Trivia: From the catwalk to the silver screen, model-turned-actress Julianne Nicholson has a way of turning heads. A freckled starlet whose fresh-faced beauty and boundless energy have no doubt served her well in juggling multiple projects in film and television, Nicholson first made a name for herself in a trio of independent dramas before achieving recognition among the masses with a role in the 1999 Stephen King miniseries Storm of the Century. Born and raised the oldest of four siblings living in Medford, MA, Nicholson dabbled in modeling following graduation from high school. Later studies at New York's Hunter College found the aspiring actress waiting tables in the Big Apple to support herself, though it didn't take long for Nicholson to throw caution to the wind and take up acting full time. Following her appearance in Storm of the Century Nicholson returned to features for a slew of supporting roles, and in 2000, she made her first foray into weekly television as a college student with the gift of second sight in The Others. Despite the series' short lifespan, Nicholson escaped relatively unscathed, resurfacing later the same year with an Independent Spirit Award-nominated role in the indie drama Tully. Back on the small screen Nicholson offered a breath of fresh air to Ally McBeal when she joined the cast of the popular series in 2001, with a brief leap back to the big screen in I'm With Lucy preceding a stint with a stethoscope on the 2002 medical drama Presidio Med. Cast opposite Jay Mohr as the bride-to-be in the 2004 feature Seeing Other People, Nicholson proved without a doubt that she had more than enough charm to carry the small comedy before moving on to a supporting role in the wide-release romantic comedy Little Black Book and getting meatier television roles on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Boardwalk Empire, and The Good Wife.

Trivia: Actor Will Patton successfully divides his time between mainstream and independent features, television films, and a stage career on and off-Broadway. Born and raised in North Carolina, the son of a Lutheran minister, Patton learned his craft at the North Carolina School of the Arts and at New York's Actor's Studio where he studied under Lee Strasberg. In addition, Patton studied at the Open Theater under Joseph Chaikin before making it to the New York stage. Patton has won two Obie Awards for Tourists and Refugees No. 2 and for Sam Shepard's Fool for Love. Patton also has had experience working at London's Royal Court Theatre. Upon his return to New York, Patton joined the experimental Winter Project troupe. During the 1970s, Patton performed in two soap operas, Search for Tomorrow and Ryan's Hope. Patton first appeared on film in the short underground film Minus Zero(1979). During the early '80s, Patton appeared in such New York-based independent films as Michael Oblowitz's King Blank and Variety (both 1983). After playing a small but important villainous role in Susan Seidelman's Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Patton was cast in his first big-budget film, Martin Scorsese's After Hours (1985), where he played a brutish boyfriend with a thing for leather and chains. His best portrayal of a villain can be found in the Gene Hackman-starring thriller No Way Out (1987). In the '90s he could be seen in The Rapture, In the Soup, Romeo Is Bleeding, Copycat, the infamous Kevin Costner project The Postman, and the Michael Bay blockbuster Armageddon. At the beginning of the 21st century Patton continued to remain busy with major roles in Remember the Titans, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Mothman Prophecies, and The Punisher, as well as smaller roles in diverse films like Into the West, Wendy and Lucy, Meek's Cutoff, and Brooklyn's Finest.

Trivia: For an actress whose late-blooming career began its slow but steady ascent around the age of 18, acclaimed stage and screen beauty Sophie Okonedo has more than made up for any lost time. As comfortable onscreen as she is on-stage, Okonedo first gained critical acclaim for her role as Cressida in Trevor Nunn's production of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida at London's National Theater. Though Okonedo would soon expand her repertoire to include roles in film and television, it was her unwavering dedication to the stage that would be the defining aspect of her early career until breakout roles in such films as Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things and the devastating Hotel Rwanda brought her both international acclaim and an Oscar nomination. Born in London to a Nigerian father and a British mother, Okonedo was 18 years old when she came across an advertisement for a writer's workshop in Time Out magazine. It didn't take long for Okonedo to realize that she was more proficient in offering dramatically rendered readings of her fellow classmate's stories than penning her own, and with the encouragement of writing coach Hanif Kureishi, the aspiring actress was soon honing her skills at the Royal Court Theater. A scholarship to the Royal Academy was quick to follow, and in the succeeding years, Okonedo would earn glowing reviews thanks to, among many other roles, her stunning performance in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida. A brief appearance as a tribal princess in the Jim Carrey vehicle Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls found Okonedo becoming increasingly at ease in front of the camera, and upon returning to the U.K., the rising starlet began to carve out an impressive niche for herself on such television productions as The Governor, Deep Secrets, and In Defence. Despite Okonedo's increasing exposure abroad on screens both large and small, it was her touching turn as a sympathetic prostitute in Frears' dark thriller Dirty Pretty Things (2002) that proved to be her breakout role in film. It was shortly after witnessing Okonedo's performance in that movie that filmmaker Terry George approached her for a substantial role in his upcoming docudrama Hotel Rwanda -- am emotionally devastating retelling of the 1994 Tutsi massacre and one local hotel owner's noble attempt to save innocent lives by opening his doors to those hoping to escape a grim fate at the hands of the Hutus. Delivering a performance that was as genuinely moving as it was heartbreaking, Okonedo truly came into her own with the role -- and earned an Oscar nomination in the process. In addition to her increasingly busy onscreen career (by the time Hotel Rwanda was released into theaters she was already nearly finished filming her role opposite Charlize Theron in the sci-fi action effort Aeon Flux), Okonedo still found time to remain loyal to the stage by serving on the board of directors at the Royal Court Theater. Nevertheless the silver screen was calling now, and when her theatrical obligations were fullfilled, Okonedo was ready to jump back into the fray with a key supporting role n the family friendly action flick Stormbreaker - a cinematic adaptation of author Anthony Horowitz popular series of novels concerning the wild adventures of fourteen-year-old super-spy Alex Rider.

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.