Trivia: Before he started acting, Mark Wahlberg was best known as Marky Mark, the pants-dropping rapper who attained fame and notoriety with his group the Funky Bunch. In the tradition of Will Smith and Ice Cube, Wahlberg has made a successful transition from music to film, garnering particular early praise for his role in Boogie Nights.Born June 5, 1971, in Dorchester, MA, Wahlberg had a troubled early life. One of nine children, he dropped out of school at 16 (he would later earn his GED) and committed a number of minor felonies. After working various odd jobs, Wahlberg briefly joined brother Donnie and his group New Kids on the Block before forming his own, Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch. The group had widespread popularity for a time, most notably with its 1992 hit single "Good Vibrations." However, it was Wahlberg himself who received the lion's share of attention, whether it was for the homophobia controversy that surrounded him for a time, or for the 1992 Calvin Klein ad campaign featuring him wearing nothing more than his underwear, Kate Moss, and an attitude. In 1993, Wahlberg turned his attentions to acting with a role in The Substitute. The film, co-starring a then-unknown Natasha Gregson Wagner, was a critical and commercial failure, but Wahlberg's next project, 1994's Renaissance Man, with Danny De Vito, gave him the positive notices that would increase with the release of his next film, The Basketball Diaries (1995). Although the film received mixed reviews, many critics praised Wahlberg's performance as Mickey, Leonardo Di Caprio's friend and fellow junkie. Following Diaries, Wahlberg appeared in Fear (1996) in the role of Reese Witherspoon's psychotic boyfriend.It was with the release of Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights in 1997 that Wahlberg finally received across-the-board respect for his commanding yet unassuming performance as busboy-turned-porn-star Eddie Adams/Dirk Diggler. The film was nominated for three Oscars and a slew of other awards by associations ranging from the British Academy to the New York Film Critics Circle to MTV. The positive attention landed Wahlberg on a wide range of magazine covers and gave him greater Hollywood pulling power. He had, as they say, arrived. Wahlberg's follow-up to Boogie Nights was 1998's The Big Hit, an action comedy that, particularly in the wake of Boogie Night's acclaim, proved to be a disappointment. This disappointment was hardly lessened by the relative critical and commercial shortcomings of Wahlberg's next film, The Corruptor (1999). An action flick that co-starred Chow Yun-Fat, The Corruptor showcased Wahlberg's familiar macho side and indicated that success in Hollywood is a strange and unpredictable thing. Though he gained positive notice for his role in David O. Russell' s unconventional war film Three Kings the same year, the film was only a moderate success, paving the way for an even more dramatic turn in the downbeat true story of the ill-fated Andrea Gail, The Perfect Storm, in 2000.The following year found Wahlberg filling some big shoes -- and receiving some hefty criticism as a result -- with his lead role in Tim Burton's much-anticipated remake of Planet of the Apes. Taking over the role that Charlton Heston made famous, Wahlberg found himself pursued onscreen by sinister simians, as well as offscreen by critics who decried the lack of depth that the actor brought to the role. Late that summer, Wahlberg came back down to Earth -- specifically to the everyday-Joe-rises-to-fame territory of Boogie Nights -- with Rock Star, the story of a tribute-band singer who gets a chance to sing for the band he idolizes. Though his noble attempt to fill the considerable shoes of Hollywood legend Cary Grant in the 2002 Charade remake The Truth About Charlie would be only slightly exceeded by his assumption of the role originally played by Michael Caine in the following year's remake of The Italian Job, Wahlberg would subsequently prove that there's nothing like the fresh breeze of an original script in director David O. Russell's existential 2004 comedy I Heart Huckabees. Of course, Wahlberg was never one to let a crowd down, and after riling audiences alongside Tyrese Gibson and André Benjamin in the Detroit-based revenge flick Four Brothers, the athletic actor would take to the gridiron to tell the inspirational story of one football fan whose dreams of playing in the NFL actually came true in the 2006 sports drama Invincible. Also released in the fall of 2006, The Departed allowed Wahlberg to act opposite such heavy hitters as Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, and his old Basketball Diaries co-star Leonardo Di Caprio under the direction of Martin Scorsese. Not only did Wahlberg hold his own against the cast of critics' darlings, he landed the film's only acting Academy Award nod. In 2007, Wahlberg starred in the suspense actioner The Shooter, as well as in director Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Lovely Bones. Wahlberg starred as the leader of a ragtag group trying to survive amidst murderous plant life in M. Night Shyamalan's so-bad-it's-good The Happening (2008), and played the titular role of Max Payne, which was adapted from a video game of the same name. In 2010 the actor starred in the inspirational docudrama chronicling the life of brothers Micky and Dicky Ecklund as they take on the world of boxing. Wahlberg earned an Academy Award nomination for producing the film; that same year, he began producing a new show for HBO, Boardwalk Empire. Wahlberg had a huge hit in 2012 with Seth MacFarlane's Ted, and joined the Transformer franchise in Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014. Wahlberg continued his steady work, starring and producing both Deepwater Horizon (which was nominated for two Oscars) and Patriots Day (about the Boston Marathon bombing) in 2016.

Trivia: Appeared in a Broadway production of Evita when she was just 10 years old. Insisted that if she was cast in 100 Things To Do Before High School, her mother had to surprise her with the announcement; mother took her to a go-kart track and put her in car 315, the channel on which she would be a star. Released her first album, Stopping Time, at age 14. Accepted into college at age 15. Won CinemaCon's Rising Star Award for her performance in Transformers: The Last Knight.

Trivia: Though Australian-born actress Rose Byrne made her film debut in 1994, when she played a supporting role in the eccentric drama Dallas Doll alongside Sandra Bernhard and Jake Blundell, her breakout performances within her native country were both on the small screen; namely, in the soap opera Echo Point and the long-running drama series Heartbreak High. After developing a fan base and gaining some critical recognition, Byrne was cast alongside fellow Aussie Heath Ledger in Two Hands (1999), which featured the actress playing an innocent country girl whose would-be suitor has unwittingly found himself in the midst of a mafia scandal. Though she undoubtedly caught the eye of American filmmakers after Two Hands' premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, Byrne wouldn't appear in an American film until several years later, when she made a very small appearance in a very big movie -- Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones. However, before Star Wars, Byrne starred in two little-known, but nonetheless significant, Australian parts, including her first lead role in The Goddess of 1967 (2000), in which she portrayed a blind, emotionally unstable orphan, and My Mother Frank, which featured her as the unrequited love interest of a pining college student. After the 2002 release of Attack of the Clones, Byrne could be seen in a minor but indelible supporting role in Matt Dillon's City of Ghosts. Byrne went on to perform in two critically acclaimed Australian features -- The Rage in Placid Lake (2003) and The Night We Called It a Day (2003) -- as well as the U.K. release I Capture the Castle (2003), in which she co-starred as the beautiful daughter of a once-grand English family. In 2004, Byrne played a supporting role in Wolfgang Petersen's big-budget historical epic Troy, and went on to star with Josh Hartnett, Matthew Lillard, and Troy alumna Diane Kruger in director Paul McGuigan's thriller Wicker Park. In 2006 she was cast in a supporting role in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. In 2007 she had a hit on the small-screen as one of the leads in the series Damages. Although she continued to work steadily in movies as well, she didn't find herself in a big hit until 2011 when she was one of the main characters in the Oscar nominated comedy Bridesmaids. That same year she also appeared in X-Men: First Class as Dr. Moira MacTaggert.Byrne soon became a mainstay in the comedy world, appearing in The Internship, Neighbors and Spy. She also appeared in the 2014 remake of Annie, playing Grace, and reprised her role of in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016).

Trivia: Of Jewish descent.Moved to Canada when she was seven.Won a Leo Award for her work as Tina Renwald in The Guard.Two of her costars from The 100, Donna Yamamoto and Ty Olsson, also appear in the movie 2012 (2009).One of the many actors from The 100 to have appeared on R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour.

Trivia: Dropped out of school in the 9th grade and relocated to Denver, Colo., where she became involved in the local indie music scene. Released her debut stand-up album, Good One, in 2011. Co-wrote ten episodes of Inside Amy Schumer. Underwent a double mastectomy without reconstructive surgery after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012. Along with Diablo Cody, co-created the 2016 Netflix original series One Mississippi, a semi-autobiographical account of her life.

Trivia: Alabama native Octavia Spencer was working as part of the crew for the 1996 thriller A Time to Kill when she was handed the chance of a lifetime: Director Joel Schumacher thought she was right for a small role in the film, and Spencer's acting career was born. In addition to honing her craft on the professional stages of Los Angeles, Spencer continued to act on screen, appearing in a multitude of projects, including Never Been Kissed, Blue Streak, Big Momma's House, Dinner for Schmucks, and Peep World. Spencer also became a familiar TV face, with starring and recurring roles on LAX, Ugly Betty, Halfway Home, and Raising the Bar. A major boon for Spencer arrived in 2011 when, after 15 years in the industry, her performance in the critically acclaimed period movie The Help earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Trivia: While some may not recognize Margo Martindale's name, many recognize her face. An actress onscreen from the early '90s, Martindale's list of memorable roles is long, and the character actress found a strong niche playing mothers (Million Dollar Baby) grandmothers (Hannah Montana: The Movie), and generally maternal figures (Practical Magic). Martindale even parodied her own typecasting, playing the mother of the title character in the biopic spoof Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. Martindale would continue to act at a furious pace for years to come, appearing in movies like Secretariat, and on shows like Justified and A Gifted Man.

Trivia: Like many actresses who've been typecast as airheads, Julie Hagerty is infinitely more intelligent than most of the characters she's played. After six years' worth of training in her hometown of Cincinnati and at Julliar!d, Hagerty pursued a modelling career in New York, continuing to take acting lessons under the tutelage of William Hickey. She then spent a few seasons playing a variety of roles at the Production Company, a Greenwich Village theatre troupe which she co-founded with her brother Michael. In 1980, she appeared in her first film, playing ditzy stewardess Elaine Dickinson in the disaster-flick lampoon Airplane!. The following year, she delivered a marvelous performance as the limited-intellect mistress of professorial Jose Ferrer in Woody Allen's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982). A couple of inconsequential projects followed (including the inevitable Airplane! sequel) before Hagerty once more appeared in a worthwhile role in a worthwhile film: in 1985's Lost in America, Hagerty and Albert Brooks (who also directed) sparkled as a pair of starry-eyed yuppies who try to go the "Easy Rider" route. She was cast against type (and also appeared sans screen credit) as the mistress of Claus von Buhlow in Reversal of Fortune (1990). There have been several career ups and downs since: the most recent "up", if only on an artistic level, was the 1995 film The Wife. On television, Julie Hagerty starred as Tracy Dillon in the short-duration series Princesses (1991). Hagerty continued to remain active in film and television throughout the 2000s, though she wouldn't recapture her Airplane! success. Among her credits include Freddy Got Fingered, comedian Tom Green's notorious flop from 2001, and the comedies Just Friends (2005), Adam & Steve (2005), and She's the Man (2006). In 2009 she played a small supporting role in Confessions of a Shopaholic, a romantic comedy based on Sophie Kinsella's novel of the same name.

Trivia: Had a leading role in her high school's production of Pippin in her senior year. Performed with both the Groundlings and the UCB. Created a web series, Couple Time, that was picked up by FOX. Appeared in national commercials for Toyota, eBay and Walmart.

Trivia: One of Hollywood's funniest and most underappreciated actresses, Joan Cusack was for years relegated to playing the buddy sidekicks of her more glamorous co-stars and known primarily as John Cusack's older sister. Thanks to a couple of Oscar nominations and strong roles in a number of movies, Cusack finally began getting her due in the late 1990s, earning both recognition and respect for her singular talent.Born in New York City on October 11, 1962, Cusack grew up in the Chicago suburb of Evanston. The daughter of actor and filmmaker Richard Cusack, she and her siblings were encouraged to perform from an early age. As a result, Cusack grew up acting on the stage and training with the Piven Theatre Workshop. She broke into film while still in her teens, getting her start - -and often acting alongside her brother -- in such teen comedies as My Bodyguard (1980) and Sixteen Candles (1984). In 1985 she was offered a part on the Saturday Night Live roster, but felt constrained by the lack of quality material offered to women, and left the show after one season. Gradually getting better supporting work in such films as Broadcast News (1987) and Married to the Mob (1988), Cusack had her screen breakthrough in Working Girl (1988), earning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role as Melanie Griffith's street-smart best friend. More strong notices followed in 1989 for Cusack's work in the drama Men Don't Leave, in which she played a nurse who helps get Jessica Lange's life back on track after her husband's death. Though Cusack would move to Chicago for much of the 90's to focus on her family, she would appear in a handful of memorable titles, like My Blue Heaven (1990), Addams Family Values, Corrina, Corrina, Nine Months, and In & Out. Cusack would amp it up in the coming years, however, with appearances in a slew of popular films like Grosse Point Blank, Runaway Bride, High Fidelity, and Cradle will Rock. As the 2000's rolled onward, Cusack would continue to maintain her status as a go-to character actor, appearing in fims like Friends with Money, My Sister's Keeper and Mars Needs Moms, and on the critically acclaimed series Shameless.

Trivia: Was a running back on his high-school football team. Originally wanted to study medicine until he saw the film Glory, which inspired him to pursue a career in acting. Played the role of Lovborg in Ellie Heyman's stage production of Hedda Gobler. In 2011, played the roles of Elegba and Marcus in Company One's trilogy The Brother/Sister Plays for which he won the Elliot Norton Award from the Boston Theater Critics Association for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Small/Fringe Theater. Performed the role of Mr. Antrobus in a stage production of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth in 2013. Introduced Forest Whitaker when he was honored at Boston University as a Martin Luther King Fellow in 2013.

Trivia: Grew up in Dallas, Texas.Studied Mandarin Chinese and Spanish in school.Was a member of the comedy sketch group Jimmy's Traveling All Stars in college.Won the title of Last Comic Standing in 2008, becoming the first female comedian to win the competition.Her 2019 limited-edition fragrance Christmas Mouth was named after her dog Blanche.During the 2020 quarantine due to COVID-19, she and her husband chef Noah Galuten launched the cooking show Don't Panic Pantry.Shares her unique outlook on life in her podcast Ask Iliza Anything.

Trivia: Debuted on Broadway as an understudy for Mary-Louise Parker in the Tony Award-winning play Proof. This paved the way for a bigger role in The Graduate, as Elaine, opposite Lorraine Bracco's Mrs. Robinson. First television break was a five episode stint on the HBO prison drama Oz. Joined the cast of the short-lived NBC sitcom Joey, replacing Ashley Scott, who played Alex Garrett in the pilot. Appeared in the "Revenge of the Nerds" music video by her Better Off Ted costar Malcolm Barrett, who goes by the stage name Verbal.

Trivia: Actor Michael O'Keefe was educated at NYU and trained for a theatrical career at AADA. O'Keefe made his first off-Broadway appearance in 1974's Killdeer, his Broadway debut in Fifth of July, and in 1975 made his TV bow in the small-screen remake of Friendly Persuasion. Within a year of his 1978 film debut, he was Oscar-nominated for his portrayal of Ben Meechum (author Pat Conroy's alter ego) in The Great Santini (1979). He followed that up by starring opposite comedy heavyweights Chevy Chase and Rodney Dangerfield as the caddy Danny Noonan in Caddyshack.While his subsequent stage credits were consistently praiseworthy -- he won a 1982 Theatre World Award for Mass Appeal, and was a co-founder of the Collanade Theatre Lab -- his screen efforts of the 1980s alternated between brilliant (Ironweed) and lamentable (The Slugger's Wife). On television, O'Keefe was briefly seen as Jackie's (Laurie Metcalf) husband Fred on Roseanne (1988), gonzo attorney Simon MacHeath in Against the Law (1990), suburbanite Ron Steffey in Middle Ages (1992), and also as basketball coach/househusband Kevin Hunter in Life's Work (1996).O'Keefe continued to work steadily in film and television, in movies like The Hot Chick (2002) and Michael Clayton (2007) and with guest appearances on shows like The West Wing, House, The Closer, Criminal Minds, and Brothers & Sisters. In 2014, he had a recurring role on Homeland's fourth season. O'Keefe was married to singer Bonnie Raitt from 1991 to 1999, with whom he has co-written two songs, one of them the Grammy-nominated "Longing in Their Hearts".