Trivia: A few character actors make such an indelible impression with one role that they find it consistently impossible to outgrow that image. Anthony Perkins had it with Norman Bates, M. Emmet Walsh has it with Visser (from Blood Simple), and R. Lee Ermey will forever be associated with the sadomasochistic verbal rapist of a drill instructor, Gunnery Sgt. Hartman, from Stanley Kubrick's Vietnam opus, Full Metal Jacket (1987). Though Ermey never again quite matched the intensity of this role (or the gutter-bucket poetic invention of its obscene dialogue), it was enough to give him permanent recognition as a character actor among filmgoers, and to typecast him in a series of variants on that role, again and again, throughout his life.Born on March 24, 1944, in Emporia, KS, Ermey enlisted in the armed forces as a young man and hightailed it to Vietnam on a non-commissioned basis, but injuries forced him to retire from active duty. He received full disability pay and moved to Manila in the early '70s, where he managed to ably support himself on his USAF allotment (thanks to the lower cost of living) while studying for a degree in criminology. Each morning, Ermey visited the coffee shop at the Manila Hilton -- well-reputed as the haunt of American filmmakers shooting on-location in the Philippines -- until one of the directors happened to notice Ermey and asked him to pose for a series of blue jeans ads. This experience led to his film debut, a role as a retired soldier in a local production. By 1976, Ermey had appeared in several Filipino films. He broke into Hollywood films that year, when he slipped onto the set for Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now and convinced Coppola to hire him as a helicopter pilot. Indeed, the ex-officer's Vietnam experience came in handy and Coppola utilized him as a technical advisor. Ermey made his American cinematic debut -- and held to the military-man typecasting -- in Sidney J. Furie's comedy drama The Boys in Company C (1978), and the director's follow-up, Purple Hearts (1984). But his biggest break came shortly thereafter, when Stanley Kubrick -- a notorious tyrant himself -- tapped him to portray Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in Full Metal Jacket (1987). Ermey's evocation of the satanically profane, vile, and sadistic Hartman, laden with the thankless, brutal job of toughening up raw recruits before sending them to Vietnam (who eventually gets blown away by one of his trainees) dominates the film's first 45 minutes and provides an unforgettably realistic, disturbing portrait of military training. Thanks to his unique countenance and authoritative voice, Ermey maintained his image as a rough-hewn, tough-as-nails SOB onscreen.Neither Company C or Purple Hearts received substantial critical and public recognition (or a very wide release); in contrast, the broader exposure of Full Metal Jacket (it received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay and a National Board of Review nomination for Best Picture) boosted Ermey's prominence -- immeasurably so. He followed it up with spots in such well-received pictures as Alan Parker's racial drama Mississippi Burning (1988) and Abel Ferrara's Body Snatchers (1993). In 1995, Ermey spoofed himself to great effect as the voice of the leader of the little green soldiers in Toy Story, and doubled it up with a turn as the vengeful father of a homicide victim in Tim Robbins' capital punishment drama Dead Man Walking. A third role in that same year -- as the boss of Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt in David Fincher's seminal work Seven -- elicited a positive (if limited) critical and public response for Ermey's portrayal.During the early 2000s, Ermey once again drew on his military expertise and background, albeit in a much different fashion, as host of the small-screen program Mail Call. Episodes featured him answering a series of viewer questions about various aspects of military life and history. In 2003, he returned to his dramatic roots (and managed to top the despicability of Sgt. Hartman) in Marcus Nispel's Tobe Hooper remake, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Ermey plays Sheriff Hoyt, the deviant backwater law officer -- in cahoots with the family of slaughter-happy cannibals -- who refuses to listen the cries and wails of Jessica Biel's Erin. (In fact, Nispel invented Ermey's role for the remake). After a comic turn as yet another tough-nosed authority figure, Captain Nichols, in the 2005 Tommy Lee Jones vehicle Man of the House, Ermey reprised the Hoyt role for the sequel to the Chainsaw remake, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006). In that picture, Hoyt precipitates the central crisis by happening upon another group of teens, murdering one in cold blood, and dragging the others back to the house where maniac Leatherface and his cronies reside. R. Lee Ermey married his wife, Nila Ermey, in 1975. They have four children.

Trivia: Hunky soap star Mark Valley felt the bite of the acting bug in high school, but the young man's long-term plans didn't include the bright lights of Hollywood. After graduation, Valley attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he earned a degree in mathematics before being stationed in Germany for the better part of five years. The soldier also put his training into action as part of the ground forces in Operation Desert Storm, but it was in Berlin that a talent agent noticed his photogenic face and charismatic nature. The agent convinced Valley to explore the artistic talent he'd noticed so many years before, and he took up the acting profession when his tour of duty ended. The agent helped Valley land small roles on German television while he studied his new craft at the Etage School of Arts. With a few credits on his resumé, Valley then headed back to the States, where he scored a role in the 1993 John Schlesinger film The Innocent, and a role on the soap opera Another World. It was a part on another soap, however, that would earn Valley a loyal fan base. In 1994, he assumed a prominent role on Days of Our Lives, playing Jack Deveraux. Even though three other actors had played the part before, Valley rose to the occasion, winning the hearts of skeptical fans. He would continue to play the role until 1997, at which point he explored his new professional freedom by taking supporting roles in a variety of movies such as The Siege, Some Girl, and The Next Best Thing. As the new millennium began, a slew of TV appearances carried Valley from project to project as he assumed a regular role as the bad-news ex-husband of Maura Tierney on ER, and a government agent on The 4400. Then in 2003, Valley landed his first starring role in a prime-time show, Keen Eddie. He was cast as the titular New York City police detective, Eddie Arlette, who follows the trail of several criminals to London where he then works together with law enforcement during an extended stay. Co-starring with him in the series was soon-to-be up-and-coming actress Sienna Miller, playing his unexpected flatmate. Only a handful of episodes of the series aired on Fox before it was canceled, but it fared better when it was later shown on Bravo, including the episodes that had never been aired on network TV. Wasting no time, Valley soon found another regular TV role the following year, playing attorney Brad Chase on the quirky drama Boston Legal. He was able to hold his own alongside big-name veteran actors James Spader and William Shatner, and the show proved to be a major success. In 2006, Valley signed on to appear in Nanking, Bill Guttentag's documentary about the 1937 massacre of the Chinese city.

Trivia: American actor Buck Taylor was the son of western comical sidekick Dub "Cannonball" Taylor. Buck was born in 1938, coincidentally the same year that Taylor pere made his film debut in You Can't Take it with You. True to his heritage, Buck showed up in the occasional western, notably Cattle Annie and Little Britches (1980) and Triumphs of a Man Called Horse (1983). For the most part, Taylor's film roles fell into the "young character" niche, notably his appearances in Ensign Pulver (1964), The Wild Angels (1966) (as motorcycle punk Dear John), and Pickup on 101 (1972). Buck Taylor will probably be seen on TV in perpetuity thanks to his recurring role as Newly O'Brian on the marathon TV western Gunsmoke, a role which he recreated for a 1987 Gunsmoke reunion film.

Trivia: Bobby Brown's first few acting gigs were roles to be remembered. He made his debut, as part of his 1980s boy band New Edition, in Be Somebody or Be Somebody's Fool!, '80s icon Mr. T's bizarre attempt to instill high self-esteem in the children of the decade. New Edition also had a sizeable role in Krush Groove, a biography of rap producer Russell Simmons that also served as the first rock & roll movie to focus firmly on hip-hop. Brown chose to focus on music after these experiences, although he didn't rule out taking the occasional part in movies down the road. Despite his successes in both of these arts, Brown is probably best known as Whitney Houston's bad-boy husband. Brown was born February 5, 1969, in Boston, MA. He grew up in the Boston area and became friends as a kid with Ralph Tresvant. The pair later formed New Edition with three others, which launched Brown into stardom before he quit the group in 1986.Brown took only two acting roles between 1985 and 1995 -- a cameo in Ghostbusters II (for which he also provided a song) and as one of the Three Blind Mice in Shelly Duvall's Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme. He returned to acting in 1995 in Panther, Mario and Melvin van Peebles' look at the Black Panther movement. In between sporadic run-ins with the law and the occasional prison sentence, Brown continued to act, taking roles in A Thin Line Between Love and Hate with Martin Lawrence and Go for Broke with Pras, the least-active member of The Fugees.In 2005, he turned to reality television, starring in his own series, Being Bobby Brown. He frequently dipped back into the medium, with the singing competition Gone Country in 2008 and Celebrity Fit Club in 2010. Brown also appeared on the reality show parody Real Husbands of Hollywood.

Trivia: Lisa Stewart has spent much of her career as an assistant to director Cameron Crowe; she made her debut as an associate producer with Jerry Maguire (1996). A native of Connecticut and a graduate of Stanford University, she entered the film business via Gracie Films, as a production assistant on The Tracey Ullman Show and The Simpsons. She teamed up with Cameron Crowe Productions in 1990, where she became director of development, as well as a producer.