Trivia: A child performer who went on to become an adult actor in one of the more radical transformations in the history of the American entertainment industry, Sarah Jessica Parker has captained both a career and a public image that could be accurately classified under the heading Revenge of the Nerd. As a pubescent actor most famous for her roles in the acclaimed high school-set TV series Square Pegs and in the big screen's Footloose and Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Parker played the skinny girl with frizzy hair who was either the sidekick or underdog; when she wasn't cleaning up after Lori Singer in Footloose, she was battling snotty rich girls for the right to dance on local television in Girls Just Want to Have Fun. However, thanks to perseverance, talent, a fabulous stylist, and an HBO series called Sex and the City, Parker had emerged, by the end of the 1990s, as one of the most glamorous and employable actors around, known as much for the designer frocks she wore to awards ceremonies as for her work on the screen.Born in Nelsonville, OH, on March 25, 1965, as the fourth of eight siblings, Parker grew up in relative poverty following the divorce of her mother, an elementary school teacher, and her father, an aspiring writer. Raised by her mother and often out-of-work stepfather, she trained as a dancer and singer, bringing home paychecks from a young age. As a fledgling actor, Parker landed her first TV show at the age of eight; in 1976, after winning her first Broadway role in The Innocents, her family moved to New Jersey to encourage her career. Parker worked on the stage for the next few years, touring -- with four of her siblings -- in the national company of The Sound of Music and getting her first major break when she was chosen to take over the title role of Annie on Broadway, from 1979 to 1980.Continuing her training at the American Ballet Theater and the New York Professional Children's School, Parker made her film debut in the 1979 Rich Kids, which co-starred John Lithgow, Trini Alvarado, and Olympia Dukakis. In 1982, she won her first starring role in the aforementioned Square Pegs, and then received additional attention thanks to her role as Lori Singer's best friend and Chris Penn's girlfriend in the 1984 hit Footloose. The following year, Parker kept on dancing -- this time alongside a very young Helen Hunt -- in the similarly winning Girls Just Want to Have Fun. The actor's success in both films paved the way for steady work through the rest of the decade; in addition to her work on the big screen, Parker also starred in a number of TV shows, including the 1986 miniseries A Year in the Life and the drama series Equal Justice.The early '90s saw Parker segue into more adult roles, playing the Southern Californian creation SanDeE* alongside Steve Martin in L.A. Story (1991), then earning both critical and cult credibility as Nicholas Cage's fiancée in Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) and as the wife of consummate schlockmeister Ed Wood in Tim Burton's celebrated 1994 film about Wood's life and times. Offscreen, as well, she was garnering notice for her attachment to actor Matthew Broderick; Parker -- who had been in high-profile relationships with Robert Downey Jr. and John F. Kennedy Jr. -- married Broderick in 1997.Following a turn as Mia Farrow's daughter in the widely panned Miami Rhapsody (1995), supporting work in The First Wives Club and Burton's Mars Attacks! (both 1996), and a number of New York productions (including Sylvia, for which she earned a Drama Desk Award nomination), Parker landed the starring role of New York sex columnist Carrie Bradshaw on the new HBO series Sex and the City. Touted by some observers as the luckiest break in the actor's career to date, the show, which focused on the sex lives of four close friends (played by Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis) became a huge hit among both critics and viewers, ensuring Parker -- who won the Golden Globe for her work in 2000, 2001and 2002 -- both steady employment and an unimpeachably chic image that was eons removed from the bony elbows and frizzy bangs of her days as a square peg.Parker continued to appear in film roles during and after the Carrie Bradshaw years; among them include a starring role in The Family Stone (2005), and a supporting role in the 2008 comedy drama Smart People. In 2010 she starred in Sex and the City 2, and played a devoted mother attempting to balance her family with her career in 2011's comedy drama I Don't Know How She Does It.

Trivia: Moving to London with his family at an early age, Irish-born actor Pierce Brosnan made ends meet as a commercial illustrator and cab driver before turning to acting full-time. After training at the London Drama Centre, Brosnan made his West End stage bow in 1976, and appeared in his first film, The Long Good Friday, four years later. American audiences got their first glimpse of the charismatic, muscular young actor in the 1981 network miniseries The Manions of America. The following year, he was cast as the suave adventurer hero of the weekly TV series Remington Steele. Brosnan's casual panache and his gift for quippery led the producers of the James Bond movies to select him as the new Bond upon the departure of Roger Moore in 1986. However, at the last moment, the canceled Remington Steele was renewed, and Brosnan was contractually obligated to remain with the program, forcing him to relinquish the James Bond role to Timothy Dalton. Insult was later added to injury when it became evident that the renewal of Steele was something of a subterfuge by its producers to keep Brosnan on their leash. This professional setback was further compounded by personal tragedy seven years later when Brosnan's actress wife Cassandra Harris died after a long illness. The actor began to regain his motion picture bankability when he was cast in a choice secondary role in the 1993 comedy megahit Mrs. Doubtfire. In 1995, he finally got his chance to play Agent 007 in GoldenEye, and proved that the producer's instincts were right on target. Brosnan not only provided a much-needed boost for the ailing series, but also cemented his status as a capable leading man in a variety of roles, ranging from the title character in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1996) to a stuffy, love-struck professor who meets a ludicrous fate in Mars Attacks! (1996) to a courageous vulcanologist trying to save a town threatened by a reawakened volcano in Dante's Peak (1997). Brosnan played Bond for the second time in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), essaying the role with great success. Following his turn as the titular thief in the stylish 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, the actor went on to his third Bond outing in The World is Not Enough, again proving that saving the world was most convincingly done by those with convincing tans, straight teeth, and plenty of fun gadgets. And the world isn't the only thing Bond saved. While, the next half-decade found Brosnan stumbling with disappointments like The Tailor of Panama and The Laws of Attraction, he found box office success with the Bond franchise yet again 2002 with his final film in the franchise, Die Another Day. He soon followed this with a critically acclaimed comedic performance in the sleeper hit The Matador, before signing on for the highly anticipated film adaptation of the Abba inspired musical Mama Mia!. Next up, Brosnan would appear in some more dramatic fare like Remember Me before lightening up once more for the romantic comedy I Don't Know How She Does It.

Trivia: With the handsome looks and winning sarcasm that befit a late-night television talk show host, it is no surprise that Greg Kinnear first shot to stardom as the host of the E! channel's Talk Soup. More surprising, and thus more impressive, has been Kinnear's success in making the leap from television to the big screen. With only his fourth major celluloid outing, As Good As It Gets, Kinnear scored his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, effectively establishing himself as someone whose scope included screens small and large.Born June 17, 1963, in Logansport, IN, as the youngest of three sons, Kinnear led a peripatetic childhood. His father was a Foreign Services diplomat for the State Department, and his family accompanied him to places as far-flung as Beirut and Athens. While a student in Athens, Kinnear first ventured into the role of talk show host with his radio show School Daze With Greg Kinnear. Returning to the States for a college education, Kinnear attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he graduated in 1985, with a degree in broadcast journalism. From Arizona, he headed out to Los Angeles, where he landed his first job as a marketing assistant with Empire Entertainment. It was there that Kinnear got his first taste of show business, creating promotional campaigns for such films as Space Sluts in the Slammer. Following this stint, Kinnear found a job with the Movietime cable channel. Using an audition tape from a failed attempt at an MTV VJ position, Kinnear became a host and on-location reporter for the channel. All went swimmingly until he was fired, when Movietime became the E! Entertainment Network, and Kinnear soon found himself taking bit parts on such television shows as L.A. Law and Life Goes On.His luck began to change, however, when he became the creator, co-executive producer, and host of Best of the Worst, which aired from 1990 to 1991. In a more ironic and satisfying twist of fate, Kinnear was then hired back by E! to host Talk Soup, the network's new talk show. The show proved to be hugely popular, and Kinnear acted as its host and eventual executive producer until 1994, when he left the show for the NBC late-night talk show Later With Greg Kinnear. It was also in 1994 that he had his first big-screen role, as -- wait for it -- a talk show host in the Damon Wayans comedy Blankman. In 1995, he snared the part that was to give him more prominence among film audiences -- that of the irresponsible David Larrabee in Sydney Pollack's remake of Billy Wilder's 1954 classic romance Sabrina. The film was less than a success, but it did nothing to prevent Kinnear from getting the lead role in the 1996 comedy Dear God. That film, too, had a somewhat unfortunate fate, but Kinnear (now resigned from Later) more than rebounded with his next effort, James L. Brooks' As Good As It Gets (1997). The film was an unqualified hit, netting seven Oscar nominations and winning two, a Best Actor for Jack Nicholson and a Best Actress for Helen Hunt. Kinnear himself had the honor of both a Best Supporting Actor nomination and a Golden Globe nomination. Kinnear's next film, the romantic comedy A Smile Like Yours, had him starring opposite Lauren Holly as one-half of a couple trying to have a baby. The film met with lukewarm reviews and fairly anemic box-office results, but Kinnear's subsequent film, 1998's You've Got Mail, struck gold. He played Meg Ryan's significant other, a newspaper columnist wholly unlike what was to be his next character, that of Captain Amazing in the 1999 summer action film Mystery Men. With a stellar cast, including Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Janeane Garofalo, Lena Olin, and Tom Waits, Kinnear was indeed in good company, further proof of how far he had come in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, both Mystery Men and the subsequent Garry Shandling comedy What Planet Are You From (in which Kinnear amusingly portrayed Shandling's sleazy co-worker) fared poorly with both critics and audiences, and by the time he landed the role of a much-desired soap-opera star in Nurse Betty, it seemed that his star may have faded a bit. His role as a smug, one-dimensional college professor in the 2000 comedy Loser seemed near the bottom of the barrel for the formerly Oscar-nominated actor. Despite the fact that none of these failures were necessarily the fault of everyone's favorite smirky former talk-show host, his choice of projects left many wondering what had become of Kinnear. Of course, where there's darkness there will always be room for hope, and thankfully for Kinnear, the choices he was making began to pay off.In 2000, Kinnear essayed the role of a missing woman's grieving fiancé in the dark Sam Raimi thriller The Gift; the film seemed to mark the beginning of a comeback. His next role as the catalyst for an investigative report into the nature of male behavioral patterns in Someone Like You (2001) proved a step in the right direction, and following supporting performances in Dinner With Friends (2001) and We Were Soldiers (2002), Kinnear's comeback had been primed. Cast as ill-fated television star Bob Crane in Paul Schrader's disturbing 2002 biopic Auto Focus, Kinnear's spot-on performance was so eerie that it made the film almost discomforting to watch. The spotlight was somewhat stolen however, by co-star Willem Dafoe's indescribably creepy turn as the man generally believed to have caused Crane's untimely death. The following year Kinnear lightened the mood considerably when he was cast (literally) alongside Matt Damon as one-half of a pair of conjoined twins in the Farrelly Brothers' comedy Stuck on You. Intent on following his dreams of becoming an actor, Kinnear's character drags his reluctant brother to Hollywood to hilarious results.Kinnear's next role would come as the grieving father of a dead son who goes to desperate lengths to recapture his former happiness in the horror flavored Godsend (2004).A fun turn as a salesman who becomes involved with in hitman in the Golden Globe-nominated crime comedy The Matador went largely unseen despite generally favorable critical response, and after lending his voice to the animated Robots and berating little-league players in The Bad News Bears, Kinnear later join an impressive ensemble cast to investigate America's love affair with burgers and fries in director Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation. Later that same year, Kinnear would take family dysfunction to a whole new level as a motivational speaker attempting to get his daughter to a beauty pageant in Little Miss Sunshine, with a role as NFL coach Dick Vermeil following shortly thereafter in the inspirational sports drama Invincible. Kinnear would spend the following years maintaining his status as a bankable actor, appearing in films like Baby Mama, Green Zone, I Don't Know How She Does It, and the mini series The Kennedys.

Trivia: Christina Hendricks jump-started her career on television in the early 2000s, with a particularly effective multi-episode contribution to the medical drama ER. On that program, she played Joyce, a battered housewife given solace -- and shelter -- by one of the female employees of Cook County Hospital. Also in 2002, Hendricks appeared in a memorable role on the short-lived cult sci-fi series Firefly as the seductive, scheming conwoman Saffron (in two episodes, one of which never aired). She continued to find steady work on television, notably co-starring with Taye Diggs on the short-lived legal drama Kevin Hill (2004-2005). In 2007, Hendricks took on a prominant role on one of the most promising and original new series of 2007: Mad Men. Her work as Joan on the show earned her strong reviews as the show became the most respected on television winning the Emmy for best drama series each of its first four seasons. She parlayed that into a film career that includes appearances in I Don't Know How She Does It, Detachment, and the cult hit Drive, where she played a lethal criminal.

Trivia: For better or worse, leading actor Kelsey Grammer's name will probably forever be associated with the pompous, garrulous, and self-absorbed but lovable psychiatrist Frasier Crane, a character Grammer has played on television since he first appeared on the NBC sitcom Cheers, in 1984, as a love interest for Shelley Long. Though Frasier was not intended to become a series regular, Grammer's performance of the blowhard neurotic charmed audiences and he remained with Cheers through its 1993 demise. At the beginning of the 1993-1994 television season, Grammer's character was resurrected in his own show and moved from Boston to Seattle, where he became a radio psychologist and faced a whole slew of folks just waiting to poke metaphorical pins in his hot air balloon. Thanks to excellent performances and top-notch writing, Frasier became as big a hit as its predecessor. Grammer won three Emmy awards and was nominated for seven more (twice for Cheers, once for his guest appearance on a 1992 episode of Wings, four times for Frasier) for playing the character. Born on St. Thomas, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Grammer knew extreme tragedy in youth. Following the shooting death of his father when he was a boy, he was raised in New Jersey and then Florida, by his mother and grandfather. His grandfather died before Grammer became a teen. When he was 20, his sister was abducted and violently murdered. Five years later, he lost two half brothers in a diving accident. As a young man, Grammer found comfort in Shakespeare; with his acting debut in a high school production of The Little Foxes came an interest in pursuing drama as a career. He enrolled in Juilliard, but dropped out after two years to work at San Diego's Old Globe Theater, where he gained three years' invaluable experience performing in Shakespearean and classical dramas; afterward, Grammer performed in productions across the country. He eventually made it to Broadway, where he appeared in various productions, including Othello. Prior to playing Frasier, Grammer appeared occasionally on television and had regular roles in three soap operas, including One Life to Live. He continues to occasionally guest star on other series. Fans of the animated satire The Simpsons will recognize his periodic voice characterization as the venomous Sideshow Bob. Miniseries and telemovies in which he has appeared include London Suite and Beyond Suspicion. Grammer made his feature film debut with a small role in Top of the Hill (1989) and had his first starring role in the much-panned comedy Down Periscope (1996). In addition to his Emmy kudos, Grammer has received an American Comedy Award, two Golden Globes, and a People's Choice Award. In 1995, he published his autobiography So Far.Grammer would spend the following years taking on TV roles on shows like Back to You and Boss, but would find even more success as a producer, helping bring shows like The Game, Girlfriends, Hank, Medium, and World Cup Comedy to fruition. In 2014, he returned to acting in a big way, making a cameo appearance in X-Men: Days of Future Past, reprising his role as Beast, playing the bad guy in Transformers: Age of Extinction, and returning to television in the FX series Partners.

Trivia: Comedian Seth Myers began honing his comedy skills doing improv at Northwestern University. He would further his craft at Chicago's ImprovOlympic, and eventually joined the cast and writing staff of Saturday Night Live in 2001. Myers excelled at SNL, moving up the ladder to writing supervisor in 2005 and to co-head writer in 2006, sharing duties with Tina Fey. Myers would also become known for his hosting duties on Weekend Update, which he took over when Fey left the show. By 2013, Myers was given his own late night talk show, Late Night, in the timeslot vacated by Jimmy Fallon when Fallon took over hosting duties on The Tonight Show.

Trivia: Spent much of her early life in Japan, after her parents divorced and her mother married a man enlisted in the Air Force. She eventually returned to America to try to break into the entertainment industry. Has starred in TV commercials for McDonald's, Nike and Pepsi. Covered womens' basketball and college football as a sidelines reporter/interviewer for Fox Sports. Made her TV acting debut in 2006 as Mily Acuna on The N's teen surfing drama Beyond the Break. Has hosted G4's entertainment and technology news series Attack of the Show, the network's Formula D (a show about Japanese "drift" racing in the U.S.) and The Daily Nut podcast. Played a receptionist in Rob Schneider's directorial debut, the conman comedy Big Stan (2007). Served as a correspondent on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. Authored the 2010 book Suck It, Wonder Woman: The Misadventures of a Hollywood Geek. In 2010, appeared on a provocative billboard for PETA to bring attention to the unethical treatment of circus elephants.

Trivia: Famed for (and lucky enough to be) one of Saturday Night Live's original Not Ready for Primetime Players, Jane Curtin made her debut in 1975 among such heavies as John Belushi, Chevy Chase, and Gilda Radner. Together they formed the sketch comedy troupe that wrote a new chapter in American comedy. Curtin is different from many of her famous SNL cohorts in that she left the show without being easily identified with a single character. Audiences loved her as Mrs. Conehead and as the co-anchor of Weekend Update with Dan Akroyd, but Curtin remained as understated as someone could be with a two-foot cone on her head.After her two Emmy nominations from Saturday Night Live, Curtin went on to star in a number of other series. In the 1980s, viewers empathized with her as Allie Lowell in Kate and Allie (for which she won back-to-back Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmys in 1984 and 1985); in the 1990s, she kept audiences in stitches with her wacky characterization of Dr. Mary Albright, the anthropologist love interest of John Lithgow on 3rd Rock From the Sun. As the 2000's unfolded, Curtin would remain active in a vareity of roles, appearing most notably in comedies like I Love You, Man and on TV series like the crime drama Unforgettable.

Trivia: A supporting actor, Blum has appeared onscreen from the '80s.

Trivia: With her memorable performance as tough but sympathetic rebel teen Kim Kelly in the critically praised but criminally short-lived series Freaks and Geeks, actress Busy Philipps crafted one of the most compelling young characters in contemporary television. In addition to later serving as something of a life-support system for the rapidly expiring teen drama Dawson's Creek, Philipps has gone on to make a name for herself in such features as the Columbine-influenced Home Room and the 2004 comedy White Chicks as well. Born Elizabeth Jean Philipps in Oak Park, IL, the active youngster was quickly dubbed "Busy" for her seemingly boundless energy and sociability. A role as Wilber the Pig in a grade-school production of Charlotte's Web eventually lead to Philipps being voted Best Actress of her class in her senior yearbook. The ambitious screen prospect went on to take classes at the Acting Lab of Arizona, where she would write and produce a pair of successful plays. Philipps subsequently refined her skills by studying at England's Oxford School of Drama before making a name for herself in community theater around the Scottsdale area, with her first professional gig coming with a role as a real-life Barbie doll at Mattel's Toy Fair convention in New York. Philipps role in Freaks and Geeks did wonders for her exposure, regardless of the endearing show's remarkably short lifespan, and in the years that followed, she continued to impress in such features as Anatomy of a Hate Crime and Home Room. Many viewed Philipps' involvement with Dawson's Creek as something of a breath of fresh air for the somewhat stale series, with simultaneous appearances in the Freaks and Geeks follow-up series Undeclared proving a welcome opportunity to work with old friends. In 2004, Philipps took a supporting role opposite Jaime King in the Shawn and Marlon Wayans comedy White Chicks. In 2009 she was cast in the TV series Cougar Town, and in 2011 she appeared in the Sarah Jessica Parker vehicle I Don't Know How She Does It.

Trivia: Though she qualifies as a direct descendant of Middle Eastern royalty -- the great-great-grandaughter, in fact, of a 19th century Persian shah -- Iranian-American Sarah Shahi lived out several offscreen roles exotic enough to rival anything in her lineage. During her adolescence, she enjoyed stints as a USO performer and Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, and graduated from that experience to a successful Hollywood acting career at the behest of Robert Altman, who advised her in 2000 to make a beeline for the West Coast and audition for television pilots. Heeding this advice, Shahi gained national attention a short time later, as Jenny during the first season of the spy series Alias (opposite Jennifer Garner), and -- following guest appearances on Dawson's Creek -- debuted cinematically with a small but memorable role as a (very) willing classroom participant, in the Will Ferrell/Vince Vaughn frat boy comedy Old School (2003). Alongside fleeting appearances in such movies as Legally Blonde 2 (2003) and For Your Consideration (2006), Shahi also played the regular role of Carmen de la Pica Morales on Showtime's lesbian-themed drama The L Word during that program's second and third seasons. After her run on that series, she appeared in the short-lived sitcom Teachers (2006), and then found another regular role the next year on the cop drama Life, playing Dani Reese, partner of main character Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis). Shahi would continue to appear in several other projects, including films like I Don't Know How She Does It and the TV series Fairly Legal. In 2013, she had a guest stint on Person of Interest, which turned into a series regular role.

Trivia: Born in 1985, actress Jessica Szohr earned her laurels as a frequent presence on U.S. television during the 2000s. A native of Wisconsin, Szohr experienced her first taste of show-business life when discovered by a modeling scout at age 16 and tapped to do print ads for Kohl's department store. She then moved to Los Angeles, secured representation as an actress, and began signing for guest spots on various series including Joan of Arcadia and That's So Raven, as well as recurring roles on CSI: Miami, What About Brian, and Gossip Girl. Her role of Vanessa Abrams on the latter series was later expanded to regular status. In the years to come, Szor would remain active on screen, appearing in movies like Tower Heist.

Trivia: Her father, Zbigniew Brzezinski, was named National Security Advisor to President Carter in 1976. In between stints as reporter for ABC and CBS, she worked as a local news reporter and anchor in Hartford. Was a reporter on the scene during 9/11 in Manhattan. Objected on air to reading a lead story concerning Paris Hilton in 2007. Authored her first book, All Things at Once, released in 2010.

Trivia: Does narration for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Was awarded the Segal Award in 1996. Her first series regular role was on Orange is the New Black, which began in 2013. Was in a medically-induced coma for two weeks following a car accident in early 2014. Is involved with the charity Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers.

Trivia: Born in the rural upper reaches of Ontario as the son of a diamond driller-cum-prospector, Canadian performer Michael Hogan trained as a young adult at Montreal's National Theatre School. Dramatically, Hogan maintained equal footing in stage classics and filmed productions. His theater work frequently included performances at the Stratford Festival with roles including Biff in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. Hogan's feature and television credits demonstrated a marked adroitness at handling diverse characterizations; he typically played bit parts, and could be effective as everything from military personnel to detectives to physicians. Hogan made his feature debut in the Peter Fonda/Jerry Reed good ol' boy comedy High Ballin' (1978) and later signed for theatrically released projects including Gas (1981), Stella (1989), and The Cutting Edge (1992). Meanwhile, the actor maintained a strong emphasis on small-screen work. In 2004, he took on one of his most high-profile roles up to that time, playing the hard-drinking, cantankerous Colonel Tigh on the Sci-Fi Channel update of Battlestar Galactica. The actor continued to work on Battlestar Galactica, and worked with Amanda Seyfried and Sarah Jessica Parker in the films Red Riding Hood and I Don't Know How She Does It (both 2011).