Trivia: Born in London on September 6, 1972, and raised in the Hackney borough, Elba pursued acting as a high school student at the behest of a drama teacher. Elba paid his dues with many supporting roles on British television, including such series as Bramwell, The Bill, Degrees of Error, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, and The Governor. The actor grew deeply frustrated, however, over the seemingly irrepressible tendency of British casting directors to peg him in supporting roles. "Back in London," he later recalled, "I was always just going to be the best friend, or the crook or the detective on the side." When Elba could take no more of this, he immigrated to the United States. Within a few years, Elba landed a starring role on what would come to be known as one of the best TV series of all time, The Wire.Elba's performance as pusher "Stringer" Bell attained widespread popularity with viewers and helped put Elba on the map. Elba then transitioned into big-screen roles in movies like The Gospel, The Reaping, Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls, 28 Weeks Later, and the Alien prequel Prometheus. Elba also enjoyed more stateside TV success on shows like The Office and Luther.

Trivia: Once she decided to become an actress, Ali Larter (born February 28th, 1976) swiftly became caught up in the late '90s surge of teen-oriented entertainment. A native of Cherry Hill, NJ, Larter began modeling at age 13. After seven years as a cover girl and a globe-trotting Ford model, she opted to move to Los Angeles to set her sights on acting, and soon landed guest star roles on several TV series, including a two-episode stint on the WB's hit teen drama Dawson's Creek in 1998. Quickly making the jump to movies, Larter co-starred in the high school gridiron hit Varsity Blues (1999) as an alluring, ambitious cheerleader with eyes for Dawson's Creek heartthrob James Van der Beek's quarterback. Though her next two movies, Drive Me Crazy (1999) and The House on Haunted Hill (1999), were not as successful, Larter's status as an up-and-coming young movie actress was enhanced by the sleeper success of teen horror film Final Destination (2000), in which she sported a brunette hair color to suit her artist character's gothic leanings. The following summer, Larter could be seen -- this time playing characters closer to her own age -- in two more high-profile releases for the PG-13 set: first as Reese Witherspoon's possibly-homicidal sorority sister in the comedy Legally Blonde (2001); and later, as the main squeeze of Colin Farrell, one of the titular train robbers in American Outlaws . The next several years brought much more of the same for Larter, as she signed for supporting roles in mostly buttered popcorn pictures and Hollywood programmers - such as the supernatural thriller follow-up Final Destination 2 (2003) and the Ashton Kutcher/Amanda Peet romantic comedy A Lot Like Love (2006) - but her career took an interesting twist in 2006. That year, Larter switched venues, signing for her first major television role: that of Niki Sanders, a single mom suddenly dumbstruck by the discovery of her violent, uber-strong alter ego, on the superhero-themed serial drama Heroes. In 2007, Larter tackled two major roles, very different from one another: that of Marigold Lexton, a young actress who stumbles into the cast of a Bollywood musical, in the quirky comedy-drama Marigold, and that of Alice, a resilient fighter who helps save the world from a zombifying virus, in the effects-heavy video game adaptation Resident Evil: Extinction. Larter played a dangerous femme fatle in Obsessed (2009), and starred in Resident Evil: Afterlife in 2010. In 2014, Larter returned to television in the TNT crime drama Legends.

Trivia: Husky American actor Bruce McGill made his film debut in Citizen's Band (1978), but it was his next film role, frat-brat "D Day" in National Lampoon's Animal House, that gained him a following. McGill repeated his D-Day characterization in the spin-off TV series Delta House (1979), then co-starred with David Hasselhoff in the 1980 weekly-TV version of the 1977 theatrical football comedy Semi-Tough. He went on to play a string of brusque authority types in films (Cliffhangers) and television (MacGiver, Live Shot). Fans of the fantasy series Quantum Leap (1989-93) may recall McGill's occasional guest shots, which ranged from mildly eccentric to truly weird. In 1987, Bruce McGill enjoyed one of his few feature-film leading roles in Waiting for the Moon. But it wasn't until the 1990s that casting directors really began to utilize McGill's unique range, and though he never won any awards, he shifted between film (A Perfect World, Timecop, The Insider) and television (Babylon 5, Star Trek: Voyager) with the skill of a seasoned pro. Any genre was fair game, and all were tackled with equal aplomb. At the dawn of the 2000s McGill seemed to shift his focus toward feature films, with roles in Ali, The Sum of All Fears, and Collateral helping to make him both a Michael Mann regular, and one of those welcomed faces that seems to turn up everywhere. Still TV just seemed to be in McGill's blood and after lending his voice to both Family Guy and The Cleveland Show he could be seen as a regular on the TNT detective series Rizzoli and Isles.

Trivia: Like Henry Thomas and a few others of the same generation, Jerry O'Connell proves that second acts are far from impossible for Hollywood actors who began their careers as children. O'Connell first gained recognition among film fans as "that fat kid from Stand By Me," when he starred in the 1986 Rob Reiner film at the age of eleven - then experienced a massive physical transformation. Several years and many lost pounds later, O'Connell emerged as a tall, handsome screen lothario, a development that provoked substantial commentary from both film critics and any number of lay viewers.Born in New York City on February 17, 1974, O'Connell enrolled in acting classes at the age of six. He obtained his first professional assignments acting in commercials when he was ten, and a year later made his film debut in the critically acclaimed Stand By Me. Though somewhat overshadowed by the presence of teen idol co-stars River Phoenix and Corey Feldman, O'Connell still managed to win a place in the coming-of-age pantheon. After Stand By Me, he appeared in the memorable syndicated television series My Secret Identity (as a high schooler with superpowers) and enrolled at Manhattan's Professional Children's School. Following his graduation, he attended New York University, where he attained a B.A. in Film and Television in 1995. While still an NYU student, O'Connell appeared in the eminently forgettable Jason Priestley vehicle Calendar Girl (1993).After his college graduation, O'Connell began to pursue thesping full-time. He soon landed a starring role on the sci-fi series Sliders, which, despite low ratings, had a very loyal viewership. In 1996, the actor's popularity grew beyond the confines of television when he starred in both Joe's Apartment and Jerry Maguire. The latter film was a particular success, and O'Connell began to land steady film assignments once again. Next up was the slasher movie Scream 2 (1997), in which he played Neve Campbell's boyfriend. After an uncredited role in the Jennifer Love Hewitt vehicle Can't Hardly Wait (1998), O'Connell returned to television to star as a young Vietnam War soldier in the miniseries The '60s in 1999. That same year, he starred as a neanderthal-like jock in Body Shots, a film about the search for love and/or a lay amongst a group of Los Angeles twentysomethings.At this point, if O'Connell still carried a full resume, he often seemed to alternate between respectable A-list material - such as the disappointing but ambitious Brian De Palma sci-fi'er Mission to Mars (2000) and the generally pleasant family comedy Yours, Mine and Ours (2005) - and ridiculous studio dreck, such as the misogynistic sex comedy Tomcats (2001) and the awful 2002 "family" picture Kangaroo Jack (where the actor co-starred alongside a wisecracking CG-animated marsupial). In fall 2007, O'Connell trekked back to the small screen for one of the three lead roles in the sitcom Carpoolers - about a cadre of male buddies who share rides to and from work each day. O'Connell would spend the next few years appearing in movies like Obsessed and Piranha, in addition to successful TV runs like Do Not Disturb and The Defenders.O'Connell married supermodel and actress Rebecca Romijn in 2007. The two have two children.

Trivia: Unpredictable American actress Christine Lahti majored in drama at the University of Michigan, then toured Europe with a group of pantomimists. She studied with Uta Hagen in New York, taking whatever stage work that came along (including her Obie award-winning performance in an Off-Broadway revival of Little Murders) before being steadily employed on TV. In 1978, Lahti was co-starred in The Harvey Korman Show as Korman's daughter. The following year, she made her first film, ...And Justice for All. A scene stealer par excellence, Lahti often found her film roles reduced in the cutting room, usually at the behest of nervous stars. Her performance as Hazel Zenutti in Swing Shift (1984) was severely pared down after previews, but that didn't prevent Lahti from being nominated for an Oscar. The endearingly off-balance nature of many of Lahti's screen characters is best summed up by her scene in Housekeeping (1987), in which she calmly carries on a conversation while her living room fills up with water. In 1995, Lahti joined the cast of the Emmy-Award-winning TV medical drama Chicago Hope, playing the part of heart-surgeon Dr. Kathryn Austin.

Trivia: Started acting in high school.Lived in Venice, Los Angeles, with his wife after performing in regional theater and in New York City, and later moved back to New York.Volunteered with Young Storytellers in Los Angeles and helped set up the arts education non-profit in New York.A member of New York City's The Actors Center.Co-founder of the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting for Film, Television, Voice Overs, and Commercials program (FTVC) at Pace University's School of Performing Arts.

Trivia: American actress Scout Taylor-Compton debuted as an ingenue, appearing on several television series in guest and recurring roles during the 1990s and 2000s, including Charmed, ER, and Gilmore Girls. She then segued into feature roles in the mid-2000s, with memorable contributions to the Jennifer Garner-headlined age-swap fantasy 13 Going on 30, and -- later that same year -- with the all-girl teen comedy Sleepover (2004). Taylor-Compton made her biggest splash, however, by essaying the role of Laurie Strode, perpetually stalked slasher victim (and sister of Michael Myers), in Rob Zombie's much-anticipated horror remake Halloween (2007); the actress inherited the role, of course, from former scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis. Taylor-Compton also made headlines in August 2005 when officially declared "missing" from her family's Apple Valley, CA, home. She was recovered a short time later.

Trivia: Primarily known as the most popular R&B singer of the late '90s and 2000s, Beyoncé Knowles has come to be known simply as Beyoncé. Only a few years after establishing herself in the popular consciousness as the new queen of R&B, Knowles was ready to expand beyond her immeasurable voice and larger-than-life stage presence. She set her sights on a movie career, first getting her acting feet wet at the age of 20 with the logical transitional project Carmen: A Hip Hopera, a modern-day version of the Bizet opera Carmen, produced by MTV in 2001.Knowles soon made the transition to the big screen, spending the early 2000s alternating between comedy and projects rooted in her primary interest in music. She made her feature-film acting debut in 2002 with the blaxploitation-parody role of Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers in Goldmember, bringing exuberance to her over-the-top sight gags and Pam Grier-type dialogue. Having made her transition to film without disaster, Knowles next accepted a role in the 2003 low-profile musical comedy The Fighting Temptations, starring opposite Cuba Gooding Jr. Returning to comedy in 2006, the starlet unfortunately ended up with a dud, as the attempted revival of the Pink Panther franchise was a critical disappointment. Co-star Steve Martin was not well received in the role of Inspector Clouseau, made famous by Peter Sellers, but Knowles walked away from the project relatively unscathed.Continuing her pattern, Knowles opted next for another musical film -- and this one would be by far the biggest of her career. She was cast in Dreamgirls, the highly anticipated big-budget screen adaptation of the popular Broadway musical -- providing a chance for her to stretch both her singing and acting abilities to the limit. She would be playing Deena Jones, the character based on Diana Ross in this film à clef about Motown girl group the Supremes. It was hard not to notice how Knowles (the greatest diva of her time) was playing Ross (greatest diva of her own time), who had, in turn, played Billie Holiday (the greatest diva of her own time) in Lady Sings the Blues. Ensuing buzz seemed to overshadow Knowles with excitement over the breakthrough performance of co-star Jennifer Hudson, but when the 2006 Golden Globe nominations were announced, both actresses were nominated -- Knowles for Best Actress and Hudson for Best Supporting Actress. Knowles moved forward, continuing to act in selective projects, like the period biopic Cadillac Records and the romantic thriller Obsessed. In 2013, she co-directed and co-produced Life is But a Dream, an autobiographical film that followed her backstage at several of her concerts.