Trivia: One of Hollywood's most prominent strong, silent types, Kevin Costner was for several years the celluloid personification of the baseball industry, given his indelible mark with baseball-themed hits like Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, and For Love of the Game. His epic Western Dances with Wolves marked the first break from this trend and established Costner as a formidable directing talent to boot. Although several flops in the late '90s diminished his bankability, for many, Costner remained one of the industry's most enduring and endearing icons.A native of California, Costner was born January 18, 1955, in Lynnwood. While a marketing student at California State University in Fullerton, he became involved with community theater. Upon graduation in 1978, Costner took a marketing job that lasted all of 30 days before deciding to take a crack at acting. After an inauspicious 1974 film debut in the ultra-cheapie Sizzle Beach USA, Costner decided to take a more serious approach to acting. Venturing down the usual theater-workshop, multiple-audition route, the actor impressed casting directors who weren't really certain of how to use him. That may be one reason why Costner's big-studio debut in Night Shift (1982) consisted of little more than background decoration, and the same year's Frances featured the hapless young actor as an off-stage voice.Director Lawrence Kasdan liked Costner enough to cast him in the important role of the suicide victim who motivated the plot of The Big Chill (1983). Unfortunately, his flashback scenes were edited out of the movie, leaving all that was visible of the actor -- who had turned down Matthew Broderick's role in WarGames to take the part -- to be his dress suit, along with a fleeting glimpse of his hairline and hands as the undertaker prepared him for burial during the opening credits. Two years later, a guilt-ridden Kasdan chose Costner for a major part as a hell-raising gunfighter in the "retro" Western Silverado (1985), this time putting him in front of the camera for virtually the entire film. He also gained notice for the Diner-ish buddy road movie Fandango. The actor's big break came two years later as he burst onto the screen in two major films, No Way Out and The Untouchables; his growing popularity was further amplified with a brace of baseball films, released within months of one another. In Bull Durham (1988), the actor was taciturn minor-league ballplayer Crash Davis, and in the following year's Field of Dreams he was Ray Kinsella, a farmer who constructs a baseball diamond in his Iowa cornfield at the repeated urging of a voice that intones "if you build it, he will come."Riding high on the combined box-office success of these films, Costner was able to make his directing debut. With a small budget of 18 million dollars, he went off to the Black Hills of South Dakota to film the first Western epic that Hollywood had seen in years, a revisionist look at American Indian-white relationships titled Dances With Wolves (1990). The supposedly doomed project, in addition to being one of '90s biggest moneymakers, also took home a slew of Academy Awards, including statues for Best Picture and Best Director (usurping Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas).Costner's luck continued with the 1991 costume epic Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves; this, too, made money, though it seriously strained Costner's longtime friendship with the film's director, Kevin Reynolds. The same year, Costner had another hit -- and critical success -- on his hands with Oliver Stone's JFK. The next year's The Bodyguard, a film which teamed Costner with Whitney Houston, did so well at the box office that it seemed the actor could do no wrong. However, his next film, A Perfect World (1993), directed by Clint Eastwood and casting the actor against type as a half-psycho, half-benign prison escapee, was a major disappointment, even though Costner himself garnered some acclaim. Bad luck followed Perfect World in the form of another cast-against-type failure, the 1994 Western Wyatt Earp, which proved that Lawrence Kasdan could have his off days.Adding insult to injury, Costner's 1995 epic sci-fi adventure Waterworld received a whopping amount of negative publicity prior to opening due to its ballooning budget and bloated schedule; ultimately, its decent box office total in no way offset its cost. The following year, Costner was able to rebound somewhat with the romantic comedy Tin Cup, which was well-received by the critics and the public alike. Unfortunately, he opted to follow up this success with another large-scaled directorial effort, an epic filmization of author David Brin's The Postman. The 1997 film featured Costner as a Shakespeare-spouting drifter in a post-nuclear holocaust America whose efforts to reunite the country give him messianic qualities. Like Waterworld, The Postman received a critical drubbing and did poorly with audiences. Costner's reputation, now at an all-time low, received some resuscitation with the 1998 romantic drama Message in a Bottle, and later the same year he returned to the genre that loved him best with Sam Raimi's baseball drama For Love of the Game. A thoughtful reflection on the Cuban missile crisis provided the groundwork for the mid-level success Thirteen Days (2000), though Costner's next turn -- as a member of a group of Elvis impersonating casino bandits in 3000 Miles to Graceland -- drew harsh criticism, relegating it to a quick death at the box office. Though Costner's next effort was a more sentimental supernatural drama lamenting lost love, Dragonfly (2002) was dismissed by many as a cheap clone of The Sixth Sense and met an almost equally hasty fate.Costner fared better in 2003, and returned to directing, with Open Range, a Western co-starring himself and the iconic Robert Duvall -- while it was no Dances With Wolves in terms of mainstream popularity, it certainly received more positive feedback than The Postman or Waterworld. In 2004, Costner starred alongside Joan Allen in director Mike Binder's drama The Upside of Anger. That picture cast Allen as an unexpectedly single, upper-middle class woman who unexpectedly strikes up a romance with the boozy ex-baseball star who lives next door (Costner). Even if divided on the picture as a whole, critics unanimously praised the lead performances by Costner and Allen.After the thoroughly dispiriting (and critically drubbed) quasi-sequel to The Graduate, Rumor Has It..., Costner teamed up with Fugitive director Andrew Davis for the moderately successful 2006 Coast Guard thriller The Guardian, co-starring Ashton Kutcher and Hollywood ingenue Melissa Sagemiller.Costner then undertook another change-of-pace with one of his first psychological thrillers: 2007's Mr. Brooks, directed by Bruce A. Evans. Playing a psychotic criminal spurred on to macabre acts by his homicidal alter ego (William Hurt), Costner emerged from the critical- and box-office failure fairly unscathed. He came back swinging the following year with a starring role in the comedy Swing Vote, playing a small town slacker whose single vote is about to determine the outcome of a presidential election. Costner's usual everyman charm carried the movie, but soon he was back to his more somber side, starring in the recession-era drama The Company Men in 2010 alongside Chris Cooper and Tommy Lee Jones. As the 2010's rolled on, Costner's name appeared often in conjunction with the Quentin Tarantino film Django Unchained prior to filming, but scheduling conflicts would eventually prevent the actor from participating in the project. He instead signed on for the latest Superman reboot, playing Clark Kent's adoptive dad on Planet Earth in Man of Steel.

Trivia: Actress Amy Madigan is the daughter of Chicago political commentor John Madigan, well known in the Windy City for his WBBM radio signoff, "John Madigan...News Radio Ssssseventy-eight." After studying piano at the Chicago Conservatory and philosophy at Milwaukee's Marquette University, Madigan spent the next decade as a touring rock musician. In the late 1970s, she began preparing for an acting career at L.A.'s Lee Strasberg Institute, making her TV bow on an episode of Hart to Hart. While she may have looked like a standard blonde ingenue, Madigan's endearingly raspy voice and '60s-style ebullience secured her a series of offbeat leading roles, culminating with her performance as Kevin Costner's ex-activist wife in Field of Dreams (1989). In 1985, Amy Madigan was Oscar-nominated for her performance as Gene Hackman's embittered daughter in Twice in a Lifetime. She is married to actor Ed Harris, with whom she has co-starred in Places in the Heart (1984) and Alamo Bay (1985). Madigan would continue to act in the decades to come, memorably starring on Carnivale and Grey's Anatomy.

Trivia: Actor Ray Liotta's intense demeanor and fondness for edgy roles quickly established him as one of the most interesting and respected supporting players of his generation. Born in Newark, NJ, on December 18, 1955, he was adopted at the age of six months, by Alfred and Mary Liotta, and raised in Union Township, New Jersey. (His parents adopted another child, Linda, three years later.) As a gifted high school athlete, Liotta played varsity basketball and soccer, while working a side job in his father's auto supply shop. After graduation, he left home to attend the University of Miami, where he cultivated an interest in acting and majored in Drama. Liotta appeared in a number of collegiate productions, including a surprising number of musicals (Cabaret, The Sound of Music). Within a year of graduation, Liotta scored a one-shot commercial and a recurring three-year role as Joey Perrini on the daytime soap opera Another World; he also joined the cast of several short-lived prime-time network TV series, including Crazy Times (1981) - with David Caruso and Amy Madigan - and Casablanca (1983) - featuring David Soul in the role Humphrey Bogart made famous, and Liotta as Sacha. Liotta signed for his first film role in the 1983 Pia Zadora vehicle The Lonely Lady, but didn't break into the big time until 1986, when Jonathan Demme cast him as the psychotic Ray Sinclair in the comedy-drama Something Wild. Liotta's well-received performance won him a number of Hollywood offers playing over-the-top villains, but, determined to avoid typecasting - , Liotta rejected the solicitations and traveled the opposite route, with gentle, sensitive roles in Dominick and Eugene and Field of Dreams (as the legendary "Shoeless" Joe Jackson). His determination to wait for the right role paid off in 1990, when he was cast as mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's masterful crime drama GoodFellas. However, while the success of GoodFellas raised Liotta's profile considerably, he clung to his high standards, waiting for the right part (and wary of compromise). While he still found himself playing tough and/or scary guys in the likes of Unlawful Entry and No Escape, in Corrina, Corrina showcased Liotta's talent as a a romantic lead, and he catered to "family friendly" audiences with Disney's Operation Dumbo Drop (1995) and Tim Hill's Muppets From Space (1999). After a productive 2001, with key roles in the blockbuster hits Blow, Hannibal, and Heartbreakers, the actor formed his own production company to ensure a greater diversity of roles and more interesting material. For his debut as a producer, Liotta developed and released the critically acclaimed Narc; he also appears in the film, as a hot-headed ex-cop. Liotta hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live in 2003, the same year he cameo'd in director Peter Segal's Anger Management, starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson. But that year also marked the beginning of a downswing for the gifted thesp. His activity ostensibly crescendoed through the end of 2004 - but, despite scattered encouraging reviews - his trio of major films from that year (a sociopath in Tim Hunter's Control, a corrupt cop in Matthew Chapman's Slow Burn, a bit part in Jeff Nathanson's Tinseltown satire The Last Shot) saw extremely limited release and fell just ahead of going straight to video. As 2005 dawned, he restrategized by sticking with higher-profile directors - specifically, Guy Ritchie for Revolver (second billing, as a casino owner targeted by a vengeful ex-con) and Mark Rydell for the sports gambling drama Even Money. This plan proved uneven: the Ritchie film tanked amid widespread accusations of directorial pretentiousness, while the Rydell film seemed destined to score given the talent in the cast (Danny de Vito, Kim Basinger, Tim Roth, Forest Whitaker).As 2006 rolled around, Liotta returned to the glitter box - for the first time in twenty-five years - with the action-laced ensemble crime drama Smith. Slated with a September '06 premiere, this CBS series follows the adventures of a collective of high-rolling thieves who execute dazzling crimes with cunning and adroitness; Liotta plays one of the criminals. That same year, Liotta continued his big screen forays with appearances in the gentle coming-of-age drama Local Color, as a dad who passionately objects to his son's desire to apprentice a master painter, and Bruce McCulloch's buddy comedy Comeback Season, as a down-and-outer, rejected by his wife, who makes a close friend in prison. These projects suggested a turn away from tough guy roles and Liotta's harkening back to the gently understated work that he perfected in Dominick and Field of Dreams. Working steadily over the next few years -- albeit frewquently in lower-profile productions -- Liotta followed his Emmy-winning 2005 guest appearance on ER with playful turns in the comedies Observe and Report (2009), Crazy on the Outside (2010), and opposite Toby Maguire in The Details (2012). Liotta married actress Michelle Grace (Narc, Baseball Wives) in 1997, who co-produced his dance drama Take the Lead (2006) with him. The couple divorced in 2004.

Trivia: James Earl Jones is a distinguished African American actor instantly recognizable for his deep, resonant Shakespearean voice and wide smile. The son of prizefighter and actor Robert Earl Jones, he was raised on a farm. In college, he briefly studied medicine but switched to drama. After serving with the Army he enrolled at the American Theater Wing in New York. He made his Broadway debut in 1957, then went on to appear in many plays before spending several seasons with Joseph Pap's New York Shakespeare Festival. Jones' biggest success onstage was as the star of The Great White Hope on Broadway (1966-68); for his work (portraying heavyweight champion Jack Jefferson) he received a Tony award. He had a small part in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (1964), but did not begin to appear onscreen much until the '70s. In addition to stage and occasional film work, he also appeared as an African chieftain in the TV series Tarzan and was one of the first black actors to be cast as a regular on the soap opera The Guiding Light in 1967. Reprising his stage role, he received a Best Actor Oscar nomination and won a Golden Globe award for his work in the screen version of The Great White Hope (1970) and went on from there to have a busy screen career. He starred in the TV series Paris in 1979-80. Beginning in 1977, he provided the melodiously wicked voice of the villainous Darth Vader in the three Star Wars films. Since then he has continued to appear on screen (over 40 films to date), stage, and television. He also continues to provide voiceovers (he can frequently be heard on the CNN television network). His portrayal of the grouchy, reclusive writer opposite Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams (1989) is among his most notable turns. In 1987 he won another Tony Award, this time for his portrayal of a frustrated baseball player in August Wilson's Fences. Most recently, Jones provided the voice for Mufasa, the regal patriarch in Disney's animated film The Lion King (1994).

Trivia: Rugged, athletic, and handsome, Burt Lancaster enjoyed phenomenal success from his first film, The Killers, to his last, Field of Dreams -- over a career spanning more than four decades. Boasting an impressively wide range, he delivered thoughtful, sensitive performances across a spectrum of genres: from film noir to Westerns to melodrama, he commanded the screen with a presence and power matched by only a handful of stars.Lancaster was born November 2, 1913, in New York City. As a child, he exhibited considerable athletic and acrobatic prowess, and at the age of 17 joined a circus troupe, forming a duo with the diminutive performer Nick Cravat (later to frequently serve as his onscreen sidekick). He eventually joined the army, and, after acting and dancing in a number of armed forces revues, he decided to pursue a dramatic career. Upon hiring an agent, Harold Hecht, Lancaster made his Broadway debut in A Sound of Hunting, a role which led to a contract with Paramount. Because the release of his first picture, Desert Fury, was delayed, he initially came to the attention of audiences in 1946's The Killers, a certified classic of film noir. It remained the genre of choice in several of his subsequent projects, including 1947's Brute Force and I Walk Alone the following year.After starring as Barbara Stanwyck's cheating husband in Sorry, Wrong Number, Lancaster and his manager formed their own production company, Hecht-Lancaster, the first notable star-owned venture of its kind; more were to follow, and they contributed significantly to the ultimate downfall of the old studio system. Its formation was a result of Lancaster's conscious effort to avoid "beefcake" roles, instead seeking projects which spotlighted his versatility as a performer. While the company's first effort, the war melodrama Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, was not a success, they were nonetheless able to secure enough financial backing to break off completely from the mainstream Hollywood system. Still, Lancaster also continued to appear in studio productions. In 1949, he reunited with The Killers director Robert Siodmak at Universal for another excellent noir, Criss Cross, followed by Rope of Sand. He also signed a non-exclusive contract with Warner Bros., where he and Hecht produced 1950's The Flame and the Arrow, a swashbuckler which was his first major box-office success. After producing Ten Tall Men with Hecht, Lancaster starred in the MGM Western Vengeance Valley, followed by the biopic Jim Thorpe -- All American. With Siodmak again directing, he next headlined the 1952 adventure spoof The Crimson Pirate, followed by Daniel Mann's Come Back, Little Sheba opposite Oscar-winner Shirley Booth. A minor effort, South Sea Woman, followed in 1953 before Lancaster starred in the Fred Zinnemann classic From Here to Eternity, earning him a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance and, in his beachside rendezvous with co-star Deborah Kerr, creating one of the most indelible images in film history. Another swashbuckler, His Majesty O'Keefe, followed, and under director Robert Aldrich the actor headlined a pair of Westerns, Apache and Vera Cruz. Finally, in 1955, Lancaster realized a long-held dream and helmed his own film, The Kentuckian; reviews were negative, however, and he did not return to the director's chair for another two decades.Again working with Mann, Lancaster co-starred with another Oscar winner, Anna Magnani, in 1955's The Rose Tattoo. Opposite Tony Curtis, he appeared in the 1956 hit Trapeze, and, with Katherine Hepburn, headlined The Rainmaker later that same year. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, a blockbuster featuring Lancaster as Wyatt Earp, followed, as did the acclaimed The Sweet Smell of Success. With Clark Gable, Lancaster starred in 1958's Run Silent, Run Deep, followed by Separate Tables. For 1960's Elmer Gantry, he won an Academy Award for his superb portrayal of the title character, a disreputable evangelist, and a year later co-starred in Judgment at Nuremberg. Under John Frankenheimer, Lancaster next portrayed The Birdman of Alcatraz, earning Best Actor honors at the Venice Film Festival for his sympathetic turn as prisoner Robert Stroud, an expert in bird disease. For John Cassavetes, he starred in 1963's A Child Is Waiting, but the picture was the victim of studio interference and poor distribution. Around the same time, Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti was trying to secure financing for his planned historical epic Il Gattopardo (aka The Leopard), and needed to cast an international superstar in the lead role; Lancaster actively campaigned for the part, and delivered one of the strongest performances of his career. Released in 1963, it was a massive success everywhere but in the U.S., where it was brutally edited prior to release. After two hit movies with Frankenheimer, the 1964 political thriller Seven Days in May and the 1965 war drama The Train, Lancaster starred in another Western, The Hallelujah Trail, followed by the 1966 smash The Professionals. A rare series of flops -- The Swimmer, Castle Keep, and The Gypsy Moths -- rounded out the decade, but by 1970 he was back at the top of the box office with Airport. Still, Lancaster's star was clearly dimming, and he next appeared in a pair of low-budget Westerns, Lawman and Valdez Is Coming. After an underwhelming reunion with Aldrich, 1972's Ulzana's Raid, he attempted to take matters into his own hands, writing and directing 1974's The Midnight Man in collaboration with Roland Kibbee, but it failed to attract much attention, either. For Visconti, Lancaster next starred in 1975's Gruppo di Famiglia in un Interno. Remaining in Europe, he also appeared in Bernardo Bertollucci's epic 1900. Neither resuscitated his career, nor did Robert Altman's much-panned Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson. Lancaster languished in a number of television projects before appearing in 1978's Go Tell the Spartans, which, despite critical acclaim, failed to catch on. In 1980, however, he delivered a stunning turn as an aging gangster in Louis Malle's excellent Atlantic City, a performance which earned him Best Actor honors from the New York critics as well as another Oscar nomination. Also highly acclaimed was his supporting role in the 1983 Bill Forsyth gem Local Hero. Heart trouble sidelined him for all of 1984, but soon Lancaster was back at full steam, teaming one last time with Kirk Douglas for 1986's Tough Guys. Several more TV projects followed before he returned to feature films with 1988's little-seen Rocket Gibraltar and the 1989 blockbuster Field of Dreams. In 1991, Lancaster made his final appearance in the telefilm Separate But Equal. He died October 20, 1994.

Trivia: Red-haired, occasionally bearded American actor Timothy Busfield was a stage professional virtually from the moment he left East Tennessee State University. His earliest regular TV work was on the short-lived 1983 sitcom Reggie, playing the layabout aspiring-actor son of Richard Mulligan. One year later, Busfield was cast as Pernell Roberts' intern son on Trapper John, MD. He also appeared as Poindexter in Revenge of the Nerds and its sequel. In 1987, Busfield was fortuitously cast on the "yuppie" TV weekly thirtysomething, playing Elliot Weston, the business partner and best friend of series lead Michael Steadman (Ken Olin). From this point onward, Busfield was able to secure choice film supporting roles, generally as a stuffy, snotty "upwardly mobile" type. In addition to being honored with Emmy nominations from 1988-1990 for his work on thirtysomething, Busfield won a Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Emmy in 1991. His most likeable screen portrayal was as Kevin Costner's uptight, money-conscious, and essentially decent brother-in-law in the 1989 blockbuster Field of Dreams.Busfield forged a career behind the scenes as well, starting with directing episodes of thirtysomething while he was acting on that show. Among the series for which he has directed episodes are Sports Night, Ed, Las Vegas, and Joan of Arcadia. He also took on co-executive producing with the shows Ed and Without a Trace. Busfield still acted regularly throughout the '90s and into the new millenium in both film and television, but his more major roles tended to be on the small screen. He starred in the family drama Byrds of Paradise and the sitcom Champs, also making guest-starring appearances on numerous shows, including Ed and Without a Trace. But Busfield's most memorable and notable TV role of this period was that of White House reporter Danny Concannon on the critically acclaimed series The West Wing. Busfield played the character off-and-on through the whole series, appearing in the second-to-last episode, wooing Allison Janney's C.J. Cregg. Busfield worked on Aaron Sorkin's follow-up series, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, playing director Cal Shanley on the show, and also helmed six episodes. Studio 60 was canceled after only one season, and since then, Busfield has alternated between guest spots and directing gigs.

Trivia: With the role of Steve Bushak in 1990's The Freshman, actor Frank Whaley inaugurated a fruitful film career. Whaley went on to be prominently featured in three 1991 pictures. He played real-life guitarist Robby Krieger in The Doors, and two leading roles: the hapless tourist caught up in literary espionage in Back in the U.S.S.R. (1991) and the feckless night watchman with both a runaway heiress and a gang of burglars on his hands in Career Opportunities (1991). Whaley has continued averaging two to three film appearances per annum; would that the films themselves were more profitable than the likes of Swing Kids (1993) and A Midnight Clear (1993).

Trivia: Specializing in roles as cranky authority figures and unassuming mothers, longtime character actress Lee Garlington has the kind of familiar face that makes people wonder, "Where have I seen her before?" With numerous roles on some of the most popular television series of the past 20 years -- including Family Ties, Seinfeld, NYPD Blue, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and CSI -- most TV viewers probably have seen her face before, though wading through her exhaustive list of credits to find out where might be a daunting task. In addition to a busy television career, Garlington found a steady stream of work in features. Averaging about three films per year since her debut in the 1983 sequel Psycho II. The actress turned up again opposite Anthony Perkins three years later in Psycho III, and parts in Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), The Seventh Sign (1988), and Field of Dreams (1989) rounded out the decade. Though Garlington had a featured role in the 1989 Seinfeld pilot, her character was replaced by Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) when the series came to fruition the following year. Throughout the '90s, Garlington frequently alternated between the big and small screens, and though most of her TV appearances were only guest spots, she had a rare recurring role in the 1996 series Townies. Garlington became an increasingly familiar supporting player over the next few years in such features as Evolution (2001), American Pie 2 (2001), One Hour Photo (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002), and The Hot Chick (2002). In 2003, the longtime actress once again returned to weekly television with a role on the popular evening drama Everwood.

Trivia: Though eminently distinguished, actor Mike Nussbaum built a screen career tackling the most difficult sort of onscreen character roles: that of the everyman. After serving in World War II, Nussbaum applied to the esteemed Goodman School of Drama but was rejected; he subsequently started an exterminator business and became active in community theater before achieving his break at the hands of Hull House theater proprietor Bob Sickinger and developing a particularly strong reputation for Chicago-area work in the plays of Beckett, Ionesco, and Pinter. Nussbaum debuted on film in the late '60s and early '70s, with bit parts in features such as The Monitors (1969), T.R. Baskin (1971), and Harry and Tonto (1974), and in the mean time remained extremely active on the stage, particularly Windy City and Gotham productions, where he excelled in David Mamet-authored plays including American Buffalo and Glengarry Glen Ross. In fact, Nussbaum's onscreen activity re-crescendoed to no small degree in the late '80s thanks largely to Mamet, who cast him in two films -- the 1987 thriller House of Games (1987, with prominent billing as a snaky con man) and the gentle 1988 comedy Things Change (as a Mafia don). Subsequent projects included Steal Big, Steal Little (1995), Men in Black (1997), and Osso Bucco (2007).

Trivia: American character actress Anne Seymour was descended from an Irish theatrical family, active "on the boards" since the early 18th century. On stage from 1928, she went on to become one of the radio industry's busiest leading ladies, starring in such serials as The Story of Mary Marlin, Woman of America, Whispering Streets and (briefly, when actress Lucille Wall fell ill) Portia Faces Life. She appeared with equal frequency on television, accepting innumerable guest-star assignments and co-starring on the weekly series Empire (1962) and The Tim Conway Show (1970). Seymour's first film was the 1949 Oscar-winner All the King's Men, in which she played Lucy Stark, the politically convenient but cruelly neglected wife of Southern demagogue Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford). She went on to appear in such roles as Mrs. Tarbell in Pollyanna (1960) and Aunt Ev in The Miracle Worker (1962). Active up until her death in 1988, Anne Seymour's last film assignment was the small but pivotal role of the Minnesota newspaper editor who puts Kevin Costner on the trail of forgotten baseball player "Moonlight" Graham (Burt Lancaster) in Field of Dreams (1989).

Trivia: The daughter of Viva Hoffmann, better known simply as Viva, the model and Warhol protege, Gaby Hoffmann had an upbringing that was in many ways suited for the unconventional lifestyle that accompanies an acting career. Born January 8, 1982, Hoffmann spent much of her childhood living with her mother and sister in New York's notorious Chelsea Hotel. When she and her friends weren't spying on the drug dealers across the hall, Hoffmann began her acting career, making her first commercials at the age of four to help pay the bills. However, she quickly tired of the work and quit; her early retirement ended when, at the age of seven, she was cast alongside Macaulay Culkin in John Hughes' Uncle Buck and as Kevin Costner's daughter in Field of Dreams. Both films proved to be huge hits, and Hoffmann decided to give acting a second try.Many of the films Hoffmann made throughout her early teens proved to be fairly forgettable, although she did have strong supporting roles in Nora Ephron's This Is My Life (1992) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993), as well as The Man Without a Face (1993), Now and Then (1995), which cast her as the teenage version of Demi Moore's character, and Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You (1996). Toward the end of the decade, Hoffmann began being identified as one of the up-and-coming actors of Generation Y, a fact that was demonstrated with her being cast in the ensemble film 200 Cigarettes, the controversial girls-on-top sex comedy Coming Soon, and James Toback's Black and White, which featured Hoffmann as part of an eclectic cast that included Robert Downey Jr., Jared Leto, and Brooke Shields.In the early 2000s, she took a break from acting, enrolling in Bard Collage. She resumed her acting career in 2011 with roles in indie films (like The Surrogate Nanny), but the public noticed her more for several high-profile TV guest spots, including an episode each on Private Practice, The Good Wife and Homeland. She had a higher-profile guest spot on FX's Louie, playing a soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend of Louie, and then had a four-episode arc on HBO's Girls, playing Adam's sister, Caroline. Hoffmann took a series regular role on the hit Netflix series, Transparent, in 2014.