Trivia: A successful standup comedian, the headliner of one of television's most popular sitcoms, a movie star, and a best-selling author, Tim Allen spent much of the '90s being a "Male Pig," a source of pride for countless men, and a franchise unto himself. He was born Timothy Allen Dick, in Denver, CO, one of ten brothers and sisters. Mercilessly teased by his peers because of his last name, Allen developed a keen sense of humor to protect himself. His father died in an auto accident in 1964 when Allen was 11, and his mother later married an old high school flame who had also lost his wife in a car crash. Eventually the family moved to a suburb of Detroit. In 1976, Allen graduated from Western Michigan University with a degree in television production and went on to work in a sporting goods store and then in an advertising agency. He made his debut as a standup comedian at Detroit's Comedy Castle in 1979 after accepting a dare from a good friend, but his career was cut short when he was arrested for dealing cocaine and sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. Following his release, Allen decided to turn over a new leaf and concentrate on his standup career. His early comedy routines were characterized by their vulgarity, and Allen did not find success until he perfected his "Men Are Pigs" routine. A glorious celebration of the masculine mystique centering on the joys of big block engines and tools (especially power tools), punctuated by his trademark manly grunting, the routine made him a hot property on the nightclub circuit and led to a series of televised specials on the Showtime cable network in the early '90s. While constructing his career, Allen moonlighted in television commercials, including spots as Mr. Goodwrench. It was while performing for a Showtime special that he got his break in series television. Jeffrey Katzenberg, the chairman of Disney Studios, saw his act, liked it, and with Walt Disney Company chairman Michael Eisner, offered him the lead in a couple of planned series based on popular films; but Allen didn't feel they were right and suggested instead that they do a series based on his comedy character. They agreed, and Home Improvement, the continuing saga of bumbling TV handyman (whose show somewhat resembled This Old House) Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor and his brood, debuted on the ABC television network in September 1991. It quickly went on to become one of the most consistently highly rated shows on television. Allen made his starring feature film debut in 1994 with the box-office busting The Santa Clause. That same year, he also published a best-selling book, Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man. In 1995, he provided the voice for the heroic toy astronaut Buzz Lightyear in Disney's computer-generated extravaganza Toy Story, and the following year published his second book I'm Not Really Here, a more philosophical look at his life, his fame, and his family. In 1997, he starred in the largely panned Jungle to Jungle, and could not be seen on the big screen again until 1999. That year -- the same year Home Improvement ended its highly successful run -- he reprised his Buzz Lightyear role for Toy Story 2 and starred in the sci-fi spoof Galaxy Quest. Though his next film, Big Trouble, was pulled from its original release date and delayed by Touchstone (the studio thought audiences may find the plot involving a missing nuclear bomb distasteful after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks), fans could still get their fill of the popular funnyman with the release of Joe Somebody in late 2001.When Big Trouble and Joe Somebody proved to be box-office duds, Allen returned to familiar territory in 2002, starring in the sequel The Santa Clause 2. With the success of that sequel under his belt, Allen stuck with the holiday genre for his next starring role. Playing opposite Jamie Lee Curtis, Allen filled the lead for 2004's adaptation of John Grisham's Skipping Christmas, Christmas with the Kranks; in what was becoming a pattern in his career, the movie was reviled by critics, but did well at the box-office. Allen fared slightly better with his first 2006 effort, a remake of Disney's The Shaggy Dog. Summer 2006's superhero-school comedy Zoom came and went; a second Santa Clause sequel, entitled The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, did modest business considering the franchise. The early-2007 weekend-warrior comedy Wild Hogs -- in which Allen joined Martin Lawrence, John Travolta and William H. Macy -- may not have seemed like a good bet on paper, but its surprise success did much to establish Allen in a new, non-holiday franchise.Allen went outside his comfort zone to play a spoiled Hollywood superstar in David Mamet's Redbelt in 2008, and a couple of years later he directed Crazy on the Outside. He reliably returned to voice Buzz Lightyear in a third Toy Story film, as well as in a handful of shorts created by Pixar featuring the character. In 2011 he returned to the small-screen as the star of Last Man Standing, and the next year he narrated the Disney nature film Chimpanzee.

Trivia: While a lot of attention would come her way in her role opposite Tim Allen in the family comedy Mrs. Clause: The Santa Clause 2, Elizabeth Mitchell had long since earned her due with numerous roles in film and television. Mitchell was born on March 27, 1970, in Los Angeles, CA. Shortly after her birth, her family relocated to Dallas, TX, where she spent the majority of her young life. Her adorably charismatic looks proved an asset to her budding career as an actress, and she would eventually return to the Hollywood scene on the West Coast.Mitchell was married to actor Gary Bakewell, her onscreen husband in The Linda McCartney Story, in 2000. In the role of Linda McCartney in this made-for-TV movie, Mitchell portrayed the woman with whom Paul McCartney (portrayed by Bakewell) would fall in love, and the tragic story of her battle with breast cancer, based on real-life events. The acting team paired to exemplify the iconography of a world-known love story, that of former Beatles member McCartney and his wife, would prove the casting director's ability with their own love affair, which continued long after shooting was completed. Before the onscreen turned real-life romance with Bakewell, Mitchell had already accumulated a lengthy list of credits in the entertainment business. In the mid- to late '90s, she made numerous guest appearances on prime-time television, with roles on shows like The Sentinel, Time of Your Life, Spin City, and ER. In 1998, she played Linda in the TV-movie Gia, and Jane on the TV series Significant Others. She appeared in the comedy film Molly, starring Elisabeth Shue, the following year. The dramatic thriller Frequency (2000) starring Dennis Quaid featured Mitchell in the role of Jules. Along with Frequency, she appeared in a small role in Nurse Betty in 2000, as well as the aforementioned TV-film The Linda McCartney Story.In 2001, she kept busy both in film and on television. She played roles in the films Double Bang and Hollywood Palms, as well as a recurring role on the series The Beast. She would return to collaborating with husband Bakewell in 2002, as the two of them starred in the made-for-TV Man and Boy. Also that year, she played the wife of Tim Allen's character in the sequel to The Santa Clause, Mrs. Clause, one of her most major starring roles to date.In 2004 she was cast as the wife of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt in the biopic 3, and two years later she appeared in Santa Clause 3, reprising her role from the earlier sequel. In 2006 she joined the cast of Lost as the mysterious Juliet Burke, and followed that up with a major part in the ABC redo of the sci-fi series V. In 2011 she appeared opposite Dane Cook in Answers to Nothing.

Trivia: The son of a steel-executive father and concert violinist mother, Ontario native Martin Short attended McMasters University, where he graduated in 1972 with a degree in social work. If you haven't spotted Short at your local youth center or settlement house, it's because he decided to pursue a performing career, encouraged by his fellow McMasters classmates Eugene Levy and Dave Thomas. Making his professional debut in a 1973 Toronto production of Godspell, Short joined Levy and Thomas at the Second City improv troupe in Edmonton, Alberta in 1977. Two years later, Short made his first film, Lost and Found, and also co-starred on the critically lauded but little-seen American sitcom The Associates. It was while appearing on SCTV Network 90 from 1982 through 1983 and Saturday Night Live from 1984 through 1985 that Short attained stardom with such distinctive comic characterizations as supercilious showbiz promoter Jackie Rogers Jr. and pointy-headed nerd Ed Grimley (this last-named character was spun off into an amusing Saturday morning cartoon series in 1989). He also scored big yocks with his devastating, dead-on impressions of such icons as Jerry Lewis and Katharine Hepburn (a lifelong Jerry Lewis fan, Short was invited to join Lewis as co-host of a cable-TV Martin and Lewis retrospective in 1993; he has yet to share the spotlight with the real Ms. Hepburn). Though an extremely likeable screen presence, the puckish Short has, like many of his Second City brethren, frequently been cast in films far beneath his talents, hitting bottom with 1994's Clifford. Happily, he has been extremely well-served in such films as Three Amigos (1986), Innerspace (1989), and the 1992 remake of Father of the Bride, in which he had an unbearably funny cameo as epicene wedding planner Franck Eggelhoffer. In 1993, Short made his Broadway debut, assuming the old Richard Dreyfuss role in a musical adaptation of the 1977 film The Goodbye Girl. The following year, Martin Short had another go at television, headlining the weekly (but not for long) Seinfeld rip-off The Martin Short Show. Subsequently donning a fat suit as Jiminy Glick in the Comedy Central talk-show parody Primetime Glick, Short skewerd Hollywood ni a way that only an insider could and in 2004 the character took the lead in his own feature -- Jiminy Glick in Lalawood. Meanwhile, guest appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, Damages, Weeds, and How I Met Your Mother kept him busy as ever. Beginnig in 2010, Short voiced The Cat in the Hat in the popular PBS Kids series The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, and in 2012 he essayed a variety of wacky characters in the musical comedy I, Martin Short, Goes Home, which found him reunited with a number of his former SCTV co-stars including Joe Flaherty and Eugene Levy.

Trivia: Following his training at the North Carolina School of the Arts, actor Judge Reinhold worked in regional repertory, dinner theaters, and "outdoor" dramas. He gained prominence in TV roles as gawky teenagers, notably the lead in the syndicated Capital Cities Special A Step Too Slow. In films from 1979, Reinhold's first major role was high schooler Brad in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He hit his stride in 1984, playing the nice-guy detective sent to trail Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop (1984). Though he has proven a convincing villain when the need has arisen, Judge Reinhold has thrived in parts calling for decency and dependency. Reinhold's career slowed down a bit during the '90s and in the early part of the decade he seemed destined to be relegated to B-movies and television films such as Four Eyes and Six Guns (1993), but in 1994, he appeared in two major features, Beverly Hills Cop III and The Santa Clause.

Trivia: Sure, he may have yet to land the role that would launch him from popular child star to serious young actor, but the fact that Spencer Breslin has appeared in such notable blockbusters as Disney's The Kid, The Santa Clause 2, and The Cat in the Hat by the age of 12 certainly isn't a bad start. A native of New York City who once voiced the hope to one day study football at Notre Dame, young Breslin had traveled the globe by the time he was only ten. He'll be the first to point out that his mother has been indispensable in terms of developing his screen talents. Though he may be remarkably capable of running the gamut of emotions for such a young star, Breslin admits that the one thing that does come hard to him is the ability to cry onscreen, a weakness which only his mother could help him overcome. Following his television debut in the series Soul Man, Breslin was cast in a small role in Stephen King's television miniseries Storm of the Century. Not only did the part offer the young actor the chance to meet one of the most popular writers of contemporary horror fiction, but it also gave him the chance to hone his onscreen persona. By the time casting was underway for Disney's The Kid, Breslin was talented and confident enough to beat out nearly 2,000 other hopefuls. A brief appearance in the same year's Meet the Parents soon followed, and after a quick pair of television appearances, Breslin was back on the big screen with the boy-meets-talking-koala charmer Ozzie (2001). In 2002, Breslin ventured into the world of animation by lending his voice to the popular television cartoon Teamo Supremo, with the same year's Return to Neverland offering even more vocal work. Of course, Breslin is primarily a live-action star, and after gaining feature face time in The Santa Clause 2 (2002), the rising star signed on for the eagerly anticipated feature The Cat in the Hat. The film starred Mike Myers as the titular character and featured Breslin and Dakota Fanning as the hapless children who are sucked into his surreal world. It wasn't long before Breslin was back up on the big screen in the 2004 comedy drama Raising Helen. A brief dalliance with royalty followed when Breslin was cast as the young prince Jacques in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, and after seeing his father literally go to the dogs in the 2006 Tim Allen comedy The Shaggy Dog, it was time to join a ragtag group of superpowered adolescents charged with the sizeable task of saving the world in the family oriented adventure Zoom.

Trivia: As a multi-talented film and stage performer with an intense comic flair, the diminutive and stocky Jewish-American character actor Alan Arkin built a career for himself out of playing slightly gruff and opinionated yet endearing eccentrics. Though not commonly recognized as such, Arkin's ability extends not only beyond the range of the comedic but far beyond the scope of acting. In addition to his before-the-camera work, Arkin is an accomplished theatrical and cinematic director, an author, and a gifted vocalist.Born March 26, 1934, to immigrant parents of Russian and German Hebrew descent, Arkin came of age in New York City, then attended Los Angeles City College in the early '50s and launched his entertainment career as a key member of the folk band the Tarriers, alongside Erik Darling, Carl Carlton, and Bob Carey. Unfortunately, the Tarriers never managed to find a musical foothold amid the 1960s folk boom -- which, despite the success of a European tour in 1957, encouraged Arkin to leave the group and carve out a niche for himself in another arena.Arkin instead turned to stage comedy and joined Chicago's Second City troupe, then in its infancy. (It officially began in 1959.) From there, Arkin transitioned to Broadway roles, and won a Tony and critical raves for his debut, in Carl Reiner's autobiographical seriocomedy Enter Laughing (1963). He followed it up with the lead in Murray Schisgal's surrealistic character comedy Luv, and made his onscreen debut alongside friend and fellow actor Reiner, for Norman Jewison's frenetic social satire The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! The picture not only scored with the public and press (and received a Best Picture nod) but netted Arkin a nomination for Best Actor. He lost to Paul Scofield, for the latter's role as Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons.Arkin evinced pronounced versatility by cutting dramatically against type for his next performance: that of Harry Roat, a psychopath who systematically psychologically tortures Audrey Hepburn, in Terence Young's Wait Until Dark (1967). A return to comedy with 1968's Inspector Clouseau (with Arkin in the Peter Sellers role) proved disastrous. Fortunately, Arkin took this as a cue, and shifted direction once again the following year, with his aforementioned portrayal of Singer in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter -- a gentle and beautiful adaptation of Carson McCullers' wonderful novel. For the effort, Arkin received a much-deserved sophomore Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, but lost to Charly's Cliff Robertson. The '70s brought mixed prospects for Arkin. He debuted as a film director in 1971, with a screen adaptation of Jules Feiffer's jet-black comedy Little Murders -- a theatrical work that Arkin had previously directed, to rave reviews, off-Broadway. A foray into the subject of American apathy in the face of random violence as it escalated during the late '60s and early '70s, the film tells the story of a sociopathically aggressive woman (Marcia Rodd) who wheedles an apathetic photographer-cum-avant-garde filmmaker (Elliott Gould) into marriage. The film divided journalists sharply. Despite initial reservations and objections, the film aged well with time, and has received renewed critical attention in recent years.Arkin's choice of projects over the remainder of the decade varied dramatically in quality -- from the dregs of Gene Saks' Neil Simon cinematization Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1972) and the tasteless police comedy Freebie and the Bean (1974) to the finely wrought, overlooked comedy-mystery The Seven-Percent Solution (1976) and Arthur Hiller's sensational farce The In-Laws (1979). Alongside his film work during the '70s, Arkin authored two best-sellers: the children's book Tony's Hard Work Day (1972) and an exploration of yoga, Half Way Through the Door: An Actor's Journey Towards the Self (1975). In the late '70s, Arkin made a rare television appearance, delighting younger viewers with a wild and gothic starring role on an episode of Jim Henson's Muppet Show.If the 1970s struck Arkin fans as something of a mixed bag, the actor's career choices suffered during the '80s, perhaps because of the paucity of solid comedic roles available in Hollywood during that decade. A brief list of Arkin's film credits during that period render it surprising that he could even sustain his own career throughout such poor choices: Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981), Improper Channels (1981), Full Moon High (1982), Bad Medicine (1985), Big Trouble (1985), and Escape from Sobibor (1987). Arkin did make two wonderful contributions to overlooked '80s comedies, however: 1980's Simon and 1985's Joshua Then and Now. In the first picture, directed by fellow Tarrier vocalist (and former Woody Allen co-scenarist) Marshall Brickman, Arkin plays Simon Mendelssohn, a college professor who falls prey to a nutty government think tank run by Max Wright and Austin Pendleton. Although the film remained an obscurity, Joshua delivers some of Arkin's most impressive onscreen work to date, and doubtless enabled him to pull from his own Jewish heritage in developing the character.The public's decision to snub these two pictures may have foreshadowed Arkin's work in the '90s, when he appeared in several fine, but equally overlooked, efforts. These included: Havana (1990), The Rocketeer (1991), Indian Summer (1993), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), the aforementioned Mother Night (1996), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), and Slums of Beverly Hills (1998). He delivered a searing performance as the "loser" salesman who robs his company of much-sought-after leads, in James Foley's David Mamet cinematization Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), and offered the only memorable contribution to Andrew Davis' fable Steal Big, Steal Little (1995), as "an opportunist who weighs in with the underdogs and learns the true meaning of decency and friendship...[striking] the perfect blend of cynicism, sincerity, and simpatico." Arkin maintained a comparatively lower profile during the early years of the millennium, aside from outstanding contributions to the otherwise dull farce America's Sweethearts (2001), the gripping telemovie The Pentagon Papers (2003), and the historical biopic And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003). In early 2007, Arkin received his first Academy Award nod in 38 years: a Best Actor nomination that he subsequently won for his hilarious turn in the road comedy Little Miss Sunshine. In that movie, Arkin played the grandfather of an über-dysfunctional family, who is ejected from a nursing home for his freewheeling lifestyle. The character's passions include porn and heroin -- elements that, as used by the film's directors, enable Arkin to provide much of the film's fresh and inspired humor. The part earned him rave reviews, and an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.He appeared in the dog film Marley & Me in 2008, and that same year reteamed with Steve Carell for the big-screen version of Get Smart. He was the executive producer and co-star of the shaggy-dog crime tale Thin Ice in 2010, and the next year he had a brief cameo as a studio tour guide in The Muppets, and appeared in The Change-Up. He had a major part in Ben Affleck's Argo, a thriller about agents attempting to save American hostages held by Iranians by pretending to be making a Hollywood blockbuster. His portrayal of a showbiz producer who helps pull of the scheme, Arkin captured another Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.Alan Arkin has married and divorced three times, to Jeremy Yaffe, to Barbara Dana, and to Suzanne Arkin. In addition to the legacy engendered by his own career resumé, Arkin has fathered something of an acting dynasty; his three sons, Adam, Matthew, and Tony, are all gifted and accomplished actors, with Adam Arkin (Northern Exposure, Chicago Hope) maintaining a somewhat higher profile than his brothers.

Trivia: The younger sister of child thespian Spencer Breslin (Disney's the Kid, The Santa Clause 2, The Shaggy Dog), the dynamic young actress Abigail Breslin was born in Manhattan in 1996 and began shooting television commercials at the age of three. In 2001, Tamil-American director and Spielberg protégé M. Night Shyamalan discovered then five-year-old Breslin and brought about her movie debut by casting her in his sci-fi thriller Signs -- the tale of a farmer and pastor (Mel Gibson) who discovers a giant crop circle on his property as an early indicator of an extraterrestrial invasion. Breslin plays Bo Hess, Gibson's asthma-ridden, paranoiac daughter who is racked by the delusion that she must never drink water, for every glass in the house is now contaminated. The terror evident in this characterization was not unique. From an early age, the pint-sized Breslin became notorious for her preternatural ability to pour an extraordinary amount of emotional intensity into each role, which led to several challenging parts that Breslin pulled off with ease. The first of these turns, 2004's sadly overlooked Keane, is a harrowing drama about a drug- and alcohol-riddled schizophrenic named William Keane (Damian Lewis), obsessed with attempting to find his young daughter, who may never have even existed. Amy Ryan and Breslin play, respectively, Lynn Bedik and Kira Bedik, a mother and daughter who wander into William's life and concurrently raise, within him, a towering fear of himself and the capacity for emotional connection. The New York Post's V.A. Musetto called Breslin "a revelation."After light-hearted turns in Garry Marshall's terribly received Raising Helen (which marked the first onscreen pairing of Breslin and her older brother) and David S. Cass' little-seen domestic comedy Family Plan (2005), Breslin signed on as the central character in Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton's Little Miss Sunshine. This road comedy -- about a severely dysfunctional family that bands together and treks off to the titular children's beauty pageant in which young Olive (Breslin) is participating -- unexpectedly dazzled viewers with its acerbic wit, flashes of wild humor, exemplary characterizations, and touching insights into familial relationships, when it premiered in summer 2006. In fact, it became, hands down, one of the most significant sleeper hits of that year. Thanks in no small part to her mature evocation of sweet-natured, pure-hearted Olive (who elevates the film to new levels not only by strengthening family ties, but by performing an outrageous final dance number in the beauty pageant), Breslin became one of the youngest individuals in Hollywood history to receive a Best Supporting Actress nod when the Oscar nominations rolled around in January 2007 -- younger, by seven months, than Tatum O'Neal, during her Oscar win in early 1974. Meanwhile, Breslin signed on for several additional roles alongside her studies. These included Zoe, the niece of Catherine Zeta-Jones's character in Scott Hicks' romantic comedy No Reservations (a remake of the German film Mostly Martha); a sick child befriended by a lonely, itinerant young man (Drew Fuller) in Michael O. Sajbel's The Ultimate Gift; and the confused, inquisitive 11-year-old daughter of a political consultant (Ryan Reynolds) in Adam Brooks' romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe (2008). That same year she had the lead role in the family adventure film Nim's Island, and the title part in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. The next year she would appear in the comedy Zombieland. In 2011 she provided one of the voices for the Oscar winning animated film Rango, and was one of many in the ensemble cast of New Year's Eve as the independent-minded daughter of Sarah Jessica Parker.

Trivia: Swedish siren Ann-Margret immigrated to the U.S. with her family at the age of seven, settling in a Chicago suburb and later studying Drama at Northwestern University. Despite an innate bashfulness, the girl set out to become a musical entertainer, making her professional debut as a singer at the age of 17. Fortunately, she was spotted by comedian George Burns, who hired her for his Las Vegas show and arranged for several professional doors to be opened for his protégée. Her first film was Pocketful of Miracles (1961), in which she played Bette Davis' daughter; this was followed by a lead in State Fair the following year. Ann-Margret tended to be withdrawn when interviewed, which earned her the media's "Sour Apple" award as least cooperative newcomer. But she was able to overcome this initial bad press via a show-stopping appearance at the 1962 Academy Awards telecast, which turned her into an "overnight" national favorite and encouraged the producers of Bye Bye Birdie (1963) to build up her role. Perhaps the best indication of her total public acceptance was her animated appearance in a 1963 episode of The Flintstones (as Ann Margrock). Ann-Margret's career faltered in the mid-'60s thanks to a string of forgettable pictures like Made in Paris (1966) and Kitten With a Whip (1964). (One of the few highlights of this period, however, was her appearance in Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas in 1964, which led to an offscreen relation with The King.) Her career in doldrums, Ann-Margret marshalled a comeback in the early '70s thanks to the tireless efforts of her husband and manager, former actor Roger Smith. Sold-out Las Vegas and concert performances were part of her career turnabout, although the most crucial aspect was her Oscar nomination for a difficult role in 1971's Carnal Knowledge. But the comeback nearly ended before it began in 1972 when the entertainer was seriously injured in a fall during her Vegas act. With the help of physical rehabilitation and plastic surgery (not to mention the loving ministrations and encouragement of Smith), the actress made a complete recovery and went on to even greater career heights. She received her second Oscar nomination for her bravura performance in the rock-opera film Tommy (1975), where, in one of the high points of '70s cinema bizarre, she sang a number while swimming in baked beans. Ann-Margret was equally impressive (though in a less messy manner) in such powerhouse TV movies as Who Will Love My Children? (1983) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1984). The low point of Ann-Margret's early-80s career doubtless arrived when she agreed to act in Hal Ashby's lousy 1982 gambling drama Lookin' to Get Out (aside a scream-happy Jon Voight) -- and probably regretted it for years afterward. A few triumphs marked the 1980s as well, however, such as the actress's turn as Steffy Blondell in Neil Simon's enjoyably bittersweet comedy-drama I Ought to Be in Pictures, and her role as a barmaid who strikes up an extramarital affair with - and later weds - Gene Hackman, in Bud Yorkin's finely-wrought domestic drama Twice in a Lifetime (1985). After Newsies (1992), Disney's glaringly awful attempt to revive the period musical, Ann-Margret took time out of her packed schedule to write her 1993 autobiography Ann-Margret: My Story, a work revelatory about herself and her own personal demons that nonetheless evinces respect toward her show-business mentors and co-workers. She exuded warmth as the bon vivant who falls in-between bickering Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in the 1993 box office hit Grumpy Old Men and its lackluster 1995 sequel, Grumpier Old Men (and played a satisfying straight man throughout). Yet the high profile of the Old Men releases made them exceptions to the actress's output in the mid-late nineties and early 2000s, which - though of varying quality - placed infinitely greater weight on television work than Ann-Margret had at any earlier point in her career. (In fact, for a period of about ten years, she became a veritable telemovie staple on par with Mary Tyler Moore and Meredith Baxter-Birney). These titles include but are not limited to: Nobody's Children (1994), Scarlett (1994), Seduced by Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story, Life of the Party: The Pamela Harriman Story (1998), Happy Face Murders (1999), Blonde (2001) and A Place Called Home (2004). One big-screen exception arrived in the late 1999 football drama Any Given Sunday, where Oliver Stone gave Ann-Margret her meatiest role since Carnal Knowledge, as the alcoholic mother of team owner Christina Pagliacci (Cameron Diaz. It entailed only a small part amid a massive ensemble cast (Dennis Quaid, Al Pacino, Jamie Foxx, James Woods, others), but provided an excellent showcase for the actress's craftsmanship. She landed a bit part as Wendy Meyers, the mother of Jennifer Aniston's character, in the Aniston-Vince Vaughn romantic comedy The Break-Up, and joined Tim Allen and Martin Short for that same year's Buena Vista holiday sequel Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. As the new decade began, she continued to appear regularly in projects as diverse as The 10th Kingdom, Taxi, The Break-Up, and Old Dogs. In 2011 she starred in the comedy All's Faire in Love as the queen of a Renaissance fair.

Trivia: Well-reputed for his "extreme" cinematic personifications in multiple genres, the American character player Peter Boyle doubtless made his onscreen personas doubly intense by pulling directly from his own personal journey to the top -- a wild, unlikely, and occasionally tortuous trek that found Boyle aggressively defining and redefining himself, and struggling constantly with a number of inner demons. Born October 18, 1935, in the hamlet of Northtown, PA, Boyle graduated from La Salle College and joined the Christian Brothers monastic order, under the name "Brother Francis." He prayed endlessly and earnestly until he developed callouses on his knees, but could never quite adjust to the monastic life, which he later declared "unnatural," with its impositions of fasting and celibacy. Dissatisfied, Boyle dropped out and headed for the Navy, but his brief enlistment ended in a nervous breakdown. With no other options in sight that piqued his interest, Boyle opted to pack his bags and head for New York City, where he worked toward making it as an actor. It made perfect sense that Boyle -- with his distinctively stocky frame, bald pate, oversized ears, and bulbous nose -- would fit the bill as a character actor -- more ideally, in fact, than any of his contemporaries on the American screen. He trained under the best of the best -- the legendary dramatic coach Uta Hagen -- while working at any and every odd job he could find. Boyle soon joined a touring production of Neil Simon's Odd Couple (as Oscar Madison) and moved to Chicago, where he signed on with the sketch comedy troupe The Second City -- then in its infancy. Around 1968, Haskell Wexler -- one of the most politically radical mainstream filmmakers in all of Los Angeles (a bona fide revolutionary) -- decided to shoot his groundbreaking epic Medium Cool in the Windy City, and for a pivotal and notorious sequence, mixed documentary and fictional elements by sending the members of his cast (Verna Bloom and others) "right into the fray" of the 1968 Democratic National Convention riots. Boyle happened to still be living in Chicago at the time of the tumult, which dovetailed rather neatly with Wexler's production and brought Boyle one of his first credited Hollywood roles -- that of the Gun Clinic Manager in the film. Unfortunately (and typically), Paramount cowed when faced with the final cut of the film -- terrified that it could incite riots among its youthful audience -- and withheld its distribution for a year. In the interim, Boyle landed the role that would help him "break through" to the American public -- the lead in neophyte writer-director John G. Avildsen's harrowing vigilante drama Joe (1970). The film casts Boyle as a skin-crawling redneck and bigot who wheedles an Arrow-collared businessman (Dennis Patrick) into helping him undertake an onslaught of death against the American counterculture. This sleeper hit received only fair reviews from critics (and has dated terribly), and Boyle reputedly was paid only 3,000 dollars for his contribution. But even those who detested the film lavished praise onto the actor's work -- in 1970, Variety called the picture "flawed" but described Boyle as "stunningly effective." Film historians continue to exalt the performance to this day. Innumerable roles followed for Boyle throughout the '70s, many in a similar vein -- from that of Dillon, the slimy underworld "friend" who betrays career criminal Robert Mitchum by handing him over to death's jaws in Peter Yates' finely-wrought gangster drama The Friends of Eddie Coyle, to that of Wizard, a veteran cabbie with a terrifying degree of "seen it all, done it all" jadedness, in Martin Scorsese's masterful neo-noir meditation on urban psychosis, Taxi Driver (1976), to Andy Mast, a sleazy private dick, in Paul Schrader's Hardcore (1979). In 1974, however, Boyle broke free from his pattern of creepy typecasting and temporarily turned a new leaf. He unveiled a deft comic flair by playing the lead in Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks' daffy spoof of old Universal horror pictures. The film's two comic highlights have Boyle and Gene Wilder (as the grandson of Dr. Victor Frankenstein) soft-shoeing to "Puttin' on the Ritz," and Boyle and Gene Hackman (as a hapless, bearded blind man) farcically sending up the gothic cabin scene from Mary Shelley's novel in a riotous pas de deux. Boyle's subsequent forays into big-screen comedy proved decidedly less successful on all fronts, however. He played Carl Lazlo, Esquire, the solicitor of Bill Murray's Hunter S. Thompson, in producer/director Art Linson's Where the Buffalo Roam, the pirate Moon in Mel Damski's dreadful swashbuckling spoof Yellowbeard (1983), and Jack McDermott, a Jesus-obsessed escaped mental patient with delusions of healing, in Howard Zieff's The Dream Team (1989) -- all of which received lukewarm critical reactions and flopped with ticket-buyers. (Though it went undocumented as such, the Zieff role appeared to pull heavy influence from Boyle's monastic experience). A more finely tuned and impressive comic role arrived in 1992, when Boyle teamed with Andrew Bergman for an outrageous bit part in Bergman's madcap farce Honeymoon in Vegas. As Chief Orman, a moronic Hawaiian Indian who bears more than a passing resemblance to Marlon Brando, Boyle delighted viewers, and caught the attention of critics. Many read the role as less of an homage than a dig at Brando, who had viciously insulted one of Bergman's movies in the press. For many viewers, this ingenious sequence made the entire film worthwhile. On the whole, the actor continued to fare best with big-screen dramatic roles throughout the '80s and '90s. Highlights include his role as Detective Jimmy Ryan in Wim Wenders' film noir Hammett (1982); Commander Cornelius Vanderbilt, the assistant of South-American explorer William Walker, in Alex Cox's 1987 biopic Walker; and Captain Green in Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992). In 1996, Boyle transitioned to the small screen for a permanent role as Frank Barone, the father of comedian Ray Romano's Ray Barone, on the hit CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. The series brought the actor his broadest popularity and exposure, especially among younger viewers -- a popularity not only attested to by the program's seemingly endless syndicated appearance on local stations and cable affiliates such as TBS, but by its initial series run -- it lasted nine seasons. Tragically, Peter Boyle died of multiple myeloma and heart disease almost exactly one year after Raymond took its final network bow, and shortly after his appearance in the holiday film The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. He passed away in New York's Presbyterian Hospital, on December 12, 2006, only two months after his seventy-first birthday. Alongside his film and television work, Boyle occasionally acted on Broadway, off-Broadway, and repertory stages, in such productions as Carl Reiner's The Roast (1980), Sam Shepard's True West (1982), and Joe Pintauro's Snow Orchid (1982). Boyle met journalist Laraine Alderman in the early '70s, while she was interviewing Mel Brooks for Rolling Stone. They wed in 1977, with former Beatle John Lennon as Boyle's best man; the marriage lasted until Peter's death. The Boyles had two daughters, Lucy and Amy, both of whom outlived their father.

Trivia: Began auditioning for local commercials at the age of 5. Acted at the Little Palm Children's Theatre in Boca Raton, FL, as a child. Breakthrough television part was as Winthrop Paroo in 2003's The Music Man, opposite Matthew Broderick and Kristin Chenoweth.

Trivia: African-American actor Michael Dorn received much of his on-the-job training as a semi-regular on the daytime drama Days of Our Lives. In the prime-time hours, Dorn was seen as Officer Turner during the final two seasons (1980-1982) of the weekly cop series CHiPs. He went on to a flurry of supporting-cast activity in such theatrical features as The Jagged Edge (1985). Then, in 1987, Michael Dorn donned mounds of facial makeup for what was to be his signature role: the U.S.S. Enterprise's Klingon officer Lt. Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994).

Trivia: A character actor who specialized in upbeat, energetic everymen (often with a strong romantic angle), Jay Thomas made his most enduring mark on U.S. television sitcoms during the mid- to late '80s and early '90s. A native of Kermit, TX, Thomas kick-started his career as a standup comedian in the American South, with a particularly strong emphasis on French Quarter comedy clubs in New Orleans, LA. He achieved his big television break in the late '70s thanks to Mork & Mindy show creator Garry Marshall, who cast him as deli owner Remo DaVinci on that blockbuster program just as its ratings were beginning to slide; Thomas remained with it for two seasons, from 1979-1981. Following little-seen movie roles in films such as 1984's C.H.U.D. and 1985's The Gig (a particularly colorful part as an obnoxious entertainer), Thomas returned to series television in a big way, first with a recurring role on Cheers, as Eddie LeBec, the ne'er-do-well, washed-up hockey player husband of saucy barmaid Carla (Rhea Perlman) -- a role he held from 1987-1989 (which ended with the character being run over by a Zamboni machine!). Thomas followed up his Cheers part with two additional key sitcom roles: the lead role of New York Post columnist Jack Stein -- the romantic sparring partner of Wally Porter (Susan Dey) -- on Love & War (1992-1995), and (in a less frequently seen but equally memorable performance) Jerry Gold, one of the paramours of Candice Bergen's acerbic title character, on Murphy Brown -- a role that lasted for nine years. (Both programs were produced by Diane English.) When Brown folded in 1998, Thomas moved back into features, essaying supporting roles in such films as Last Chance (1999), Dragonfly (2002), and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006).

Trivia: After spending most of the 1980s in television, Wendy Crewson moved to a number of high-profile feature films in the 1990s. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Crewson attended Canada's Queens University and continued studying acting in London, England, after college. Back in North America, Crewson sharpened her versatile talent in a number of TV productions, including Heartsounds (1984), Murder: By Reason of Insanity (1985), and Robert Altman's acclaimed political satire Tanner '88 (1988), starring Altman regular and Crewson's husband-to-be Michael Murphy. Though Crewson continued to do TV in the 1990s, including The Lives of Girls and Women (1994), From the Earth to the Moon (1998), and At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story (1998), she increasingly branched out into features. Making her mark in a small part in The Doctor (1991), Crewson moved on to larger roles as the mother of a psychotic Macauley Culkin in The Good Son (1993), Tim Allen's ex-wife in the comedy hit The Santa Clause (1994), and Peter Gallagher's unfortunate blind date in the tearjerker To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996). After playing a tough lawyer in the crime thriller Gang Related (1997), Crewson further displayed her ability to convey strength as Harrison Ford's undaunted First Lady in Wolfgang Petersen's summer blockbuster Air Force One (1997). Following a substantial role in the independent romantic comedy Better Than Chocolate (1999), Crewson seemed to be on the verge of adding another hit to her resumé as one of Robin Williams' original owners in the fantasy Bicentennial Man (1999), but the film failed to live up to box-office expectations.

Trivia: Actress Madeline Carroll -- not to be confused with the British screen performer Madeleine Carroll from the '30s and '40s -- debuted as a preteen star in the mid-2000s and specialized in glossy, big-budget Hollywood productions from a plethora of genres. Roles included that of Cocoa in the holiday comedy The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006), Allison in the teen-oriented slasher film When a Stranger Calls (2006), and (in her most prominent role up through that time) Molly, a 12-year-old whose actions shove her washed-up father (Kevin Costner) into the public limelight, in Joshua Michael Stern's political comedy Swing Vote (2008).

Trivia: It sounds apocryphal, but it's true: 13-year-old Kevin Pollak did begin his Bar Mitzvah speech with "A funny thing happened on the way to the temple..." In fact, Pollak's rabbi had encouraged him to do so: even at this early stage, the boy evinced a gift for comic timing. By 17, he was doing stand-up in his native San Francisco. He went on to play the West Coast comedy-club and improv circuit, and was briefly teamed with Dana Carvey, a professional collaboration that ended amicably when Carvey was hired by Saturday Night Live. Though Pollak himself didn't make it to SNL, he flourished as an impressionist, writer and film and TV supporting actor. He was given several opportunities to shine in such films as Barry Levenson's Avalon (1990), Mick Jackson's LA Story (1991) and Rob Reiner's A Few Good Men (1992). Reiner went on to team Pollak with Bob Amaral in the weekly TVer Morton and Hayes (1991) a hit-and-miss homage to the 2-reel comedies of the 1930s and 1940s (Pollak had previously played a featured role in the short-lived 1988 sitcom Coming of Age). Kevin Pollak's film career went into warp-drive in the 1990s, with such choice roles as Jacob in the two Grumpy Old Men flicks, Todd Hockney in The Usual Suspects (1995), Phillip Green in Casino (1995), and Boss Vic Koss in That Thing You Do (1996).His film and television career still going strong into the 2000s, Pollak found a way to work his passion for poker into his schedule as host of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown in 2003, and in 2009 he launched a weekly internet series entitled Kevin Pollak's Chat Show.

Trivia: Early jobs included high-school teacher and copywriter. Performed with sketch comedy groups Upright Citizens Brigade and Naked Babies. Was a member of New York City punk band Egghead. Starred with a hand puppet in a series of commercials for Ford.

Trivia: Born September 18th, 1970, actress, comedian, author, reality-show host, and occasional scriptwriter Aisha Tyler came of age in San Francisco and studied poly sci at Dartmouth College before mounting a (brief) career as an advertising executive in her hometown. Dissatisfied by this pursuit, and pining to launch herself as a full-time entertainer, Tyler "dropped out" of the corporate world and hit the road with a solo standup comedy act in the mid-'90s.Around 2001 -- after five years in Los Angeles with occasional standup bookings and concomitantly limited acclaim and recognition -- Tyler landed two huge breaks, first as the host of the irreverent Talk Soup during that program's final year (a position she inherited from Greg Kinnear, John Henson, and others), and then as the primary host of the dating series The 5th Wheel. Riding the crest of popularity generated by reality television during the first several years of the millennium, Wheel coupled the unscripted spontaneity of The Real World and Survivor with the format of the dating series Blind Date. Its premise involved setting two couples up on blind dates, having them "swap" partners, and adding an unforeseen fifth member (the "wheel" of the title) to stir things up and add provocation. The program placed a greater emphasis on erotic and suggestive content than Blind and -- perhaps as a result -- it unsurprisingly became a massive, runaway hit.The ever-ambitious Tyler, however, continued to expand her horizons. She maintained a short tenure with Wheel and quickly moved on to other endeavors, placing a particularly strong emphasis on television work. This included a stint as Charlie (the only recurring African-American cast member) in the final two seasons of the popular sitcom Friends, and a recurring role as covert terrorist Marianne Taylor on the weekly suspenser 24. Tyler also portrayed attorney Andrea Moreno (who dies in a car crash but is then "ushered" over to the other side by Jennifer Love Hewitt's psychic) in the first season (2005-2006) of the supernatural drama The Ghost Whisperer. After that, Tyler segued into feature-film work, with bit roles in such pictures as The Santa Clause 3 and .45.Six feet tall and one of the most physically breathtaking young actresses of her generation, Tyler frequently provides beauty tips in such magazines as Ebony and Glamour; she is also an outspoken proponent of physical fitness and a strenuous exerciser who pushes herself to an almost unimaginable degree. A February 2007 issue of In Style magazine reported, "In addition to scaling walls, Tyler runs, uses a rowing machine, lifts weights, snowboards and scuba dives. But for her, nothing beats the mental rush of rock climbing." In 2004, Tyler also authored and published the best-seller Swerve: Reckless Observations of a Postmodern Girl, a free-form, witty expostulation on such "hot" topics as men, bikini waxing, reality television, dating wars, sex, and body image.After filming several unremarkable movies throughout the mid-2000s, the actress found success on Archer, a television series that features Tyler as a dedicated but deadly agent for ISIS, a secret intelligence unit in New York City. While she continued work on Archer, she landed the job of co-host on The Talk, and later, host of the revamped Whose Line Is It Anyway? As if that weren't enough, Tyler also landed a recurring role on Criminal Minds in 2015.

Trivia: Zach Mills began his Hollywood tenure with a very prolific career for a child actor; by the age of 12, he had already racked up guest appearances on Malcolm in the Middle, Scrubs, and other series, and a panoply of colorful feature roles. Particularly memorable were his turns in the 2006 holiday comedy The Santa Clause 3 (as an elf), the offbeat 2007 fantasy Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (as Eric Applebaum, the most loyal customer of a magical toy store), and the 2008 family-oriented comedy Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.