Trivia: Actress Jessica Chastain studied her craft at the Julliard School in New York, before launching into her professional career. After landing a few appearances on TV shows like Veronica Mars and ER, Chastain eventually landed the title role in the 2008 independent film Jolene, and soon found herself in other prominent roles, like a Mossaad agent in the 2009 mystery The Debt, though that film didn't reach American screens unti 2011, a year in which Chastain seemes to be in every movie. In addition to playing the loving mother in Terrence Malick's Tree of Life, and playing the struggling wife of a schizophrenic in the underrated Take Shelter, and being cast as the wife to Ralph Finnes' Coriolanus, and earning good reviews for the indie drama Texas Killing Fields, Chastain played a kooky, mentally unstable Southern woman in the box office smash The Help, and earned her first Oscar nomination for her supporting work in the film. She was back in the Oscar race the very next year, this time in the Best Actress field for her work as a determined CIA agent hunting Osama Bin Laden in Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty.

Trivia: An actor who has demonstrated a fearless capacity for exploring the darker side of human nature, Peter Sarsgaard became synonymous with the term "edgy young performer." With looks that allow him to either play soft-skinned pretty boys or greasy-haired white trash refuse, Sarsgaard has used his malleable features and brooding charisma to great effect in such films as Kimberly Peirce's Boys Don't Cry.A graduate of St. Louis' Washington University, where he was a co-founder of the improvisational group Mama's Pot Roast, Sarsgaard studied at the Actors' Studio in New York. After he completed his studies, he was cast in the off-Broadway production of Horton Foote's Laura Dennis, and, as a member of Douglas Carter Beane's Drama Department, he appeared in John Cameron Mitchell's off-Broadway production of Kingdom of Earth.Sarsgaard made his screen debut in Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking (1995) but had his first substantial role in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), which cast him as the ill-fated son of John Malkovich's dueling Muskateer. He then appeared in a series of largely unseen independent features, including Larry Clark's Another Day in Paradise and Morgan J. Freeman's Desert Blue (both 1998). In 1999, Sarsgaard broke out of obscurity with his role in Kimberly Peirce's Boys Don't Cry. Cast as a violent yet charismatic ex-con, the actor managed to stand out in a film saturated with strong performances, and the film's unanticipated success provided him with an introduction to a wide audience. His increased profile was reflected in the number of projects he was involved with the following year, including P.J. Hogan's Unconditional Love, a drama about a woman (Kathy Bates) who joins forces with the lover of a dead pop star to track down the star's murderer.Sarsgaard reached a new level of critical acclaim with his supporting performances in two little-seen but highly praised features: 2003's journalist drama Shattered Glass and 2004's biopic Kinsey. In the former, he played dedicated, soft-spoken New Republic editor Chuck Lane, who becomes increasingly more agitated as he catches hotshot reporter Steven Glass fabricating stories. Racking up scores of Best Supporting Actor nods from critics' groups and the Golden Globes, it seemed inevitable that the Academy would recognize Sarsgaard, but he was passed over. A similar fate occurred with Kinsey, in which the actor convincingly played the curious, bisexual assistant - and occasional lover - of the sex researcher.Though ignored by the Oscars, Sarsgaard found his profile rising with powerful casting directors, and in turn, the public. After memorably essaying the role of a stoner gravedigger in the popular 2004 indie Garden State, the actor broke through to mass audiences in 2005 with a trio supporting performances in big-budget genre films: the supernatural thriller The Skeleton Key, the blockbuster Flighplan, and the war memoir Jarhead. Bringing his distinctively low-key delivery to a range of parts that were by turns mystical, sinister and conflicted, Sarsgaard secured his place in the pantheon of great Hollywood character actors.Saarsgard delivered solid performances in Year of the Dog and Rendition (both 2007), and co-starred with Dennis Hopper and Patricia Clarkson for the psychological drama Elegy in 2008. The following year he played the role of a man who becomes increasingly concerned about the behavior of his adoptive daughter for The Orphan, and took on the part of the much-older boyfriend of a 16-year-old girl (Carey Mulligan) for the coming of age drama An Education. Saarsgard joined Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise for a supporting role in the action comedy Knight and Day (2010), and joined the cast of The Green Lantern in 2011.

Trivia: Endowed with the kind of dark, puppy-eyed, lanky looks that have often gotten him cast as sensitive, shy young men, actor Josh Charles first became known to audiences as sensitive, shy prep school boy Knox Overstreet in Dead Poets Society (1989). A native of Baltimore, where he was born September 15, 1971, Charles made his entrance into acting through stand-up comedy, which he began performing at the age of eight. He made his film debut in fellow-native son John Waters' Hairspray (1988), and following the success of Dead Poets Society the next year, earned a reputation as a member of the '90s version of the Brat Pack.Charles' subsequent film appearances were sporadic and in projects of wildly varying quality; ranking among his better-known work are Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991), Threesome (1994), and the made-for-television Norma Jean and Marilyn (1996). In 1998, Charles was cast as one of the leads in the highly acclaimed TV show Sports Night, a sitcom revolving around the goings-on of a late night cable sports news program. Though Sports Night did indeed gain positive critical notice and a loyal fanbase for its smart writing and multi-dimensional characters, it was unfortunately cancelled before it really had a chance to fully develope. Hollywood did however take notice of Charles' talents as an actor, and the quality and substance of the roles he was being offered slowly began to rise. Following a pair of low-key roles in such indie dramas as Meeting Daddy (2000) and Our America (2002), Charles was cast in the high-profile action thriller S.W.A.T. Over the next several years, Charles would remain active on screen, appearing on TV series like In Treatment and The Good Wife and films like The Ex and Weakness.

Trivia: Birdlike, wide-eyed, brunette American actress Jessica Harper headed for New York after graduation from Sarah Lawrence college; her first professional gig was an understudy in the "tribal love rock musical" Hair. It would be one of the few major financial successes that Harper would ever be associated with. The actress is considered the uncrowned queen of "cult" films, among them such esoterica as Phantom of the Paradise (1974), Inserts (1977), and The Blue Iguana (1988), in which she played a female Castro! Even when selecting a "mainstream" role, Harper's choices have been somewhat offbeat: as Steve Martin's put-upon wife in Pennies from Heaven (1981), she has a musical number in which he imagines hacking her husband to death with a knife! Harper was at her most normal, and most appealing, in the nostalgic comedy My Favorite Year (1982), in which she played the girlfriend of "Mel Brooks-ish" comedy writer Mark Linn Baker. In Stardust Memories (1980), she was one of many stellar contributors to Woody Allen's impressionistic vision of fame. Offscreen, Jessica Harper is the wife of motion picture executive Thomas E. Rothman.

Trivia: Her mother conceived her via a sperm donor. Grew up attending Jewish socialist summer camps. Was once a member of the children's choir of the Metropolitan Opera. Has acted in a number of off-Broadway productions, including Brooke Berman's Smashing and Kate Moira Ryan's Cavedweller. Spent a few hours in a hospital ER to prep for her role in Nurse Jackie, but when she realized that her character was a neophyte nurse, decided not to continue.