Trivia: A founding member of the Chicago's influential Steppenwolf Theatre Company (along with Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry) when he was barely 19, Gary Sinise made his professional acting debut at the age of 17 in a 1973 production of The Physicist. Sinise himself would sum up his career best by noting that the secret to a successful career is not to focus on taking off like a rocket, but to "always keep the engine running." With a prolific and well-defined career on each side of the camera in addition to his stage work, keeping the engine running is precisely what Sinise has done, and that engine has been well maintained.Born March 17th, 1955 in Blue Island, IL, Sinise's attraction to the stage was supported early on through the encouragement of Barbara Patterson, his high school drama teacher. After a role in West Side Story, Sinise's love for the stage was set in stone, leading him to found the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where he would meet his future wife, actress Moira Harris. Initially based in a church basement, the Steppenwolf quickly grew in stature and respectability, serving as the breeding ground for such talents as John Malkovich and Laurie Metcalf, and earning critical praise with productions like Sam Shepard's True West, which would eventually become the company's Broadway debut. Sinise's film and television career began as a director on such television series' as Crime Story and thirtysomething, eventually leading to his feature directorial debut with the rural drama Miles From Home (starring fellow Steppenwolfers Metcalf and Malkovich) and his feature acting debut in the haunting war drama A Midnight Clear (1991). Sinise's love for the stage resurfaced with his ambitious 1992 remake of Of Mice and Men (in which he also starred, again with fellow Steppenwolf alum Malkovich, in the roles they had both portrayed on stage).But it was his performance as the physically crippled and emotionally shattered Lt. Dan in Robert Zemeckis' blockbuster Forrest Gump (1994) that brought Sinise to light as an actor of considerable talent. His sensitive portrait of a once invincible soldier reduced to a pathetic self-pitying ghost of his own former glory was the perfect vessel for the actor's quiet intensity and florid emotional capabilities, and brought him the Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. That same year Sinise had a starring role in the long-anticipated television adaptation of Stephen King's apocalyptic thriller The Stand.Sinise continued to display his dramatic abilities through the '90s, rejoining Gump co-star Tom Hanks in Ron Howard's Apollo 13 and starring as both Harry S. Truman and George Wallace in the biopics Truman (1995) (for which he won a Cable Ace Award and a Golden Globe) and George Wallace (1997) (for which he won an Emmy). With minor appearances in The Green Mile and Being John Malkovich (both 1999), Sinise brought in the year 2000 in a sci-fi mode, with Brian De Palma's existential thriller Mission to Mars and as a weapons engineer with questionable motives in Imposter. Throughout the next decade Sinise worked in a variety of films including The Big Bounce, The Human Stain, and The Forgotten. However he had is most visible role on the small screen when he was cast as the male lead in the third of the popular CSI series, CSI: NY. In 2006 he brought his theater trained voice to the animated Open Season.

Trivia: With her genuine smile, earthy beauty, and striking green eyes, Melina Kanakaredes staked her claim on daytime television in The Guiding Light before expanding her talents to numerous other popular series and, eventually, the silver screen.Born and raised in Akron, OH, the second-generation Greek-American was the third daughter of an insurance salesman and homemaker who began her career as an actress in a community theater production of Tom Sawyer at the age of eight. Later enrolling in Ohio State University to study music, dance, and theater but disheartened at poor inter-departmental relations, Kanakaredes opted for a conservatory education at Point Park College in Pittsburgh. Soon performing with the Pittsburgh Playhouse and appearing in commercials and industrial videos, Kanakaredes moved to New York after graduating magna cum laude and began working in dinner boat theater and off-Broadway productions. Taking her role as Greek immigrant Eleni Andros Cooper in The Guiding Light after being spotted by the William Morris Agency in 1991, Kanakaredes was nominated for two Emmys and soon began to expand to roles on NYPD Blue and OZ. Soon turning up in such features as The Long Kiss Goodnight and Rounders, the natural beauty began to gain even more footing in her feature aspirations with her turn in the Robert DeNiro heist-thriller The Score in 2001. Kanakaredes would spend the ensuing 2000's appearing frequently on TV, joining the cast of the police proceedural CSI: NY.

Trivia: A true case of fate intervening in the most unexpected of ways, the career of aspiring baseball star Carmine Giovinazzo, born August 24th, 1973,seemed decidedly grim when a major back injury dashed any hopes of achieving his childhood dreams of running the bases as millions of fans screamed in excitement. If those dreams weren't meant to come true, however, the fallen athlete would turn the negative into a positive by using his injury as a means of pushing himself to find his talent as an actor and realizing his true calling before the camera. A native of Staten Island, NY, Giovinazzo spent much of his childhood making short films as a hobby. The athlete-turned-actor was pounding the pavement soon after recovering from his career-altering injury. With the support of his family and an impressive resume that included many short films from NYU and SUNY Purchase, Giovinazzo was soon setting his sights on Los Angeles. The up-and-comer achieved an impressive feat by landing his very first audition for a small role in the pilot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a feature debut in the 1996 drama No Way Home, proving without a doubt that he could captivate on the big screen as well. If many of his subsequent screen roles weren't exactly memorable, he did prove promising as the lead in the 1998 thriller Fallen Arches before returning to the diamond for Spider-Man director Sam Raimi's 1999 baseball drama For Love of the Game. A stab at television with the short-lived and regrettably titled Shasta McNasty didn't further his career nearly as much as bit roles in such high-profile features as Black Hawk Down, though he did carry the 2001 crime drama The Learning Curve with suitable charm. In 2004 Giovinazzo's career was finally on the verge of breaking through with his role as forensic scientist Danny Messer on the CBS CSI spin-off CSI: NY.

Trivia: One of the more compelling actors of his generation, Hill Harper, born May 17th, 1973, has earned a reputation for turning in complex performances defined by equal parts intensity and charisma. Acting since the age of 7, Harper, a native of Iowa City, continued to nurture his interest while an undergraduate student at Brown and then as a graduate student at Harvard, where he earned degrees in law and government. During his years at Harvard, the actor was a full-time member of Boston's Black Folks Theater Company, one of the oldest and most acclaimed African-American theater troupes in the country.Harper broke into both film and television in 1993, doing recurring work on the Fox series Married...with Children and making his film debut in the short Confessions of a Dog. He had his first substantial role in a feature in Spike Lee's Get on the Bus (1996), which cast him as a UCLA film student riding a bus to the Million Man March in Washington, D.C. He went on to further demonstrate his versatility in such films as Lee's He Got Game (1998) and Christopher Scott Cherot's Hav Plenty (1997), the latter of which featured him as an egotistical pop-soul singer. The actor's profile subsequently rose on both the mainstream and independent film circuits, thanks to roles in films ranging from Beloved (1998) to the independent romantic comedy Loving Jezebel (1999) to The Skulls (2000), an entry into the teen thriller/horror genre. Harper also did some of his most acclaimed work in Jordan Walker Pearlman's The Visit (2000), an independent drama in which he starred as a prisoner dying of AIDS who tries to put his life back together.

Trivia: A spunky actress with a winning on-camera presence, Anna Belknap got her start as a guest star on a wealth of popular TV series -- everything from Homicide: Life on the Street to Law & Order: SVU to Third Watch -- before her establishment as a regular on the short-lived (one-season) shows The Handler and Medical Investigation. She found more enduring success on the popular spin-off series CSI: NY. Her portrayal of Detective Lindsay Monroe, a Midwestern transplant with deep-seated emotional scars from a decade-old mass murder that she just barely survived, imparted Belknap's scenes with a tense undercurrent even as it spoke to the character's deeply moving vulnerability. 2005 marked a fortuitous year for Belknap; in addition to joining the CSI program, she signed on as Marissa in Evan Oppenheimer's gentle, techno-hip romantic comedy Alchemy. Unfortunately, that picture encountered extremely limited theatrical distribution (despite a favorable Variety review) and went almost straight to video.

Trivia: Genial and handsome character actor Eddie Cahill garnered significant attention for two onscreen series portrayals during the early 2000s: that of Tag, the twentysomething assistant hired by Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) in the 2000-2001 season of the blockbuster sitcom Friends, and that of NYPD homicide detective Don Flack on the successful crime series spin-off CSI: NY (2004). In addition, he had starred in the shortlived WB comedy drama Glory Days (2002) as author Mike Dolan, but it took the CSI role to secure him lasting small-screen success. In 2004, Cahill made his first feature-film appearance, as famous goalie Jim Craig in the Olympic hockey drama Miracle, followed soon after by his role as Larry Gordon in Catherine Hardwicke's bittersweet skateboarding movie Lords of Dogtown (2005). In 2008 he appeared in both This Is Not a Test, and the drama The Narrows.

Trivia: Canadian actor Robert Joy has been appearing in films on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border since the 1970s. He has always been a welcome presence, even when the scripts took pains not to make him feel welcome. As Susan Sarandon's husband in Atlantic City (1981), Joy stuck around just long enough to be bumped off by drug dealers. And as demented socialite Harry K. Thaw in Ragtime (1981), Joy existed principally to shoot Stanford White (Norman Mailer) full of holes and then get thrown in the looney bin. One of Robert Joy's largest, and most unorthodox, film assignments was as the would-be political demagogue (and one-time flamenco dancer) in the Newfoundland-based The Adventures of Faustus Bidgood (1986). Over the next several years, Joy would continue to remain an ongoing force on screen, appearing in films like Joe Somebody, Pretty Persuasion, Land of the Dead, and Superhero Movie. He would find success with a starring role on the long running crime proceedural CSI: NY.

Trivia: Immigrated to Canada with his family when he was 6 years old. Made his first television appearance in the 1994 made-for-TV drama The Disappearance of Vonnie. Made his feature-film acting debut in the 1998 teen horror movie Disturbing Behavior, starring Katie Holmes and James Marsden. Has appeared in several sci-fi/horror TV series, including Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Fox's The X-Files and Millennium, and the CW's Supernatural. Has a movie and television production company called Fourfront Productions, and is part-owner and frequent contributor to Louisiana's Scene magazine.

Trivia: British actress Julia Ormond had several solid years of stage work to her credit -- not to mention the starring role in the made-for-cable Catherine the Great biography Young Catherine (1991) -- when, at 27, she co-starred in the expensive HBO biopic Stalin (1992). Most of the publicity guns were aimed at Robert Duvall's heavily accented portrayal of the Soviet dictator, but at least one observer singled out Ormond's performance as the long-suffering Mrs. Stalin as one of the highlights of the picture. That observer was director Edward Zwick, then preparing his own big-budget theatrical feature Legends of the Fall. Thanks to her excellent showing in the formidable company of Fall co-stars Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt, Aidan Quinn, and Henry Thomas, Ormond found herself, on the verge of 30, as Hollywood's ingénue du jour. Born in Epsom, Surrey, on January 4, 1965, Ormond was a child when her parents, a businessman and a laboratory technician, divorced. A self-admitted tomboy who excelled at field hockey, she became involved with the theater in school plays, and, following a stint at art school (both of her grandparents were abstract artists), she studied drama at London's Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts. Following graduation, she landed her first professional work in TV commercials, and then acted in a series of plays until she had her breakthrough with Catherine the Great.Before 1995, her Hollywood breakthrough year, was over, the graceful, silken-haired Ormond had played Guinevere opposite Sean Connery's King Arthur in First Knight and had been cast in the title role of Sydney Pollack's ill-advised remake of Sabrina. When asked by Premiere magazine what her future plans were, Ormond replied, "Along with Godzilla and the rest of the acting community, I'd like to direct." But although she did set up her own production company, the actress opted to stick with working in front of the camera, starring in Bille August's much-publicized filmization of Peter Hoeg's best-selling Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997). Unfortunately, the film proved to be a virtual nonentity both at the box office and amongst critics, and Ormond disappeared from the radars for a couple of years, only popping up to star in Nikita Mikhalkov's Sibirsky Tsiryulnik (1999). In 2000, she reemerged in front of Hollywood cameras alongside Vince Vaughn in Prime Gig, a drama about the life, loves, and losses of a California telemarketer. She was interviewed for the documentary Searching for Debra Winger over the next few years she did show up in diverse productions ranging from David Lynch's Inland Empire to the failed thriller I Know Who Killed Me. In 2008 she was the mother in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, and appeared in the sprawling biopic Che. Two years later she was in the award-winning TV movie Temple Grandin, and the year after that she portrayed Vivien Leigh in My Week With Marilyn.

Trivia: One of the more unique rap talents to emerge during the 2000s, Nelly (born Cornell Hayes, Jr.) owed much of his individuality to his geographic origins. Whereas other rappers could be tied to various schools (southern rap, east coast rap, etc.), Nelly hailed from St. Louis, MO, and thus produced a sound entirely his own; he fused urban rap with southern rap to create an unusual hybrid and sported a voice that blended a Midwestern twang with a distinctly Southern drawl. Nelly debuted with a hit single in the summer of 2000 ("Country Grammar (Hot)," then bucked widespread accusations of being a novelty act with a series of blockbuster follow-ups. Albums included the 2002 release Nellyville and the 2004 releases Suit and Sweat. Meanwhile, Hayes projected some entrepreneurial spirit on the side by designing and launching his own line of men's apparel, Vorpal, and his own line of women's apparel, Applebottoms. Aside from an early appearance in the musically charged crime drama Snipes (2001), the majority of Nelly's film work showcased his rap in a nonfiction context, such as 2002 and 2004 appearances as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, an interview appearance in the documentary Hip Hop 101: The Game (2003), and participation in the 2007 BET Hip Hop Awards. One exception arose in 2005, with a small supporting role in the Adam Sandler comedy remake The Longest Yard (2005).

Trivia: Drafted by the Indianapolis Colts with the second overall pick of the 1994 NFL Draft. Named the 1994 Offensive Rookie of the Year. Was the first running back to have four straight 2000-yard rushing seasons (1998-2001). Traded to the St. Louis Rams after the 1998 season. Named NFL MVP in 2000 with over 2,000 yards of total offense and 26 total touchdowns (an NFL record at that time). Selected to the Pro Bowl seven times. Started the Marshall Faulk Foundation in 1994, dedicated to helping underprivileged youths. The foundation donated $70,000 to the Hurricane Katrina relief, particularly the Desire Street area in the 9th Ward where he grew up. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.

Trivia: The daughter of actress Demi Moore and actor Bruce Willis, Rumer Willis debuted onscreen with two roles opposite her mother: a bit part at the age of six in the ensemble seriocomedy Now and Then (1995, billed as Willa Glen), and a more substantial supporting role as Moore's onscreen daughter in the notorious (but lucrative) Andrew Bergman farce Striptease (1996). Willis' show-business activity grew prolific in the late 2000s; the summer of 2008 witnessed her debut as a jazz vocalist at Teddy's on Hollywood Boulevard, and at around the same time, the then-19-year-old actress graced the casts of several films, including a supporting role in the comedy The House Bunny, opposite Anna Faris. Willis then signed for another supporting turn in a teen comedy, Dana Lustig's Wild Cherry (2009). She then took a on a recurring role on the CW's teen soap 90210, playing the love interest of Jessica Lowndes' character, Adrianna. Willis continued to work in TV, nabbing guest roles on shows like Hawaii Five-0 and Pretty Little Liars. In 2015, she won season 20 of Dancing with the Stars, with pro partner Val Chmerkovskiy.

Trivia: Scott Wolf is perhaps most recognizable as a member of the unusually talented young ensemble cast of Fox's television series Party of Five. Like castmates Neve Campbell, Jeremy London, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Michael Goorjian, Wolf has a promising film career. Born in Boston, MA, but raised in West Orange, NJ, Wolf attended George Washington University and earned a degree in finance. Wolf's entry into dramatics was facilitated by family friend and former actor Clint Brady, who thought the youth had a natural gift for acting. Wolf took his advice and studied acting at New York's HB Studio and then studied under Robert Carnegie at Playhouse West in California. He started out on television, appearing in several commercials and then graduated to bit parts and guest-starring roles on series ranging from Saved By the Bell to The Commish. Wolf was cast as Bailey Salinger, the second-oldest of five orphaned children on Party of Five in 1994. Wolf made his feature film debut with a supporting role in Double Dragon Wolf's career stalled a bit once Party of Five ended in 2000, but he rebounded in 2004 when he joined the third season of The WB's Everwood as a young doctor. He stayed with the show for two seasons before it was cancelled in 2006. Wolf continued to work steadily in television, taking a regular role in the short-lived series The Nine and alien drama V, and making guest appearances on NCIS and Perception.

Trivia: Bo Bice proved that American Idol could have a rocker as a finalist, but Chris Daughtry proved that the show could generate a successful rocker outside the context of the show. Of course, it helped that Daughtry was the polar opposite of Bice, a shaggy retro-rocker soaked in the South: bold and bald, he was the picture of a modern rocker, living by the rule book written by Live and Fuel. These were the qualities that helped make Chris Daughtry the most successful new rock & roll singer of 2006. Like any AmIdol finalist, Daughtry had a long run as an amateur musician. The North Carolina native -- born in Roanoke Rapids, he lived in Charlottesville, VA, before establishing himself in the Greensboro area -- began singing in local rock bands when he was 16 years old. He continued to play locally after his high-school graduation in 1998, marrying his girlfriend, Deanna, in 2000, a few months after the January 2000 birth of their son, Griffin (he adopted Deanna's daughter from a previous marriage). Family man he may have been, but Daughtry didn't let his rock & roll dream die, as he continued to play guitar and sing in a band called Absent Element. Daughtry auditioned for Rock Star: INXS in 2005 but was rejected -- a rejection that turned out to be rather fortunate since it freed him to audition for the far more popular televised singing competition American Idol. Daughtry was featured heavily during the show's seemingly never-ending audition rounds for two reasons: he was telegenic and he capitalized on the rocker promise of Bo Bice and Constantine Maroulis from the previous season. He was bald and handsome, he possessed a terrific smile, and his devotion to his family made for great TV. He sailed through to Hollywood and made it into the final 12, where he was hailed as a standout early on and soon seemed to be a favorite to win. Daughtry mania began to peak in March when his rendition of Fuel's "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" caused such a sensation that rumors began to fly that Fuel wanted to hire him as their lead singer -- something that proved no rumor, as the modern rock group, savoring the new press, practically pleaded for his presence after he was voted off the show. But that was still two long months away -- two months where Daughtry continued to be one of the top draws in the season, even courting some controversy when he sang Live's arrangement for Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line." This moody reinterpretation was misinterpreted as a Daughtry original, and on the results show he had to clarify where he learned this version. Still, this controversy paled to when he was voted off the show in May: Daughtry was one of the final four and Katharine McPhee just narrowly beat him, a result that visibly shocked the rocker. Daughtry would soon have the last laugh. After he was kicked off of Idol, he turned down Fuel's standing offer of replacing their lead singer and set off on his own career, signing with Idol's 19 Entertainment group and RCA Records in July of 2006. By the time the album materialized in November, it had turned into a project by a band called DAUGHTRY (spelled all in capital letters) -- the band featured guitarist Jeremy Brady, guitarist Josh Steely, bassist Josh Paul, and drummer Joey Barnes, but they did not play as a band on the finished album; Brady was replaced after the album's release by Brian Craddock -- a matter of semantics overlooked by most, especially in light of the album's blockbuster success. Like many hotly anticipated albums of the SoundScan era, it debuted high on the charts but it didn't drop down quickly: it stayed in the Top Ten for month after month, as did the first single, "It's Not Over." This meant that DAUGHTRY was not only a huge hit by Idol standards, it was one of the few hit rock albums -- period -- in 2006. DAUGHTRY didn't debut at number one, but it climbed to the top in January 2007 (granted, it only sold about 65,000 copies the week it was at number one, but that's still an impressive feat) and stayed in the Top Ten well into the new year, as did the single "It's Not Over." By February, it was evident that his popularity eclipsed those of his American Idol rivals Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee.

Trivia: At age 13, he auditioned for his first school play. Performed in 27 theatre productions before graduating from high school. Briefly considered becoming a social worker and traveled to Peru and Mexico City before he was cast on Popular. Wrote a script with a friend that landed him a staff writing position on Bob's Burgers.

Trivia: Began acting in grade school, after she was cast as an understudy in a play and had to fill in when the lead actor became ill. Modeled in Japan for three years. Made her acting debut in the 1995 made-for-TV movie drama A Family Divided. Took up horseback riding in 2010; entered a Burbank, CA, horse show where she placed third in the competition. Involved with animal protection organizations including JIMI'S ANGELS and Best Friends Animal Society; created Fluffball, an animal fundraiser event, to provide monetary support for the groups.

Trivia: Brooklyn, NY, native Vanessa Ferlito grew up amid somewhat challenging circumstances as an only child (the daughter of two Italian-American hair salon owners) whose father died before she reached the age of three. She developed acting aspirations early in life and broke into the entertainment business via television, with guest spots and recurring roles on crime-themed series programs including CSI: New York and The Sopranos -- where her unmistakably ethnic, weathered but voluptuous look lent her time and again to effective portrayals of molls, mistresses, and other gritty urban female types. She landed her most prominent early feature roles in Spider-Man 2 (as a co-star in Mary Jane's play) and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof segment of the 2007 two-episode omnibus Grindhouse (as one of the low-down women stalked and murdered by Kurt Russell's psychopath Stuntman Mike). After the Tarantino project, Ferlito joined co-stars Debra Messing and Alfred Molina for the gentle comedy Nothing Like the Holidays and worked with Tyler Perry on the farce Madea Goes to Jail (2009).