Trivia: A master of several Japanese martial arts, Steven Seagal is a popular action movie hero whose films combine spiritual concepts and social/environmental consciousness with high-voltage violence. Born in Lansing, MI, on April 10, 1951, Seagal traveled to Japan at the age of 17. There, he taught English, studied Zen, and perfected his martial arts, earning black belts in Aikido, karate, judo, and kendo. Afterwards, he became the first Westerner to open a martial arts school in Japan. During this time, Seagal occasionally choreographed fight scenes in movies and coached such stars as Sean Connery and Toshiro Mifune. He also became interested in Eastern religion: in a November 1997 interview for the Shambala Sun, he stated that his relationship with Tibetan Buddhism resulted from his study of acupuncture. According to Seagal, several ailing Tibetan lamas, suffering from malnutrition, exhaustion, and the effects of Chinese torture, were sent to him for treatment, which led him to become a director of secret security operations and setting up special safe houses. Regarding other incidents from his past, Seagal has remained secretive, though he was allegedly a bounty hunter and occasionally has hinted about involvement with the CIA. Further speculation has surrounded the work he did on behalf of Tibetan freedom fighters, and it was not until 1997 that he mentioned the large amounts of money he claimed to have donated to various religious organizations. Seagal spent about 15 years in Asia before returning to the States, where he opened a new martial arts academy and also worked as a celebrity bodyguard. His clients included his future (now ex-) wife Kelly LeBrock and Hollywood agent Michael Ovitz. With help from Ovitz, Seagal contracted to make martial arts films for Warner Bros. For his first film, he and cinematographer-turned-director Andrew Davis carefully refashioned an average police drama into Above the Law (1988), which stressed characterization and plot as well as high-energy action scenes. It was well received and Seagal found himself an instant star among action aficionados. His next film, Hard to Kill (1989), overflowed with chop-socky violence, casting him as a cop who wakens from a coma and sets out for revenge against those who sent him to the hospital. Seagal attracted mainstream appeal in 1992 when he starred in the Davis-directed hit Under Siege, his most popular movie. In 1994, he made his directorial debut with the environmentally conscious but critically panned On Deadly Ground, in which he single-handedly attempts to save Alaska and the Eskimos from an avaricious oil tycoon. Subsequent action attempts included 1996's Executive Decision and 1998's The Patriot. In 1999, Seagal turned to producing with Prince of Central Park, an uncharacteristically gentle film about a young boy living in the titular park. Following a rollicking time in the corrupt cop thriller Exit Wounds (2001), Segal shook things up behind bars in Half Past Dead (2002). The coming years would find Segal continuing to star in low proifle action fare like Urban Justice and Flight of Fury. He'd also find success starring on the TV series True Justice.In 1997, Seagal publicly announced that one of his prime Buddhist teachers, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, had proclaimed him a tulku, the reincarnation of a Buddhist lama. Seagal's announcement met with some cynicism, but Penor Rinpoche backed him up with a formal statement at Colorado's Naropa Institute. In subsequent interviews, Seagal has presented himself as a serious student of Buddhism who spends many hours meditating, studying, and practicing the tenets to help him become a teacher and healer.

Trivia: Moving easily from comedies to drama, character actor William "Bill" Forsythe has been busy in feature films since the early '80s, when he debuted with a small role in Smokey Bites the Dust (1981). In addition, he frequently appears on television and on stage, where he launched his career. The stocky, moon-faced, and gap-toothed Brooklyn native began acting in local productions in his early teens and by age 16, had become a professional, appearing on and off Broadway. As a young man, Forsythe moved to Southern California. Shortly after his film debut, he also made his first television appearance in the TV-movie The Miracle of Kathy Miller. This started him on a series of guest-starring roles on shows ranging from CHiPS to Fame. At this early stage, Forsythe was usually cast in villainous roles, as in his breakthrough feature Once Upon a Time in America (1984), in which he played the sweet-faced but ruthless gangster Cockeye. One of Forsythe's most memorable performances was also his first lead, that of a rebellious wheelchair-bound patient who turns a hospital ward topsy-turvy, in the ensemble piece The Waterdance (1991). The same year, Forsythe starred as Al Capone in the short-lived television resurrection of The Untouchables. His other television credits include a leading role opposite Emilio Estevez, in Gene Quintano's tribute to spaghetti Westerns A Dollar for the Dead (1998). The actor stayed busy throughout the 2000s, appearing in Scary Movie 3 (2003), Hammerhead (2005), and Freedomland (2006). In 2007 he took on a supporting role in Rob Zombie's reboot of Halloween, and continued to find work (mainly in the horror genre) throughout the late 2000s.

Trivia: Jerry Orbach often commented, without false modesty, that he was fortunate indeed to have been a steadily working actor since the age of 20. Such was an understatement: graced with not only formidable dramatic instinct but one of American theater's top singing voices, Orbach resisted others' attempts to peg him as a character actor time and again and established himself as one of the most unique talents in entertainment per se. Television producer Dick Wolf perhaps put it best when he described Orbach as "a legendary figure of 20th century show business" and "one of the most honored performers of his generation."A native of the Bronx, Orbach was born to an ex-vaudevillian father who worked full time as a restaurant manager and a mother who sang professionally on the radio. The Orbachs moved around constantly during Jerry's youth, relocating from Gotham to Scranton to Wilkes-Barre to Springfield, Massachusetts and eventually settling in Chicago - a mobility that gave the young Orbach an unusual ability to adapt to any circumstance or situation, and thus presaged his involvement in drama. Orbach later attended Northwestern University, trained with Herbert Berghof and Lee Strasberg, and took his Gotham theatrical bow in 1955, as an understudy in the popular 1955 revival of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera, eventually playing the lead role of serial killer Macheath. During the Threepenny run, Orbach made his first film appearance in the Manhattan-filmed low budgeter Cop Killer (1958). In 1960, Orbach created the role of flamboyant interlocutor El Gallo in the off-Broadway smash The Fantasticks, and later starred in such Broadway productions as Carnival (1961), Promises Promises (1966), Chicago (1975) and 42nd Street (1983). By day, Orbach made early-1960s appearances in several New York-based TV series, notably The Shari Lewis Show. In the early years, Orbach's film assignments were infrequent, but starting around 1981, with his pivotal role as officer Gus Levy in Sidney Lumet's masterful urban epic Prince of the City, the actor generally turned up in around one movie per year. His more fondly remembered screen assignments include the part of Jennifer Grey's father in Dirty Dancing (1987), Martin Landau's shady underworld brother in Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) the voice of the Chevalieresque candellabra in the Disney cartoon feature Beauty and the Beast (1990), and Billy Crystal's easily amused agent in Mr. Saturday Night (1992). Orbach perhaps made his most memorable contribution to television, however. After headlining a brief, short-lived detective series entitled The Law and Harry McGraw from September 1987 to February 1988 (a spinoff of Murder, She Wrote), Orbach landed a role that seemed to draw heavily from his Prince of the City portrayal: Detective Lennie Briscoe, a sardonic, mordant police investigator on Wolf's blockbuster cop drama Law & Order.Orbach carried the assignment for twelve seasons, and many attributed a large degree of the program's success to him.Jerry Orbach died of prostate cancer at the age of 69 on December 28, 2004. Three years later, Orbach turned up, posthumously, on subway print advertisements for the New York Eye Bank. As a performer with nearly perfect vision, he had opted to donate his eyes to two women after his death - a reflection on the remarkable humanitarian ideals that characterized his off-camera self.

Trivia: Sultry, dark-eyed, brunette leading actress Gina Gershon mixes a muscular toughness with her seductive femininity. Born June 10th, 1962, Gershon wasthe youngest of five children. Raised in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, Gershon gets her exotic looks from her French, Russian, and Dutch heritage. After high school, she decided she wanted a more sophisticated image than those usually attributed to Valley Girls like herself and so moved to the Big Apple, to earn a bachelor of arts degree at New York University. While in New York, she studied acting with such well-known teachers as Sandra Seacat, David Mamet, and Harold Guskin. She started out in theater and worked on both coasts.Since the mid-'80s, Gershon has carved out a living as a reliable character actress on both the big and the small screens. Her most notable role on the tube was that of Nancy Sinatra, the famous wife of Old Blue Eyes himself, in the CBS miniseries Sinatra (1994). Gershon made her feature film debut playing a small role opposite Molly Ringwald in 1986's Pretty in Pink, and graduated to the jucier role of of Coral opposite Tom Cruise in Cocktail (1988). Through the 1990s, Gershon vascillated between high-brow and low-brow fare, the former exemplified by her memorable turns in John Sayles's City of Hope (1991), Robert Altman's The Player (1992), and Michael Mann's The Insider (1999); the latter, by her gleeful, scenery-chewing work in Best of the Best 3 and the infamous Showgirls (both 1995). Gershon's signature role, however, was a synthesis of B-movie pulp and indie smarts, courtesy of the Wachowski brothers' twisty 1996 neo-noir Bound. Cast as a woman falling in love with an abusive gangster's moll, Gershon was able to radiate an intelligence, sexuality, and power not afforded her by previous scripts, and the lead part would go a long way in establishing her screen persona into the new millenium.Gershon enjoyed success in 1997 when she co-starred with Nicolas and John Travolta in the blockbuster action thriller Face/Off, and again in 1999 with a role in The Insider. The actress co-starred with Dennis Hopper in the crime thriller Out of Season (2004), and the 2006 comedies Delirious and I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With. In 2010, Gershon appeared in The Love Ranch, a period film documenting the true story of Nevada's first legal brothel.

Trivia: Supporting actor and singer Gianni Russo specializes in playing Mafiosos and other Italian stereotypes. He made his feature-film debut playing Carlo Rizzi in The Godfather (1973). Before that, Russo had appeared in two made-for-television films.

Trivia: John Leguizamo is a Colombian-born comedian and actor best known for his memorable, often sharply satirical, characterizations of Latinos on stage and in films. He began his career as a stand-up comedian in New York clubs and as a performer in small independent feature films. These engagements led to his playing small roles in major features such as Casualties of War (1989) and Die Hard 2 (1990) where he was typically cast as a violent, unsavory fellow; none of these films seemed to utilize his talents and potential on film. Leguizamo has fared better in smaller films such as Time Expired (1991). His stage career also continues to grow. For his one-man show Mambo Mouth, a scathing look at Hispanic stereotypes, he won awards and great acclaim. His follow-up play Spic-o-Rama is equally funny and thought provoking. Leguizamo played his first leading film role in Super Mario Brothers. (1993). That year he also played an important and acclaimed role in De Palma's Carlito's Way. In 1995 he finished two movies, A Pyromaniac's Love Story and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar where he played the lovely drag queen Miss Chi Chi Rodriguez. That year, Leguizamo also created, scripted, executive produced and starred in a sketch comedy show on Fox, House of Buggin. Done in the style of Fox's smash hit series In Living Color, Leguizamo's show was billed as the first show of its kind to feature an all Latino cast. Unfortunately, though the show received good ratings, it failed to attract an audience and was cancelled after only a few months. The Colombian funnyman has since returned to feature films. In 1996, he starred, wrote and co-produced another showcase for his talents, The Pest.

Trivia: A versatile actress of theater, film, and television, Vera Lockwood originally trained to be a singer. A relative of Italian stage and film director Luchino Visconti, Lockwood's numerous stage appearances included the original Broadway productions of The Ritz, Goodbye Fidel, The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker, and Sunrise at Campobello. Her film credits include The Freshman, Aladdin, Out for Justice, and Mortal Sins. In 1999 Lockwood was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance on NYPD Blue. She also appeared in guest roles on ER, Murphy Brown, and Doogie Howser, M.D.. On July 28, 2000, at the age of 82, Lockwood died of natural causes at her home in North Bergen, NJ. At the time of her death, she was a cast member of Over the River and Through the Woods at the John Houseman Theater.

Trivia: Raven-haired Julianna Margulies may have become an award-winning TV star on NBC's phenomenally successful ER in the 1990s, but she was ready to exit the series to pursue movies and theater full time by decade's end. Born in Spring Valley, NY, Margulies spent part of her childhood living abroad before settling back in her hometown for a bohemian life with her free-spirit mother. Though she earned a B.A. in art history from Sarah Lawrence College, Margulies performed in college plays and decided to pursue an acting career. Margulies landed her first movie role in 1991, playing a prostitute in the Steven Seagal flick Out for Justice. With no more movie roles forthcoming, Margulies made a living with theater work and TV guest star stints on Law and Order and Homicide in the early '90s. Margulies subsequently landed a role in the pilot for Michael Crichton's new hospital drama ER in 1994, but her character was slated for death after that single episode. Due to a positive audience response, however, Margulies' compassionate Nurse Hathaway survived the pilot. During her six seasons on the most popular TV drama of the 1990s, Margulies won the Emmy and the SAG Award and became a perennial nominee. Buoyed by her TV fame, Margulies returned to films during her hiatuses, starring as the would-be victim of Bill Paxton's Irish con in Traveler (1996), a POW alongside Glenn Close and Cate Blanchett in the ensemble drama Paradise Road (1997), and as Matthew McConaughey's girlfriend in Richard Linklater's Western-esque bank robber saga The Newton Boys (1998). Continuing to avoid glossy big budget Hollywood fare in favor of a more independent sensibility, Margulies also appeared in Boaz Yakin's A Price Above Rubies (1998) and Gurinder Chadha's multiethnic Thanksgiving tale What's Cooking? (2000). Margulies finally took on a blockbuster of sorts when she voiced one of the pre-historic reptiles in the animated Dinosaur (2000). Despite an offer that would have made her one of the highest paid actresses on TV, Margulies announced in 2000 that six years of ER was enough. While Hathaway departed to a future with George Clooney's Dr. Ross, Margulies moved back to New York to hit the off-Broadway stage with Donald Sutherland in Ten Unknowns (2001). Margulies returned to the small-screen for the female-centric version of the King Arthur legend The Mists of Avalon, before appearing in The Man from Elysian Fields, and opposite Pierce Brosnan in the drama Evelyn. After an appearance in the horror film Ghost Ship, Margulies would not appear in another widely released motion picture until she landed one of the main parts in the 2006 summer phenomenon known simply as Snakes on a Plane. Three years later, the veteran actress was back on the small screen as the lead in The Good Wife -- a popular CBS series about a former litigator who returns to work following a public scandal involving her state attorney husband. Though her performance in the series earned Margulies a Best Lead Actress Emmy in 2010, the award that year went to Kyra Sedgwick for The Closer instead. But fans of the actress had good reason to hold out hope that she'd be a strong contender the next year as well, and indeed when the 2001 Emmy winners were announced Margulies emerged the victor.

Trivia: After decades of honing his acting skills on stage and screen, and eventually carving out a niche for himself as a "gangster," Dominic Chianese came upon his most widely recognized role as Uncle Junior on the hit HBO mob series The Sopranos, beginning in 1999. Born in 1931, in Bronx, NY, Chianese attended Brooklyn College, and began appearing on-stage in 1952. He would appear on and off-Broadway in theater for over 45 years before his famous role on The Sopranos, adding film and television to his repertoire along the way.After his first film role in 1972, as a panhandler in a drama called Fuzz, he embarked on what would become the trademark of his career with his first gangster role, as Johnny Ola in Coppola's The Godfather Pt. II (1974), the classic, starring Al Pacino. Chianese also appeared in All the President's Men in 1976, and would work with Pacino again in the 1979 thriller ...And Justice for All.Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Chianese had numerous roles of all kinds from major feature films to stage to made-for-TV movies. He was featured in Fort Apache, the Bronx in 1981, and had a small role in Pacino's Looking for Richard in 1996. In 1999, HBO debuted its mobster series The Sopranos, starring James Gandolfini, and Chianese's long-term experience acting in all kinds of mob-related roles finally paid off with his part as Corrado "Uncle Junior" Soprano. The series earned incredible success, and in 2001, Chianese was nominated for an Emmy Award for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series for his role on the program. In 2002, he was featured in Adrian Lyne's drama Unfaithful, starring Diane Lane, Richard Gere, and Olivier Martinez.

Trivia: Grew up in East Los Angeles. Was inspired to take up acting after a school trip to see the classic film To Kill a Mockingbird. Made TV debut in 1987 and has appeared in guest or recurring roles in some 30 series, including Cagney & Lacey, Knots Landing, China Beach, The X-Files, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, NYPD Blue, 24, My Name Is Earl, Nip/Tuck and CSI: Miami. Was a regular on The Eddie Files, a Peabody Award-winning math-education program that aired on PBS stations in the late 1990s. Received a 2010 Saturn Award nomination for his role as psychotic drug dealer Tuco on Breaking Bad. Likes to build and ride motorcycles; a bike he owns appeared in a 2008 episode of The Closer.

Trivia: Dubbed "the Queen of B-movies," Julie Strain has established herself as the reigning monarch of a rarefied kingdom whose subjects include chainsaw-wielding lesbian hookers, virgin-sacrificing sorceresses, 6'7" dominatrixes, Satanic cops, and horny vampires. Standing a proud 6'1" and packing more silicon than the Dupont plant, Strain has starred in over 80 films, most of which have gone straight to video and into the hearts and hormones of remote control-toting men everywhere.Hailing from Concord, California, where she was born February 18, 1962, Strain had a lower-income, middle-American upbringing. Her life changed drastically when, at the age of 11, she was kicked in the head by a horse and suffered total amnesia as a result. After spending many years reconstructing her identity from scratch and enduring an unsatisfying marriage, Strain decided to head for Hollywood at the ripe old age of 28. Although she initially encountered extreme poverty, perseverance and a willingness to do just about anything allowed the aspiring actress to prevail, and five years later she had starred in a dizzying number of films and videos with names like Witchcraft 4: Virgin Heart and Bimbo Movie Bash, had been named Penthouse magazine's 1993 "Pet of the Year," and had seen her likeness reproduced on everything from calendars to coffee mugs. Although Strain has stuck largely to the B-movie realm, she has made the occasional foray into mainstream film, appearing in such features as Kuffs (1992), Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994), and Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), the last of which billed her simply as "Annihilator Girl."