Trivia: Actor, musician, and cult idol ascendant, Jack Black is known for both the characters he portrays on the screen and as one of the forces behind Tenacious D, a rock band/standup routine that Black has described as "a Smothers Brothers for the Dungeons and Dragons misfits set."A native of Santa Monica, CA, Black attended the University of California at Los Angeles. He got his professional start on the stage, appearing in Tim Robbins' production of Carnage at the 1989 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He would go on to collaborate with Robbins throughout his career, making his screen debut in the director's 1992 political satire Bob Roberts and appearing in Robbins' Dead Man Walking (1995) and Cradle Will Rock (1999). Black spent the '90s playing supporting and lead roles in a variety of films, including Demolition Man (1993), The Cable Guy (1996), which cast him as the best friend of Matthew Broderick's character, and Jesus' Son (1999), in which Black had a small but extremely memorable role as a pill-popping hospital orderly.In 2000, Black had one of his most recognizable and enthusiastically received screen roles to date in High Fidelity. Stephen Frears' popular adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel of the same name, it featured Black as Barry, a thoroughly obnoxious record-store employee. The part allowed the actor to do some of his own singing, a talent that he had previously inflicted on numerous audience members during his years with the aforementioned Tenacious D. The band, comprised of Black and fellow holy terror Kyle Gass, had existed since 1994, and it had been featured on the TV comedy series Mr. Show and as the subject of their own HBO series entitled (tongue firmly in cheek) Tenacious D: The Greatest Band on Earth. It was only a matter of time before Black stepped up from supporting character to leading man, and with the Farrelly brother's Shallow Hal Black may just have found the ideal vehicle for the successful transition. As a superficial man who falls in love with a 300-pound woman after being hypnotized to see only the "inner beauty" of the opposite sex, Black co-starred alongside Gwyneth Paltrow and Jason Alexander in what promised to be a charmingly offensive addition to the Farrelly canon.Though MTV Films' heavily marketed Orange County (2002) was not a huge commercial success, Black's supporting role as the lead character's slacker brother was well received by critics and long-time fans alike, and the once obscure figure began appearing on media outlets including Saturday Night Live, Primetime Glick, commercials for The Osbournes, and various MTV music and film awards. In 2003, Black starred in his first big hit -- director Richard Linklater's musical comedy School of Rock, which featured Black as a disgruntled heavy metal-guitarist doing a substitute teaching gig for extra cash. Critics were so taken by his performance that he was honored with a Golden Globe nomination.2004 saw Black turn in a cameo in the Will Ferrell vehicle Anchorman, after starring opposite Ben Stiller in director Barry Levinson's black comedy Envy. While the film was a box-office bomb after having its release pushed back several times, Black still had much to celebrate when it was announced he would be taking the lead in Peter Jackson's highly anticipated 2005 remake of King Kong. The epic film helped transition Black from a cult hero to a traditional movie star, though he was still careful to keep his original fans happy. In 2006, he starred in Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess' comedy Nacho Libre. The part of a disgruntled monk turned Lucha Libre idol was a perfect fit for the bombastic star, and he followed the performance up with another comic offering for his serious fans as he and Kyle Gass, his partner in Tenacious D, starred in Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. This big screen telling of the band's mythical history promised to be full of the over-the-top laughs that rocked fans of the group's HBO series, and also included appearances by rock and metal idols like Ronnie James Dio and Meatloaf, who portrayed Black's dad. Black didn't abandoning straight acting. He would appear in a number of more conventional, and even dramatic roles over the coming years, like in The Holiday and Margot at the Wedding, while still pursuing the broad comedic roles he was known for in full force, with comedies like Be Kind Rewind, Tropic Thunder, Year One, and The Big Year. In 2012, Black reteamed with Richard Linklater for a unique blending of comedy, drama, and crime, playing a congenial southern murder suspect in Bernie.

Trivia: Next to Liv Tyler, Angelina Jolie is the only actress of her generation who can thank her famous father for the lips that have become her trademark. The actress was born Angelina Jolie Voight to the pillow-lipped Jon Voight and actress Marcheline Bertrand on June 4, 1975, in Los Angeles.Raised mostly by her mother after her parents divorced while she was still a baby, Jolie moved around a lot with her mother and brother. She also did a fair amount of traveling as a professional model, living in such places as London, New York, and Los Angeles before settling for a time in New York as a student at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and New York University, where she first started acting in theater productions. The fledgling actress soon moved on to film with a small role in 1993's Cyborg 2, followed in 1995 by her turn as a computer hacker in the more widely seen Hackers. The film gave her her first taste of recognition, as well as an introduction to Trainspotting's Jonny Lee Miller, to whom she was married for a short time.After appearing in a number of mediocre films, Jolie finally hit it big in 1997 with her Golden Globe-winning performance as George Wallace's wife in the highly acclaimed TV movie George Wallace. The role, coupled with her Emmy-nominated performance in the title role of HBO's Gia, provided Jolie with a new level of professional respect and recognition. She was soon appearing on talk shows and in magazines, answering questions about everything from her multiple tattoos to her famous father to her brief marriage.She was also netting roles in high-profile projects: In 1998 Jolie headlined an ensemble cast that included Sean Connery, Gena Rowlands, Anthony Edwards, Gillian Anderson, Ryan Phillippe, and Madeline Stowe in Playing By Heart. The following year, she was part of another high-voltage cast in Mike Newell's Pushing Tin, co-starring alongside John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett. Although the film was neither a critical nor a financial success, it did little to diminish the rapid ascent of the career of the actress, who was in hot demand for projects that would further elevate her already rising star. In 2000, Jolie's star received one of its greatest boosts to date when the actress won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of a volatile mental patient in Girl, Interrupted. Later that year, her personal life also got a boost in the form of her April marriage to Billy Bob Thornton.Onscreen, Jolie was hard to miss in 2000. She starred in a number of films, including the crime thriller Gone in Sixty Seconds, in which she co-starred as a car thief alongside Nicolas Cage, and Original Sin, a thriller that featured her as the bad-seed bride of a Cuban tycoon (Antonio Banderas). If she was hard to miss in 2000, Jolie was impossible to escape in 2001 with her turn as shapely video-game adventuress Lara Croft in the long anticipated film adaptation of the popular Tomb Raider video-game franchise. Carrying on the tradition of video-game movies that are light on plot but heavy on the action, Tomb Raider (2001) and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life (2003) scored with summer audiences and quickly shot to number one at the box office despite disparaging reviews citing an incoherent story line, unlike Life or Something Like It, the 2002 romantic comedy-drama that critics and audiences alike would rather not have seen. On July 18th, 2002, Jolie filed for divorce from Thornton, claiming that their priorities no longer meshed after having adopted a Cambodian son, Maddox. Though the famously quirky couple were no longer, Angelina's film schedule remained hectic. In 2003 she would play a rich-girl-turned-humanitarian in Beyond Borders, while 2004 saw a host of parts for Jolie, including a role in Oliver Stone's Alexander, an epic biography of Alexander the Great starring Colin Farrell, as well as a turn alongside fellow Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and a role as a tough FBI agent in the thriller Taking Lives. Finally, Jolie closed out the year by lending her voice to Dreamworks' animated kid-flick Shark Tale.While the Jolie-starring Mr. and Mrs. Smith proved one of Summer 2005's biggest money-makers, the actress's name fell on the lips of gossip-mongers for most of the year not for the film itself, but rather for Jolie's relationship with costar Brad Pitt. Though the couple long shirked and denied rumors of an affair, the paparazzi regularly caught them together in public, and Pitt eventually filed for divorce from wife Jennifer Aniston. Subsequently, they not only conceived a child in fall 2005 (whom they named Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, but became foster parents to two adopted children, Maddox and an Ethiopian girl, Zahara Marley. Jolie delivered Shiloh in Namibia, via caesarian section, as May 2006 wrapped, and the couple flew an ob-gyn in from Los Angeles to assist with the birth. By mid-2006, Jolie - as an actress, personality, and sex symbol - claimed an almost matchless status in Hollywood popularity, rivaled only by Jennifer Aniston, ironically. That year saw Jolie claim a supporting role in Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd, and announce her forthcoming role in Beowulf. By late 2007, talk had begun to swirl in the trades regarding Jolie's enlistment in a high-budget action franchise based on the life and adventures of U.S. intelligence operative Kathi Lynn Austin. In 2007, her portrayal of Marianne Pearl in Michael Winterbottom's adaptation of A Mighty Heart earned her strong reviews and nominations for Best Actress from a number of organizations including the Screen Actors Guild. Although Oscar snubbed her for that performance, she landed in the big race the following year with her work in Clint Eastwood's The Changeling. As a mother searching for her kidnapped son, Jolie again garnered nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press, and the Screen Actors Guild, as well as securing her first Oscar nod since winning years earlier for Girl, Interrupted. For her next several projects, Jolie kept things upbeat and intense, starring in action movies like Wanted, The Tourist, and most notably, 2010's Salt, in which Jolie's performance as the title character Evelyn Salt had many reviewers calling her the female James Bond. Jolie would also provide the voice of Tigress in the childrens' animated film Kung Fu Panda and its sequel, before taking on her next big hurdle: stepping behind the camera.Never timid when it comes to new challenges, Jolie dove into her new role full force, directing as well as producing the 2012 war drama In the Land of Blood and Honey, a tragic love story that takes place during the Bosnian War. The film's uncompromising depiction of the war atrocities that marked the conflict caused some stir in Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia, but her choices were largely celebrated by Bosnians, as well as most critics in the U.S. and Europe.Jolie returned to acting in 2014, playing the title character in Disney's Maleficent, which would prove to Jolie's biggest live-acting hit, passing the box office totals for Mr. & Mrs. Smith, taking in $600 million.

Trivia: The emergence of Dustin Hoffman in 1967 heralded the arrival of a new era of Hollywood stardom. Diminutive, wiry and unassuming, he was anything but the usual matinee idol, yet he quickly distinguished himself among the most popular and celebrated screen performers of his generation. A notoriously difficult talent famous for his battles with directors as well as his total immersion in his performances, Hoffman further battled against stereotypes by accepting roles which cast him firmly as an antihero, often portraying troubled, even tragic figures rarely destined for a happy ending. By extension, he broke new ground for all actors -- not only were stars no longer limited to heroic, larger-than-life characterizations, but in his wake virtually anyone, regardless of their seeming physical limitations, could attain success on the big screen. Born August 8, 1937 in Los Angeles, Hoffman originally studied to become a doctor, but later focused his attentions on acting, performing regularly at the Pasadena Playhouse alongside fellow aspirant Gene Hackman. Upon relocating to New York City, he worked a series of odd jobs, landing the occasional small television role and later touring in summer stock. Frustrated by his lack of greater success, Hoffman once even left acting to teach, but in 1960 he won a role in the off-Broadway production Yes Is for a Very Young Man. After 1961's A Cook for Mr. General, however, he continued to struggle, and did not reappear onstage for several years, in the meantime studying with Lee Strasberg at the Actors' Studio and becoming a dedicated Method actor. Finally, in 1964 Hoffman appeared in a string of theatrical projects including productions of Waiting for Godot and The Dumbwaiter. Two years later he won a Best Actor Obie for his work in The Journey of the Fifth Horse. In 1967 Hoffman made his film debut with a tiny role in the feature The Tiger Makes Out, a similarly brief appearance in Un Dollaro per Sette Vigliachi followed later that same year, as did a highly-acclaimed turn in the theatrical farce Eh? It was here that he was first spotted by director Mike Nichols, who cast him in the lead role in his 1967 black comedy The Graduate. Though 30 at the time of filming, Hoffman was perfectly cast as an alienated college student, and his work won him not only an Oscar nomination but also made him a hugely popular performer with the youth market. His status as a burgeoning counterculture hero was solidified thanks to his work in John Schlesinger's 1969 Academy Award winner Midnight Cowboy, which earned Hoffman a second Oscar bid. While the follow-up, the romance John and Mary, was a disappointment, in 1970 he starred in Arthur Penn's Little Big Man, delivering a superb portrayal of an Indian fighter -- a role which required him to age 100 years. Directed by his longtime friend Ulu Grosbard, 1971's Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? was Hoffman's first outright failure. He next starred in Sam Peckinpah's harrowing Straw Dogs, a film which earned harsh criticism during its original release but which, like much of Peckinpah's work, was later the subject of much favorable reassessment. In 1973 Hoffman co-starred with Steve McQueen in the prison drama Papillon, which returned him to the ranks of box-office success before he starred as the legendary stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce in Bob Fosse's 1974 biography Lenny, a stunning portrayal which earned him a third Academy Award nomination. Another real-life figure followed as Hoffman portrayed Carl Bernstein opposite Robert Redford's Bob Woodward in All the President's Men, Alan J. Pakula's riveting docudrama on the Watergate break-in. Next, Hoffman reteamed with director Schlesinger for 1976's Marathon Man, which cast him alongside Laurence Olivier and scored another major hit. The1978 Straight Time, a pet project helmed by Grosbard, was critically acclaimed but a financial disappointment, and 1979's Agatha pleased neither audiences nor the media. The 1979 domestic drama Kramer vs. Kramer, on the other hand, was a major success with both camps, and Hoffman's portrayal of a divorced father finally earned him an Academy Award on his fourth attempt at the prize. He also won a Golden Globe, as well as honors from the New York and Los Angeles critics. Hoffman's next film, the Sydney Pollack-helmed 1982 comedy Tootsie, was even more successful at the box office. Starring as an out-of-work actor who dresses in drag to win a role on a soap opera, he earned yet another Oscar nomination as the film grossed nearly $100 million during its theatrical release. After a long absence, Hoffman returned to the stage in 1984 to portray Willy Loman in a Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman. A year later, he reprised the performance for a CBS television special, earning an Emmy and another Golden Globe. He did not return to films until 1987, when he shared top billing with Warren Beatty in Elaine May's disastrous comedy Ishtar. In the wake of the big-budget project's chilly audience reception, any number of films were discussed as a follow-up, but after much debate Hoffman finally agreed to co-star with Tom Cruise in Barry Levinson's 1988's Rain Man. His performance as a middle-aged autistic won a second "Best Actor" Oscar, and helped spur the picture to become a major financial as well as critical success. The following year Hoffman again turned to Broadway to star as Shylock in a presentation of The Merchant of Venice, followed by the motion picture Family Business, in which he starred with Sean Connery and Matthew Broderick. After making an unbilled and virtually unrecognizable cameo appearance in Beatty's 1990 comic strip adaptation Dick Tracy, Hoffman starred in the 1991 crime drama Billy Bathgate, the first in a string of films which saw his drawing power gradually diminishing throughout the decade. That same year he starred as Captain Hook opposite Robin Williams' portrayal of an adult Peter Pan in the Steven Spielberg fantasy Hook; after 1992's Hero proved similarly lackluster, Hoffman disappeared from the screen for three years. His comeback film, the adventure tale Outbreak, performed moderately well at the box office, but the follow-up, Michael Corrente's oft-delayed adaptation of the David Mamet drama American Buffalo, saw only limited release. Hoffman next joined an ensemble cast also including Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt in Levinson's 1996 drama Sleepers, trailed a year later by Costa-Gavras' Mad City, Sphere and Wag the Dog followed, the latter of which netted Hoffman another Best Actor nomination for his portrayal of Stanley Motss, a neurotic producer reportedly based on Robert Evans. In 2002, Hoffman appeared in the poignant, psychological drama Moonlight Mile. He continued to take selective but memorable supporting roles throughout the new millennium, playing roles like a dedicated lawyer in Runaway Jury and theatrical producer Charles Frohman in Finding Neverland. In 2004, he provided audiences with laughter in the quirky existential comedy I Heart Huckabees, and in 2005 he played Ben Stiller's eccentric father in the Meet the Parents sequel Meet the Fockers, returning to the part in 2010's Little Fokkers. In 2006, the veteran actor grabbed two more opportunities to play up his trademark brand of quirkiness in the Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson comedy Stranger Than Fiction and played a 243 year old owner or a strangely enchanted toy store in Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Hoffman also voiced the wise master of Kung Fu Panda in a pair of animated films.

Trivia: Another distinguished product of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Lancashire-born Ian McShane made his professional stage, film and TV debut all in the same year: 1962. McShane's subsequent stage credits were as extensive as they were impressive, ranging from centuries-old classics to Tennessee Williams and Joe Orton. His TV resumé includes any number of TV-movies and miniseries: he played Judas in the internationally produced Jesus of Nazareth (1977) and was seen as the title character in the British "mini" Disraeli (1979). In America, he was a regular on the 1989-90 season of Dallas, playing Don Lockwood. McShane gained an international fan following as a result of his starring role in the widely-distributed TV series The Lovejoy Mysteries, originally filmed in 1986, then brought back by popular demand in 1990. Throughout the 90s, McShane was mostly absent from both the big screen and the small one. However, in 2000, he received recognition for playing a tough crime boss in the critically acclaimed Sexy Beast. It was certainly this hard-edged persona that attracted the producers of HBO's Deadwood to McShane. In 2004, he found himself with a regular gig on the foul-mouthed Western series, starring as an unscrupulous tavern-owner in a lawless 19th-century American prospecting town. He stayed with the show for its entire run, soon moving on to star as Max in the Broadway revival of Harold Pinter's The Homecoming, before signing on to star in the NBC drama Kings in 2008. Loosely based on the story of King David, the show followed the story of a dynastic family in present-day America, but was cancelled after just a season. He went on to appear in the quirky thriller A 44 Inch Chest, before joining the likes of Donald Sutherland in the fantasy mini-series The Pillars of the Earth in 2010. Sticking with the fantastical theme, McShane next signed on to play the legendary pirate Blackbeard in the 2011 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.In years to come, McShane would appear in several films, like Snow White and the Huntsman, as well as the mini series Pillars of the Earth.From 1965 to 1968, Ian McShane was married to actress Suzanne Farmer.

Trivia: One of the most popular film personalities in the world, Jackie Chan came from a poverty-stricken Hong Kong family -- so poor, claims Chan, that he was almost sold in infancy to a wealthy British couple. As it turned out, Chan became his family's sole support. Enrolled in the Chinese Opera Research Institute at the age of seven, he spent the next decade in rigorous training for a career with the Peking Opera, excelling in martial arts and acrobatics. Billed as Cheng Lung, Chan entered films in his mid-teens, appearing in 25 productions before his 20th birthday. Starting out as a stunt man, Chan was promoted to stardom as the potential successor to the late Bruce Lee. In his earliest starring films, he was cast as a stone-cold serious type, determined to avenge Lee's death. Only when he began playing for laughs did Chan truly attain full celebrity status. Frequently referred to as the Buster Keaton of kung-fu, Chan's outlook on life is a lot more optimistic than Keaton's, but in his tireless devotion to the most elaborate of sight gags and the most awe-inspiring of stunts (many of which have nearly cost him his life), Chan is Keaton incarnate. From 1978's The Young Master onward, Chan has usually been his own director and screenwriter. His best Hong Kong-produced films include the nonstop action-fests Project A (1983), Police Story (1985), Armour of God (1986), and the Golden Horse Award-winning Crime Story (1993) -- not to mention the multiple sequels of each of the aforementioned titles. Despite his popularity in Europe and Asia, Chan was for many years unable to make a dent in the American market. He tried hard in such films as The Big Brawl (1980) and the first two Cannonball Run flicks, but American filmgoers just weren't buying.At long last, Chan mined U.S. box-office gold with 1996's Rumble in the Bronx, a film so exhilarating that audiences never noticed those distinctly Canadian mountain ranges looming behind the "Bronx" skyline. Chan remained the most popular Asian actor with the greatest potential to cross over into the profitable English-speaking markets, something he again demonstrated when he co-starred with Chris Tucker in the 1998 box-office hit Rush Hour. In 2000 Chan had another success on his hands with Shanghai Noon, a comedy Western in which he starred as an Imperial Guard dispatched to the American West to rescue the kidnapped daughter (Lucy Liu) of the Chinese Emperor.He maintained his status as one of the biggest movie stars in the world throughout the next decades in a series of films that include Rush Hour 2, The Tuxedo, Shankghai Knights, The Myth, Rush Hour 3. He enjoyed his biggest U.S. hit in quite some time starring in the 2010 remake of The Karate Kid opposite Jaden Smith. Even with his hits in the English-language world, Chan continued to work in China as well, as both an actor and a producer. In 2016, he won an Honorary Academy Award for his more than 50 years of service to the film industry.

Trivia: Best known to television audiences as Ling Woo, the raging force of political incorrectness on Ally McBeal, Lucy Alexis Liu has managed to cross over to the big screen in such features as Payback and Play It to the Bone. Born to Chinese parents in Jackson Heights, NY, on December 2, 1968, Liu grew up speaking both English and Mandarin. After graduating from Manhattan's Stuyvesant High School, she earned a degree in Asian languages and cultures from the University of Michigan, where she also studied acting, dance, and voice. Liu's first professional job was playing a waitress on Beverly Hills 90210, something that led to more substantial work on various TV shows, including a regular part on the TV series Pearl. Liu's biggest breakthrough came in 1998, when she was cast as Ling Woo on Ally McBeal. She had originally auditioned for the role of Nelle Porter, which ultimately went to Australian actress Portia DeRossi. David E. Kelley, the show's producer, was so impressed with Liu's audition, however, that he created the role of Ling Woo specifically for her. The character was initially supposed to be included on only a few episodes but proved so popular with the show's audience that Liu was made into a regular cast member.Unsurprisingly, the actress' increased exposure led to greater opportunities on the screen and after playing supporting roles in such films as Payback and Molly (both 1999), she moved on to more substantial work in Play It to the Bone and the Jackie Chan martial-arts period comedy Shanghai Noon, which cast her as a princess who has been kidnapped from her emperor father. In 2000, she also was cast in perhaps her most high-profile role to date, when she was chosen alongside Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz as one of the titular crime fighters in Charlie's Angels: The Movie.With the exception of a small role as an inmate in the Oscar-winning film Chicago, 2002 brought little recognition for Liu -- Cypher, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, and Party Monster with former Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin went virtually unseen by the general public. 2003's Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle placed Liu firmly back inside the spotlight, though she was somewhat overshadowed by the toothy blonde glint that is Cameron Diaz. Luckily for Liu, she was given the chance to shine quite independently when Quentin Tarantino cast her as the deadly O-Ren Ishii, AKA Cottonmouth, in Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003). Unfortunately roles in subsequent action films like Domino and Lucky Number Slevin failed to capitolize on that momentary career momentum, though a voice role as Viper in Kung Fu Panda (as well as the sequel and subsequent television series) found her continuing to kick butt in virtual form. Meanwhile, on the small screen, Liu donned a badge for a recurring role on the TNT cop series Southland.

Trivia: Canadian-born actor Seth Rogen tapped into his skills as a comedian when he was only 13, signing up for comedy classes and honing his deadpan style. He tooled around as an amateur for a few years but eventually took his act down south, hoping to find success as an actor and standup comedian in the U.S. He was soon discovered by Judd Apatow and was cast in his short-lived series Freaks and Geeks. After its cancellation, Apatow cast Rogen in his next series, Undeclared -- for which Rogen significantly contributed as a writer. Undeclared met the same fate as Freaks and Geeks and was canceled mid-season, but both series became surprisingly hot cult hits upon their DVD releases. Rogen went on to write for Da Ali G Show and take minor roles in Donnie Darko and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy before being tapped by Apatow once again for a new project, this time on the big screen. The film was 2005's The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Rogen's role as Steve Carell's well-meaning friend Cal finally brought him the large-scale success that made his comic skills a valuable commodity. Rogen also acted as co-producer on the film, which was touted as the funniest movie in years by critics and audiences alike, eventually grossing well over a hundred million dollars. There was obviously good chemistry on the set of The 40 Year Old Virgin, so Rogen signed on to appear in Apatow's 2007 comedy Knocked Up. Appearing alongside his old cast mates Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann, Rogen starred as a man who is forced to deal with serious unforeseen consequences when his one-night stand becomes pregnant. After the filmmakers' initial plans to cast Anne Hathaway in the opposite role fell through, Grey's Anatomy star Katherine Heigl signed on to star as the female lead. The smash success of Superbad made him one of the biggest comedy stars of his generation and led to Pineapple Express, a pot comedy opposite James Franco. He was Zack in Zack and MIri Make a Porno, and took a screenwriting credit on Drillbit Taylor in 2008. He lent his distinctive gravelly voice to a number of animated films including Kung Fu Panda and Monsters vs. Aliens. In 2009 he stretched himself, reteaming with Apatow for Funny People, and taking the lead in the black comedy Observe and Report. In 2011 he was The Green Hornet, but he also appeared as the best friend to a young cancer victim in the comedy 50/50. He also played the husband of Michelle Williams in Sarah Polley's Take This Waltz.

Trivia: Irreverent comedian and social commentator David Cross has maintained a relatively low celebrity profile while at the same time working consistently in TV, film, and the live performance circuit, endearing himself to legions of fans. His smart and fearless comedy style is marked by a simultaneous honesty and cynicism that kind of goes beyond satire to somewhere else. His solo work tends to focus on topics of religion, politics, and a total refusal to skirt around any issue. Characterized by his small frame, bald head, and black glasses, his major career accomplishment has been as one-half of the HBO series Mr. Show with Bob and David. However, his memorable bit parts (Donnie, the guy who repeatedly says "Chicken Pot Pie" on NBC's Just Shoot Me) tend to stick in the imagination of the larger public. Born in Atlanta, GA, he went to college in Boston and started doing stand-up comedy before moving out to Los Angeles. He met Bob Odenkirk while working as a writer for The Ben Stiller Show on HBO and the two joined forces to create the unique sketch comedy series Mr. Show in 1995. With Odenkirk and Cross as the original funders, writers, actors, and executive producers, the show was nominated for several Emmy awards and eventually ended in 1998. Cross made several notable TV guest appearances on The Drew Carey Show and News Radio, as well as movies like Men in Black, The Cable Guy, Ghost World, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Waiting for Guffman. As a voice actor, he worked on the Hercules animated TV series, the feature films Small Soldiers and Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: Chipwrecked. Cross also continued to appear live on-stage in various formats (often with indie pop-rockers Ultrababyfat), wrote columns for magazines, and did a Mr. Show tour with Odenkirk. In November 2002, Cross released a two-disc comedy album, Shut Up You Fucking Baby!, consisting of highly charged political rants and other solo material recorded live in concert. Cross had a particularly memorable part on the beloved comedy series Arrested Development, and would later return to the small screen, writing and starring in The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret.

Trivia: Though many viewers will associate him exclusively with Asian character roles in Hollywood features, Hawaii native Randall Duk Kim actually gained his footing as a classically trained thespian in Shakespearean plays, many of which were mounted at the New York Shakespeare Festival during the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. Kim hardly limited his on-stage activity to the musings of the great Bard, however, with a resumé that included leads and supporting roles in dozens of non-Shakespearean plays -- everything from J.B. Priestley's When We Are Married to Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera. One of his most prestigious accomplishments involved founding the American Players Theater in Wisconsin with Charles Bright and Anne Occhiogrosso. Kim's endless panoply of on-stage accomplishments brought him an off-Broadway Obie Award for "Sustained Excellence of Performance" in theatrical work. Unsurprisingly, Kim's Hollywood assignments (which began in 1994, after a 20-year stint focusing exclusively on the theater) represented several steps down in terms of sophistication and, as indicated, often typecast him in stock ethnic roles in martial arts or fantasy films. Credits included the epic Anna and the King (1999), the effects-laden action opus The Matrix Reloaded (2003), and the CG-animated action comedy Kung Fu Panda (2008).

Trivia: Actor James Hong was working as a nightclub comic in San Francisco and Hawaii when he was tapped for his first regular TV role: "Number One Son" Barry Chan in the Anglo-American co-production The New Adventures of Charlie Chan (1957). Hong would later appear as Frank Chen in Jigsaw John (1976) and Wang in Switch (1977-78). In theatrical features, he played characters bearing such flavorful monikers as Chew, Lo Pan and Bing Wong. He was seen as Faye Dunaway's butler in Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974), repeating the role (minus Faye) in the 1990 sequel The Two Jakes. One of his most sizeable screen roles was Lamont Cranston's brainy assistant Li Peng in The Shadow (1994). James Hong has also directed a brace of feature films, including 1979's The Girls Next Door and 1989's The Vineyard.

Trivia: With his heavyset, bug-eyed, and occasionally wild appearance, character actor Dan Fogler suggested a cross between Sam Kinison and Jack Black, but his inventive genius ranked him far higher, inviting frequent comparisons to the likes of John Belushi. Though Fogler would eventually gain recognition as a film star, he rocketed to fame not for his cinematic work but for a most unusual theatrical coup: his evocation of William Barfee, the slightly obnoxious, mucous-ridden, duck-walking braggart at the heart of the Broadway production The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. That show actually evolved from a series of improvisatory exercises cultivated during Fogler's tenure at Boston University (when it was entitled C-R-E-P-U-S-C-L-E) to an off-Broadway show to a white-hot Broadway production that deservedly netted Fogler the 2005 Tony Award for Best Actor.Of course, Hollywood stardom was not far off, and beginning in 2006 (with a small appearance in the Billy Bob Thornton comedy School for Scoundrels), Fogler did appear onscreen, to consistently enthusiastic notices. He also ascended with incredible rapidity from supporting parts to leads, and invariably chose interesting features, such as the silly sports comedy Balls of Fury (2007), with Fogler as a ping-pong player who must square off against maniacal arch-fiend Christopher Walken, and that same year's comedy The Marconi Brothers, in which Fogler and Brendan Sexton III play brothers who leave the family carpet business to videotape weddings for a living. He also signed on to voice one of the main characters in the 2008 animated feature Horton Hears a Who, adapted from the legendary Dr. Seuss children's book, as well voicing a character in the DreamWorks animated comedy Kung Fu Panda.

Trivia: Standing 6'5" and weighing over 300 pounds, African American actor Michael Clarke Duncan inarguably possesses one of Hollywood's more unforgettable figures. A former bodyguard and bouncer, Duncan first gained attention when he appeared as one of a group of oil drillers sent to stop an asteroid from annihilating the Earth in the 1998 blockbuster Armageddon. A year later, Duncan's career got another significant boost when the actor earned lavish critical plaudits for his portrayal of a wrongfully convicted death row inmate in The Green Mile.Born in Chicago on December 10, 1957, Duncan was raised on the city's south side by his single mother. A serious student, Duncan decided that he wanted to play football in high school; after his mother refused to let him, fearing he would get hurt, he developed an interest in acting instead. Following his graduation from high school, the aspiring actor studied communications at Mississippi's Alcorn State University. His studies were cut short when he returned to Chicago to attend to his mother, who had fallen ill. He subsequently found work digging ditches with the Peoples Gas Company and moonlighted as a club bouncer. His work led to a chance encounter with a stage producer who hired him as a security guard for a traveling theatre company, which eventually brought Duncan to Hollywood. Upon his arrival in L.A., Duncan, who was hovering dangerously close to bankruptcy, secured further work as a security guard and found his first agent. He got his professional start on television, appearing in commercials, sitcoms, and on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. He started his film career playing -- surprisingly enough -- bouncers in such films as The Players Club and Bulworth (both 1998), finally getting his big break -- and the first role that didn't require him to boot people out of clubs -- in Armageddon. Thanks to the great commercial success of Armageddon, Duncan was able to find subsequent employment in a number of productions, most notably The Green Mile. He earned overwhelmingly strong reviews for his portrayal of doomed, saintly John Coffey, a man whose conviction for a brutal double murder seems at odds with his exceedingly gentle, almost child-like demeanor. Duncan garnered Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for his work in the film. He next switched genre gears, re-teaming with Armageddon co-star Bruce Willis to star in the comedy The Whole Nine Yards, which cast him a brutish thug who terrorizes mild-mannered dentist Matthew Perry. Once again utilizing his massive girth to maximum effect in the following year's The Planet of the Apes Duncan followed up the big budget remake with the made-for-television They Call Me Sirr before once again flexing formidably, this time opposite The Rock, in The Scorpion King. Later turning up as the villainous Kingpin in the comic book superhero film Daredevil (2003), Duncan would also loan his voice to the same character in Spider-Man: The Animated Series later that same year. A string of vocal performances in such animated efforts as Kim Possible: A Stitch in Time, The Proud Family, and Crab Nebula found Duncan's vocal chords in increased demand in television, films, and even videogames, yet by 2005 the hard-working actor was back on the big screen with roles in both Robert Rodriguez's Sin City, and Michael Bay's The Island. Though action may have always been the best genre for the physically imposing actor to make an impression on the big screen, fans would take note that the hulking Duncan also had a keen sense of humor, a point made all the more evident by his role in the 2006 Will Ferrell NASCAR laugher Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Duncan continued to work in television in the following years, making appearances on popular shows including Chuck, Two and a Half Men, and Bones. In 2012, Duncan landed a starring role in The Finder, a short-lived series in which he once again took on the role of former lawyer Leo Knox, whom he had portrayed in Bones. In July of that same year, Duncan suffered a heart attack and never fully recovered; he died on September 3rd at the age of 54.

Trivia: Versatile American character actor Wayne Knight has been frequently on stage, screen and television since the late 1970s. In the early '80s, he temporarily left acting (after appearing over 1,000 times in the play Gemini) to become a private detective. In 1986, Knight returned to film in The Sex O'Clock News. He has worked with a number of distinguished directors including Oliver Stone, Kenneth Branagh and Steven Spielberg playing roles ranging from comics to villains. On television, he is best known for playing the oily, self-serving postman Newman on the long-running sitcom Seinfeld, and Officer Don on the outworldly comedy Third Rock From the Sun.

Trivia: Best known as one half of the surprisingly musically competent comedy rock band Tenacious D, Kyle Gass has actually been appearing in front of the camera since long before the inception of his face-melting collaboration with Jack Black. Despite speculation that he sold his immortal soul to the devil himself in exchange for his musical abilities, Gass began playing the flute at the age of eight, eventually moving on to the saxophone and then guitar. He got his first acting break as a kid, appearing in a 7-Up commercial. After graduating high school in 1979, Gass enrolled at UCLA, where he met future celebrity Tim Robbins. Robbins recruited him into the Actor's Gang, where he soon met his future bandmate, a 16-year-old kid named Jack Black. Gass didn't take too kindly to the blustering upstart at first, but soon the two joined forces in the name of rock (and comedy). He taught Black to play guitar, and before long the two were creating the mythos of Tenacious D. Gass made numerous small appearances in movies throughout the '90s, playing characters like the anesthetist in Brain Dead and a smoker in an episode of Seinfeld. Then, in 2000, Tenacious D were given their own show on HBO. Combining sketch comedy with their bombastic songs and hardcore talent, the show earned the band a huge cult following. More small roles in movies took Gass through the inception of the new millennium, but the success of Tenacious D's show, appearances, album, and concerts were what made him the most visible. In 2006, Gass and Black filmed Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, a big-screen telling of the band's mythical story including appearances by Ronnie James Dio, Meat Loaf, and of course, Satan.

Trivia: Published a novel titled Quick Shots of False Hope (1995). Has been featured in comedy specials on networks including Comedy Central and HBO. Said in a Boston Herald interview that she dislikes the term "ladies' night" at comedy clubs because it implies that women are "working with a handicap." Has created/appeared in several popular videos for Web-comedy site Atom, including 2011's "American Heroine."