Trivia: With her genuine smile, earthy beauty, and striking green eyes, Melina Kanakaredes staked her claim on daytime television in The Guiding Light before expanding her talents to numerous other popular series and, eventually, the silver screen.Born and raised in Akron, OH, the second-generation Greek-American was the third daughter of an insurance salesman and homemaker who began her career as an actress in a community theater production of Tom Sawyer at the age of eight. Later enrolling in Ohio State University to study music, dance, and theater but disheartened at poor inter-departmental relations, Kanakaredes opted for a conservatory education at Point Park College in Pittsburgh. Soon performing with the Pittsburgh Playhouse and appearing in commercials and industrial videos, Kanakaredes moved to New York after graduating magna cum laude and began working in dinner boat theater and off-Broadway productions. Taking her role as Greek immigrant Eleni Andros Cooper in The Guiding Light after being spotted by the William Morris Agency in 1991, Kanakaredes was nominated for two Emmys and soon began to expand to roles on NYPD Blue and OZ. Soon turning up in such features as The Long Kiss Goodnight and Rounders, the natural beauty began to gain even more footing in her feature aspirations with her turn in the Robert DeNiro heist-thriller The Score in 2001. Kanakaredes would spend the ensuing 2000's appearing frequently on TV, joining the cast of the police proceedural CSI: NY.

Trivia: Born February 6, 1939 in Minnesota, Mike Farrell was two years old when his family moved to LA; his father, a carpenter, had just gotten a lucrative movie-studio job. Exposed to showbiz from an early age, Farrell began acting in high school plays, hoping to pursue the theatre as a career. He was forced to put his thespic urges on the back burner during his hitch with the U.S. Marines, but upon being discharged he attended drama courses at Los Angeles City College and UCLA, and also studied at the Jeff Corey Workshop. He made his professional debut in a 1961 stage production of Rain, then spent several years playing bits in such films as Captain Newman MD (1963), The Graduate (1967) and Targets (1968). His first real break came in 1968, when he was cast as architect Scott Banning on the NBC daytime drama Days of Our Lives. Two years later, he put his John Hancock on a contract with Universal, playing supporting roles in such prime-times series as The Interns (1969) and Man and the City (1971).Unhappy with the type of roles offered him by his studio, Farrell asked for and received his release in 1975 when the opportunity came to audition for the popular sitcom M*A*S*H. Wayne Rogers had just left that top-rated series, leaving an opening in the category of "Hawkeye's Best Friend." Farrell read for the assignment, hit it off immediately with M*A*S*H leading-man Alan Alda (something Rogers had never been able to do), and was cast as wise-cracking army surgeon B. J. Hunnicutt, a role he'd fill until the series' final episode in 1983. Like Alda, Farrell directed several M*A*S*H episodes; also like Alda, he was a dedicated political and social activist, devoted to such causes as gay rights and prevention of child and spousal abuse. Since M*A*S*H's demise, Farrell has chosen to cut down on his acting appearances, preferring to direct; in addition to his series-TV work as director, he has also helmed the 1988 TV movie Run Till You Fall. In 1988, he co-produced the critically acclaimed theatrical feature Dominick and Eugene with Marvin Minoff , and reunited with Minoff to co-produce the 1998 drama Patch Adams. Though Farrell has guest starred in a number of television shows throughout the 1980s, 90s and 2000s (among them include Murder, She Wrote, Justice League, Matlock, and Desparate Housewives), his most significant television role since M.A.S.H was perhaps that of veterinarian Jim Hansen, whom he portrayed in the NBC drama Providence (1999 - 2002).

Trivia: Harlem-born actor Seth Peterson credits the acting process with helping him turn his life around at a time when it began to appear as if he was heading down a dark path -- the skill needed to explore the motivations and actions of his characters eventually providing him with marked insight into his own life. As a child, young Peterson traveled frequently from coast to coast. The son of a high-school math teacher and an Echo Park theater actress who eventually abandoned her craft to become a paralegal, Peterson enjoyed his time in California so much that he decided to return there after high school. A die-hard method actor who supported himself by working in the human resources department of a bank by day, Peterson later took a cold-reading class that gave him a new perspective on his craft. In the 1990s, he began ascending the ranks with appearances on such shows as Beverly Hills 90210, Clueless, and Profiler.Subsequent roles in such films as Godzilla and Can't Hardly Wait warmed Peterson to the idea of becoming a feature actor, and in 1999 he joined the cast of the television drama Providence. Cast as the son of a former plastic surgeon struggling to keep her family together, Peterson remained with the show until it ran its course in 2002. In the following years, Peterson became increasingly active in the independent film scene, his role as the vengeful partner of a man who is killed in a chilling act of violence in Hate Crime preceding memorable performances on HBO's gritty Western series Deadwood and the long-running CBS crime drama CSI. He found continued success on the small-screen with his work as Nate Weston on the cable series Burn Notice. He starred in the 2012 comedy drama Sedona. While increasingly singled out for his notable screen presence, Peterson cites his performance as Billy Bibbett in a Garden Pavilion performance of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as one of his most fulfilling roles.

Trivia: L.A. native Joe Flanigan didn't always know that he would be an actor. He graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in history before setting his sights on a career in front of the camera. He first got his feet wet with supporting roles in films like The Other Sister and Farewell to Harry, as well as TV series such as Sisters and Profiler, but his big break came when he was cast as Lt. Colonel John Sheppard on the science fiction series Stargate Atlantis, making him an icon in the sci-fi community.