Trivia: After graduating from Georgetown University in 1997, Bradley Cooper set his sites on becoming not just a working actor, but a good actor. He enrolled in the Masters of Fine Arts program at the Actors Studio Drama School at New School University and began molding his abilities around a love of the craft, rather than a paycheck. He made his first onscreen debut while attending the program, with an appearance on Sex and the City in 1998, as well as a starring role on the short-lived Darren Star series The $treet. Cooper kept his life well-balanced, however, spending time teaching acting to inner-city children through the Learning through the Expanded Arts Program and taking a job as host of the Discovery Channel show Extreme Treks in a Wild World, which took him on journeys to Peru and British Colombia. His first feature film role came in 2001 with a part in the absurdist comedy Wet Hot American Summer. Near this time, Cooper was cast as Will Tippin in the ABC series Alias, which he stayed with for two seasons. He was also cast in a number of canceled series such as Miss Match, Touching Evil, and Kitchen Confidential. Cooper would find greater and greater success with comedy, however, landing a part in 2005's Owen Wilson comedy The Wedding Crashers that exposed him to a wider audience, as well as roles in 2006's Failure to Launch, and 2008's Yes Man . But of course, Cooper's breakthrough film turned out to be the explosively successful 2009 comedy The Hangover. Cooper's starring role as the smartest friend in a misguided trio, searching for their buddy after losing track of him during his extremely wild bachelor party made him an instant household name, and he would reprise the role for 2011's The Hangover 2. In the meantime, Cooper would nab starring roles in more and more films, like the thriller Limitless and the big screen adaptation of The A-Team.He scored his biggest critical hit to date with 2012's Silver Linings Playbook where his portrayal of a bi-polar man trying to pull his life back together after being released from a mental institution garnered him a number of year-end accolades including a nomination for Best Actor from the Screen Actors Guild and at the Academy Awards. He returned to the Oscar race in 2014 playing the title role in Clint Eastwood's 21st century war drama American Sniper, for which he also was nominated for Best Picture, having served as a producer on the film.

Trivia: A former standup comedian whose four-year stint as a Daily Show correspondent laid the groundwork for a successful onscreen career, Atlanta, GA, native Ed Helms has since gone on to keep fans in stitches as abrasive cubicle drone Andy Bernard on the hit television series The Office and as an undead flesh-eater who only wants a girlfriend and equal rights in the popular comedy short Zombie-American (2005). It was after a stint at Oberlin College in Ohio that Helms first began working the standup circuit, with regular appearances at some of the top comedy clubs in New York City quickly gaining him a loyal fan base. Helms' poker-faced sense of humor was an ideal fit for The Daily Show, and with only a handful of credits to his name, the rising star quickly became a regular fixture on the show. In 2006, shortly after wrapping a four-year stint on the Emmy Award-winning Comedy Central faux-newscast, Helms turned up as a member of the Stamford branch on The Office -- a series that also helped launch former Daily Show correspondent Steve Carell to stardom. When the Stamford branch eventually merged with the Scranton branch in the series, Helms' angry ass-kisser became a regular fixture on the show -- his decidedly short-fused character quickly becoming a foil for office prankster Jim Halpert (played by John Krasinski). Having previously studied improvisational comedy with the Upright Citizens Brigade, Helms became a semi-regular fixture at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City while simultaneously preparing for appearances in the Carell comedy Evan Almighty and the stoner-friendly sequel Harold and Kumar 2. He continued to get good reviews for his work on The Office, but he had a smash hit as one of the three bachelors trying to piece together their night in The Hangover. He would star in the very funny Cedar Rapids two years later, but that film would not do nearly as well at the box office as The Hangover Part II that same year. In 2012 he had a major part in The Duplass Brothers' Jeff, Who Lives At Home, and voiced one of the main characters in the smash animated film Dr. Seuss' The Lorax.

Trivia: Born October 1, 1969, in North Carolina, Zach Galifianakis emerged as one of the more distinct comedic performers to grace the stage during the mid- to late 2000s. A short, slightly stocky presence with a thick outgrowth of beard that quickly became a personal trademark, Galifianakis used his behind-the-mike stints to riff on everything from veganism to multiple personality disorder, while constantly displaying a lightning-flash wit and marked inventiveness. He debuted with feature roles during the early 2000s, in films including Heartbreakers (2001) and Bubble Boy (2001). He also briefly emceed his own short-lived talk show, Late World with Zach (2002), on the VH1 network.By 2003, Galifianakis secured a regular role (as a morgue worker, Davis) on the Fox supernatural drama series Tru Calling (2003-2005). Thereafter, the performer spent many years placing his strongest emphasis on standup and on filmed standup specials, such as the 2005 Zach Galifianakis: Live at the Purple Onion and the 2007 Comedians of Comedy: Live at the Troubador, but continued to tackle occasional feature work from time to time. Among other screen accomplishments, Galifianakis ushered in a rare dramatic turn in Sean Penn's biographical drama Into the Wild (2007) and then played a socially maladroit friend of Ashton Kutcher in the sex farce What Happens in Vegas (2008).It wasn't until his role as a well-meaning but socially lacking participant in a bachelor party horribly gone wrong, however, that the actor would find true mainstream recognition. Alongside Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms, Galifianakis starred in The Hangover, 2009's wildly successful buddy film (the actor reprised the role for 2011's The Hangover Part 2). He would go on to co-star with Robert Downey Jr. in Due Date (2010), which followed the mismatched couple on a wacky road trip to L.A., and take on supporting roles in Dinner for Schmucks, Youth in Revolt, and Up in the Air. He lent his voice to the 2011 animated film Puss in Boots, and co-stars with Will Ferrell in the political comedy Campaign (2012).

Trivia: Fort Lauderdale-born, West Bloomfield, MI-raised actor Justin Bartha earns a footnote for one of the more eccentric debuts in American film, when he signed to portray a mentally impaired, rapping kidnap victim in Martin Brest's colossal turkey Gigli (2003). Given the film's poor reception, the assignment represented something of a setback for Bartha, but the role at least clocked in a memorable one and paved the way for continued work in Hollywood A-listers -- notably in the outings National Treasure (2004) and National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), and the Sarah Jessica Parker/Matthew McConaughey romantic comedy Failure to Launch (2006). He would go on to appear in the major comedy landmark The Hangover franchise and in the sitcom The New Normal, which was canceled after only one season.

Trivia: Was born in Detroit but raised in Greensboro, NC; he is the son of Korean immigrants. During high school, he played violin and was elected to the student council. Graduated at 16 and earned Greensboro's Youth of the Year award. Won the Big Easy Laff Off comedy contest in New Orleans while completing his medical residency. Made his feature-film debut as Dr. Kuni in Judd Apatow's 2007 comedy Knocked Up. His wife, Tran, is also a physician, as well as a breast-cancer survivor.

Trivia: The balding, likeable, nervous-looking character actor Paul Giamatti is the son of the author, Yale president, and Major League Baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti. After earning his M.F.A. in Drama from Yale, the younger Giamatti got started on his acting career with small film parts and TV guest spots. He quickly became a recognizable face but his name was not yet well-known in Hollywood, while on-stage he appeared in lead roles for Broadway productions of The Three Sisters and The Iceman Cometh. Giamatti's film breakthrough came in 1997 with the role of media executive Kenny (aka "Pig Vomit") in the Howard Stern movie Private Parts. In his next few films, he played small yet funny parts like the inept mob henchman in Safe Men, the slave-peddling ape in Planet of the Apes, and the bellboy in My Best Friend's Wedding. He then got starring roles in the HBO movies Winchell (opposite fellow character actor Stanley Tucci) and If These Walls Could Talk 2. Giamatti seemed to get good parts in both independent films (Storytelling, Confidence) and in major studio blockbusters (Big Momma's House, Big Fat Liar). After playing the real-life eccentric Bob Zmuda in Milos Forman's Man on the Moon, he got his first major starring role in 2003 as the leading real-life eccentric Harvey Pekar in American Splendor, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The same year he starred in the FX original movie The Pentagon Papers with James Spader.Many thought Giamatti was more than deserving of an Academy Award nomination for his role in American Splendor, but when the nods were announced his name was absent. Nonetheless, he received even more raves for his next film. As the wine-loving love-lorn lead in Sideways, Giamatti wowed critics and increased his popularity with audiences exponentially. However, despite the overwhelming accolades and multiple Oscar nominations for the film, Giamatti was again ignored by the Academy.Next up, Giamatti returned to supporting work with a role in director Ron Howard's acclaimed 2005 biopic of boxer Jim Braddock, Cinderella Man. Playing the concerned, passionate manager to Russell Crowe's headstrong underdog, Giamatti finally received some belated Academy attention, even if he lost the 2005 Best Supporting Actor prize to popular favorite George Clooney. No matter, since Giamatti was already at work on his next leading man project in M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water. Of course his role as the befuddled apartment complex supervisor attempting to protect a mysterious woman who emerges from the swimming pool in Shyamalan's eagerly-anticipated fairy-tale thriller still only seemed like the beginning of an incredibly productive period that continued to capitalize on Giamatti's post-Sideways success, and with an exhausting six films featuring the actor scheduled for release in 2006 alone, the actor previously content essaying supporting roles found himself increasingly gravitating towards the status of leading man. Still, it wasn't all big budget blockbusters for the screen's most well-known wine connisseur, and with a prominant role as an obsessive falconer in writer/director Julian Goldberger's 2006 adaptation of author Harry Crews 1973 novel The Hawk is Dying, Giamatti delivered the distinct message that his career was still very much about the creativity afforded to actors and not necessarily the financial payoff. An additional role in the romantic fantasy adventure The Illusionist that same year found Giamatti taking a trip back to turn-of-the-century Vienna to play a conflicted police inspector whose outward obligations to the aristocracy belie his growing suspicions that they may be covering up an especially confounding murder. With a voice that was equally as recognizable as his distinctive face, Giamatti began lending his vocal chords to a variety of animated projects including Robots, The Ant Bully, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto and the curiously titled Amazing Screw-on Head as well. Unrelenting in the coming years, Giamatti would continue to take on a wide range of memorable character roles in interesting films like Shoot Em Up, John Adams, Cold Souls, The Last Station, The Hangover Part II, The Ides of March and Rock of Ages.

Trivia: A heavyweight champion of the world for three and a half years (November 1986-February 1990), boxer Mike Tyson also earned a historical footnote as the youngest individual ever to win, and lose, the said title in his chosen sport. Both during and after his heavyweight tenure in the ring, Tyson also courted an overwhelming amount of controversy for his reported anti-social behavior, which included raping a beauty pageant contestant in an Indianapolis hotel room (an act for which he received six years in prison, later commuted to three) and biting off a piece of fighter Evander Holyfield's ear, mid-fight (an act that DQ'd him from that particular match and sent the media into a tailspin). For the most part, Tyson spent his early years on-camera in projects exclusively related to boxing, but following his release from prison, he became acquainted with director James Toback (Fingers), and that marked the beginning of a long friendship that witnessed the men frequently working together. Their collaborations commenced with the improvisational, racially themed 1998 drama Black on White (in which Tyson makes an extended cameo and receives a very blatant pass from a gay character played by Robert Downey, Jr.), the erotic drama When Will I Be Loved? (2004), and, ultimately, the documentary portrait Tyson (2008), which Toback put together from over 30 hours of interviews with the then-retired boxer. Aside from the Toback projects, Tyson's résumé also includes small roles in the 2000 boxing comedy Play It to the Bone and the 2006 boxing drama Rocky Balboa.

Trivia: Born July 8th, 1944, character actor Jeffrey Tambor has built his career in comedies playing the role of the uptight boss, or more generally, the stuffy guy. After graduate school, teaching, and a prolific stage career, Tambor started making television guest-starring appearances in the early '70s. He showed up on Three's Company enough that he eventually got a spot on the spin-off series The Ropers as the disapproving next-door neighbor Jeffrey. After the show's two-season run, he did a few TV movies before landing a reoccurring roles on the television version of 9 to 5, naturally playing the Dabney Coleman boss character. Throughout the '80s and early '90s, he continued to play the role of the stuffy guy on television (The Golden Girls, L.A. Law, Max Headroom) and movies (Mr. Mom, City Slickers, Life Stinks). His big break came in 1992, when he was cast as Garry Shandling's smiling sidekick, Hank Kingsley, on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show, his most recognizable role. For the rest of the '90s, he frequently returned to playing snide characters for movies (Teaching Mrs. Tingle, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Muppets From Space), although he would be more well-known for his work on television. In 1999, he appeared on the AMC series The Lot for its two-season run and provided voice talent for the MTV cartoon show 3 South. He played another boss type in the heist film Scorched in 2002.In 2003, Tambor joined the cast of Arrested Development for the role of George Bluth, an imprisoned millionaire and patriarch to a seriously dysfunctional family. The role would earn two Emmy nominations. Tambor tried his luck at television success once again in Welcome to the Captain, a short-lived sitcom in 2006, and returned to the big screen for the buddy comedy Twenty Good Years. He played a supporting role in 2009's critically acclaimed comedy the Invention of Lying, and played father of the bride in the megahit The Hangover. In 2011, Tambor took another supporting role for the comedy drama Win Win, and reprised his role in The Hangover for The Hangover Part 2.

Trivia: A San Francisco native, Korean-American actress Jamie Chung landed a shot at celebrity rather capriciously and arbitrarily, when working as a waitress as Riverside, CA's Tremors Bar & Grill. MTV networks spotted the then-unknown and invited her to appear in season 14 of the popular reality series The Real World. She immediately obliged, and in the process jump-started her acting career. Guest spots followed on series programs including Veronica Mars, ER, and CSI: New York. Chung moved into films with a bit role as a Hooters girl in the Adam Sandler/Kevin James comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007) and followed it up with a supporting turn as Chi Chi in the live action fantasy Dragonball (2009), adapted from the mangas of the same name. In 2010 she appeared in the Adam Sandler comedy Grown Ups, and 2011 found her in both Sucker Punch and the massively successful sequel to The Hangover. She then joined ABC's fantasy Once Upon a Time in the recurring role of Mulan and also replaced actress Devon Aoki in the 2013 sequel Sin City: A Dame To Kill For.

Trivia: Lived for 4 years in France, where her mother worked as a model, and then moved to Los Angeles.Both her and her mother made their acting debuts in Homer and Eddie (1989).Attended Provo Canyon School in Orem, Utah County, Utah; Ojai Valley School in Ojai, California; Lycée Français de Los Angeles in Los Angeles; and The Buckley School in Sherman Oaks.Studied acting at the Actors Circle Theater with Arthur Mendoza.In May 2014, announced plans to pursue professional poker.

Trivia: Was a member of the Second City comedy troupe, and toured with the Second City National Touring Company. Made her big-screen debut with a small role in the Kevin Costner supernatural drama Dragonfly (2002). Joined the cast of MADtv for the Fox sketch comedy's ninth season. Has been a series regular on the short-lived ABC sitcom Sons & Daughters and the CBS legal drama The Defenders. Was cast in the pilot of Transparent, but the role was recast (with Melora Hardin) when Vigman had to pull out due to her pregnancy.

Trivia: Scion of renowned maverick director John Cassavetes and extraordinary actress Gena Rowlands, Nick Cassavetes was an actor for over a decade before he added writing and directing to his Hollywood repertoire. Born and raised in New York, Cassavetes appeared in two of his father's films, Husbands (1970) and A Woman Under the Influence (1974), while growing up. The sturdy, 6'4" Cassavetes did not, however, want to be an actor and attended Syracuse University on a basketball scholarship. After an injury ended his collegiate athletic career, Cassavetes re-thought his aspirations and headed to his parents' alma mater, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.Though he scored his first role as an adult in Peter Bogdanovich's acclaimed drama Mask (1985), Cassavetes made his living appearing in numerous B-movies during the 1980s and early '90s. Along with such actioners as Black Moon Rising (1986), Under the Gun (1988), and The Wraith (1987) (with fellow Hollywood offspring Charlie Sheen), Cassavetes also starred in several softcore movies, including Body of Influence (1991). By the mid-'90s, Cassavetes left B-movies for a role as Dorothy Parker's lover, writer Robert Sherwood, in Alan Rudolph's Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) and his own debut as a movie writer and director. Drawing on his mother's experience after his father's 1989 death and featuring a superb performance by Rowlands, Unhook the Stars (1996) was a perceptive slice-of-life drama about a widow's relationship with her young single-mother neighbor. Further paying homage to his roots, Cassavetes then directed one of his father's unproduced screenplays, She's So Lovely (1997). Starring Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn as a couple that defines l'amour fou and John Travolta as Wright Penn's tough yet paternal second husband, She's So Lovely was true to the elder Cassavetes' distinct, keen voice and won prizes for cinematography and Penn's flamboyant performance at the Cannes Film Festival. Cassavetes also appeared onscreen that same year with Travolta, as super criminal Castor Troy's bald cohort Dietrich in John Woo's summer blockbuster Face/Off (1997). Appearing in higher profile fare than most of his prior acting work, Cassavetes followed Face/Off with roles in the Johnny Depp-Charlize Theron sci-fi thriller The Astronaut's Wife (1999) and Ted Demme's Eddie Murphy-Martin Lawrence prison movie Life (1999). Continuing his associations with Demme and Depp, Cassavetes subsequently co-wrote the director's final film Blow (2001), about the rise and fall of a 1970s and '80s American cocaine kingpin. Returning to the director's chair for a project that spoke to his experience with his own daughter's heart disease, Cassavetes took on his first big-budget Hollywood genre film, John Q. (2002). Starring Denzel Washington as a desperate working-class father who turns to violence when his HMO won't cover his son's heart transplant, this unconvincing piece of schlock received devastating reviews across the board. American critics described it, alternately, as "So lacking in shame that it finally seems laughable, "[a] movie [that] transcends stupidity and soars into the empyrean of true idiocy," and "A shamelessly manipulative commercial on behalf of national health insurance." The director fared immeasurably better in 2004 with The Notebook. As penned by Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi, this gentle and evocative adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' bestselling novel follows an elderly man (James Garner) who reads a heartbreaking period love story aloud to a female nursing home resident (Gena Rowlands). The film then plays out the story-within-the-story, about a couple who share the greatest summer of their lives with one another, and are then irrevocably separated by their parents and the rise of World War II. The press responded far more kindly to The Notebook when it premiered in the U.S. on June 25, 2004. Michael Wilmington's comments typified the response: "[It] may be corny," he noted, "But it's also absorbing, sweet, and powerfully acted. It's a film about falling in love and looking back on it, and it avoids many of the genre's syrupy dangers." Audiences flocked to the picture, and turned it into one of the sleeper hits of the year.Cassavetes' fifth directorial outing, Alpha Dog (2007), constitutes a biopic of Jesse James Hollywood (played by Emile Hirsch), a young murderer, thief, kidnapper, junkie, and dealer who became one of the youngest individuals in history to make the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List. The film finds Hollywood foolishly attempting to clear the account of one of his clients by nabbing the boy's younger brother and holding him for ransom. He thus sets into motion a horrifying cycle of violence that precipitates his own demise. The picture co-stars Justin Timberlake and Sharon Stone. Over the coming years, Cassavetes would direct movies like My Sister's Keeper.

Trivia: Supporting actress Currie has appeared on screen since the '80s.

Trivia: Of Irish, Italian and American Indian descent.Due to his father's job as a banker, lived overseas until he was 14.Worked at Lehman Brothers for two years.Studied at the Beverly Hills Playhouse.Frequent performer at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles.Host of The Bryan Callen Show podcast.

Trivia: Is Yugoslavian, Irish, Danish and Welsh. Trained at Cygnet Training Theatre in Exeter, Devon, England. Cowrote the screenplay for and starred in the 2002 British crime drama Shooters. Was one of several Welsh actors asked to read excerpts from The Richard Burton Diaries at a Los Angeles reception when the book was launched in 2012. Mother and father run the Lincoln House Private Hotel in Cardiff, Wales.

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: Raised on a steady diet of such goofy '80s comedy staples as Revenge of the Nerds (1984), Stripes (1981), and Just One of the Guys (1985), fearless filmmaker Todd Phillips didn't even see a Bergman or Welles film until he hit his early twenties -- a fact that's relentlessly obvious when watching his debut fiction feature, the raunchy retro-reeking teen-comedy Road Trip. Born Todd Bunzel in Long Island, NY, and inspired by his junk-food movie addiction, Phillips enrolled in N.Y.U. to pursue a career as a filmmaker. Fascinated by the revolting antics of extreme punk rocker G.G. Allin, Phillips set out to film a documentary about the controversial feces-slinging musician while still a student at N.Y.U. With such a unique subject matter to begin with, it would have been hard to make the documentary uninteresting, though with Phillips' no-holds-barred, guerilla approach and keen editing skills, the film became an instant underground sensation (pegged by many as a funnier, true-to-life version of Spinal Tap) and paved the way for Phillips to continue honing his notable documentarian skills. After next producing an insightful look into the life of Screw magazine publisher Al Goldstein (Screwed) in 1996, Phillips returned to the director's chair with a scathing and unflinchingly graphic portrayal of college hazing rituals in Frat House (1998). Produced as an installment of HBO's popular America Undercover series, the film took the Grand Jury Prize for Documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival before becoming marred in controversy and shelved by HBO due to questions of authenticity and complaints from the subjects. Asked to leave and later threatened with physical harm by their subjects in a jarring scene, Phillips and partner Andrew Gurland were forced to continue production by finding another willing fraternity and actually taking part in the extreme hazing process (Gurland was later hospitalized as a result of one of the rituals), a situation Phillips claims to have given him a new perspective by breaking the boundaries and actually experiencing that which he documented. Though he admits to feelings of disappointment over the fact that the film never reached a large audience, the film continues to circulate heavily on the gray market and Phillips continues to push for a suitable release for the acclaimed film. It wasn't long before Phillips decided to expand his horizons, and after meeting producer Ivan Reitman and directing polarizing MTV funnyman Tom Green in a series of Pepsi One commercials, the established documentary filmmaker made a leap to fictional features with Road Trip in 2000. Simultaneously producing and directing Bittersweet Motel, a documentary on musical cult phenomenon Phish, Phillips' debut feature gained a lukewarm reception at the box office though his further documentary pursuits gained positive receptions from legions of rabid Phish-heads. Regardless of the less-than overzealous reaction to Road Trip, Phillips continued his celluloid tributes to the zany comedies of the Me decade with Old School in 2002. The unabashedly low-brow comedy proved a hit at the box office thanks in no small part to a fearless comic performance by former Saturday Night Live leading-man Will Ferrell, and it wasn't long before Phillips was gearing up for his next feature comedy.If Road Trip and Old School only hinted at referencing the "anything goes" comedies of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Phillips' next film would find him taking the helm for a direct (at least in name) remake of the beloved 1970s cop show Starsky & Hutch. With Ben Stiller stepping into Paul Michael Glaser's wooly sweater and Owen Wilson donning David Soul's trademark 1970s mop top, it seemed as if everything were in place for another comedy hit. Though anticipation ran high for Phillips' version of Starsky & Hutch, the excitement was somewhat dampened by the fact that the film received only fair to middling reviews upon release in early 2003. Nevertheless, Phillips would stick with frequent screenwriter Scot Armstrong to tell the tale of a shy meter-reader who enrolls in a confidence-building class in order to get the attention of the girl he longs for, only to discover that his teacher also has eyes for the girl, in a modern-day adaptation of the 1960 comedy School for Scoundrels or How to Win Without Actually Cheating! entitled The Better Man in 2006. With a cast that included Billy Bob Thornton and Napoleon Dynamite sensation Jon Heder - as well as an impressive supporting cast of comic talents including David Cross, Sarah Silverman, and Luis Guzmán - Phillips kept audiences laughing as he began preparations for the eagerly anticipated sequel to his 2003 hit Old School.