Trivia: Well known for his works as teen heartthrob on the NBC series Freaks and Geeks and films like Never Been Kissed (1999) starring Drew Barrymore, James Franco has the dark, refined looks of a classic movie star. Indeed, he was cast in the TNT film James Dean playing the screen legend himself, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for his performance in 2002.Born on April 19, 1978, Franco has lived in California throughout his life. After high school, he studied acting intensely under Robert Carnegie, Jeff Goldblum, and Tony Savant. He also spent time training at the Playhouse West in North Hollywood. Soon after landing the role as dark and pessimistic Daniel on Freaks and Geeks, where the teenage crowd found his performance accessible and realistic, Franco would earn a series of roles in teen-oriented motion pictures. Along with Never Been Kissed, he appeared in Whatever It Takes, on the set of which he met girlfriend Marla Sokoloff, a fellow actor. In a film about a group of "bad" students called Mean People Suck (2000), Franco appeared in the role of Casey, and then starred in Blind Spot in 2001.After retaining heartthrob status with his award-winning performance as James Dean, he would appear in Deuces Wild (2002), a '50s-style gang drama. That same year, he played the part of Harry Osborn in the live-action rendition of Stan Lee's superhero comic Spider Man, also starring Tobey Maguire, Willem Defoe, and Kirsten Dunst. The following year would find an emerging Franco in his most dramatically challenging role to date, as a murder suspect who happens to be the son of an NYPD police detective (Robert DeNiro) in City by the Sea. Impressed by Franco's turn as flm legend James Dean, DeNiro personally lobbied to have Franco cast in the film. Franco would continue to work with talented collaborators, landing a role in Robert Altman's ballet movie The Company in 2003. He returned to the role of Harry Osbourn in Spider-Man 2 a year after that. 2005 was a busy year for the young actor who directed an adaptation of his own play, The Ape, and starred in a couple of historical dramas. Neither The Great Raid nor Tristan & Isolde made much of an impression with audiences, but the films showed an actor willing to try new things. He was back in theaters early in 2006 with the Naval Academy/boxing movie Annapolis. That fall he again appeared in theaters in the World War 1 drama Flyboys, directed by Tony Bill. He also agreed to reprise the role of Harry Osborn one more time in Spider-Man 3.Having long nurtured an aptitude for painting, Franco had his first public exhibition of his work in 2006, with a show at a Los Angeles gallery. He also began writing and directing his own short films, like 2007's Good Time Max and 2009's The Feast of Stephen. Around this time, Franco made the unexpected decision to enroll at UCLA as an English major. After receiving special permission to take on a heavier than normal course-load, he received his degree in 2008, and promptly began working on his MFA at Columbia University in New York, which he completed in 2010. He next enrolled as a Ph.D. student in English at Yale University. All the while that he was completing his higher education, Franco was living up to the description often given by his co-stars and collaborators as having a superhuman ability to complete numerous projects at once. In 2008, Franco found an awesome vehicle for his comedic chops with the action-stoner-comedy Pineapple Express, pairing him with Seth Rogen as an adorably friendly weed dealer. That same year, he earned accolades for his performance as Scott Smith in the Award Winning biopic Milk, opposite Sean Penn. Even stranger, in 2009 - at the height of success - Franco decided curiously to join the cast of the daytime soap opera General Hospital, as a performance artist, not unlike himself, named Franco. He would later refer to the role as "performance art," but the tongue-in-cheek nature of a heart-throb Hollywood star joining the ranks of daytime TV only added to Franco's fun and mischievous image. He would also appear on the show 30 Rock that year as himself, in an episode in which the actor carries out a fake relationship for the press, in order to draw public attention from rumors that he's in love with a Japanese body pillow.Franco would make appearances in films like Eat, Pray, Love and Date Night over the coming years, but his next big splash came in 2011, when he starred in the gripping thriller 127 Hours. Playing a mountain climber who becomes immovably wedged in an isolated crevice, the almost completely solo performance earned Franco yet more praise from critics and fans, as well as numerous nominations from the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and more. Never standing still after even the biggest victory, however, Franco was soon onto the next project, reteaming with his Pineapple Express director and costars for the 2011 fantasy-stoner-comedy Your Highness.

Trivia: Made his TV debut in a 2006 episode of 7th Heaven. Was a regular on the short-lived 2008 Fox sitcom Do Not Disturb; subsequently joined the cast of Scrubs for the series' ninth season. Had bit parts in the big-screen hits Superbad (2007) and Milk (2008). Collaborated with his brother, James Franco, on the Funny or Die Web series Acting with James Franco.

Trivia: Canadian-born actor Seth Rogen tapped into his skills as a comedian when he was only 13, signing up for comedy classes and honing his deadpan style. He tooled around as an amateur for a few years but eventually took his act down south, hoping to find success as an actor and standup comedian in the U.S. He was soon discovered by Judd Apatow and was cast in his short-lived series Freaks and Geeks. After its cancellation, Apatow cast Rogen in his next series, Undeclared -- for which Rogen significantly contributed as a writer. Undeclared met the same fate as Freaks and Geeks and was canceled mid-season, but both series became surprisingly hot cult hits upon their DVD releases. Rogen went on to write for Da Ali G Show and take minor roles in Donnie Darko and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy before being tapped by Apatow once again for a new project, this time on the big screen. The film was 2005's The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Rogen's role as Steve Carell's well-meaning friend Cal finally brought him the large-scale success that made his comic skills a valuable commodity. Rogen also acted as co-producer on the film, which was touted as the funniest movie in years by critics and audiences alike, eventually grossing well over a hundred million dollars. There was obviously good chemistry on the set of The 40 Year Old Virgin, so Rogen signed on to appear in Apatow's 2007 comedy Knocked Up. Appearing alongside his old cast mates Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann, Rogen starred as a man who is forced to deal with serious unforeseen consequences when his one-night stand becomes pregnant. After the filmmakers' initial plans to cast Anne Hathaway in the opposite role fell through, Grey's Anatomy star Katherine Heigl signed on to star as the female lead. The smash success of Superbad made him one of the biggest comedy stars of his generation and led to Pineapple Express, a pot comedy opposite James Franco. He was Zack in Zack and MIri Make a Porno, and took a screenwriting credit on Drillbit Taylor in 2008. He lent his distinctive gravelly voice to a number of animated films including Kung Fu Panda and Monsters vs. Aliens. In 2009 he stretched himself, reteaming with Apatow for Funny People, and taking the lead in the black comedy Observe and Report. In 2011 he was The Green Hornet, but he also appeared as the best friend to a young cancer victim in the comedy 50/50. He also played the husband of Michelle Williams in Sarah Polley's Take This Waltz.

Trivia: Born on October 12, 1992, Kentuckian Josh Hutcherson began his career as a child actor at the age of ten and ascended meteorically to the top of his game, transitioning effortlessly within a few short years from television series episodes to telemovies to big-screen voice-over work to live-action parts in Hollywood feature films. Hutcherson's career began when producers of the hit NBC series ER cast him in the "First Snowfall" episode of that program; it aired in late 2002. Hutcherson transitioned to telemovies the following year, as the grandson of Peter Falk, who accompanies the elderly man on a colorful road trip in David Mickey Evans' picaresque yarn Wilder Days (2003).Hutcherson debuted on the big screen in 2004, with two back-to-back voice assignments on animated features. He played Markl in the English-language version of Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle (alongside screen vets Lauren Bacall, Christian Bale, Billy Crystal, and others) and a Hero Boy -- one of many -- in Robert Zemeckis' CG-animated holiday picture The Polar Express. That same year, Hutcherson topped these efforts with additional small-screen voice-over work in the episode of the televised animated series Justice League Unlimited entitled "For the Man Who Has Everything."Hutcherson tackled a three major roles in 2005, beginning that spring with a supporting role as Bucky, the son of dictatorial boys' soccer coach Robert Duvall (and the half-brother of Will Ferrell) in Jesse Dylan's family-oriented sports comedy Kicking & Screaming. Later that same year, Hutcherson tackled his first lead with premier billing in Mark Levin's Wonder Years-style coming-of-age dramedy Little Manhattan; in that film, the actor played Gabe, an 11-year-old boy from the New York upper crust who must contend with a newfound crush on a girl in his class (Charlie Ray), against the backdrop of his parents' tentative split. (That film also marked Hutcherson's first onscreen appearance alongside his younger brother, Connor.) Concurrent with the release of Little Manhattan, Hutcherson received second billing after Jonah Bobo, as Walter, the eldest of two siblings, in Jon Favreau's underrated family-friendly sci-fi thriller Zathura (adapted, like The Polar Express, from a Chris Van Allsburg tale).Hutcherson's activity decrescendoed the following year, when he limited himself to one role, albeit one with great visibility -- that of young Carl Munro, the son of family patriarch Robin Williams, in Barry Sonnenfeld's nutty road comedy RV In 2007, however, Hutcherson resumed his hectic workload with multiple A-list motion pictures. The first, Bridge to Terabithia, was adapted from Katherine Paterson's popular children's novel; it stars Hutcherson as Jess Aarons, a youngster who befriends classmate Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb) and constructs a vivid fantasy world with her that ends in tragedy. Animator Gabor Csupo, of Rugrats fame, directs. In spring of the same year, Hutcherson headlined another picture, Firehouse Dog, directed by Todd Holland. In that film, Hutcherson played an adolescent who teams up with the titular canine to resurrect a dilapidated firehouse. And in the summer 2008 release Journey 3-D (produced under the working title Journey to the Center of the Earth, and a contemporized adaptation of the Verne novel), the young actor portrays the nephew of a geologist played by Brendan Fraser, with whom he discovers a passageway to a "lost" universe at the Earth's core. Hutcherson would continue to nurture a career in young adult cinema, appearing in the tween-favorite Circue du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant in 2009, and Detention in 2010, before signing on for the highly anticipated big-screen adaptation of the successful fantasy-adventure young adult book franchise The Hunger Games in 2012, which became one of the biggest box office successes of that year. That same year he had another hit with the special effects-heavy adventure film Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.

Trivia: One of her first acting jobs was an episode of Hannah Montana. Worked as a clown at children's birthday parties before being cast as Trudy Campbell on Mad Men. In 2009, simultaneously appeared on Mad Men and on new comedy Community.

Trivia: Actor Zac Efron's career began when he was just 11 years old, when his parents took note of his tremendous singing talent. They let him audition for a production of Gypsy, and he won a small role in a production that would run for 90 performances. He would eventually graduate to on-screen acting, scoring a recurring role on the hit series Summerland in 2004. This would seem like his big break, but an even bigger role would come the next year, in the hugely popular Disney feature High School Musical. Efron immediately earned a strong, loyal fan base, going on to star in big screen projects like Hairspray, 17 Again, Charlie St. Cloud, and The Lucky One.

Trivia: Lead actress, onscreen from the '80s.

Trivia: A native of Boston, MA, actress Ari Graynor was born in 1983 and attended Trinity College in Hartford, CT. She broke through to acclaim with her supporting role as Caitlin Rucker, a sexually promiscuous, manic-depressive student at Meadow Soprano's college on the HBO mafia drama The Sopranos (during the third season, in 2001), and thereafter moved into features, with contributions to films from a broad cross-section of genres. These included the gritty drama Mystic River (2003), the bittersweet Jeff Daniels/Sigourney Weaver seriocomedy Imaginary Heroes (2004), and the Christopher Guest satire For Your Consideration (2006). In 2008, Graynor portrayed a flighty and befuddled young urbanite with a passion for turkey sandwiches in the teen-oriented romantic comedy Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Alongside her film and television work, Graynor has remained fully active on-stage, landing her most prominent role as Alison in the 2005 Broadway outing Brooklyn Boy.

Trivia: A familiar face to a nation of television viewers thanks to his role as the more-than-slightly demented father on the popular FOX sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, longtime stage and screen actor Bryan Cranston has had a rich and varied career, lending his talents to everything from anime voice work (Armitage III and Macross Plus) to daytime television (as an original cast member of Loving). His commanding but off-kilter presence and quirky charm have easily provided Cranston with the necessary range to essay such diverse roles, and the longtime actor can always be counted on to inject a healthy dose of personality into his performances, no matter how large or small the role may be. Though the San Fernando Valley native made his television debut as a commercial actor at the age of eight, it wasn't until college that Cranston truly realized his calling as an actor. Following college graduation, Cranston's passion eventually drew him to Daytona Beach, FL, where the burgeoning actor appeared in such community-theater productions as Barefoot in the Park and Death of a Salesman. In 1982, he joined the cast of the then-new soap opera Loving, and though he would only remain with the daytime drama for a short time, appearances in Airwolf and Hill Street Blues, among various other series, found the actor maintaining a notable presence on television. Following a series of supporting feature performances, Cranston moved back to the small screen with a regular role in the 1988 sitcom Raising Miranda. In the years that followed, he would frequently shift between film (Clean Slate) and television (The Louie Show) while supplementing his income with voice-over work for such popular anime series as Armitage III. Supporting performances in such high-profile features as That Thing You Do! and Saving Private Ryan helped to increase the busy actor's recognition factor, and in 1999, Cranston wrote, produced, directed, and starred in his first feature film, a low-key drama entitled Last Chance. Though the film failed to gain much attention, Cranston was soon receiving numerous positive notices for his Emmy-nominated role as the hapless father in the breakout television hit Malcolm in the Middle. His performance alternately eccentric and endearing, Cranston injected the role with the perfect balance of fatherly weirdness and down-to-earth charm, and the series embarked on a healthy run. In the years that followed, Cranston became an increasingly familiar face to television and film viewers, and in addition to offering vocal work for the short-lived animated television series Clerks, he would contribute to such family-friendly fare as 'Twas the Night and The Santa Claus Brothers. After taking the lead in the 2003 made-for-television feature Thanksgiving Family Reunion, Cranston could be spotted opposite screen legend Kirk Douglas in the 2004 drama The Illusion. He appeared in the 2006 miniseries Fallen, and had a bit part in the Oscar nominated Little Miss Sunshine.However, in 2008 his career entered a whole new phase when he began work on the AMC series Breaking Bad, playing a chemistry teacher who becomes a meth dealer. His work on the critically lauded program would earn him four Emmys for Best Actor in a Drama Series (plus another two as a producer on the series). It also made him an in-demand character actor for movies and he worked steadily appearing in projects as radically different as Drive, Larry Crowne, Red Tails, John Carter, and Rock of Ages among many others.In 2014, Cranston made his Broadway debut in the play All The Way, playing President Lyndon Baines Johnson. The role earned him a Tony Award, and he committed to reprising the role for a TV movie. The following year, he played blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo in the film Trumbo (2015), nabbing Cranston his first Academy Award nomination.

Trivia: Screen siren, opinionated diva, and one of the few actresses in Hollywood who can claim to be both a Paul Verhoeven muse and a MENSA member, Sharon Stone is nothing if not a legend in her own right. Beginning with her notorious disinclination to wear underwear during a police interrogation in Basic Instinct, Stone went on to become one of the most talked about actresses of the '90s, earning both admiration and infamy for her on- and off-screen personae.Almost as famous as Stone's glamorous image are her working-class roots. Born in the Northwest Pennsylvania town of Meadville on March 10, 1958, Stone grew up a bookworm in a large family. Highly intelligent in addition to being a local beauty pageant queen, she won a scholarship to Pennsylvania's Edinboro University when she was 15 years old. After studying creative writing and fine arts, she decided to pursue a modeling career, and after moving to New York, she signed on with the Eileen Ford agency. Stone became a successful model by the late '70s, appearing in print and television ads for Clairol, Revlon, and Diet Coke.In 1980, Stone branched out into acting, making her screen debut as the "pretty girl on train" in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories. Following this role, she spent the '80s appearing in one forgettable film after another, often cast as the stereotypical blonde bimbo. She finally got a break in 1990, when she appeared as Arnold Schwarzenegger's kickboxing secret-agent wife in Verhoeven's Total Recall. Any recognition she gained for that role, however, was more than eclipsed by the notoriety she earned for her starring turn in her second Verhoeven feature, Basic Instinct. The 1992 film, in which Stone portrayed a bisexual author/sexual adventurer who may or may not be a serial killer, did her a huge favor by making her a star but also a sizable disservice by further typecasting her in blonde seductress roles. Stone's subsequent effort, the erotic thriller Sliver (1993), was an example of this: the actress attracted notice less for her acting than for her willingness to simulate masturbation. Her role in the following year's The Specialist was also fairly limiting -- an action flick co-starring Sylvester Stallone, it called for Stone to run around in a tight dress in heels when she wasn't seducing various characters.In 1995, Stone managed to break into the "serious actress" arena with her performance in Martin Scorsese's Casino. Cast as an ex-prostitute, she won an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe for her work, as well as the general opinion that she was capable of dramatic acting. Stone branched out further that same year with The Quick and the Dead, a revisionist Western directed by Sam Raimi in which she starred as a tough-talking, hard-drinking broad bent on revenge. Unfortunately, the film was a relative flop, as were her subsequent 1996 films, Diabolique, a remake of the 1954 French film by Clouzot and Last Dance, a drama that featured Stone as a woman on death row. By this point winning more notice for her off-screen role as an arbiter of fashion and old-school Hollywood glamour than for her onscreen acting work, Stone next lent her voice to the animated Antz in 1998. The film proved to be a success, unlike the actress's other projects that year, the lackluster Barry Levinson sci-fi thriller Sphere and The Mighty. The latter film, which Stone produced as well as starred in, was a heartfelt story about two adolescent misfits; although it did win a number of positive reviews, audiences largely kept their distance. The same couldn't be said of Stone's next film, a 1999 remake of Gloria; not only did audiences stay away from it, critics savaged it with vituperative glee. Never one to let a bad review get her down, Stone soon rebounded, receiving a more positive reception for her performance in The Muse and then starring as Jeff Bridges' long-suffering wife in Simpatico. If her roles in the years that followed weren't as high profile, that's certainly not to say that they were any less challenging. After taking a turn towards the small screen in the lesbian-themed made-for-cable drama If These Walls Could Talk 2, Stone broke for comedy with Alfonso Arau's Picking Up the Pieces and essayed the role of an unpredictable bad girl in Beautiful Joe (all 2000). Having veered increasingly towards family-oriented fare in recent years, the trend continued with vocal work for Harold and the Purple Crayon. Of course, all was not child's play in Stone's career, and with the release of Cold Creek Manor the following year, audiences were indeed in for a frightful chill. A series of continual highs and lows marked Stone's career path in successive years. In 2004, the actress appeared as Laurel Hedare opposite Halle Berry in Catwoman. Though eagerly anticipated, the effects-heavy vehicle opened that July to abysmal reviews and devastating box office returns. Despite Stone's confession that she was toning down her oft cited diva-like ways after suffering a brain aneurysm in 2001, rumors of outrageous behavior on the film's set began to circulate. She fared much better on all fronts when she essayed a role as one of Bill Murray's ex-girlfriends in Jim Jarmusch's Golden Palm winner Broken Flowers (2005) - and walked away with the most memorable and endearing role in the picture - a role that showcases her skills as a disciplined thespian. Stone then contributed a cameo (as did many stars) to that same year's disappointing Martin Short vehicle Jiminy Glick in LaLa Wood Early 2006 gave rise to another embarrassment, as Stone appeared (at the age of 48!) in the sequel Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction. Despite a somewhat respectable pedigree (the gifted Michael Caton-Jones helmed the picture) the public and press scoffed. Incredibly, Stonespoke of a possible third entry in the franchise, and even explored the option of assuming the position of director. No such luck: much to the chagrin of viewers who relish Hollywood stars in humi roles, the picture failed to materialize. But soon after, a couple of potential triumphs surfaced, defiantly challenging the tabloids hungry for a 'losing streak' in Stone's career. She joined an exemplary cast in Emilio Estevez's hotly anticipated November 2006 release Bobby, an ensemble piece that intertwines multiple substories in the Ambassador Hotel just prior to RFK's assassination. She also appears in Nick Cassavetes's Alpha Dog (2007), alongside an A-list cast that includes newbie Emile Hirsch and Bruce Willis. The picture dramatizes the true story of a drug dealer in his early twenties who gets in over his head; Stone plays the traumatized mother of the child he kidnaps, a boy who is in hock for a massive drug tab. Universal slated it for release in January 2007. In that same year's drama When a Man Falls in the Forest, directed by Ryan Eslinger, she plays a kleptomaniacal Midwestern housewife. The cast also stars Timothy Hutton, Dylan Baker and Pruitt Taylor Vince. She continued to work steadily in projects such as Streets of Blood, Largo Winch II, and the biopic Lovelace.Wed to MacGyver producer Michael Greenberg from 1984 to 1987, and George Englund, Jr. (Cloris Leachman's son) prior to that, Stone married her third husband, San Francisco Examiner editor Phil Bronstein, in early 1998, with whom she adopted a son. They divorced in early 2004. She runs an LA-based production shingle, Chaos Productions.

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.

Trivia: Was an accomplished rock n' roll and jazz drummer in high school and college. Began his comedy career by joining an improv troupe in college. Received a grant after college to study ethnomusicology in North Africa and the Middle East. Improvised much of his part in The Dictator (2012). Regularly featured on How Did This Get Made, a film podcast critiquing bad films.

Trivia: Attended the same college as his friend, hip-hop artist Open Mike Eagle, who was his resident advisor at the time. Made his first stand-up appearance as a sophomore at Southern Illinois University in 2002, at an open mic night in the basement of the student center. Released his first stand-up comedy album My Name Is Hannibal on July 27, 2010. Has performed stand-up acts on the late-night shows Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Conan, among others, and has written for the comedy series Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock.

Trivia: The slightly diminutive and gap-toothed comedian Paul Scheer burst onto the scene in the early 2000s as a standup comic and producer of television specials, usually for the stations HBO and Comedy Central. Scheer also appeared frequently on the VH1 program Best Week Ever and guested as an occasional commentator on NBC's seminal Today Show. He is best known, however, for his acting and writing collaborations with fellow schtickmeisters Rob Huebel and Aziz Ansari, with whom he developed, produced, wrote, and appeared in Human Giant. Culling inspiration from such sources as Saturday Night Live, The State, and MADtv, this consistently irreverent collection of outrageous and bawdy comedy sketches reeled in a sizeable audience when it premiered in 2007. Scheer also appeared in the 2006 Billy Bob Thornton comedy School for Scoundrels. In addition to parts in Meet Dave, Bride Wars, and Piranha, Scheer co-hosts the movie-related podcast How Did This Get Made?

Trivia: Nicknamed Zobo. Has accompanied her mother, actress Lea Thompson, on the red carpet at various Hollywood events. Appeared with sister Madelyn and her mother in the 2011 comedy Mayor Cupcake. Enjoys dance.

Trivia: An actress who commenced onscreen roles in late adolescence, Lizzy Caplan initially specialized in playing teenagers and young adults in tough-natured and slightly edgy material. Caplan landed many of her earliest assignments on the small screen, in telemovies such as the 2000 From Where I Sit and the 2002 Everybody's Doing It, and made repeat appearances on such series programs as Smallville, Freaks and Geeks, and Tru Calling. Not long after, the young performer joined the cast of Mark Waters and Tina Fey's satirical big-screen comedy Mean Girls (2004), as misfit high-school student Janis Ian. Also in 2006, Caplan scored a regular role on the sitcom The Class. In 2008, Caplan made a memorable apperance in the Matt Reeves' sci-fi thriller Cloverfield as Marlena, one of the victims of a city-wide rampaging monster, followed by a memorable run as a hippie hooked on vamprie blood on True Blood. TV would prove a good fit for the actress, who also proved an impressive comedian with starring roles on shows like Party Down, Childrens Hospital, and New Girl, In 2012, Caplan headlined a couple of girly, indie-ish films, Save the Date and Bachelorette, before taking on her highest-profile role to date- sex researcher Virginia Johnson on Showtime's Masters of Sex. Caplan was nominated for an Emmy for her work in the show. In her downtime from the series, Caplan found time to squeeze in some film work, including 2015's Christmas comedy The Night Before and 2016's Now You See Me 2.

Trivia: For some actors, success just seems to come naturally. In the case of talented stage and screen beauty Kristen Bell, it wasn't so much a matter of if she was going to be a star after realizing her dream during an early performance as a banana in Raggedy Ann and Andy at the tender age of 12 -- but when she would finally make the big time. Paralyzed with stage fright as she waited for her cue off-stage, Bell was offered a word of encouragement by her supportive mother that would ultimately give her the drive to realize her life's calling. A native of Detroit whose early stage experiences eventually led her to study at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Bell saw early success when she was chosen to portray Becky Thatcher in a Broadway production of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Realizing that she had what it took to find success onscreen as well as on-stage, Bell was soon packing her bags for Los Angeles and landing small supporting roles in such features as Polish Wedding and Pootie Tang. In 2003, Bell impressed television viewers with a solid performance in the made-for-television dramas The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay and Gracie's Choice. She next appeared in David Mamet's 2004 thriller Spartan, before landing the lead as a sort-of new-millennium Nancy Drew on UPN's Veronica Mars. If the show's ravenous cult following wasn't enough to make young Bell a household name, even after its much mourned cancellation in 2007, her subsequent performance in the awesomely successful comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall cinched it for her. Bell would go on to play a recurring role on the landmark TV series Heroes, before appearing in a number of comedies over the next few years, like Fanboys, Couples Retreat, and When in Rome. Bell would even appear in slightly less prestigious movies, like Burlesque and Scream 4, but remained one of the most in-demand young actresses in Hollywood, especially in the realm of comedy. She would play a memorable role on Don Cheadle's comedy series House of Lies, and co-produced and starred in an action-oriented romcom with Bradley Cooper called Hit and Run (which was written and co-directed by Bell's real-life love, Dax Shepard).In 2013, Bell and Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas launched a Kickstater campaign to raise funds for a Veronica Mars movie. The campaign proved to be wildly successful, raising more than was needed to fund the film, which was released in 2014. Bell also voiced Anna in the Disney film Frozen, which significantly raised her profile, and showcased her singing voice, holding her own opposite Broadway heavyweight Idina Menzel.

Trivia: A native of Santa Cruz, CA, who was born in 1973, actor Adam Scott first encountered acting in elementary school, on a decidedly negative note (thanks to a not-so-pleasant experience in a science play), but by mid-adolescence changed his views about the craft and aggressively pursued a career in drama. He applied, and was accepted to, the American Academy of Dramatic Art in Pasadena, then made the short move west to Hollywood with several buddies. The actor took his bow with a guest bit on the series Dead at 21, and thereafter largely divided his time between television and the theatrical stage. In the television venue, guest roles followed on series including ER and NYPD Blue, as well as a recurring parts on Murder One, Party of Five, and on the Friday-night ABC sitcom Boy Meets World as high school senior Griff Hawkins. Scott moved into features in the late '90s and scored supporting roles in A-list Hollywood features; thereafter, the roles arrived quickly and furiously. Projects included Payback (1997), The Aviator (2004), Art School Confidential (2006), Knocked Up (2007), and Step Brothers (2008). Small-screen enthusiasts may also remember Scott for his role as Palek, one of the troubled husbands on the racy HBO relationship drama series Tell Me You Love Me (2007). He appeared in Step Brothers, but started to generate buzz as the lead in the made for cable comedy series Party Down. He joined the cast of Parks and Recreation in that show's second season which led quickly to roles in a number of big-screen comedies including Leap Year, Our Idiot Brother, and Friends With Kids.

Trivia: Known mostly for his role as medical intern John "J.D." Dorian on NBC's sitcom Scrubs, Zach Braff has an enthusiasm for acting that can be traced back to his childhood in South Orange, NJ, where, at eight years old, he recalls watching his attorney father participate in a local theater group. Three years later, Braff could be found cultivating his own show-business skills at Stagedoor Manor, a renowned children's acting camp. After attracting the attention of a well-connected talent scout, Braff made his would-have-been television debut opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in an unsold pilot produced by Bruce Paltrow. His contribution to CBS's after-school special My Summer as a Girl in 1994 made it to the television screen, but, by that time, he had a significantly more notable role under his belt: the teenaged son of two neurotic New Yorkers (Woody Allen and Diane Keaton) in Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). Though moderately successful in his childhood and late teens, Braff opted to attend college at Northwestern University rather than making an immediate transition to a full-time career of pursuing roles in the wilds of Los Angeles. While at Northwestern, Braff wrote and directed several short films, among them Lionel on a Sunday, which fared successfully in the 1998 festival season. The young actor went on to co-star in Getting to Know You, an adaptation of various short stories penned by author Joyce Carol Oates, which won praise at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. After a role as a gay party-boy drug addict in The Broken Hearts Club (2000), which won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film, Braff auditioned for Scrubs; despite his prior experience, the sitcom undoubtedly became his breakout role. Indeed, the Scrubs success helped Braff write, direct, and star in Garden State (2003) opposite Natalie Portman and Ian Holm. The "little Sundance film that could" of its particular year, Garden State became a major indie hit, as its look and sound resonated with the creeping-toward-maturity Gen-Y demographic to whom Braff was obviously appealing. His next role as the lead character in Disney's animated Chicken Little appealed to a younger crowd, but still banked some serious cash at the box office. Braff next appeared in the flesh in 2006's Tony Goldwyn romantic comedy The Last Kiss. The film, scripted by Crash's Paul Haggis, co-starred Casey Affleck, Tom Wilkinson, and Blythe Danner, and mined much of the same simultaneously sad and funny emotional ground explored in Garden State. It died a quick death at theaters as fans heeded the advice of critics who deemed it a more morose gloss on well-trod twentysomething angst. The actor's next film was the lighter romantic-triangle comedy The Ex.Scrubs finally ended its run in 2011, and Braff made another big screen appearance, this time in the drama The High Cost of Living. He had a supporting role in 2013's Oz the Great and Powerful before returning to the indie scene in 2014 with the Kickstarter-funded Wish I Was Here, which he directed, co-wrote (with his brother Adam) and starred in.

Trivia: A prominent writer/producer of Hollywood features who later went on to make a name for himself as the creator of such popular small-screen hits as Felicity and Alias, J.J. Abrams has managed the rare feat of finding success in the all-too-often mutually exclusive worlds of both film and television. It was at the age of eight that the wide-eyed youth first discovered his love of film while on a Hollywood studio tour with his grandfather, and when the pair returned home, Abrams convinced his father to let him try his hand at filmmaking with the family's Super-8 camera. During the following decade, the young auteur grew increasingly comfortable behind the camera, and he continued to turn out his impressive amateur films at an exhausting rate. Later attending New York's Sarah Lawrence College and teaming with a close friend to pen a feature-film treatment, Abrams got his first taste of success when the screenplay was eventually adapted into the James Belushi comedy Taking Care of Business. In the following years, Abrams' career continued to gain momentum as he penned screenplays for such features as Regarding Henry, Forever Young, and Gone Fishin', and it was during this period that the ambitious screenwriter also began to try his hand at producing. As Abrams subsequently began to branch out by producing features that he had no hand in writing, such as The Pallbearer and The Suburbans, he also continued to write by contributing to the screenplay for Michael Bay's Armageddon. Abrams next made his first foray into television as the writer and creator of the hit television series Felicity -- which also found the tireless Abrams stepping into the director's chair for the first time in his professional career. As the series progressed, he was publicly vocal about his frustrations regarding the limitations of the series, and after joking that the series would be more interesting if the titular character had a secret life as a spy, the seed was planted for his most popular effort to date. Premiering on television in 2001, Abrams' second small-screen effort, Alias, told the story of a beautiful young international spy's efforts to battle the evil Alliance of 12 while attempting to find a balance between her secret and social lives. Not only did Alias immediately connect with television viewers, but it also found Abrams growing increasingly into his own as a writer and director. Three years later, Abrams had yet another hit on his hands as the writer/producer/director of Lost, which had the dubious distinction of being the most expensive television pilot ever produced. A haunting tale of a group of airplane-crash survivors stranded on a mysterious island, Lost stood alongside Desperate Housewives as one of the hits that kept the faltering ABC network afloat, picking up Emmy Awards and Golden Globes. Back in the world of film, fans were no doubt surprised when it was announced that Abrams would be returning to the world of features to direct the eagerly anticipated action sequel Mission: Impossible 3, which would serve as his feature-film directorial debut.Abrams would continue writing for TV over the coming years, penning the thriller series Undercovers, and the sci-fi series Fringe. He would also wear various combinations of the writer, producer, and director hats simultaneously for a number of projects, such as the hotly anticipated first-person monster movie Cloverfield in 2008, the massively successful Star Trek in 2009, and the drama/thriller/fantasy movie Super 8 in 2011.

Trivia: Actress Megan Mullally was born in Los Angeles in 1958, to a family with show business roots -- her father, Carter Mullally Jr., was an actor who became a contract player with Paramount Pictures during the 1950s. In 1965, with Carter's career on the wane, Mullally's parents pulled up roots and moved to Oklahoma City, OK, where her family had become quite wealthy raising livestock. Megan picked up the performing bug from her father, and developed a passionate interest in music and especially dance. By the time Megan was a high school student, she'd performed as a featured soloist with the Ballet Oklahoma troupe in Oklahoma City, and during summer vacations she studied with George Balanchine's School of American Ballet in New York City. Her interest in classical dance eventually grew into a desire to act, and while attending Northwestern University, she began appearing in student theater productions. After graduating, Mullally moved to Chicago, where she immersed herself in the city's rich and varied local theater scene. In 1983, she won her first film role, playing a hooker in Risky Business, and in 1986 she relocated to Los Angeles after being cast on a television series, The Ellen Burstyn Show. However, the series proved short-lived, and Mullally was soon busying herself with guest spots on a number of different shows. Mullally continued to work in the theater, and in 1994 fulfilled a longtime dream when she scored a role in the Broadway revival of Grease. The next year, she earned a high-profile role in another noted Broadway musical, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (playing opposite Matthew Broderick), while continuing to work in television projects. Mullally's dedication and focus finally paid off in 1998, when she was cast as Karen Walker, a self-centered former socialite-turned-office assistant on the popular situation comedy series Will and Grace. A major ratings success, Will and Grace catapulted Mullally into the spotlight, and she won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe, and an American Comedy Award for her work on the show. When not busy with Will and Grace, Mullally continues to pursue other projects, playing featured roles in the films Everything Put Together and Monkeybone and starring in a one-woman musical, Sweetheart, in which she shows off her talents as a singer. (Mullally has also released an album of songs from the show, which she produced herself.)Mullally would continue her successful career on Broadway while enjoying the long running success of Will and Grace, and would go on to appear in other successful TV series as well, like In the Motherhood, Party Down, Childrens' Hospital, and Parks and Recreation.

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: Born in sunny southern California in 1986, actress and comedian Charlyne Yi started pursuing a full-time career in stand-up comedy when she was fresh out of high school. A strange and innovative mix of jokes, games, music, magic, and crowd participation, Yi's act carved out a niche in the comedy scene, and she soon began branching out. She appeared in a 2006 episode of 30 Rock, as well as in the 2008 comedy Semi-Pro, but many fans remembered her as the couch-dwelling stoner in 2007's Knocked Up.In 2009, Yi expanded her canvas even further, writing, producing, and starring in the romcom Paper Heart. A creative mix of fiction and reality, Yi played a fictionalized version of herself in the film, in a scripted story about the comedienne working with a documentary crew to make a movie about her own search for love (and potentially finding it, with real-life boyfriend Michael Cera, who also played himself). However, the clips of interviewees in the movie-within-the-movie -- whom Yi questioned about their own insights on love and romance -- were all real, melding the fictional and documentary aspects of the film even further. It proved to be a winning combination, taking home the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

Trivia: Is an alumnus of the famed Second City improv theatre, having performed revues on both the Chicago and Toronto Mainstages. Is one half of the Toronto-based sketch comedy duo "CORY!" Made her feature-film debut in 2007, in the Academy Award-nominated Lars and the Real Girl. Has won Canadian Comedy Awards including Best Female Improviser, Best Comedic Play and Best Sketch Troupe.

Trivia: Clean-cut and perpetually dressed in tailored suits, comedian Bob Odenkirk was born in Illinois. He worked as a standup comic in Chicago before moving to New York and writing some of the best television comedy of his generation. From 1987-1991, he worked as a writer on Saturday Night Live and earned his first Emmy nomination. Odenkirk then wrote for The Ben Stiller Show and won his first Emmy award. He also wrote for Get a Life, The Larry Sanders Show, Late Night With Conan O'Brien, and Tenacious D. In addition, he played Stevie Grant on several episodes of The Larry Sanders Show. During this period, he met up with comedian David Cross and they became the team behind Mr. Show, an exceptional sketch comedy program that aired 1995-1998 on HBO. Along with Cross, Odenkirk was a host, writer, producer, and cast member. Although nominated for numerous awards, Mr. Show never won any. As an actor, Odenkirk appeared in small roles in such comedy features as The Cable Guy, Waiting for Guffman, and Can't Stop Dancing. On television, he provided voices to a few cartoons and tried his hand at directing with the HBO series The Near Future. After starring as Terry Twillstein in the unfortunate Run Ronnie Run!, he directed and starred in Melvin Goes to Dinner in 2003. The talky comedy feature was based on a play by Michael Blieden and the poster features lovely drawings by Adrian Tomine; it won several awards at festivals. As a writer/director, Odenkirk went on to make some videos and TV shows. As an actor, he later starred in The Big Wide World of Carl Laemke and My Big Fat Independent Movie. Though he remained one of the leading players of the alternative comedy scene, he was cast on the dramatic series Breaking Bad and earned rave reviews for his work on that program. He had a prominent part in 2012's The Giant Mechanical Man.

Trivia: Is from Georgia, United States.Made her acting debut in the 2007 comedy-drama American Fork.First recurring TV role was Ms. Swenson on the period drama series Mad Men in 2013.Filmed a pilot for MTV, called Dumb Girls, with her husband Nico Evers-Swindell.

Trivia: Created an Asian American theater group called Lapu the Coyote That Cares, with two friends in college. Performs sketch comedy with his friend Marques Ray. His first regular acting role was on Nick Cannon's Wild 'N Out in 2006. Is a frequent contributor to Channel 101, an online TV network.

Trivia: Is the niece of U.S. Rep. Fred Upton. Won three APHA Reserve World Championship horseback-riding awards as a child. Was scouted by modeling agencies at the age of 12. Began modeling career in Miami in 2008. Won Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition's Rookie of the Year title in 2011. Became the youngest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition cover girl when she appeared on the cover in 2012, at age 19.

Trivia: Moved from Winston-Salem to Los Angeles in 2008 to pursue a career in stand-up comedy. Performed as one of the New Faces at the Montreal Just For Laughs Festival in 2011. Named one of Variety Magazine's 10 Comics to Watch in 2012. Performed stand-up as the opening act for fellow comedians Aziz Ansari and Daniel Tosh. Participated in a live script reading of the film Space Jam, held at the UCB Theatre in Los Angeles in 2014. Released his first televised comedy special, Love in the Store, in 2014, directed by Spike Lee.

Trivia: A talented screenwriter/producer whose television work is often critically praised before being prematurely canceled, Judd Apatow has a dedicated fan base that has nevertheless continued to grow thanks to such winning efforts as The Ben Stiller Show and Freaks and Geeks. Work on a high-school radio show offered the showbiz hopeful his first taste of success, and in the years following his high-school graduation, the quick-witted aspiring standup comedian hit the comedy circuit to generally positive notice. Apatow's act eventually became a staple of FOX's Comic Strip Live, and when the series was canceled in 1994, he opted to shift his focus toward writing and producing. Though he had already achieved some amount of notoriety as a result of his involvement with such efforts as The Larry Sanders Show and The Ben Stiller Show, Apatow began to move into feature territory as the writer and executive producer of Heavyweights and Celtic Pride. Though neither film proved a hit at the box office, they did find a healthy second wind on home video, and Apatow's next endeavor as a producer was the widely panned Jim Carrey film The Cable Guy. Directed by friend and frequent collaborator Ben Stiller, The Cable Guy offered a pointed satire on media influence with Carrey's dark, disturbing performance deviating about as far from the antics of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective as one could get. Once again, Apatow's vision was simply ahead of its time, and it wasn't until The Cable Guy hit home video that the filmgoing masses were truly able to digest the warped masterpiece. When Freaks and Geeks hit the air in 1999, it appeared as if Apatow finally had a hit on his hands. A funny, touching, and endearingly realistic take on high-school life among the less popular set, the show was quickly canceled and never afforded the chance to find an audience thanks to overzealous network executives. Apatow's next series, Undeclared (essentially Freaks and Geeks goes to college), fared only moderately better, with 16 episodes aired before the plug was pulled. In 2003, Apatow served as producer for the made-for-television feature Life on Parole, and shortly thereafter, he returned to feature-film territory as the producer of the throwback Will Ferrell comedy Anchorman (2004). By this point it was only logical that the increasingly-prolific writer/producer would try his hand at writing directing a feature film, and after penning the 2005 Jim Carrey comedy Fun with Dick and Jane, Apatow seemed to find the ideal collaborator in the form of wildly unpredictable Daily Show correspondent Steve Carell; their work together ultimately yielding the suprisingly endearing 2005 comedy hit The 40 Year Old Virgin. A brief return to the producer's chair found Apatow teaming with former Freaks and Geeks co-hort Jake Kasdan for the 2006 comedy The TV Set, and after joining Will Ferrell and company for a side-splitting trip to the racetrack as producer of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, the busy multi-hyphenate would take on triple duty by writing, producing, and directing the 2007 comedy Knocked Up - a one-night-stand laugher that featured a number of Apatow's old small-screen cast members including Freaks and Geeks' Seth Rogen, Martin Starr, Jason Segel, and Undeclared's Jay Baruchel. That film would become another box-office blockbuster and establish Rogen and Katherine Heigl as movie stars.He continued his hot streak in 2008 acting as producer on three well-regarded comedies - Pineapple Express, Step Brothers, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, while 2009 found Apatow back in the director's chair for the ambitious showbiz/cancer comedy Funny People with Adam Sandler.In addition to helping produce hit comedies like Get Him to the Greek, Wanderlust, and the Oscar-nominated Bridesmaids, Apatow continued to work on his own projects as well, releasing the sort-of sequel to Knocked Up, This Is 40, for the Christmas season in 2012.Since 1997 Apatow has been married to actress Leslie Mann who has been in many of her husband's films including The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People, and This Is 40.