Trivia: A uniquely gifted and versatile actor possessing the distinct ability to immerse himself in a role so convincingly that he becomes almost unrecognizable -- from a quality obsessed restaurateur (Big Night, 1996) to a master criminal bent on world domination (Spy Kids, 2001) -- one can always count on Tony Shalhoub to deliver a memorable performance no matter how small his role may be.Well-known to television audiences for his extended stint as a self-deprecating cabbie on the long-running series Wings, Shalhoub made the often-painful transition from television to film with a grace seldom seen. Born on October 9th, 1953 in Green Bay, WI, Shalhoub developed his passion for theater at the youthful age of six when he volunteered via his sister to play an extra in a high-school production of The King and I. Shalhoub was hooked. After earning his master's degree from the Yale Drama School and spending four seasons at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA, Shalhoub packed his bags for New York where he began a luminous career on Broadway. Broadway brought Shalhoub success not only in his career, but in his personal life as well: he was nominated for a Tony for his role in Conversations With My Father and he met his future wife, actress Brooke Adams, while acting in The Heidi Chronicles. It was not long after his Broadway success that Shalhoub made his feature debut, as a doctor in the 1990 AIDS drama Longtime Companion.Shalhoub's film career has been a testament to his range and a compliment to his abilities. Though prone to comedy, his dramatic roles have gained him just as much, if not more, recognition than his comedic roles. Winning the Best Supporting Actor award from the National Society of Film Critics for his well-researched role in Big Night (1996), Shalhoub expanded his dramatic film repertoire with roles in A Civil Action and The Siege (both 1998), while always maintaining his knack for humor (1997's Men in Black). Shalhoub's role as the ultra-mellow "anti-Scottie" in the Star Trek send-up Galaxy Quest (1999) proved that his comic persona was indeed still as sharp as ever. Sticking in the sci-fi/fantasy mold for his roles in Imposter and Spy Kids (both 2001), Shalhoub once again proved that he could do 180-degree character turnarounds with ease.Though Shalhoub would stay in sci-fi mode for his role in Men in Black 2, he would return to solid ground with his role as an obsessive-compulsive detective in the well-received television pilot Monk (2002). Directed by Galaxy Quest helmer Dean Parisot, the pilot for Monk successfully paved the way for the curiously innovative USA series to follow and found the actor warmly re-embracing the medium that had propelled him to stardom. As Monk's popularity continued to grow, Shaloub found success on the big screen in the role of a gifted psychologist for The Great New Wonderful (2005), and voiced the lovable Luigi in Cars (2006) and Cars 2 (2011). In 2007, he worked alongside John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson for the supernatural horror film 1408.

Trivia: Appeared in TV commercials while still in high school. Traylor is her mother's maiden name. Worked at a greeting-card company after graduating from college. Made her sitcom debut in 1996 on Boston Common. Replaced Bitty Schram on Monk in 2005, playing the detective's peppy sidekick, Natalie.

Trivia: Striking terror deep in the hearts and subconsciousness of filmgoers worldwide with his chilling portrayal of aspiring transsexual serial killer James "Buffalo Bill" Gumb in director Jonathan Demme's acclaimed thriller The Silence of the Lambs, Steppenwolf Theater alumnus Ted Levine may not have received the star status some may have expected would follow the role, but he can consistently be counted on to turn in a lively performance, no matter how small his part may be.Born in Cleveland, OH, Levine received his M.F.A. in acting from the University of Chicago before making frequent appearances in such 1980s made-for-television efforts as Michael Mann's Crime Story (1986) and his feature debut in 1987's Ironweed. Taking small roles in such features as Betrayed (1988) and Next of Kin (1989) before his big break in Silence, Levine, curiously, stuck mostly to television following his portrayal of Buffalo Bill, not taking another featured role until his turn as a cop on the trail of a carnivorous industrial speed iron in The Mangler (1995). Appearing in Georgia and Michael Mann's acclaimed Heat the same year, Levine began to gain more prominent roles in the following years before taking to the seas with Patrick Stewart in Moby Dick (1998). Though he received critical acclaim for his role in the controversial television series Wonderland (2000), the show aired a meager two episodes (though four were produced) before being pulled due to outcry over its portrayal of the mental health system and its inhabitants. Bouncing back to the big screen, fans found that Levine could still be counted on to turn in absorbing performances in such features as Evolution and The Fast and the Furious (both 2001). Over the next several years, Levine would remain extremely active, appearing in films like The Manchuriuan Candidate, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Hills Have Eyes, and Shutter Island, as well as on TV series like Monk and Luck.

Trivia: Initially aspired to become a basketball player but opted to pursue acting instead. Did a great deal of voice work at the start of his career, including playing Donatello for the animated series Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. Auditioned for a guest spot in the Monk pilot but was cast in the regular role of Lieutenant Randy Disher instead. Sang backup vocals on Russell Crowe's album Gaslight after costarring with him in 1999's Mystery, Alaska and 2001's A Beautiful Mind.

Trivia: Spent her early childhood in Houston and England (where she attended the American School in England). Won a 2004 Young Artist Award (Supporting Actress) for her first professional role, a girl orphaned by a terrorist attack in Italy, in the HBO film My House in Umbria. Has studied ballet and enjoys sailing on Long Island Sound.

Trivia: The son of a Spanish waiter and an Italian housekeeper, Molina was born in London on May 24, 1953. Educated at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he began his career as one half of a street-corner comedy team but then turned to acting. While most thesps start at the bottom and ascend the ladder, Molina is an anomaly: he began at the top of the heap, first earning professional credibility (and his pedigree) as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and debuting cinematically in no less than Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), as the devious South American guide who leaves Harrison Ford for dead in an ancient temple before meeting his own end, courtesy of a particularly nasty booby trap. His subsequent resume for the rest of that decade reads like a "best of 1980s International Film": supporting roles in Mike Leigh's Meantime (1981), Peter Yates's Eleni (1985) , Richard Donner's Ladyhawke (1985),Chris Bernard's Letter to Brezhnev and Dusan Makavejev's Manifesto (1989), to name only a few. His contribution to Chris Bernard's gently underplayed, low-budget comedy Brezhnev (1985) (which, like Raiders, takes advantage of his slightly dark, Mediterranean complexion) is particularly a standout. He plays a Russian sailor who picks up Margi Clarke's Liverpool blue-collar worker Teresa King during leave, and whose only comprehensible line gives the film its biggest laugh: "Leeverpool. Bittles... Ahhhhh." Molina would spend the next several years appearing in a number of films, like An Education, as well as a number of TV projects like Harry's Law, Law & Order: L.A., and Roger & Val Have Just Got In.But Molina's most impressive contribution to cinema came in 1986, when he joined two fellow Brits, director Stephen Frears and actor Gary Oldman - and turned everyone's head in the process - in Prick Up Your Ears. That film, adapted from eccentric playwright Joe Orton's autobiography, casts Molina as Kenneth Halliwell, Orton's homosexual lover and eventual murderer, opposite Oldman. Practically unrecognizable as the bald, severely unhinged Halliwell, Molina is at once terrifying and pathetic, and gleaned a number of positive notices for his performance, though, for some odd reason, it was criminally overlooked at awards ceremonies and failed to earn Molina any acting laurels. A few years later, Molina joined the cast of Not Without My Daughter (1990). In this true-life account (adapted from Betty Mahmoody's memoir), he plays Moody, a Persian husband who takes his American wife (Sally Field) and daughter to Iran under the guise of "vacation," and virtually imprisons them, forcing her to plot escape. The role (and film) gleaned some controversy for its portrayal of Islam, but (the bearded) Molina glistened with dark, brooding intensity characteristic of the actor's finest work. Molina offered more sympathetic portrayals in such films as Mike Newell's Enchanted April (1992), Species (1995), and Mira Nair's The Perez Family (1995), as a Cuban immigrant struggling to make a new life for himself in Miami. In Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights, Molina evoked a deranged playboy precariously teetering on the edge of insanity - a role that further evinced boundless courage. 1999's ridiculous Dudley-do-Right, however (in which Molina) played the villain), didn't serve him as well; neither he, nor Brendan Fraser, nor Sarah Jessica Parker managed to rise above the silly script. Far more impressive (albeit smaller in scope) was the actor's sophomore collaboration with Anderson, that year's Magnolia, in a fleeting role as Solomon Solomon, the owner of the electronics shop where William H. Macy's Donnie Smith works. During 1999 and thereafter, Molina attempted to break into television sitcoms (1999's Ladies Man, 2002's Bram and Alice), but none of these efforts panned out. He continued to garner positive notices during this period, however, for his roles in such films as 2000's Chocolat and 2002's Frida. Molina earned a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination (finally!) in the latter, for his portrayal of chronically unfaithful painter Diego Rivera. In 2004, the actor traveled to megaplexes again, as the infamous Doc Oc in the critically-acclaimed box-office smash Spider-Man 2, and although ostensibly a defiantly commercial piece of Hollywood fluff, the film performed well on all fronts - critically and commercially. Considered by some to be the greatest example of the superhero genre ever produced, no small amount of the rave reviews given to the film were directed at Molina for his spot-on portrayal of the maniacal comic-book villain; The Los Angeles Times's Kenneth Turan rhapsodized, "As played by Alfred Molina with both computer-generated and puppeteer assistance, Doc Ock grabs this film with his quartet of sinisterly serpentine mechanical arms and refuses to let go."That same year (albeit in a much different cinematic arena and catering to a much different audience --- such is the magic of Molina's versatility), the actor played opposite John Leguizamo as Victor Hugo Puente, a sensationalism-hungry news anchor willing to do almost anything for ratings, in Sebastian Cordero's well-received psychological thriller Crónicas. Molina highlighted the cast of no less than six features throughout 2005 and 2006, but his highest-profile film from this period was Ron Howard's The Da Vinci Code, in which he plays the obese Bishop Aringarosa This May '06 release (adapted from Dan Brown's bestseller) sharply divided critics (most found it average). That same year, Molina contributed to two films by major directors: Kenneth Branagh drew on his background as a trained RSC member by casting Molina as Touchstone in his screen adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy of errors As You Like It, and he receives second billing (after Richard Gere) in Lasse Hallstrom's docudrama The Hoax. The picture tells the early-1970s story of Clifford Irving's (Gere) attempt to write and market a phony autobiography of Howard Hughes, with the assistance of right-hand man Richard Susskind (Molina). Molina married British actress Jill Gascoine (Northern Exposure, BASEketball) in 1985, who is sixteen years his senior. They have two sons.

Trivia: Known to countless Office fans as the uptight accountant, Angela Kinsey would surprise many with the warm, sunny personality she has offscreen. Born June 25th, 1971, in Texas, Kinsey's family relocated to Indonesia when she was two, and they lived in the country until she was 14, making her fluent in Indonesian. Kinsey went on to attend Baylor University before interning for Late Night with Conan O'Brien and attending classes with Improv Olympic and The Groundlings. She worked in commercials and in various areas of the corporate world to pay her bills, sometimes landing roles on episodes of popular TV shows, until 2005 when she auditioned for the role of Pam Beesly on The Office. Producers liked Kinsey, but they felt she had a feistiness to her that would make her better in the role of Angela Martin. She returned, auditioned for the part, and became a member of the cast. The show became a huge success, and Kinsey worked on other projects in her off time, appearing in co-star John Krasinski's romantic comedy License to Wed in 2007.

Trivia: An actor whose tall, rangy build and boyish good looks have made him a natural for comic roles, Diedrich Bader was born in Alexandria, VA, on Christmas Eve 1966; his father, William Bader, was Chief of Staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during the Carter administration, and his mother, Gretta Bader, was a sculptor of note. When Bader was two, he and his family moved to Paris, France, where the boy was exposed to a steady diet of classic American comedies; young Bader was especially fond of Charlie Chaplin, and appeared on-stage for the first time at the age of four, imitating the Little Tramp at a revival theater during an unexpected intermission after a rare Chaplin film jammed in the projector. Bader and his family returned to the United States in time for him to enter high school, and he later attended the North Carolina School for the Arts. While vacationing in Santa Fe, NM, during spring break, Bader met a casting agent who lined up an audition for a small role in a television pilot. Bader ended up winning the leading role instead, and while the pilot never sold, it did prompt Bader to relocate to Los Angeles and begin pursuing an acting career full-time. He began landing guest spots on episodic television shows, including Cheers, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. In 1993, Bader was cast as the Searcher on the television series Danger Theater, a short-lived spoof of action-adventure programs. Penelope Spheeris, who directed the Danger Theater episodes, remembered Bader when casting for her film The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), based on the popular sitcom of the '60s and '70s. Bader won the role of cheerful but slow-witted Jethro Bodine, and his performance was one of the comic highlights of the film. The movie significantly raised Bader's visibility, and in 1995 he was cast as the logically challenged Oswald on The Drew Carey Show. Bader's success on The Drew Carey Show led to notable supporting roles in motion pictures, such as Office Space and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back; he also began doing voice work for a number of animated television projects, including Pepper Ann, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and Kim Possible. In his private life, Bader married actress Dulcy Rogers in 1998. As his run on The Drew Carey Show continued, he also appeared regularly in feature film such as The Country Bears, Napoleon Dynamite, Eurotrip, and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, as well as animated films like Ice Age and Bolt. In 2010 he landed a recurring role on the short-lived NBC sitcom Outsourced.

Trivia: An offbeat character actor whose stark features lent him to effective portrayals of villains and seedy figures, Stanley Kamel grew up in New Jersey and attended Boston University, where he received formalized dramatic training under the aegis of noted instructor Sanford Meisner. Kamel began his acting career with roles in off-Broadway productions during the early '70s, and quickly landed his first major on-camera role, as Eric Peters, on the daytime soap Days of Our Lives. His subsequent work over the following three decades consisted largely of recurring roles and guest parts in prime-time series including Cagney & Lacey, Hunter, Melrose Place, and -- most visibly -- the Tony Shalhoub sitcom Monk, as the lead character's shrink, Dr. Charles Kroger.

Trivia: Supporting actress Bitty Schram had the small but memorable role of Evelyn, the baseball-playing single mother who makes the mistake of crying in front of manager Tom Hanks during a baseball game in Penny Marshall's A League of Their Own (1992). A native of New Jersey and a graduate of the University of Maryland, Schram would appear in numerous feature films over the years, but is perhaps best known for the role of handler Sharona Fleming on the TV series Monk.