Trivia: One of Hollywood's sexiest and most magnetic leading men, Denzel Washington's poise and radiantly sane intelligence permeate whatever film he is in, be it a socially conscious drama, biopic, or suspense thriller. More importantly, Washington's efforts, alongside those of director Spike Lee, have done much to dramatically expand the range of dramatic roles given to African-American actors and actresses.The son of a Pentecostal minister and a hairdresser, Washington was born in Mount Vernon, NY, on December 28, 1954. His parents' professions shaped Washington's early ambition to launch himself into show business: from his minister father he learned the power of performance, while hours in his mother's salon (listening to stories) gave him a love of storytelling. Unfortunately, when Washington was 14, his folks' marriage took a turn for the worse, and he and his older sister were sent away to boarding school so that they would not be exposed to their parents' eventual divorce. Washington later attended Fordham University, where he attained a B.A. in Journalism in 1977. He still found time to pursue his interest in acting, however, and after graduation he moved to San Francisco, where he won a scholarship to the American Conservatory Theatre. Washington stayed with the ACT for a year, and, after his time there, he began acting in various television movies and made his film debut in the 1981 Carbon Copy. Although he had a starring role (as the illegitimate son of a rich white man), Washington didn't find real recognition until he joined the cast of John Falsey and Joshua Brand's long-running TV series St. Elsewhere in 1982. He won critical raves and audience adoration for his portrayal of Dr. Phillip Chandler, and he began to attract Hollywood notice. In 1987, he starred as anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko in Richard Attenborough's Cry Freedom alongside Kevin Kline, and though the film itself alienated some critics (Pauline Kael called it "dumbfounding"), Washington's powerful performance earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.Two years later, Washington netted another Best Supporting Actor nod -- and won the award -- for his turn as an embittered yet courageous runaway slave in the Civil War drama Glory. The honor effectively put him on the Hollywood A-List. Some of his more notable work came from his collaboration with director Spike Lee; over the course of the 1990s, Washington starred in three of his films, playing a jazz trumpeter in Mo' Better Blues (1990), the title role in Lee's epic 1992 biopic Malcolm X (for which he received a Best Actor Oscar nomination), and the convict father of a high-school basketball star in He Got Game (1998).Washington also turned in powerful performances in a number of other films, such as Mississippi Masala (1991), as a man in love with an Indian woman; Philadelphia (1993), as a slightly homophobic lawyer who takes on the cause of an AIDS-stricken litigator (Tom Hanks); and Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), as a 1940s private detective, Easy Rawlins. Washington also reeled in large audiences in action roles, with the top box-office draw of such thrillers as The Pelican Brief (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), and The Siege (1998) attesting to his capabilities. In 1999, Washington starred in another thriller, The Bone Collector, playing a paralyzed forensics expert who joins forces with a young policewoman (Angelina Jolie) to track down a serial killer. That same year, he starred in the title role of Norman Jewison's The Hurricane. Based on the true story of a boxer wrongly accused of murdering three people in 1966, the film featured stellar work by Washington as the wronged man, further demonstrating his remarkable capacity for telling a good story. His performance earned him a number of honors, including a Best Actor Golden Globe and a Best Actor Oscar nomination.After another strong performance as a high-school football coach in Boaz Yakin's Remember the Titans, Washington cut dramatically against his "nice guy" typecast to play a corrupt policeman in Training Day, a gritty cop drama helmed by Antoine Fuqua. Washington surprised audiences and critics with his change of direction, but in the eyes of many, this change of direction made him a more compelling screen presence than ever before. (It also netted him an Oscar for Best Actor.) 2002 marked an uneven year for Washington. He joined the cast of Nick Cassavetes' absurd melodrama John Q., as a father so desperate to get medical attention for his ailing son that he holds an entire hospital hostage and contemplates killing himself to donate his own heart to the boy. Critics didn't buy the film; it struck all but the least-discriminating as a desperate attempt by Washington to bring credulity and respectability to a series of ludicrous, manipulative Hollywood contrivances. John Q. nonetheless performed healthily at the box (it grossed over a million dollars worldwide from a 36-million-dollar budget). That same fall, Washington received hearty praise for his directorial and on-camera work in Antwone Fisher (2002), in which he played a concerned naval psychiatrist, and even more so for director Carl Franklin's 2003 crime thriller Out of Time. Somewhat reminiscent of his role in 1991's crime drama Ricochet, Out of Time casts Washington as an upstanding police officer framed for the murder of a prominent citizen. In 2004, Washington teamed up with Jonathan Demme for the first occasion since 1993's Philadelphia, to star in the controversial remake of 1962's The Manchurian Candidate. Washington stars in the picture as soldier Bennett Marco (the role originally performed by Frank Sinatra), who, along with his platoon, is kidnapped and brainwashed during the first Gulf War. Later that year, Washington worked alongside Christopher Walken and Dakota Fanning in another hellraiser, director Tony Scott's Man on Fire, as a bodyguard who carves a bloody swath of vengeance, attempting to rescue a little girl kidnapped under his watch. Washington made no major onscreen appearances in 2005 -- and indeed, kept his activity during 2006 and 2007 to an absolute minimum. In '06, he joined the cast of Spike Lee's thriller Inside Man as a detective assigned to thwart the machinations of a psychotically cunning burglar (Clive Owen). The film opened to spectacular reviews and box-office grosses in March 2006, keeping Washington on top of his game and bringing Lee (whose last major feature was the disappointing 2004 comedy She Hate Me) back to the pinnacle of success. That same year, Washington joined forces once again with Tony Scott in the sci-fi action hybrid Déjà Vu, as an ATF agent on the trail of a terrorist, who discovers a way to "bridge" the present to the past to view the details of a bomb plot that unfolded days earlier. The Scott film garnered a fair number of respectable reviews but ultimately divided critics. Déjà Vu bowed in the U.S. in late November 2006. Meanwhile, Washington signed on for another action thriller, entitled American Gangster -- this time under the aegis of Tony Scott's brother Ridley -- about a drug-dealing Mafioso who smuggles heroin into the U.S. in the corpses of deceased Vietnam veterans.Washington appeared as New York City subway security chief Walter Garber in the 2009 remake of the 1974 thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, and begun filming the post-apocalyptic drama The Book of Eli in the same year. He earned a Best Actor nomination in 2012 for his work as an alcoholic pilot in Robert Zemeckis' drama Flight.

Trivia: Handsome actor Ryan Reynolds may be best known to television viewers for his role in the popular Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, though if it weren't for his close friend Chris Martin, Reynolds' star may have not risen quite as smoothly as it did. Born in 1976, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to a food wholesaler father and a retail store saleswoman, Reynolds harbored an affection for acting from his early youth, and was undeterred after failing a drama class at the age of twelve. Making his television debut two years later on the Nickelodeon show Fifteen, the aspiring youngster crossed the border and relocated to Florida for the taping of the show, moving back to Vancouver soon after production ceased in 1991. Turning up in numerous television series such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch and made-for-TV movies in the following years, Reynolds soon grew despondent that his career was not moving along as smoothly as he wished. Recognizing his friend's frustrations, fellow actor Martin suggested that the two pick up and head for the Hollywood hills. Crashing in a cheap hotel and having his jeep stripped and rolled down a hill did little to raise Reynolds' spirits, though the determined actor carried on, landing his role on Two Guys in 1997. The only actor to read for the role of Berg, Reynolds won the favor of the producers and was soon on his way to success in the States. Following with roles in the teen horror comedy Boltneck (1998) and later Dick (1999) and Finder's Fee (2000), Reynolds soon began assuming his position among the hot young actors of the early millennium, taking the lead in 2001 for Van Wilder.Prominent roles in more high-profile films followed, including the part of Hannibal King in 2004's Blade Trinity, and the lead role of George Lutz in the 2005 remake of the classic horror movie The Amityville Horror. He soon followed this up with starring roles in two comedies: 2005's Waiting and Just Friends. With his career on a meteoric path upward, he continued to branch, snagging starring roles in films like the supernatural thriller The Nines, and the romantic comedy Definitely Maybe, eventually signing on to play the character of Deadpool in the next installment in the X-Men franchise X-Men Origins: Wolverine, as well as starring alongside Sandra Bullock in the romantic comedy The Proposal. Officially having made the transition into Leading Man Actor, Reynolds took a few unexpected roles in smaller films, playing supporting characters in 2009's Adventureland and making a quirky comedic turn in 2010's Paper Man. By 2011, however, Reynolds was ready to get back in the game, taking the lead in the super hero movie Green Lantern. The next year he appeared alongside Denzel Washington in the action thriller Safe House. He made cameo appearances in two Seth MacFarlane films, Ted and A Million Ways to Die in the West, and voiced a character in the animated film The Croods.

Trivia: Even those who fail to recognize her name would instantly know the lithe, slightly diminutive, and ethereally beautiful Ukranian-American actress Vera Farmiga by her distinctive look. Born August 6, 1973, in Passaic County, NJ, to Ukranian immigrant parents Michael and Luba Farmiga, Vera grew up with six brothers and sisters, in an isolated Ukranian enclave -- so isolated that the young girl purportedly did not learn spoken English until the age of six. As a teenager, she attended a Ukranian Catholic secondary school, and spent much of her free time touring with a Ukranian folk dancing troupe. Though she originally planned to build a career as an optometrist, Farmiga instead ventured off in the opposite direction by enrolling as an undergraduate at Syracuse University's School of Visual and Performing Arts. She began to tour as a theatrical performer shortly after graduation, in the American Conservatory Theater's 1996 production of Shakespeare's Tempest, then took her Broadway bow later that same year, as an understudy in David Jones' mounting of Ronald Harwood's Taking Sides. Television work ensued, with spots in such series as Law & Order, Trinity, UC: Undercover, and Touching Evil. At about the same time (around 1998), Farmiga made her rather modest cinematic debut in Sleeping With the Enemy director Joseph Ruben's little-seen Return to Paradise, starring Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche. Many additional roles followed throughout the first years of the new millennium, including that of Lisa, Richard Gere's estranged daughter, in the soapy melodrama Autumn in New York; Lorena, Adrien Brody's unemployment counselor in the Greg Pritikin-helmed 2002 comedy Dummy; and Allison in Eric Schaeffer's fine (albeit overlooked) ensemble film Mind the Gap (2004), where she appears alongside such notables as John Heard and the late Alan King. Farmiga joined the cast of Jonathan Demme's 2004 Manchurian Candidate remake, alongside Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, and Liev Schreiber; though not among the top-billed performers, the appearance served her career favorably. She fared much better (on all fronts) with a starring role in that same year's visceral indie addiction drama Down to the Bone, winner of the Special Jury Prize at Sundance and a critical darling. As Irene, a coke-addled supermarket checker and mother of two, Farmiga drew raves from such sources as The New York Times and The Village Voice for, in one reviewer's words, "a pitch-perfect performance." (She also reeled in a Los Angeles Film Critics' Association award for that role -- no small accomplishment, indeed.) 2006 brought with it a role as Teresa in Wayne Kramer's thriller Running Scared, and appearances in such features as Anthony Minghella's Breaking & Entering and Martin Scorsese's The Departed (both 2006). The Minghella drama concerns a group of ethnic locals whose lives intersect -- and catalyze violent hostilities -- in the scuzzy King's Cross section of London; as Oana, Farmiga draws heavily on her Eastern European background. In the Scorsese picture, a Beantown cops-and-mobsters crime drama, Farmiga plays Madeleine, the female lead opposite heavyweights Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jack Nicholson. Meanwhile, Farmiga signed for the role of Fiona, a woman who enters an affair with paraplegic radio personality Isaac (portrayed by In the Bedroom's Nick Stahl) in Carlos Brooks' Quid Pro Quo (2007).In 2009 Farmiga appeared as a mother whose life is threatened by an evil foster child in Orphan, but it was her supporting turn opposite George Clooney in Up in the Air that earned her excellent reviews as well as acting nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy. In the coming years, Farmiga would appear in a host of other acclaimed films, like Source Code and Safe House. Farmiga would also earn massive critical praise for her directorial debut, helming and starring in the 2012 drama Higher Ground.

Trivia: A former teacher, burly Irish actor Brendan Gleeson spent the 1990s earning an increasing amount of acclaim for his work in a variety of films, most notably John Boorman's The General (1998). Gleeson, who made his feature film debut in Jim Sheridan's The Field (1990), first made an impression on audiences in the role of Hamish, William Wallace's hulking ally in Braveheart (1995).In 1997, the actor was given his first crack at a starring role in I Went Down, a likeable black comedy that cast him as a thick-skulled hitman. The role brought him a greater dose of recognition and respect on both sides of the Atlantic, but it was Boorman's The General (shot right after I Went Down wrapped) that truly demanded -- and received -- international attention. The story of real-life Irish criminal Martin Cahill, the film featured Gleeson in its title role, and his cocky, assured portrayal of Cahill was widely deemed the best part of an altogether excellent film. The numerous plaudits he won for his performance included awards from Boston and London film critics.His career flourishing, it was only a matter of time before Gleeson had the opportunity to expand his resumé to include the occasional Hollywood blockbuster. That opportunity came by way of John Woo's Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), which cast Gleeson, surprisingly enough, as one of the film's resident villains. After carefully balancing his roles between the mainstream and the more low-key, character-driven films in later 2000 and into 2001 (he gained notice for his starring role as a philanderous, boozing TV chef turned sensitive amnesiac in the romantic comedy Wild About Harry [2000]), Gleeson headed back to Hollywood with his lively turn as Lord Johnson-Johnson in Steven Spielberg's A.I. Appearing in Trainspotting director Danny Boyle's zombie thriller 28 Days Later the following year, it wasn't long before Gleeson was once again gracing stateside cinemas with appearances in such high-profile films as Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002) and the Kurt Russell police detective thriller Dark Blue (2003).Gleeson remained a presence in high-profile films over the ensuing two years. In 2004 he could be seen in both the M. Night Shyamalan brain-bender The Village and the sweeping historical epic Troy. The following year found the actor in another pair of big-budget Hollywood films, the box-office dud Kingdom of Heaven and the fourth installment in the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Subsequent years found him re-teaming with 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy for the Neil Jordan comedy Breakfast on Pluto and reprising his role of Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).He had a memorable turn in the Irish comedy In Bruges in 2008. Two years later he returned as Mad Eye for the final Harry Potter movie. That same year he turned in one of his best performances in The Guard. He played opposite the Oscar nominated Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs in 2011, and enjoyed roles in a couple of high-profile Hollywood films - The Raven and Safe House the next year.

Trivia: A Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (for 1979's Buried Child), an Oscar-nominated actor, and a director and screenwriter to boot, multi-talented Sam Shepard has made a career of plumbing the darker depths of middle-American rural sensibilities and Western myths. The son of a military man, he was born Samuel Shepard Rogers on November 3, 1943, in Fort Sheridan, IL. Following a peripatetic childhood, part of which was spent on a farm, Shepard left home in late adolescence to move to New York City, where by the age of 20, he already had two plays produced. As a playwright, Shepard went on to win a number of Obies for such dramas as Curse of the Starving Class (1977), which he made into a film in 1994, and True West (aired on PBS in 1986). As an actor, the lanky and handsome Shepard made his feature film debut with a small role in Bronco Bullfrog (1969) and didn't resurface again until Bob Dylan's disastrous Renaldo and Clara (1978). The film followed Shepard's residence in London during the early '70s, where he worked on-stage as an actor and director when not playing drums for his band, The Holy Modal Rounders, which had performed as part of Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue in 1975. Also in 1978, Shepard made a big impression playing a wealthy landowner in Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven, but it was not until he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for playing astronaut Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff (1983) that he became a well-known actor. Following this success, he went on to specialize in playing drifters, cowboys, con artists, and eccentric characters with only the occasional leading role. Some of his more notable work included Paris, Texas (1984), which he also wrote; Fool For Love (1985), which was adapted from his play of the same name; Baby Boom (1987), Steel Magnolias (1989), and The Pelican Brief (1993). In addition to acting and writing, Shepard has also directed: in 1988, he made his debut with Far North, a film he wrote especially for his off-screen leading lady, Jessica Lange, with whom he has acted in Frances (1982), Country (1984), and Crimes of the Heart (1986).In 1999, Shepard could be seen on both the big and small screen. He appeared in Snow Falling on Cedars and Dash and Lilly, a made-for-TV movie for which he won an Emmy nomination in the role of the titular Dashiell Hammett. In addition, he also lent his writing skills to Simpatico, a Nick Nolte vehicle about friendship and loss adapted from Shepard's play of the same name.As the new decade began, he could be seen as the ghost in a modern-set Hamlet. He appeared in Black Hawk Down, as well as in Sean Penn's The Pledge. His play True West enjoyed a highly successful revival starring John C. Riley and Philip Seymour Hoffman as feuding brothers, which was notable because the actors traded parts every third performance. In 2004 he appeared in the popular romantic drama The Notebook, and wrote Don't Come Knocking the next year. He was the legendary outlaw Frank James in 2007's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. He was cast as Valerie Plame's father in Fair Game, and portrayed a dog-loving sheriff in Lawrnece Kasdan's Darling Companion.

Trivia: Ruben Blades is a man of diverse talents. A driving force in popularizing salsa music internationally and a politician for the people of his native Panama, he is also a noted actor of stage and screen. Blades is the son of a percussionist-turned-detective and a singer/radio performer. Following studies in political science and law at Panama's Universidad Nacional, Blades worked at the Bank of Panama as a lawyer. Later he obtained a master's in law from Harvard. Many years after that, he returned to the Ivy League school to earn a doctorate in international law. Blades had been involved in music since the late '50s, but established himself as a musical powerhouse during the '70s and early '80s. He began his career in films, first as a composer of soundtracks and a songwriter in the early '80s. He made his debut as an actor in The Last Flight (1982), but it was not until he appeared in the semi-autobiographical docudrama Crossover Dreams (1985), which he co-wrote and starred in, that Blades became well known. Subsequent film appearances have included The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), The Two Jakes (1990), Mo' Better Blues (1990), and Devil's Own (1997). In 1994, Blades ran for the Panamanian presidency and though he lost, garnered over 20 percent of the vote.

Trivia: Raised in Aix-en-Provence, France, by her Austrian-born father and Egyptian-born mother. Her family moved to Bali, where her parents met, for a year when she was 14. Left school early to pursue acting and singing. Studied acting at the Cours Florent and Studio Pygmalion in Paris. Sang "Loin de Paname" in the 2008 French film Paris 36; it was nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar in 2010. Honored with the 2009 Lumiere Award for Most Promising Young Actress and the 2009 Étoile d'Or for Best Female Newcomer due to her performance in Paris 36. Is the face of the Guerlain perfume Idylle. Has a tattoo of her younger sister Lea's name on her right arm; and Lea has a tattoo of Nora's name of hers.

Trivia: While significant mainstream recognition has eluded Robert Patrick, with two notable exceptions -- he all but replaced David Duchovny in the waning days of The X-Files and admirably portrayed "the liquid metal cop guy" in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) -- he has nonetheless built an impressive resumé with over 60 television and film appearances since the mid-'80s. The eldest of five children, Patrick didn't choose to pursue a career in acting until his mid-twenties, despite having a bona fide diva moment during a third-grade production of Peter Pan, for which he refused to wear the required green tights. Rather, after a successful stint as a linebacker for Bowling Green University, Patrick became a house painter and may have continued as such were it not for a serious accident in the waters of Lake Erie, where he nearly drowned. The accident served as a revelation of sorts for Patrick, who promptly quit his day job and moved from Ohio to Los Angeles. It took more than a few sacrifices -- a then 26-year-old Patrick lived in his car and tended bar for his major source of income -- but the young actor found himself playing small roles in various low-budget films, which he credited to his tough-looking exterior and motorcycle-riding abilities.Though Patrick spent most of the late '80s paying his dues, his breakout performance landed him opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in director James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Patrick readied himself for the role of the T-1000 android in a rather unique fashion; in addition to martial arts, endurance, and strength training, he observed the movements of cats, eagles, and praying mantises. Odd as that may have sounded at the time, it certainly enhanced one of the most memorable roles in one of the most memorable films of the decade. After T2, Patrick was able to leave the world of B-movies and hold his own alongside some of the most established actors in Hollywood, including a second performance with Schwarzenegger in Last Action Hero (1993) and a more prominent role opposite Demi Moore in Striptease (1996). Patrick also expressed a fondness for martial arts films, and starred in both Double Dragon and Hong Kong 97 in 1994. However, it was his 1993 performance as a stoic regular-guy-turned-UFO-believer in Fire in the Sky that caught the attention of X-Files director Chris Carter. Carter immediately thought of Patrick when David Duchovny distanced himself from The X-Files, and, after auditioning 70-odd actors for the role of John Doggett, became determined to initiate Patrick into his long-running world of conspiracy theories and paranormal phenomena. To the surprise of fans and critics alike, Patrick was received quite well on The X-Files, and quickly found himself gracing the covers of many a genre magazine -- he was even anointed one of the Ten Sexiest Men of Sci-Fi by TV Guide.By the time The X-Files aired its last show, Patrick had developed a solid reputation within the industry; critics, fans, and co-stars alike praised him for his work ethic, personality, and consistent performances. Rather than fading into the scenery, Patrick starred as the mysterious Mr. Lisp in Spy Kids (2001), and later starred as a reclusive wilderness tracker in Pavement (2002). After making appearances in Richard Shepard's Mexico City (2002), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), and the sci-fi spin-off series Stargate: Atlantis, Patrick filmed director Jay W. Russell's Ladder 49 (2004). A memorable performance as Johnny Cash's distant father Ray in Walk the Line followed in 2005, with a subsequent role as a security expert in the Harrison Ford thriller Firewall preceeding a return to weekly television in the David Mamet-created series The Unit in 2006. Later in 2006, Patrick would incur the wrath of WWE superstar John Cena with his role as a ruthless kidnapper in the explosive action thriller The Marine. Patrick lives with his wife, Barbara, whom he married during the filming of T2, and their two children.

Trivia: Irish actor Liam Cunningham has spent much of his career on stage, but also occasionally appears on television and in feature films. He made his movie debut with a small role in Mike Newell's charming Irish fantasy Into the West (1993). He has since played supporting roles in productions such as War of the Buttons (1994) and Michael Winterbottom's Jude (1996). Before entering drama school in the 1980s, Cunningham had been an electrician. He started out on the Irish stage and then embarked upon a U.S. tour with a travelling Irish troupe. Cunningham's other stage credits include stints with the Passion Machine theater company and London's Royal Court Theatre. His television credits include guest-starring roles on such British series as Cracker.

Trivia: Holds American and Swedish citizenships. His mother is Swedish and his father is American. Went to high school in Texas for one year. One of his sisters, Melinda Kinnaman, is an actress in Sweden. Won the 2010 Guldbagge Award in the Best Supporting Actor category for his work in Snabba Cash.

Trivia: African-American supporting actress Tracie Thoms first arrived on the Hollywood scene in the early 2000s, and worked steadily thereafter, landing a covetous string of roles in many of Hollywood's most hotly anticipated films. She played Andrea in the riotous Tribeca-produced frat-boy comedy Porn 'n Chicken (2002), then tackled the role of Mahandra, the acerbic best friend of the even more acerbic Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas), on the short-lived cult fantasy series Wonderfalls (2004). In 2005 and 2006, respectively, Thoms tackled sizeable roles in the Chris Columbus-directed musical Rent and the David Frankel-helmed box-office smash The Devil Wears Prada. Additionally, in 2006, Thoms got promoted from a previously recurring role to a regular character -- Kat Miller -- on the hit detective series Cold Case. She then geared up for Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino's half of the Grindhouse double-bill, as the garrulous Kim, one of three no-nonsense female vigilantes who take on Kurt Russell's psychopath Stuntman Mike.

Trivia: Joined the U.S. Army in 2002; his unit was one of the first to enter Baghdad and NBC reporter David Bloom died while embedded with the unit. Injured when a grenade exploded, causing severe back and spine injuries. Awarded the Army Commendation Medal. Cast in Paul Haggis' In the Valley of Elah after a former neighbor who worked in the film's casting department, was looking to cast actual veterans in the film and asked McLaughlin to audition.

Trivia: Attended boarding school in England as a teenager.Worked as a beer salesman.Former vice-chairman of the UCT RAG, a student development organization.Founder of Whytewood Creative Agency.A member of the Cape Film Commission.