Trivia: After a four-year hitch with the Air Corps, Dean Jones worked the nightclub and cabaret circuit as a blues singer. It was, however, as an actor that Jones was signed to an MGM contract in 1956; he spent the next four years essaying showy supporting roles in films like Tea and Sympathy (1956), Jailhouse Rock (1957) and Torpedo Run (1958). He made his first Broadway appearance in 1960, then went on to star in the TV service sitcom Ensign O'Toole (1962). Jones spent the next several years in light leading-man assignments in such Disney fare as That Darn Cat! (1965), The Ugly Dachshund (1966) The Love Bug (1968) and The Boatniks (1970). He returned to TV in 1970 as host of What's It All About World (1969), then scored a Broadway hit as the central character in the Steven Sondheim musical Company. In 1971, it was back to sitcom-land with the 13-week TVer Chicago Teddy Bears. Throughout the 1970s, Jones became increasingly involved in religious activities; this was reflected to a large degree in his sincere portrayal of Charles Colson in Born Again (1978). He made yet another TV comeback in Disney's Herbie the Love Bug in 1982, the same year that he published his autobiography, Under Running Laughter. Dean Jones remained busy as a film character actor into the 1990s, most delightfully in the atypical role of the vivisection-happy villain in Beethoven (1992). In 1997, he appeared in remakes of both That Darn Cat! and The Love Bug, reprising his role of Jim Douglas in the latter. Jones died in 2015, at age 84.

Trivia: Mark-Paul Gosselaar became a TV teen idol as bleached-blond Zack on Saved by the Bell and spent the latter half of the 1990s trying to live down that legacy. Born in California to Dutch parents, Gosselaar had already made numerous TV guest appearances as a child actor by the time he was cast on Saved by the Bell in 1989. Though the perky high school/college sitcom made him a hit with the young audience, he had difficulties finding work after leaving the show in 1994. Still, he managed to land roles in TV and B-films, including Sticks and Stones (1996), Kounterfeit (1996), and the Western Brothers of the Frontier (1996). Confirming that his teen (and perhaps teen idol) years were behind him, Gosselaar played a college date rapist in She Cried No (1996) and co-starred with Hilary Swank in the college hazing TV movie Dying to Belong (1997). Moving to higher profile feature films, Gosselaar engaged in slightly more lighthearted college hijinks in MTV Films' black comedy Dead Man on Campus (1998). He was back on TV, however, playing young adults in two short-lived drama series, Hyperion Bay (1998) and D.C. (2000). In 2001, Gosselaar was finally able to truly graduate from Saved by the Bell to bona-fide grown-up roles when he was selected to take over for Rick Schroeder on the long-running gritty cop series NYPD Blue. His four year run with the series cemented the actor's new reputation as an adult actor, and he would go on to star on several other shows, like Commander in Chief, Raising the Bar, and Franklin & Bash. In 2015, secure in his adult career, Gosselaar reunited with some of his Saved By the Bell cast members for a skit on The Tonight Show.

Trivia: Known to legions of Gen-Xers as A.C. Slater, Mario Lopez became famous when he was cast as the macho heartthrob on the Saturday-morning sitcom Saved by the Bell in 1989. Lopez's career started years before, however, as he began auditioning for roles while he was still a teenager, commuting between Hollywood and his hometown of San Diego. At just 13, Lopez appeared in 1986's The Last Fling, and in 1988 he appeared in the Civil War drama Colors.The fame that Saved by the Bell brought the young actor proved to be tremendous, and he stayed with the show until its run ended in 1993, going on to star in Saved by the Bell: The College Years, and even appear in a few episodes of Saved by the Bell: The New Class. Buoyed by his supportive fan base, Lopez then went on to pursue a wide variety of projects, playing Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis in the TV movie Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story, and a criminal-turned-hero in the independent film Eastside. In 2003, he began co-hosting a talk show with Danny Bonaduce and Dick Clark called The Other Half, which was very much like a men's answer to The View. Lopez enjoyed hosting duties, saying that he loved talking about women, sports, and cars. In 2006, Lopez had an opportunity to pursue a longtime interest in dancing, when he joined the cast of the ABC competitive reality show Dancing with the Stars. He and partner Karina Smirnoff were very successful, coming in second place, and audiences were shocked that the lithe actor had never received any formal ballroom dance training. 2006 was also the year that Lopez made a memorable run as doctors both on the hit TV series Nip/Tuck and on the daytime soap The Bold and the Beautiful. He also parlayed his reborn popularity from Dancing with the Stars to serve as a celebrity guest host for the news magazine show Extra and to host multiple beauty pageants, such as Miss America. He played himself in 2010's Get Him to the Greek, and was cast in Honey 2.

Trivia: Known to many as the nerdy character Screech, Dustin Diamond began playing the quirky role in 1988 on the series Good Morning, Miss Bliss. When the show's characters graduated from middle to high school, the show came to be known as Saved by the Bell, and Diamond became more well known than ever. The series ran until 1993, and after it was over, Diamond signed up for the spin-off, Saved by the Bell: The New Class. This time, Screech was part of the school administration instead of the student body, but the character was still iconic. So iconic, in fact, that when The New Class finished its run in 1999, Diamond had a hard time finding new roles. He'd played Screech for more than a decade, and audiences had a hard time seeing him play anyone else. He appeared on reality shows like Celebrity Boxing and The Weakest Link, and in 2007, he appeared on the show Celebrity Fit Club, in which he became infamous for his aggressive attitude and uncooperative antics. In 2009 he released a tell-all book, Behind the Bell.

Trivia: Curvaceous brunette Tiffani Thiessen is best known for her roles on two teen-oriented television shows, Saved by the Bell and Beverly Hills 90210. Originally credited as Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, the actress dropped the second half of her first name as she tried to progress into more adult roles, both on television and in the Born on January 23, 1974, in Long Beach, CA, Tiffani Thiessen found her good looks and composure recognized early on in life. She was crowned Miss Junior America in 1987 and won Teen Magazine's Great Model Search in 1988, the end product of a string of pageants throughout her childhood. In 1989 she began a four-year stint on the teen soap opera/sitcom Saved by the Bell, the show that launched Elizabeth Berkeley and Mark-Paul Gossalaar, portraying the wholesome Kelly Kapowski. When she materialized on Beverly Hills 90210 in 1994, midway through the show's run, she had reinvented herself as a vixen and sex object, courtesy of a shorter haircut and breast implants. Her Valerie Malone crossed purposes with almost every character on the show during her four years appearing on the Fox mainstay. A regular TV-movie actress and guest performer in sitcoms, Thiessen began venturing into feature films by the late '90s. She appeared in Love Stinks (1999) and The Ladies Man (2000), as well as the straight-to-video parody Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th (2000). Her most reputable film role came when she was cast in Woody Allen's Hollywood Ending (2002). In the fall of 2002, she began another gig as a series regular on Fox's Fastlane, a hip, pastel-colored hybrid of The Fast and the Furious and Miami Vice, overseen by Charlie's Angels director McG. Thiessen continued to work mostly on television, with recurring roles in Good Morning, Miami and What About Brian before landing a lead role on USA's White Collar, which ran from 2009 to 2014. She memorably reprised her Kelly Kapowski character for a Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon sketch in 2015.

Trivia: A student of dance since she was four, Elizabeth Berkely has been in show business since the age of nine. She got her start in television appearing in over a dozen series, the best-known of which is Saved By the Bell, in which she played proto-feminist high school student Jesse Spano from 1989 to 1991. Berkely made her feature film debut billed as Macrame Girl in the Patrick Swayze/Keanu Reeves vehicle Point Break (1991). In 1995, Berkely gained national notoriety and proved that she had come a long way since Jesse Spano when she played the trashy, determined, and frequently naked lead in the Joe Esterhaz-penned, Paul Verhoeven-directed Showgirls (1995), a glitzy exploitation film that, while one of the year's biggest stinkers, gained popularity on the midnight movie circuit, especially among drag queens. While such negative publicity as was received by Showgirls can be instant death to a budding career, Berkely has continued to appear in films such as The First Wives Club (1996), and such television series' as The L Word and CSI Miami.

Trivia: A Tennessee native who grew up in California, Lark Voorhies is best known for playing shopaholic Lisa Turtle on the classic teen sitcom Saved by the Bell. Voorhies was just 16 when she signed on to play the role that would come to define her career, and she stayed with the show for its entire run. She went on to appear in several films, including 1997's The Last Don, and 2001's How High, as well as several music videos including Boyz II Men's "On Bended Knee" and Dru Hill's ""These Are the Times."

Trivia: Actor Dennis Haskins is probably best known for the role of Bayside High principal Mr. Belding on the teen sitcom Saved by the Bell. Long before he played the lovable school administrator, Haskins worked as a music agent and concert promoter. He soon forayed into acting, however, playing a recurring role on The Dukes of Hazzard throughout the early '80s and appearing on the show Magnum, P.I. Then, in 1990, Haskins scored the iconic role on Saved by the Bell that would make him such a familiar face, and continued with the show for its entire four-year run. He then appeared on all four seasons of Saved by the Bell: The New Class, finally wrapping up the series in 1999. Haskins moved on and explored a variety of roles following the conclusion of the Saved by the Bell franchise. In 2003, he appeared in the party film Going Down, and in 2006 he played Sheriff Thomas in the family adventure The Treasure of Painted Forest.

Trivia: Possessing a dark but earthy beauty and a natural, winning smile, actress Rena Sofer has found notable small-screen success in such series as Melrose Place, Just Shoot Me, and Coupling after spending the majority of the 1990s in an Emmy-winning role on the daytime soap opera General Hospital. As the millennium turned, so did Sofer's cinematic aspirations, with keen-eyed movie lovers spotting her in such feature efforts as Traffic (2000) and March (2001). An Arcadia, CA, native, Sofer relocated to Pittsburgh when her Orthodox Jewish rabbi father and psychology teacher mother divorced. Spotted by a New York talent agent at the age of 15, it wasn't long before Sofer was appearing on the daytime drama Loving and landing roles on such small-screen efforts as Herman's Head and Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style. In 1992, she made her big-screen debut with a small role in Sidney Lumet's A Stranger Among Us with Melanie Griffith. Beginning a four-year run on General Hospital in 1993, Sofer would simultaneously appear in numerous made-for-television features before beginning her year-long run on Melrose Place in 1998. She made a notable leap back to the big screen with a small role in the 2000 comedy Keeping the Faith, and after following up with Traffic, Sofer settled back into sitcom life with a high-profile guest-starring role on Ed. In the 2002 made-for television remake of Carrie, her part as a sympathetic high school teacher proved a highlight of the otherwise forgettable effort, and in 2003, she headed the cast of Coupling, the highly anticipated American remake of the popular U.K. sitcom.

Trivia: Born in Oregon to a mother with an enthusiasm for acting, Dan Gauthier made a living as a male model before he broke into acting. He has appeared on numerous television programs including 21 Jump Street, Sliders, and Friends. Gauthier landed recurring roles on Melrose Place, All My Children, Beverly Hills 90210, Charmed, and Ellen. After 2002 he disappeared from screens for eight years, coming back in 2010 in the horror film Forget Me Not.