Trivia: Given his formidable success in numerous arenas of the entertainment industry, the multi-talented Will Smith qualifies as an original "Renaissance man." Although Smith initially gained fame as the rap star Fresh Prince prior to the age of 20, (with constant MTV airplay and blockbuster record sales), he cut his chops as an A-list Hollywood actor on the small and big screens in successive years, unequivocally demonstrating his own commercial viability and sturdy appeal to a broad cross section of viewers. A Philadelphia native, Smith entered the world on September 25, 1968. The son of middle-class parents (his father owned a refrigeration company and his mother worked for the school board) and the second of four children, Smith started rapping from the age of 12, and earned the nickname "Prince" thanks to his ability to slickly talk his way out of trouble. Smith engendered this moniker as a household phrase when he officially formed the duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, with fellow performer Jeff Townes in 1986. That team netted two Grammys (one for the seminal 1988 youth anthem "Parents Just Don't Understand" and one for the 1991 single "Summertime") and scored commercially with a series of albums up through their disbandment in 1993 that did much to dramatically broaden the age range of rap listeners (unlike artists in the gangsta rap subgenre, Smith and Townes never ventured into R- or X-rated subject matter or language). However, by the time he was 21, Smith had frittered away much of his fortune and had fallen into debt with the IRS. Help arrived in the form of Warner Bros. executive Benny Medina, who wanted to create a family-friendly sitcom based on his own experiences as a poor kid living with a rich Beverly Hills family, starring the genial Smith. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air debuted on NBC on September 10, 1990, and became a runaway hit, lasting six seasons. The program imparted to Smith -- who had turned down an MIT scholarship to pursue his career -- even wider audience exposure as the show's protagonist, introducing him to legions of viewers who fell outside of the rap market. During Prince's lengthy run, Smith began to branch out into film work. Following roles in Where the Day Takes You (1992) and Made in America (1993), he drew substantial critical praise on the arthouse circuit, as a young gay con man feigning an identity as Sidney Poitier's son, in Six Degrees of Separation (1993), directed by Fred Schepisi and adapted by John Guare from his own play. Smith also elicited minor controversy around this time for remarks he made in an interview that some perceived as homophobic. In 1994, Smith and Martin Lawrence signed on with powerhouse producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer to co-star in the action-comedy Bad Boys, in which the two play a hotshot pair of Miami cops; it eventually raked in over 141 million dollars worldwide. The following year, Smith topped his Bad Boys success (and then some) with a turn in the sci-fi smash Independence Day, the effects-laden tale of an alien invasion. Co-written, executive-produced, and directed by Roland Emmerich for 20th Century Fox, this picture eventually pulled in over 816 million dollars globally, making it not only the top grosser of 1996, but one of the most lucrative motion pictures in history. Smith then tackled the same thematic ground (albeit in a completely different genre), as a government-appointed alien hunter partnered up with Tommy Lee Jones in Barry Sonnenfeld's zany comedy Men in Black (1997), another smash success. Not long after this, Smith achieved success on a personal front as well, as he married actress Jada Pinkett on New Year's Eve 1998. The following autumn, Smith returned to cinemas with Enemy of the State, a conspiracy thriller with Gene Hackman that had him on the run from government agents. That film scored a commercial bull's-eye, but its triumph preceded a minor disappointment. The following summer, Smith starred opposite Kevin Kline in Wild Wild West, Sonnenfeld's lackluster follow-up to Men in Black, an overwrought and ham-handed cinematic rendering of the late-'60s TV hit.The late fall of 2000 found Smith back in cinemas, playing a mysterious golf caddy who tutors down-on-his-luck putter Matt Damon in the syrupy The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000). Smith then trained rigorously for his most demanding role up to that point: that of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali in director Michael Mann's biopic Ali (2001). The film struggled to find an audience, and critics were mixed, even if Smith's well-studied performance earned praise as well as his first Oscar nomination. While Smith executive produced the Robert De Niro/Eddie Murphy comedy Showtime (2002), he doubled it up with work in front of the camera, on the sci-fi comedy sequel Men in Black II, also helmed by Barry Sonnenfeld. As expected, the film made an unholy amount of money; he followed it up with yet another sequel, the Bruckheimer-produced Bad Boys II. It topped the box office, as expected. The next year saw Smith pull the one-two punch of I, Robot -- a futuristic, effects-laden fantasy -- and the CG-animated Shark Tale, in which he voiced Oscar, a little fish with a big attitude who scrubs whales for a living. While Smith had proven himself as an action star time and again and had received high marks for his dramatic work, it remained to be seen if he could carry a romantic comedy. All speculation ceased in early 2005 with the release of Hitch: Starring Smith as a fabled "date doctor," the film had the biggest opening weekend for a rom-com to date, leading many to wonder if there was anything Smith couldn't do.The following year, Smith starred in the period drama The Pursuit of Happyness. Set in early-'80s San Francisco, and directed by Gabriele Muccino (a director specifically summoned for the task by Smith), the film recounted the true story of Charles Gardner (Smith), a single dad struggling in an unpaid position as an intern at Dean Witter, all in an effort to be able provide for his son. The film tapped new reserves of compassion and desparation in Smith's persona, as he managed to fully embody another real-life character while maintaining all of the qualities that endeared him to audiences in the first place: His humor, his hustle and his ingenuity. Upon its release, Happyness provided Smith with perhaps his first cinematic hat trick: critical praise, a second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and staggering box-office success (the film would become one of his largest hits). Meanwhile, he began work as the lead in I Am Legend (2007), the third screen incarnation of sci-fi giant Richard Matheson's seminal novel of the same title (following a 1964's The Last Man on Earth, and 1971's The Omega Man).The actor continued to keep busy in 2008 with films including Seven Pounds (despite an unintentionally comical suicide by sea life, the film was a critical failure) and superhero comedy Hancock, featuring Smith in the lead role as a hard-drinking ne'er-do-well who is reluctantly thrust into the world of crime-fighting. After producing a remake of The Karate Kid (starring his son, Jaden Smith) and spy comedy This Means War, Smith reprised his role as Agent J for Men in Black III in 2012. MIB III was a box office success, in no small part due to the chemistry between Smith and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones).

Trivia: Actor/comedian Martin Lawrence started the 21st century off with a bang, starring and executive producing Big Momma's House, the story of an FBI agent posing as a corpulent Southern matriarch, which went on to gross more than 100 million dollars, despite universally negative reviews. The success of this film pushed Lawrence ever closer to joining the much-coveted 20-million-dollar club, cementing his reputation as one of the biggest comic stars for years to come.Lawrence was born in Frankfurt, Germany, on April 16, 1965, and eventually settled with his family in suburban Maryland around his sixth birthday. Soon after, his father left the family; Lawrence claims he got his start as a comedian by cheering up his mother, who was forced to support her six children by cashiering in various department stores. He attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Landover, MD, dabbling in sports and sticking with comedy, even agreeing to stop acting up in an art class in return for performing his stand-up routine in front of the other students.Soon after graduating, the bug-eyed performer earned a chance to perform on Star Search, which led to a role in 1985's What's Happening Now! Lawrence kept honing his frenetic schtick and by 1989, won two big breaks -- a supporting role in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and MCing HBO's Def Comedy Jam. Lawrence continued to rack up scene-stealing roles throughout the early '90s, including parts in House Party, House Party 2, and Boomerang, eventually landing his own series on Fox in 1992, appropriately named Martin. The show became a huge success, its risqué humor making it a ratings stalwart for more than five years and winning two NAACP Image Awards in the process, although some detractors criticized Lawrence for promoting the image of an oversexed, insensitive black man.Two years after Martin's successful launch, Lawrence released You So Crazy!, a raunchy, vulgarity-laced comedy that originally received the NC-17 rating and was later released unrated. Its crudeness, however, didn't matter much to audiences, as You So Crazy! went on to become one of the highest-grossing concert films of its time.Lawrence appeared to have it all, professionally and privately; in 1995 he married former beauty queen Patricia Southall in a lavish ceremony and the pair had a daughter, Jasmine. Around this time, however, Lawrence's success story began to slip away, his off-camera behavior setting up what should someday be a fascinating E! True Hollywood Story.On the set of his directorial debut, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Lawrence erupted in a violent outburst and began taking psychotropic drugs. A few months later, he was arrested for another disturbance, where he reportedly brandished a pistol and screamed at tourists and others on Ventura Boulevard. Over the next two years, his behavior became even more erratic as he racked up a series of gun-related arrests. He landed in drug rehab and filed for divorce from Southall after she got a temporary restraining order against him for yet another vicious eruption.But the most bizarre and unsettling charges were yet to come. Tisha Campbell, Lawrence's co-star on Martin and the House Party films, filed suit against the star and the show's producers, HBO Studios, claiming Lawrence sexually harassed her to the point that she feared for her safety. The studio brokered a settlement that allowed Campbell to finish the show's final season, although she and Lawrence would never be on the soundstage together again.Despite all the trauma, Lawrence seemed as popular as ever. He starred in four hugely commercial successes between 1995 and 1999, including Bad Boys with Will Smith, Nothing to Lose with Tim Robbins, Life with Eddie Murphy, and on his own in Blue Streak. These films made Lawrence extremely bankable -- his salary broke the ten-million-dollar mark for Big Momma's House and it seemed as if his previous troubles were behind him.Then in 1999, while jogging to lose an extra few pounds before filming began on Big Momma's House, Lawrence collapsed into a severe coma due to heat exhaustion, delaying the production's start and firing up the old rumors of drug use and unpredictable behavior. But after recuperating, Lawrence said the coma scare put him back on the straight and narrow.His career trajectory certainly supported this -- after the success of Big Momma's House, he reportedly earned 13 million dollars for What's the Worst That Could Happen? with Danny DeVito. He earned upwards of 16.5 million dollars for Black Knight, which featured Lawrence as a down-on-his-luck employee of a theme restaurant who finds himself transported back to medieval times. Lawrence's next film appearance, Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat, once again found the popular but controversial funnyman taking to the stage, though this time in a far more personal bid to humorize the sometimes startling headlines that had left many fans fearing for both his health and sanity. Seemingly purged of his current demns and eager to settle back into a lucrative film career, Lawrence took to the screen opposite Steve Zahn for the high-speed action comedy National Secuity (2003) before gearing up for the sequel to Bad Boys. After a relatively quiet 2004, Lawrence attempted to broaden his appeal by playing a basketball coach in the family-oriented comedy Rebound. In 2006 Lawrence performed in his first animated film, Open Season, opposite Ashton Kutcher, and released the sequel to one of his biggest comedy hits Big Momma's House 2. That same year he filmed the biker road comedy Wild Hogs alongside Tim Allen and John Travolta.

Trivia: Gabrielle Union had planned on attending law school, but began acting after the modeling agency she interned with as a college junior asked to represent her. She then won a series of small roles in television and film, including Love and Basketball, 10 Things I Hate About You (both 1999), and a part on the short-lived series City of Angels (2000). But her career really took off after her breakthrough portrayal of a sassy cheerleading captain from Compton in the late-summer surprise hit Bring It On (2000).It's ironic that cheerleading would be the activity that helped launch Union's star. The Omaha, NE, native was born October 29, 1973, and spent much of her youth playing sports, from soccer to basketball to track. She attended high school in Nebraska, where she was an all-star point guard, and, after graduating, moved to Los Angeles to attend school at U.C.L.A.After graduating with honors, Union chose to forego law school, stay in L.A., and concentrate on her acting career, which took off after her sparring with cheerleading rival Kirsten Dunst in Bring It On. After that film's release, Union won a substantial role in The Brothers and was slated to appear with an all-star cast in Welcome to Collinwood, as well as in Oscar-winner Stephen Gaghan's directorial debut Abandon. Her future film line up looking ever more impressive, Union took her biggest role to date as the acerbic titular character in the comedy Deliver Us from Eva, and continue to perform in films including Cradle 2 the Grave and Bad Boys II.In 2012, Union took on a supporting role in the comedy Think Like a Man, an adaptation of author and comedian Steve Harvey's self-help book of the same name.

Trivia: With a cool stoic gaze suggesting unmentionable thoughts lurking somewhere deep behind those deep, blank eyes, popular character actor Peter Stormare offered American audiences slightly discomforting comic relief in Joel and Ethan Coen's popular dark comedy Fargo (1996), though his versatility and adaptability have since led him to roles in everything from major Hollywood blockbusters to the stripped-down Dogma 95 efforts of eccentric Danish director Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark (2000). Born Peter Rolf Stormare in Arbra, Sweden, on August 27th,1953, the dynamic Nordic actor began his career with an 11-year stint with the Royal National Theater of Sweden. Aside from appearing in such productions as Don Juan and The Curse of the Starving Class, Stormare would pen such original plays as El Paso and The Electric Boy. Later earning positive critical reception in such classic Shakespearian productions as King Lear, the actor made his big-screen debut, and began a 15-year association with legendary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, with a brief appearance in Fanny and Alexander in 1982. Later earning positive critical reception for his role in the legendary filmmaker's stage adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet in 1988, Stormare continued to gain career trajectory with numerous memorable stage and film roles in his native country. In 1990, Stormare became the Associate Artistic Director at the Tokyo Globe Theatre and made his American screen debut as a neurochemist who questions Robin Williams' experimental medical tactics in the touching Awakenings. Subsequently appearing in numerous international films (Freud's Leaving Home [1991] and Damage [1992]), Stormare hit his stateside stride with his chilling turn as a woodchipper-happy kidnapper in Fargo. Though he would continue to make appearances in such Swedish efforts as Ett Sorts Hades and Bergman's In the Presence of a Clown (1996 and 1997 respectively), his Hollywood star was on the rise with memorable roles in such increasingly mega-budgeted efforts as The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Armageddon (1998). Equally adept in comparatively low-budget efforts such as director George Romero's Bruiser (2000) and the aforementioned Dancer -- two roles which couldn't possibly be more polar opposites -- Stormare branched out into sitcom territory with his turn as Julia Louis-Dreyfuss' enamored superintendent in the ill-fated Watching Ellie in 2002. It wasn't long before Stormare was back on the silver screen, and with the same year potential blockbuster triple threat of The Tuxedo, Windtalkers, and Minority Report, it appeared as if Stormare's unique talents were as in-demand as ever. 2002 also found the established actor branching out with his role as producer of the romantic comedy The Movie Nut and His Audience.In 2005 he joined the cast of The Brothers Grimm in the role of an interogator, and took on a regular role in the television drama Prison Break. Stormare made guest appearances on a variety of television stand-outs throughout the 2000s, among them including Weeds, Monk, Entourage, and Hawaii Five-0.

Trivia: Though American actress Theresa Randle has only been in films since 1990, she has already worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. She made her debut with a small role in Maid to Order (1987) and appeared sporadically in films such as Easy Wheels (1989), but first gained national notice when director Spike Lee cast her as an aspiring actress who works for a phone sex service in Girl 6 (1996). Prior to that, Randle had played small roles in two other Lee films, Jungle Fever (1991) and Malcolm X (1992). Other notable directors with whom she has worked include Robert Townsend and John Landis. In 1996, she starred opposite basketball superstar Michael Jordan and the stars of the old Warner Bros.' cartoons in the b-ball fantasy Space Jam. In 1997, Randle played a major role in the film adaptation of Todd McFarlane's popular comic Spawn (1997).

Trivia: One of today's best character actors, the inexhaustible Joe Pantoliano boasts over 100 film, television, and stage credits. A favorite of directors Richard Donner, Steven Spielberg, Andrew Davis, and Andy and Larry Wachowski, he is also a dependable scene stealer with more than his share of memorable roles -- including killer pimp Guido in Risky Business (1983), bumbling criminal Francis Fratelli in The Goonies (1985), double-crossing bail bondsman Eddie Moscone in Midnight Run (1988), cynical U.S. Marshall Cosmo Renfro in The Fugitive (1993), turncoat Cypher in The Matrix (1999), and shady sidekick Teddy in Memento (2000). Born on September 12, 1951 in Hoboken, NJ, the actor is the only son of Dominic, a hearse driver, and Mary Pantoliano, a part-time seamstress/bookie. When he was 12, Pantoliano's mother left his father for her distant cousin Florio, though the couple never officially divorced. Pantoliano and his younger sister Maryann grew up throughout northern New Jersey with their mother and Florio, whom they eventually came to regard as their stepfather. Pantoliano suffered from severe dyslexia, and at age 17, he was still reading at the third-grade level. After seeing the youngster perform in his senior play, Up the Down Staircase, Florio convinced him to pursue acting professionally. Pantoliano moved to Manhattan, where he worked as a waiter while juggling acting classes and auditions. In 1972, he landed the coveted role of stuttering Billy Bibbit in the touring production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Four years later, Pantoliano moved west to try his luck in Hollywood. After making his television debut in the sitcom pilot McNamara's Band, he landed a recurring role in Rob Reiner's summer replacement series, Free Country. Reiner then tapped Pantoliano to co-star with him in James Burrows' television movie More Than Friends (1978). This led to the part of Angelo Maggio -- a role originated by fellow Hoboken-ite Frank Sinatra -- in NBC's miniseries adaptation of James Jones' From Here to Eternity (1979). After making his major feature-film debut in The Idolmaker (1980), Pantoliano guest starred on Hart to Hart, M*A*S*H, and Hardcastle and McCormick, as well as appeared on the Los Angeles stage in Orphans. He also landed a sizable part opposite a young Tom Cruise in the surprise hit Risky Business (1983). The comic ruthlessness with which Pantoliano's pimp tortures Cruise quickly earned the character actor a loyal cult following. He gave standout performances in Eddie and the Cruisers (1983) and the off-Broadway play Visions of Kerouac, before thrilling audiences again in the Spielberg-produced adventure The Goonies (1985). Scores of plum roles followed: Pantoliano joined Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines in Running Scared (1986), portrayed Lou Diamond Phillips' music producer in La Bamba (1987), re-teamed with Spielberg in Empire of the Sun (1987), and acted opposite Robert De Niro in Midnight Run (1988). He then topped these performances off with an unforgettable turn opposite Tommy Lee Jones and Harrison Ford in The Fugitive (1993), delivering a funny, fiery tour de force that was pure Pantoliano right down to the name he chose for his character, Cosmo -- his grandfather's name. By the mid-'90s, Pantoliano had a recognizable name and a devoted fan base. While making numerous television guest appearances, he starred with Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon in directors Andy and Larry Wachowski's debut thriller, Bound (1996). Pantoliano's edgy performance as a doomed money launderer impressed the Wachowskis so much that they created the character of Cypher in The Matrix (1999) exclusively for him. Shortly afterward, his co-star in the sci-fi spectacular, Carrie-Anne Moss, insisted that director Christopher Nolan hire Pantoliano for the third lead in his sleeper-hit Memento (2000). In 2001, at the behest of producer David Chase, Pantoliano joined the cast of the landmark HBO series The Sopranos. While earning a well-deserved Emmy as psychopathic mobster Ralphie Cifaretto on the hit show, the actor published Who's Sorry Now: The True Story of a Stand-Up Guy, a bittersweet memoir about his New Jersey childhood. He also put the finishing touches on his directorial debut, Just Like Mona (2002), and began filming his role as reporter Ben Urich in the comic book adaptation Daredevil (2003). Over the course of the next decade, the versatile actor continued his trend of turning in memorable supporting performances on film and television, with turns in films like Bad Boys II and Pecy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief offering the most exposure. Meanwhile, in 2009, Pantoliano got personal with his fans as the director of No Kidding, Me Too!, a playful yet poignant documentary exploring the devastating effects of mental illness, and the steps being taken to eradicate it.

Trivia: Distinguished character actor Michael Shannon essayed a diverse series of characterizations onscreen, beginning just after the start of the new millennium. A veteran member of Chicago's experimental Red Orchid theatrical troupe, Shannon specialized in small, multidimensional portrayals that added to the overall effectiveness of each project -- per his contributions to Vanilla Sky (2001), 8 Mile (2002), and Bad Boys II (2003). Whenever necessary, Shannon imperceptibly blended into the material at hand. He played a therapist in Nicole Kassell's psychodrama The Woodsman (2004), yet by virtue of his emotional intensity and eccentric look, Shannon evinced an ability to dominate with his onscreen presence, as well. Nowhere was this tendency more evident than in William Friedkin's psychological thriller Bug (2006). As adapted by Tracy Letts from his own stage play, the film concerns a shabby and skanky drifter (Shannon, reprising his role from the play) with a serious complex of delusional schizophrenia, who believes that bugs are crawling beneath his skin and enters a terrifying pas de deux with a young waitress (Ashley Judd). Shannon followed it up with a memorable contribution to Oliver Stone's World Trade Center -- as a military man desperate to help in any way possible during the 9/11 tragedy -- and Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), a crime thriller about two brothers who team up to rob a jewelry store. Shannon grabbed his first taste of stardom with his breakout role as a mentally disturbed man in Sam Mendes' adaptation of Revolutionary Road. His truthful, menacing character cut through the main characters' self-deception, and Shannon's off-kilter delivery won him glowing notices from critics, as well as a nomination for Best Supporting Actor from the Academy. He worked steadily after that success appearing in The Greatest, Jonah Hex, and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. In 2010 he had a pair of critical successes that included his work as a repressed federal agent on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, and his portrayal of the eccentric rock entrepreneur Kim Fowler in The Runaways. In 2011 he again earned raves for his work a schizophrenic in Take Shelter. His intensity got him cast relatively often as bad guys, something he put to great effect in the 2012 action film Premium Rush and in the criminal biopic The Iceman.

Trivia: A boyishly handsome boxer-turned-actor who turned in his gloves for real after making his screen debut as a pugilist in the 1992 drama Gladiator, New York-born film and television star Jon Seda rose through the ranks in the '90s to make a name for himself as a bit player in such high-profile films as Carlito's Way and Twelve Monkeys -- though it wasn't until his 1997 debut on television's Homicide: Life on the Streets that audiences truly sat up and took notice. Those who had been following Seda's career since his early days had little doubt that the rising young star had what it took to make it as an actor, and following an Independent Spirit Award-winning role as a flawed but well-meaning husband and father in the 1994 drama I Like It Like That, major offers quickly began pouring in. An impressive run in the mid-'90s found Seda turning up in everything from such high-profile Hollywood fare as Primal Fear to such little-seen efforts as New York Cop and Michael Cimino's The Sunchaser -- the latter of which offered Seda in a particularly memorable role as a terminally-ill juvenile delinquent who kidnaps his doctor in hopes of finding a mythical healing lake. Following an impressive turn in the hit HBO prison series Oz, Seda hit his stride on the small screen with a turn as Detective Paul Falsone on Homicide: Life on the Street. By this time Seda was becoming a familiar face to audiences, and in 2000, he once again laced up his boxing gloves for a role opposite Jimmy Smits in the well-received feature Price of Glory. Despite his prominence and success in film and television, it still seemed as if Seda was awaiting the breakout role that would truly make him a household name. In 2002 he proved that he could carry a film when he took the lead in the street-gang drama King Rikki, with a role on the 2004 UPN series Kevin Hill, marking what fans hoped would be a successful return to the small screen.

Trivia: Actor Yul Vázquez fit the bill for Hispanic or generalized ethnic roles in Hollywood productions, but worked to some degree against the grain by seeking out some of the more atypical and offbeat assignments within this type. He debuted in the Arne Glimcher-directed period musical drama The Mambo Kings (1992) -- as a member of the 1950s band at the center of the story -- then followed it up with bit parts and supporting roles in big-screen productions including Fresh (1994), Nick of Time (1995), Bad Boys II (2003), and War of the Worlds (2005), as well as occasional guest appearances on such series programs as Seinfeld and Law & Order. In 2007, Vázquez joined the cast of Ridley Scott's period crime melodrama American Gangster, alongside Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.

Trivia: Since 1980, muscle-bound and tattoo-laden Henry Rollins has taken his status as one of the most distinctive frontmen in alternative rock and parlayed it into a career as a Gen-X Renaissance man, gaining notice as an actor, author, publisher, performance artist, record company executive, and commercial spokesman. Henry Rollins was born Henry Garfield on February 13, 1961, in Washington, D.C. ("Rollins" was a name he used as a joke in high school; it was taken from a friend's T-shirt ). As a teenager, Garfield developed a passionate interest in rock music at its most intense, and while in high school, he formed his first band, a hardcore punk outfit called S.O.A. (aka State of Alert), who released an EP in 1980. Henry was a passionate fan of the pioneering Los Angeles punk band Black Flag, and when Black Flag's vocalist Dez Cadena decided to step down as singer in 1981, the group's guitarist and leader Greg Ginn invited the newly renamed Henry Rollins to join. Black Flag became one of the hardest-working punk bands in America, constantly touring the United States and releasing eight albums and a handful of singles and EPs before calling it a day in 1986. During his tenure with Black Flag, Rollins developed an interest in writing and began publishing fiction, opinion pieces, and stream-of-consciousness rants in a number of magazines and rock journals, as well as distributing his own chapbooks through Black Flag's record label, SST. Rollins also began performing spoken-word shows of his material, as well as staging confrontational "performance art" events with Lydia Lunch. After Black Flag's breakup, Rollins formed a new group simply known as the Rollins Band and began touring heavily, recording with only slightly less frequency than Black Flag. Rollins continued to write and publish regularly and performed frequently as a spoken-word act, becoming one of the most recognizable figures in alternative rock circles. In 1991, Rollins signed with a major label, Imago Records, and toured as part of the first Lollapalooza Festival; Rollins had now won a wider audience than ever before, and he seemed determined to make the most of his new visibility. Rollins launched a publishing company, 2.13.61, which distributed his own work as well as books by fellow rockers-turned-authors Nick Cave and Jeffrey Lee Pierce and iconoclastic authors such as Hubert Selby Jr. and Bill Shields. Rollins later expanded 2.13.61 into a record label, as well as co-founded the reissue label Infinite Zero with producer Rick Rubin. While Rollins appeared in experimental films as early as 1985, his new level of visibility brought Hollywood calling, and in 1994 Rollins appeared in both the independent vampire story Jugular Wine and the action-comedy The Chase, in which he played a highway patrolman. 1995 found Rollins playing a scientist in the cyberpunk thriller Johnny Mnemonic and a brutal prison guard in David Lynch's Lost Highway, and from that point on Rollins began appearing in a variety of character roles when he wasn't occupied with his musical or literary activities. Rollins usually portrayed physically imposing and emotionally intense gentlemen, ranging from an escaped convict in Morgan's Ferry to a children's hockey coach in Jack Frost. A number of Rollins' spoken-word shows have also been released on home video, including Talking From the Box and You Saw Me Up There, and in 2000 Rollins signed on as the host and narrator of the television anthology series Night Visions, though as of this writing the series has yet to find a network.

Trivia: Russian actor and mixed martial artist Oleg Taktarov earned accolades in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the PRIDE Fighting Championship before retiring in 2001 to focus on a career on-screen. Leveraging his popularity in the fighting world, he began making appearances in action films like Bad Boys II, National Treasure, and Miami Vice, before coming out of retirement in 2007 to rack up additional successes, before retiring again in 2008. Taktarov then resumed his focus on movies, appearing in Predators and Righteous Kill.

Trivia: During his career in the National Basketball Association, John "Spider" Salley played on four championship teams, including the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan that many consider the sport's all-time greatest. His post-playing career has featured frequent television appearances, as well as scattered credits in motion pictures like Bad Boys II, Black Dynamite, and Confessions of a Shopaholic.

Trivia: Early in his acting career, Jordi Molla was in danger of being forever cast in pretty boy roles. Slender, short, and possessing a rugged and shaggy handsomeness, Molla changed that when he played a luckless small thief in La Buena Estrella (1997). Molla's other notable roles are in Bigas Luna's Jamon, Jamon (1994) and Montxo Armendariz's Kronen Stories (1994).

Trivia: Served for two years in the Army after his graduation.Met his wife Vickery Turner in 1973 while working on The Day After The Fair.In 1981, actor Kevin Bacon starred in the first play he wrote, Deros On the Funny Farm.The figure of the American president is a recurring feature in his career, including potraying John F. Kennedy in Red Dwarf and writing and starring in JFK on JFK.Skilled at American football, ice skating, golf and swimming.Best known for his work in Future Cop and We'll Meet Again.