Trivia: Sherman Hemsley is best remembered for playing George Jefferson, the lovably pompous, diminutive loud-mouth who made a fortune from his dry cleaning business and moved from Queens to a posh Manhattan high rise in The Jeffersons, a popular sitcom that ran for ten years on the CBS network. Before becoming an actor in the late '60s, Hemsley worked for the U.S. Post Office. He started out on the New York stage where his first break came from playing Gitlow in the Broadway musical Purlie (1970). Television producer Norman Lear was impressed by Hemsley's performance and so created George Jefferson for him. Originally designed as an African-American alter ego/foil to his blustery, bigoted Archie Bunker character on the smash hit All in the Family, Hemsley's George became so popular that he and his family were given their own series in 1975. Following the series' demise, Hemsley played an egotistical, loud-mouthed deacon/lawyer at the First Community Church of Philadelphia who tried to keep the new minister, Reverend Gregory, from taking over what he viewed as his personal domain, on Amen. The series broke ground by being the first hit sitcom centered on religion and ran from 1986 to 1991. In between his series work, Hemsley occasionally played supporting roles in feature films after making his debut playing Rev. Mike in the comedy Love at First Bite (1979). Most of his subsequent films were low-budget affairs such as Stewardess School and Club Fed; he also continued to appear frequently on television as a guest star and starred in such failed series as Townsend Television (1993) and Goode Behavior (1996-1997), but never quite recaptured the success he had during the '70s and '80s. His final small-screen appearance came in 2006 when he was a cast member on the sixth season of the reality TV show The Surreal Life. Hemsley died at age 74 in late July, 2012.

Trivia: Defying her mother's wishes, African-American actress Isabel Sanford secretly worked as a nightclub performer in her teens. Upon winning 3rd prize in an Apollo Theatre amateur contest, Sanford could keep her new career a secret no longer. Married to a house painter who worked only on a seasonal basis, she held down a full-time job as a keypunch operator at the New York City department of Welfare, spending her evenings acting with such groups as Harlem Y and the American Negro Theatre. Seeking out better opportunities, Sanford packed her family into a bus and headed to Hollywood in the early 1960s. Her breakthrough film role was in Stanley Kramer's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; she played Tillie the cook, who heartily disapproved of the upcoming interracial marriage between Katharine Houghton and Sidney Poitier (the hardest part of this assignment was not mouthing the "controversial" dialogue but preparing dinner in a key scene; Sanford had never learned to cook!) On the strength of this film, Isabel Sanford was hired for several guest spots on The Carol Burnett Show, which led to her most famous characterization: Louise Jefferson, the acerbic but loving wife of "movin' on up" Sherman Hemsley, on the immensely popular sitcom The Jeffersons (1975-82).

Trivia: Though Mike Evans was roundly known to 1970s prime-time devotees as Lionel Jefferson, the scion of dry-cleaning entrepreneur George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) and his wife, Louise (Isabel Sanford), on producer Norman Lear's The Jeffersons (1975-1985), the bulk of his career actually spanned three hit '70s sitcoms, all created by Lear: All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and Good Times. Evans then parlayed his efforts into prime-time miniseries before fading from the limelight in the '80s and '90s.Born Michael Jonas Evans on November 3, 1949, in Salisbury, NC, Evans moved to southern California with his family during childhood, and studied acting at Los Angeles City College after high school. Not long after Evans graduated from LACC (in 1971), the socially conscious mega-producer Lear cast the young man as Lionel Jefferson, the son of bigoted Archie Bunker's next-door neighbors George and Louise Jefferson, in his groundbreaking CBS series All in the Family. The program, of course, became a massive runaway hit during the summer of 1971, and carried its success until the fall of 1983. By 1975, however, Lear decided to "spin off" George and Louise into a series of their own, by having up-and-coming entrepreneur George strike it rich in the dry-cleaning business. The Jeffersons premiered on January 18, 1975, but Lear used Evans as an element to help viewers transition between the two series -- by keeping Lionel on All in the Family for several months (the character moved temporarily into his parents' old house in Queens, and thus stayed next door to Archie Bunker). Evans remained with the series until the fall of 1975, and departed amicably to pursue other interests -- specifically, an assignment co-creating (with Eric Monte) and scripting one of Lear's other sitcoms, Good Times (1974-1979), itself a spin-off of Lear's Maude, which the producer had spun off of Lear's All in the Family. During his absence from The Jeffersons, Evans also appeared as Arnold Simms in the ten-hour ABC miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976). In the interim, Mike Evans was temporarily replaced by another young black actor, Damon Evans (no relation), on the Jeffersons set. Mike Evans returned to The Jeffersons to play Lionel in the autumn of 1979. Over the remainder of the series run, the character of Lionel married Jenny (Berlinda Tolbert), the daughter of a neighboring biracial couple, and a year after Mike Evans returned to the series in 1979, the onscreen couple had a baby daughter. Over time, Lionel and Jenny separated, then divorced, with Evans permanently departing from the series in 1981.The Jeffersons marked Evans' last major television effort, though he appeared briefly in a 2000 episode of Walker, Texas Ranger. During his later years, Evans invested heavily in southern California real estate. He died of throat cancer, at age 57, on December 14, 2006.

Trivia: Won a scholarship to attend Interlochen Arts Academy High School in Michigan. Featured in the 1971 Broadway production of The Me Nobody Knows. Auditioned for role of James 'J.J.' Evans Jr. in the CBS series Good Times; lost out to Jimmie Walker. In 1975, replaced Michael Evans as Lionel Jefferson in the CBS comedy series The Jeffersons. Nominated for a Best Actor Olivier Award in 1992 for portrayal of Joe in the London stage production of Carmen Jones. Has sung with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Trivia: Was employed by a major airline when she was cast on The Jeffersons; continued working for the airline during her first few seasons on the show. Is also a singer; released an album, It's Never Too Late, in 2006. Reunited with actress Regina King, who played her daughter on the 1980s sitcom 227, in a 2012 episode of Southland.

Trivia: Made TV debut in 1974 on the ABC crime-drama The Streets of San Francisco. Landed first regular TV series role in 1975 on the CBS comedy The Jeffersons, playing Jenny Willis Jefferson. Starred in Maya Angelou's play On A Southern Journey in 1983.

Trivia: On television, supporting actress Roxie Roker may best be remembered for playing outspoken Helen Willis for ten years on the popular television sitcom The Jeffersons. She and TV husband Franklin Cover comprised the first interracial married couple on network television. But in addition to television, Roker had also found success on stage and in the occasional feature film. Miami-born and Brooklyn-raised, Roker graduated from Howard University with a drama degree and then flew to England to study at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-on-Avon. During the 1960s, Roker supported herself with a secretarial job at NBC's New York office while trying to find acting jobs. Roker launched her drama career off-Broadway in productions such as Jean Genet's The Blacks. Between 1967 and '68, Roker hosted a local community television show, but that wasn't close enough to acting, so she quit to practice her craft full time. With the Negro Ensemble Company she appeared in Ododo and Rosalie Pritchet. In 1974, she earned an Obie and a Tony nomination for The River Niger. In 1975, shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Norman Lear cast Roker in The Jeffersons. In addition to this role, Roker occasionally guest-starred on other series and appeared in television movies. Her feature-film appearances were rare. Roker made her debut in Claudine (1974). In the '90s, Roker resumed her stage career, appearing in a theatrical version of The Jeffersons and then touring opposite Mary Martin and Carol Channing in Legends. Roker's son, Lenny Kravitz is a noted rock musician and record producer.

Trivia: Acting career began on stage in Hamlet and Henry IV. Appeared in numerous Broadway productions, including Applause and Born Yesterday. Made history playing the husband in the first interracial married couple featured on a network primetime show (Tom Willis on The Jeffersons). Son, Bradford Cover, is also an actor.

Trivia: Though his melodiously accented speech pattern has led many to assume that actor Paul Benedict is British, the actor was actually born in New Mexico. Benedict's oversized jaw and angular features won him several character roles once he decided upon a theatrical career. One evening, a doctor who had seen Benedict on stage warned the actor that his elongated facial structure was due to a rare bone disease called acromegaly, which ultimately distorts the face into grotesqueness and can result in early death (filmdom's most famous victim of acromegaly was horror star Rondo Hatton). Undergoing medical treatment to prevent the spread of the disease, Benedict continued acting, utilizing his odd facial features for comic rather than tragic effect. While appearing in featured roles in such films as The Goodbye Girl (1977), Paul Benedict was cast as next-door neighbor Harley Bentley, an eccentric UN translator, on the long running TV series The Jeffersons. He played Harley steadily from 1975 to 1981, left for two years to pursue other projects (including the Steve Martin comedy The Man With Two Brains [1983]), but returned in 1983 to remain with The Jeffersons until its final episode two years later. He died in 2008 at age 70.

Trivia: Taught acting classes for more than a decade on her own and at Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, FL. Appeared on the CBS drama Playhouse 90. Movie debut was in the 1969 drama The Learning Tree. First regular TV series role was as Mother Jefferson on the CBS comedy show The Jeffersons; made first appearance in 1975. Used to take public transportation to auditions because she never learned how to drive.

Trivia: Is half-Mexican. Studied with Sanford Meisner at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse. Attended the same acting class as playwright David Mamet. Began on Guiding Light as a writer. Took the role of Fletcher Reade on Guiding Light expecting it to last only a few days, but he ended up playing the character for nearly 15 years. Reprised his role on Guiding Light 10 years after leaving, in time for the show's finale. Played water polo and baseball.

Trivia: The daughter of an Olympic sprinter, she showed her speed at age 5 in a kids race for an ARCO commercial airing during the 1984 Olympics. Landed a role later in 1984 as George and Louise's granddaughter Jessica in the last two seasons of The Jeffersons. Played Detective Danny Murtagh's (Danny Glover) daughter Carrie at ages 9, 12, 13 and 20 in the Lethal Weapon film series. Took part in Xena fan conventions after her guest role as M'Lila in Season 2 of Xena: Warrior Princess.