Trivia: Actor Ray Liotta's intense demeanor and fondness for edgy roles quickly established him as one of the most interesting and respected supporting players of his generation. Born in Newark, NJ, on December 18, 1955, he was adopted at the age of six months, by Alfred and Mary Liotta, and raised in Union Township, New Jersey. (His parents adopted another child, Linda, three years later.) As a gifted high school athlete, Liotta played varsity basketball and soccer, while working a side job in his father's auto supply shop. After graduation, he left home to attend the University of Miami, where he cultivated an interest in acting and majored in Drama. Liotta appeared in a number of collegiate productions, including a surprising number of musicals (Cabaret, The Sound of Music). Within a year of graduation, Liotta scored a one-shot commercial and a recurring three-year role as Joey Perrini on the daytime soap opera Another World; he also joined the cast of several short-lived prime-time network TV series, including Crazy Times (1981) - with David Caruso and Amy Madigan - and Casablanca (1983) - featuring David Soul in the role Humphrey Bogart made famous, and Liotta as Sacha. Liotta signed for his first film role in the 1983 Pia Zadora vehicle The Lonely Lady, but didn't break into the big time until 1986, when Jonathan Demme cast him as the psychotic Ray Sinclair in the comedy-drama Something Wild. Liotta's well-received performance won him a number of Hollywood offers playing over-the-top villains, but, determined to avoid typecasting - , Liotta rejected the solicitations and traveled the opposite route, with gentle, sensitive roles in Dominick and Eugene and Field of Dreams (as the legendary "Shoeless" Joe Jackson). His determination to wait for the right role paid off in 1990, when he was cast as mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's masterful crime drama GoodFellas. However, while the success of GoodFellas raised Liotta's profile considerably, he clung to his high standards, waiting for the right part (and wary of compromise). While he still found himself playing tough and/or scary guys in the likes of Unlawful Entry and No Escape, in Corrina, Corrina showcased Liotta's talent as a a romantic lead, and he catered to "family friendly" audiences with Disney's Operation Dumbo Drop (1995) and Tim Hill's Muppets From Space (1999). After a productive 2001, with key roles in the blockbuster hits Blow, Hannibal, and Heartbreakers, the actor formed his own production company to ensure a greater diversity of roles and more interesting material. For his debut as a producer, Liotta developed and released the critically acclaimed Narc; he also appears in the film, as a hot-headed ex-cop. Liotta hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live in 2003, the same year he cameo'd in director Peter Segal's Anger Management, starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson. But that year also marked the beginning of a downswing for the gifted thesp. His activity ostensibly crescendoed through the end of 2004 - but, despite scattered encouraging reviews - his trio of major films from that year (a sociopath in Tim Hunter's Control, a corrupt cop in Matthew Chapman's Slow Burn, a bit part in Jeff Nathanson's Tinseltown satire The Last Shot) saw extremely limited release and fell just ahead of going straight to video. As 2005 dawned, he restrategized by sticking with higher-profile directors - specifically, Guy Ritchie for Revolver (second billing, as a casino owner targeted by a vengeful ex-con) and Mark Rydell for the sports gambling drama Even Money. This plan proved uneven: the Ritchie film tanked amid widespread accusations of directorial pretentiousness, while the Rydell film seemed destined to score given the talent in the cast (Danny de Vito, Kim Basinger, Tim Roth, Forest Whitaker).As 2006 rolled around, Liotta returned to the glitter box - for the first time in twenty-five years - with the action-laced ensemble crime drama Smith. Slated with a September '06 premiere, this CBS series follows the adventures of a collective of high-rolling thieves who execute dazzling crimes with cunning and adroitness; Liotta plays one of the criminals. That same year, Liotta continued his big screen forays with appearances in the gentle coming-of-age drama Local Color, as a dad who passionately objects to his son's desire to apprentice a master painter, and Bruce McCulloch's buddy comedy Comeback Season, as a down-and-outer, rejected by his wife, who makes a close friend in prison. These projects suggested a turn away from tough guy roles and Liotta's harkening back to the gently understated work that he perfected in Dominick and Field of Dreams. Working steadily over the next few years -- albeit frewquently in lower-profile productions -- Liotta followed his Emmy-winning 2005 guest appearance on ER with playful turns in the comedies Observe and Report (2009), Crazy on the Outside (2010), and opposite Toby Maguire in The Details (2012). Liotta married actress Michelle Grace (Narc, Baseball Wives) in 1997, who co-produced his dance drama Take the Lead (2006) with him. The couple divorced in 2004.

Trivia: The son of actor/playwright Jason Miller and the grandson of comedian Jackie Gleason, the handsomely chiseled actor Jason Patric moved from New York City to California at the age of 16. Ever since his debut role as a drug-addicted teen for the ABC movie Tough Love, the hunky actor has preferred to play intense characters. He would nearly perfect the sexy, brooding man in many serious dramas and thrillers throughout his career, while trying to maintain privacy by refusing to talk about himself in interviews. After the unsuccessful Solarbabies, his gave his breakthrough performance in the teen classic The Lost Boys as the reluctant vampire Michael. He then gained starring roles as a soldier in the war movie The Beast and as an ex-boxer in the crime drama After Dark, My Sweet. Moving on to horror, he was chosen to portray Lord Byron in Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound. In 1991, he gained some critical recognition -- and a beard -- for his role as a drug-addicted narcotics officer in Rush, opposite his moody counterpart Jennifer Jason Leigh. The same year he was dragged into the tabloids for his affair with Hollywood sweetheart Julia Roberts. She had broken off her engagement with Kiefer Sutherland and ran off to Europe with Patric, causing a disruption to his enigmatic public persona. Taking some time off, he returned for Geronimo: An American Legend with Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall. He starred in the period piece The Journey of August King, the romantic thriller Incognito, and had a small part in Sleepers before making a wild career turn for Speed 2: Cruise Control. However, it appears that starring in the action blockbuster was just a way to get some cash to fund his next project as actor and producer for Neil LaBute's independent film Your Friends & Neighbors. After this brave venture, he sought out more experimental work, interpreting Anton Chekhov's plays in 3 Days of Rain and appearing in the documentary Scene Smoking: Cigarettes, Cinema, and the Myth of Cool. In 2002, Patric returned to the gritty world of undercover narcotics officers for Narc with Ray Liotta and Busta Rhymes.

Trivia: Pronounced "shy," like the colloquial term for his hometown of Chicago, Chi McBride didn't get into acting until he was 30 years old. He is probably most recognized for his role as principal Steven Harper on Fox's Boston Public. Before his first movie, he worked for a phone company, trained as a gospel singer, and joined the hip-hop band Covert. With McBride as a producer and vocalist, the band released their first and only album For Your Bootay Only in 1991. Not soon after, he started appearing as a guest star on Fox sitcoms, including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. His feature-length debut happened a year later in Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation. Billed as simply Chi, he then gained small roles for the Eddie Murphy movie The Distinguished Gentleman and the Tina Turner story What's Love Got to Do With It? In 1993, McBride found a spot for himself on NBC for The John Larroquette Show, playing the janitor Heavy Gene. Teaming up next with the Hudlin brothers, he then appeared in the HBO Twilight Zone-style trilogy Cosmic Slop, hosted by George Clinton. His next few diverse projects were supporting roles in Peter Jackson's horror comedy The Frighteners, Bill Duke's period crime flick Hoodlum, and the action thriller Mercury Rising. McBride's first leading role came in the form of the short-lived and controversial UPN sitcom The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, playing the stuffy English title character who was mistakenly enslaved to Abraham Lincoln. After appearances in Gone in 60 Seconds and Disney's The Kid, he found his well-known spot on Boston Public. While gaining high marks for his role on the David E. Kelley drama, McBride parlayed his increased notoriety into a number of higher-profile big-screen roles.2002 found McBride as a police captain in the intense cop-thriller Narc, and the over-the-top Chief in the comedy Undercover Brother. And while the following year saw Boston Public cancelled, the free-time afforded to McBride by the show's end only allowed him to sign on to roles in two of 2004's most anticipated films, the Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks dramedy The Terminal and I, Robot, an action sci-fi flick starring Will Smith. Over the course of the next decade the reliable McBride became increasingly active on the small screen, essaying recurring roles on such hit shows as House and Pushing Daisies. Later, in 2012, he voiced the role of Nick Fury in the animated superhero series Ultimate Spider-Man.

Trivia: A tough and slightly surly character actor most at home in ethnically oriented Hollywood roles, John Ortiz often found himself cast as nefarious hoods and toughs. Ortiz landed one of his earliest assignments with a 1992 guest appearance on Law & Order, then branched out into A-list supporting roles in such features as Carlito's Way (1993), Ransom (1996), Piñero (2001), and Miami Vice (2006). Ortiz essayed two extremely different cinematic assignments in 2007: a part in the Ridley Scott-directed period crime drama American Gangster and one in the sci-fi-horror opus Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem.

Trivia: Father, Emile Van Sprang, was a member of a popular 1960s rock band called the Stampeders, which was led by Alan's uncle Ronnie King. Performed for three seasons with Calgary's Shakespeare in the Park, and five years with Theatre Calgary. Has appeared in George Romero's zombie features Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2008) and Survival of the Dead (2009). At 39, decided to shave his head in an effort to land "leading, dangerous, bad-guy parts," but his next three roles were that of a priest, a heroic Greek slave and a good-hearted policeman. For his role as a Greek slave in 2011's Immortals, he had to undergo a three-week "hardcore boot camp" that included a daily regimen of dieting, cardio workouts, yoga, fight training and gym and weight training.