Trivia: Grew up thinking he might want to be a police officer. Can speak Indonesian, Norwegian and Spanish. Once spent 18 months snowboarding in Norway. Named New Zealand's Sexiest Man by TV Guide Best on Box People's Choice Awards three years in a row. While filming the pilot for Banshee, he received a six-stitch cut, pulled hamstrings and injured an elbow.

Trivia: Formerly of the RADA and Royal Shakespeare Company, British leading man Ben Cross made an impressive film debut as Olympic athlete Harold Abrahams in Chariots of Fire (1981). Cross' participation in this Oscar-winning film immediately opened up new professional doors and increased his asking price. But he was not about to blindly capitalize on his new fame; he turned down 100,000 dollars to play Prince Charles in a made-for-TV movie in favor of appearing for a comparative pittance in a BBC miniseries adaptation of A.J. Cronin's The Citadel. He has continued to select film, stage, and TV roles on the basis of quality rather than monetary potential. One exception may be Cross' acceptance of the role of centuries-old vampire Barnabas Collins in the failed 1991 revival of the cult-favorite TV series Dark Shadows.

Trivia: A veteran character actor whose work has shown he's as comfortable with comedy as drama, Frankie Faison was born in Newport News, VA, in 1949. Faison developed the acting bug while in grade school after appearing in a school play, and after high school he was a theater student at both Illinois Wesleyan University and New York University. Faison began pursuing a career in the theater, and appeared in a number of acclaimed off-Broadway productions, including Athol Fugard's Playland, the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of Before It Hits Home, and an adaptation of King Lear at the NYSF Delacorte Theater. Faison made his film debut in 1981 with a small role in Ragtime, and Faison soon began supplementing his stage work with small parts in motion pictures and guest shots on television. An inkling of what was to come for Faison appeared in 1986, when he was cast in a small role as a cop in Manhunter, an adaptation of Thomas Harris' novel Red Dragon, in which Brian Cox played the murderous Hannibal Lector. In 1987, Faison appeared on Broadway in August Wilson's drama Fences, opposite James Earl Jones; Faison's performance earned him a Tony award nomination. In 1988, Faison scored a showy comic role in the Eddie Murphy vehicle Coming to America, and a year later he was one of the "corner men" in Spike Lee's acclaimed and controversial Do the Right Thing. In 1990, Faison scored the male lead in a short-lived sitcom, True Colors, and in 1991 he appeared in another adaptation of a Thomas Harris novel when he was cast as Barney Matthews, the big but gentle male nurse in The Silence of the Lambs. Faison continued to win supporting roles in a variety of notable films, including City of Hope, Sommersby, Mother Night, I Love Trouble, Albino Alligator, Where the Money Is, and The Thomas Crown Affair, and he had a leading role in the well-regarded police drama Prey; sadly, the show fared poorly in the ratings and didn't survive its first season. Faison revived his role as Barney Matthews in 2001's box-office blockbuster Hannibal, making him the only actor to appear in all three films about the famous cannibal. ~ Mark Deming

Trivia: Yugoslavian-born Ivana Milicevic emigrated to the United States with her family in 1983, when she was nine years old. Raised in Michigan, the stunning young woman began modeling while she was still in high school and shortly after graduating, she began professional acting with minor appearances on TV shows like Seinfeld and in films like Jerry Maguire. As she racked up roles on her resumé, she began to score bigger parts, on series such as Love Monkey and in the James Bond film Casino Royale.

Trivia: Fair-haired Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen initially sailed to fame on the basis of his lead role in the Dogme 95 Thomas Vinterberg-directed seriocomedy The Celebration (1998). In that film, Thomsen played Christian, a restaurant proprietor headquartered in France, who scandalizes his entire family by accusing the patriarch of improprieties. After a pair of more conventional Hollywood productions -- the James Bond actioner The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Kathryn Bigelow's cerebral drama The Weight of Water (2000) -- Thomsen returned to audience-pleasing arthouse work with a key supporting role in the offbeat comedy Mostly Martha (2001), then tackled additional supporting turns in transcontinental productions including Max (2002), Sergeant Pepper (2004), and Allegro (2005). Kingdom of Heaven (2005) -- an epic about the Crusades -- marked Thomsen's return to elephantine-budgeted Hollywood productions, demonstrating the actor's crossover appeal. He next landed a lead in the Danish farce Clash of Egos, about a dad who gets sweet revenge on a pretentious director thanks to an ugly accident on a movie set, and then played the lead in the psychodrama Opium: Diary of a Madwoman (2007), as a morphine-addicted neurologist who makes a warped pact with a disturbed young woman.

Trivia: Became interested in acting at the age of 10 and began studying performance art, singing and dancing at the Summer Musical Workshop in Washington, D.C. Performed in numerous theater productions during middle and high school. In 2001, played a soldier in a stage production of Shakespeare Theatre Company's The Oedipus Plays at the Landsburgh Theatre. Received the Andrew Carnegie Undergraduate Award for artistic merit while studying at Carnegie Mellon. In 2010, performed in an off-Broadway production of Black Angels Over Tuskegee at St. Luke's Theatre. Participated in a celebrity reading of Orson Welles' Vodou Macbeth at the Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble Gala Fundraiser in 2011. Operates a production company, Conservatory Media Group, the mission of which involves assisting underprivileged youth to receive access to training in the arts. Is co-owner of a mens' clothing line, Robert James Pradia, that specializes in bow ties, hats, cuff links and other accessories.

Trivia: Sang in his school choir and performed in high school musicals.In high school, was on the student council, ran track and played varsity football.Was a member of his high school's forensics club.Was accepted into the Goodman School of Drama, the drama school of DePaul University, but decided to attend Wayne State University because he won a theater scholarship. While attending Wayne State University, spent a semester at the British American Drama Academy.Appeared in commercials for brands like Flonase, Nyquil, Nissan Pathfinder, Campbell's Soup and Dairy Queen.Has worked in film, television and theater.Best known for playing Special Agent Dwight Harris on The Sopranos.

Trivia: Was discovered by a talent manager when she was 15.Started her career in the entertainment business as a model, working for brands like Bebe Stores, J.C. Penny, Roxy and Saturn.In 2014, was featured in Maxim's Hot 100 list.Auditioned for the role of Deva Hopewell in Banshee, but was called back to read for the role of Rebecca, which she got.Replaced actress Camren Bicondova in the series finale of Gotham, playing an adult Selina Kyle/Catwoman, they both met and collaborated on the characterization in advance.

Trivia: Father, Tony Ruivivar, is founder of the well-known Hawaiian musical group Society of Seven. First acting role was in a high-school production of Up the Down Staircase. Attended Boston University at the same time as his wife, Yvonne, a fellow Hawaii native and theater student. However, the two did not know each other well in college and did not become a couple until after both had graduated. Prepared for his role as paramedic Carlos Nieto on Third Watch by shadowing New York City paramedics as they responded to real medical emergencies. Directed and cowrote the play Safe, which was performed by the Imua! Theater Company in 2003. The cast featured Third Watch costars Coby Bell, Jason Wiles and Anthony's wife, Yvonne (who joined Third Watch in 2003).

Trivia: Studied at the Piven Workshop in Evanston, IL. Joined the Shattered Globe Theatre in Chicago in 1998. Was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson award for his work in the Shattered Globe Theatre's production of Frozen Assets. Made his Broadway debut in the 2006 production of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.

Trivia: Drawing on his own off-camera ethnicity and cultural heritage, actor Gil Birmingham fell into a niche in Hollywood with numerous portrayals of Native Americans, in projects that occupied a broad spectrum of genres. A large-framed but not imposing figure who carried a distinguished presence, Birmingham landed his first major role in the 1987 horror opus House 2: The Second Story (as a warrior), then ushered in additional portrayals of Native Americans in efforts including the series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and Body & Soul and the small screen miniseries Dreamkeeper (2003) and Into the West (2005). He moved into big screen features in the mid-2000s, initially by extending his Native American typecast into a portrayal of an Incan warrior from South America in the fact-based Christian missionary drama End of the Spear (2005), then joined Ben Stiller and Dick Van Dyke for the big-budget, special effects-heavy comedy Night at the Museum (2006), and signed for a supporting role in the vampiric romance Twilight (2008).