have a recurring role on CBS's legal drama The Good Wife in 2013.

Trivia: Bearing a sort of Catherine Deneuve-by-way-of-Kelly Clarkson look, Kate Walsh may have an impressive list of film and TV roles on her resumé, but her primary acting venue was the stage. Starting out in regional theater in Tucson, AZ, where she went to college, Walsh later got involved with the Piven Theatre Workshop and Shakespeare Repertory in Chicago, as well as the comedy troupe Burn Manhattan in New York. By the mid-'90s, Walsh began slowly but surely making the transition to the screen with appearances on TV shows like Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order. Walsh's list of film and TV appearances soon grew, and among her scads of roles were a number of prominent parts on very popular shows. She became a regular on The Drew Carey Show in 1997, donning a fat suit to play Drew's weight-struggling girlfriend, and in 2001, she took a recurring role on the HBO series The Mind of the Married Man.In 2005, Walsh joined the cast of the smash-hit series Grey's Anatomy, playing Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, estranged (and eventually ex-) wife of "Doctor McDreamy," Patrick Dempsey. Walsh suddenly went from a working actress to a well-known face, and it looked like the perfect time for the actress to segue into the big screen in a starring capacity, after a string of minor appearances in major films. Sadly, this wasn't to be, but the actress did join the cast of Private Practice in 2007, and appeared in the films Legion (2010), Angel's Crest (2011), and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012).

Trivia: Born in Houston in 1949, actress Loretta Devine rose to fame on-stage in the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls before parlaying her acclaim into a career in film and television. Her first major onscreen role came in 1987, when she was cast as a resident advisor on the Cosby Show-spin-off A Different World. Though she left the series after the first season, it was far from her final gig as a TV series regular.Throughout the early '90s, Devine appeared in small supporting roles in features films such as Class Act and Amos & Andrew as well as a number of TV guest spots on shows ranging from Roc to Picket Fences. In 1995, Devine's career was given a shot in the arm when she was cast as one of the leads in Waiting to Exhale, an ensemble film that proved to be a success with both critics and audiences. More supporting work followed, and in 2000 she was cast as a lead on David E. Kelley's Fox drama Boston Public, a show that would go on to be nominated for multiple Emmys over the course of its four seasons on the air.Devine's career came full-circle in 2006 when she was cast in a small role in the film adaptation of Dreamgirls, the stage musical that launched her career. The following year, she was cast as a regular on ABC's supernatural legal drama Eli Stone.In 2010 she appeared in the American remake of Death at a Funeral, the comedy Lottery Ticket, and Tyler Perry's ambitious For Colored Girls. In 2011 she appeared in Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family, and the next year she had a role on the TV series The Client List.

Trivia: Breakthrough role was the title character on the 2004 Fox reality show My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé. Had a recurring role as Joe the bartender on Grey's Anatomy. Theater work includes Shakespeare festivals in California and Utah, where he has had roles in Richard III, Othello and As You Like It.

Trivia: Retained her British citizenship after her family moved to Manhattan, but considers herself to be an American actress. Made her silver-screen debut in 1969 in Anne of the Thousand Days, which starred her famous father, Richard. Was nominated for two Tony Awards in 2002 for her work in Hedda Gabler and The Elephant Man. Received an honorary doctorate from Brown University, her alma mater, in 2007. Portrayed all of the adult female roles in the 2008 hit Broadway show Spring Awakening. Narrated audio books for novels written by Patricia Cornwell, Lisa Scottoline, Iris Johansen and Dean Koontz.

Trivia: Winnetka, Illinois native Chris O'Donnell was planning to study for a career in finance when he was spotted by a talent agent, who was so taken by the young man's natural star quality that he advised him not to take acting lessons. After a handful of roles in such films as Men Don't Leave (1989) and Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), O'Donnell made the quantum leap to A-list performer in the 1992 film Scent of a Woman, in which he played the high school-age companion and general factotum to a blind, ornery retired military officer (Al Pacino). "Hunk hearthrob" status came O'Donnell's way with his appearance as D'Artagnan in the 1993 filmization of The Three Musketeers and 1994's Circle of Friends, in which he played an innocent young Irish lad dealing with burgeoning hormones and Catholic values in the 1950s. With 1995's Batman Forever, O'Donnell's star ascended into blockbuster heaven with his high-octane performance as Robin, the Boy Wonder; he reprised the role two years later, this time playing opposite George Clooney in Batman & Robin (1997). Subsequently turning away from action roles, O'Donnell could next be seen as a bumbling, small-town policeman in Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune (1999). That same year, he starred as the title character in The Bachelor, a commitment-phobe who must find a woman to marry in twenty-four hours so he can inherit a large fortune. Over the next decade O'Donnell gravitated increasingly toward television, essaying recurring roles on Grey's Anatomy, The Practice, and NCIS: Los Angeles and appearing in the Emmy-nominated mini-series The Company while occasionally returning to the big screen in such films as Max Payne and Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.

Trivia: Founded what would become Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1974 with his high-school friends Gary Sinise and Terry Kinney, and served as its artistic director in the 1980s. Met first wife, Laurie Metcalf, when both were theater students at Illinois State University. Made movie debut in Remember My Name, a 1978 drama produced by Robert Altman; appeared in The Wedding (directed by Altman) later that year. Has appeared on some 40 TV series, including Columbo, Family Ties, thirtysomething, L.A. Law, Frasier, NYPD Blue, ER, The West Wing, Lost, Prison Break, Cold Case, C.S.I: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI: New York. Was a regular on CBS's Nash Bridges (1996-2001) A semiregular on Grey's Anatomy (he plays Meredith Grey's father, Thatcher), he's married to series casting director Linda Lowy.

Trivia: Many actors know from childhood that acting is the only job they'll ever want, but Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a rare exception. He pursued basketball in high school with tremendous success, until a knee injury ended his sports career, and he then trained and worked as a graphic artist for some time. Eventually, however, his interest in acting became overpowering, and Morgan moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting as a career, rather than just an interest. He found steady work appearing on shows like ER and Angel, eventually scoring a huge break in 2005 when he was cast in recurring roles on three different series: Grey's Anatomy, Weeds, and Supernatural. The shows put him on the map, especially Grey's Anatomy, and oddly enough, his characters died on all three shows. Morgan's career was still alive and kicking, however, and he was soon appearing in the comedy Kabluey opposite Christine Taylor and The Accidental Husband with Uma Thurman and Colin Firth. As the 2000's continued, Morgan would remain a consistant form on screen, appearing memorably as the Comedian in The Watchmen, Texas Killing Fields, and Red Dawn.

Trivia: Known to many as Dr. Sydney Heron on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy, Kali Rocha seems to be an eternally familiar face, due to her numerous appearances in such a variety of projects. After growing up in Rhode Island, Rocha attended the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama before embarking on a professional acting career with a role in 1996's The Crucible. Subsequent projects found her playing everything from a fun-loving demon on Buffy the Vampire Slayer to an all-business social worker in White Oleander.

Trivia: George Dzundza's face slowly sank into the collective subconscious of American culture after nearly 30 years before the cameras. Audiences may be hard-pressed to name him, though his familiar face is like that of a distant cousin one has never met but keeps stumbling across while thumbing through old family photo albums. From his turn as an enraged, cheated-on spouse in the horror classic Salem's Lot (1979) to a recent turn as Robert De Niro's partner in 2002's City by the Sea, you can't get away from Dzundza once you've put a name to the face. Aggressively pursued by the president of the Stagers Society (who threatened to have him expelled lest he audition for an upcoming production) at college orientation, a nervous Dzundza hastily agreed and quickly landed the part. A quick rise through the theater circuit soon landed Dzundza some prime supporting roles on the small screen, and it wasn't long until he was gaining exposure on such diverse shows as Starsky and Hutch and The Waltons. In 1975, Dzundza made his film debut with a role in The Happy Hooker, and through the remainder of that decade and well into the '80s he frequently alternated between television and film. Following appearances in The Deer Hunter and Salem's Lot, Dzundza was cast as the lead in the short-lived sitcom Open All Night, and through the remainder of the decade he landed roles in such high-profile theatrical releases as Best Defense (1984), No Mercy (1986), and No Way Out (1987). It wasn't until 1990 that Dzundza would make a return to weekly television, though his role as Sgt. Max Greevey on Law & Order certainly made up for lost time. Even if he did leave the series after only one season, the decision ultimately served him well and his feature career subsequently flourished. As Dzundza's career advanced into the '90s, it also evolved and found him branching out by lending his voice to such animated television efforts as Superman and Batman: Gotham Knights. A short-lived stint opposite Christina Applegate followed with Jesse in 1998, and after moving back to features with roles in Instinct (1999) and City by the Sea, Dzundza settled nicely into the role of Father Tom "Grizz" Grzelak in the popular television series Hack in 2002.

Trivia: A classically trained actress with her roots in the theater, buxom performer Debra Monk spent years specializing in portrayals of matronly types, including aunts, mothers, and policewomen, on-stage and onscreen. Monk made one of her first film appearances as Aunt Dorothy in Norman Rene's fantasy comedy Prelude to a Kiss (1993) opposite Alec Baldwin and Meg Ryan, then moved into a lengthy series of additional A-list Hollywood projects, including Fearless (1993), For Love or Money (1993), Quiz Show (1994), and Extreme Measures (1996). In the meantime, Monk also continued her stage work in such Manhattan-area productions as Death Defying Acts (1995) and Redwood Curtain (1997), for which she netted a substantial degree of acclaim. Monk found even greater success on the small screen, however, with two ongoing roles on popular series: that of Katie Sipowicz on Steven Bochco's NYPD Blue and that of Louise O'Malley on Grey's Anatomy. In 2008, Monk landed a supporting role opposite John Malkovich and Colin Hanks in the bittersweet show business drama The Great Buck Howard (2008). She was away from screens for four years after that, but returned in the 2012 Katherine Heigl vehicle One for the Money.

Trivia: Mare Winningham is a critically acclaimed performer on stage, television, and occasionally feature films. She began her career performing a song on TV's notorious Gong Show. While playing Maria in a high school production of The Sound of Music, opposite classmate Kevin Spacey, Winningham was spotted by Hollywood agent Meyer Mishkin who landed her a role in the short-lived TV Western series The Young Pioneers in 1978. This led to her first TV movie, Special Olympics. For her role as an independent-minded farmer's daughter in 1980's Amber Waves, she won an Emmy. That year, Winningham made her feature-film debut starring opposite Paul Simon in Robert M. Young's One-Trick Pony. She fared better in her next film, Threshold (1981), where she played the recipient of an artificial heart. Winningham then went on to play a number of supporting roles and the occasional lead in a series of unremarkable films. She continues to fare much better on television, where she has appeared in popular films such as The Thorn Birds (1983) and Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues (1984). She was part of the ensemble in the Gen X touchstone St. Elmo's Fire in 1985 and went on to appear in Shy People, Miracle Mile, the Tom Hanks with a dog vehicle Turner and Hooch, and Wyatt Earp. She earned long-deserved award recognition in 1995 for playing a successful singer struggling with her drug-addicted sister in Georgia. Her work in that film garnered her an Oscar nomination Best Supporting Actress, and she won that award at that year's Independent Spirit Awards. She had a recurring role on the hit medical drama ER at the close of the '90s. As the 21st century began she maintained her status as a first-class character actress appearing in a variety of projects such as Snap Decision, The Adventures of Ociee Nash, and Dandelion. She enjoyed a recurring role on Grey's Anatomy, but she found even greater small screen success with back to back Emmy nominations for Best Supporting actress in a movie or miniseries in 2011 and 2012 with her work in Mildred Pierce and Hatfields & McCoys.

Trivia: Actor Kyle Chandler grew up in Georgia, where he helped take care of the family farm. He eventually went to college at the nearby University of Georgia, where he majored in drama. It was there that a scout from ABC noticed his charm and signed him to a contract with the network. Chandler traveled to L.A., where he started out doing odd jobs but eventually worked his way onto shows like Tour of Duty, Homefront, and What About Joan; TV movies like 1988's Quiet Victory; and feature films such as 1996's Mulholland Falls. The parts steadily became bigger and more numerous, eventually leading to the starring role of Gary Hobson on the TV drama series Early Edition and the role of Bruce Baxter in 2005's King Kong.Chandler also guest-starred in a memorable post-Super Bowl two-parter on the medical drama series Grey's Anatomy, playing a bomb squad leader who comes to the hospital when a patient is admitted who has unexploded munitions lodged in his chest, thanks to his attempt to make a homemade bazooka. Chandler's performance was so impressive that he was later nominated for an Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series Emmy. Following that, he landed the starring role of head coach Eric Taylor on Friday Night Lights, a show based on the movie of the same name, about a small town in Texas where high-school football is among the most important things in life. He would earn rave reviews for his work on the high-school football series, eventually garnering an Emmy nomination in 2010. On the big-screen he could be seen in the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, and he was cast as the father in J.J. Abrams Steven Spielberg-inspired sci-fi drama Super 8.

Trivia: Moved to the U.S. from Germany shortly after his birth. Started acting in college, playing the lead in Othello and appearing in The Elephant Man. Played the recurring role of D'Shawn on Beverly Hills, 90210. Appeared as Miranda Bailey's husband Tucker on Grey's Anatomy.

Trivia: Actress, singer, and entertainer Diahann Carroll was awarded a Metropolitan Opera scholarship to attend the High School of Music and Art in New York at the age of ten. While a sociology student in college, Carroll modeled, which led to work as a singer in nightclubs and as a TV performer. In 1954, she made her debut on Broadway (House of Flowers) and in films (in Carmen Jones). She won a Tony Award for her Broadway starring role in No Strings (1962) and later starred on the TV series Julia (1968-69), a TV breakthrough in that it was the first regular series to star (not co-star) a black actor. Carroll was nominated for a "Best Actress" Oscar for her work in Claudine (1974). She was married to actor/singer Vic Damone.

Trivia: The actress whose convincing portrayal of one of Buffalo Bill's potential victims in The Silence of the Lambs had audiences squirming in their seats, Brooke Smith has subsequently built an enduring career with memorable roles in such efforts as Robert Altman's Kansas City (1996) and the searing reality television satire Series 7: The Contenders (2001). Born the daughter of renowned publicist Lois Smith and raised in New York City, Brooke was immersed in show business from the moment she left the womb. A graduate of Tappan Zee High School, Smith is also a professional journalist whose published interviews with such stars as Ed Harris and Steve Buscemi have earned her kudos in the world of entertainment journalism. Smith made her film debut in the 1988 drama The Moderns, and it was only three short years later that her breakthrough role in The Silence of the Lambs would launch a successful career working with some of the most respected names in the business. Directed by everyone from Louis Malle (Vanya on 42nd Street) to Sydney Pollack (Random Hearts), Smith can usually be spotted in minor, albeit sometimes pivotal supporting roles that always serve to elevate any project in which she appears. In 2001 Smith took the lead, to memorable effect, in 2001's Series 7: The Contenders. A film that took the concept of reality television to the next level, Series 7 found Smith cast as an expectant mother who becomes a participant in a deadly television series in which participants are expected to kill or be killed. Smith's performance as the ice-cold participant who seems to derive pleasure from tormenting her opponents gave the film a disturbing edge that left audiences chilled to the core. Subsequently appearing in the Coen brothers' The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) and Joel Schumacher's big-budget action opus Bad Company, it seemed that Smith might finally be on her way to becoming a recognizable figure in the world of film.

Trivia: Born July 21st, 1943, Tony-winning American stage and film actor Edward Herrmann used his Fulbright scholarship to study at London's Academy of Music and Dramatic Art; several years of regional theatre led to movie and TV work. In 1977 Herrmann offered the first of his many interpretations of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the TV movie Eleanor and Franklin (He'd later be a singing FDR in the theatrical feature Annie [1982]). The actor was frequently dissatisfied with his own performances, feeling that with a little more time he could do much better. Such was the case of his portrayal of baseball great Lou Gehrig in the TV drama A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story (1979), though Herrmann was proud of the fact that he learned to pitch and bat southpaw, something that a previous movie Gehrig, Gary Cooper, never quite mastered. His occasional villainous movie appearances notwithstanding, Edward Herrmann is to most viewers the very embodiment of intelligence and integrity; he was decidedly well cast as the erudite host of several historical documentaries on the A&E Network. In 2000, Herrmann joined the cast of Gilmore Girls as patriarch Richard Gilmore, and continued appearing in supporting roles in movies, including the headmaster in The Emperor's Club (2002), film censor Joseph Breen in The Aviator (2004) and an accountant in Factory Girl (2006). Once Gilmore Girls ended in 2007, Herrmann returned to episodic TV, with runs on Grey's Anatomy and a recurring gig on The Good Wife. In 2014, he returned to his familiar role of FDR one last time, voicing the president in the Ken Burns documentary The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. Herrmann died in 2014, at age 71.

Trivia: Renowned stage and screen actress Mary McDonnell graced East Coast stages for two decades before getting her major screen breakthrough in Dances with Wolves (1990). Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on April 28, 1952, McDonnell was raised in Ithaca, New York, and graduated from the State University of New York at Fredonia. After a few seasons in regional repertory, she established herself on Broadway with such successful 1980s plays as The Heidi Chronicles. She made her film debut in 1984's Garbo Talks; three years later, she was showered with critical adulation for her portrayal of mining town landlady Elma Radnor in director John Sayles' Matewan. Further adulation and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination followed for McDonnell's portrayal of Stands with a Fist, a white woman raised by the Lakota Sioux, in Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves (1990). One year later, she starred in the PBS "American Playhouse" dramatization of Willa Cather's O Pioneers!, and also did starring work as the wife of an immigration attorney (Kevin Kline) in Lawrence Kasdan's acclaimed Grand Canyon. Her film career has continued with roles in films big and small, ranging from Sayles' excellent Passion Fish (1992) to the 1996 blockbuster Independence Day to Kasdan's Mumford (1999), which cast McDonnell as a dissatisfied housewife with a mail order catalog obsession.

Trivia: Actress Amy Madigan is the daughter of Chicago political commentor John Madigan, well known in the Windy City for his WBBM radio signoff, "John Madigan...News Radio Ssssseventy-eight." After studying piano at the Chicago Conservatory and philosophy at Milwaukee's Marquette University, Madigan spent the next decade as a touring rock musician. In the late 1970s, she began preparing for an acting career at L.A.'s Lee Strasberg Institute, making her TV bow on an episode of Hart to Hart. While she may have looked like a standard blonde ingenue, Madigan's endearingly raspy voice and '60s-style ebullience secured her a series of offbeat leading roles, culminating with her performance as Kevin Costner's ex-activist wife in Field of Dreams (1989). In 1985, Amy Madigan was Oscar-nominated for her performance as Gene Hackman's embittered daughter in Twice in a Lifetime. She is married to actor Ed Harris, with whom she has co-starred in Places in the Heart (1984) and Alamo Bay (1985). Madigan would continue to act in the decades to come, memorably starring on Carnivale and Grey's Anatomy.

Trivia: Australian actress Melissa George was born in Perth on August 6, 1976, the second of four children. As a child, she developed an interest in dancing and began studying jazz, tap, ballet, and modern dance at the age of seven. George's enthusiasm for dance eventually evolved into a passion for roller skating, and, after skating competitively in Australia, she represented her nation in several international events. At 16, George left skating behind when she quit school and began exploring the world of modeling; she was soon named Western Australia's Teenage Model of the Year. As a result of this honor, she auditioned for a role in the popular Australian soap opera Home and Away, and, in 1993, was cast as Angel Brooks. George's performance won her a sizable following in both Australia and Great Britain, but, after three years with the series, she left to pursue other projects. After appearing in several made-for-TV movies (and posing in the Aussie edition of Playboy), the actress landed a small role in the sci-fi thriller Dark City, and was cast as the female lead in an offbeat television pilot, Hollyweird, which, unfortunately, failed to sell. After a brief appearance in Steven Soderbergh's The Limey (as Terence Stamp's ill-fated daughter), George landed her first significant American role in the teen comedy Sugar & Spice, in which she played Cleo, a cheerleader-turned-criminal who has an unquenchable enthusiasm for Conan O'Brien; she also played a small but important role as mob-connected ingénue Camilla Rhodes in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, and appeared in the pilot of HBO's short-lived series adaptation of L.A. Confidential. In 2001, George was cast opposite John Stamos in the leading roles of the television series Thieves; despite positive reviews, however, the series lasted only three months. She got another chance to prove her mettle on American television in 2003, when she was cast in an American version of the popular British sitcom Coupling. Unfortunately, she only got to act in an unaired version of the pilot episode before her part was recast. The show failed anyway and George rebounded quickly, landing a prominent role in the 2003-2004 season of the popular spy series Alias as Lauren Reed, the new wife of Agent Vaughn (Michael Vartan) and romantic rival of Sydney Bristow (series star Jennifer Garner).After appearing the 2005 reboot of The Amityville Horror, George co-starred with Clive Owen and Jennifer Anniston in the psychological thriller Derailed (also 2005). The actress took another turn for the grisly Turistas (2006) to play part of an unlucky group destined to involuntarily donate their organs to a mad doctor. She found more success for her role in Music Within (2007), an inspirational biopic starring George as the free-spirited girlfriend of the film's subject, celebrated public speaker Richard Pimentel (Ron Livingstone). In 2008 she played an anesthesiologist who became romantically interested in her psychiatrist on the first season of HBO's lauded series In Treatment, and the same year was cast in 11 episodes of the fifth season of Grey's Anatomy. In 2011 she could be seen in the UK thriller A Lonely Place to Die, the TV movie Bag of Bones and on the Australian TV series The Slap. In 2012, she starred in the Cinemax series Hunter, and in 2013, joined CBS drama The Good Wife in a recurring role. She starred in the Australian miniseries The Slap in 2012, and reprised her role in the American remake in 2015.

Trivia: Beefy, burly character actor Robert Baker broke into Hollywood features during the 2000s and specialized in physically dominant and imposing types from a broad cross-section of genres. Projects included the Will Ferrell/Vince Vaughn frat-boy comedy Old School (2003) (as a college student), the Denzel Washington crime thriller Out of Time (2003), and the Pierce Brosnan/Liam Neeson western Seraphim Falls (2006) (as one of the members of a man-hunting posse). In 2008, Baker scored a double-coup with a supporting role as football player Stump in the George Clooney-directed sports comedy Leatherheads and an ongoing turn as Leo, one of a family of Greek immortals assigned to bring human soulmates together, on the romantic comedy series Valentine. In 2009 Baker joined the cast of Grey's Anatomy as antagonistic Dr. Charles Percy, with subsequent feature roles in Atom Egoyan's Devil's Knot and Gore Verbinski's The Lone Ranger highlighting his unique ability to move effortlessly between screens both big and small.

Trivia: Actress Nora Zehetner premiered onscreen with a supporting role in director Christina Wayne's scabrous teen melodrama Tart (2001), then followed this up (and ascended to higher billing) with two key assignments in 2005: the enigmatic female lead, Laura, in Rian Johnson's post-noir mystery Brick, and a supporting turn as a young version of a character played by Helena Bonham Carter in Hans Canosa's dialogue-heavy erotic drama Conversations with Other Women. Zehetner then essayed her first lead -- that of Christy, a young woman haunted by apocalyptic visions after she accidentally causes the death of her younger sister -- in the horror opus Beneath, and tackled a supporting part in the offbeat collegiate black comedy Fifty Pills (2006). She also made an impression on TV viewers, appearing as Laynie Hart on the drama Everwood during its first two seasons (2003-2004), and taking on the role of the manipulative company operative Eden McCain -- who had the power to persuade others to obey her every command -- during the first season of the hit superhero series Heroes (2006).

Trivia: Film and television actor James Tupper made his screen debut with a bit part in the David Spade comedy Joe Dirt before moving on to establish a successful television career with appearances on such hit shows as Gilmore Girls, CSI: NY, and How I Met Your Mother. Roles in the Michael Landon Jr. Westerns Love's Long Journey and Love's Abiding Joy followed soon thereafter, and in 2005 Tupper earned his first writing credit with work on Loudmouth Soup -- an improvisational comedy shot over the course of just one night and detailing the boozy antics of a bourgeois Hollywood dinner party. Despite his increasing onscreen presence, it wasn't his acting that eventually landed Tupper in the headlines, but the announcement that his Men in Trees co-star Anne Heche was leaving her husband, Coleman Laffoon, in favor of pursuing a romance with the rugged up and comer.

Trivia: Queens native Gaius Charles studied drama at Carnegie Mellon University before setting off for the bright lights of L.A. to pursue a professional acting career. On the eve of the audition that would make his career, however, he sprained his foot. He'd been training to prepare for the role of high-school athlete Brian "Smash" Williams on the popular series Friday Night Lights, a show based on the movie of the same name, about a small town in Texas where high-school football is among the most important things in life. The injury sent Charles to the ER, but in the end, the downtime gave him more time to prepare, and later that week, he nailed the audition and won the role. Gaius would go on to appear in a number of other projects in the years to come, including Salt, and Necessary Roughness.

Trivia: Would perform onstage with her grandmother, Rosemary Clooney, in her annual Rosemary Clooney's White Christmas Party show. Starred in Proof with the Open Fist Theatre Company in Los Angeles in 2011. Joined Grey's Anatomy as a recurring character in season nine; was promoted to a series regular for the show's 10th season.