Trivia: An icon of machismo and Hollywood action heroism, Sylvester Stallone is responsible for creating two characters who have become a part of the American cultural lexicon: Rocky Balboa, the no-name boxer who overcame all odds to become a champion, and John Rambo, the courageous soldier who specialized in violent rescues and revenge. Both characters are reflections of Stallone's personal experiences and the battles he waged during his transition from a poor kid in Hell's Kitchen to one of the world's most popular stars. According to Stallone, his was not a happy childhood. On July 6, 1946, in the aforementioned part of Manhattan, Sylvester Enzio Stallone was born to a chorine and an Italian immigrant. A forceps accident during his birth severed a facial nerve, leaving Stallone with parts of his lip, tongue, and chin paralyzed. In doing so, the accident imprinted Stallone with some of the most recognizable components of his persona: the distinctively slurred (and some say often nearly incomprehensible) speech patterns, drooping lower lip, and crooked left eye that have been eagerly seized upon by caricaturists. To compound these defects, Stallone was a homely, sickly child who once suffered from rickets. His parents were constantly at war and struggling to support Stallone and his younger brother, Frank Stallone (who became a B-movie actor). The elder brother spent most of his first five years in the care of foster homes. Stallone has said that his interest in acting came from his attempts to get attention and affection from those strangers who tried to raise him. When he was five, his parents moved their family to Silver Spring, MD, but once again spent their time bickering and largely ignored their children. Following his parents' divorce in 1957, the 11-year-old Stallone remained with his stern father. The actor's teen years proved even more traumatic. As Stallone seemed willing to do just about anything for attention, however negative, he had already been enrolled in 12 schools and expelled several times for his behavior problems. His grades were dreadful and his classmates picked on him for being different. Stallone coped by becoming a risk taker and developing elaborate fantasies in which he presented himself as a brave hero and champion of the underdog. At age 15, Stallone moved to Philadelphia to be with his mother and her new husband. By this time, he had begun lifting weights and took up fencing, football, and the discus. He also started appearing in school plays. Following graduation, Stallone received an athletic scholarship for the American College of Switzerland. While there he was a girls' athletic coach and in his spare time starred in a school production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. The experience inspired him to become an actor and after returning stateside, he started studying drama at the University of Miami until he decided to move to New York in 1969. While working a variety of odd jobs, Stallone auditioned frequently but only occasionally found stage work, most of which was off-Broadway in shows like the all-nude Score and Rain. He even resorted to appearing in the softcore porn film, Party at Kitty's and Studs, which was later repackaged as The Italian Stallion after Stallone became famous. Stallone's face and even his deep voice were factors in his constant rejection for stage and film roles. He did nab a bit role in Woody Allen's Bananas (1971), but after he was turned down for The Godfather (1971), Stallone became discouraged. Rather than give up, however, Stallone again developed a coping mechanism -- he turned to writing scripts, lots of scripts, some of which were produced. He still auditioned and landed a starring role in Rebel (1973). During his writing phase, he married actress Sasha Czack in late 1974 and they moved to California in the hopes of building acting careers. His first minor success came when he wrote the screenplay for and co-starred in the nostalgic Lords of Flatbush (1974) with Henry Winkler. The film's modest success resulted in Stallone's getting larger roles, but he still didn't attract much notice until he penned the screenplay for Rocky. The story was strong and well written and studios were eager to buy the rights, but Stallone stipulated that he would be the star and must receive a share of the profits. Producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff accepted Stallone's terms and Rocky (1976) went on to become one of the biggest movie hits of all time. It also won several Oscars including ones for Best Picture, Best Director for John Avildsen, and a Best Actor nomination for Stallone. Suddenly Stallone found himself on Hollywood's A-list, a status he has largely maintained over the years. In addition to writing four sequels to Rocky, he penned three Rambo films (First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and Rambo 3) and F.I.S.T. (1979). Stallone made his directorial debut with Paradise Alley, which he filmed in Hell's Kitchen. He also wrote and directed but did not appear in the sequel to Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive (1983). In addition, Stallone has continued to appear in the films of other directors, notably Demolition Man (1993), Judge Dredd (1995), and Copland (1997), a film in which he allowed himself to gain 30 pounds in order to more accurately portray an aging sheriff. Occasionally, Stallone has ventured out of the action genre and into lighter fare with such embarrassing efforts as Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) and Oscar (1991), which did not fare well at the box office. Following these missteps, Stallone found greater success with the animated adventure Antz (1998), a film in which his very distinctive voice, if not his very distinctive physique, was very much a part. Stallone was back in shape for the 2000 remake of Get Carter and hit the race tracks in the following year in the CART racing thriller Driven. Though the early 2000s found his career sputtering along with such forgettable duds as D-Tox and Avenging Angelo, Stallone took his career into his own hands by returning to the director's chair to resurrect two of his most iconic characters. Lacing his boxing gloves up once again for Rocky Balboa, the veteran action star proved he still had some fight left in him, and venturing into the jungles of Burma as John Rambo just two years later, he proved that hard "R" action could still sell in the era where most filmmakers were playing it "PG-13"safe. That trend continued with Stallone's all-star action opus The Expendables in 2010, with the success of that film leading to a sequel (with Simon West taking over directorial duties) featuring even more action icons in 2012. Incredibly, not even a broken neck suffered during production of The Expendables proved capable of slowing Stallone down, and 2013 found him teaming with Walter Hill for Bullet to the Head -- which followed a cop and a killer as they teamed up to take down a mutual enemy. In 2015, Stallone returned to Rocky Balboa once more, but this time as a supporting character in the spin-off film Creed. He earned rave reviews and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, making him only the sixth performer to be nominated for playing the same character in two separate films.

Trivia: With muscle-bound arms bulging from his sleeveless tank tops, a mohawk, and enough gold jewelry to enrich a small nation, gruff, tough Mr. T was certainly one of the most recognizable television stars of the early '80s. Though more of a personality than a bona fide actor, he has appeared in several features, but is best known for playing no-nonsense ex-soldier B.A. Baracus on the hit action-drama The A-Team (1983-1987). Prior to that, Mr. T had played character roles in four feature films. Born Lawrence Tureaud in a tough southside Chicago project, he was the second youngest of 12 siblings. His father abandoned the family when Tureaud was five, leaving his mother to raise her huge family alone in a three-bedroom apartment on less than 100 dollars a month from welfare. Tureaud was devoted to his mother, and though he got into a little trouble during early adolescence, straightened himself out so as not to shame her by getting thrown in jail. Following graduation from Dunbar Vocational High School, Tureaud attended college. His football skills landed him a scholarship to Prairie View A & M University in Texas, but he was expelled after one year. Tureaud qualified for other sports scholarships and so continued his education until joining the Army and serving as a military policeman. Following his discharge, he was recruited by the Green Bay Packers, but suffered a serious knee injury and so became a bodyguard for stars such as Muhammad Ali, Michael Jackson, and Diana Ross. He also worked as a bouncer. In 1970, he changed his name to Lawrence Tero and shortly thereafter shortened it to Mr. T. In the mid-'70s, he worked as a gym teacher in Chicago. It was Sylvester Stallone who offered him his first acting job after Stallone saw the beefy black bouncer on the TV show Games People Play. Stallone was so impressed by Mr. T's agile strength that he cast him in Rocky III (1982). Mr. T was at his peak popularity, particularly with young boys, while on The A-Team. At one point a toy company even created a Mr. T action figure. He also had a breakfast cereal named after him. Following his series' demise, Mr. T's acting career has been sporadic. Over the course of the next few decades, small roles in film (Not Another Teen Movie) and television (Martin, Malcolm and Eddie) helped the amiable tough guy remain a recognizable pop culture icon, but in 2011 Mr. T began hosting World's Craziest Fools, an irreverent, clip-based show featuring criminal blunders and side-splitting mishaps captured on amateur video footage and CCTV.

Trivia: Talia Shire (born Talia Coppola) attended the Yale School of Drama and landed roles in several Roger Corman films. The sister of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, she benefited from her family connection when she was cast in The Godfather (1972), launching her screen career in earnest. After receiving a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance in The Godfather Part II (1974), Shire was cast by Sylvester Stallone to play his girlfriend in the hit Rocky (1976), for which she won the New York Film Critics Award and received a Best Actress Oscar nomination. Although Shire went on to appear in a number of films throughout the 1980s and '90s, her career primarily revolved around the eight films emerging from the original Godfather and Rocky movies. Divorced from composer David Shire, she later married producer Jack Schwartzman; the two of them developed movie projects together, forming the TaliaFilm production company. The mother of actors Jason Schwartzman and Robert Schwartzman, Shire directed the film One Night Stand in 1994.She continued to act in a number of films including The Landlady, Lured Innocence, and Kiss the Bride. In 2004 she was cast in I Heart Huckabees playing the mother of the character portrayed by her real life son Jason Schwartzman. She appeared thanks to archival footage in Rocky Balboa. She also appeared in a pair of National Lampoon comedies.

Trivia: A former prizefighter, Burt Young opted for a less injurious profession when he began taking acting lessons from Lee Strasberg. In films from 1971, Young reached a career pinnacle as Rocky Balboa's (Sylvester Stallone) contentious brother Paulie in the 1975 megahit Rocky. He earned one of the film's ten Oscar nominations, and went on to reprise the role in all four Rocky sequels. Young's subsequent film and TV work has been largely confined to pug-like supporting roles, though he did star in the 1978 TV movie Uncle Joe Shannon, which he also scripted. Additional Burt Young credits include the Broadway play Cuba and His Teddy Bear and the role of ex-marine collegiate Nick Chase in the TV sitcom Roomies (1987).

Trivia: A football star at San Diego State, Carl Weathers played professionally with the Oakland Raiders, acting in local stage productions during the off-season. Weathers went on to play with the British Columbia Lions in the Canadian Football League, then retired from sports in 1974, the better to devote all his time to an acting career. After yeoman service in a handful of "blaxploitation" flicks, he rose to fame as the Muhammad Ali-inspired Apollo Creed in the first Rocky film. Apollo Creed's adversarial relationship with Rocky Balboa mellowed into warm friendship in the course of the next three Rocky installments; indeed, when Apollo was killed off by "superboxer" Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV (1985), the tragedy served as the motivation for the retired Rocky to climb into the ring yet once more. Weathers' post-Rocky projects have included the title role in Action Jackson (1988), the Sidney Poitier part in the 1985 TV-movie remake of The Defiant Ones, and the TV series Fortune Dane, Street Justice and Tour of Duty. In the early 1990s, Weathers replaced Howard Rollins Jr. in a group of In the Heat of the Night 2-hour TV specials. He developed a knack for comedy later in his career, appearing in Happy Gilmore, Little Nicky, and making a particularly memorable cameo in the sitcom Arrested Development as a stew-obsessed acting coach. In addition to his show business work, Carl Weathers has been active with the Big Brothers Association and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Trivia: Originally a newspaper reporter, Burgess Meredith came to the screen in 1936, repeating his stage role in Winterset, a part written for him by Maxwell Anderson. Meredith has had a long and varied film career, playing everything from George in Of Mice and Men (1939) to Sylvester Stallone's trainer in Rocky (1976). He received Oscar nominations for The Day of the Locust (1975) and Rocky. As comfortable with comedy as with drama, Meredith also appeared in Idiot's Delight (1939); Second Chorus (1940), with Fred Astaire; Diary of a Chambermaid (1942), which he also wrote and produced; The Story of G.I. Joe (1945); and Mine Own Executioner (1947). He also directed Man on the Eiffel Tower (1949). On television, he made countless guest appearances in dozens of dramatic and variety productions, including one of the first episodes of The Twilight Zone, the touching Time Enough at Last, and as host on the first episode of Your Show of Shows. He was a regular on Mr. Novak (1963-64) and Search (1972-73), hosted Those Amazing Animals (1981), co-starred with Sally Struthers in Gloria (1982-83), and made classic appearances as the Penguin on Batman (1966-68). He won an Emmy in 1977 for Tailgunner Joe and has done voiceover work for innumerable commercials, notably Volkswagen. Meredith made his final feature film appearance playing crusty Grandpa Gustafson in Grumpier Old Men (1995), the sequel to Grumpy Old Men (1993) in which he also appeared. In 1996, he played a role in the CD-rom video game Ripper. He was briefly married to Paulette Goddard in the 1940s. Meredith died in his Malibu home at the age of 88 on September 9, 1997.

Trivia: One of the most popular professional wrestlers of all time, Hulk Hogan was born Terrence Bollea in 1953. Raised in Florida, Hogan gained an early interest in music, playing guitar and bass in a number of rock bands in the Florida area during his early adult life. After a brief stint at the University of South Florida, he became more interested in body building, and followed a friend's suggestion to try his hand at pro wrestling. By the early '80s, Hogan had won an NWA championship and become involved with the WWF, where he soon became one of the most popular figures in professional wrestling. He also appeared in the movie Rocky III in 1982. Hogan's wrestling career would continue through the '80s, '90s, and 2000s, and during that time he also explored other mediums, popping up in movies like Suburban Commando and Mr. Nanny, and even recording music as his pro wrestling character. He also starred with his family in a popular candid reality show called Hogan Knows Best starting in 2005, following the adventures of his eccentric household. The show starred Hogan, his wife, Linda, his son, Nick (who pursued a career in the vehicular sport of drifting), and his daughter Brooke, a burgeoning pop star.

Trivia: The career of actor and announcer Dennis James was filled with firsts: first television variety show host, first sports show host, first television wrestling announcer, and first live television newsreel commentator. James was also the first to host an Easter Parade broadcast and the first to do a videotaped commercial. In addition to these accomplishments, James hosted early incarnations of game shows such as The Name's the Same (from 1954-55), the syndicated version of The Price Is Right (1972-76) and Name That Tune ( 1974-75). The Jersey City native began his career in radio, but switched to television 1938, working for the DuMont TV station in New York City. DuMont founded its own network in 1946 and James became the host of a few of its game shows and served as the commentator to their wrestling matches. James also hosted the daytime variety show Okay, Mother. His television career continued through 1975. James also sporadically appeared in a few feature films, including Rocky III (in 1982, as a wrestling commentator) and The Method (1997). James died of lung cancer at the age of 79.

Trivia: Like most of the Stallone family, Frank Stallone made his film debut in brother Sylvester Stallone's Rocky (1976). Considerably more talented than many celebrity siblings, Frank was an accomplished singer and musician. Many of his compositions made their way into such subsequent Sly Stallone efforts as Rocky II, Paradise Alley and Staying Alive. Stallone has since found steady work as a supporting actor in films like Hudson Hawk (1992) and Tombstone (1993). By accident or design, Stallone has co-starred with actress Brenda Vaccaro three times, most recently in 1989's Masque of the Red Death. One of Frank Stallone's better recent roles was Alvin Karpis in 1995's Public Enemy #1.

Trivia: Not to be confused with Billy Baldwin of the Baldwin brothers' fame, Bill Baldwin is much more recognizable to the ear than he is to the eye. Despite landing a slew of small supporting roles between the early '50s and the year of his death, 1982, Baldwin's career revolved around his strong, carrying voice. In 1956, Baldwin played a fight announcer in The Leather Saint, an unremarkable prizefighting drama that nonetheless foreshadowed his most famous vocal role: that of the ringside announcer in Rocky (1976), nearly 20 years later. Baldwin's voice could also be heard in Rocky II and III, as it could in fellow boxing films The Champ (1979) and Goldie and the Boxer Go to Hollywood (1981). When he wasn't offering play-by-plays, Baldwin was likely immersed in the role of radio announcer for a variety of showbiz dramas and television programs, among them With a Song in My Heart (1952), The One and Only (1978), and a long stint on The Beverly Hillbillies. Interestingly enough, one of his non-voice-related performances was a bit part in a film as acclaimed as Rocky: Baldwin appeared briefly as a salesman in Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968).

Trivia: One half of the popular soul duo the Righteous Brothers, Bill Medley met his singing partner Bobby Hatfield at California State University. By 1962, the pair had released their first single, "Little Latin Lupe Lu." They followed this with a chain of hits over the coming years, including "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," "Soul Inspiration," and "Unchained Melody." After the group broke up in 1968, Medley went on to cultivate a solo career, scoring a number of hits including the 1987 duet with Jennifer Warnes "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dirty Dancing. He also co-wrote the themes for TV shows like Growing Pains and Just the Ten of Us.

Trivia: Born William Anderson, this brawny, blond second lead had the looks of a Viking god. He worked as a band vocalist and trombone player, then gained a small amount of stage experience before debuting onscreen in a bit part (as a corpse) in Wanderer of the Wasteland (1935). Billed by Paramount as Glenn Erickson, he began his screen career as a leading man in Westerns. Because of his Nordic looks he was renamed Leif Erikson, which he later changed to Erickson. He played intelligent but unexciting second leads and supporting parts in many films. Erickson took four years off to serve in World War II and was twice wounded. He made few films after 1965 and retired from the screen after 1977. Also working on Broadway and in TV plays, he played the patriarch Big John Cannon in the TV series High Chaparral (1967-1971). From 1934 to 1942, he was married to actress Frances Farmer, with whom he co-starred in Ride a Crooked Mile (1938); later, he was briefly married to actress Margaret Hayes (aka Dana Dale).

Trivia: African-American actor Bob Minor gained his cinematic entree as a stuntman. His earliest speaking roles came by way of the blaxploitation pictures of the '70s. Two of the more profitable examples of this genre were Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974), both of which starred Pam Grier and featured Minor in supporting roles. The actor occasionally surfaced in mainstream films designed for a more generic audience, notably The Deep (1978) (as Wiley), White Dog (1982) and Glory (1989) but even after attaining this filmic level he couldn't quite escape such exploitation flicks as Swinging Cheerleaders (1976). Bob Minor worked with regularity on television, just missing consistent weekly work in such never-purchased pilots as Friendly Persuasion (1975), Dr. Scorpion (1978) and Samurai (1979).

Trivia: A prolific stuntman turned high-profile second-unit action director and, ultimately, feature filmmaker, California native David R. Ellis got his start in cinema as an actor before discovering that his high threshold for pain and addiction to adrenaline made him the ideal candidate for a career in stunt work. There are few things Ellis hasn't accomplished in the realm of film, and with over three decades of experience to his credit, he's worked for and with some of the biggest names in the business. Of course when you've performed motorcycle stunts in a Bruce Lee flick (Game of Death), taken a bullet for Al Pacino (Scarface), and been blasted by lasers in the biggest sci-fi franchise in entertainment history (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier), where else to go for a little relief but the other side of the camera?Though he may not be launching himself through windows or diving off of buildings anymore, Ellis certainly can't be accused of mellowing with age when he's got such thrill-ride directorial credits as Final Destination 2, Cellular, and Snakes on a Plane under his belt. Ellis was only 19 years old when he first got his start in stunts, and as he racked up an impressive list of credits in a series of hits including Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Smokey and the Bandit II, Taps, and The Beastmaster, he would simultaneously appear onscreen in such efforts as Rocky III, The Mighty Quinn, and Blind Fury. While his acting career would end right around the time he began to hit his stride as one of the most reliable second-unit directors in Hollywood, Ellis still had stunt work in his blood and continued to work as a stunt coordinator until 1996's Harriet the Spy. A landmark year for the aspiring filmmaker, 1996 also marked the time when Ellis would put years of second-unit experience to the ultimate test as he assumed directorial duties for the kid-friendly sequel Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco. Though he had indeed worked on the occasional children's films in the past, Ellis could hardly be considered a specialist in that arena, and he would subsequently return to second work to refine his skills as a director for the better part of a decade; a successful move that ultimately culminated in an impressive trio of credits (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, The Matrix Reloaded, and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World).His confidence at an all-time high and his knowledge of film now encompassing virtually every aspect of production, Ellis was now ready to strike out on his own as a director. When New Line Cinema approached Ellis with the prospect of a two-picture deal that included the continuation their Final Destination franchise, he readily agreed; the result was the gore-drenched hit Final Destination 2. A wild ride highlighted by a series of elaborate, Rube Goldberg-style deaths and giddy tension, Final Destination 2 proved a worthy enough sequel to carry on the series while baring all the signs of a director confident enough in his skills to have a bit of fun with the wild source material. Though his second film for New Line, the Larry Cohen-scripted nail-biter Cellular, didn't make much of an impression at the box office, a healthy run on home video gave viewers the opportunity of finding a hidden gem that maintained an impressive amount of tension throughout its lean, 94-minute running time. By this point it was obvious that Ellis was skilled at delivering thrills to theatergoers, and his fourth film as a director, the irresistibly titled Snakes on a Plane, would easily be one of the most talked-about films of 2006. Initially set up at Paramount with MTV Films, Snakes on a Plane was scripted before the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and later shelved due to lingering sensitivities about the tragedy. Eventually revived with Freddy Vs. Jason director Ronny Yu at the helm, Snakes on a Plane would ultimately go before the camera under the eye of Ellis when Yu bowed out due to "creative differences." Though Snakes on a Plane was originally envisioned as an over-the-top, R-rated action thriller, the prospect of gaining a larger viewing audience momentarily prompted an indecisive New Line Cinema to nudge the production towards PG-13 territory before word of mouth and a slick advertising campaign forced them to reconsider. With a series of re-shoots subsequently scheduled to ramp up the violence, nudity, and language, it appeared as if Ellis had finally been permitted to shoot the film that would truly live up to its outrageous title.He went on to deliver haunted mental hospital spooks in the direct-to-video outing, The Asylum, but moved back to the big screen for his return to the Final Destination series, as well as swimming in the fin-filled waters with Shark Night. In 2013, he was in South Africa in pre-production on an American remake of the celebrated anime, Kite, when he was found dead in his hotel room at the age of 60.