Trivia: Shia LaBeouf decided, during his preteen years, to launch himself as an actor, and stories abound concerning how far he carried his own drive to establish himself. According to People Weekly magazine, LaBeouf auditioned for Even Stevens (2000), the Disney Channel series that delivered him into the spotlight, and subsequently told each of the youngsters who were waiting to audition that he had the part -- thus eliminating the competition. Such determination, coupled with raw ability and charisma, doubtless helped propel LaBeouf straight to the head of Hollywood's young stars.Born on June 11, 1986, in Los Angeles, LaBeouf grew up in the neighborhood of Echo Park, and was raised in a decidedly colorful family of mixed ethnicity. His Cajun father, Jeffrey LaBeouf, was a Vietnam vet who held a series of odd jobs as a circus clown, a sno-cone salesman, and a stand-up comic. Shia's Jewish mother, Shayna, worked as a clothier and jewelry craftswoman. Upset about his mother's financial struggles after his parents split, Shia observed another boy of about the same age (a cast member of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) whose financial returns from Quinn gave him a posh lifestyle. LaBeouf suddenly understood the financial benefits of before-the-camera work, and -- though he had no formal dramatic training -- foresaw himself breaking into acting via comedy. He used a phone book to find an agent, then honed a stand-up comedy act over the course of two years, that found him (at age 12) delivering "blue" routines to adult audiences at a Pasadena comedy club, The Ice House. By his own admission, LaBeouf was booted out of every school he attended (for his notoriously profane mouth and for other reasons), but he more than compensated for this with his professional drive. By 2000, he auditioned for the Even Stevens series on Disney, and landed the part.That sitcom concerned the relationship between Louis Stevens (LaBeouf), a silly and goofy teen, and his older sister, Ren (Christy Carlson Romano). The program quickly found an audience on Disney and lasted for several seasons; its popularity spawned a small-screen feature, The Even Stevens Movie, in 2003. The time span of 2002 to 2003 was a busy one for LaBeouf -- arguably his breakthrough period. In addition to The Even Stevens Movie, the actor signed on to participate in season two of the controversial Project Greenlight, the Damon and Affleck-created national contest for aspiring indie filmmakers, with its attached HBO reality series of the same name. Thus, at-home viewers had the opportunity to watch LaBeouf, Elden Hensen, Kathleen Quinlan, Amy Smart, and other actors endure the tumultuous production of Efram Potelle and Kyle Rankin's quirky comedy drama The Battle of Shaker Heights, months prior to that film's release. When the finished film debuted in August of 2003, it did so to generally terrible reviews, but a number of journalists (Roger Ebert among them) singled out LaBeouf's lead performance as something special amid a decidedly flawed film.That same year, LaBeouf starred in the Andrew Davis-directed Disney fantasy Holes, as a youngster sent to an oddball Texas detention center and forced to dig a series of 5-foot-deep pits in the desert sun for mysterious reasons; it scored with the public and press and became one of the sleeper hits of 2003. And indeed, its success doubtless spurred LaBeouf on to even greater heights, his dramatic ability honed even more sharply by his interaction with co-star Jon Voight (Coming Home), whom LaBeouf would later list as a key professional influence. In late 2004, LaBeouf signed on for the lead in another Disney film, The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) -- a biopic of golfer Francis Ouimet directed by Bill Paxton; the film itself divided critics rather sharply but provided an outstanding showcase for LaBeouf's talents. The next several years found LaBeouf signing on for several of the most sought-after A-list roles in Hollywood -- from director Francis Lawrence's apocalyptic fantasy Constantine (2005), as a demon-slayer fighting alongside Keanu Reeves; to Dito Montiel's A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, as a young man struggling to find a different road out of the ghetto than crime and prison. In 2007, the actor voiced a surfing penguin in the CG-animated comedy Surf's Up, and geared up for his role as Sam Witwicky in one of the most hotly anticipated releases of the year, the Michael Bay-directed Transformers -- based on the action figures that were rabidly popular in the mid-'80s. At the same time, audiences could catch LaBeouf in Salton Sea-director D.J. Caruso's thriller Disturbia -- the tale of a deeply depressed, homebound teen who teams up with a local girl to prove that their next door neighbor is a much sought-after serial killer.LaBeouf would continue to ride his popularity surge in the realm of latter-day sequels, playing Harrison Ford's sidekick in 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and young financial exec Jake Moore in 2010's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Neither film was well received by audiences or critics, but LaBeouf still had the Transformer's franchise in his pocket, and he'd continue with it for 2009's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and 2011's Transformers: Dark of the Moon. In 2012 he tried his hand at a period piece with the bootlegging drama Lawless.

Trivia: Whether playing a punk rocker, an assassin, a war vet, or a ghoul, Gary Oldman has consistently amazed viewers with his ability to completely disappear into his roles. Though capable of portraying almost any type of character, Oldman has put his stamp on those of the twisted villain/morally ambiguous weirdo variety, earning renown for his interpretations of the darker side of human nature.Born Leonard Gary Oldman in New Cross, South London, on March 21, 1958, Oldman was raised by his mother and two sisters after his father, an alcoholic welder, left them when Oldman was seven. Nine years later, Oldman left high school to work in a sporting goods store; in his spare time, he studied literature and later acting under the tutelage of Roger Williams. He went on to act with the Greenwich Young People's Theatre and, after attending drama school on a scholarship, worked with the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow. Oldman next worked in London's West End, where, in 1985, he won a Best Actor and a Best Newcomer award for his performance in The Pope's Wedding. By this time, he had made his film debut in Remembrance (1982) and had appeared in two television movies, notably Honest, Decent and True (1985). Oldman got his first big break when he was cast as Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy (1986), Alex Cox's disturbing docudrama account of the punk rocker's tragic relationship with Nancy Spungen. Oldman's unnervingly accurate portrayal of the doomed rocker won rave reviews and effectively propelled him out of complete obscurity. The following year, he turned in a completely different but equally superb performance as famed playwright Joe Orton in Stephen Frears' Prick Up Your Ears and earned a Best Actor nomination from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for his work. After moving to the U.S. that same year, Oldman appeared in Nicolas Roeg's Track 29 (1988), and in 1990, he had one of his most memorable -- to say nothing of cultish -- roles as Rosencrantz opposite Tim Roth as Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's brilliant Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.Oldman's first American role in a major Hollywood film was that of alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in Oliver Stone's JFK (1991). He then gave a creepy, erotic performance in the title role of Francis Ford Coppola's rendition of Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), a lavish film that proved to be the most commercially successful (next to JFK) of Oldman's career to date. In addition to playing such eccentrics as Drexl Spivey, a white pimp with dreadlocks who tries to prove himself a black Rastafarian in True Romance (1993), Oldman went on to play more conventional characters, as evidenced by his straightforward portrayal of a crooked cop in Luc Besson's The Professional (1994), his performance as Beethoven in Immortal Beloved (1994), and his role as Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale in the disastrous 1995 adaptation The Scarlet Letter.In 1997, Oldman made his directorial bow with Nil by Mouth, a bleak, semi-autobiographical drama about a dysfunctional blue-collar London family that Oldman dedicated to his late father. The film proved to be a controversial hit at that year's Cannes Festival, and the first-time director won a number of international awards and a new dose of respect for his work. He subsequently returned to acting with Luc Besson's The Fifth Element that same year, made while he took a break from editing Nil by Mouth. He also gave an enduringly cheesy portrayal of the sinister Russian terrorist bent on wresting world domination from American president Harrison Ford in the blockbuster Air Force One (1997) and followed that up by playing yet another villain in the 1998 feature-film version of the classic TV series Lost in Space.Two years later, the veteran actor was earning accolades on screens big and small with both his critically acclaimed performance in Rod Lurie's Oscar-nominated political drama The Contender, and his Emmy-nominated guest appearance in the popular TV sitcom Friends. Meanwhile, after escaping the clutches of the silver screen's most notorious cannibal in Ridley Scott's Hannibal (2001), Oldman joined the casts of not one but two of the most successful film franchises of the 2000s: The Harry Potter Series and Christopher Nolan's brooding Batman saga. As benevolent wizard Sirius Black in the former, he helped Hogwarts' most famous student battle the forces of evil, and as Lt. Jim Gordon in the later, he aided The Dark Knight in defeating some of Gotham's most powerful supervillains. And while he wasn't performing exorcisms in The Unborn or searching unlimited power in The Book of Eli, Oldman was showing his versatility by voicing characters in such popular video games as The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning and Call of Duty: Black Ops. In 2011, as if to remind audiences that he could still be a compelling lead in addition to a strong supporting player, Oldman tackled the role of veteran MI6 spy George Smiley -- who comes out of retirement to sniff out a Russian mole in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. A highly stylized take on the classic John le Carre novel, the film not only drew rave reviews from critics, but also an Academy Award-nomination for Oldman. Oldman wrapped up his work in Harry Potter the same year, with a cameo in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 and Nolan's Batman trilogy finished the following year with The Dark Knight Rises. In 2014, he appeared in the remake of RoboCop, followed by a major role in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Trivia: Appearing to be a blend of Steve Buscemi and Nick Cave, Noah Taylor made his name playing Danny Embling, a young man juggling inner torment and sexual anxiety in John Duigan's The Year My Voice Broke (1987) and Flirting (1991). In 1996, he gained further international recognition and respect for his role as the younger version of piano prodigy David Helfgott in Scott Hicks' Shine. The son of journalists, Taylor was born in Melbourne, Australia, on September 4, 1969. Although he spent his early years wanting to be a spy or a commando, he began his acting career at the age of 16 when he left school and joined the city's St. Martin's Youth Theatre. His work with the theater led to his casting as Danny Embling in The Year My Voice Broke. Following the critical success of both Year and its sequel, Flirting, Taylor became known as one of his country's most promising actors. His widely praised performance in Shine further solidified this status, and he was able to do steady work in a number of diverse projects both at home and abroad. In 1998, Taylor starred in Ben Hopkins' acclaimed period drama Simon Magus, and the following year he starred alongside Daniel Auteuil in Michel Blanc's Mauvaise Passe and won a coveted role in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous, the semi-autobiographical tale of an aspiring teen rock journalist. Taylor would work again with Crowe the very next year, taking a role in the director's remake of Alejandro Amenábar's Open Your Eyes, entitled Vanilla Sky. Heading into action territory with the high-profile video game-to-screen adaptation Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001, Taylor straddled the line between big-budget excess and independent credibility with an appearance in the little seen but curiously titled He Died With a Felafel in His Hand that same year. In 2002, Taylor gained notable media attention for his controversial portrayal of Adolf Hitler in the independent drama Max. The film presented an intimate view of the future Nazi leader as a young aspiring artist, leading numerous groups to protest its humanization of such a feared and monstrous figure. Though the reviews of the film itself were generally fairly positive, Max soon disappeared from arthouse screens with Taylor's performance going largely unseen. If audiences had missed Taylor in Max, however, they would no doubt have a chance to catch him on the screen the very next year in the Tomb Raider sequel Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. Taylor next showed up in the anticipated Wes Anderson adventure comedy The Life Aquatic alongside an all-star cast, including Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston, and Willem Dafoe.

Trivia: Began acting as a child in community and school theatre. Made his Broadway debut as understudy to Haley Joel Osment in the short lived 2008 revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo. Won an Obie Award in 2010 for his performance in Annie Baker's play The Aliens, directed by Sam Gold, at New York's Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre. Met his wife, actress Anna Wood, while they were both students at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Was the star of Prada's spring/summer 2014 menswear campaign, the second time he modeled for the brand.

Trivia: Took tap-dancing lessons in kindergarten. Is an Eagle Scout. Originally entered college as a forestry major. Boxed competitively in college and once auditioned for a role while sporting two black eyes and a broken nose as the result of a bout. Worked on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico to earn money to move to New York. Studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre under Sanford Meisner. Worked as a professional pallbearer, as a baker and at a toilet-paper factory, among other jobs, while struggling to find work as an actor.