Trivia: A veteran character actor whose work has shown he's as comfortable with comedy as drama, Frankie Faison was born in Newport News, VA, in 1949. Faison developed the acting bug while in grade school after appearing in a school play, and after high school he was a theater student at both Illinois Wesleyan University and New York University. Faison began pursuing a career in the theater, and appeared in a number of acclaimed off-Broadway productions, including Athol Fugard's Playland, the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of Before It Hits Home, and an adaptation of King Lear at the NYSF Delacorte Theater. Faison made his film debut in 1981 with a small role in Ragtime, and Faison soon began supplementing his stage work with small parts in motion pictures and guest shots on television. An inkling of what was to come for Faison appeared in 1986, when he was cast in a small role as a cop in Manhunter, an adaptation of Thomas Harris' novel Red Dragon, in which Brian Cox played the murderous Hannibal Lector. In 1987, Faison appeared on Broadway in August Wilson's drama Fences, opposite James Earl Jones; Faison's performance earned him a Tony award nomination. In 1988, Faison scored a showy comic role in the Eddie Murphy vehicle Coming to America, and a year later he was one of the "corner men" in Spike Lee's acclaimed and controversial Do the Right Thing. In 1990, Faison scored the male lead in a short-lived sitcom, True Colors, and in 1991 he appeared in another adaptation of a Thomas Harris novel when he was cast as Barney Matthews, the big but gentle male nurse in The Silence of the Lambs. Faison continued to win supporting roles in a variety of notable films, including City of Hope, Sommersby, Mother Night, I Love Trouble, Albino Alligator, Where the Money Is, and The Thomas Crown Affair, and he had a leading role in the well-regarded police drama Prey; sadly, the show fared poorly in the ratings and didn't survive its first season. Faison revived his role as Barney Matthews in 2001's box-office blockbuster Hannibal, making him the only actor to appear in all three films about the famous cannibal. ~ Mark Deming

Trivia: Was a state champion on his secondary school debating team. Appeared in the movie The Express while attending Indiana State University. Appeared on stage in By The Way, Meet Vera Stark in 2013. First appeared as Officer Kevin Atwater on Chicago Fire before joining the spin-off series Chicago P.D.

Trivia: A slight actress with a big voice, Anika Noni Rose studied at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater. After learning all she could to prepare herself, she moved to New York to pursue a career on the stage, getting her first break with a role in the Broadway production of Footloose. Rose's voice, acting, and unmistakable stage presence assured that doors would continue to open for her and she would continue to rack up prominent roles, becoming what could only be described as a truly successful career stage actress, starring in such Broadway productions as Eli's Comin', Purlie, Threepenny Opera, and Tartuffe. The actress was honored with an Obie Award as well as a Garland/Drama-Logue Award for her work, but she received by far the most success and acknowledgement for her role in the acclaimed Caroline or Change, for which she won a Tony award in 2004 for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, as well as a Lucille Lortell Award, a Theatre World Award, and a Clarence Derwent Award.Intent on exploring every possible avenue as a performer, Rose began a career onscreen in the new millennium. She guest-starred in an episode of Third Watch, and scored a role in the American Idol contestant-driven From Justin to Kelly in 2003. Then in 2006, Rose took a role in an ideal hybrid of her talents with the big-screen version of the musical Dreamgirls, a roman à clef based on Motown girl group The Supremes. Rose played Lorrell Robinson, the member of the group who experiences the least drama in the story, but whose solid presence -- not to mention voice -- is vital to the script. The longtime pro had no problem surrendering the media spotlight to über-divas Beyoncé Knowles and Jennifer Hudson, who played the other two members of the group, but few could help but notice what a force to be reckoned with the Broadway talent was. After the movie and its impending media blitz was over, Rose reprised her role in Caroline or Change in L.A. and San Francisco before she returned with the musical to Broadway.In 2009 she made history voicing the first African-American princess in Disney history when she played Tiana in The Princess and the Frog, and later joined the cast of the hit CBS series The Good Wife. Her big-screen resume continued with the ambitious Tyler Perry project For Colored Girls.