Trivia: Cloris Leachman seems capable of playing any kind of role, and she has consistently demonstrated her versatility in films and on TV since the 1950s. On the big screen, she can be seen in such films as Kiss Me Deadly (1955), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Last Picture Show (1971), for which she won an Oscar; and Young Frankenstein (1974). On TV, she played the mother on Lassie from 1957-58, and Phyllis Lindstrom on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-77) and her own series, Phyllis (1975-77). She was a staple on many of the dramatic shows of the '50s, and a regular on Charlie Wild, Private Detective (1950-52), and The Facts of Life. Leachman has won three Emmy Awards and continues to make TV, stage, and film appearances, including a turn as Granny in the film version of The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) and supplying her voice for the animated Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) and The Iron Giant (1999). In 1999, she could be seen heading the supporting cast in Wes Craven's Music of the Heart.

Trivia: A former Mouseketeer, Lisa Whelchel is best remembered for playing spoiled, little rich girl Blair Warner on the long-running sitcom Facts of Life (1979-1988).

Trivia: An actress best known as Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey, the lone African American student and consummate gossip at the exclusive Eastland Preparatory School for Women on NBC's sitcom The Facts of Life (1979-1988), Kim Fields actually appeared on several popular series in the 1970s-2000s. The Big Apple native grew up in a single-parent household and began acting in commercials well before she reached her teens, making her most widely seen appearance on an advertisement for Mrs. Butterworth's syrup. She made her foray into acting with scattered guest appearances on Good Times in 1978 and signed for the Facts of Life role one year later, at the age of 10, when Norman Lear (the producer of both Times and Facts) tapped her for that part. Fields remained with the program for its entire nine-year run, a run that witnessed numerous changes in the show's lineup and format, including the replacement of star Charlotte Rae with Cloris Leachman, and a change of venue in 1985. About five years after Facts folded in 1988, Fields scored her second major coup with a much different multiseason role as Regine Hunter, a loose, money-hungry employee of a clothing boutique on the urban-oriented Queen Latifah sitcom Living Single (1993-1998). Fields spent the following years appearing in scattered features, such as the 2000 telemovie Hidden Blessings and the 2001 telemovie Facts of Life Reunion (which reunited her with several of her ex-costars), and making guest appearances on programs including The Drew Carey Show and The Division; she also took time out to start a family.

Trivia: Of all the "break out" performers from the series The Facts of Life, Mindy Cohn was the most improbable. The others were all child actors with experience in performing, but Cohn never trained as an actress and knew little or nothing about the series when she first came to the attention of the producers. Born in Los Angeles, she was an ordinary high school student attending the Harvard-Westlake School when the makers of The Facts of Life, planning their first season, arrived there to observe and photograph an actual girls' school in operation. It was reportedly series star Charlotte Rae who first spotted Cohn, a student at the school, entertaining some friends, and brought her to the attention of the producers. All involved agreed that she was a "natural," one of those uncanny, untrained individuals who simply looked good and memorable and funny in front of the camera, in a manner comparable to the child performers they had already cast, and with that ability added something extra special in terms of verisimilitude -- and a good deal of wry humor -- to the cast they already had. And so Cohn was cast as Natalie Green and was one of the three original young first-season cast members to get spotlighted when the program moved to its second season, achieving stardom in the course of a seven-season run for the series. One very ironic moment came later in the run of the show when Cohn, who had always been on the heavy side and whose character had been conceived with that as an attribute, began to slim down. According to Cohn, in an interview for the DVD release of the first two seasons, the producers actually asked her to put the weight back on, if possible; when she refused, they came up with a compromise by having her character dress in clothes that made her look like she was still overweight. Since the series ended production, she has somewhat limited her acting work while earning a degree in cultural anthropology. Cohn has specifically taken parts that were devised to capitalize on her work from the series and has still found enough roles to keep her occupied. She has also been extremely busy as a voice artist, including portraying the role of Velma on Scooby-Doo.

Trivia: Fans of the long-running television sitcom Facts of Life (1979-1988) will remember Nancy McKeon as Jo, the tough-talking, golden-hearted girl from Brooklyn who struggled to fit in at a posh girls school, but she has been involved with television, and to some extent, feature films, since she was two years old and cast in a commercial for which her brother, Philip McKeon (he is 18 months older), was auditioning. After shooting the spot, McKeon became a model and even appeared in Sears catalogs. Her brother was also a successful child model. In 1978, nine-year-old McKeon and her father moved to Los Angeles -- her brother was already out there appearing on the popular sitcom Alice (1976-1985) -- but she would not have a successful audition until at age 12, she landed a part on Starsky and Hutch (1975-1979) and then a part in the television movie Return to Fantasy Island (1978). She joined the cast of Facts of Life in its second season and remained until the show's end. While on the show, McKeon frequently appeared in television movies such as Strange Voices (1987). In 1995, McKeon returned to series television with the short-lived sitcom Can't Hurry Love, which she also produced.

Trivia: The offspring of actress Patty Duke and actor/director/writer John Astin and brother of actor Sean Astin, Mackenzie Astin was perhaps destined to be a performer. Born and raised in L.A., Mackenzie began as a child and teen actor on TV in the early 1980s with roles in the TV movie Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal (1982), and the girls' prep-school sitcom The Facts of Life. Astin moved to feature films in the 1990s with a spate of roles in Hollywood studio films, including the lead in the Disney adventure Iron Will (1994). After substantial parts in two high-profile box-office disappointments, Terms of Endearment sequel The Evening Star (1996) and the Sandra Bullock-Chris O'Donnell historical romance In Love and War (1996), Astin focused on work in more idiosyncratic independent films. Astin's boyish good looks made him deceptively "perfect boyfriend" material in the romantic comedy Dream for an Insomniac (1998), and he played a hapless male in the mockumentary Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (1999). Astin particularly enhanced his indie record with his performance as one of the young preppies negotiating The Last Days of Disco (1998), the final part of Whit Stillman's trilogy dissecting the mating habits of Manhattan's haute bourgeoisie. Astin returned to TV in the late 1990s as shooting victim Kevin McCarthy in the docudrama The Long Island Incident (1998), and in the civil-rights drama Selma Lord Selma (1999).

Trivia: The son of a New Zealand marine commander, actor Nicolas Coster was born in London. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, then moved to New York, where he studied at Sanford Meisner's Neighborhood Playhouse. A businesslike type best suited to executive roles, Coster has spent most of his time in TV daytime drama: Young Dr. Malone, Secret Storm, As the World Turns, Somerset, Another World, One Life to Live, All My Children and Santa Barbara. Even his first prime-time stint was the weekly soap opera Our Private World (1965). Coster's film credits include All the President's Men (1976), Reds (1981), and Betsy's Wedding (1991); he has also done stage and commercial voiceover work. An avid scuba diver, Nicolas Coster is licensed as a U.S. Coast Guard skipper in his off-hours.

Trivia: Attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts with Olympia Dukakis. Provided one of the voices on the public-address system in the TV series M*A*S*H, and also appeared in three episodes as other characters. Made his film debut in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). The show Childrens Hospital has a character named after him, who is the unseen hospital announcer.

Trivia: An actress with a face that, like it or not, burns itself into your memory, not to be forgotten once initially exposed, feisty young actress Juliette Lewis once commented that her ability to look alternately attractive and repellant was a key element to her success, claiming that many attractive actresses simply can't be ugly if needed. Ugly she was as a viscously sadistic serial killer in Oliver Stone's notorious Natural Born Killers, in sharp contrast with her role as the virtually seductive cyberpunk-siren in the futuristic Strange Days. Born June 21, 1973, in Los Angeles, CA, Lewis had a distinct wild streak from her earliest days. Daughter of graphic artist/actor Geoffrey Lewis, Lewis realized her dreams of becoming an actress at the age of seven, turning those dreams into reality by becoming a professional actress at the age of 12. Distressed at the obstacles refraining her from fully immersing herself in her dreams (namely school and her parents), Lewis became legally emancipated at 14, gaining exemption from child-labor laws and the ability to work more than five hours a day. The final obstacle, high school, Lewis hurdled by dropping out at the age of 15, earning her equivalency exam with the aid of a tutor. That same year, she was arrested for being underage in an underground disco.Moving to Hollywood and living for a short period with actress Karen Black while seeking work, Lewis moved into an apartment with friends, finally finding the independence she had so diligently pursued. The payoff for her persistence was not far behind, as Lewis soon landed a role in the Showtime-produced Home Fires (1987). Following up with light comedic roles in the suburban extraterrestrial comedy My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988), and taking the role of Audrey in the third installment in the vacation series National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Lewis was well on her way to fully achieving her dreams of stardom. Her dramatic turn as Amanda Sue Bradley in Too Young to Die, the true story of the first minor to receive the death penalty, earned Lewis well-deserved praise and the recognition that would carry her forward into more challenging territory.Lewis' breakthrough role came in the form of the awkward and rebellious daughter flirting with a psychotic Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear, a role that earned her an Oscar nomination. More mature roles began to follow such as Johnny Depp's love interest in What's Eating Gilbert Grape and in her first foray into the mind of a serial killer, Kalifornia (both 1993). Her most notorious role to date, as the homicidal Mallory to Woody Harrelson's psychopathic Micky in the controversial and numbingly hyperkinetic ode to excess Natural Born Killers, displayed her remarkably enthusiastic ability for boundless exorbitance. With a few exceptions, namely 1999's The Other Sister, Lewis' post-Natural Born Killers career was filled with supporting roles and ensemble parts. She was the pregnant kidnapping victim in the noirish The Way of the Gun and played Jennifer Lopez's best friend in the domestic-violence thriller Enough. In 2003, Lewis played Luke Wilson's excessively unfaithful wife in Old School. Director Todd Phillips enjoyed working with her so much he cast her in 2004's high-profile comedic retooling of TV's Starsky and Hutch.She kept working steadily in a variety of projects including The Darwin Awards, Catch and Release, Drew Barrymore's rollerderby comedy Whip It, and she teamed up again with Todd Philips for his 2010 comedy Due Date. She appeared in the ensemble drama August: Osage County, an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, in 2013. Lewis then joined two television series at the same time, playing a detective in Secrets and Lies and a bartender in Wayward Pines, from executive producer M. Night Shyamalan. Both shows premiered in the spring of 2015.

Trivia: Name means "water" in Hebrew. Had her big break in the 1988 film Beaches, playing the younger version of Bette Midler. Appeared in the music video for Michael Jackson's "Liberian Girl." Made her television debut in the 1980s fantasy series Beauty and the Beast. Best known for her role as the title character in the sitcom Blossom. Was successful in many voiceover roles in animated series, including Kim Possible and Hey Arnold! Appeared on a 2009 episode of What Not To Wear. Her The Big Bang Theory character, Amy Farrah Fowler, is a neurobiologist, corresponding to Bialik's real-life degrees in neuroscience. Is a spokesperson for the Holistic Moms Network and gave birth to her second son at home.

Trivia: As Oz, the guitarist with a bit of a werewolf problem on the WB's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, actor Seth Green became known and loved by television viewers from the U.S. to Australia. What isn't as well-known to many of these viewers is the fact that Green has been acting in films and on television since 1984, when he made his debut as Egg, the little brother of Jodie Foster and Rob Lowe in The Hotel New Hampshire. A native of Philadelphia, Green was born February 8, 1974, and raised in the suburbs by his artist mother and math-teacher father. Although unbeknownst to him at the time, his first onscreen stint was as a newborn in a natural childbirth video. Green's more conscious interest in acting began at the age of six, when he had his first role in a summer camp play. With the help of his uncle, who was a casting director, Green was soon appearing in commercials and on various television shows. Getting his first real break with 1984's The Hotel New Hampshire, the young actor spent the next few years appearing in television shows before landing his first starring role in Woody Allen's 1987 film Radio Days. As Allen's young alter-ego, Green won a respectable amount of recognition (including an appearance on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show) for his part in the nostalgic tale of a boy growing up as part of an eccentric family in 1940s America. The role led to work in various films, such as Can't Buy Me Love (1987) and the following year's My Stepmother Is an Alien (in which he co-starred with his future Buffy love interest Alyson Hannigan). The early '90s were not kind to Green, who found himself acting in a series of bad films and winning only small parts on the occasional television show, including The Wonder Years. In fact, if audiences recognized the actor at all, it was probably due to a series of Rally's commercials that featured him as the obnoxious fast-food worker who made "Cha-ching" part of the national lexicon for about three months. Things finally began to pick up in 1997, when Green won his substantial role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Coincidentally, he had been cast five years earlier in the original film incarnation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but his scenes had ended up on the cutting-room floor. Green found further success in 1997, when he landed a memorable supporting role as the son of Dr. Evil in the sleeper hit Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Suddenly once again in favor with Hollywood's Powers That Be, Green appeared the following year in the Jennifer Love Hewitt film Can't Hardly Wait and in 1999 reprised his role as Scott Evil in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Also in 1999, the actor landed a starring role as Devon Sawa's zombie friend in Idle Hands. The film, which was about a teen with murderous hands, had the unfortunate luck of opening a week after the Columbine High School shootings and quickly disappeared without a trace. However, this didn't seem to do substantial damage to the red-headed actor's career, as he continued riding high with his role on Buffy. Green also kept busy doing the voice of Chris Griffin on Fox's animated series The Family Guy, which he would stick with for over ten years. The turnover to the new millennium found Green increasingly popular on the big screen, with roles in such films as Rat Race and America's Sweethearts (both 2001). It wasn't long before the inevitable third chapter in the adventures of Austin Powers was to go before the cameras, and Green once again agreed to fill the shoes of Scott Evil.Green would spend the following several years appering in a number of filims, like The Italian Job, Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Sex Drive, Old Dogs, and Mars Needs Moms. Green would also nurture a career as a writer and producer with animated comedy series like Robot Chicken and Titan Maximum.

Trivia: Even as a teenaged performer with the Shorewood Players, a Milwaukee community-theatre group, Charlotte Rae thrived in playing characters much older than herself. Example: at 16, Charlotte starred as Dolly Gallegher Levi in a Shorewood production of Thornton Wilder's The Merchant of Yonkers (her 28-year-old "Horace Vandergelder" was future Broadway director Morton DaCosta). Following graduation from Northwestern University, Rae made her Broadway bow in 1952's Three Wishes for Jamie. The following year, she scored a hit as Mrs. Peachum in the long-running off-Broadway revival of Brecht and Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, and within three years she was portraying the ancient, wizened Mammy Yokum in Li'l Abner. She was a favorite of TV producer Nat Hiken, who hired her for several guest spots on The Phil Silvers Show. In 1961, Hiken cast the 35-year-old Charlotte as middle-aged hausfrau Sylvia Schnauzer, virago wife of officer Leo Schnauzer (played by fiftyish Al Lewis) on Car 54, Where are You? Rae's other TV series credits include the 1950s daytime drama From These Roots, the 1975 Norman Lear sitcom Hot L Baltimore and the 1976 Summer replacement The Rich Little Show. In 1978, Rae was cast as flibbertigibbet housekeeper Mrs. Garrett on the Gary Coleman series Diff'rent Strokes; the character struck such a responsive chord with audiences that she was spun off into her own starring sitcom The Facts of Life, in 1986. Rae remained with Facts as Mrs. Garrett until 1986, by which time she had been nominated for two Emmies (she has also received Obie and Tony nominations; an actual win is long overdue). More recently, Charlotte has provided voices for such animated offerings as Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1993) and TV's Itsy Bitsy Spider. An off-and-on nightclub and revue performer, Charlotte Rae took her one-woman "Broadway highlights" show on the road in 1994. Rae would continue to act in the decades to come, providing the voice of Nanny on the 101 Dalmations animated series, and appearing in films like You Don't Mess with the Zohan.