Trivia: As an actor, writer, producer, and director of films and stage plays, the New Orleans-born Tyler Perry began his career as a dramatist in 1992. When inspired by Oprah Winfrey to channel his creativity through writing, Perry put pen to paper as a method of healing the wounds that lingered from a painful childhood. His first production, entitled I Know I've Been Changed, hit the stage to rapturous reviews in 1997, and following a collaborative period with Bishop T.D. Jakes that resulted in the plays Woman, Thou Art Loosed and Behind Closed Doors, Perry flew solo to create cantankerous 68-year-old grandmother Mabel "Madea" Simmons (whom Perry played, in full drag) in I Can Do Bad All by Myself around 2000 A slew of Madea-based projects were quick to follow, and shortly thereafter Perry joined Grammy Award-winner Kelly Price for the play Why Did I Get Married?. His plays garnered countless fans thanks to Perry's trademark practice of releasing them on home video. Throughout this period, many credited Perry with resuscitating (and reinventing) African-American theater; in the process, Perry's first eight plays reportedly earned a cumulative gross of over 75 million dollars in ticket and video sales.Perry didn't fully enter the public spotlight, however, until he cropped up in mid-2005 with the oddball A-lister Diary of a Mad Black Woman, self-adapted from his own hit play. This story of an African-American woman Helen McCarter (Kimberly Elise) struggling to rebound after a painful separation, whose life is invaded (in more ways than one) by the obnoxious, loudmouthed, chainsaw-wielding (!) Madea, Diary -- a bizarre combination of domestic melodrama, violent, racially-oriented farce, and Christian proselytizing -- understandably left many critics running for the exit, but, of course, ticket buyers prevailed. The film scored with its intended African-American audience and grossed a healthy 50 million dollars (it ranked as number one at the box office during February 2005), leading to an early 2006 sequel, Madea's Family Reunion, this one written and directed by Perry. Either because Perry's talent had matured within a year or because the press had grown accustomed to the playwright-cum-filmmaker's defiantly unconventional style, critics were slightly kinder about the sophomore Madea outing, which benefits from finely-felt supporting turns by the legendary Cicely Tyson and Maya Angelou. Like its predecessor, Reunion struck box office gold, and even topped Diary's net, reeling in an estimated 63.3 million dollars in international grosses. Perry then scrapped the Madea character for a tertiary cinematic outing, Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls. This romantic dramedy concerns Monty (Idris Elba), a financially strapped African-American mechanic who loses custody of his children to his drug-pushing ex-wife, and then falls in love with the beautiful attorney (Gabrielle Union) whom he hires to get the children back. Increasingly prolific on stage and screen in the following years, Perry continued packing fans into theaters with Madea Goes to Jail (2009), I Can Do Bad All By Myself (also 2009), Good Deeds (2012) and Madea's Witness Protection while simultaneously making a mark on television as creator of the hit sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne. Perry also began to take some acting roles in films that he didn't write/direct/producer, like the titular character in Alex Cross (2012) and a supporting role in David Fincher's Gone Girl (2014).

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: Was a track star in high school before walking on to the football team at Moorpark College. Transferred to Arizona State and played in the 1997 Rose Bowl. Was a member of NFL practice squads for Oakland and Cleveland and also played in NFL Europe. Once owned a restaurant called Jo Jo's Barbecue on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Began working as the Old Spice Man in February 2010. Bested Fabio in an online competition "Mano a Mano en El Bano," a series of videos that included contests for staring and whistling competitions, giving advice on writing love letters and working out. Won almost $50,000 on The Weakest Link.

Trivia: Multifaceted performer Tamela Mann began life as the youngest of 14 children in a Fort Worth, TX, family. Significantly, she grew up in a household firmly rooted in the Christian faith, which paved the way for Mann's own devotion to the gospel as an adult. In time, this dovetailed with the young woman's preternatural gifts as a vocalist (which first revealed themselves during stints in her local church choir). She teamed up with the powerhouse worship ensemble Kirk Franklin and the Family during the early '90s, and attained fame alongside them, ultimately evolving into one of the most sought-after gospel recording artists of the early 21st century. Mann's later efforts as a soloist only heightened her popularity and visibility and included collaborations with artists such as Al Green, Mary J. Blige, Bono, and Celine Dion.During the mid-2000s Mann smoothly expanded her repertoire to include film roles via a series of collaborations with her husband, theater actor David Mann. The two frequently worked in tandem and made the majority of their appearances under the aegis of writer/director/star Tyler Perry, in whose stage plays they had starred. Efforts that featured the Manns included Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns (2008) and Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail (2009).

Trivia: Mirroring the origins of his wife and professional partner Tamela Mann (who often appeared opposite him in musical and dramatic contexts), David Mann grew up in the Bible Belt, with a childhood and adolescence spent in the Texas heartlands. The product of a strict, disciplinary Pentecostal home, David began singing in the church choir at an early age and later joined then nascent gospel ensemble Kirk Franklin and the Family, where he both obtained stardom as a recording artist (thanks in no small part to the group's eponymous multiplatinum debut) and met future wife Tamela.Mann gravitated to acting around the age of 15, initially via comedic roles in high school productions and community theater. He later embarked on a professional acting tenure, first with a popular turn as the gangster Forty Ounce in David E. Talbert's play He Say? She Say? But What Does God Say? (subsequently adapted for television on UPN) and then via a series of stage and screen collaborations with popular African American playwright turned writer/director Tyler Perry, in whose films David and Tamela often costarred. Their efforts together include the 2008 Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns and the 2009 Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail.

Trivia: A former music-video girl who appeared in clips by Pharrell and Ludacris before making her big-screen debut in ATL, Los Angeles native Lauren London possesses a small-town beauty with a distinctive smile and a slight city-girl edge. It was during London's stint in the Las Angeles public school system that the aspiring actress first began dabbling in theater and drama, and though she would later be home-schooled for her last three years of high school, the desire to perform never went away. Appearances in a handful of music videos helped to get London comfortable in front of the cameras, and when buzz began to build around the production of an upcoming film called ATL, she hired an acting coach and convinced director Chris Robinson's assistant to get her an audition. Despite being two hours late for the audition, London performed well enough under pressure to land the role of roller-skating rich girl New New -- who changes her identity and soon begins dating former high-school hotshot Rashad (played by hip-hop recording artist T.I.). With buzz around the rising starlet subsequently beginning to gain momentum, London next appeared in episodes of Everybody Hates Chris and Entourage while preparing for a role in the holiday-themed family drama This Christmas. She had a small part in Next Day Air, and landed a major role in the comedy I Love You, Beth Cooper. Two years later Tyler Perry tapped her to appear in Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family.

Trivia: A native of Washington, D.C. (born Maurice "Maury'' Richard Povich in 1939), talk show host Maury Povich grew up in the nation's capital as the son of Washington Post sportswriter Shirley Povich. After attending the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a degree in television journalism, and then starting a family, Povich entered the field of television news, initially as a reporter and sportscaster for local D.C. station WTTG-TV, then as the daytime host of that station's talk program Panorama (in 1967, at the age of 28). That assignment was, of course, prophetic: after years as a news anchorman at various stations (and a lucrative stint hosting the news magazine A Current Affair from 1986 to 1991, under the aegis of media mogul Rupert Murdoch), the television pundit attained his greatest recognition on a coast-to-coast level as the emcee of a number of small screen talk programs with a format similar to that of the original Panorama and (echoing A Current Affair) an emphasis on the über-sensationalistic, gossipy, tabloid-style material that began sweeping across the daytime airwaves during the 1990s. These syndicated programs (which drew large audiences) included the 1991 Maury Povich Show (1991-1998) and its nearly indistinguishable follow-up, Maury, which debuted in 1998. In 2006, Povich and longtime wife Connie Chung hosted the weekend news program Weekends with Maury and Connie on MSNBC; it folded after six months. The following year he bucked the trend of newspapers going online by launching the Flathead Beacon, a weekly gazette catering to the community of Flathead Valley, VT.

Trivia: Though he has since dropped the age restrictive "Lil'" for the more mature Bow Wow, this rapper-turned-actor stands tall on both stage and screen no matter what moniker he assumes. Born Shad Gregory Moss in Reynoldsburg, OH, Lil' Bow Wow dropped his first rhymes at the tender age of three, and after hooking up with producer Jermaine Dupri, the young rapper released his debut album, Beware of Dog, in 2000. The following year, he brought his vocal talents to the small screen in Carmen: A Hip Hopera. After releasing his 2001 sophomore album, Doggy Bag, Lil' Bow Wow made his feature debut in the action comedy All About the Benjamins. Leading-man status followed with a starring role as an orphan who discovers a pair of magical basketball shoes in Like Mike (2002), showing that the pint-sized rapper's skills in front of the camera rivaled those behind the microphone. Following the release of his third album, Unleashed (2003), he returned to the screen in 2004 for the comedy Johnson Family Vacation; snagging the lead role in Director Malcolm D. Lee's nostalgic coming-of-age tale Roll Bounce the following year. Strapping on a pair of roller skates for the '70s-set family drama, Bow Wow's first leading role snagged impressive box-office totals in its first-weekend, indicating good things to come for the young rapper-actor hyphenate. 2006 would find the actor/hip-hopper adding the title of wheelman to his credits when he buckled-in for the rubber-burning sequel The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.