Trivia: Born June 21, 1979, native Minnesotan actor Chris Pratt scored his first big break on television as the troubled physician's son Bright Abbott on the WB series drama Everwood, opposite Treat Williams and others, and segued into film with a prominent role in the biting satire Strangers with Candy (2005) alongside Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert. Successive features included Deep in the Valley (2008), Wanted (2008), and Bride Wars (2009) (as the ineffectual fiancé of Anne Hathaway). In 2009, Pratt joined the NBC sitcom Parks & Recreation as a guest star, but his turn as the dim-witted Andy Dwyer was so well-received that he was promoted to series regular for season 2. While on the show, Pratt also juggled some major movie roles, co-starring with Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill as baseball player Scott Hatteberg in the blockbuster Moneyball (2011) and appearing as a Navy SEAL in 2012's controversial Zero Dark Thirty.

Trivia: Rarely do beauty and talent combine in a form so complimentary to each other than in the case of actress Zoe Saldana. Whether gracefully gliding across the stage in dance, pounding the boards in a play, or lighting up the screen in such popular films as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, the multi-faceted Saldana seems capable of achieving anything she puts her mind to. The New Jersey native was raised in Queens until the age of ten, when her family relocated to the Dominican Republic. The move proved a fateful blessing when young Saldana discovered her love of dance and enrolled in the ECOS Espacio de Danza Academy shortly thereafter, where she would study ballet, jazz, and modern Latin dance. Following her sophomore year in high school, Saldana and her family returned to the U.S. It was while completing her primary studies stateside that Saldana became involved with the Faces theater troupe, whose aim was to make a positive impact on teenage audiences by performing improvisational skits on such issues as substance abuse and sexuality. Involvement with another troupe, the New York Youth Theater, provided more traditional stage experience through such productions as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, and it was while performing with that troupe that a talent agent recognized great potential in the burgeoning actress. In 1999, Saldana received what seemed to be the ideal first film role when she was cast as a talented but snippy dancer vying for a spot at the fictional American Ballet Company in the dance drama Center Stage. Other film roles followed, including Get Over It, Snipes, and a featured part in the Britney Spears teen drama Crossroads, which offered Saldana's first major theatrical release. Widely panned by critics but performing moderately at the box office thanks to legions of Spears fans, Crossroads proved just the fuel needed to get Saldana's struggling feature career running. The following year, she was back on the big screen in Drumline, which found her once again utilizing her dance skills as a college dance major and love interest of the talented but conflicted protagonist. Though her subsequent role as the sole female pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean offered little screen time, her performance as the only woman able to cast a spell over Johnny Depp's charismatic Jack Sparrow offered one of the film's most memorable comic scenes. Back on the indie circuit, Saldana headlined the 2003 rock musical Temptation as a talented singer facing hard times. A brief turn as a by-the-books customs officer in Steven Spielberg's The Terminal found the charming Saldana slowly warming to an immigrant stuck in bureaucratic limbo (played by Tom Hanks).She was the female lead in Guess Who in 2005 and continued to work steadily. However, in 2009 she broke through in a big way when she was cast as Uhura in J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot, and later that year she was the female lead in James Cameron's mega-smash Avatar. She followed that up with the action film The Losers in 2010, and was front and center in another action spectacle, Columbiana, the year after that. She reprised her role in the sequel Star Trek Into Darkness in 2013, and played Gamora in the 2014 smash Guardians of the Galaxy, ensuring her place in yet another action franchise.

Trivia: Worked as a bouncer after high school. Began his career as a professional wrestler in the Ohio Valley Wrestling league in 2000, under the name Leviathan. Joined the WWE in 2002, as Batista. Released his autobiography, Batista Unleashed, in 2007. Appeared as a judge on an episode of Iron Chef America in 2008. Made his MMA debut in 2010, against Vince Lucero; Bautista won the fight with a TKO.

Trivia: Raised in Chicago by his divorced mother, Michael Rooker lived a hand-to-mouth existence until his teens. Rooker successfully auditioned for the Goodman School, and upon graduation, appeared in Chicago-area stage productions. He made a spectacular film debut in the sociopathic title role of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, which was filmed in 1986 but not given a general release until four years later. Henry established Rooker as a gifted purveyor of "don't screw with me" roles, such as chief "Black Sox" conspirator Chick Gandil in Eight Men Out (1988). Michael Rooker's more rugged film assignments of the 1990s included Cliffhanger (1993) and Tombstone (1994).

Trivia: Can play the piano. Got her start in youth theater productions. Attended Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, whose alumni include Doctor Who actors William Hartnell and Bonnie Langford and Doctor Who director Graeme Harper. Played several characters on the sketch-comedy series The Kevin Bishop Show. Portrayed a soothsayer in the 2008 Doctor Who episode "The Fires of Pompeii" before landing the role of the Doctor's companion, Amy Pond.

Trivia: One of the most iconic action stars of all time, Kurt Russell (born March 17th, 1951) is among the few to make the successful transition from child star to successful adult actor. As a youth, Russell aspired to follow the footsteps of his father, Bing Russell, who, in addition to being a big league baseball player, was also an actor (he was perhaps best known for his role as the sheriff on the TV Western Bonanza). That his heroes Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris did the same thing only strengthened Russell's resolve to have both a baseball and acting career.He first broke into acting on television, starring in the series The Travels of Jamie McPheeters, and he made his film debut playing the boy who kicks Elvis in the 1963 Elvis Presley vehicle It Happened at the World's Fair. After signing a ten-year contract with Disney, Russell got his big break as a juvenile actor in 1966, starring opposite Fred MacMurray in Disney's live-action feature Follow Me Boys! His association with the studio lasted through 1975, and produced such comedic family movies as The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (1968), The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), The Barefoot Executive (1971), and The Strongest Man in the World (1975). The last film marked Russell's final collaboration with Disney, aside from his voicing the character of Copper in the studio's The Fox and the Hound (1981). Still an avid baseball enthusiast during those years, Russell nurtured his dreams of becoming a professional ball player until a shoulder injury permanently changed his plans.After ending his association with Disney, Russell disappeared from features for a few years. He appeared in a few television movies, most notably playing the title role in Elvis, John Carpenter's made-for-television biopic. His next role as a sleazy used car salesman in Robert Zemeckis' hilariously caustic Used Cars (1980) allowed him to counter his wholesome, all-American nice guy image, and prove that he was an actor of untapped range. Director Carpenter recognized this and cast Russell as ruthless mercenary Snake Plissken in his brooding sci-fi/action film Escape From New York (1981). The role would prove to be one of legendary status, and one that would cement Russell as a cult hero for generations to come. Carpenter also cast Russell as a scientist stranded in the Antarctic in his chilling 1982 remake of The Thing. Realizing that his characters were larger than life, Russell typically played them with a subtle tongue- in-cheek quality. He also used this comic intuition in comedies like 1987's Overboard, in which he starred alongside his long-time life-partner and mother of his child Golide Hawn.In 1983, Russell moved to serious drama, playing opposite Cher and Meryl Streep in Silkwood. The success of that film helped him break into a more mainstream arena, and he was later able to win praise for his dramatic work in such films as Swing Shift (1984), Tequila Sunrise (1988), and Winter People (1989). However, it is with his performances in action films that Russell remains most widely associated. He has appeared in a number of such films, all of disparate quality. Some of Russell's more memorable projects include Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Tango and Cash (1989), Backdraft (1991), Tombstone (1993), and Executive Decision (1996). In 1996, he reprised his Snake Plissken character for Carpenter's Escape From L.A. The following year, he starred opposite Kathleen Quinlan in the revenge thriller Breakdown before returning to the sci-fi/action realm with Soldier in 1998. It would be two years before movie-going audiences would again catch a glimpse of Russell, though with his roles in 2000 Miles to Graceland (again carrying on the Elvis associations that have haunted his career) and Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky, the versatile actor proved that he was still very much on the scene. Is some of Russell's later day roles had stressed the action angle a bit more than the more dramatic aspects of the stories, the release of Dark Blue in 2003 combined both with Russell cast as a volitile police officer tracking a killer against the backdrop of the 1992 L.A. riots. In 2005, Russell played a frustrated father and horse-man in Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story, showing audiences that for all his on-screen bombast, he still had a sensitive side. He quickly leapt back into the action-packed saddle, however, with a leading role in 2006's remake of The Poseidon Adventure, Poseidon. Soon afterward, he accepted a role that took a decidedly self-aware perspective on his own fame as an over-the-top action star as he signed on for the leading role in Death Proof, Quinten Tarantino's half of the double-feature Grindhouse. A tribute to the fantastically violent B-exploitation films of its title, Grindhouse would cast Russell as Stuntman Mike, a literal lady-killer with a car that can be crashed and smashed without ever allowing the driver to be hurt.

Trivia: Both parents were classically trained dancers, who moved the family from Paris to Melbourne when she was 5 years old. Learned ballet at a young age from her mother; switched to contemporary dance at age 16 because she was too tall to be a professional ballerina. Was the dux, the highest ranking student academically, of her high school. Cast in her first film, A Few Best Men (2011), three weeks after graduating from drama school. Was the face of jeweler Jan Logan's collection in 2012. Performed in the Sydney Theatre Company's production of The Maids, opposite Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert, in 2013.

Trivia: Mother is Korean; father is French-Russian. Traveled with her family extensively during the first years of her life through Japan, the Ivory Coast and France. Learned how to ride reindeer while working on the independent film Wolf in Oriental Siberia. Made her Hollywood debut in Spike Lee's Oldboy. Studied taekwondo and had a purple belt in 2014.

Trivia: Trained as a competitive tennis player for 13 years. Starred in a U.S. tour of a one-man show titled Defending the Caveman following his university graduation. Studied at the ImprovOlympic and acted in stage productions in Chicago for six years. Performed the roles of Jim Taylor in Lombardi and Amos Hart in Chicago on Broadway. Nominated for the 2012 Outer Circle Critics Award for Featured Actor for his role as Duke Mahoney in George Gershwin's Nice Work If You Can Get It on Broadway opposite Matthew Broderick. Provided the voice of the GEICO camel for TV advertisements. Founder of a band called Sully and the Benevolent Folk.

Trivia: The youngest of six children. First professional acting job was in a commercial for the Illinois lottery. A co-creator of the web series James Gunn's PG Porn with brothers James and Brian. Nicknamed "The Judge," which originated from older Matt, who jokingly accused him of being judgmental. Has previously roomed with fellow actors Judy Greer and Gilmore Girls co-star John Cabrera. Appeared in the second episode of Gilmore Girls as Mick, before being brought back later in the season to play eccentric Stars Hollow resident Kirk; he eventually became a series regular.

Trivia: An icon of machismo and Hollywood action heroism, Sylvester Stallone is responsible for creating two characters who have become a part of the American cultural lexicon: Rocky Balboa, the no-name boxer who overcame all odds to become a champion, and John Rambo, the courageous soldier who specialized in violent rescues and revenge. Both characters are reflections of Stallone's personal experiences and the battles he waged during his transition from a poor kid in Hell's Kitchen to one of the world's most popular stars. According to Stallone, his was not a happy childhood. On July 6, 1946, in the aforementioned part of Manhattan, Sylvester Enzio Stallone was born to a chorine and an Italian immigrant. A forceps accident during his birth severed a facial nerve, leaving Stallone with parts of his lip, tongue, and chin paralyzed. In doing so, the accident imprinted Stallone with some of the most recognizable components of his persona: the distinctively slurred (and some say often nearly incomprehensible) speech patterns, drooping lower lip, and crooked left eye that have been eagerly seized upon by caricaturists. To compound these defects, Stallone was a homely, sickly child who once suffered from rickets. His parents were constantly at war and struggling to support Stallone and his younger brother, Frank Stallone (who became a B-movie actor). The elder brother spent most of his first five years in the care of foster homes. Stallone has said that his interest in acting came from his attempts to get attention and affection from those strangers who tried to raise him. When he was five, his parents moved their family to Silver Spring, MD, but once again spent their time bickering and largely ignored their children. Following his parents' divorce in 1957, the 11-year-old Stallone remained with his stern father. The actor's teen years proved even more traumatic. As Stallone seemed willing to do just about anything for attention, however negative, he had already been enrolled in 12 schools and expelled several times for his behavior problems. His grades were dreadful and his classmates picked on him for being different. Stallone coped by becoming a risk taker and developing elaborate fantasies in which he presented himself as a brave hero and champion of the underdog. At age 15, Stallone moved to Philadelphia to be with his mother and her new husband. By this time, he had begun lifting weights and took up fencing, football, and the discus. He also started appearing in school plays. Following graduation, Stallone received an athletic scholarship for the American College of Switzerland. While there he was a girls' athletic coach and in his spare time starred in a school production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. The experience inspired him to become an actor and after returning stateside, he started studying drama at the University of Miami until he decided to move to New York in 1969. While working a variety of odd jobs, Stallone auditioned frequently but only occasionally found stage work, most of which was off-Broadway in shows like the all-nude Score and Rain. He even resorted to appearing in the softcore porn film, Party at Kitty's and Studs, which was later repackaged as The Italian Stallion after Stallone became famous. Stallone's face and even his deep voice were factors in his constant rejection for stage and film roles. He did nab a bit role in Woody Allen's Bananas (1971), but after he was turned down for The Godfather (1971), Stallone became discouraged. Rather than give up, however, Stallone again developed a coping mechanism -- he turned to writing scripts, lots of scripts, some of which were produced. He still auditioned and landed a starring role in Rebel (1973). During his writing phase, he married actress Sasha Czack in late 1974 and they moved to California in the hopes of building acting careers. His first minor success came when he wrote the screenplay for and co-starred in the nostalgic Lords of Flatbush (1974) with Henry Winkler. The film's modest success resulted in Stallone's getting larger roles, but he still didn't attract much notice until he penned the screenplay for Rocky. The story was strong and well written and studios were eager to buy the rights, but Stallone stipulated that he would be the star and must receive a share of the profits. Producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff accepted Stallone's terms and Rocky (1976) went on to become one of the biggest movie hits of all time. It also won several Oscars including ones for Best Picture, Best Director for John Avildsen, and a Best Actor nomination for Stallone. Suddenly Stallone found himself on Hollywood's A-list, a status he has largely maintained over the years. In addition to writing four sequels to Rocky, he penned three Rambo films (First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and Rambo 3) and F.I.S.T. (1979). Stallone made his directorial debut with Paradise Alley, which he filmed in Hell's Kitchen. He also wrote and directed but did not appear in the sequel to Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive (1983). In addition, Stallone has continued to appear in the films of other directors, notably Demolition Man (1993), Judge Dredd (1995), and Copland (1997), a film in which he allowed himself to gain 30 pounds in order to more accurately portray an aging sheriff. Occasionally, Stallone has ventured out of the action genre and into lighter fare with such embarrassing efforts as Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) and Oscar (1991), which did not fare well at the box office. Following these missteps, Stallone found greater success with the animated adventure Antz (1998), a film in which his very distinctive voice, if not his very distinctive physique, was very much a part. Stallone was back in shape for the 2000 remake of Get Carter and hit the race tracks in the following year in the CART racing thriller Driven. Though the early 2000s found his career sputtering along with such forgettable duds as D-Tox and Avenging Angelo, Stallone took his career into his own hands by returning to the director's chair to resurrect two of his most iconic characters. Lacing his boxing gloves up once again for Rocky Balboa, the veteran action star proved he still had some fight left in him, and venturing into the jungles of Burma as John Rambo just two years later, he proved that hard "R" action could still sell in the era where most filmmakers were playing it "PG-13"safe. That trend continued with Stallone's all-star action opus The Expendables in 2010, with the success of that film leading to a sequel (with Simon West taking over directorial duties) featuring even more action icons in 2012. Incredibly, not even a broken neck suffered during production of The Expendables proved capable of slowing Stallone down, and 2013 found him teaming with Walter Hill for Bullet to the Head -- which followed a cop and a killer as they teamed up to take down a mutual enemy. In 2015, Stallone returned to Rocky Balboa once more, but this time as a supporting character in the spin-off film Creed. He earned rave reviews and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, making him only the sixth performer to be nominated for playing the same character in two separate films.

Trivia: Was persuaded to try acting by his friend and fellow actor Robert Carlyle. Got his start with a theater company in his native Glasgow in the early 1990s after working as a dance-club DJ. First TV roles were in a 1992 episode of the BBC anthology series Screen One and a '93 episode of Taggart, a long-running Scottish detective series. His breakout movie was Braveheart (1995). The scars on his face are the result of a mugging by knife-wielding assailants, an incident that occurred before he began acting.

Trivia: Was inspired to become an actress as a child when she saw Hayley Mills in Pollyanna. Once had to sit for an hour on a block of ice while shooting a scene as a mermaid in the British TV series Honest. Appeared in the play When We Are Married at the Garrick Theatre in 2010.

Trivia: Best known for playing Cdr. John Crichton on Farscape (1999-2003) and Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell on Stargate SG-1 (2005-07). Family owns and operates NASCAR race cars. Wanted to be an astronaut while growing up. Studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Played Leonardo in a 1989 London production of The Merchant of Venice that starred Dustin Hoffman; in 1990, the production moved to Broadway. Made his movie debut with a small part in 1990's Memphis Belle. Had a recurring role on Party of Five as Sam Brody during the 1996-97 season. Was originally cast to play football coach Red Raymond on the CW drama Hellcats in 2010, but dropped out so he could focus on films.

Trivia: Actor/writer/producer Steve Agee was a driving force in the creation of The Bogus Witch Project before his brief appearance in Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic led to a more substantial role in the comedienne's surprise Comedy Central hit The Sarah Silverman Program. In between those two projects, Agee kept busy by appearing in the short film Chad Vader, the Internet comedy series "Yacht Rock," and the Bob Goldthwait-directed comedy Sleeping Dogs Lie. Agee would continue appearing on screen in films like Super, and found success for a number of years as a writer on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Trivia: Gleefully anarchic, the long-haired heavy-metal rocker-turned-slasher-film-director Rob Zombie sustains an instantly recognizable image on par with his musical contemporaries (and friends), Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne. Long fascinated by Charles Manson, gore films, and the occult, Zombie exudes a dark sensibility that has earned him mainstream success as well as a certain cult following in the film world. Founder of the band White Zombie, the rocker made his name behind the camera not only by directing his group's music videos, but by designing the surreal "head trip" animated sequence in Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996). His first feature outing came in 2003, with the controversial House of 1000 Corpses, a kind of Texas Chainsaw Massacre update, overloaded with buckets of gore, packed with references to '70s and '80s horror staples, and starring no less than Karen Black. Universal rejected the picture, certain of an NC-17 rating, but Zombie refused to make cuts and still emerged with an R. House drew critical pans but purportedly (and unsurprisingly) earned almost twice its small budget. His follow-up, 2005's The Devil's Rejects, did well critically (Roger Ebert commented, "The movie is not merely disgusting, but has an attitude and a subversive sense of humor.") He helmed a remake of John Carpenter's classic Halloween in 2007, and also directed a sequel to the project two years later. His return to grindhouse aesthetics came with 2012's The Lords of Salem.

Trivia: A character actor with a reputation for playing heavies and high rollers, Gregg Henry got his start on screen in the late '70s. He landed small roles in projects like the TV movies Hot Rod and Dummy, before adding some big-screen parts to his résumé. Perhaps Henry's most memorable movie role of his early career was the sly Sam Bouchard in the de Palma thriller Body Double. He would continue to find a home with TV, however, making notable appearances on shows like Magnum, P.I., and Jake and the Fatman, and playing recurring roles over the coming years on Matlock, L.A. Law, Murder, She Wrote, Gilmore Girls, The Riches, and 24. Henry would also continue to take on occasional movie roles, including in 2006's The Black Dahlia and 2011's Super.

Trivia: A burly, bald black actor of stage, screen, and television, Ving Rhames specializes in playing villains and, indeed, having grown up on Harlem's meanest streets, is no stranger to violence. His onscreen persona, however, is no match for his real-life reputation as a deeply compassionate man, seriously dedicated to his profession. The actor ably demonstrated his capacity for abundant generosity during the 1998 Golden Globes ceremony when he handed over the award he had just won for portraying the title character of the cable film Don King: Only in America to fellow nominee Jack Lemmon, simply because he felt Lemmon's contributions to film exceeded his own.Though his upbringing in Harlem was rife with many temptations to engage in easy money criminal ventures, the deeply religious Rhames separated himself from street riffraff at a young age and focused his energies on school. It was his ninth grade English teacher who steered the sensitive young man toward acting, in large part because Rhames was unusually well spoken, frequently earning praise for his clear elocution. Inspired by a poetry reading he had attended with schoolmates, Rhames successfully auditioned for entrance into New York's prestigious High School for the Performing Arts. Once enrolled, he immersed himself in his studies and fell in love with acting. Following graduation in 1978, he attended the Juilliard School of Drama on a scholarship and focused his studies there on classical theater. After graduating from Juilliard in 1983, he went on to perform in Shakespeare in the Park productions. In 1984, Rhames made his television debut in Go Tell It on the Mountain and, the following year, landed his first Broadway role starring opposite Matt Dillon in The Winter Boys. Thus began a steady, fruitful theater career augmented by recurring roles on such daily soap operas as Another World and Guiding Light, and guest-starring parts on such primetime series as Miami Vice. He entered films in Native Son (1986), following that up with appearances in a series of modest films and television movies. Rather than getting a single big break into stardom, he made a gradual ascent that began with his appearance in Brian De Palma's grim Vietnam War saga Casualties of War (1989). Rhames again worked with Matt Dillon in 1993 on The Saint of Fort Washington. While filming on location in New York, Dillon introduced him to a man who had approached him, asking about the actor's involvement with Rhames on Broadway. It turned out that the stranger was Rhames' long-estranged older brother, Junior, who had lost contact with the family while serving in Vietnam. Troubled and unable to reintegrate into mainstream society, he had been living in a nearby homeless shelter. The compassionate Rhames was thrilled to see his big brother and promptly moved him into his apartment, helped him get a job, and later bought a home for his brother and parents to share. In 1994, Rhames gained considerable acclaim for his disturbingly convincing portrayal of the sadistic Marsellus Wallace in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. His performance paved the way for supporting roles opposite some of Hollywood's most popular stars in such big budget features as Mission Impossible (1996) (as well as John Woo's 2000 sequel to the film), Con Air (1997), Out of Sight (1998), and Entrapment (1999). In addition to his film credits, Rhames has also continued to appear frequently on such television shows as E.R. Rhames' performance as a former gangster turned honest, hardworking man proved a highlight of Boyz N the Hood director John Singleton's 2001 drama Baby Boy, and after lending his distinctive voice to the computer animated box-office disaster Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within the actor returned to the small screen for a pair of made-for-television features. If subsequent efforts such as Undisputed failed to make a sizable dent at the box office, Rhames continued to impress with contributions to such features as Lilo and Stitch (again providing vocals for the animated film) and as a conscientious cop in the 2002 police drama Dark Blue. A role opposite Gary Oldman in the 2003 crime drama Sin flew under the radar of most mainstream film audiences, and in early 2004 Rhames took up arms against the hungry legions of the undead in the eagerly anticipated remake Dawn of the Dead. Subsequently reprising his role as Luther Stickell in Mission Impossible III, the imposing Rhames flexed his comedy muscles with a role in 2007's I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry before hitting what could be considered a career low-point in Steve Miner's embarassing Day of the Dead remake. An outrageous performance in 2009's The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard garnered some big laughs, and the following year Rhames did over-the-top horror the right way in Alexandre Aja's outrageous remake Piranha. In the next few years, however, Rhames' film output seemed to grow increasingly erratic, with roles in such Z-grade fare as Death Race 2 and Zombie Apocalypse earning the Emmy-winning veteran steady paychecks but precious little artistic integrity.

Trivia: Familiar to television addicts for sporting the trademark chrome-dome as (pre)criminal mastermind Lex Luthor on television's Smallville, self-assured actor Michael Rosenbaum has also provided voice-over work for such comic-book inspired animated series as Batman Beyond and Justice League (for which he voiced the role of the Flash). Born in Oceanside, Long Island, in July of 1972, Rosenbaum began his acting career in high school by landing a role in a play on a bet. Subsequently enamored with the stage, Rosenbaum earned a B.A. in theater and communications from Western Kentucky University. Continuing to act on-stage but hungering for more challenging roles, the aspiring actor packed his bags and set his sights on New York. Performing in off-Broadway plays and low-budgeted independent films, Rosenbaum fueled his passion and became familiar to nighttime television viewers in a recurring role as the "Amsterdam Kid" on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. It wasn't long before Rosenbaum was cast in the WB series Tom (starring Tom Arnold), and feature roles began to follow shortly after. Turning up in such films as Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) and Urban Legend (1998), Rosenbaum would alternate between television (Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane, The Zeta Project) and film (Sweet November and Rave Macbeth [both 2001]) before turning up as one of a trio of gender-bending college students (alongside Harland Williams and Barry Watson) in 2002's Sorority Boys. In addition to acting, Rosenbaum is an avid hockey player/fan as well as a musician.

Trivia: Best known in the West for her role as Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) before her international breakout role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Michelle Yeoh is not your ordinary Bond girl. Her elegant good looks coupled with a killer high kick have made Yeoh one of the most popular martial arts stars in Asia and one of Hong Kong's most famous icons abroad.Born on August 6, 1962, in the mining town of Ipoh, in Western Malaysia, Yeoh's ethnically Chinese parents taught her Malay and English well before she learned Cantonese. She began ballet dancing at the age of four, and, inspired by Fame (1980), she enrolled in England's Royal Academy of Dance, where she eventually earned a B.A. Though a back injury ended her career as a ballerina, she returned to her home country to be crowned Miss Malaysia of 1983. From there, she appeared in a television commercial with Jackie Chan which caught the attention of a fledgling film production company called D&B Films. Taking the stage name Michelle Khan, she acted in bit parts in a number of forgettable films until her breakout role in the girls-with-guns action-comedy Yes, Madam! (1985) alongside noted kung-fu femme fatal Cynthia Rothrock. Though she did not know any martial arts before signing on to the film, Yeoh reportedly spent nine hours a day in the gym, working out and learning to take a punch. She had come a long way from the Royal Academy of Dance. Within the first five minutes of Madam, Yeoh emasculates a flasher and wastes a quartet of thieves. Yeoh immediately became one of Hong Kong's biggest female action stars and was soon appearing in films at a dizzying rate. Always performing her own stunts, she teamed up again with Rothrock in the kung-fu fest Royal Warriors (1986), and she starred in a violent Thomas Crown Afffair remake, Easy Money (1987). While making the Indiana Jones-style action epic Magnificent Warriors (1987), she got engaged to department store tycoon and studio head Dickson Poon (the D in D&B Films). Taking the lead of earlier martial arts divas such as Angela Mao, Yeoh retired from the movie biz in 1988 and retreated to a life of quiet domesticity. It didn't last long. The marriage was not a happy one (the Hong Kong press reported -- falsely it turns out -- that Poon suffered two broken ribs after a well-placed kick) and it ended in divorce in 1992.Yeoh's career came roaring back after her show-stopping performance in Police Story 3: Super Cop (1992), where she matched the notoriously fearless Jackie Chan stunt for jaw-dropping stunt. At the beginning of the shoot, Chan was skeptical as to whether women could fight, preferring them to look pretty and to sit on the sidelines. By the end of the film, Chan was legitimately concerned that he might be upstaged. Yeoh's hair-raising high-speed motorcycle jump onto a moving train (she learned how to drive the motorbike the day before the stunt) was bested only by Chan's death-defying leap from a minaret to an airborne rope ladder hanging from a helicopter hundreds of feet above Kuala Lumpur. The film was a massive success, making Yeoh the highest paid actress in Asia. Now being billed as Michelle Yeoh, she starred in a string of popular action flicks, including Heroic Trio (1992) opposite Maggie Cheung and Anita Mui, Tai Chi Master (1993) along with kung-fu phenom Jet Li, and Wing Chun (1994), which is without a doubt the rockin'-est sockin'-est flick ever about tofu. Her career of high-flying stunts resulted in many a dislocated shoulder and broken rib, but in 1995, while shooting Ann Hui's Ah Kam, Yeoh managed to seriously injure herself. She misjudged a jump off an 18-foot wall (an easy stunt according to her) and landed on her head, cracking a vertebra. Yeoh was put in traction, and it was feared that she would never walk again. Yet within a month, she was back on the set as if nothing happened.The American release of Supercop caught the eyes of Western producers, and soon she was cast opposite Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond-epic Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). Once again, Yeoh's natural charisma, along with her effortless ability to dispatch bands of baddies, threatened to outclass the male lead. That same year, Yeoh was named one of People magazine's 50 sexiest people of the year. Back in Hong Kong, Yeoh received accolades not for her kung-fu abilities but for her acting skills in her role as Soong Ai-ling in the widely praised historical melodrama The Soong Sisters (1997).In 2000 Yeoh fused the popular historical aspects of her previous work with an unmistakably modern aesthetic, again displaying her unyielding skills and speed in the wildly popular Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Teaming with international superstar Chow Yun Fat in an epic and gravity-defying quest to recover a stolen Excaliber-like sword named the Green Destiny, Yeoh cemented her status as an incredibly graceful fighter with the unusual ability to display a remarkable dramatic range as well.

Trivia: With elegantly aristocratic features and a career marked by versatility and critical acclaim, Glenn Close is one of Hollywood's most celebrated actresses. Her acclaim is not limited to the film world, as she has also found great success in various television and stage productions, most notably Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway musical version of Sunset Boulevard and in the acclaimed 1991 made-for-TV movie Sarah, Plain and Tall (which was successful enough to have two sequels, Skylark and Sarah, Plain and Tall: Winter's End.Born in Greenwich, CT, on March 19, 1947, Close grew up in Africa and Switzerland while her father, a doctor, maintained a clinic in the Belgian Congo. As a high school student at Greenwich's Rosemary Hall, the actress organized a touring rep-theater group and performed a number of folk-singing gigs. After graduating from the College of William and Mary, where she studied anthropology and acting, Close appeared in regional theater and then made her New York stage bow in 1974's Love for Love. Her theater work led to her first film role, when director George Roy Hill, after seeing her in the Broadway musical Barnum, cast her in The World According to Garp (1982). Close won the role of the protagonist's political-activist mother, a portrayal made all the more interesting by the fact that the actress was only five years older than Robin Williams, the actor playing her son. Close earned an Oscar nomination for her work, thus catalyzing the acclaim that was to surround much of her subsequent career.Close worked steadily through the remainder of the 1980s, winning Oscar nominations for her divergent performances in The Big Chill (1983), The Natural (1984), and Fatal Attraction (1987). In the last of these films, she all but caused the screen to combust with her fearsome portrayal of a woman who gets very, very angry with Michael Douglas. As evidence of her remarkable versatility, Close avoided being typecast as similarly psychotic women, going on to win another Oscar nomination the next year for her devastatingly wicked performance in Dangerous Liaisons. Further acclaim followed with her role as Sunny Von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune (1990), and Close spent the next decade turning in consistently strong performances in films both good and bad, from the critically and commercially lambasted Mary Reilly (1994) to the all-star Mars Attacks! (1996); 101 Dalmatians (1996), in which she got in touch with her inner drag queen as Cruella De Vil; and Air Force One (1997), which featured her as President Harrison Ford's harried Vice President. In 1999, Close took on two very different roles, first lending her voice to the animated Tarzan as the hero's gorilla mother, and then in Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune, in which she was able to explore Southern-style insanity as the terrifically unhinged Camille Orcutt.Nearly thirty years after her initial Oscar nomination for The World According to Garp, Close captured her sixth nod - this one for Best Actress - for her work in #Albert Nobbs where she played a woman in 19th Century Ireland who pretends to be a man in order to keep a job at a hotel. Close had played the part on stage very early in her career, and had worked for decades to bring the story to the big screen. Her perseverance was rewarded with not just Oscar, but Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actress as well.In addition to her film work, Close has maintained a television and stage career since the early '80s. Her stage work led to Tony Awards for her turns in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing (1984) and Ariel Dorfman's Death and the Maiden in 1992. She garnered further raves and diva status for her starring role as the legendary Norma Desmond in the 1995 Broadway production of Sunset Boulevard (an excellent singer, Close annually performs the National Anthem for the New York Mets' opening-day game). On television, she continued to win prestige for performances in Stones for Ibarra (1988), 1991's Sarah, Plain and Tall, in which she starred opposite Christopher Walken, and Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (1995), for which she won an Emmy for her portrayal of the title character. However, it wasn't until 2005 that Close could be seen in a regular series role when she joined the cast of the critically acclaimed FX series The Shield. The gritty role was perfect for Close, and the small screen seemed to agree with her, so she next signed on for an even darker role, this time starring on the series Damages.In 2011, she was nominated for her sixth Academy Award for her work in Albert Nobbs, a film she also co-wrote and served as a producer. Damages came to a close in 2012 after five seasons, and Close was next seen in a supporting role in Guardians of the Galaxy, playing Nova Prime Irani Rael. She also returned to Broadway in the Edward Albee play A Delicate Balance, opposite John Lithgow.

Trivia: Born in Alberta, Canada, in 1971, Nathan Fillion took his acting ambitions to the United States when he moved to New York in 1994 to portray Joey Buchanan on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live. Having previously appeared in a single TV movie, Ordeal in the Arctic, Fillion's acting career had taken a backseat to his plans to be an English teacher. His three-year stint on the long-standing daytime TV staple, however, changed his focus in a big way. When his time on One Life to Live was up, the 27-year-old actor relocated to Los Angeles to assume a regular role on the sitcom Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place. Shortly afterward, he made a memorable appearance as the "wrong Ryan" in Steven Spielberg's WWII epic Saving Private Ryan. He also made appearances on The Outer Limits, King of the Hill, Pasadena, and other projects. It was in 2002, however, that he assumed the role that would make his career. Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon selected Fillion to portray rugged captain Mal Reynolds for his new sci-fi/Western series Firefly. The show found a rabidly loyal cult fan base, as well as incomparable critical praise, but tragically, failed to find the wide audience that Fox had been hoping for. The show was canceled after only 11 episodes, but Fillion had reached a level of familiarity with the public that most actors never hope to achieve. He reprised the role of Mal in 2005 for the feature-film adaptation of Firefly, Serenity, to the delight of fans. In 2006, Fillion stayed on the cream of the fringe with the much anticipated horror film Slither. Starring alongside Elizabeth Banks, the actor stole the show with his humorous, low-key performance. For his next project, he signed on to act alongside Keri Russell in the romantic comedy Waitress. When the writer's strike hit, Fillion teamed with his old collaborator Joss Whedon to star in the direct-to-the-web musical miniseries Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. In 2009 he landed the title role on the ABC series Castle, and took a small role in the dark superhero comedy Super in 2010.

Trivia: In addition to being the man who crafted both the "Marvel Universe" as well as some of the most popular comic book superheroes of modern times, longtime artist and writer Stan Lee played a pivotal role in bringing genuine human emotion into comic book characters, a trait that, up until the creation of such characters as the enduring Spider-Man, was sorely lacking in comics. Born in New York in 1922, it was at the age of 17 that Lee began work as an assistant editor for Timely Comics. Promoted to editor soon thereafter, Lee remained with the company as it changed its name to Atlas and fought slumping sales in the following years. At first simply carrying on with the stories of the characters that had already been created, the company got a fresh burst of creativity when, in 1961, it changed its name from Atlas to Marvel Comics. Soon carrying stories of emotionally complex and multi-dimensional characters such as Spider-Man, The Hulk, and Daredevil, Lee's intelligent story lines -- coupled with artist Jack Kirby's impressive images -- helped Marvel's popularity surge during the '60s. Advancing to the position of publisher and editorial director in 1972, it was during this decade that such popular television series as The Incredible Hulk and The Amazing Spider-Man truly came to life on the small screen. Though many of the characters had appeared in cartoon form on television in the previous decade, their transformation from animated characters to living, breathing humans truly brought comics into a new light and exposed them to audiences who otherwise might have scoffed at such fiction. Of course, this was only the beginning, and throughout subsequent years, Lee's characters made the leap to feature films in such blockbusters as Bryan Singer's X-Men (2000) and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002). In addition to his role as a popular writer in comics, Lee also played a pivotal role in reducing censorship in the medium. Addressing the issue of drug addition in an issue of The Amazing Spider-Man at the request of public health officials, Lee defied the strict rules set by the Comics Code Authority (which banned any portrayal of drug use whether it be in a positive or negative light) and ultimately put the downfall of the CCA into motion. In the decades since, Lee's creations have not only graced the pages of comic books, but have sprung to life as never before with numerous film and television adaptations most successfully in the box-office smash The Avengers.