Trivia: Was a state champion on his secondary school debating team. Appeared in the movie The Express while attending Indiana State University. Appeared on stage in By The Way, Meet Vera Stark in 2013. First appeared as Officer Kevin Atwater on Chicago Fire before joining the spin-off series Chicago P.D.

Trivia: A boyishly handsome boxer-turned-actor who turned in his gloves for real after making his screen debut as a pugilist in the 1992 drama Gladiator, New York-born film and television star Jon Seda rose through the ranks in the '90s to make a name for himself as a bit player in such high-profile films as Carlito's Way and Twelve Monkeys -- though it wasn't until his 1997 debut on television's Homicide: Life on the Streets that audiences truly sat up and took notice. Those who had been following Seda's career since his early days had little doubt that the rising young star had what it took to make it as an actor, and following an Independent Spirit Award-winning role as a flawed but well-meaning husband and father in the 1994 drama I Like It Like That, major offers quickly began pouring in. An impressive run in the mid-'90s found Seda turning up in everything from such high-profile Hollywood fare as Primal Fear to such little-seen efforts as New York Cop and Michael Cimino's The Sunchaser -- the latter of which offered Seda in a particularly memorable role as a terminally-ill juvenile delinquent who kidnaps his doctor in hopes of finding a mythical healing lake. Following an impressive turn in the hit HBO prison series Oz, Seda hit his stride on the small screen with a turn as Detective Paul Falsone on Homicide: Life on the Street. By this time Seda was becoming a familiar face to audiences, and in 2000, he once again laced up his boxing gloves for a role opposite Jimmy Smits in the well-received feature Price of Glory. Despite his prominence and success in film and television, it still seemed as if Seda was awaiting the breakout role that would truly make him a household name. In 2002 he proved that he could carry a film when he took the lead in the street-gang drama King Rikki, with a role on the 2004 UPN series Kevin Hill, marking what fans hoped would be a successful return to the small screen.

Trivia: Connecticut native Jesse Lee Soffer began his career at the tender age of eight when he appeared in the film Matinee, about the sci-fi movies that were popular in the 1950s. At the time, the youngster was performing under the stage name Jesse Lee, and he used that name when he appeared in many films throughout the '90s, such as The Brady Bunch Movie and Safe Passage. By the time he joined the cast of the well-known, long-running daytime soap opera As the World Turns in 2004, however, he was acting under his full name, Jesse Lee Soffer.

Trivia: First professional role was in The Nutcracker in 1993. Won the Agnes Moorhead Award for her off-Broadway performance in Just in Time: The Judy Holliday Story. Made her Broadway debut in To Be or Not to Be. Appeared in the theater production of Manipulation in 2014.

Trivia: Was a member for the Remains Theatre Ensemble for 15 years and made her directorial debut there. Has been a member of Steppenwolf Theatre since 1997. Made her Broadway debut as Nurse Ratched (opposite Gary Sinise as Randall P. McMurphy) in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 2001. Played Barbara in the original production of August: Osage County in Chicago in 2007, and transferred with the show to Broadway later that year. Her first leading role was in the 2013 indie film Bluebird.

Trivia: Spent time growing up at her family's second home in Greece. Parents are the owner/operators of a Greek diner in her Canadian hometown of Winnipeg. Enjoys playing video games in her spare time. Ascribes to the classic belief that an actor's age should be kept a secret.

Trivia: Australian actor Jesse Spencer launched his career with a long stint (from the mid- to late '90s) on the popular Aussie soap opera Neighbours, playing Billy Kennedy. He followed that up with a number of key supporting roles in acclaimed features, such as that of Marwood de Whichehalse in Mike Barker's R.D. Blackmore adaptation Lorna Doone (2001) before signing on for the lead in Russell Mulcahy's inspirational drama Swimming Upstream (2002). That picture -- about a young man destined to become a champion swimmer despite the setbacks thrown into his path by an abusive father (Geoffrey Rush) became a small-scale hit and earned favorable reviews. After a turn in the Brittany Murphy vehicle Uptown Girls (2003), Spencer landed one of his greatest achievements when he signed on to play Dr. Robert Chase on the Fox medical drama House, and the series quickly became a hit. Offscreen, Spencer made headlines for his romantic involvement with House co-star Jennifer Morrison (Dr. Allison Cameron). The two -- who reportedly met on the set of House -- became engaged during the 2006 holidays.

Trivia: Was captain of her high-school drill team. Starred in Baylor University's stage production of Eurydice in 2008. Was a participant in Hulu's 24-hour live stream reality web series If I Can Dream, which followed five aspiring performers. In 2010, performed at an event for the Pepsi Refresh Project to support the creation of a community garden in Los Angeles.

Trivia: Like a lot of girls born into the upper-middle-class suburb of Pasadena, CA, Sophia Bush caught a whiff of the Hollywood air just down the road and took an interest in acting at an early age. After getting her feet wet in school plays at the Westridge School for Girls, she graduated in 2000 and enrolled at the University of Southern California, where she majored in journalism and minored in theater. It was that minor interest that proved to be her greatest passion, however, and in 2002, at the age of 20, she scored her first movie gig with a small role in National Lampoon's Van Wilder.Another onscreen role would follow in 2003, and a much more substantial one. Bush was cast as sassy cheerleader Brooke Davis in the WB series One Tree Hill. She left school to work full-time on the series, which paid off when One Tree Hill proved to be a huge hit. In addition to the professional success that the show brought her, the program also featured Bush's onscreen romance with co-star Chad Michael Murray -- which soon turned into a real-life love affair. The two were wed in 2005, but unfortunately, the union was not to last. After just five months, the two separated and eventually divorced, though they remained co-stars on the series. Bush took the personal hit in stride, continuing to act in additional projects such as Supercross: The Movie and the popular 2006 comedy John Tucker Must Die. Bush also proved to have a knack for tense and scary subject matter, from a recurring part on the series Nip/Tuck to a starring role in the 2006 horror flick Stay Alive. In 2007, she appeared in an even bigger horror movie as the female lead in a remake of The Hitcher, starring opposite veteran actor Sean Bean. While building up her impressive acting resumé, Bush still didn't lose the interest in journalism that she pursued in college, working as an assignment editor for Annenberg TV News when she wasn't on-set.Bush returned to TV in the short-lived sitcom Partners before playing the recurring role of detective Erin Lindsay on Chicago Fire. Her character was part of the planned 2014 spin-off, Chicago P.D.

Trivia: Grew up in Alexandria, Virginia.Grew up with two younger sisters in a bilingual household, speaks English and Mandarin Chinese.Before becoming an actor, wanted to attend Law School and work in politics.Was homecoming king and student body president.Was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity in college.Married wife Xun Zhou on stage after a charity event in China.On October 2014, became the first male to appear on the cover of Vogue China.

Trivia: Stone-jawed and puppy-eyed, Elias Koteas has the enviable ability to call on both his distinctive looks and talent to portray a variety of complex, often troubled characters. Koteas is one of Canada's most prominent and well-respected actors, and during the late '90s, he began to amass international critical attention for his work in a number of high profile films, including David Cronenberg's Crash (1996) and Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line (1998).Koteas, who is of Greek ancestry, was born in Montreal on March 11, 1961. His father was a mechanic for the Canadian National Railways and his mother worked as a hatmaker; Koteas himself planned to be an architect until his teenage introduction to acting changed his plans. He was particularly inspired by Nick Nolte's performance in the TV miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man; little did Koteas know that two decades later, he would be starring opposite Nolte in The Thin Red Line. After beginning his education at Montreal's Vanier College, Koteas left to study at New York's prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1981. Following his graduation, he went to New York's Actors Studio, where he studied under Ellen Burstyn and Peter Masterson. The actor made his film debut in the Mary Steenburgen drama One Magic Christmas in 1985 and went on to do supporting work in a variety of films that included Francis Ford Coppola's Gardens of Stone (1987), Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), Coppola's Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), and She's Having a Baby (1988). In 1989, he earned a Genie Award nomination (Canada's equivalent of the Oscar) for his portrayal of the title character of Malarek: A Street Kid Who Made It; two years later, he earned additional acclaim for his performance as a voyeuristic insurance adjustor in Atom Egoyan's The Adjuster. It was for his portrayal of an embittered DJ in another of Egoyan's films, Exotica (1994), that Koteas garnered his second Genie nomination; following this critical success, he began to appear in an increasing number of high profile productions.Koteas was subsequently featured to great effect as the creepy Vaughan in David Cronenberg's controversial Crash (1996), and he invested his brief but pivotal role as Holly Hunter's mystery man in the acclaimed Living out Loud (1998) with memorable charisma. In The Thin Red Line, he managed to stand out from his accomplished co-stars -- who included Nolte, Sean Penn, John Cusack, and Ben Chaplin -- as Captain Storos, an alienated, idealistic soldier who refuses his superior's orders to send his men on a suicidal attack plan. Over the next several years, Koteas would prove to be a consistent force on screen, appearing in films like Shooter, Shutter Island, and Let Me In, as well as the series Combat Hospital.

Trivia: Made his film acting debut in Todd Field's AFI Conservatory project, Delivering, in 1993.First major motion picture role was Young Wyatt in the 1994 western Wyatt Earp, starring Kevin Costner.Played Young Hercules from 1997-1998 on the NBC series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and reprised his role for the 1998 film Young Hercules, now as the lead.Made his directorial debut with the 2011 short Morning Love, which he also shot and edited.

Trivia: Broke into feature films with 2001's The Princess Diaries. Was cast in 2005's The World's Fastest Indian while starring in The 4400. Plays guitar, writes music and was the lead singer of a band called Sleeper 7. Was screen tested for the role of Steve Rogers/Captain America in 2010, which was eventually given to Chris Evans.

Trivia: Never intended to pursue acting as a career. Initially worked in banking, then jumped to National Public Radio as producer. Served as artistic director for various cultural projects during the 1980s, finally becoming the Director of Performing Arts for the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Decided to pursue acting full time in 1991, honing his skills in England before heading to Hollywood in 1993. Best known for his roles on the TV shows Prison Break and The Wire. Is a big-time fan of world music.

Trivia: Parents moved from Puerto Rico to the United States and opened a pharmacy. Learned to sing at his Latino Pentecostal church. Dreamed of becoming a professional wrestler for the WWE growing up. Was the lead singer of an a capella group, Top Notch, in high school and went on to become a featured rapper for N'Harmonics, NYU's a capella group. Made Broadway debut in Lysistrata Jones, a basketball-themed musical comedy, in 2011. Originated the role of Emilio Estefan in On Your Feet!, a Broadway musical about the life of Gloria and Emilio Estefan, in 2016.

Trivia: Though she remains best known for her long-running portrayal of Wild West hero Calamity Jane on the HBO period Western Deadwood, classically trained thespian Robin Weigert launched herself to stardom on the theatrical circuit, and had almost ten years of stage work under her belt when she finally moved into filmed roles in Los Angeles. An M.F.A. graduate of NYU's much-revered drama program, Weigert subsequently landed roles in such on- and off-Broadway productions as The Seagull, Noises Off, and Madame Melville. In terms of cinematic and television work, Weigert also gained recognition for her evocation of the Mormon Mother in HBO's Angels in America (which reunited her with Seagull collaborator Mike Nichols) and appeared in the Steven Soderbergh espionage thriller The Good German, opposite George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. Weigert also guest-starred on episodes of Lost, The Unit, Cold Case, and Law & Order: SVU. In 2007, she joined the cast of the cop drama Life as the hardworking Lt. Karen Davis. On the big screen she could be seen in Synecdoche, New York and Things We Lost in the Fire.

Trivia: Was a star volleyball player in high school and was named Section Two Volleyball Player of the Year in Pennsylvania. Studied business management in college. Big break came when he was cast as a regular on Fashion House in 2006. Appeared in Lady Gaga's 2011 music video "You and I." Played the recurring role of werewolf Mason Lockwood on The Vampire Diaries. Participated in the Chicago Polar Bear Plunge, which raises money for the Special Olympics, in 2015.

Trivia: Best known as Steve, the boyishly charming nice-guy bartender (and the perfect complement to his onscreen romantic partner, snappish Miranda Hobbes) in HBO's blockbuster original series Sex and the City, the slightly diminutive, raven-haired American character actor David Eigenberg was born in Manhasset, NY, on May 17, 1964. As the only boy in a family of six children, Eigenberg moved with his parents and sisters at age four to Naperville, IL, a farming community just outside of the Windy City -- where he remained through the end of adolescence. Eigenberg reportedly struggled as a student, barely scraping by; a handful of run-ins with the law and minor recreational drug abuse allegedly ensued. Eigenberg did graduate from Naperville High School in 1982, however, and was promptly accepted to the University of Iowa, where he planned to study social work. For better or worse, this was not to be, for the Chicagoan ripped his dormitory apart during the first semester and was promptly booted out of the university after five weeks.A stint in the Marines and various construction jobs followed, instilling in Eigenberg healthy amounts of much-needed self-discipline and a sharply honed work ethic. These skills paved the way for Eigenberg's true calling: acting. A love of the dramatic arts had already taken root for the thespian when -- at age 12 -- he had signed on to play a key role in a local production of Kurt Vonnegut's Happy Birthday, Wanda June, and received an outstanding review from a local critic. These fond memories doubtless came flooding back when an adult Eigenberg auditioned -- and was selected for -- a large part in the Dennis Rosa-directed Chicago stage musical One Shining Moment, opposite Megan Mullally and Alan Ruck. Dissatisfied with a mere taste of the theatrical arts and eager to extend acting into a full-time passion, Eigenberg subsequently moved to New York and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, working odd jobs on the side (construction et al.) to put himself through school.Scattered roles followed, including a guest appearance on The Cosby Show and a bit part in the awful 1989 generation-gap comedy Rude Awakening (co-starring Cheech Marin and Eric Roberts), but Sex and the City (which Eigenberg auditioned for out of innumerable hopefuls) represented the actor's first huge break. He reportedly auditioned for a small part, and though the show's producers did not deem him right for the characterization, they felt so impressed by Eigenberg's presence that they created the character of Steve Brady especially for him, as an extension of his own personality; the plan, again, was to create a sincere, committed, down-to-earth male paramour to offset Miranda's (Cynthia Nixon) cynicism.Though initially intended as a temporary part, the popularity of the character among viewers (and Eigenberg's onscreen chemistry with Nixon) led to Eigenberg's permanent inclusion on the show, as well as subsuquent movies.Circa 2002, Eigenberg expanded into film roles by playing the business partner of Richard Gere in Mark Pellington's underrated supernatural thriller The Mothman Prophecies. When Eigenberg's Sex and the City run ended with the wrap-up of that series (at the end of the 2003-2004 season), he continued his cinematic work, first voicing Nermal the Cat in the FX-extravaganza Garfield: The Movie, then playing Reggie, the lover of Alicia Goranson's Myra, in Adrienne Weiss' quirky indie romantic comedy Love, Ludlow. Eigenberg returned to the same genre amid a cast of unknowns with the 2007 film The Trouble with Romance, directed by Gene Rhee. He reprised his role in the Sex and the City movie in 2008 and the sequel in 2010. In 2012, he joined the cast of NBC's Chicago Fire, playing a firefighter in the Windy City.

Trivia: Was named the associate artistic director for Teatro Vista in Chicago in 2009. Appeared in the Goodman Theatre's production of A Christmas Carol in the 2011-12 season. Had a memorable recurring role on the Starz series Boss where his character's ears were cut off. Shared an apartment with his Chicago Fire castmates Yuri Sardarov and Charlie Barnett when the show was first picked up.

Trivia: Was a finance major in college. Transferred to a four-year college on a basketball scholarship. Made her TV debut on an episode of How I Met Your Mother. Played Maya Ward on General Hospital.

Trivia: Born in London to Grenadian parentage, distinguished actor Eamonn Walker acquired a deep-seated interest in drama at the age of 9, when he witnessed Sidney Poitier acting; the experience helped the young man perceive drama as a powerful tool to change individual lives. Walker began his professional life in repertory theater by touring across United Kingdom and tackling roles in smaller regional productions, then formally honed his craft in South London's Albany Empire. Thereafter, Walker unveiled an ability to seamlessly segue between portrayals of African Americans, West Indians, and Africans. He first bowed in front of the camera in the early '90s, but came into his own around the tail end of that decade as the deeply conflicted Muslim/black nationalist Kareem Said on all six seasons of HBO's harrowing prison drama Oz (1997-2003). That marked a watershed assignment that opened up the floodgates to many others, including a small contribution to M. Night Shyamalan's sci-fi thriller Unbreakable (2000), a turn as Baptiste Senior in director Andrew Niccol's political thriller Lord of War (2005), and an uncanny portrayal of blues legend Howlin' Wolf in the period ensembler Cadillac Records (2008). In 2006, Walker drew from his theatrical roots -- and made more than a few headlines -- with a Broadway performance opposite Denzel Washington in Julius Caesar.

Trivia: Actor Wendell Pierce spent the first 20 years or so of his career predominantly essaying character roles as authority figures, with many bit parts as cops, attorneys, government agents, and ministers to his credit. Pierce devoted the majority of his first decade to big-screen work (including such projects as The Money Pit, Family Business, and Get on the Bus); by 1995, he began to accept occasional bit parts on television, and indeed, this venue ultimately brought Pierce higher billing, when he was tapped to play two roles: Conrad "Candyman" Jones on Third Watch and Detective William "Bunk" Moreland on HBO's police drama The Wire. Pierce remained most active on-stage, however, where his powerhouse presence illuminated an impressive array of classical dramas, among them Cymbeline (1989), Antigone (1993), and Tartuffe (1999). Over the coming years, Pierce would find additional success on a series about his hometown, Treme.