Trivia: Hayden Christensen made headlines in the spring of 2000, when director George Lucas announced that the 19-year-old actor would play the much-coveted role of Anakin Skywalker in Episode II and Episode III of the venerable Star Wars franchise. Born in Vancouver but raised in Toronto, Canada, Christensen became involved with Canadian television productions at a young age and carried his skills over to American TV movies and series in the late '90s. Though he would appear briefly in 1999's The Virgin Suicides for director Sofia Coppola -- a family friend of Lucas' -- it was Christensen's work in the Fox Family Channel's drama series Higher Ground which convinced Lucas to give the actor a reading. Adamant in his desire to find new talent for the role, Lucas passed over such potential adolescent Anakins as Ryan Phillippe, Jonathon Jackson, and even Leonardo DiCaprio in favor of Christensen. It remains to be seen whether the young actor will survive the typecasting that a similarly unknown Mark Hamill suffered some two and a half decades prior, in Episode IV.Before Episode II made it to the screen, Christensen won accolades -- including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor -- playing a troubled goth teen in the family melodrama Life as a House. The stage thus set for his blockbuster debut, Christensen would be omnipresent on magazine covers and talk shows in the months leading up to Attack of the Clones' release. The film grossed more than 300 million dollars stateside, but sharp opinions on the movie's script did little to help Christensen's career. Even before the final Star Wars prequel Revenge of the Sith was released in 2005, Christensen began moving on as an actor, taking on more meaty character roles, like real life journalist Stephen Glass in the thriller Shattered Glass, and a fictional stand-in for Bob Dyaln in 2006's Factory Girl. He would als make a name for himself in thrillers like Jumper, Vanishing Point, and Takers.

Trivia: A native of Billingham, England, Jamie Bell is an example of endurance and dedication paying off if there ever was one. Though the aspiring young dancer was the object of frequent teasing by school classmates (who dubbed him "Poof" and "Ballerina Boy," among other unsavory monikers), he persevered and ultimately landed the lead in the affecting 2000 drama Billy Elliot. Bell's family has a rich history in the world of dance that dates back to his grandmother. Though at first shy about his ambitions, the boy quietly imitated the moves of his older sister as she practiced in the studio; by the time he was six, others began to recognize his natural talent and encouraged him to practice, though Bell tried to keep his extracurricular activities a secret from his classmates. He later enrolled in the Stagecoach Theater School in hopes of refining his acting skills. Practice in both arenas ultimately paid off when Bell was selected from more than 2,000 young hopefuls to fill the toeshoes of the titular character in Stephen Daldry's Billy Elliot. During the production of the film, the fresh-faced actor and veteran director developed a warm, father/son-like bond that helped Bell gain the confidence he needed to fully explore his talent. An unexpected hit that was embraced by critics and audiences around the world, Billy Elliot earned many prestigious nominations and awards, including BAFTAs for Best British Film and Best Actor for its young star, who was also named Best Newcomer at The British Independent Film Awards. Though he subsequently hung up his ballet shoes in favor of more acting roles, Bell continued to impress in such features as the horror-flavored war film Deathwatch and the Charles Dickens adaptation Nicholas Nickleby (both 2002). The following year, the busy young actor took the lead in no less than three films: Dear Wendy, Undertow and Who Goes There? -- all scheduled for release in 2004.Bell continued to work with the best directors, signing on with Peter Jackson for his remake of King Kong and playing a part for Clint Eastwood in Flags of Our Fathers. In 2008 he appeared in the World War II drama Defiance. Three years later he had an international hit of a sort when he provided the physical basis for the lead character in Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tin Tin, and appeared in the well-reviewed adaptation of Jane Eyre starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender. In 2012, he had a supporting role in Man on a Ledge and was featured in Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac in 2013. Bell took the lead in the AMC Revolutionary War series Turn in 2014.

Trivia: After spending the 1980s playing a series of drug addict and character parts, Samuel L. Jackson emerged in the 1990s as one of the most prominent and well-respected actors in Hollywood. Work on a number of projects, both high-profile and low-key, has given Jackson ample opportunity to display an ability marked by both remarkable versatility and smooth intelligence.Born December 21, 1948, in Washington, D.C., Jackson was raised by his mother and grandparents in Chattanooga, TN. He attended Atlanta's Morehouse College, where he was co-founder of Atlanta's black-oriented Just Us Theater (the name of the company was taken from a famous Richard Pryor routine). Jackson arrived in New York in 1977, beginning what was to be a prolific career in film, television, and on the stage. After a plethora of character roles of varying sizes, Jackson was discovered by the public in the role of the hero's tempestuous, drug-addict brother in 1991's Jungle Fever, directed by another Morehouse College alumnus, Spike Lee. Jungle Fever won Jackson a special acting prize at the Cannes Film Festival and thereafter his career soared. Confronted with sudden celebrity, Jackson stayed grounded by continuing to live in the Harlem brownstone where he'd resided since his stage days. 1994 was a particularly felicitous year for Jackson; while his appearances in Jurassic Park (1993) and Menace II Society (1993) were still being seen in second-run houses, he co-starred with John Travolta as a mercurial hit man in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, a performance that earned him an Oscar nomination. His portrayal of an embittered father in the more low-key Fresh earned him additional acclaim. The following year, Jackson landed third billing in the big-budget Die Hard With a Vengeance and also starred in the adoption drama Losing Isaiah. His versatility was put on further display in 1996 with the release of five very different films: The Long Kiss Goodnight, a thriller in which he co-starred with Geena Davis as a private detective; an adaptation of John Grisham's A Time to Kill, which featured him as an enraged father driven to murder; Steve Buscemi's independent Trees Lounge; The Great White Hype, a boxing satire in which the actor played a flamboyant boxing promoter; and Hard Eight, the directorial debut of Paul Thomas Anderson.After the relative quiet of 1997, which saw Jackson again collaborate with Tarantino in the critically acclaimed Jackie Brown and play a philandering father in the similarly acclaimed Eve's Bayou (which also marked his debut as a producer), the actor lent his talents to a string of big-budget affairs (an exception being the 1998 Canadian film The Red Violin). Aside from an unbilled cameo in Out of Sight (1998), Jackson was featured in leading roles in The Negotiator (1998), Sphere (1998), and Deep Blue Sea (1999). His prominence in these films added confirmation of his complete transition from secondary actor to leading man, something that was further cemented by a coveted role in what was perhaps the most anticipated film of the decade, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), the first prequel to George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy. Jackson followed through on his leading man potential with a popular remake of Gordon Parks' seminal 1971 blaxploitation flick Shaft. Despite highly publicized squabbling between Jackson and director John Singleton, the film was a successful blend of homage, irony, and action; it became one of the rare character-driven hits in the special effects-laden summer of 2000.From hard-case Shaft to fragile as glass, Jackson once again hoodwinked audiences by playing against his usual super-bad persona in director M. Night Shyamalan's eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable (2000). In his role as Bruce Willis' brittle, frail antithesis, Jackson proved that though he can talk trash and break heads with the best of them, he's always compelling to watch no matter what the role may be. Next taking a rare lead as a formerly successful pianist turned schizophrenic on the trail of a killer in the little-seen The Caveman's Valentine, Jackson turned in yet another compelling and sympathetic performance. Following an instance of road rage opposite Ben Affleck in Changing Lanes (2002), Jackson stirred film geek controversy upon wielding a purple lightsaber in the eagerly anticipated Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones. Despite rumors that the color of the lightsaber may have had some sort of mythical undertone, Jackson laughingly assured fans that it was a simple matter of his suggesting to Lucas that a purple lightsaber would simply "look cool," though he was admittedly surprised to see that Lucas had obliged him Jackson eventually saw the final print. A few short months later filmgoers would find Jackson recruiting a muscle-bound Vin Diesel for a dangerous secret mission in the spy thriller XXX.Jackson reprised his long-standing role as Mace Windu in the last segment of George Lucas's Star Wars franchise to be produced, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). It (unsurprisingly) grossed almost four hundred million dollars, and became that rare box-office blockbuster to also score favorably (if not unanimously) with critics; no less than Roger Ebert proclaimed it "spectacular." Jackson co-headlined 2005's crime comedy The Man alongside Eugene Levy and 2006's Joe Roth mystery Freedomland with Julianne Moore and Edie Falco, but his most hotly-anticipated release at the time of this writing is August 2006's Snakes on a Plane, a by-the-throat thriller about an assassin who unleashes a crate full of vipers onto a aircraft full of innocent (and understandably terrified) civilians. Produced by New Line Cinema on a somewhat low budget, the film continues to draw widespread buzz that anticipates cult status. Black Snake Moan, directed by Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow) dramatizes the relationship between a small-town girl (Christina Ricci) and a blues player (Jackson). The picture is slated for release in September 2006 with Jackson's Shaft collaborator, John Singleton, producing.Jackson would spend the ensuing years appearing in a number of films, like Home of the Brave, Resurrecting the Champ, Lakeview Terrace, Django Unchained, and the Marvel superhero franchise films like Thor, Iron Man, and The Avengers, playing superhero wrangler Nick Fury.

Trivia: Coming from a long line of filmmakers going back to her great-grandparents producer George Bilson and writer Hattie Bilson, Rachel Bilson rose to fame almost immediately after entering the acting game. After only a handful of TV guest roles, she landed a recurring part on Fox's hit teen soap The O.C. in 2003 and was soon bumped up to regular cast member. She'd stick with the series until it ended its run in 2007, but in the meantime, she appeared in feature films like the 2006romantic drama The Last Kiss. Bilson would then go on to appear in films like the fantasy themed action movie Jumper, and the sentimental romance Waiting for Forever. In 2011, Bilson returned to the small screen with a leading role on the comedy/drama series Hart of Dixie.

Trivia: Diane Lane was born in New York City in 1965, the daughter of drama coach Burt Lane and Playboy centrespread Colleen Farrington; her eyes seemed to sparkle with stars from the tender age of six. Cast in a La Mama Experimental Theatre production of Medea, Lane would subsequently appear on stage in numerous productions, both in her native New York and abroad. It wasn't long before the late-'70s found Lane reaching the apex of her early career, and in 1978 she made her film debut in director George Roy Hill's A Little Romance. Cast alongside no less than Sir Laurence Olivier, Lane held her own in the role of an American student who finds love while studying abroad, and as a result gained remarkable exposure on the cover of Time Magazine in August of the following year. Lane was touted as one of the most promising actors of her generation, and this success parlayed her into a series of neglected films. In a number of these instances, she could not be faulted for choosing substandard material; her appearance in Lamont Johnson's fresh and rousing female western Cattle Annie and Little Britches (1981), for example (alongside Amanda Plummer, Burt Lancaster and Rod Steiger) drew lavish critical praise even as the studio inexplicably threw the film into the wastecan. Lane fared better with twin roles in a pair of teen dramas from director Francis Ford Coppola in 1983 (The Outsiders and Rumble Fish) once again earned the burgeoning film actress the spotlight and reminded audiences of her immense talent; she became a Coppola favorite, but didn't fare as well with his Cotton Club, a massive critical and commercial flop that did little to boost her career, even as it introduced her to co-star Richard Gere (with whom she would reteam, professionally, years later).After rounding out the decade with yet another memorable turn in the television miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989), Lane's career once again became a more low-key affair, though her performances frequently outshined the otherwise unremarkable series of films she appeared in.Though roles in such efforts as Chaplin (1992), A Streetcar Named Desire (1995), and Jack (1996) kept her from falling off the radar, Lane didn't truly shine again until her role as a housewife who embarks on a fragile extramarital affair in A Walk on the Moon (1998). Following that film with a pair of memorable performances in My Dog Skip and The Perfect Storm (both in 2000), Lane's career seemed to have achieved some stability, but it wasn't before a pair of forgettable features (Hardball and The Glass House, both in 2001) that Lane scored with yet another tale of marital infidelity. Director Adrian Lyne's Unfaithful, a retooling of Claude Chabrol's La Femme Infidèle, once again found Lane in the throes of an alluring stranger. Unfaithful - the anticipated onscreen reunion of Lane with Richard Gere - pondered the crushing reverberations of extramarital carnality, and Lane provided an ample and intriguing center of gravity for the film. When February 2003 rolled around and the Academy announced its nominations for the previous year, Lane received her first-ever Oscar nod for her emotional turn in Unfaithful. It did not pay off with a win, but Lane's follow-ups with roles in substantial fare including Just Like Mona (2002) and the wildly-popular Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) suggested that Lane's career had finally found solid box-office ground. Time validated this assertion: 2005's Must Love Dogs, a romantic comedy vehicle co-starring Lane and John Cusack, drew positive responses from many moviegoers and did decent, if not spectacular, box office, despite the excoriation of some critics (Salon's Stephanie Zacharek moaned, "It's ostensibly about adults, but there's nothing remotely adult about it.") 2006's Hollywoodland casts Lane in a mystery about the enigmatic demise of Superman's George Reeves. Over the next several years, Lane would prove she had no intention of slowing down , appearing in films like Untraceable, Nights in Rodanthe, and Secretariat. She appeared in the Superman reboot Man of Steel in 2013 as Martha Kent.Married to Highlander Christopher Lambert from 1988 to 1994 (with a single daughter from that marriage), Lane wed actor Josh Brolin in late 2004, before divorcing in 2013. In addition to her high-profile movie career, she is also an avid photographer; the January 2005 issue of InStyle Magazine prominently published a series of landscapes that Lane shot during one of her road trips into the American west.

Trivia: Raised in Chicago by his divorced mother, Michael Rooker lived a hand-to-mouth existence until his teens. Rooker successfully auditioned for the Goodman School, and upon graduation, appeared in Chicago-area stage productions. He made a spectacular film debut in the sociopathic title role of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, which was filmed in 1986 but not given a general release until four years later. Henry established Rooker as a gifted purveyor of "don't screw with me" roles, such as chief "Black Sox" conspirator Chick Gandil in Eight Men Out (1988). Michael Rooker's more rugged film assignments of the 1990s included Cliffhanger (1993) and Tombstone (1994).

Trivia: For some actors a career in film seems to be in the cards from the very beginning; such was the case with early bloomer AnnaSophia Robb. The only child of an architect and an interior designer, Robb knew from the age of five that she was destined for a career as an entertainer. A Denver, CO native who never wavered in her determination to succeed, Robb convinced her parents to let her take an acting class before setting out on her first round of L.A. auditions in 2003. It was during this time that her new manager and agent team would help young Robb successfully navigate the Hollywood audition scene, her family living in a modest guest house as her father worked and her mother took Robb to auditions during the daytime hours. By the end of the summer, Robb had attended no less than 42 auditions and had landed her first role as a Bratz-loving Happy Meal fan in a McDonald's commercial. Due to the success of her first voyage west, it didn't take much to encourage Robb to come back to Hollywood in the spring, and after receiving notice that auditions were being held for Wayne Wang's Because of Winn-Dixie, it was time to gas up the car for the long haul once again. Fate seemed to play a curious role during the trip when her father pulled out a stack of librarian-recommended books on tape that he had rented only to find the recorded version of the best-selling Kate DiCamillo novel sitting right on top, and before long Robb was preparing to help bring Dixie to the big screen. Having previously played the lead in the made-for-television movie Samantha: An American Girl Holiday, it didn't take Robb long to find her place in front the camera, and she frequently credits Dixie director Wang with providing the advice she needed to advance as an actress. A subsequent role as bubblegum-chomping brat Violet Beauregarde in the Tim Burton film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory allowed the young actress to cut loose and have a bit of fun on film, and in 2006 Robb could be seen fending off the forces of evil in the apocalyptic horror thriller The Reaping.She had a major part opposite Josh Hutcherson in the 2007 adaptation of Bridge to Terabithia. The next year she had a small part in Jumper, and the year after that she would star opposite The Rock in the remake of Race to Witch Mountain. In 2011 she had the lead in the inspirational surfing film Soul Surfer, playing a girl whose arm was bitten off by a shark. In 2013, she won the starring role in the CW's The Carrie Diaries, playing a young version of Carrie Bradshaw (a role first embodied by Sarah Jessica Parker on the HBO series Sex and the City).

Trivia: Life can be tricky for teenagers attempting to establish themselves in Hollywood; thankfully for rising star Max Thieriot, a prominent role in the kid-friendly action adventure Catch That Kid proved just the right catalyst needed to launch an impressive film career. Subsequently nominated for a Young Artist Award as a result of his performance in the 2005 Vin Diesel comedy The Pacifier, Thieriot showed a marked maturity with his role as the son of Billy Bob Thornton's rural stargazer in The Astronaut Farmer the following year. A substantial supporting role in 2007's Nancy Drew was soon to follow, and with parts in the Doug Liman sci-fi thriller Jumper and the high-profile kids flick Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Mystery following in quick succession, speculation that Thieriot might be Hollywood's next golden boy seemed well founded.

Trivia: Is half Canadian.Got his start after his actor father requested a photographer take photos of him and the photographer, who was also a manager, was amazed by his personality.Began playing the guitar at age 14.Has played bass since he was around 19.Has great admiration for and extensive knowledge of the 1970's punk movement.

Trivia: American stage actor Tom Hulce made his film debut in September 30, 1955 (1977) -- the title referred to the day James Dean died -- and attained his first starring role as Larry Kroger in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). The sincerity of his portrayal was somewhat lost in the enthusiasm over co-star John Belushi, but Hulce was impressive enough to be cast in Those Lips, Those Eyes (1980), a heartfelt tribute to summer theater actors. Four years later, Hulce was selected over several possible candidates to play Mozart in Amadeus (1984), earning an Oscar nomination for his virtuoso portrayal of the outrageous, immature musical genius. Again, however, the honors went to a co-star, in this case F. Murray Abraham, who won an Oscar for his performance as Mozart's vindictive nemesis Salieri. Few of Hulce's subsequent roles took as full advantage of his gifts as did Amadeus, though the actor had some good moments as a family "black sheep" in Ron Howard's Parenthood (1989) and a sleazy, ambulance-chasing lawyer in Peter Weir's Fearless (1993). Hulce has also occasionally shown up on television, notably in Murder in Mississippi, a 1990 TV movie about three martyred civil rights workers.

Trivia: Kristen Stewart was poised to become a preteen star with her role opposite Jodie Foster in David Fincher's atmospheric thriller Panic Room (2002). A resident of Los Angeles, Stewart's nascent acting career got off to a promising start when she was cast in two vastly different films. Eschewing fluffy kids' movies, Stewart played troubled single mother Patricia Clarkson's tomboy daughter in independent film darling Rose Troche's tough examination of suburban angst, The Safety of Objects (2002). Stewart subsequently got her first taste of major Hollywood success with Panic Room. Replacing the original child actress cast as divorcée Meg's sullen, diabetic daughter Sarah, Stewart became an even more felicitous choice when original star Nicole Kidman dropped out and Foster stepped in. Though critics were less than ecstatic about the film, Stewart still garnered positive notice for her believable presence as Foster's offspring.Following a supporting performance as the daughter of a couple who unknowingly move into a seemingly haunted house in the 2003 chiller Cold Creek Manor, Stewart took top billing in the emotionally charged drama Speak in 2004. Cast as a traumatized high school freshman whose status as a selective mute draws the concern of friends and family, Stewart's handling of the remarkably intimate material drew praise from critics and Sundance audiences. Stewart would also continue to impress critics with her thoughtful performances in movies like 2007's The Cake Eaters and Into the Wild, but one of her most attention-grabbing roles would come in 2008, when she was cast as Bella Swan in the big screen adaptation of the teen-centric vampire romance novel Twilight. A franchise already adored by legions of tween fans, the ensuing series of films, 2009's New Moon, 2010's Eclipse, 2011's The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, and 2012's The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, would make Stewart a household name. Despite this, the actress remained selective and thoughtful in her other roles, starring opposite Jesse Eisenberg in the cult hit 2009 comedy/drama Adventureland, and playing innovating rock star Joan Jett in 2010's The Runaways.2012 would see Stewart joining Sam Riley and Kirsten Dunst for a much anticipated cinematic adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road and starring as Snow White in Snow White and the Huntsman. In 2014, she appeared in Clouds of Sils Maria, which earned her a César Award for Best Supporting Actress, and also made her the first American actress to win a César Award. She also appeared in Still Alice, opposite Julianne Moore in her Academy Award-winning performance.

Trivia: The hunky and slightly burly actor Shawn Roberts debuted onscreen in his native Canada in the early '90s, but made his first significant impression among American audiences, in Hollywood, over a decade later. After receiving prominent billing as Tyler in the direct-to-video frat-boy comedy National Lampoon's Going the Distance, Roberts played Calvin Murtaugh, the straight-faced son of Eugene Levy, in the family-oriented Steve Martin vehicle Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005). In 2007, the actor essayed two horror roles, in the pictures Skinwalkers and George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead.