Trivia: An actor whose remarkable versatility has often been described as chameleon-like, Kevin Spacey has made an art of portraying a gallery of morally ambiguous characters ranging from the mildly shady to the all-out murderous. His reputation as one of the best-respected actors of his generation was bolstered by an Oscar, a Tony, and an award as Best Actor of the Decade from England's Empire magazine in 1999.The son of a technical procedure writer and a secretary, Spacey was born in South Orange, NJ, on July 26, 1959. His family moved a great deal thanks to his father's job, eventually settling for a time in Los Angeles. It was there that Spacey -- who had previously done a stint at military school -- attended Chatsworth High School, where he was very active in the theater. After an attempt at standup comedy, Spacey went to Juilliard, though his time was cut short after his second year, when he decided to quit school and begin his career.He made his theatrical debut in 1981 with Shakespeare in the Park, performing alongside the likes of Mandy Patinkin and John Goodman. The actor continued to be a fixture on the theater scene throughout the decade, performing both on Broadway and in regional productions. It was through the theater that he got his first big break: While auditioning for a Tom Stoppard play, Spacey was approached by director Mike Nichols, who cast him in his production of David Rabe's Hurlyburly. The actor's work in the play led Nichols to cast him as a subway mugger in his 1986 Heartburn. Two years later, the director and actor worked together again in Working Girl, in which Spacey had a small but memorable role as a sleazy businessman.By this time, Spacey was starting to work steadily in film, although he maintained his stage work, winning a 1990 Tony Award for his role in the Broadway production of Lost in Yonkers. He also did a substantial amount of television work, appearing on the series Wiseguy as deranged criminal Mel Proffitt. Criminal or morally questionable activities were to figure largely in Spacey's subsequent portrayals: His first starring role in a film was as the husband of a murdered woman in the 1992 Consenting Adults. The same year, he won acclaim for his portrayal of a foul-mouthed, leech-like real estate agent in James Foley's screen adaptation of the David Mamet play, Glengarry Glen Ross. Spacey landed his next memorable film role as yet another foul-mouthed jerk in the 1994 Swimming With Sharks, which he also co-produced. He was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his portrayal of an abusive studio executive, and he gained further recognition the same year for his entirely different role in The Ref, in which he played one half of a constantly arguing married couple. However, it was with his performance in the following year's The Usual Suspects that Spacey fully stepped into the spotlight. As the enigmatic, garrulous "Verbal" Kint, Spacey was one of the more celebrated aspects of the critically lauded sleeper hit, winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work. The actor won additional acclaim the same year for his role as a serial killer in the stylish and unrelentingly creepy thriller Seven. Spacey went on to make his directorial debut the following year with Albino Alligator. A New Orleans-based crime drama starring Matt Dillon, Faye Dunaway, and Gary Sinise, the film won some positive reviews, though it made little impact at the box office. In addition to directing, Spacey kept busy with acting, appearing the same year in A Time to Kill and Al Pacino's documentary Looking for Richard. The actor went on to star in Clint Eastwood's highly anticipated 1997 adaptation of John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and then had a sizable role in the big-budget The Negotiator in 1998. The same year, he also lent his voice to the computer-animated A Bug's Life and starred in the screen adaptation of Hurlyburly. While doing steady film work, Spacey also continued to appear on the stage, winning raves for his performance in an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, first on the London stage in 1998, and then on Broadway the following year. Also in 1999, Spacey won an Academy Award as Best Actor for American Beauty, director Sam Mendes' dark comedy about a man experiencing a mid-life crisis. Following up Beauty with starring roles in The Big Kahuna and Ordinary Decent Criminal, Spacey would later appear as a mental patient who claims to be from a distant planet in K-PAX. K-Pax proved to be a minor flop, as did the actor's other major film in 2001, Lasse Hallstrom's adaptation of The Shipping News. Although Spacey drew positive notices for his portrayal of a man trying to start a new life in Newfoundland, the film, which also starred Julianne Moore, Cate Blanchett, and Judi Dench, quickly sank at the box office and received only a lukewarm reception from critics.Spacey maintained a busy schedule throughout 2003, appearing in three disparate projects that reflected his extraordinary versatility. Besides cropping up as himself in the third Austin Powers outing, Austin Powers: Goldmember, he played the title character of The Life of David Gale, the story of a University of Texas professor whose anti-capital punishment stance assumes very personal meaning when he is convicted of rape and murder and lands on death row; the picture received a critical drubbing and faded quickly from view. That year, Spacey also starred in The United States of Leland, playing the father of a fifteen-year-old (Ryan Gosling) who murders an autistic child.2004 marked a key year for Spacey. The actor -- who had dreamed of portraying crooner Bobby Darin since childhood, and spent years striving to produce a biopic of the late singer through his production house, Trigger Horse Productions, ultimately realized that goal in December '04. In addition to starring Spacey as Darin, the biopic, entitled Beyond the Sea, enlisted Kate Bosworth as Sandra Dee, John Goodman as Steve Blauner, and Brenda Blethyn as Polly Cassotto. Beyond earned a decidedly mixed critical reception.In 2005, Spacey cut back on his acting schedule and devoted more attention to his role as artistic director of the legendary Old Vic Theatre in London -- a position he had assumed in 2003, under ten-year contract. In a Charlie Rose appearance c. 2005, the actor openly discussed his desire to use his position to revive a series of theatrical classics and reestablish The Vic as one of the world's premier stage venues. Unfortunately, Spacey's work here also earned some derision; under his aegis, The Vic mounted Arthur Miller's Resurrection Blues in May 2006 - an effort helmed by Robert Altman - and it drew vicious critical pans, one from a reviewer who demanded that Spacey resign. Although Spacey listened to the complaints about the Altman effort, (shelving the production during the theater's busy summer tourist season), he vowed to continue his efforts at the Vic unabated.Summer 2006 also saw the actor appearing in the highly anticipated big-budget extravaganza Superman Returns, playing Lex Luthor to Brandon Routh's Superman/Clark Kent and Kate Bosworth's Lois Lane. With a powerhouse supporting cast that includes Frank Langella (Good Night, and Good Luck.), and Eva Marie Saint (North by Northwest), the picture predictably opened up to spectacular box office (becoming one of summer's top grossers) and enthusiastic critical notices. Those who did criticize the film singled out Spacey's interpretation of the Luthor role.About a month prior to the Superman debut, Spacey signed with Warner Brothers to co-star in Joe Claus (originally titled Fred Claus), a Christmas comedy that reteamed Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin with funnyman Vince Vaughn, and enlisted Paul Giamatti (American Splendor, Sideways) as a co-star. Additional roles in the years that followed further reflected Spacey's penchant for the offbeat, such as his portrayal of an envious military man caught up in psychic phenomena in the satire The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009), corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff in the acerbic comedy Casino Jack (2010) and a sadistic boss with a taste for humiliation in Horrible Bosses (2011). Meanwhile, at about the same time, Spacey took on the role of one of Shakespeare's most iconic villains in the Old Vic's production of Richard III - for which he earned considerable critical praise. In 2013, Spacey returned to television on Netflix's House of Cards, playing ruthless congressman Frank Underwood, earning Spacey nominations from the Emmys, SAGs and Golden Globes. In 2015, he earned both a Special Olivier Award for his work as the artistic director of the Bristol Old Vic, and was awarded an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II (though, as he's not a British or Commonwealth citizen, he's not entitled to be called "Sir.")

Trivia: A precociously talented youngster, Helen Hunt was drawing paychecks as a television actress from the age of ten. Before she was 17, she had appeared as a regular on two series, Swiss Family Robinson (1975) and The Fitzpatricks (1977). Hunt proved she was more than just a workaday child actor with her starring performance in the fact-based 1981 TV movie The Miracle of Kathy Miller, in which she played a high school athlete who overcame severe mental and physical damage brought on by a highway accident. While she had been appearing in films as early as Rollercoaster in 1977, Hunt was never groomed as a star player, and it is possible that her resemblance to another child actress, Jodie Foster, held her back from more important roles.After taking on her first adult role in the 1982 sitcom It Takes Two, Hunt's film assignments improved, with sizable roles in Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Project X (1987), Next of Kin (1989), and The Waterdance (1991). She also gained a small measure of cult status by appearing in a brace of science fiction films, including Trancers II (1991) and Trancers III (1992). That same year, Hunt landed her longest-lasting acting assignment to date, as the co-star of the Paul Reiser-created comedy series Mad About You. During the show's seven-year run, she won both Emmy and Golden Globe awards for her portrayal of Jamie Buchman. In 1996, Hunt had her most successful film role to date in the blockbuster Twister. The following year, she topped that when she received a Best Actress Oscar for playing a caring waitress and single mother who befriends acerbic, obsessive-compulsive author Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson, who also won an Oscar for his performance) in As Good As It Gets. After Mad About You ended in 1999, Hunt appeared in films by several veteran directors, including Robert Zemeckis (Cast Away [2000]), Robert Altman (Dr. T and The Women [2000]), and Woody Allen (The Curse of the Jade Scorpion [2001]). She starred in Life x 3 on Broadway in 2003.In 2005, Hunt joined the star-studded cast of HBO's two-part miniseries Empire Falls in the role of Janine, ex-wife of Miles (Ed Harris), the story's central character. The actress made her feature directorial debut in Then She Found Me (for which Hunt also starred, produced, and wrote the screenplay), an adaptation of Elinore Lipman's best-selling novel of the same name. The story follows a Philadelphia schoolteacher (Hunt) whose long-lost birth mother (Bette Miller) reappears at just as her daughter is careening into a midlife crisis. Hunt played a supportive mother in Soul Surfer (2011), an inspirational drama based on the true tale of a surfer who returned to the sport after tragically losing an arm. In 2012 she played a sex surrogate helping a man in an iron lung lose his virginity for director Ben Lewin in The Sessions, a part that earned her rave reviews and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Trivia: For audiences around the world whose ears ring with the haunting and fateful revelation of a child tortured by terrifying visions of the afterlife, Haley Joel Osment may forever be linked to his role in what would rank among the most popular supernatural thrillers ever made, The Sixth Sense (1999). An Oscar nominee at the age of 11, Osment quickly became one of the most recognized and versatile young actors working in film, proving to audiences that his talents exceeded typecasting by constantly tackling new and challenging roles and characterizations.Born in Los Angeles, CA, on April 10, 1988, Osment set his acting career into motion, as many actors do, by appearing in commercials and taking small roles on television. Accompanied by his father to an audition for a Pizza Hut commercial and initially discouraged by the overwhelming amount of children vying for the role, Osment eventually stuck out the wait at his father's request and landed the role that would launch his career. Soon making his feature debut as the son of the titular shrimp slinger in the phenomenally successful Forrest Gump in 1994, Osment alternated between television (Murphy Brown and The Jeff Foxworthy Show) and film (Mixed Nuts and Bogus) while frequently appearing in such made-for-TV movies as The Ransom of Red Chief before making his breakthrough in director M. Night Shayamalan's The Sixth Sense.Following the success of The Sixth Sense with the well-intended but fatally flawed feel-good failure Pay It Forward, Osment escaped relatively unscathed as critics recognized the young actor's exceptional performance in what was otherwise a flop with critics and audiences alike. Imagination was the key to Osment's next project: director Steven Spielberg's long-anticipated, much-hyped A.I. An elaborately futuristic tale of an android that aspires to experience human emotion, A.I. was the first and only collaboration of two of the most influential filmmakers of the 20th century, the late Stanley Kubrick (who conceived the story based on Brian Aldiss' short story Supertoys Last All Summer Long) and Spielberg. In addition to appearing onscreen, Osment lent his voice to a number of animated films in 2000 and 2001, including the Disney sequels The Hunchback of Notre Dame II and The Jungle Book II. After once again providing voice work for the comedy musical The Country Bears, Osment returned to the screen body intact with Secondhand Lions in 2003. Cast as an intorverted youngster whose irresponsible mother sends him off to spend his summer with his eccentric uncles in Texas, Osment's onscreen abilities were key in making his character's transformation from withdrawn child to responsible young man believable.

Trivia: Born in Kulm, North Dakota and educated at Glendale College and Immaculate Heart College, Angeline Brown acquired her professional name Angie Dickinson when she married college football star Gene Dickinson. A beauty contest winner, Dickinson entered films with an unbilled bit in the 1954 Warner Bros. musical Lucky Me. Her earliest films consisted mostly of "B" Westerns (at one point, she dubbed in actress Sarita Montiel's voice in 1957's Run of the Arrow) and television (Dickinson was rather nastily murdered in very first episode of Mike Hammer). She moved to the A-list when selected by Howard Hawks to play the female lead in Rio Bravo (1958). The film gave Dickinson ample opportunity to display her celebrated legs, which, for publicity purposes, were reportedly insured by Lloyd's of London. She went on to star in films both famous and forgettable: one of the roles for which she is best remembered is as the mistress of gangster Ronald Reagan (!) in The Killers (1964). In 1974, Dickinson jump-started her flagging career as the star of the TV cop drama Police Woman, which lasted four seasons and represented a tremendous step up in popularity for Dickinson. On that program, the actress played Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson, an undercover agent with the LAPD's criminal conspiracy division, whose assignments nearly always included donning a crafty and sexy guise in order to nab an underworld criminal.At about the same time, Dickinson also moved into motion pictures and (after years of consciously avoiding nude scenes), went au naturel for exploitation king Roger Corman in that producer's depression-era romp Big Bad Mama, which unsurprisingly became a cult favorite. (Years later, in 1987, she teamed up with Z-grade shlockmeister Jim Wynorski for New World's Big Bad Mama II). Brian DePalma's Psycho-influenced thriller Dressed to Kill (1980) brought the actress greater visibility, and like the Corman assignments, required Angie to do erotic nudity (though in this case, the below-the-waist shower shots were reportedly performed by a body double).In later years, Dickinson leaned more heavily on starring and supporting turns in made-for-television productions, including a telemovie follow-up to Police Woman, Police Woman: The Freeway Killings (1987); the Oliver Stone miniseries Wild Palms (1993); the direct-to-video thriller The Maddening (1995) (opposite longtime friend and colleague Burt Reynolds); and the prime-time soaper Danielle Steele's Rememberance (1996). The next decade found the septuagenarian actress unexpectedly returning to A-list Hollywood features, albeit in small supporting roles; these included Duets (2000), Pay it Forward (2000) and Ocean's Eleven (2001) (in a cameo as herself, nodding to her involvement in the original).Angie Dickinson was married to composer Burt Bacharach from 1965 to 1980.

Trivia: With his soulful, deep-set blue eyes and a dark, eerily beautiful countenance, Jim Caviezel has inspired more than a few comparisons to Montgomery Clift. Thus, it was somewhat fitting -- and more than a little ironic -- that Caviezel first broke through to the American public as The Thin Red Line's Private Witt, a character loosely based on Clift's Private Prewitt in From Here to Eternity. A native of Washington state, Caviezel was born in Mount Vernon in 1968, one of five children in a devout Catholic family. A gifted athlete as a young man, he performed brilliantly on the basketball court and dreamt of joining the NBA. He attended Seattle's O'Dea High School, and later Burien Kennedy High, attending Bellevue Community College after graduation (where he continued to play ball), but a foot injury forced him to withdraw from the team and try acting instead. He debuted cinematically with a bit part as an airline clerk in Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho (1991), Caviezel landed an equally minor role in Michael Ritchie's disappointing boxing yarn, Diggstown (1992). Accepted at Juilliard that same year, he declined the school's offer in favor of a supporting role in Lawrence Kasdan's 1994 Wyatt Earp. Unfortunately, this film (like Diggstown) flopped, and for the next several years, Caviezel bounced back-and-forth, between minor roles in big budget Hollywood films like The Rock (1996) and G.I. Jane (1997) and more substantial roles in turkeys such as Bill Couturie's Ed (1996). Fortunately, in 1998, the long-dormant Terrence Malick came calling with a role in his war opus The Thin Red Line (adapted from James Jones's Guadalcanal Diary) and Caviezel struck gold. The film received a number of Oscar nominations including Best Picture, and its stellar ensemble cast, which included Ben Chaplin, Sean Penn, George Clooney, and Nick Nolte, earned almost unanimous acclaim. The following year, Caviezel gained further recognition with his role as one of a group of renegade Civil War soldiers in Ang Lee's Ride With the Devil and his portrayal of a football coach's embittered son in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday. In 2000, Caviezel starred in the supernatural thriller Frequency, as a fireman who -- through a supernatural occurrence -- communicates with his long-dead father (Dennis Quaid) over a ham radio. The low-budgeted film became a modest hit.Later that same year, Caviezel starred in Mimi Leder's shameless tearjerker Pay it Forward as a homeless junkie befriended by a young boy (Haley Joel Osment). He then landed a role opposite Jennifer Lopez in the heady romantic drama Angel Eyes (2001); the picture died a quick death at the box office, yet Caviezel's performance in the film dramatically increased his prominence, and critics further took note of the actor's ability.The following year's period adventure The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) boasted a similarly fine lead performance by Caviezel, and though the film - and the actor's work - drew favorable reviews from critics, that motion picture failed to attract audiences. Before embarking on a blood-soaked revenge spree in Highwaymen (2004), Caviezel took a turn as a mysterious former Marine in High Crimes and a lower-key role in the Paul Feig drama I Am David. Audiences who had followed Caviezel's career thus far had no doubt taken note of the actor's vocal religious convictions. With his role as Jesus in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ -- not to mention the actual suffering that he endured when his shoulder was separated during the crucifixion sequence -- the actor pushed to more extreme lengths than almost any performer of his generation. The story of the film is, by now, notorious; in time it became one of the highest grossers in movie history, capping $600 million worldwide, despite savaging critical assessments from many reviewers and accusations of anti-Semitism. Millions viewers flocked to the motion picture and turned it into one of the seminal moviegoing events of 2004, evi.As the 2000's and 2010's rolled on, Caviezel continued to enjoy success as a bankable actor, enjoying success on the new frontier of modern TV with shows like the remake of The Prisoner and the drama Person of Interest

Trivia: When Jay Mohr was a boy growing up in Verona, NJ, he dreamed of becoming a comedian. By the time he was a young adult, he had fulfilled that dream, first finding popularity in standup comedy and then making his way to television and feature films. Early in his career, he gained recognition for his uncanny and hilarious impressions, particularly for that of stony Christopher Walken. He made his television debut as part of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players on NBC's Saturday Night Live. While on the show, Mohr received an Emmy nomination for his work. After leaving SNL, Mohr began guest starring on other shows and landed regular parts on The Jeff Foxworthy Show and Local Heroes. For hosting the MTV network's Lip Service, Mohr won an Espy Award. He made his feature film debut in 1995, with The Barefoot Executive, but gained real recognition playing Tom Cruise's rival sports agent, Bob Sugar, in Jerry Maguire (1995). Following a nice-guy role in Picture Perfect (1997) and a turn as Ellen Burstyn's AIDS-stricken son in Playing By Heart (1998), Mohr had starring roles in two high-profile 1999 projects, the eagerly awaited but ultimately disappointing 200 Cigarettes and Doug Liman's acclaimed Go. In both films, Mohr acted as part of a Who's Who of Up-and-Comers cast, appearing as the man who screws over Kate Hudson in the former, and as a gay soap opera actor in the latter. The same year, he returned to his television roots with Action, a Fox show that featured him as a loathsome, foul-mouthed film executive. Despite rave reviews and a cult following, the show was given the axe by the network.After supporting roles in such high-profile box-office bombs as The Adventures of Pluto Nash and S1mone, Mohr took a couple more stabs at the small-screen. First he hosted the talk-show Mohr Sports on ESPN, which began airing in 2002. Then, in 2003, he served as both host and executive producer on NBC's Last Comic Standing, a reality show that attempted to find the funniest undiscovered stand-up comedian in America.In between a starring role in the sex-comedy Seeing Other People and several stand-up performances, Mohr spent much of 2004 promoting his first book, Gasping for Airtime. In the years to come, he would enjoy major roles on The Ghost Whisperer, Gary Unmarried, and Suburgatory, while continuing his work in stand-up and hosting gigs.

Trivia: After spending most of the '80s as a hard rock god, Jon Bon Jovi decided to put his proven charisma and movie-star looks to work in front of the Hollywood cameras. Making his major screen debut as an amiable house painter in Moonlight and Valentino (1995), Bon Jovi earned surprisingly good notices for his performance, winning both grudging respect from film critics and further offers from casting agents. Born John Francis Bongiovi in working-class Perth Amboy, NJ, on March 2, 1962, Bon Jovi spent much of his adolescence skipping school to play in a series of local rock bands. After one of his first demos, "Runaway," became a hit on the Jersey airwaves, the young musician formed Bon Jovi in 1983. The group went on to become one of the most successful hard rock bands of the decade, earning a huge number of fans and numerous industry honors. In 1990, during the band's 18-month hiatus, Bon Jovi wrote the soundtrack for the blockbuster Young Guns, and also had a very small role in the film. His soundtrack produced two hit singles and won Grammy and Oscar nominations, and Bon Jovi re-formed his band shortly thereafter. Following his first major foray into acting in 1995, the musician won his first starring role in John Duigan's The Leading Man (1996). The film, which cast Bon Jovi as its title character -- a seductive and conniving actor -- earned lukewarm reviews and did negligible business at the box office. The aspiring actor was soon back in front of the camera, however, appearing in a string of films that included the submarine thriller U-571 (2000), in which he shared the screen with Matthew McConaughey, Harvey Keitel, and Bill Paxton, as well as Pay It Forward (2000), which cast him as Helen Hunt's loutish, absentee husband. Bon Jovi also continued his work as a musician, releasing a solo album in 1997 and then regrouping with his band members in 2000. He earned decent reviews for his work as a possible love interest for Ally McBeal, and parlayed that into roles in the films Cry Wolf and National Lampoon's Pucked. In 2011 he was one of the many members of the ensemble in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy New Year's Eve.

Trivia: Practices martial arts, including kung fu and the Bruce Lee-founded jeet kune do. Worked with Jimmy Smits on the film Mother and Child and the NBC series Outlaw. Took guitar lessons for his role on Dexter. Is a motorcycle enthusiast.

Trivia: Florida native Shawn Pyfrom began his onscreen career with small appearances on shows like Ellen and The Drew Carey Show. He would continue to sustain a viable career with these kinds of guest appearances before landing the role of the troubled Andrew van de Camp on the popular series Desperate Housewives. During the run of that program he also appeared in The Darkroom, The Shaggy Dog, and Tanner Hill.