Trivia: Major star and producer, and member of one of Hollywood's most prominent families to boot, Michael Douglas was born to movie icon Kirk Douglas and British actress Diana Dill on September 25, 1944, in New Brunswick, NJ. From the age of eight he was raised in Connecticut by his mother and a stepfather, but spent time with his father during vacations from military school. It was while on location with his father that the young Douglas began learning about filmmaking. In 1962, he worked as an assistant director on Lonely Are the Brave, and was so taken with the cinema that he passed up the opportunity to study at Yale for that of studying drama at the University of California at Santa Barbara. At one point he and actor/director/producer Danny De Vito roomed together, and have remained friends ever since. Douglas also studied drama in New York for a while, and made his film debut as an actor playing a pacifist hippie draft evader who decides to fight in Vietnam in Hail Hero! (1969). He appeared in several more dramas, notably Summertree (1971). In 1972, he was cast as volatile rookie police inspector Steve Keller on The Streets of San Francisco. Douglas appeared in the series and occasionally directed episodes of it through 1976. In 1975, Douglas became one of the hottest producers in Tinseltown when he produced Milos Forman's tour de force adaptation of Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which starred Jack Nicholson in one of his best roles. Originally, Douglas' father Kirk owned the film rights to the story. Having appeared in the Broadway version, the elder Douglas had wanted to star in a film adaptation for years, but had no luck getting it produced. The younger Douglas persuaded his father to sell him the rights and give up the notion of starring in the film. The result: a box-office smash that earned five Oscars, including Best Picture. After this triumph, Douglas resumed acting and began developing his screen persona. His was a decidedly paradoxical persona: though ruggedly handsome with an honest, emotive face reminiscent of his father's, onscreen Douglas retained an oily quality that was unusual in someone possessing such physical characteristics. He became known for characters that were sensitive yet arrogant and had something of a bad-boy quality. Through the '70s, Douglas appeared in more films, most notably The China Syndrome, which he also produced. In 1984, Douglas teamed with Kathleen Turner to appear in Romancing the Stone, an offbeat romantic adventure in the vein of Indiana Jones. Co-starring old friend Danny De Vito, it was a major box-office hit and revitalized Douglas' acting career, which had started to flag. Turner, Douglas and De Vito re-teamed the following year for an equally entertaining sequel, The Jewel of the Nile. It was in 1987 that Douglas played one of his landmark roles, that of a reprehensible yuppie who pays a terrible price for a moment's weakness with the mentally unbalanced Glenn Close in the runaway hit Fatal Attraction. The performance marked Douglas' entrance into edgier roles, and that same year he played an amoral corporate raider in Oliver Stone's Wall Street, for which he earned his first Oscar as an actor. In 1989, Douglas reunited with Kathleen Turner to appear in Danny De Vito's War of the Roses, one of the darkest ever celluloid glances at marital breakdown. By the end of the decade, Douglas had become one of Hollywood's most in-demand and highly paid stars. Douglas found success exploring the darker realms of his persona in Black Rain (1989) and the notorious Basic Instinct (1992). One of his darkest and most repugnantly intriguing roles came in 1993's Falling Down, in which he played an average Joe driven to cope with his powerlessness through acts of horrible violence. In 1995, Douglas lightened up to play a lonely, widowed president in The American President, and returned to adventure with 1996's box-office bomb The Ghost and the Darkness. In 1997 he appeared in the David Fincher thriller The Game, and followed that with another behind-the-scenes role, this time as executive producer for the John Travolta/Nicholas Cage thriller Face/Off. Returning to acting in 1998, Douglas starred with Gwyneth Paltrow in A Perfect Murder, a remake of Hitchcock's classic Dial M for Murder. As the new millenium rolled in, Douglas remained a force on screen, most memorably in films like the critically acclaimed Wonder Boys, and Steven Soderbergh's drug-war epic Traffic -- a critical and box office smash. Douglas had other life successes as well, such as his marriage to longtime girlfriend Catherine Zeta-Jones in 2000, and the birth of their subsuquent children. Around this time, Douglas formed a new production company, Further Films. which saw its first wide release in 2001 with the ensemble comedy One Night at McCool's. In 2003 he made It Runs in the Family, a comedy concerning three generations of a dysfunctional family attempting to reconcile their longtime differences. Fiction reflected reality in the film due to the involvement of father Kirk and son Cameron portraying, conveniently enough, Michael's father and son respectively. The 2010's would see Douglas playing roles in films like The Sentinel , King of California, You, Me and Dupree, and the long awaited sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. In 2013, he played Liberace in the HBO TV movie Behind the Candelabra, which earned Douglas an Emmy award.

Trivia: Although some of her recognition may stem from her 1992 marriage to Warren Beatty, Annette Bening has established herself as an actress capable of far more than domesticating one of Hollywood's most notorious playboys. After winning raves for her role in 1990's The Grifters, Bening turned in a series of strong performances in films ranging from The American President to Richard III to American Beauty.Born in Topeka, Kansas, on May 29, 1958, Bening moved with her family to San Diego, California when she was very young. It was there that she began to pursue her career, first as a dancer in various productions at a local college. Eventually graduating from San Francisco University (an education she paid for by working as a cook on a charter boat), Bening acted with San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre before moving to New York to further her stage experience. Her career in New York had its auspicious moments, such as winning a Tony Award nomination and a Clarence Derwent Award for Outstanding Debut Performance for her performance in Coastal Disturbances, but Bening endured a five-year struggle before breaking into film.She made her debut as Dan Aykroyd's irritable wife in The Great Outdoors in 1988; more substantial work followed in the form of Milos Forman's Valmont, a 1989 adaptation of Chodleros de Laclos' Les Liaisons Dangereuses that featured Bening as the scheming, manipulative Marquise de Merteuil. The film suffered in comparison to Stephen Frears's Dangerous Liaisons, which had been released the previous year; fortunately, the same couldn't be said of Bening's next major effort, 1990's The Grifters. Frears's gripping, stylish adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel of the same name, The Grifters met with almost unanimous critical acclaim, much of which was aimed at the performances of Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, and Bening as the film's protagonists. Bening won special praise for her portrayal of an ill-fated con artist, accruing Best Supporting Actress nominations from the Academy, the New York Film Critics Circle, and the British Academy.Her performance also won the attention of Warren Beatty, who was so impressed with her work that he cast her as his love interest in his 1991 Bugsy. Although the film proved a relative disappointment, it did result in both a Golden Globe nomination for Bening and a 1992 marriage for her and Beatty. The two could be seen collaborating again onscreen two years later in Love Affair, a remake of the 1957 An Affair to Remember. Unfortunately, the film fared poorly, both at the box office and at the hands of disapproving critics. Bening had more luck with her subsequent role as Michael Douglas' presidential love interest in Rob Reiner's The American President (1995), and then went on to explore politics of a different sort with Richard Loncraine's 1996 adaptation of Richard III. Her starring turn as the embattled Queen Elizabeth drew praise, and the attention she garnered for her performance helped to lighten the load of antipathy directed toward Tim Burton's Mars Attacks!, the actress' other film that year.Following lead roles in 1998's underperforming The Siege and 1999's ill-fated In Dreams, Bening could be seen in American Beauty (also 1999) as Kevin Spacey's status-obsessed, control-freak wife. As part of the film's superb ensemble cast, which also featured Chris Cooper, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, and Mena Suvari, the actress won praise for her work, and the added distinction of being part of what many hailed as one of the best films of the year. Her first Best Actress Oscar nomination followed, although Bening's near-lock on the award was stolen away from her by Hilary Swank, a newcomer almost as auspicious as she once was.Adding insult to injury, Bening lost the Oscar at the same time she could be seen in theaters alongside Garry Shandling in the much-derided sci-fi comedy What Planet Are You From? Perhaps as a result of this -- or due to her decision to spend more time with her four children -- the actress chose her parts very carefully in the coming years. She re-emerged in a leading role in 2003 opposite Kevin Costner in the sleeper-hit western Open Range, and followed that comeback with a triumphant diva turn as the title character in Being Julia, an adaptation of M. Somerset Maugham's back-stabbing, backstage comic melodrama Theater. Though little-seen, the film garnered immense praise for Bening -- including a Best Actress nod from the National Board of Review -- and an eventual Best Actress Oscar nomination. However, in a moment of Hollywood irony that echoed both her character's situation in Being Julia and the fate of the 2000 awards ceremony, Bening was denied the award in favor of Hilary Swank's tour-de-force as a doomed boxer in Oscar favorite Million Dollar Baby.She was the mother in the cinematic adaptation of Running With Scissors, and had a major part in the big-budget misfire remake of The Women. In 2010 she won the SAG award for best actress and was nominated for the Oscar in that same category for her work as a lesbian mother of two who finds out her partner is cheating on her in the comedy The Kids Are All Right.

Trivia: Martin Sheen has appeared in a wide variety of films ranging from the embarrassing to the sublime. In addition to appearing in numerous productions on stage, screen, and television, Sheen is the father of a modern dynasty of actors and a tireless activist for social and environmental causes, particularly homelessness. Born Ramon Estevez on August 3, 1940, he was the seventh of ten children of a Spanish immigrant father and an Irish mother. Growing up in Dayton, OH, Sheen wanted to be an actor so badly that he purposely flunked an entrance exam to the University of Dayton so he could start his career instead. With his father's disapproval, he borrowed cash from a local priest and moved to New York in 1959. While continually auditioning for shows, Sheen worked at various odd jobs and changed his name to avoid being typecast in ethnic roles. "Martin" was the name of an agent/friend, while he chose "Sheen" to honor Bishop Fulton J. Sheen; until his early twenties, the actor had been a devoted Catholic. He joined the Actor's Co-op, shared a loft, and with his roommates prepared showcase productions in hopes of attracting agents. For a while he worked backstage at the Living Theater alongside aspiring actor Al Pacino, and it was there that he got his first acting jobs. Around that time, Sheen married, and in 1963 broke into television on East Side West Side; more television would follow in the form of As the World Turns, on which he played the character Roy Sanders for a few years. In 1964, Sheen debuted on Broadway in Never Live Over a Pretzel Factory, and that same year won considerable acclaim for his role in The Subject Was Roses, which in 1968 became a film in which he also starred. After making his feature film debut as a subway punk in The Incident (1967), Sheen moved to Southern California in 1970 with his wife and three children. During the beginning of that decade, he worked most frequently in television, but occasionally appeared in films as a supporting actor or co-lead. His movie career aroused little notice, though, until he played an amoral young killer (based on real life murderer Charles Starkweather) in Terrence Malick's highly regarded directorial debut, Badlands (1973). Further notice came in the mid-'70s, when the actor was cast by Francis Ford Coppola to star in a Vietnam War drama filmed in the Philippines. Two years and innumerable disasters later -- including a near-fatal heart attack for Sheen -- the actor's most famous film, Apocalypse Now (1979), was complete, and it looked as if he would finally become a major star. Although the film won a number of honors, including a Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, and Sheen duly gained Hollywood's respect, he never reached the heights of some of his colleagues. This was possibly due to the fact that during the 1970s and 1980s, he appeared in so many mediocre films. However, Sheen turned in memorable performances in such films as Ghandi (1982) -- from which the actor donated his wages to charity -- and Da (1988), in which he took production and starring credits. He also did notable work in a number of other films, including Wall Street (1987), The American President (1995), and Monument Ave. (1998). In 1999, he could be seen in a number of projects, including Ninth Street and Texas Funeral, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival that year; O, a modern-day adaptation of Othello; and The West Wing, a television series that cast him as the President of the United States (a role for which he would win the Best TV Series Actor in a Drama Award at the 2000 Golden Globe Awards).Sheen took a supporting role in legendary director Martin Scorsese's crime drama The Departed, and joined the cast of Talk to Me, a 2007 comedy drama directed by Don Cheadle. In 2009, Sheen starred in The Kid: Chamaco, a boxing drama following a father (Sheen) and son's attempt to reconcile their differences to turn a fierce streetfighter into a boxing champion. The following year he would join son Emilio for The Way, an adventure drama featuring Sheen as a grieving father determined to make the pilgrimage to the Pyrenees in honor of his late son. The actor took on yet another lead role in Stella Days (2011), a drama that takes place in the 1950s and stars Sheen as a progressive Irish priest who causes a stir by opening a local movie theater.In 1986, Sheen made his directorial debut with the Emmy-winning made-for-TV movie Babies Having Babies. All three of his sons, Emilio Estevez, Ramon Estevez, and Charlie Sheen (whom he directed in 1991's Cadence), as well as his daughter, Renee Estevez, are movie and television actors. His brother, Joe Estevez, also dabbles in acting.

Trivia: Born June 9th, 1961, Michael J. Fox made his television debut in Vancouver at the age of 15. Three years later, he moved to the U.S., living in spartan conditions until he was able to get his green card. Things started breaking for Fox in 1980, when he made his simultaneous American TV and movie bow, winning a regular role on the weekly series Palmerstown, U.S.A. and a supporting part in the theatrical film Midnight Madness. Previously billed as Michael Fox, the actor was compelled by the Screen Actors Guild to add the "J" to his name to avoid confusion with an older character actor who went by the same name. At 5'4", the baby-faced Fox was able to play adolescents and teenagers well into his twenties; during the early stages of his career, however, his height lost him as many roles as he won. Fox had sold all his furniture and was subsisting on macaroni and cheese at the time he won his star-making role as junior conservative Alex P. Keaton on the long-running (1982-1989) sitcom Family Ties. Before the series ran its course, Fox had won three Emmys, one of them for an unforgettable "one-man show" in which his character soliloquized over the suicide of a close friend. Fox's movie career caught fire after he replaced Eric Stoltz in the role of time-traveling teen Marty McFly in Back to the Future (1985), an enormous hit which spawned two sequels. Not all of Fox's subsequent movie projects were so successful -- although several of them, notably The Secret of My Success (1987) and Casualties of War (1989), were commendable efforts that expanded Fox's range. In later years, the actor seemed to be have difficulty finding the vehicle that would put him back on top, although he continued to keep busy. In the fall of 1996, Fox returned to television in the ABC sitcom Spin City, in which he starred as Michael Flaherty, the Deputy Mayor of New York City. That same year, he could also be seen in Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! and Peter Jackson's The Frighteners. In 1999, the diminutive actor lent his talents to another wee character, voicing the title role of Stuart Little for the film adaptation of E.B. White's beloved children's book about a walking, talking mouse. Married to actress Tracy Pollan since 1988 -- she played his long-time girl friend on Family Ties -- Fox credited her with helping him survive his battle with Parkinson's Disease, with which he was diagnosed in 1991. Fox voiced a variety of animated characters throughout the 2000s, and appeared on TV shows including CBS' The Good Wife and the FX drama Rescue Me,

Trivia: A former theatre and psychology major at the University of Michigan, actor David Paymer's first Broadway success was in the long-running musical Grease. He tentatively launched his film career in the tiny but telling role of a cabbie in 1979's The In-Laws, then returned to working "live" as a performer and writer for The Comedy Store. A character actor even in his early twenties, Paymer displayed his versatility in a wealth of TV supporting roles on such weeklies as Cagney and Lacey, Diff'rent Strokes, The Commish and Downtown. Billy Crystal was so impressed with Paymer's work as ice-cream entrepreneur Ira Shalowitz in City Slickers (1991) that Crystal assigned him the plum role of Stan Yankelman, long-suffering brother and business manager of Berle-like comedian Buddy Young Jr., in Mister Saturday Night (1992). Convincingly playing an age range from 20 to 75, Paymer was honored with an Oscar nomination. Dividing his time between working in films and teaching classes at the Film Actor's Workshop, David Paymer has recently been seen as the angelic Hal in Heart and Souls (1993) and real-life TV producer Dan Enright in Robert Redford's Quiz Show (1994). In the decades to come, Paymer would remain an ever-present force on screen, appearing in films like In Good Company, Drag Me to Hell, Bad Teacher, and Redbelt, as well as TV shows like Line of Fire and The Good Wife.

Trivia: Samantha Mathis is the daughter of actress Bibi Besch. Mathis's TV-series bow occurred in 1988, when she won the role of Merlin Olsen's daughter in the two-month wonder Aaron's Way. She could later be found among the supporting cast of another dramatic series, Knightwatch, which survived for three months. In films since 1990, Mathis made an excellent early impression as the misfit girlfriend of maverick teenage ham-radio operator Christian Slater in Pump Up the Volume. Less aesthetically pleasing (but undoubtedly higher salaried) was Mathis' turn as the eminently kidnappable Princess Daisy in Super Mario Bros. (1993).

Trivia: Stocky, frequently bespectacled, eventually balding, and prematurely gray, Richard Dreyfuss is an unlikely candidate for a movie star. Even so, he has been one of Hollywood's most versatile, charismatic, and energetic leading men since the mid-'70s. Born in Brooklyn, NY, on October 29, 1947, Dreyfuss moved to Los Angeles with his family when he was nine. There he became friends with Rob Reiner and began acting in school productions and at the Beverly Hills Jewish Community Center. He attended San Fernando Valley State College, but was expelled after getting into a heated argument with a professor over Marlon Brando's performance in Julius Caesar (1953). Not wanting to be drafted for Vietnam, he registered as a conscientious objector and spent two years as a clerk at a Los Angeles hospital instead of enlisting. During this time, Dreyfuss started getting a few acting jobs on network television series such as Bewitched and Big Valley; he had his first film role in 1967's The Graduate, speaking the lines "Shall I call the cops? I'll call the cops" to Dustin Hoffman. He continued playing bit parts in a couple more films, but did not get his first big break until he played Baby Face Nelson in the bloody biopic Dillinger (1973). A memorable leading role as an intelligent, contemplative teen in George Lucas' American Graffiti (1973) earned Dreyfuss critical acclaim, as did his portrayal of an entrepreneurial Jewish youth in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974). In 1975, the actor's career exploded when he starred as an arrogant shark expert in Steven Spielberg's Jaws. He worked for Spielberg again two years later, playing an average Midwestern working stiff who learns that we are not alone in the universe in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Further success followed that same year when Dreyfuss portrayed a failed actor in Neil Simon's romantic comedy The Goodbye Girl. His performance won him an Oscar, making him, at the age of 29, the youngest performer ever to receive the Best Actor honor. After that, Dreyfuss was in demand and, until 1981, he continued to find steady work in a number of films. However, none of these proved particularly popular, and the actor's career began to nosedive. Matters were worsened by his reported drug use and Hollywood party antics; in 1982, he was involved in a car accident and arrested for possession of cocaine. Fortunately, Dreyfuss managed to turn his life around, and after appearing in the rarely seen Buddy System (1984), made a big comeback in Paul Mazursky's hit comedy Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), starring opposite Bette Midler and Nick Nolte. With his reputation restored, Dreyfuss went on to appear in lead and supporting roles in numerous films of varying quality. Highlights included Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), Postcards From the Edge (1990), What About Bob? (1991), and Quiz Show (1994). In 1996, Dreyfuss played one of his finest roles as a high school music teacher who sacrifices his dream of becoming a famous composer to help his students in Mr. Holland's Opus (1996). The role earned Dreyfuss an Oscar nomination. That same year, he won acclaim of a different sort, lending his voice to a sarcastic centipede in Tim Burton's animated adaptation of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. He went on to appear in Sidney Lumet's Night Falls on Manhattan (1997) and to star in Krippendorf's Tribe in 1998. The following year, he could be seen as titular Jewish gangster Lansky, a made-for-TV biopic scripted by David Mamet.In 2001, with his film career struggling a bit, Dreyfuss took his first stab at series television since 1964's short-lived sitcom Karen. The hour-long CBS drama The Education of Max Bickford starred the actor as a college history professor opposite Marcia Gay Harden and received largely positive reviews from critics. However, despite the accolades, the show failed to garner a substantial audience and was cancelled after one season.The following years would see Dreyfuss continuing to appear on screen, appearing most notably in movies like W., Leaves of Grass, and Red, and on TV shows like Weeds and Parenthood.

Trivia: Worked for an airline to support herself when she first moved to New York City. Interviewed more than 50 people from Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood about their experiences to create her 1992 one-woman show Fires in the Mirror. Portrays cyclist Lance Armstrong as one of the characters in her stage show Let Me Down Easy. Has taught at academic institutions including New York University, Yale University, the University of Southern California at Los Angeles, and as a tenured professor at Stanford University. Has been an Artist in Residence for the Ford Foundation, MTV Networks, the Aspen Institute, the Center for American Progress, and Grace Cathedral. Has received honorary degrees from academic institutions including the Juilliard School; the School of Visual Arts, University of Pennsylvania; Wesleyan College; and Bryn Mawr College.

Trivia: Though she got her start in the film industry late in life, actress Anne Haney would go on to become a dependable character actress with a strong reputation and a healthy sense of humor.Born in March of 1934 in Memphis, TN, Haney studied radio, drama, and television at the University of North Carolina before marrying Georgia Public Television executive John Haley. Soon raising a daughter and devoting herself to family life, Haney began to seek work in the local theater in the 1970s, touring with Noel Coward's Fallen Angels and joining the Screen Actors Guild in preparation for her family's post-retirement move to Southern California. Her plans sadly stifled by her husband's death in 1980, with her daughter in college Haney was on her own for her Westward voyage, though soon after arriving she got an agent and a role in the Walter Matthau vehicle Hopscotch (1980). Alternating between stage and screen for the duration of her Hollywood career, Haney gained over 50 credits with her frequent appearances in television and film. With memorable roles in such films as Liar Liar and Mrs. Doubtfire, in addition to her appearances on Matlock, L.A. Law, The Geena Davis Show, and Ally McBeal, Haney's likeable personality proved both enduring and endearing.On May 26, 2001, Anne Haney died of natural causes in her Studio City, CA, home. She was 67.

Trivia: Born into a Polish Chicagoan family, blonde-haired and baby-faced actress Nina Siemaszko began life as Antonina Jadwiga Siemaszko in 1970. Though she initially harbored no definite plans to pursue acting professionally, Nina -- the sister of actor Casey Siemaszko (Stand by Me, Young Guns) --unexpectedly broke into show business by goofing off in front of her sibling's agent (and reportedly poking fun at Casey); it so impressed the agent that he signed her not long after. She landed her first significant role as the onscreen sister of teen heartthrob Corey Haim in 1988's License to Drive, then acted for the eminent Francis Ford Coppola in that helmer's 1988 pet project, Tucker: The Man and His Dream (as Preston Tucker's teenage daughter). For better or worse, Siemaszko subsequently had to endure a string of less-than-prestigious projects, including the 1992 softcore melodrama Wild Orchid 2: Two Shades of Blue (as the lascivious title character) and the 1994 telemovie Baby Brokers, as a sleazy con-woman who joins her husband in luring childless victims into a phony adoption scheme. Siemaszko took a massive step up (in prestige and visibility) with a key supporting role in the Rob Reiner/Aaron Sorkin comedy-drama The American President (1995), played Mona Ramsey in the acclaimed miniseries More Tales of the City (1998), and, around the middle of the following decade, played a recurring role as an amateur detective's (Kellie Martin) close friend, in the "Mystery Woman" series of telemovies. In 2008, Siemaszko signed on for a supporting turn in the teen-oriented shocker The Haunting of Molly Hartley. Siemaszko's resumé also includes guest spots on series such as Judging Amy, The West Wing, and Red Shoe Diaries (which reunited her with Orchid director Zalman King).

Trivia: While savvy television viewers will no doubt recognize prolific small-screen actress Wendie Malick from such popular series as Baywatch, Just Shoot Me, and HBO's smart and sexy comedy Dream On, the late '90s found her feature career warming up in such independent efforts as Manna From Heaven (2001) and Bathroom Boy (2003). A native of Buffalo, NY, who first found work in front of the cameras as a Wilhelmina model in the 1970s, the Ohio Wesleyan University alum would later work for New York congressman Jack Kemp following her graduation. Subsequently gracing the catwalks of New York, Paris, and Madrid, it was a small role in the 1978 comedy How to Pick up Girls that provided the aspiring actress with her first screen break. Though she would appear in a few theatrical releases such as Scrooged (1988) during the 1980s, most of her work came with made-for-television features and such series as Kate and Allie and Anything But Love. Increasingly visible on the small screen during the 1990s, Malick's role as series protagonist Martin Tupper's (Brian Benben) ex-wife on Dream On utilized her comic abilities to maximum effect and netted the actress four Cable ACE awards. Following the final episode of Dream On in 1996, it was only one short year before Malick began a stint on another popular series that would gain her accolades among sitcom junkies, Just Shoot Me. Her background in the modeling industry provided the ideal foundation for her role as former model Nina Van Horn, and Malick (Emmy-nominated for the role) remained with the show until its final episode in 2003, simultaneously taking occasional parts in both made-for-TV and theatrical features. In 1997 Malick took the lead in the little-seen romantic comedy Just Add Love, and following voice work as the egotistical principal in the Disney series Fillmore!, she appeared alongside Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, and Betty White the Emmy-winning comedy series Hot in Cleveland. In addition to her screen work, Wendie Malick met husband Richard Erickson while building homes for poor families in Mexico, and she also helps the homeless with her work for the Adopt-A-Family organization.

Trivia: Grew up in Meriden, Connecticut, United States.Played baseball, basketball and football in high school.Rejected an offer to play baseball with the Kansas City Athletics.Was co-captain of the football team during his senior year at University of Connecticut.Was a captain in the U.S. Army JAG Corps.

Trivia: Daytime-drama addicts first became aware of American actress Gail Strickland when she was cast as Dorcas Trilling in the Gothic soaper Dark Shadows (1966-71). Strickland made her movie debut as villain Murray Hamilton's put-upon spouse in The Drowning Pool, sharing the film's soggy "thrill" highlight with star Paul Newman. She later played significant character roles in films like Norma Rae (1979) and Uncommon Valor (1981). On TV, she has been a regular on The Insiders (1985), What a Country (1986) and Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (1992-). In the 1988 weekly series Heartbeat, Strickland played nurse-practitioner Marilyn McGrath, the first lesbian continuing character in Prime Time television. Gail Strickland continued to tote up impressive film credits into the 1990s, notably How to Make an American Quilt (1995) and An American President (1995).

Trivia: After graduating from Yale drama school in 1988, bookish actor Joshua Malina was cast in Aaron Sorkin's Broadway production of A Few Good Men and began a collaboration that would span decades. Malina had his first film role in the 1993 Hollywood adaptation of Sorkin's play and also appeared in the Sorkin-penned romantic drama The American President. A few small roles followed -- notably a part in 1998's Bulworth and a multiple-episode stint on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show -- before Sorkin came calling again in 1998, casting Malina as one of the leads in the critically acclaimed ensemble show Sports Night.Despite awards and a loyal cult-following, Sports Night was canceled after only two seasons. Meanwhile, another Sorkin-produced prime-time drama quickly became a hit with both critics and audiences. Though Malina wasn't part of the cast of The West Wing when it premiered in 1999, he joined up in 2002 to fill the void left by the departing Rob Lowe. Malina remained with The West Wing throughout its run, which ended in 2006, but wasted no time before landing another TV gig. In 2007, he was cast alongside former Alias star Michael Vartan in the ABC corporate drama Big Shots. After a five-year hiatus from the big and small screens, he took a small part in Jonathan Kasdan's The First Time.

Trivia: A distinctive-looking, grey-haired British character actor, John Mahoney worked onstage in his teens, and moved to the U.S. at 19. In his mid-30s, while employed as an editor in Chicago, he decided to renew his interest in acting, and he enrolled in classes at a local theater co-founded by playwright David Mamet; he landed a role in a Mamet play and left his job for the part. At the urging of actor John Malkovich, he went on to join Chicago's celebrated Steppenwolf Theater; eventually he appeared in more than 30 plays. For his work in the Broadway play House of Blue Leaves he won a Tony and a Clarence Derwent Award. For his work in the lead role of Orphans (on Broadway and in Chicago) he won a Theater World Award. He still lives in Chicago, and maintains his connection with Steppenwolf. Mahoney debuted onscreen in Mission HIll (1982), but his screen breakthrough came in his fifth film, Barry Levinson's popular comedy Tin Men (1987); afterwards he went on to better parts in more noteworthy movies, and has avoided typecasting in a busy screen career. Mahoney's TV credits include Favorite Son and House of Blue Leaves, in which he reprised his stage role; he has since achieved wide popularity as Martin Crane, Frasier Crane's crochety father, on the NBC sitcom Frasier.

Trivia: To younger generations, the slightly diminutive and balding American character actor Richard Stahl was probably best known as Howard Miller, the deadpan, stone-faced chef (and indifferent receptor of Marian Mercer's affections) on the long-running syndicated sitcom It's a Living. Stahl inherited the position from fellow supporting player Bert Remsen, and sustained it for four seasons, until the program wrapped in September 1989. But Stahl's visage graced a much broader spectrum of films and television shows than his behind-the-counter presence at the Above the Top restaurant -- and if viewers have trouble making a list, this is only a reflection on Stahl's ability to blend in successfully with fellow cast members and settings. Such is the essence of a gifted character player. Stahl made his first bow in 1966, as Steve Parsons on the "Dear Sally Rogers" episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show (its final season). He subsequently became a mainstay on the television airwaves, and his resumé reads like a laundry list of '70s and '80s hit prime time series, including but not limited to: That Girl, The Partridge Family, Love American Style, Bonanza, Columbo, All in the Family, Good Times, The Odd Couple, Maude, Happy Days, The Facts of Life, Murder, She Wrote, Hill Street Blues, and a handful of particularly memorable turns on Newhart. He reinforced his small-screen presence (and audience familiarity) with feature film appearances in such motion pictures as Five Easy Pieces (1970), High Anxiety (1977), The Flamingo Kid (1984), The American President (1995), and The Ghosts of Mississippi (1996). Stahl landed his last role with a bit part in Garry Marshall's 1999 flop, The Other Sister. He spent his final seven years in retirement, battling Parkinson's Disease, and eventually succumbed to the illness on June 18, 2006. Stahl was seventy-four.

Trivia: With his distinct appearance, the bald and imposing African-American player Thom Barry made a seemingly perfect character actor, and thus found himself frequently cast as guards, police detectives, and heavies in mainstream Hollywood features, from the early '90s on. He landed a bit part as a guard in Rob Reiner's The American President (1995), appeared as Samahani in Congo (1995), and played Sgt. Marcus in the Shaquille O'Neal-headlined superhero picture Steel (1997). Barry maintained a higher profile as Agent Bilkins in two Jerry Bruckheimer-produced action pictures, The Fast and the Furious (2001) and its sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003). Additionally, after years of guest-acting work on the small screen, he signed for his first regular role -- that of homicide investigator Will Jeffries -- on the popular detective series Cold Case (2006).

Trivia: American actor George Murdock's uneven facial features enabled him to play many an offbeat part in his early professional years, none more offbeat than the ventriloquist's dummy come to life in the 1962 Twilight Zone episode "The Dummy." Murdock went on to play obnoxious and intrusive authority figures. He made Sammy Jackson's life hell as Captain Krupnick in the 1964 sitcom version of No Time for Sergeants, and fifteen years later did same for Hal Linden as an internal-affairs snoop on Barney Miller. In his later years, Murdock landed one of his best-known parts, as God in the disastrous Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

Trivia: Despite being a writer whose impressive list of credits boasts The West Wing, the show considered by many viewers and critics to be the best American television series of the early millennium, Aaron Sorkin would be the first to admit the paralyzing fear that greets him every time he starts a new script. Though at first things may be slow going for the Emmy winner, once he gets going and the dialogue starts flowing, there's almost literally no stopping him. A New York native who graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Theater, Sorkin's initial bid for onscreen credit gradually waned as his reputation as a notable playwright grew due to the success of his play Hidden in the Picture. When his 1989 Broadway play A Few Good Men was turned into the 1992 feature that proved a runaway hit, Hollywood took notice. Sorkin next penned the screenplay for the 1993 thriller Malice; the feature was only lukewarmly received by critics and audiences, and was later overshadowed by his screenplay for the 1995 political romantic comedy The American President. This was followed by work as writer and executive producer on the universally hailed, but inexplicably short-lived, series Sports Night, and soon Sorkin was one of the most talented writers working in television. As popular as Sports Night was with critics and audiences, however, it was his next series that brought Sorkin his biggest success to date. Molded from dialogue left over from his bloated 385-page screenplay for The American President (most screenplays average only 120 pages), his initial scripts for the political TV series The West Wing were smart, fast-paced, and, according to Washington insiders, uncannily spot-on. Sorkin was arrested in April 2001 when authorities at Burbank Airport discovered hallucinogenic mushrooms, marijuana, and crack in his baggage; the writer was later ordered into a drug diversion program. By the time he announced his departure from The West Wing in May 2003, he had claimed three Emmys for his efforts and many thought the show had reached its creative peak. As he bid farewell to the NBC show, Sorkin was rumored to be preparing a series based on the backstage banter of a Saturday Night Live-style comedy sketch series.That program, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, lasted only a season, but it was three high-quality scripts produced after that show ended that solidified his status as one of the best screenwriters of his generation. The historical political film Charlie Wilson's War got strong reviews, but in 2010 Sorkin's screenplay for The Social Network resulted in one of the most decorated films of the year and captured the scribe Screenwriting awards from the Academy, BAFTA, the Golden Globes, the L.A and New York Critics, and the WGA. One year later he was back in the Oscar race with his work on the adaptation of Michael Lewis' non-fiction baseball flick Moneyball. Never one to rest on his laurels, he returned in 2012 with HBO's The Newsroom -- a series centering on an apathetic news reporter (played by Jeff Daniels) who gradually begins to regain his integrity following a seismic shift in the ranks of his staff.