Trivia: Launching his career as a standup comic, American performer Richard Belzer entered the 1970s as a member of an odd New York-based comedy troupe called Channel One. Anticipating the home video explosion by over a decade, Channel One staged satirical, scatological routines lampooning the banalities of television -- and staged them in front of TV cameras, which transmitted the routines to little TV monitors, which in turn were watched by the live audience. Some of the best sketches were assembled into an X-rated comedy feature, The Groove Tube (1970), which featured Belzer, Ken Shapiro, and a brash newcomer named Chevy Chase. For the next decade, Belzer played the comedy-club circuit, popped up as a talkshow guest, and appeared in occasional films like Fame (1982). He joined still another comedy troupe in 1983, which appeared nightly on the syndicated interview program Thicke of the Night. The host was Allan Thicke, and Belzer's comic cohorts included such incipient stars as Charles Fleischer, Chloe Webb and Gilbert Gottfried. Thicke of the Night was one of the more notorious bombs of the 1983-84 season, but it enabled Belzer to secure better guest-star bookings, and ultimately a hosting job on his own program, debuting in 1986 over the Lifetime Cable Service. It was on this series that wrestler Hulk Hogan, demonstrating a stranglehold on Belzer caused the host to lose consciousness -- which prompted a highly publicized lawsuit instigated by Belzer against the Hulkster. In the early 1990s, Richard Belzer could be seen as a non-comic regular on the TV series Homicide. His Homicide character, John Munch, would become one of the longest-running fictional creations on TV appearing in more than a half-dozen other television shows, most notably Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Trivia: African American actor Yaphet Kotto was one of the most prominent beneficiaries of the upsurge in black-oriented theatrical pieces of the late 1950s; he appeared in many prestigious Broadway and off-Broadway productions, taking regional theatre work rather than accept stereotypical "mainstream" roles in movies and TV. Kotto's first film was Nothing But a Man (1964), an independently produced study of black pride in the face of white indifference. Though he vehemently steered clear of most of the '70s blaxploitation fare, in 1972, Kotto produced, directed and wrote the feature film Speed Limit 65 (aka The Limit and Time Limit), a one-of-a-kind "black biker" film. The biggest production with which Kotto was associated in the early 1970s was the James Bond film Live and Let Die, in which, as the villainous Mr. Big, he was blown up in the final scene (a similarly grisly fate awaited Kotto in 1979's Alien). On television, Yaphet Kotto was a regular on the TV series For Love and Honor (1983) and Homicide: Life on the Streets (1992), and was seen as Ugandan president Idi Amin in the 1977 TV movie Raid on Entebbe.

Trivia: While she has appeared in a handful of feature films, Michelle Forbes is best known for her TV work in the 1990s. Born in Austin, TX, Forbes moved to New York when she joined the cast of daytime serial The Guiding Light in 1987. Moving to prime time after 1989, Forbes endeared herself to legions of Trekkies as Ensign Ro on Star Trek: The New Generation during the 1991-1992 season. Leaving the show to pursue feature films, the actress appeared in the Irish romance The Playboys (1992), co-starred with David Duchovny as the unwitting companions of Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis' homicidal couple in Kalifornia (1992), and helped send up the Hollywood snakepit in Swimming With Sharks (1994). Following a couple of B-films and a supporting turn in John Carpenter's over-the-top sequel Escape From L.A. (1996), Forbes returned to series TV on the highly praised NBC police drama Homicide: Life on the Street in 1996. Though her character was written out after 1998, Forbes returned for the final TV film Homicide: The Movie (2000). She seemed on track to add another well-regarded series to her resumé in 2000 as one of the doctors on duty in Peter Berg's edgy mental hospital drama Wonderland, but ABC showed little patience for the show's slow start and yanked it off the air after a couple of episodes. After Wonderland's quick disappearance, Forbes played photographer Jared Harris's wife in the fashion world feature Perfume (2001). Despite an illustrious ensemble cast, though, Perfume didn't fare much better than Robert Altman's ignominious haute couture flop Ready to Wear (1994). Finding better work in TV, Forbes appeared in the cable western The Johnson County War (2002) and joined the cast of Fox's much lauded real time CIA drama 24 in 2002, playing a tough, loyal aide to Dennis Haysbert's President Palmer. She continued her run of being part of well-respected TV shows with recurring roles in Battlestar Galactica, In Treatment, True Blood, and AMC's The Killing.

Trivia: Gaining notice in the early '90s for his Emmy-winning portrayal of Detective Francis Xavier "Frank" Pembleton on the popular television police drama Homicide: Life on the Street, tireless Chicago native Andre Braugher remained with the show through 1998 while simultaneously building a feature career with roles in such theatrical releases as Primal Fear (1996) and City of Angels (1998). A graduate of Stanford University who also received a M.F.A. from the prestigious Juilliard School, Braugher claims to have originally taken up acting to meet girls. He later changed his major after realizing his true calling during a production of Hamlet, and his first professional role came in a performance at the Berkley Shakespeare Festival. Making the leap from stage to screen with the 1989 civil war drama Glory proved an eye opening experience, and following numerous appearances as Detective Winston Blake in a series of made-for-TV Kojak features, Braugher held onto his badge by joining the cast of Homicide in 1993. Later alternating successfully between film and television, Braugher was voted one of the "50 Most Beautiful" people in a 1997 issue of People magazine; the following year, the handsome actor turned down a prominent role in the sci-fi drama Sphere in order to spend more time with his family. Jumping back into features in 2000, roles in Frequency, Duets and A Better Way to Die proved that Braugher was still in top form, and, in 2002, he turned back to the small screen with the made-for-TV feature Hack (and later reprised his role when the feature was turned into a weekly series). Following a role in the made-for-TV feature A Soldier's Girl (2002), Braugher joined the cast of the television remake of the Stephen King vampire chiller Salem's Lot (2004), then returned to television - and changed camps to tap into the underground element - on the weekly crime drama Thief. As Nick Atwater, one of the most genial and principled of all television criminals (!), Braugher evoked an unusual ethical balance in his character and tapped into the fence's deep-seated devotion to his family, even as he drummed up a fiery intensity from episode to episode. Successive years found the actor moving into supporting roles in Hollywood A-listers with a heightened emphasis on effects-heavy action, adventure and fantasy-themed material; projects included Poseidon (2006), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) and Stephen King's The Mist (2007).Braugher would star in the TV mini-series The Andromeda Strain in 2008, before taking on a role in the cult favorite comedy series Men of a Certain Age from 2009-2011. He would also enjoy a recurring role on House M.D., and play a memorable supporting role in the Angelina Jolie action flick Salt.

Trivia: Pleasant-looking and genial American character player Reed Diamond delivered a number of early performances prior to his first major assignment -- as Detective Mike Kellerman on the series Homicide: Life on the Street. Diamond carried the role from 1995 through 1998, and reprised it in Jean de Segonzac's 2000 feature Homicide: The Movie. After essaying the Lloyd Bridges role in that same year's telemovie remake of High Noon, Diamond then branched off into cinematic work. He was memorable as John Aaron in George Clooney's Edward R. Murrow biopic Good Night, and Good Luck., and lent supporting roles to the horror picture The Darkroom (2006) and the thriller Adrenaline (2007). Diamond continued to work on the small screen as well, playing Stuart Collins for many episodes of Judging Amy and appearing in episodes of such popular series as CSI, Law & Order, The West Wing, and Ghost Whisperer. In 2007, he scored a regular role on the short-lived sci-fi drama Journeyman, as Jack Vassar, the brother of main character Dan Vasser (Kevin McKidd). He also appeared in the first season of Joss Whedon's short-lived series Dollhouse in 2009, and the next year he landed a recurring part on the 8th season of the FOX action series 24. He returned to the big screen in 2011 playing Mark Shapiro in Moneyball, and returned to the Whedonverse with a role in the director's 2012 adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

Trivia: Black supporting actor, onscreen from the '80s.

Trivia: After supporting roles in a handful of small films and a short stint on the soap opera All My Children, New York-born Melissa Leo gained prominence on the critically-acclaimed Barry Levinson-produced television drama Homicide: Life on the Streets. After leaving the show in 1997, Leo continued to appear in a range of features, including 1999's 24 Hour Woman. But it was her role as Benicio Del Toro's wife in 2003's 21 Grams that gave Leo her first exposure to a wide moviegoing audience. The performance also won her recognition from the L.A. Film Critics Association, who named Leo the runner-up for the Best Supporting Actress honor.Leo continued to work steadily in a series of independent films including American Gun, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and Stephanie Daley. In 2008 she landed the lead role in Courtney Hunt's debut feature Frozen River. As a financially strapped woman who turns to human-trafficking in order to earn a living, Leo earned thunderous critical praise as well as Best Actress nominations from both the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy.Frozen River led her to steady work un a variety of projects, but it was as the matriarch of the boxing brothers in The Fighter that Leo had the biggest success of her career capturing numerous year-end critics awards as well as the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. In the years after that she appeared in works as diverse as the remake of Mildred Pierce for HBO, and Kevin Smith's Red State.

Trivia: Character actor Max Perlich spent many years playing bit parts on television and in teen films such as Can't Buy Me Love (1987) and Lost Angels (1989); his roles usually were of the slacker or juvenile delinquent variety. As he outgrew the teen genre, his later performances, although still minor, were distinguished by eccentricity and twitchy, nervous energy, fully realized in the film Drugstore Cowboy. He has excelled in supporting roles in films such as Rush (1991) and Georgia (1995). Along with his continuing work in films, he has had recurring roles in television shows such as Homicide: Life on the Streets (1997) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1998).

Trivia: Lead actor, onscreen from the late '80s.

Trivia: Actress Rosanna Arquette, the granddaughter of actor Cliff Arquette (aka "Charley Weaver"), was born into a theatrical family; her father was a founding member of the Committee, an improvisational theater troupe. As a youth she moved often with her family. At age 17 she appeared on the Los Angeles stage in Metamorphosis. Her family settled in Virginia, where she worked in local theater where she was spotted by a casting director. She soon had much work in TV movies in the late '70s. She debuted onscreen in More American Graffitti (1979). Her breakthrough came with her portrayal of condemned murderer Gary Gilmore's girlfriend in the TV movie The Executioner's Song (1982), which earned her much praise. That success led to a lead role in John Sayles's Baby, It's You (1983). She gained her greatest fame in the hit film Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), co-starring Madonna. From there she has maintained a steady screen career, usually playing kooky, off-beat, spacey, slightly eccentric women. She is the sister of actress Patricia Arquette.

Trivia: After eking out a modest living as a piano teacher in Alabama and Florida, Polly Holliday switched to acting, spending ten seasons with the Asolo State Theater in Sarasota. In 1973, Holliday headed for New York, where she was cast in Murray Schisgal's Broadway play All Over Town; her director was Dustin Hoffman. All Over Town led to the tiny but pivotal role as a testy secretary in the Dustin Hoffman-Robert Redford feature All the President's Men (1976)--which, in turn, led to Holliday's being cast as wise-cracking waitress Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry in the TV sitcom Alice (1976-80). Rising to nationwide fame by virtue of her oft-repeated catchphrase "Kiss mah grits!", Holliday earned four Emmy nominations and one Golden Globe Award. In 1980, she was spun off into her own weekly series Flo, which lacked Alice's staying power and was cancelled after a single season. She went on to briefly replace Eileen Brennan on TV's Private Benjamin (1983), and to play Captain Betty in the pilot episode of Stir Crazy (1985). Her film roles of the 1980s included Gremlins (1984), in which she was eminently hissable as Margaret Hamilton clone Mrs. Deagle. Polly Holliday's more recent work has largely been confined to the Broadway stage; in 1989, she received a Tony nomination for her portrayal of Sister Woman in a revival of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Trivia: His numerous collaborations with Whit Stillman making him inseparable from the director's films, Christopher Eigeman has earned a reputation as the poster boy for acerbic postmodern male angst. Making his screen debut in Stillman's Metropolitan (1990) as an officious snob, Eigeman went on to work with the director on no less than three subsequent projects, turning in performances that managed to be at once misanthropic and all too human.A native of Denver, where he was born March 1, 1964, Eigeman first took a serious interest in acting while a student at Vermont's Putney School, and continued to nurture his aspirations during his studies at Kenyon College in Ohio. After toiling for a few years in almost complete obscurity, he answered an open casting call for Stillman's Metropolitan, the result of which was his big-screen debut. An arch comedy of manners set among a group of Manhattan trust fund brats, the film earned a substantial degree of critical approval, as well as something of a cult following. Following the film's release, Eigeman took to the stage for a time with the well-regarded Actor's Theatre Company of Louisville, Kentucky.Eigeman and Stillman again collaborated on Barcelona, the 1994 follow-up to Metropolitan. Also starring the earlier film's Taylor Nichols, Barcelona featured Eigeman as a snotty -- and oblivious -- military man visiting his cousin (Nichols) in the eponymous city. Another droll comedy of manners, it set the stage for Eigeman's work with Noah Baumbach in both Kicking and Screaming (1995) and Mr. Jealousy (1997). The former cast the actor as a philosophical recent college graduate, while the latter netted him some of the best reviews of his career for his portrayal of a successful yet deeply conflicted novelist. Following a starring role in a 1996 episode of Homicide: Life on the Streets directed by Stillman, Eigeman and the director teamed up once more for The Last Days of Disco (1998), the last installment in the trilogy that included Metropolitan and Barcelona. Cast in a supporting role as a morally dubious club underboss, the actor shared the screen with a cast that included Chloe Sevigny, Kate Beckinsale, Matt Keeslar, and Mackenzie Astin. Like its two predecessors, the film took a witty, shabby-genteel look into the lives of privileged urban youths, and, also like its predecessors, it earned strong reviews, which extended to the performances of its stellar ensemble cast.