Trivia: In 1999, made her film debut in Crazy in Alabama, a comedy-drama directed by her stepfather Antonio Banderas. Was named Miss Golden Globe 2006. Her mother, Melanie Griffith, had that honour in 1975. Began her modeling career at age 18 and became the face of Mango jeans in 2009. Made Nylon magazine's 2010 list of Top 55 Faces of the Future.

Trivia: With her memorably statuesque figure and alluring countenance, African-American model-turned-actress Tracee Ellis Ross (the daughter of chanteuse Diana Ross and Robert Ellis Silberstein) plunged headfirst into print and fashion work with such enthusiasm and vigor that she became a frequent presence on the covers of such magazines as Essence, Jet, and Vibe Vixen, posing for such legends as Herb Ritts and Francesco Scavullo. Within this arena, Ross commandeered attention to rival any of her runway contemporaries. Ross segued into acting in the mid- to late '90s, with contributions such efforts as the low-key, ensemble-oriented psychological drama Far Harbor (1996, her cinematic debut) and Jim Yukich's romantic comedy A Fare to Remember (1999), and hosted the Lifetime talk program The Dish, before making her biggest splash as thirtysomething attorney-turned-restaurant proprietor Joan Clayton on the blockbuster UPN sitcom Girlfriends -- which enjoyed a lengthy run, maintained exemplary ratings, and netted more than a few industry awards for Ross. In 2007, the actress teamed up with writer/director Tyler Perry and actress Gabrielle Union for the big-screen romantic comedy Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls. A recurring role on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation followed in 2011, and that same year Ross starred opposite Cosby Show alumni Malcolm-Jamal Warner in the BET sitcom Reed Between the Lines, which followed a psychiatrist and a professor as they struggled to balance their careers with their roles as parents to three multi-racial children.

Trivia: Was encouraged by his saxophonist father and vocalist mother to become a musician, but he didn't love it as much.Is a skilled musician, sings and plays piano and trumpet.Studied and recorded with the Marsalis, a famous family of jazz musicians.Before moving to L.A. to pursue acting, studied marketing and studio engineering.Initially declined to play the role of Steve Harmon in Monster (2018).

Trivia: An alumnus of State University of New York and the University of Massachusetts, American actor Bill Pullman excelled in both wacky comedy and intense drama during his stage years, working with such repertory companies as the Folger Theatre Groupe and the Los Angeles Theatre Center. Before college, he attended a technical institute and studied building construction (years later he used those skills to build his own house in California). In films, Pullman could be relied upon to almost invariably lose the girl, as witness his brace of 1993 films, Sleepless in Seattle and Somersby. He almost lost his screen wife Geena Davis to Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own (1992), but this gratuitous plot point was eliminated from the script. Only since 1994 has Pullman won the heroine's hand with any regularity. The summer of 1995 found Bill Pullman with back-to-back leading roles in two of the season's biggest box-office successes: While You Were Sleeping and Casper: The Movie. Pullman gained even more recognition for his heroic portrayal of the self-sacrificing U.S. president in the special effects blockbuster Independence Day. Up to this point, Pullman was pretty well typecast in "nice guy" roles. In David Lynch's Lost Highway (1996), he broke that mold by appearing as a deeply disturbed husband. In 1995, Pullman began a side career as a producer when he founded his own production company Big Town.

Trivia: Met her comedy partner, Casey Wilson, in a clown class at NYU. After graduating from college, she and Wilson wrote and performed a two-woman sketch show called Rode Hard and Put Away Wet at Upright Citizens Brigade. The pair was named the Best Comedic Duo at the 2005 Emerging Comics of NY Awards. Cowrote the screenplay for 2009's Bride Wars, starring Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway. In 2010, began hosting a popular podcast with husband Paul Scheer and Jason Mantzoukas called How Did This Get Made?, in which the three skewer movies.

Trivia: Has a brother and a sister.Started playing the piano at the age of 6.Participated in theater productions while he was in college.Holds minors in political science and environmental studies from Calvin College.Worked on schooners after graduating from college.Became a member of the Second City Detroit main company in 1998.In 2003, joined the improv group The 313.One of the founders of The Detroit Creativity Project.

Trivia: An enormously popular British comedian known as much for his transvestitism as he is for his excoriating social observations, Eddie Izzard is one of the most gleefully unpredictable -- to say nothing of contradictory -- performers to have sabotaged the stage and screen during the late 20th century.Born in Yemen on February 7, 1962, Izzard grew up in Wales and Northern Ireland. Following his mother's death when he was six, Izzard found some degree of solace in comedy, particularly the works of Monty Python, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor, and the early Benny Hill. He began doing stand-up at college and, after being ingloriously kicked out of school, he took his act to the streets. Izzard refined his material -- which largely revolved around personal experiences, politics, and social issues -- over the next decade, and in the early '90s, he finally began earning some measure of recognition. His stand-up work brought him British Comedy Awards in 1993 and 1996, and with popular and critical approval thus in hand, Izzard began appearing in films.Izzard's supporting roles in The Avengers and Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine (both 1998) were concurrent with his first internationally acclaimed tour, Dress to Kill. The tour helped to establish him on both sides of the Atlantic, allowing the comedian to begin the new century on an exceptionally positive note. 2000 saw him co-starring in Shadow of the Vampire, a fictional depiction of the filming of the 1922 Nosferatu; the film's cast also included John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, and Stephen Fry.Izzard continued his highly successful stand-up appearances while maintaining a presence in movies. He played Charlie Chaplin in Peter Bogdanovich's The Cat's Meow, attempted to steal a couple of scenes from the crew in Ocean's Twelve, appeared in Ivan Reitman's My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and offered his vocal talents to the animated film The Wild.In 2007 he appeared as Mr. Kite in Julie Taymor's Across the Universe. The next year he voiced one of the main characters in the animated film Igor and appeared in the historical thriller Valkyrie. He went on to do two more comedy concert films before voicing the entrepreneur Miles Axlerod in Pixar's Cars 2. In 2012 he appeared in Snow White and the Huntsman.

Trivia: One of the most powerful and uncompromising artists in rap music, Ice Cube enjoyed a surprisingly smooth transition into a career in motion pictures, first distinguishing himself as an actor and later branching out into writing, producing, and directing. Born O'Shea Jackson in South Central Los Angeles on June 15, 1969, Ice Cube came from a working class family, with both his father and mother employed by U.C.L.A. Ice Cube began writing lyrics when he was in ninth grade; a friend in a high school typing class challenged him to see who could come up with a better rap, and when he won the contest, Cube began honing his hip-hop skills in earnest. Before long, Ice Cube had formed a rap group called CIA with a friend, a DJ known as Sir Jinx. CIA began playing parties organized by Dr. Dre (born Andre Young), a member of a popular local hip-hop group called The World Class Wrecking Cru, and Cube and Dre both got to know Eazy-E (born Eric Wright), a rapper with a group called HBO who had started his own record company, financed by his successful career as a drug dealer. In time, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E joined forces with DJ Yella (born Antoine Carraby) and MC Ren (born Lorenzo Patterson) to form the group N.W.A. With their 1988 album Straight Outta Compton, N.W.A.'s profane and provocative lyrics (particularly the infamous "F -- -- Tha Police") made them one of the most controversial groups in the history of rap music, and if they weren't the first gangsta rappers, they certainly brought the sound to a mass audience for the first time. In 1989, Cube, dissatisfied with N.W.A.'s management (and the fact he had been paid a mere 30,000 dollars for writing and performing on an album which sold three million copies), decided to leave the group and strike out on his own. He released his first solo album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, in 1990, and the disc's blunt, forceful sound and aggressive blend of street life and political commentary proved there was life for the rapper after N.W.A.. The following year, after releasing the follow-up EP Kill at Will, and a second album, Death Certificate, Cube made his acting debut in John Singleton's gritty look at life in South Central Los Angeles, Boyz N The Hood, which drew its name from an early N.W.A. track. Cube received strong reviews for his performance as ex-con Doughboy, and a year later starred opposite fellow rap trailblazer Ice-T in Walter Hill's Trespass. In 1995, Cube reunited with Singleton for the drama Higher Learning, and, later that year, expanded his repertoire by starring in Friday, a comedy he also wrote and produced. With his career in the movies on the rise, Cube spent less and less time in the recording studio, although he often contributed to the soundtracks of the films in which he appeared, and recorded with the L.A. all-star group Westside Connection. In 1998, Cube added directing to his list of accomplishments with The Players Club, for which he also served as screenwriter and executive producer, as well as played a supporting role as Reggie. The same year, he released his first solo album in four years, War and Peace, Vol. One: The War Disc. Cube went on to write and produce sequels to both Friday and All About the Benjamins, which co-starred his Friday sidekick, Mike Epps. He also continued to work in films for other writers and filmmakers, including Three Kings, Ghosts of Mars, and the extremely successful urban comedy Barbershop.In 2004, Cube's career continued to pick up steam. He appeared in the motor-cycle action thriller Torque, as well as Barbershop 2: Back in Business. By the next year, he was taking over for Vin Diesel, starring in XXX: State of the Union, as well as branching into the realm of family comedy with Are We There Yet?. Both were box office gold, and Cube went on to follow up the latter with 2007's sequel Are We Done Yet?.He tried his hand at an inspirational sports drama producing and starring in The Longshots in 2008. His love of sports found full flower in his 2010 documentary Straight Outta L.A., which he made as part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. The film examined the relationship between sports and hip-hop culture in The City of Angels during the heyday of N.W.A. He appeared in the corrupt cop drama Rampart, and had a funny turn as the Captain to the undercover agents working out of 21 Jump Street.

Trivia: Made his film debut in Barbershop, in which he played the owner of a convenience store. Is one of the co-founders of Rasaka Theatre Company in Chicago and has extensive theater credits. Trained with Second City Los Angeles. Has played a call center employee in the film Karma Calling and the NBC series Outsourced, as well as working in an actual one early in his career. Based his Indian accent on his cousin, who likes to imitate Americans doing an Indian accent. According to Cheena, it sounds like "an Indian-American imitating an Indian imitating an American."

Trivia: Ross Partridge began his career as character actor who specialized in playing everymen (often with an urban edge). He first bowed with a small role in the 1992 Christian Slater police comedy Kuffs, then landed a lead in the direct-to-video shocker Amityville: A New Generation (1993) and a bit part in Steven Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). Shortly thereafter, Partridge became involved with Kevin Spacey's production shingle, Trigger Street Productions, a label that backed his debut as a writer/director, the little-seen and critically panned mystery-psychodrama hybrid Interstate 84 (2000). Partridge's work as a producer for Trigger continued unabated for a time despite the middling success of this debut, with the up-and-comer placing his strongest emphasis on documentaries, notably the 2002 efforts Uncle Frank and America Rebuilds: A Year at Ground Zero. Within a few years, however, he returned to work in front of the camera, with a recurring part in the daytime soap opera As the World Turns, and roles in the A-list shocker Prom Night and the Duplass Brothers' indie darling Baghead (2008).

Trivia: The daughter of onetime fashion model Tippi Hedren (Marnie) and actor Peter Griffith, Melanie Griffith witnessed her parents' divorce as a toddler. She relocated from Manhattan to Los Angeles in the custody of her mom at the age of four, when Alfred Hitchcock discovered Hedren and offered her a bid for movie stardom. Hedren soon married her second husband, film producer Noel Marshall, and relocated the entire family (including Griffith) to an Acton, California ranch, but at age 15 (c. 1972), Griffith broke out on her own. She started modeling professionally and struck up a live-in relationship with then-22-year-old Don Johnson. Thus commenced a notoriously rocky, complex romance of four years. It temporarily ended when Griffith and Johnson wed and divorced several months later. In the mean time, Griffith kick-started her acting career with promising films including the Arthur Penn-directed detective saga Night Moves (1975) and the Paul Newman mystery The Drowning Pool (1975).Problems with drugs and drinking followed Griffith and Johnson's divorce. It all came crashing down for the rising star in 1980, when she was hit by a car on Sunset Boulevard and seriously injured, with amnesia that lasted for several days and a fractured arm. Ultimately, she did survive, and launched a comeback in the 1980s, studying acting with the preeminent Stella Adler. Griffith made a distinct impression as porn star Holly Body in Brian DePalma's thriller Body Double (1984), and two years later received a wealth of critical acclaim for her role in Something Wild, a Jonathan Demme comedy. It cast her as a reckless spirit opposite an uptight Jeff Daniels. In many ways, however, 1988 witnessed Griffith's breakthrough; that year, she appeared in Robert Redford's The Milagro Beanfield War and starred in the Mike Nichols comedy Working Girl. For her work in the latter film, as a young career woman trying to conquer the New York business world, Griffith earned an Oscar nomination and no small amount of critical respect. Unfortunately, she then endured a series of less well-received outings, including Brian DePalma's widely panned Tom Wolfe outing The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), the John Schlesinger mystery Pacific Heights (1990) and director David Seltzer's period meller Shining Through (1992).While her acting career continued on its highs and lows, Griffith once again wed Johnson in 1989; their second union lasted until 1996. That same year, the actress married Spanish heartthrob Antonio Banderas following a much-publicized romance. She went on to do some of her best work in years in 1997 as the puffy, tragically misguided Mrs. Haze in Adrian Lyne's overlooked adaptation of Lolita. She then signed on to portray drug dealer James Woods's wife in the Larry Clark-directed addiction drama Another Day in Paradise (1998); unfortunately, the film failed to make a significant impact on critics. At about the same time, the actress portrayed a flippant movie star in Woody Allen's Celebrity (1998), and a nutty aspiring actress who totes her dead husband's head around in a hat box in the Antonio Banderas-directed Crazy in Alabama in 1999. Both films received negative-to-mediocre reviews. Griffith would continue to sign on for roles in the coming years, though subsequent projects were of somewhat lower profile, like the documentaries Light Keeps Me Company (2000) and Searching for Debra Winger (2002), as well as John Waters's outrageous black comedy Cecil B. Demented (2000), the romantic drama Tempo, and the crime thriller Shade.