Trivia: Standing a burly 6'4", Liam Neeson was once described by a theatre critic as a "towering sequoia of sex." To say that he has undeniable charisma is certainly accurate, but it is a charisma composed as much of impressive talent as of broken-nosed physical appeal. Bearing both versatility and quiet forcefulness, Neeson has been touted as one of the most compelling actors of the late 20th century.Born June 7, 1952, in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, Neeson had an upbringing partially defined by his involvement in boxing. He became active in the sport as a teenager, earning his distinctive broken nose in the process; he stayed with boxing until he began experiencing black-outs from repeated blows to the head. Initially interested in a career as a teacher, Neeson attended Belfast's Queens College, but he aborted his studies after developing a desire to act. In 1976, he joined Belfast's Lyric Theatre, and two years later he began performing the classics at Dublin's famed Abbey Theatre. While he was with the Abbey, Neeson was discovered by director John Boorman, who cast him as Gawain in 1981's Excalibur. Following his part in that action fantasy, Neeson had supporting roles in such films as The Mission (1986), and he was featured in leads opposite Cher in Suspect (1987) and Diane Keaton in The Good Mother (1988). He got his first starring vehicle in 1990 with Sam Raimi's Darkman; unfortunately, the film was a relative disappointment. Neeson continued to do starring work in such films as Big Man (1991), which featured him as a boxer, Ethan Frome (1992), and Under Suspicion (1992), but ironically, it was his work on the stage that led to his true screen breakthrough. In 1992, the actor was turning in a Tony-nominated performance in Anna Christie opposite Natasha Richardson (whom he would marry in 1994) on Broadway. His work attracted the notice of Steven Spielberg, who was so impressed with what he saw that he cast Neeson as Oskar Schindler in his landmark Holocaust drama Schindler's List (1993). Neeson received Best Actor Oscar and British Academy Award nominations for his performance, and he subsequently didn't have to worry about finding work in Hollywood, or elsewhere, again.More high-profile work followed for Neeson, who went on to star in such films as Nell (1994), Rob Roy (1995), and Michael Collins (1996). However acclaimed his previous work had been, none of it received the hype of one of Neeson's 1999 projects, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Although the film, which starred Neeson as a Jedi master, ultimately earned a galaxy's worth of negative reviews, it mined box office millions. Its success further enhanced Neeson's status as one of the world's most visible actors, and it even helped to downplay the disappointment of The Haunting, his other film that year.Neeson would enter the new millennium with a variety of projects on his to-do list, appearing in the Martin Scorsese period piece Gangs of New York in 2002, and the extremely popular romantic comedy Love Actually in 2003. The following year would find him tackling a meatier role, however, as he singed on to portray pioneering scientist and researcher on human sexuality Alfred Kinsey in the biopic Kinsey. The part would earn Neeson a Golden Globe nomination, and Neeson would follow its success with performances in Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, as well as one in the blockbuster superhero reboot Batman Begins in 2005. He would also sign on to provide the voice of lion king Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia fantasy franchise.In 2008, Neeson starred in the thriller Taken, portraying a former CIA officer who employs his brutal skills learned on the job to find his kidnapped daughter. Audiences weren't accustomed to seeing the actor hold down the lead in an action film, but Neeson succeeded and the film was a categorical success. Sadly, the following year, Liam's wife actress Natasha Richardson died suddenly after suffering a severe head injury during a skiing accident. Neeson was left in care of their two children, Michael and Daniel, but was later able to resume his career. Neeson would find himself appearing in many action/adventure films over the coming years. He starred as the cigar-chomping ohn "Hannibal" Smith in the big-screen adaptation of The A-Team in 2010, and a man fleeing for his life and fighting for his identity in 2011's Unknown. The following year, Neeson played an oil driller stranded amid a pack of wolves in The Grey.

Trivia: Forest Whitaker attended college on a football scholarship, then, interested in Opera, transferred to U.S.C. on two more scholarships to study Music and Theater. He landed small roles on television and in two films, beginning with Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). He got his big break when he appeared in Oliver Stone's Platoon and Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money (both 1986). After a few more supporting roles, Whitaker got his first lead in Clint Eastwood's Bird (1988), in which he played the title role -- heroin-addicted jazz great Charlie Parker, a performance which won him the 1988 Cannes Film Festival Best Actor award. Although now better-known as an lead actor, he was unable to greatly capitalize on his success and remained primarily a supporting player in films. He is the older brother of actor Damon Whitaker.

Trivia: Few performers experience a meteoric rise to fame on par with that of actress Maggie Grace. An Ohio native whose parents co-ran a jewelry business, Grace left her Columbus home amid complete obscurity, nurturing dreams of becoming an A-list actress, and within five years made that dream a reality, given her ability to test out of high school and graduate years ahead of time. With the blessing of her parents, Grace promptly moved to Los Angeles at age 16 and snagged an agent. Roles in low-medium-budgeted features and short-lived television series (FOX's Septuplets and Oliver Beene) followed, but it was her breakout turn in the blockbuster series Lost -- as the pampered, spoiled and bratty Shannon Rutherford -- that made her a superstar. From that launching pad, she transitioned to a number of features, including the supernatural horror opus The Fog (2005) (a remake of the 1980 John Carpenter film of the same name), director Robin Swicord's gentle romantic comedy The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), and a leading role as the abducted daughter of an ex-soldier (Liam Neeson) in the high-adrenaline thriller Taken (2008) (a role she would reprise for 2012's Taken 2 and 2015's Taken 3). In 2011, she booked a role in another high-profile franchise, playing a vampire in the two-part The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. Grace also found time for a recurring role on the series Californication, and in 2014, appeared in the ensemble dramedy About Alex.

Trivia: Dark and dashing in the tradition of his fellow countryman Sean Connery, Scottish actor Dougray Scott first reached American multiplex masses in 1998's Ever After, in which he starred as Drew Barrymore's fairy tale prince. Born in Fife on November 25, 1965, Scott was raised in a family of non-actors. His own interest in acting was routinely discouraged by various schoolteachers, but after graduating from the high school he attended in the small town of Glenrothes, he trained at the Welsh College of Music and Drama, where he was named "most promising student." After beginning his professional career on the stage, Scott got his first significant break in 1995 when he was cast on the popular British TV series Soldier, Soldier. He then won a measure of notoriety for his role as a thoroughly corrupt Welsh cop in Kevin Allen's Twin Town (1997), a black comedy that was a sleeper hit throughout Britain. Scott's work in the film also caught the attention of certain Hollywood casting directors, who chose him for his plum role in Ever After (1998). After returning to Scotland to portray a corrupt businessman in Gregory's Two Girls, the disappointing sequel to Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl, the actor appeared as part of a strong ensemble cast in the small British film This Year's Love, which cast him as a womanizing artist. Having proven himself adept at portraying morally questionable characters, Scott gave villainy another go in John Woo's Mission: Impossible II, in which he starred as a former IMF agent gone bad.

Trivia: A former model, Dutch-born actress Famke Janssen had her screen breakthrough as Xenia Onatopp, James Bond's (literally) man-crushing foe in GoldenEye (1995). After earning fame and a certain dose of coy notoriety for her portrayal of the character, who was endowed with the unique ability to squash potential seducers to death between her thighs, Janssen went on to prove that she was more than just the latest variety of Bond babe.Born in Holland on January 1, 1964, Janssen launched her lucrative modeling career at an early age. Moving to New York when she was barely out of her teens, she soon tired of the vacuous nature of modeling and enrolled at Columbia University, where she studied literature and creative writing. Janssen made her screen debut in the 1992 drama Fathers and Sons. Following the success of GoldenEye, the actress began finding steady screen work, appearing in such films as Robert Altman's The Gingerbread Man (1998), in which she played Kenneth Branagh's ex-wife; Woody Allen's Celebrity (1998), which cast her as Branagh's girlfriend; and Robert Rodriguez's The Faculty, in which Janssen's part was furthered by alien brainwashing, instead of Branagh.After closing the century with another excursion into supernatural grotesqueries in the remake of The House on Haunted Hill (1999), Janssen began the 21st century on a somewhat more heroic note, playing one of the titular group of superheroes in Bryan Singer's adaptation of the popular comic book X-Men.

Trivia: Actor Sam Spruell made one of his earliest film appearances in Kathryn Bigelow's Hollywood actioner K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), then followed it up with work on numerous British television series including The Ghost Squad, Rosemary & Thyme, and Silent Witness. Spruell received an international crossover role with his turn as a nasty hoodlum in Paul Andrew Williams' big-screen urban thriller London to Brighton (2006), then tackled a bit part in Shekhar Kapur's arthouse period drama Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and a supporting role in Lisa Gornick's offbeat comedy drama Tick Tock Lullaby (2007). In 2008, he appeared in the Edward Zwick WWII drama Defiance, starring Daniel Craig.

Trivia: Not to be confused with 1950s Columbia contractee Don C. Harvey, American general-purpose actor Don Harvey began appearing in films in the mid-'80s, and was seen in secondary roles in such high-profile productions as Casualties of War (1989), Die Hard 2 (1990), and The Thin Red Line (1998), in addition to the made-for-cable feature Better Off Dead (1993). Because he was safely ensconced among the featured players, Harvey managed to survive such notorious flops as Hudson Hawk (1991) and Tank Girl (1995). One of his more prominent screen roles was "Black Sox" conspirator Swede Risberg in John Sayles' Eight Men Out (1988).

Trivia: With his tough-guy image and stocky build, American actor Dylan Bruno carved out a niche for himself as a character player in steel-toed action and adventure movies, beginning in the late '90s. These ran the gamut from critically praised masterworks -- such as Steven Spielberg's much-ballyhooed war opus Saving Private Ryan (1998) -- to John Irvin's less successful WWII telemovie When Trumpets Fade, that same year. Perhaps afraid of limiting himself, Bruno made a conscious attempt to expand his range into alternate genres, but successive roles essentially constituted variations on this original typecast. For example, Bruno appeared in the gentle romantic drama Where the Heart Is (2000) -- about an expectant blue-collar mother (Natalie Portman) who moves into an Oklahoma Wal-Mart -- as the rough-hewn redneck boyfriend, Willy Jack Perkins, who deserts her. Similarly, Bruno appeared in the TV drama The Pennsylvania Miners' Story (2002) as one of the gritty working-class men of the title who find themselves trapped in a mine with a decidedly slim chance of survival. Bruno subsequently built up his television resumé during the mid-2000s. He was particularly memorable as Colby Granger, a military veteran-cum-federal agent, on the popular detective drama Numb3rs (2005).

Trivia: Became interested in acting after playing the role of Tiny Tim in a stage production of A Christmas Carol in third grade. Studied at American Conservatory Theater's Young Program. Lived in Italy and other locations in Europe while attempting to find work as an international banker. First professional acting job was in a Folgers commercial. Began appearing on TV in the early 1990s, performing in small roles on Cheers, The X-Files, NYPD Blue and Mad About You. Wrote, directed and starred in a 2010 film titled Morning opposite his wife, actress Jeanne Tripplehorn.

Trivia: Grew up in Atlanta, Georgia.Moved to Los Angeles in 1991.Had a one-woman-show called Sorry to Keep You Waiting.Worked as a Development Assistant for Lifetime Television's Original Movies Department.Moved back to New York City in 1997 to work for A&E Television's Biography.Author of the 2007 cookbook You Want Me To Bring A Dish? published by Lulu Press.

Trivia: HBO enthusiasts will invariably remember character actor Wallace Langham for his winning multi-season portrayal of Phil, the conceited head writer of Larry Sanders' late-night talk show, on the Garry Shandling-headlined sitcom The Larry Sanders Show. Langham (who first received billing in projects as Wally Ward) grew up in Los Angeles; his parents divorced at an early age and his mother, Sunni, designed costumes for the musical variety series Donny and Marie. Langham was, by all accounts, drawn magnetically to showbusiness; he enrolled in acting classes, signed with an agent, and landed a string of television commercials beginning at age 16 (in 1981). After high school, Langham enrolled briefly in Cal State Northridge, but dropped out after snagging a bit part in John Hughes' teenage sci-fi comedy Weird Science (1985). Scattered appearances on such series as Murder, She Wrote and Star Trek: Voyager followed -- as well as the recurring role of Josh, smart-alecky assistant to lingerie proprietor Veronica on the Kirstie Alley sitcom Veronica's Closet. It was the Shandling turn, however, that put Langham on top of his game. He made occasional feature appearances in such pictures as the Nora Ephron comedy-fantasy Michael (1996) opposite John Travolta, the Eddie Murphy vehicle Daddy Day Care (2003), the ensemble comedy drama Little Miss Sunshine (2006), the award-winning The Social Network and 2012's Ruby Sparks but -- outside of Larry Sanders -- he is probably best known for his fine work on the series drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. On that program, Langham sustained a multi-season portrayal as lab technician David Hodges.

Trivia: Played bass in a band called DAEVE. Performed at Toronto's Factory Theatre and the Markham Theatre. Known for his role of Tod Waggner in the movie Final Destination (2000). Starred in commercials for Taco Bell (2003) and Samsung Galaxy S7 Active: "Longest Fumble" (2016). Often portrayed teenagers and young men undergoing a crisis.