Trivia: American leading actor Tom Hanks has become one of the most popular stars in contemporary American cinema. Born July 9, 1956, in Concord, CA, Hanks spent much of his childhood moving about with his father, an itinerant cook, and continually attempting to cope with constantly changing schools, religions, and stepmothers. After settling in Oakland, CA, he began performing in high-school plays. He continued acting while attending Cal State, Sacramento, and left to pursue his vocation full-time. In 1978, Hanks went to find work in New York; while there he married actress/producer Samantha Lewes, whom he later divorced.Hanks debuted onscreen in the low-budget slasher movie He Knows You're Alone (1979). Shortly afterward he moved to Los Angeles and landed a co-starring role in the TV sitcom Bosom Buddies; he also worked occasionally in other TV series such as Taxi and Family Ties, as well as in the TV movie Mazes and Monsters. Hanks finally became prominent when he starred opposite Daryl Hannah in the Disney comedy Splash!, which became the sleeper hit of 1984. Audiences were drawn to the lanky, curly headed actor's amiable, laid-back style and keen sense of comic timing. He went on to appear in a string of mostly unsuccessful comedies before starring in Big (1988), in which he gave a delightful performance as a child in a grown man's body. His 1990 film Bonfire of the Vanities was one of the biggest bombs of the year, but audiences seemed to forgive his lapse. In 1992, Hanks' star again rose when he played the outwardly disgusting, inwardly warm-hearted coach in Penny Marshall's A League of Their Own. This led to a starring role in the smash hit romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle (1993).Although a fine comedic actor, Hanks earned critical respect and an even wider audience when he played a tormented AIDS-afflicted homosexual lawyer in the drama Philadelphia (1993) and won that year's Oscar for Best Actor. In 1994 he won again for his convincing portrait of the slow-witted but phenomenally lucky Forrest Gump, and his success continued with the smash space epic Apollo 13 (1995). In 1996, Hanks tried his hand at screenwriting, directing, and starring in a feature: That Thing You Do!, an upbeat tale of a one-hit wonder group and their manager. The film was not particularly successful, unlike Hanks' next directing endeavor, the TV miniseries From Earth to the Moon. The series was nominated for and won a slew of awards, including a series of Emmys. The success of this project was outdone by Hanks' next, Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998). Ryan won vast critical acclaim and was nominated for 11 Oscars, including a Best Actor nomination for Hanks. The film won five, including a Best Director Oscar for Spielberg, but lost Best Picture to Shakespeare in Love, a slight that was to become the subject of controversy. No controversy surrounded Hanks' following film, Nora Ephron's You've Got Mail (1998), a romantic comedy that paired Hanks with his Sleepless co-star Meg Ryan. Although the film got mixed reviews, it was popular with filmgoers, and thus provided Hanks with another success to add to his resumé. Even more success came soon after when Hanks took home the 2000 Golden Globes' Best Actor in a drama award for his portrayal of a shipwrecked FedEx systems engineer who learns the virtues of wasted time in Robert Zemeckis' Cast Away. Though absent from the silver screen in 2001, Hanks remained in the public eye with a role in the acclaimed HBO mini-series Band of Brothers as well as appearing in September 11 television special America: A Tribute to Heroes and the documentary Rescued From the Closet. Next teaming with American Beauty director Sam Mendes for the adaptation of Max Allan Collins graphic novel The Road to Perdition (subsequently inspired by the Japanese manga Lone Wolf and Cub, the nice-guy star took a rare anti-hero role as a hitman (albiet an honorable and fairly respectable hitman) on the lam with his son (Tyler Hoechlin) after his son witnesses a murder. That same year, Hanks collaborated with director Spielberg again, starring opposite Leonardo Dicaprio in the hit crime-comedy Catch Me if You Can.For the next two years, Hanks was essentially absent from movie screens, but in 2004 he emerged with three new projects: The Coen Brothers' The Lady Killers, yet another Spielberg helmed film, The Terminal, and The Polar Express, a family picture from Forrest Gump and Castaway director Robert Zemeckis. 2006 was a very active year for Hanks starting with an appearance at the Oscar telecast that talented lip-readers will remember for quite some time. In addition to helping produce the HBO Series Big Love, he scored a major international success by reteaming with director Ron Howard for the big-screen adaptation of {Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code, which was such a success that he signed on for the sequel in 2009, Angels and Demons. His Playtone production company would have a hand in the animated feature The Ant Bully in 2008, and that same year he filmed The Great Buck Howard co-starring his son Colin Hanks. He also signed on to co-star with Julia Roberts in two different films: Mike Nichols' Charlie Wilson's War in 2008 and the romcom Larry Crowne in 2011. Later that same year, Hanks would make dramatic waves in the post-9/11 drama Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture.Ranked by Empire Magazine as 17th out of "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" in October 1997, Hanks is married to actress Rita Wilson, with whom he appeared in Volunteers (1985). The couple have two children in addition to Hanks' other two from his previous marriage.

Trivia: In a business where public scandal and bad-boy behavior are the rule rather than the exception, Paul Newman is as much a hero offscreen as on. A blue-eyed matinee idol whose career successfully spanned five decades, he was also a prominent social activist, a major proponent of actors' creative rights, and a noted philanthropist. Born January 26, 1925, in Cleveland, OH, Newman served in World War II prior to attending Kenyon College on an athletic scholarship; when an injury ended his sports career, he turned to drama, joining a summer stock company in Wisconsin. After relocating to Illinois in 1947, he married actress Jacqueline Witte, and, following the death of his father, took over the family's sporting-goods store. Newman quickly grew restless, however, and after selling his interest in the store to his brother, he enrolled at the Yale School of Drama. During a break from classes he traveled to New York City where he won a role in the CBS television series The Aldrich Family. A number of other TV performances followed, and in 1952 Newman was accepted by the Actors' Studio, making his Broadway debut a year later in Picnic, where he was spotted by Warner Bros. executives.Upon Newman's arrival in Hollywood, media buzz tagged him as "the new Brando." However, after making his screen debut in the disastrous epic The Silver Chalice, he became the victim of scathing reviews, although Warners added on another two years to his contract after he returned to Broadway to star in The Desperate Hours. Back in Hollywood, he starred in The Rack. Again reviews were poor, and the picture was quickly pulled from circulation. Newman's third film, the charming Somebody Up There Likes Me, in which he portrayed boxer Rocky Graziano, was both a commercial and critical success, with rave reviews for his performance. His next film of note was 1958's The Long Hot Summer, an acclaimed adaptation of a pair of William Faulkner short stories; among his co-stars was Joanne Woodward, who soon became his second wife. After next appearing as Billy the Kid in Arthur Penn's underrated The Left-Handed Gun, Newman starred opposite Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, scoring his first true box-office smash as well as his first Academy Award nomination.After appearing with Joanne Woodward in Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! -- the couple would frequently team onscreen throughout their careers -- Newman traveled back to Broadway to star in Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth. Upon his return to the West Coast, he bought himself out of his Warner Bros. contract before starring in the 1960 smash From the Terrace. Exodus, another major hit, quickly followed. While by now a major star, the true depths of Newman's acting abilities had yet to be fully explored; that all changed with Robert Rossen's 1961 classic The Hustler, in which he essayed one of his most memorable performances as pool shark "Fast" Eddie Felson, gaining a second Oscar nomination. His third nod came for 1963's Hud, which cast him as an amoral Texas rancher. While a handful of creative and financial disappointments followed, including 1964's The Outrage and 1965's Lady L, 1966's Alfred Hitchcock-helmed Torn Curtain marked a return to form, as did the thriller Harper.For 1967's superb chain-gang drama Cool Hand Luke, Newman scored a fourth Academy Award nomination, but again went home empty-handed. The following year he made his directorial debut with the Joanne Woodward vehicle Rachel Rachel, scoring Best Director honors from the New York critics as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. The couple next appeared onscreen together in 1969's Winning, which cast Newman as a professional auto racer; motor sports remained a preoccupation in his real life as well, and he was the most prominent of the many celebrities who began racing as a hobby. He then starred with Robert Redford in 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which went on to become the highest-grossing Western in movie history. It was followed by 1971's W.U.S.A., a deeply political film reflecting Newman's strong commitment to social activism; in addition to being among Hollywood's most vocal supporters of the civil rights movement, in 1968 he and Woodward made headlines by campaigning full time for Democratic Presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy.After directing and starring in 1971's Sometimes a Great Notion, Newman announced the formation of First Artists, a production company co-founded by Barbra Streisand and Steve McQueen. Modeled after the success of United Artists, it was created to offer performers the opportunity to produce their own projects. Newman's first film for First Artists' was 1972's Pocket Money, followed by another directorial effort, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. After a pair of back-to-back efforts under director John Huston, 1972's The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean and the next year's The Mackintosh Man, Newman reunited with Redford in The Sting, another triumph which won the 1973 Best Picture Oscar. He next appeared in the star-studded disaster epic The Towering Inferno, followed by 1975's The Drowning Pool, a sequel to Harper. His next major success was the 1977 sports spoof Slap Shot, which went on to become a cult classic.A string of disappointments followed, including Robert Altman's self-indulgent 1979 effort Quintet. The 1981 Absence of Malice, however, was a success, and for 1982's courtroom drama The Verdict Newman notched his fifth Best Actor nomination. He finally won the Oscar on his sixth attempt, reprising the role of Eddie Felson in 1986's The Color of Money, Martin Scorsese's sequel to The Hustler. After starring in two 1989 films, Blaze and Fat Man and Little Boy, Newman began appearing onscreen less and less. In 1991, he and Joanne Woodward starred as the titular Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, and three years later he earned yet another Academy Award nomination for his superb performance in Robert Benton's slice-of-life tale Nobody's Fool. His films since then have been fairly sparse and of mixed quality, with Joel Coen's and Ethan Coen's The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) being at the higher end of the spectrum and the Kevin Costner vehicle Message in a Bottle (1999) resting near the bottom. Newman again graced screens in 2000 with Where the Money Is, a comedy that cast him as a famous bank robber who fakes a stroke to get out of prison. For his role as a kindly crime boss in 2002's Road to Perdition, Newman became a ten-time Oscar nominee.Turning 80 in 2005, Newman nonetheless remained a presence in Hollywood. That year, audiences could see him on the small-screen in the critically-acclaimed HBO miniseries Empire Falls, for which he won a Golden Globe, and the following year, he lent his voice to the Pixar animated film Cars.Despite his movement away from Hollywood, Newman remained a prominent public figure through his extensive charitable work; he created the Scott Newman Foundation after the drug-related death of his son and later marketed a series of gourmet foodstuffs under the umbrella name Newman's Own, with all profits going to support his project for children suffering from cancer. Newman died on September 26, 2008 after a battle with lung cancer.

Trivia: A professional actor since the age of nine, Jennifer Jason Leigh earned her Screen Actors Guild card at 16 and dropped out of high school to study at the Lee Strasberg Institute and star in seedy made-for-TV movies. Born to actor Vic Morrow and writer/actress Barbara Turner in Hollywood, CA, Jennifer picked up the middle name Jason from family friend Jason Robards Jr. Throughout her career, she has made a name for herself portraying helpless, damaged, or mentally unsound characters, often performing at a higher level than the material. Also known for extensively researching her roles, Leigh dropped down to less than 90 pounds for one of her first features as an anorexic teenager in the TV-movie The Best Little Girl in the World. Never one to shy away from touchy subject matter, her breakthrough role came in 1982 as the naïve high school girl who gets an abortion in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. After a decade of developing a repertoire of various troubled characters, she was nominated for two Critics Circle awards in 1990 for playing prostitutes in both Miami Blues and Last Exit to Brooklyn. She would continue to play vulnerable characters in dangerous situations as the rookie narcotics officer-turned-drug addict in Rush. This was followed by her notorious role as the psycho roommate Hedra who tries to steal the identity of her roommate (Bridget Fonda) in Single White Female. She played a phone sex worker in the ensemble film Short Cuts, her first of three projects involving director Robert Altman. Leigh occasionally stepped out of her down-and-out roles, and in 1994 she shined as Amy Archer in The Hudsucker Proxy. Her comic turn as a plucky undercover journalist was said to recall the work of legendary actresses like Katharine Hepburn and Barbara Stanwyck. She delivered critically acclaimed performances in her next two films, with a Golden Globe nomination for Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle and an Independent Spirit nomination for Georgia. After playing an angry daughter in Dolores Claiborne, a spitfire kidnapper in Kansas City, and a domestic violence survivor in Bastard out of Carolina, she took another dramatic turn toward a period film. In Agnieszka Holland's Washington Square, Leigh proved her range by portraying a shy, clumsy girl as she evolves into adulthood. She returned to more showy roles for two films dealing with Shakespeare's King Lear: A Thousand Acres with Jason Robards Jr. and the fourth Dogme 95 film, The King Is Alive. Not limiting herself to dramas, Leigh appeared as an isolated computer programmer in David Cronenberg's thriller eXistenZ and as an over-the-top mom in the comedy Skipped Parts. Around that time, she also appeared on-stage in Broadway and off-Broadway plays, most notably as dancer Sally Bowles in Cabaret. Testing out new ground in 2001, she and fellow Cabaret star Alan Cumming wrote, directed, and starred in the ensemble comedy The Anniversary Party, a digital video project inspired by Dogme 95. Continuing to evolve as a respected actress, she went on to work in the crime genre, first as a hitman's wife in Road to Perdition, and then in Jane Campion's thriller In the Cut. In the several years to come, Leigh would remain an active force on screen, appearing most memorably in films like Margot at the Wedding, Synecdoche, New York, and on the series Weeds. After several years of quiet films, she made a splash in 2015 with two very different movies - the stop-motion film Anomalisa (directed by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson) and The Hateful Eight, a western homage by Quentin Tarantino. Leigh nabbed an Oscar nomination for her work The Hateful Eight, the first in her career.

Trivia: Although he first appeared as just one of the latest crop of golden-skinned English imports to caress the hormones of American filmgoers, Jude Law is steadily proving that his talents lie beyond his ability to smolder seductively in front of the camera. Since 1995, when Law made the transition from British soap opera to Broadway via Sean Mathias' Indiscretions (in which he co-starred with Kathleen Turner), his work has increasingly garnered favorable notice from critics and moviegoers alike.Born in London on December 29, 1972, Law started acting as a teenager. Before Indiscretions, his most notable role was in Shopping (1994), a British production that gave him both initial recognition and an introduction to his future wife, actress Sadie Frost (the couple has two children). After the critical and commercial success of Indiscretions, Law began finding more work in film, starring as Claire Danes' boyfriend in I Love You, I Love You Not (1997) and as the genetically privileged man who sells his identity to Ethan Hawke in Gattaca (1997). Also in 1997, Law took on the plum role of Alfred Lord Douglas (or Bosie), Oscar Wilde's volatile lover in Wilde. Although none of these films received unanimously positive critical (or box-office) attention, they did help to further establish Law as an actor to be taken seriously. Law followed them with a small part in Bent (1997) and the more pivotal role of Billy, Jim Williams' hotheaded and ill-fated lover in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). Following that film, Law went on to make a few smaller films, including Music From Another Room (also starring a still unknown Gretchen Mol) and The Final Cut, in which he played a sinister, deceased version of himself.In 1999, Law appeared in David Cronenberg's cyberific eXistenZ and completed filming Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, and Cate Blanchett. The film earned widespread acclaim upon its release, much of which was lavished on Law's portrayal of the serially charming and devastatingly superficial Dickie Greenleaf. Law garnered both a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance, further cementing his reputation as one of the more promising up-and-coming actors on either side of the ocean.After a turn as a Russian marksman facing off against a Nazi sniper in Enemy at the Gates (2001), Law returned to sci-fi with his role as love machine Gigolo Joe in Steven Spielberg's eagerly anticipated A.I.In addition to his acting commitments, Law kept busy with Natural Nylon, the production company he founded with Sadie Frost, Sean Pertwee, Ewan McGregor, and Jonny Lee Miller. In 2002, Law starred alongside film veterans Tom Hanks and Paul Newman in the multiple Oscar-winning Road to Perdition and was on the path to an Oscar once again for his performance in Cold Mountain (2003) with Nicole Kidman and Renée Zellweger, who took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. After appearing in only two films in as many years, Law was virtually unavoidable in the last third of 2004, with substantial roles in a grand total of six films. First up, he played the title role in the blue-screened sci-fi action flick Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, starring alongside the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, and a "resurrected" Laurence Olivier. A month later, he could be found starring in the remake of Alfie as well as in the ensemble cast of David O. Russell's comedy I Heart Huckabees. And before the close of the year, audiences could catch him in Mike Nichols' romantic drama Closer, as Errol Flynn in Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator, and providing the voice of the title character in the big-screen adaptation of Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events. Produced on an elephantine, effects-heavy budget by the wunderkind, billon-dollar powerhouse Scott Rudin (The Firm, Sister Act) and starring Jim Carrey, the film opened in December 2004 and received average to positive notices; such commentators as Newsweek's Sean Smith, The Washington Post's Desson Thomson, and others championed it (one referred to it as "a Tim Burton movie without the weird shafts of adolescent pain"); others were nonplussed. Roger Ebert complained, "It's odd, how the movie's gloom and doom are amusing at first, and then dampen down the humor. Although many Unfortunate Events do indeed occur in "Lemony Snicket," they cannot be called exciting because everyone is rather depressed by them." The picture nevertheless did excellent box office. Alfie - a remake of the 1966 Michael Caine vehicle, with Law taking over the Caine role - didn't fare so well with critics but performed adequately at the box. Law ducked out of films for a year or so between 2004 and 2005, which led Variety to ask, "Where in the world is Jude Law?" The actor apparently needed a vacation, but his absence was short lived: Law ended his sabbatical after a year or so, and triumphantly returns to cinemas in 2006. In All the King's Men, Law plays second-string fiddle to an over-the-top Sean Penn. A political tale adapted from Robert Penn Warren's novel by Schindler's List scribe Steven Zaillian (who also directs), the movie weaves the tale of a Huey Long-like southern demagogue (Penn). The film will hit cinemas across the U.S. in September '06. Law is also re-teaming with his Cold Mountain collaborator, Anthony Minghella, in Breaking & Entering. Over the next several years, Law would enjoy his status as a leading man, appearing in a number of films like the Sherlock Holmes franchise, Hugo, and Contagion. He played Alexei Karenin in Anna Karenina in 2012, and appeared in The Grand Budpest Hotel in 2014.

Trivia: Like many another contemporary movie and TV favorite, Stanley Tucci is a graduate of the drama department at SUNY-Purchase. Tucci made his film bow in 1985's Prizzi's Honor, after which he specialized in playing lowlifes and scuzzbags, despite his offscreen credentials as a loyal friend and loving family man. Some of his more memorable appearances were as Rick Pinzolo in TV's Wiseguy (1987-1989), a minor-league thug named Vernon in Beethoven (1992), and a Middle-Eastern assassin in The Pelican Brief (1993). Tucci acquired a fan following of sorts for his slimy year-long role of Richard Cross on the weekly TV series Murder One (1995).In 1996, Tucci broke loose from his established screen persona by playing an ambitious Italian-American restaurateur in Big Night, the most delightfully "gastronomic" film since Like Water for Chocolate. The art-house favorite was a sheer labor of love for Tucci, who served as its producer, co-wrote its script with his cousin Joe Tropiano, and shared directorial duties with his friend Campbell Scott. Tucci again directed two years later with The Impostors, a farcical comedy that cast him and longtime friend Oliver Platt as two stowaways on an ocean liner. Unlike Big Night, however, the film did not do well with audiences or critics. After starring in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1998) as Puck and In Too Deep (1999) as a police supervisor, Tucci again stepped behind the camera, this time to direct Joe Gould's Secret (2000). A historical drama about an eccentric man (Ian Holm) living on the streets of Greenwich Village, it received a very enthusiastic reception at the 2000 Sundance Festival, where it premiered. The early 2000s seemed to be a winning period for the versatile actor, with Tucci also taking home the Best Supporting Actor in a television movie award for his role in Conspiracy (2001). That same year he appeared in America's Sweethearts as an intense movie mogul. He continued doing solid work even when the finished films were sometimes lacking. He played in the Jennifer Lopez hit Maid in Manhattan, Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition, the American remake of Shall We Dance?, and landed his largest role in a major Hollywood production when Steven Spielberg cast him as the ambitious, officious manager of The Terminal. Tucci lent his voice to the animated film Robots in 2005, and the next year earned solid notices for his work as a fashion magazine editor loyal to the diva editor in chief Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada.The highly-respected character actor continued to work steadily in a variety of projects, but a pair of high-profile supporting roles in 2009 earned him strong reviews and awards consideration. As the husband to Julia Child in Julie & Julia, Tucci got to work opposite Meryl Streep yet again in another box-office hit, but it was his creepy turn as a child killer in the big screen adaptation of The Lovely Bones that earned him Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globe, and Academy Award nominations.In 2010 he appeared opposite Cher in Burlesque, and was a loving father in the sleeper hit Easy A. In 2012, Tucci was cast as the announcer and emcee Caesar Flickman in the hit adaptation of the smash novel The Hunger Games. Tucci continued to be a work horse, appearing in seven films in 2014, including Transformers: Age of Extinction and a cameo in Muppets Most Wanted.

Trivia: British actor Daniel Craig grew up in Liverpool before moving to London and studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He made his film debut in The Power of One, directed by John G. Avildsen. A few made-for-TV movies followed before his role of Master Kane in the Disney adventure A Kid in King Arthur's Court. Returning to the U.K., he starred in the miniseries Our Friends in the North, the four-part series Moll Flanders, and the TV mystery The Ice House. In 1997 he worked with German director Peter Sehr on Obsession where he met his future girlfriend, German actress/VJ Heike Makatsch. His first leading role in the U.K. came in 1998 with his portrayal of George Dyer, the intimate friend of painter Francis Bacon (played by Derek Jacobi) in John Maybury's Love Is the Devil. Other leading roles followed in the U.K. films Love & Rage, The Trench, Some Voices, and Hotel Splendide. In Hollywood, he had smaller roles in I Dreamed of Africa, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and Road to Perdition. In 2002, he played the German physicist Werner Heisenberg in the BBC historical drama Copenhagen. His first mainstream leading role came in 2003 as Ted Hughes, the partner of Sylvia Plath (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) in Christine Jeffs' Sylvia. In 2004, he can be seen in the U.K. films Layer Cake and Enduring Love.

Trivia: Began acting at the age of 9; breakout role was the son of Tom Hanks' character in Road to Perdition. Played college baseball at Arizona State University and UC Irvine. Turned down a role in the film Twilight to focus on his college baseball career. Renewed his focus on acting following a baseball injury.

Trivia: With a remarkably thoughtful, mature gaze and a curious air of adolescent mischief, Liam Aiken established himself as a incredibly expressive actor in such films as Henry Fool (1997) and Stepmom (1998). And though he did not win the coveted role of Harry Potter in the feature films based upon author J.K. Rowlings' popular series of children's books, this might have worked to the advantage of the talented young actor, and helped keep him from being typecast into obscurity by the onset of puberty. Born Liam Padraic Aiken in New York City in January 1990, the boy proved a natural talent who delighted in entertaining family members with magic tricks. The delight of a captive audience found Aiken seeking stage work, and it wasn't long before the decidedly outgoing youngster made his television debut in a Ford Winstar commercial. Fans of Hal Hartley may recognize Aiken from his feature debut in Henry Fool (1997), and subsequent feature roles began to give audiences a glimpse into the true talent of the precocious young actor. The turn of the millennium found him edging closer to leading-boy status, and, following performances in Sweet November (2001) and The Road to Perdition (2002), Aiken took the lead for the adventure comedy Good Boy! in 2003. He played one of the doomed Baudelaire children in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and in 2010 appeared in Michael Winterbottom's lurid adaptation of Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me. In 2012 Austin Chick cast him in the thriller Girls Against Boys.

Trivia: Born to a pair of lawyers in Syracuse, NY, and raised in nearby Lynchburg, Dylan Baker attended Georgetown Prep and William and Mary College before earning his B.F.A. at Southern Methodist University, where his passion for acting was ignited with numerous stage roles. Later refining his talents at Yale's School of Drama, Baker would turn professional with big screen roles in movies like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Delirious (1991), and Love Potion No. 9 (1992). The mid-'90s found the increasingly busy actor dividing his time between stage, screen, and television, and Baker would soon wed actress Becky Ann Baker (the couple later appeared together in Woody Allen's Celebrity [1998]). A successful stage performance of La Bete found Baker nominated for Tony and Drama Desk Awards, and Baker and his wife continued to develop a close association with New York's Drama Department theater troupe. Following his remarkable performance in Happiness, Baker would appear in films such as Random Hearts, The Cell, and Thirteen Days (all 2000). As the 2000's unfolded, Baker would remain an active force on screen, appearing in movies like The Tailor of Panama, and Along Came a Spider, and on TV shows like 24, Damages, and Hawaii Five-O.

Trivia: A slightly tough and weathered character actor who specialized in playing gruff, domineering types (including guards, Mafiosos, and authoritarian fathers), Christian Stolte debuted onscreen in the early '90s and went on to distinguish himself with bit parts in films including Novocaine (2001), Road to Perdition (2002), and Stranger Than Fiction (2006). On the small screen, Stolte took on the recurring role of C.O. Keith Stolte during the first two seasons (2005-2007) of the cult series Prison Break. Back on the big screen, he received unusually prominent billing with his wry comic turn as a Mafia hitman assigned to rub out his cousin, in the character comedy Osso Bucco (2007).

Trivia: Harry Groener is known to many viewers as the mayor of Sunnydale on the cult-hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but some of the actor's biggest accomplishments have been on the stage. Born in Germany, Groener's family moved to the U.S. when he was two. He apprenticed with the San Francisco Ballet as a teenager, and went on to study drama at the University of Washington before embarking on what would become an extremely successful career on Broadway. Throughout the following decades, he would appear in countless plays such as Cats, Oklahoma!, and Spamalot, while simultaneously maintaining a career onscreen, appearing in movies like Road to Perdition and About Schmidt, and on TV shows like Dear John (as the very awkward Ralph), The West Wing, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Trivia: The son of a Spanish waiter and an Italian housekeeper, Molina was born in London on May 24, 1953. Educated at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he began his career as one half of a street-corner comedy team but then turned to acting. While most thesps start at the bottom and ascend the ladder, Molina is an anomaly: he began at the top of the heap, first earning professional credibility (and his pedigree) as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and debuting cinematically in no less than Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), as the devious South American guide who leaves Harrison Ford for dead in an ancient temple before meeting his own end, courtesy of a particularly nasty booby trap. His subsequent resume for the rest of that decade reads like a "best of 1980s International Film": supporting roles in Mike Leigh's Meantime (1981), Peter Yates's Eleni (1985) , Richard Donner's Ladyhawke (1985),Chris Bernard's Letter to Brezhnev and Dusan Makavejev's Manifesto (1989), to name only a few. His contribution to Chris Bernard's gently underplayed, low-budget comedy Brezhnev (1985) (which, like Raiders, takes advantage of his slightly dark, Mediterranean complexion) is particularly a standout. He plays a Russian sailor who picks up Margi Clarke's Liverpool blue-collar worker Teresa King during leave, and whose only comprehensible line gives the film its biggest laugh: "Leeverpool. Bittles... Ahhhhh." Molina would spend the next several years appearing in a number of films, like An Education, as well as a number of TV projects like Harry's Law, Law & Order: L.A., and Roger & Val Have Just Got In.But Molina's most impressive contribution to cinema came in 1986, when he joined two fellow Brits, director Stephen Frears and actor Gary Oldman - and turned everyone's head in the process - in Prick Up Your Ears. That film, adapted from eccentric playwright Joe Orton's autobiography, casts Molina as Kenneth Halliwell, Orton's homosexual lover and eventual murderer, opposite Oldman. Practically unrecognizable as the bald, severely unhinged Halliwell, Molina is at once terrifying and pathetic, and gleaned a number of positive notices for his performance, though, for some odd reason, it was criminally overlooked at awards ceremonies and failed to earn Molina any acting laurels. A few years later, Molina joined the cast of Not Without My Daughter (1990). In this true-life account (adapted from Betty Mahmoody's memoir), he plays Moody, a Persian husband who takes his American wife (Sally Field) and daughter to Iran under the guise of "vacation," and virtually imprisons them, forcing her to plot escape. The role (and film) gleaned some controversy for its portrayal of Islam, but (the bearded) Molina glistened with dark, brooding intensity characteristic of the actor's finest work. Molina offered more sympathetic portrayals in such films as Mike Newell's Enchanted April (1992), Species (1995), and Mira Nair's The Perez Family (1995), as a Cuban immigrant struggling to make a new life for himself in Miami. In Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights, Molina evoked a deranged playboy precariously teetering on the edge of insanity - a role that further evinced boundless courage. 1999's ridiculous Dudley-do-Right, however (in which Molina) played the villain), didn't serve him as well; neither he, nor Brendan Fraser, nor Sarah Jessica Parker managed to rise above the silly script. Far more impressive (albeit smaller in scope) was the actor's sophomore collaboration with Anderson, that year's Magnolia, in a fleeting role as Solomon Solomon, the owner of the electronics shop where William H. Macy's Donnie Smith works. During 1999 and thereafter, Molina attempted to break into television sitcoms (1999's Ladies Man, 2002's Bram and Alice), but none of these efforts panned out. He continued to garner positive notices during this period, however, for his roles in such films as 2000's Chocolat and 2002's Frida. Molina earned a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination (finally!) in the latter, for his portrayal of chronically unfaithful painter Diego Rivera. In 2004, the actor traveled to megaplexes again, as the infamous Doc Oc in the critically-acclaimed box-office smash Spider-Man 2, and although ostensibly a defiantly commercial piece of Hollywood fluff, the film performed well on all fronts - critically and commercially. Considered by some to be the greatest example of the superhero genre ever produced, no small amount of the rave reviews given to the film were directed at Molina for his spot-on portrayal of the maniacal comic-book villain; The Los Angeles Times's Kenneth Turan rhapsodized, "As played by Alfred Molina with both computer-generated and puppeteer assistance, Doc Ock grabs this film with his quartet of sinisterly serpentine mechanical arms and refuses to let go."That same year (albeit in a much different cinematic arena and catering to a much different audience --- such is the magic of Molina's versatility), the actor played opposite John Leguizamo as Victor Hugo Puente, a sensationalism-hungry news anchor willing to do almost anything for ratings, in Sebastian Cordero's well-received psychological thriller Crónicas. Molina highlighted the cast of no less than six features throughout 2005 and 2006, but his highest-profile film from this period was Ron Howard's The Da Vinci Code, in which he plays the obese Bishop Aringarosa This May '06 release (adapted from Dan Brown's bestseller) sharply divided critics (most found it average). That same year, Molina contributed to two films by major directors: Kenneth Branagh drew on his background as a trained RSC member by casting Molina as Touchstone in his screen adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy of errors As You Like It, and he receives second billing (after Richard Gere) in Lasse Hallstrom's docudrama The Hoax. The picture tells the early-1970s story of Clifford Irving's (Gere) attempt to write and market a phony autobiography of Howard Hughes, with the assistance of right-hand man Richard Susskind (Molina). Molina married British actress Jill Gascoine (Northern Exposure, BASEketball) in 1985, who is sixteen years his senior. They have two sons.

Trivia: An Irish actor of charisma and talent, Ciarán Hinds has applied his skills to screen, stage, and television. A towering, burly man whose jagged features make him a natural for playing strong, silent types, Hinds has won respect and recognition from critics and drooling women alike.Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on February 9, 1953, Hinds was the fifth child of a doctor and an amateur actress. He attended Belfast's Queen's University for a year with an eye toward studying law, but he left to pursue acting. After studying at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Hinds found employment with the Glasgow Citizens Company, where he made his professional debut playing the back end of a horse in Cinderella. He acted with the company for the better part of the next decade, splitting his time between Glasgow and Ireland. In 1987, he received one of his first big breaks, at the hands of esteemed director Peter Brook, who selected him as a member of his Paris-based theatrical company; the actor was soon performing all over the globe.Hinds made his film debut in John Boorman's 1981 Excalibur, but he did not make another movie until 1989. That year, he appeared in a supporting role in Peter Greenaway's stylishly horrifying The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. After sharing the screen with actors like Richard Bohringer, Tim Roth, and Excalibur co-star Helen Mirren, Hinds went on to make December Bride the next year, and in 1993 he won acclaim for his performance in the made-for-TV Hostages. Two years later, Hinds began to win recognition outside of the U.K., first for his small role as a university professor in the popular Circle of Friends and then for his more sizable performance in Roger Michell's acclaimed adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion. As Captain Frederick Wentworth, captor of heroine Anne Elliot's repressed affections, Hinds caused many an audience member to wonder where he had been for so long, and, more important, when and where he would reappear. When was the following year and where was Some Mother's Son, a drama based on a 1981 hunger strike in a Belfast prison. Hinds had a supporting role in the film, which reunited him with Mirren, but the next year he had a more substantial part in Gillian Armstrong's Oscar and Lucinda, in which he played a reverend. That character was a far cry from his next role, a man trapped in the Irish conflict in 1970s Belfast in Titanic Town (1998). In 1999, Hinds could be seen in Chris Menges' The Lost Son with Daniel Auteuil, Bruce Greenwood, and Natassja Kinski, and in Il Tempo Dell'Amore, which was shown at that year's Toronto Film Festival.The new millennium seemed to bring about something of a re-birth for Hinds' enduring career, with featured roles in such widely-seen films as The Sum of All Fears, The Road to Perdition, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, and The Phantom of the Opera hinting that Hollywood may have finally grown savvy to the impressive talents of the physically-imposing actor. Of course it wasn't all Hollywood glamor, with roles in such limited-release but critically-praised independents as The Weight of Water and Veronica Guerin, and Calendar Girls serving well to help Hinds balance out the big-budget blockbusters. In 2006 Hinds would step into the sandals of no less that Julius Caesar when he essayed the role of the notorious Roman general in HBO's lavish historical drama Rome, with a subsequent role in director Steven Spielberg's 2005 drama Munich preceding a turn as a hard-charging FBI agent in Michael Mann's high-octane action thriller Miamy Vice in 2006. In 2007 he played the closest associate of oil tycoon Daniel Plainview in Paul Thomas Anderson' Oscar-winning There Will Be Blood, and appeared in Margot at the Wedding. He was in Todd Solondz's sort-of sequel to Happiness, Life During Wartime, and was prominent in the well-reviewed 2011 adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He joined the cast of Harry Potter in that successful series' final entry, and a very busy 2012 found him with major roles in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, The Woman in Black, and providing a voice in the infamous box-office flop John Carter.In addition to his screen work, Hinds has kept busy both on television and the stage. On the small screen, he has appeared in series like Prime Suspect 3 (1993), A Dark Adapted Eye (1994), Jane Eyre (1997), and Ivanhoe (also 1997). On the stage, Hinds has taken part in a number of productions, perhaps most notably the London and Broadway productions of Patrick Marber's Closer in 1998 and 1999. As part of an ensemble cast including Natasha Richardson, Rupert Graves, and Anna Friel, Hinds won raves for his work, further establishing himself as an actor of international acclaim.