Trivia: Animation pioneer Seth MacFarlane followed in the footsteps of Matt Groening, Trey Parker, and Matt Stone, and others by creating (at age 25!) one of the top-tiered animated series on national television. Family Guy, which debuted in 1999, preserved the sitcom-family premise of The Simpsons but upped the irreverence quotient tenfold (defying many who regarded such an accomplishment as impossible), meanwhile tossing in dozens upon dozens of off-the-cuff (and frequently risqué) references to pop culture -- citing everything from Oz to The Wizard of Oz, The $25,000 Pyramid to songs by a-ha, and thus seizing upon instant identification with Gen-X and Gen-Y viewers. Episodes, which began mundanely enough, could immediately segue, without advance notice, into music video-style montages, game-show sequences, multi-character musical production numbers, mock historical sequences, etc. The basic premise revolved around the nutty Griffin clan of Quahog, Rhode Island: obese toy manufacturer dad Peter; neurotic housewife Lois; ne'er-do-well, dim-bulb 13-year-old son Chris; the angst-ridden 16-year-old daughter Meg, and -- what really made the series bizarre and original -- Stewie, a one-year-old infant with a massive head, a genius IQ, and the verbal erudition of Rex Harrison.Family Guy found a sizeable audience and lasted for many seasons, yet reportedly suffered from a tumultuous history at Fox, where it endured repeat cancellations, numerous rerun episodes, and reemergence on different networks and in different time slots, meanwhile becoming a cult hit on DVD. In the interim, MacFarlane branched out into another animated sitcom, American Dad (2005). Family Guy eventually gained extremly solid ground, however, and soon spawned a spin-off, The Cleveland Show.

Trivia: Actress Wendy Schaal made her feature-film debut in the teen comedy Records (1978). She subsequently went on to have a sporadic film career, the highlights of which include Innerspace (1987) and The 'Burbs (1989). Though she worked steadily through the 1990s, she disappeared from screens in the 21st century, making a triumphant comeback voicing Francine Smith on the FOX animated sitcom American Dad!

Trivia: Former adolescent actor Scott Grimes first appeared onscreen at age 15 in Critters (1986).

Trivia: The younger sister of Family Guy and American Dad creator Seth MacFarlane, Rachael MacFarlane has provided a number of voices on her famous sibling's animated sitcom Family Guy, and the voice of Hayley Smith, a regular character on American Dad. Additional achievements of hers include voices for Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Laboratory, and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy.

Trivia: American voice artist, standup comedian, and singer Dee Bradley Baker started gaining experience at age nine in all forms of theatrical production, including musical comedies, operas, and nonmusical plays. After college, Baker moved to Los Angeles and quickly established himself as a highly regarded voice actor on animated series, specials, and features. Baker demonstrated a particularly strong aptitude for various ethnic dialects, as well as animal, extraterrestrial, and monster characters. He voiced Louie in the 2000 feature The Trumpet of the Swan, contributed zombie moans to the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake, and voiced creatures in small-screen programs such as Avatar: The Last Airbender, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Codename: Kids Next Door. Baker was also particularly memorable as Klaus, a talking fish with a massive libidinal drive, on the Seth MacFarlane animated series American Dad. In addition to his extensive film and television credits, Baker's vocal contributions to such popular video games as Left 4 Dead 2, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, and Diablo III helped to make him one of the busiest voice actors in Hollywood.

Trivia: American character actor Curtis Armstrong is best known in films for playing Dudley "Booger" Dawson in the Revenge of the Nerds series of feature films and TV movies. On television he is best remembered for playing Herbert Viola in the ABC series Moonlighting (1985-1989). When he was just starting out, Armstrong founded his own theater company in Michigan. He continued working in theater until 1983 when he made his film debut playing opposite Tom Cruise in Risky Business. He appeared in Revenge of the Nerds the following year. In addition to playing Booger, Armstrong appeared in other features, including The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986) and The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993). He would remain extremely active for decades to come, appearing in movies like Southland Tales and Beer for My Horses, and on shows like Boston Legal, The Closer, and Dan Vs.

Trivia: Is an alumnus of the famed Second City improv theatre, having performed revues on both the Chicago and Toronto Mainstages. Is one half of the Toronto-based sketch comedy duo "CORY!" Made her feature-film debut in 2007, in the Academy Award-nominated Lars and the Real Girl. Has won Canadian Comedy Awards including Best Female Improviser, Best Comedic Play and Best Sketch Troupe.

Trivia: Has a brother and a sister.Started playing the piano at the age of 6.Participated in theater productions while he was in college.Holds minors in political science and environmental studies from Calvin College.Worked on schooners after graduating from college.Became a member of the Second City Detroit main company in 1998.In 2003, joined the improv group The 313.One of the founders of The Detroit Creativity Project.

Trivia: Voice actor Tom Kenny was born in New York and worked as a standup comedian. After brief roles in the comedy features How I Got Into College and Shakes the Clown, he started doing sketch comedy on the FOX series The Edge. One of his first voice acting gigs was the cow on Rocko's Modern Life. In 1995, he starting writing and acting on the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show with Bob Odenkirk and David Cross. It was there that he met his future wife, fellow cast member Jill Talley. After Mr. Show ended, Kenny turned to voice acting full-time with popular Cartoon Network series like Dexter's Laboratory. On The Powerpuff Girls, he provided colorful narration as well as several character voices. Grown-up audiences heard him on Dilbert, Futurama, The Animatrix, or Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights. Though he has dozens of credits to his name, Kenny is probably most well known as the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants. First aired in 1999 on Nickelodeon, SpongeBob SquarePants is an animated series about a fry cook who lives at the bottom of the sea. Popular with both young and old audiences, the show became one of the most highly-rated cartoons on TV. Kenny was also the narrator and various other characters on the show, and reprised his role for The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie in 2004. The always-in-demand vocal talent performed multiple roles in The Ant Bully, took over the duty of voicing Rabbit in 2011's Winnie the Pooh, and gave Wheelie a voice in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. In 2012 he could be heard in Tim Burton feature length adaptation of his short film Frankenweenie.

Trivia: A Saturday Night Live cast member who received his grooming in the familiar Groundlings comedy breeding ground, a few of funnyman Chris Parnell's favorite parody subjects include Tom Brokow in addition to his frightfully funny Eminem impression.Born and raised in Memphis, TN, Parnell took to acting and comedy after his family relocated to nearby Germantown and he got involved with the Poplar Pike Playhouse. Constantly auditioning for nearly every production while taking multiple acting and music classes, Parnell attended the North Carolina School of Arts after graduation and later worked at Houston's Alley Theater after obtaining his B.F.A. Later teaching acting, film, and video back at Germantown High before moving to Los Angeles, the future SNL star worked at FAO Schwartz while taking classes at the Groundlings theater and acting in small roles in commercials and television sitcoms. Parnell was flown to New York for an SNL audition after he was spotted by a talent scout from the show, joining the cast in the fall of 1999 alongside fellow freshmen Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz. After his feature debut in 1996's Jingle All the Way, Parnell could be seen on the big screen in fellow SNL cast member Tim Meadows' The Ladies Man in 2000. He had a part in Anchorman, but he became part of SNL history when he starred along with Andy Samberg in the digital short Lazy Sunday, often cited as the first bit from the show to go viral. He had a recurring role as the seriously demented Dr. Spaceman on 30 Rock, and teamed with Samberg again for the comedy Hot Rod.He appeared in the music biopic spoof Walk Hard, and was in the comedy Labor Pains. In 2010 he was cast in the animated series Archer, providing the voice for Cyril Figgis, and two years later he appeared in three of the biggest comedies of the year including The Dictator, 21 Jump Street, and The Five-Year Engagement.

Trivia: As part of the editing, writing, performing, directing, and production team of The State, David Wain has helped refurbish the kind of comedy that demands an acquired taste. Wain began his long-term creative partnerships with Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black as one of the creators of the popular series, which aired on MTV in the mid-'90s and developed a devoted fan base through its two-year onscreen duration.A native of the Cleveland area, Wain was born on August 1, 1969, in Shaker Heights, OH, where he lived until he relocated to New York City to attend film school at N.Y.U. In 1991, he directed a short film entitled Aisle Six, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival two years later. Collaborations with Showalter and Black continued since The State, adding numerous television writing, directing, and performance credits to Wain's resumé, in addition to his contributions to live New York nightclub productions of a show called Stella. In 2000, Wain made small-role appearances in Edward Norton's Keeping the Faith and Spike Lee's Bamboozled.Wain made his feature-length directorial debut in 2001 with Wet Hot American Summer (co-written by Wain and Showalter), a satirical comedy reflective of '80s coming-of-age flicks and summer camp which featured David Hyde Pierce, Janeane Garofalo, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Marguerite Moreau, and others. The film's comedic style caused mixed critical reactions, and box-office success was stifled in part by distribution limitations. However, State and other absurdist comedy fans lucky enough to find it in their local theaters were struck delirious by the feature, which was infused with former State actors and bizarre, self-aware humor.

Trivia: Wil Wheaton was eight years old when he got his first showbiz break, appearing with Bill Cosby in a Jell-O pudding commercial. The following year (1982), Wheaton was prominently featured in the voiceover cast of the animated The Secret of NIMH. During this same period, he made his Los Angeles stage debut in a Company of Angels Theatre production of All My Sons. His starmaking turn was as Gordie Lachance, the Stephen King alter-ego, in the 1986 feature Stand By Me (1986). He then went on to play the title role in the 1987 Disney TV-movie Young Harry Houdini. Wheaton gained worldwide fame (and a worldwide website) as ensign Wesley Crusher in the weekly TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, a role he played from 1987 to 1990. After leaving STNG on his own accord, Wheaton transitioned into adult roles with appearances in Flubber and a slew of independent films, and in 2001 he launched Wil Wheaton Dot Net, a blog that quickly gained a considerable following while turning the veteran actor into something of a geek icon. Meanwhile, in addition to staying busy with voice roles in such popular videogames as the Grand Theft Auto series and Fallout: New Vegas, Wheaton also contributed vocally to such animated television series' as Naruto, Ben 10: Alien Force, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. In 2009 he began riffing on his own public persona with a recurring role as a fictional version of himself on The Big Bang Theory, and in 2010 he joined the cast of the quirky Sci-fi Channel series Eureka as Dr. Isaac Parrish. The author of both Dancing Barefoot and Just a Geek, Wheaton is the brother of actress Amy Wheaton.