Trivia: Moon-faced, dreamy eyed, and radiating the kind of lo-fi intensity that made him a natural for the kind of Thoughtful Young Man roles in which he made his name during the early years of his career, Tobey Maguire has proven to be one of the most thought-provoking actors of his generation. Whether portraying a disaffected young suburbanite in The Ice Storm (1997) or a geek turned superhero in Spider-Man (2002), Maguire always gives the kind of nuanced, engaging performances that have the effect of making the viewer believe that short of actually spinning webs from his wrists, there is very little he can't do.Maguire was born in Santa Monica, CA, on June 27, 1975. The son of a construction worker and secretary, he was raised predominately by his mother after his parents divorced when he was almost two years old. The two led an itinerant lifestyle, living with relatives all over the country. Maguire's childhood ambition was to become a cook, but his mother, once an aspiring actress herself, encouraged her son to go into acting. Following a sixth grade drama class, the young actor began getting roles in commercials, which led to a starring turn in the short-lived 1992 sitcom Great Scott!The following year, Maguire made his film debut in This Boy's Life, which starred Robert De Niro and a very young Leonardo Di Caprio. After a small part in 1994's S.F.W. and a lead in the same year's largely unseen Revenge of the Red Baron, Maguire attracted favorable notice for his role in the 1995 Oscar-nominated short The Duke of Groove, in which he co-starred with Uma Thurman.1997 proved to be Maguire's breakthrough year, as he worked with two widely respected directors on two high-profile projects. The first was Ang Lee's critically lauded adaptation of the Rick Moody novel The Ice Storm; in a film filled with exceptional performances, Maguire held his own amongst a cast that included Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Allen, and Christina Ricci, and won acclaim for his portrayal of the dutiful and discontented Paul Hood. His other 1997 film, Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry, received mixed reviews, but Maguire's presence in an Allen film further bolstered his career.The year 1998 was another good year for the actor, who had a lead role in the highly acclaimed Pleasantville, in which he starred as a teenager who gets transported into the world of a '50s TV show. He also made a cameo appearance as a bedraggled hitchhiker in Terry Gilliam's adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. With a rising profile and coveted spot on the 1998 cover of Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood issue, Maguire was emerging as one of the more solid and worthwhile young actors in an industry where too many young performers fall prey to the lure of glitz over grit.His reputation was further established with his turn as the protagonist of The Cider House Rules, Lasse Hallström's 1999 Oscar-nominated adaptation of John Irving's novel about a young man who comes of age under the tutelage of an abortionist played by Michael Caine. Maguire's similarly strong work as a troubled but brilliant young writer in Wonder Boys (2000) undoubtedly helped him to win the attention of director Sam Raimi, who eventually cast the actor in the role of Peter Parker, the awkward teenager who becomes the eponymous, web-spinning hero of Spider-Man. The film, which was released in 2002, broke box-office records with its opening weekend draw of more than 110 million dollars, and finally separated Tobey Maguire from his mainstream status as Leonardo DiCaprio's basketball buddy into a mega-star in his own right. Its success catapulted Maguire -- who beefed up his skinny frame for the role and managed to assuage the misgivings of even the most die-hard Spidey fans with his astute performance -- into the rarefied realm of the A-list, complete with the promise of a multimillion-dollar paycheck for his future work, and led to his role as producer of 2002's The 25th Hour, as well as the wildly successful Seabiscuit. In 2004, Maguire returned to his role of Peter Parker in the hotly anticipated Spider-Man 2 and then finished up his superhero contract with the final installation of the trilogy, Spider-Man 3 (2007).Maguire would spend the ensuing years enjoying a selective career, appearing in Brothers, The Details, and The Great Gatsby.

Trivia: The son of actor Lloyd Bridges, Jeff Bridges made his screen bow as a petulant infant in the arms of his real-life mother, Dorothy, in the 1950 Jane Greer melodrama The Company She Keeps; his troublesome older brother in that film was played by his real older brother Beau. The younger Bridges made a more formal debut before the cameras at age eight, in an episode of his dad's TV series Sea Hunt. After serving in the Coast Guard reserve, the budding actor studied acting at the Herbert Berghof school. While older brother Beau was developing into a character player, Bridges, thanks in equal parts to his ability and ruggedly handsome looks, became a bona fide leading man. He had his first major success with a leading role in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Two years later, he won yet another Oscar nomination, this time for Best Supporting Actor in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974). Bridges worked steadily throughout the rest of the 1970s, starring in a number of films, including Hearts of the West (1975) and Stay Hungry (1976). The 1980s brought further triumph, despite starting out inauspiciously with a part in the notoriously ill-fated Heaven's Gate (1981). In 1984, Bridges won yet another Oscar nomination for his leading role in Starman and continued to find acclaim for his work, in such movies as The Morning After (1986) and The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989). The latter featured Bridges and brother Beau as struggling musicians, as well as Michelle Pfeiffer in a performance marked by both the actress' own talent and her ability to roll around on a piano wearing a figure-hugging red velvet dress. Bridges began the 1990s with Texasville, the desultory sequel to The Last Picture Show. Things began to improve with acclaimed performances in Fearless (1993) and American Heart (1995) (the latter marked his producing debut), and the actor found commercial, if not critical, success with the bomb thriller Blown Away in 1994. More success followed, with a lead role in the Barbra Streisand vehicle The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), and as a hapless and perpetually stoned bowling aficionado in the Coen brothers' The Big Lebowski (1998). In 1999, Bridges returned to the thriller genre with Arlington Road, playing the concerned neighbor of urban terrorist Tim Robbins, and then switched gears with Albert Brooks' comedy drama The Muse. In addition to his acting achievements, Bridges has also written some 200 songs, a talent which he memorably incorporated in The Fabulous Baker Boys.Bridges delivered a typically strong performance in 1999's Simpatico, which featured the actor as a horse-breeder embroiled in a complicated scam orchestrated by a once good friend, while The Contender (2000) found him playing a happy-go-lucky U.S. President suddenly forced to decide if his Vice Presidential candidate's rumored sexual escapades will affect his ultimate decision. Though K-PAX (2001) fared badly in theaters, Jeff's performance as Kevin Spacey's character's psychiatrist was solid, as was his role of a soft-spoken kidnapping victim in director Dominique Forma's Scenes of the Crime. 2003 was a polarizing year in terms of critical success -- despite an A-list cast including Bridges himself, Penelope Cruz, and Jessica Lange, Masked and Anonymous went unseen by most, and disliked by the rest. Luckily, Seabiscuit catapulted Bridges back into Hollywood's spotlight, as did Tod Wiliams' Door in the Floor, based on John Irving's novel A Widow for One Year.In 2008, Bridges landed the plum role of the bad guy in the box-office blockbuster Iron Man, but it was his turn as fading country music star Bad Blake in Crazy Heart that earned him the accolades that had eluded the respected actor throughout his career. For his work in that film Bridges captured the SAG award, the Golden Globe, and his fifth Oscar nomination -- marking his second nod in the lead category 25 years after his first for Starman.The next year Bridges would be up for the Best Actor award again, this time for the way he tackled one of John Wayne's iconic role's, Rooster Cogburn, in the Coen brother's hit remake of True Grit. That same year, he would return as Kevin Flynn in the sequel Tron: Legacy.

Trivia: Having spent much of his youth on his father's Missouri cattle ranch, it is not surprising that supporting and leading actor of stage, screen, and television Chris Cooper has specialized in playing cowboys, ranchers, and other hardworking men. His rugged Everyman demeanor has best been put to use by filmmaker John Sayles, who cast him in a number of his films, beginning with 1987's Matewan.Cooper's interest in the theater began in his late teens, when he designed and constructed sets for a community group. Following high school, he studied agriculture and acting at the University of Missouri before moving to New York City in hopes of making it on the stage. It took awhile, but by 1980 he was starring in productions like Of the Fields Lately, The Ballad of Soapy Smith, and Cobb, in which he played the title role. His film debut came in 1980, in Nicholas Roeg's Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession. He didn't get his big break until seven years later, when Sayles cast him as Joe Kenehan, a member of the coalminer's union who is sent to a tiny mountain town to organize the workers in Matewan (1987). He again worked with Sayles in City of Hope (1991) and then in Lone Star (1996), for which he won great acclaim playing the enigmatic Sam Deeds, the prodigal son of a tiny Texas town's sheriff who solves a mystery and comes to grips with his relationship with his late father. Subsequently, Cooper -- who had also made his mark on the small screen as cowboy July Johnson in Lonesome Dove (1989) -- appeared as a deputy in a A Time to Kill (1996), Robert Redford's younger brother in The Horse Whisperer (1998), and Ethan Hawke's brother-in-law in Great Expectations. In 1999, the actor again demonstrated his impressive range, first playing a coalminer in October Sky and then turning in a chilling performance as Kevin Spacey's unbalanced neighbor in American Beauty. If Cooper was somewhat lost in the shuffle of 2002's Interstate 60, his Oscar winning performance in that same years' Adaptation would find Cooper receiving lavish praise for his portrayal of a lively orchid hunter. Cast opposite Meryl Streep, Cooper's toothless performance was in turns hilarious, sad and poetic, providing the perfect showcase for his impressive range. In 2003, Cooper was nominated for Best Supporting Actor by the Screen Actors Guild for his turn as a soft-spoken horse trainer in Seabiscuit. Cooper worked steadily through the early 2000s, largely in a supporting capacity. He won no small amount of praise for his work in Syriana and Capote (both 2005), and showed demonstrated his range as an actor in 2007, when he co-starred in The Kingdom, Married Life, and Breach. Cooper lent his voice to Spike Jonze's remake of Maurice Sendak's classic children's novel Where the Wild Things Are, and joined Ben Affleck for a supporting role in The Town, a 2010 crime thriller based on author Chuck Hogan's novel Prince of Thieves. Cooper found more success, however, for his role in Amiga (2010) John Sayles' war drama, in which he played an American military colonel deeply prejudiced against Filipinos. The actor took on a decidedly less serious role as a dastardly villain extraordinaire in The Muppets (2011).

Trivia: Possessing the kind of elegant screen beauty that often draws comparisons to a Breakfast at Tiffany's-era Audrey Hepburn, actress Elizabeth Banks' onscreen career has been steadily rising since the up-and-coming actress won the Young Hollywood Award for "Exciting New Face" back in 2003. With roles in such notable Hollywood hits as the Spider-Man films and Seabiscuit, Banks has not only had the pleasure of sharing the screen with hot-property actor Tobey Maguire multiple times, but has also been nominated -- alongside Maguire, Jeff Bridges, William H. Macy, and Gary Stevens -- for an "Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture" award by the Screen Actors Guild for her performance in the latter. The Pittsfield, MA, native got her first taste of fame when nominated Harvest Queen in her hometown's annual fall celebration, and in the years that followed, Banks would receive her bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and go on to pursue her graduate degree at the American Conservatory Theater. In 1998, Banks made her feature debut in the controversial addiction drama Surrender Dorothy, with subsequent small-screen roles in Third Watch and Sex and the City only serving to contribute to her rapidly growing profile in film and television. Of course, a move from New York to Los Angeles also may have had something to due with her landing more film roles, and though she would appear under her real name, Elizabeth Mitchell, in the 2000 action thriller Shaft, she soon had to change her name to avoid conflict with another actress who had already established a career under that surname. Undaunted, Banks forged on with roles in the cult comedy Wet Hot American Summer and the romantic drama Ordinary Sinner in 2001, with a supporting performance as Betty Brant in the 2002 box-office smash Spider-Man providing her most substantial onscreen performance to date. With roles opposite Madonna in Swept Away and Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can, it was obvious that Banks' career was on the rise, but it was her winning performance in Seabiscuit that truly put her on the map. Though the Screen Actors Guild award that the she and the cast were nominated for would ultimately go to the cast of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, it was obvious to all who had been following her career that Banks was only at the beginning of her Hollywood ascent. In 2003, Banks appeared in the drama The Trade before reprising her role as Betty Brant for Spider-Man 2, and with increasingly prominent roles in Heights, The Sisters, and The Baxter scheduled through 2005, audiences could rest assured that they would be seeing plenty more of Banks in the years to come.By the time Banks turned in a standout supporting role as a bookstore employee who may hold the means of solving The 40 Year Old Virgin's titular dilemma in the 2005 Steve Carell hit, it seemed that she was an actress capable of brightening most any screen. A substantial role as a small-town trophy wife in director James Gunn's comic-frightener Slither found Banks having noticable fun in front of the cameras, with a pair of appearances on the popular television medical comedy Scrubs preceding a more serious-minded turn in the inspirational 2006 sports drama Invincible.2008 was a very busy year for Banks in which she continued to build her career as a comedic presence in films as varied as Role Models, Meet Dave, and Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and was also allowed to stretch her dramatic wings as Laura Bush in Oliver Stone's biopic W. In 2009 she first played the role of a conservative television commentator who becomes a romantic partner for Alec Baldwin's character on the award-winning sitcom 30 Rock, a role she would return to intermittently for the next few years. In 2011 she co-starred in the comedy Our Idiot Brother, and in 2012 she had a supporting part in the phenomenally successful adaptation of The Hunger Games.

Trivia: William H. Macy came to acting by way of Bethany and Goddard Colleges. At the latter school, Macy studied under playwright David Mamet, with whom he would be frequently associated throughout his career. After college, Macy was a member of Mamet's theater troupe, the St. Nicholas Company. The actor performed in a number of productions, many of them written by Mamet, until 1978 when he left the company and headed to New York. Some of his earliest work there included commercial voice-overs, such as the now infamous "Secret: Strong enough for a man, but PH balanced for a woman." Macy also continued his theater work, forming the Atlantic Theatre Company with Mamet in 1985 and acting in Broadway and off-Broadway shows. In addition, he worked in television and began doing feature films, debuting in '80s Foolin' Around. He continued to act in supporting roles throughout the decade, appearing in such films as Mamet's directorial debut, House of Games (1987) and Woody Allen's Radio Days (1987). In 1991, he won a more substantial role, in Mamet's Homicide, and subsequently began to find work in more well-known films, including Benny and Joon and The Client.Macy finally got a shot at a leading role with his turn in Mamet's Oleanna. He won positive notices and an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his portrayal of a professor accused of sexual harassment. More acclaim followed with his starring role as a hapless car salesman in Joel Coen and Ethan Coen's Fargo (1996), for which he garnered a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. The next year, Macy's star rose a little higher, thanks to his work in three high-profile films, Wag the Dog, Air Force One, and Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights. He was similarly lauded for his versatility through work in such films as Psycho and Pleasantville, and in 1999 he continued his winning streak as an unconventional superhero in Mystery Men, a gay sheriff in Happy, Texas, and a member of the ensemble cast of Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia. Despite the fact that Macy drew praise for his turn as a reluctant hit man in the 2000 drama Panic, the film went largely unseen, and his next substantial role found him running from dinosaurs in Jurassic Park III. As always Macy continued to intercut his more commercial efforts with such decidedly non-mainstream fare as Focus and Stealing Sinatra. Surprisingly, it was just such work that netted Macy some of his most glowing reviews. Case in point was a memorable performance as a disabled traveling salesman in the 2003 drama Door to Door; a role that earned its convincing lead an Emmy. After sticking to the small screen with the Showtime miniseries Out of Order, Macy went wide with the theatrical hit Seabiscuit and the breathless Larry Cohen-scripted thriller Cellular. That same year, the actor would continue to nurture a succesful ongoing collaboration with famed writer/director David Mamet in the widely-praised but little-seen crime drama Spartan. Macy has also continued to do television work, appearing on such series as Spencer, Law & Order, and ER. For his role in the 2004 made for television drama The Wool Cap (which also found him teaming with writer Steven Schachter to adapt a story originally written by Jackie Gleason), Macy was nominated for multiple awards including a Best Actor at the Golden Globe and an Emmys. In 2005, Macy returned to home turf with the Mamet-scripted thriller Edmond, directed by Stuart "Reanimator" Gordon. The picture reunited the actor and director, who originally collaborated in the early eighties on the stage version of the playwright's Sexual Perversity in Chicago. Adapted from Mamet's 1982 one-acter, Edmond dramatizes the descent of a seemingly normal man (Macy) from sanity to unbridled psychosis. While Edmond didn't exactly bomb critically or commercially after its July 14, 2006 premiere, it fell below the bar of previous Mamet efforts on two levels: first, the studio opened it to decidedly more limited release than Mamet's directorial projects over the previous several years (such as Spartan and Heist), thus ensuring that fewer would see it, and it also suffered from somewhat lackluster reviews. Surprisingly, those who did complain of the work attacked Mamet's script in lieu Gordon's direction. Variety's Scott Foundas observed, "The problem is that, too often, we don't fully understand what motivates Edmond, and many of Mamet's efforts toward explanation -- that life is one big shell game, that we're all latent racists at heart -- feel like specious armchair philosophizing." Macy produced that same year's Transamerica, and graced the cast of Jason Reitman's hearty satire Thank You For Smoking, with a funny turn as senator and anti-tobacco promulgator Ortolan Finistirre. At around the same time, he also voiced a crooked, baseball bat-swiping security guard in that year's family friendly animated feature Everyone's Hero. Meanwhile, audiences geared up for Macy's contribution to the ensemble of actor-cum-director Emilio Estevez's semi-fictional, Altmanesque docudrama Bobby, which recounts the events that preceded RFK's assassination by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel. As the hotel manager, Macy joins a line-up of formidable heavyweights: Helen Hunt, Elijah Wood, Harry Belafonte, Martin Sheen, Estevez himself, Anthony Hopkins, Sharon Stone, and many others. The picture had journalists and moviegoers across America whispering 'Oscar contender' long before its initial release on November 22, 2006. Shortly after production wrapped, Macy made headlines in mid-late 2006 for a comment that involved his allegedly berating Bobby co-star Lindsay Lohan's on-set behavior, in reference to her constant tardiness. Meanwhile, the trades reported the everpresent Macy's involvement in two 2007 features: the animated Bee Movie (with a lead voice by Jerry Seinfeld), about a honeybee who decides to sue mankind for its use of honey, and Wild Hogs, a farce with Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and John Travolta as a trio of Hell's Angels. Over the coming years, Macy would appear in movies like Shorts, Dirty Girl, and The Lincoln Lawyer, as well as the critically acclaimed series Shameless.In 1997, William H. Macy married Felicity Huffman, with whom he appeared in Magnolia.

Trivia: Actor Michael Angarano achieved two of his most noteworthy roles back to back, as a violin player in the Wes Craven-directed inspirational drama Music of the Heart (1999) and as the young version of rock journalist-to-be William Miller in Cameron Crowe's semi-autographical seriocomedy Almost Famous (2000). Angarano's subsequent resumé includes supporting parts in such pictures as Seabiscuit (2003), Lords of Dogtown (2005), and One Last Thing... (2005). On the small screen, Angarano played the recurring role of Elliott, Jack's (Sean Hayes) son on Will & Grace (from from 2001-2006), as well as a guest role in the sixth season of 24 (2007). With Man in the Chair (2007) -- a gentle, humorous coming-of-age dramedy about an aspiring teenage film director who finds the fulfillment of his dreams from an unexpected source -- Angarano tackled an associate producer assignment and the lead role concurrently. That same year, Angarano also signed for one of the supporting parts in the David Mickey Evans-helmed baseball drama The Final Season.

Trivia: Is of American and Canadien descent.Was raised in Indonesia and moved during her childhood to several countries including Nigeria, United Kingdom, and Canada.Moved to Austin, Texas, at the age of 16.Made her debut as an actress in Broadway in the musical Rex.Made her debut as an actress on television in 1979.

Trivia: An English major in college, Ed Lauter worked as a stand-up comic before entering films in 1971. The tall, menacing Lauter has generally been typecast as humorless, easily corruptible authority figures. He was at his meanest as the vindictive Captain Knaur in Robert Aldrich's The Longest Yard. His TV credits include such roles as Sheriff Cain in BJ and the Bear (1979-80) and General Louis Crewes in Stephen King's The Golden Years (1991). In 1976, Ed Lauter was afforded a rare leading role--and a sympathetic one to boot--in the made-for-TV murder mystery Last Hours Before Morning (1976). Lauter appeared in the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard and had a small role in the Oscar-winning film The Artist (2011). He also had a recurring role on the TV series Shameless. Lauter passed away in 2013 of mesothelioma at age 74, with several films in post-production, awaiting release.

Trivia: Thespian Michael O'Neill grew up in Montgomery, AL, and attended nearby Auburn University as an economics major, then took his first steps toward professional acting work with a move to New York and on-stage roles at Playwrights Horizons. During the '80s, '90s, and 2000s, O'Neill divided his time, more or less equally, between stage, screen, and television; in all of these venues, the actor specialized in portrayals of gently authoritative yet warm and genial everyman types, such as kind fathers, school psychologists, and small-town physicians. Features in which O'Neill appeared included Ghost Story (1981), The Sunchaser (1996), Traffic (2000), and Transformers (2007); memorable television roles include contributions to The West Wing (as the head of presidential detail), 24, and Boston Public.

Trivia: Studied at the Actors Studio in New York City. Is an accomplished equestrienne and occasionally works at a stable. Appeared in three films that were nominated for 2003 Academy Awards: 21 Grams, Seabiscuit and Monster. Owns a ranch in California, where she keeps a horse and numerous dogs.

Trivia: A former standup comic who would later find fame as a character actor in such films as Harper Valley P.T.A. (1978) and Splash (1984), Royce D. Applegate would later find wide recognition as a cast member of the popular television series seaQuest DSV. Born in Midwest City, OK, Applegate got his start in as an entertainer in the comedy improv group "The Committee." Applegate would later co-found "Committee" offshoot "Synergy Trust" when the former expanded westward, and it wasn't long before he was making appearances on such popular television staples as The Steve Allen Show. Subsequent appearances on such shows as Charlie's Angels, Dallas, and ChiPs found the busy character actor in increasing demand, and with the 1972 thriller They Only Kill Their Masters, Applegate graduated to film. After taking on the role of Brig. Gen. James L. Kemper in the 1993 Civil War epic Gettysburg, Applegate would later reprise his role in the sequel Gods and Generals (2003). On January 1, 2003, Royce D. Applegate was found dead in his Hollywood Hills mansion following a devastating fire. He was 64.

Trivia: Supporting actor, onscreen from the '70s.

Trivia: The son of blacklisted screenwriter Arthur Ross, creator of Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954), Gary Ross was born in Los Angeles in 1956 and received an Ivy League education at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught a course on Film and Social History. However, intending to gain real-life experience, Ross dropped out before graduation to work on a fishing boat. He also studied acting under the legendary Stella Adler, but his attention ultimately turned to filmmaking and writing.Initially, Ross concentrated on writing novels. His first was not a financial success. After spending his advance for a second novel without completing it, Ross appeared as a contestant on the TV game show Tic Tac Dough and won $50,000, enabling him to live while he completed the project.His brief career as a novelist led Ross to Paramount Pictures, where he was hired to write a treatment and made the acquaintance of producer Leonard Goldberg, who hired him to pen a script. That screenplay and two others were never produced.Ross' fourth screenplay would end up earning Oscar and Writer's Guild nominations. He wrote the script for the blockbuster hit Big (1988) with a neighbor, Anne Spielberg, sister of director Steven Spielberg. The film's success transformed Ross into an A-list screenwriter.Ross subsequently took assignments as a rewriter and polisher on several high-profile productions including Short Time (1990), Mr. Baseball (1992), Beethoven (1992), Little Big League (1994), The Flintstones (1994), and Lassie (1994). He also produced the comedy Trial and Error (1997) and formed his own company, Larger Than Life Productions. However, Ross' most significant project in subsequent years was his next original script, Dave (1993), a story steeped in the writer's passion for politics. His political resumé is impressive: Ross spent a summer as a teenager working for a Congressman in 1972, participated in Ted Kennedy's 1980 campaign for president, and wrote speeches and jokes for Michael Dukakis and Bill Clinton, among other prominent Democrats. Finally getting a shot behind the camera, Ross' next project was writing and directing the comedy-drama Pleasantville (1998), a seriously underrated effort that was unfortunately hamstrung by its similarity to that year's creepier, more Twilight Zone-vibed The Truman Show.Ross is the father of twins, Claudia and Jack, born May 26, 1995. His wife is Allison Thomas, a one-time Carter Administration employee. Ross has been awarded for his philanthropic efforts to strengthen the Los Angeles Board of Library Commissioners, which he has served as president. For Dave, Ross won the Paul Selvin Award from the Writers Guild of America, an annual award given to the WGA member whose script "best embodies the spirit of the Constitution's call for civil rights and liberties."

Trivia: As a child, frequented Video Archives, a video-rental store in Los Angeles, and got to know one of the store's clerks, Quentin Tarantino. Played the role of Jonathan in the pilot episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer; the role ended up recurring through the entire series. Was awarded a fellowship from USC in 1997. Made Variety's Top Ten Screenwriters to Watch list in 2007.

Trivia: Character actor Pat Skipper specialized in everyman roles, with a slightly stocky appearance that enabled him to convincingly play rough-hewn types on some occasions, law enforcement officers on others. He landed his first major film credit in 1987, with a bit part as a postal inspector in Oliver Stone's corporate-evisceration drama Wall Street, then alternated, for the next two decades, between A-list theatrical releases (Lethal Weapon 2, Predator 2, Independence Day) and direct-to-video potboilers (Demonstone, Ed Gein). Skipper was particularly memorable as Mason Strode, the ill-fated father of psychopath victim Laurie Strode, in Rob Zombie's 2007 gore-filled remake of the John Carpenter classic Halloween.

Trivia: Born in Bulgaria, George Baker nonetheless achieved prominence as a British actor, making his joint film and stage debuts in 1952. At home in avuncular roles, Baker made an impressive Reverend Charles Dodson in the 1965 British TV movie Alice. He was equally adept at authoritative characterizations, appearing in this capacity in two of the James Bond epics and as Emperor Tiberius in I Claudius (1957). In the late '80s, George Baker starred in a series of elaborate, 60-minute TV murder mysteries as the unflappable Chief Inspector Wexford.

Trivia: Supporting actor and singer Gianni Russo specializes in playing Mafiosos and other Italian stereotypes. He made his feature-film debut playing Carlo Rizzi in The Godfather (1973). Before that, Russo had appeared in two made-for-television films.

Trivia: The youngest of the acting Bottoms brothers, Samuel Bottoms made his first film appearance as the retarded Billy in The Last Picture Show, appearing in several scenes with older brother Timothy. Samuel later showed up in two Vietnam-themed Francis Ford Coppola films: he was hotshot PFC Lance in Apocalypse Now (1979) and the more sober-sided Lt. Webber in Gardens of Stone (1987). In 1981, he starred in the TV-miniseries remake of East of Eden as Cal Trask, while his brother Timothy played his father, Adam Trask. Samuel Bottoms went on to co-star with Tim and Joseph Bottoms in 1987's Island Sons, a busted TV pilot.

Trivia: Though he perhaps was most famous during the 1960s and 1970s for writing quirky, darkly funny, or sharply satirical songs that often painted vivid portraits detailing the foibles and lives of lifelike characters, there is much more to Randy Newman's music than humor or novelty. Stylistically, his music runs the gamut from classically influenced film scores to R&B-type pop to haunting ballads and, most of all, to his upbeat, subtly orchestrated shuffling amalgam of New Orleans jazz and ragtime. Though his output of recorded music is somewhat sporadic, owing largely to his innate perfectionism, Newman has had a great effect on pop music and those influenced by him include Lyle Lovett, Paul Simon, and Mark Knopfler. Newman's contributions to film scoring have also been large and, in 1995, he received Oscar nominations for Best Song and Best Original Musical or Comedy Score for his work in Toy Story (1995).Newman was born in Los Angeles, during WWII. At the time, his father was overseas serving as an army captain in Italy and Newman's childhood was punctuated by numerous moves throughout the South, where his mother's family and closest friends lived. He was most influenced by the time he spent with his mother's family in New Orleans. Musically, one of his greatest influences was the compositions of his uncle Alfred Newman, one of cinema's finest and most highly regarded film scorists. His two other uncles, Lionel and Emil, were also noted composers. As a boy, Newman frequently visited the soundstages where his uncle worked.Newman began writing songs for Metric, the publishing house for Liberty Records, at age 16, thanks to the influence of his close friend Lenny Waronker, son of company founder Simon Waronker. Songwriting has never been easy for Newman and it took him a long time to find his unique voice. In 1962, he wrote his first music for television, for the episode "Northern Comfort" on the sitcom Dobie Gillis. At the time, he was moonlighting part time at 20th Century Fox, working on an old copy machine, and fetching music for composers. He also found time to compose additional music for such shows as Lost in Space and, most notably, for Peyton Place. He composed his first film score for Cold Turkey (1971), the funny story of an entire town that tries to quit smoking. He did not score another film until Ragtime (1981). The lovely waltzes he composed for this film earned Newman his first Oscar nomination. Over the next few years, he would receive numerous other Academy Award nominations, including one for the song "Make Up Your Mind" that was heard in Ron Howard's The Paper. Finally, after years of writing memorable songs for some of Hollywood's best-loved films, Newman took home a Best Song Oscar for "If I Didn't Have You" from the computer animated film Monsters, Inc. Newman also tried his hand at screenwriting when he collaborated on the script for John Landis' Western spoof The Three Amigos (1986). In 2002 Newman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame following eight years later.