Trivia: One of Hollywood's few celebrators of the "Southern bad boy" image, country musician turned actor-screenwriter-director Billy Bob Thornton consistently engenders a reputation -- via chosen onscreen parts and fervent tabloid reports of his allegedly wild off-camera life -- as an iconoclastic American hellraiser with lightning in his veins. But appearances can deceive, for Thornton also reveals depth and complexity as one Hollywood's most articulate interviewees, graced with intelligent, sensitive observations, cultural allusions, and poignant reflections on his experiences as a thespian and film artist. Moreover, this acute insight evidences itself equally in Thornton's craftsmanship as a screenwriter and director. Though his behind-the-camera projects have become increasingly rare over time, his few directorial outings evince surprising control, refinement, insight, and taste. Born in Hot Springs, AR, on August 4, 1955, Thornton grew up dirt poor in the nearby backwoods community of Alpine. Despite his father's gainful employment as a history teacher, Thornton was forced to live with his parents and grandparents in a house without electricity or indoor plumbing. After high-school graduation, Thornton landed a steady job and got married; neither the job nor the marriage lasted, as Thornton divorced two years later and returned to college to study psychology; however, that didn't last, either -- he decided that his heart lay in rock & roll, and tried and failed to make it in New York. So Thornton returned to his job for awhile until he and Epperson renewed their dedication to a music career. Eventually, he would travel to California to write screenplays. It was a difficult time for Thornton who, in addition to living in poverty, also suffered a near-fatal heart attack. Thornton eventually turned to acting, making his screen debut in the straight-to-video Hunter's Blood in 1987. Subsequent roles in many forgettable movies followed (including Troma's Chopper Chicks in Zombietown), as did an appearance on the Burt Reynolds sitcom Evening Shade; the actor simultaneously weathered several marriages through the '80s and '90s, to Toni Lawrence, Cynda Williams, and Pietra Dawn Cherniak. Then, in 1990, Thornton caught the attention of critics when he wrote and appeared in Carl Franklin's critically acclaimed directorial debut, One False Move (1991). A dark crime drama set in a small Arkansas town, the film provided a suitable antecedent to Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade, a 1993 short that Thornton scripted. The George Hickenlooper-directed piece stars Thornton as Karl Childers, a mentally retarded, soft-spoken man, institutionalized for murder, who delivers a reflective monologue to a reporter (Molly Ringwald) just prior to his release from the psychiatric institution where he resides. (Thornton allegedly invented the Childers character years prior, while shaving and talking to himself in the mirror.) The effort won a number of positive notices and Thornton subsequently appeared in Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man in 1995 and (with Epperson), co-authored the screenplay for A Family Thing (1996), a gentle Southern drama starring Robert Duvall as a Caucasian man who discovers that he is half black.After years of relative obscurity as an actor and screenwriter, Thornton made a great cultural impact with the low-budget, independent drama Sling Blade. A feature-length expansion of the Hickenlooper short, and a sequel of sorts to that work, the picture finds Karl Childers returning to the outside world for the first occasion in decades, and attempting to begin a new, quiet life in a small Southern town. In the story, Karl befriends a local woman, her little boy, and a gay storekeeper (John Ritter), and finds lodging and steady income, but runs headfirst into Doyle Hargraves (Dwight Yoakam), a psychotically abusive lout who turns life for the mother and son into a waking nightmare. Bit by bit, Karl's old demons awaken and he feels himself being drawn back into the sphere of retributive violence. When Sling Blade premiered during the late 1996 holiday season, it swept away the hearts of audiences and critics worldwide and heralded the arrival of a major new talent. Journalists waxed rhapsodic in their praise. For Thornton's work on the film, he won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, as well as a Best Actor Oscar nomination. The 1996 triumph of Sling Blade brought Thornton a whirlwind of opportunities. He followed his success with a key supporting role in Robert Duvall's The Apostle (1998) as a hardened racist, a turn in Primary Colors (1998) as a James Carville-like campaign manager with a penchant for exhibitionism, and a role in Armageddon as NASA's executive director. Also in 1998, he received another Best Actor nomination for his work in Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan, the story of two brothers (Thornton and Bill Paxton) who descend into the depths of distrust and paranoia after stumbling upon four million dollars in the woods; it allowed Thornton to plumb the darker areas of the backwoods psyche as only he could do so well. The following year, Thornton starred in Mike Newell's Pushing Tin (1999), a comedy about two dueling air traffic controllers (Thornton and John Cusack). He also returned to his duties behind the camera, directing, writing, and starring in Daddy and Them, a comedy drama about the ups and downs of an eccentric Alabama family. In addition to Daddy and Them, Thornton signed on to act in a number of projects during 2000, including Wakin' Up in Reno, a romantic comedy about two white-trash couples; and South of Heaven, West of Hell, an ensemble Western that marked the directorial debut of country singer Dwight Yoakam. Thornton then delivered a pair of impressive dramatic performances in the first year of the new millennium. Agreeing to appear in Joel and Ethan Coen's neo noir The Man Who Wasn't There without so much as looking at the script (Thornton immediately accepted the role based on his creative respect for the Coens), the gangly actor earned a Golden Globe nomination for his turn as a barber who gets in over his head while attempting to execute a seemingly simple blackmail scheme. Subsequently cast alongside Bruce Willis in Barry Levinson's summer 2001 crime comedy Bandits, that film fared only marginally better than Thornton's sophomore directorial effort Daddy and Them.Thornton's performance in the redemption-themed drama Monster's Ball more than redeemed him in the eyes of the public and press. In that picture, Thornton offers a sensitive portrayal of a conflicted soul who attempts to come to terms with his love for an African-American woman in the face of his racist father's hateful teachings. After once again chasing redemption in the Sundance premiere Levity, Thornton joined the Coen brothers for the disappointing romantic comedy Intolerable Cruelty. In December of that same year, Thornton appeared in a role that only the gutsiest actors would take: the title character in Terry Zwigoff's (jet) black comedy, Bad Santa. Though gleefully, deliberately offensive, the picture never sacrifices its sharp sense of humor or its acid insight, and (perhaps as a result) became a massive runaway hit -- the definitive sleeper of 2003. At about the same time, Thornton cameoed as a slimy, philandering U.S. president who attempts to thwart the amorous conquest of Hugh Grant's prime minister, in the British romantic comedy Love Actually (2003).In 2004, Thornton essayed the role of Davy Crockett in the historical action-epic The Alamo (2004). He was instrumental in bringing Bad Santa scribes John Requa and Glenn Ficarra on board for exhaustive rewrites of Richard Linklater's Bad News Bears remake (2005). Thornton then starred in director Todd Phillips' remake of Robert Hamer's 1960 comedy School for Scoundrels, which debuted in September 2006. Despite some scattered exceptions, the film received mostly negative reviews. Not long after, Thornton essayed the title role in the spectacular drama The Astronaut Farmer, issued in February 2007. This film cast the actor as Charlie Farmer, a retired NASA astronaut-cum-farmer who raises the ire of government authorities by building a spacecraft in his barn. Subsequent roles included a sadistic gym teacher in Mr. Woodcock (2007), an issue-ridden Hollywood studio head in The Informers (2008), and a manure salesman in The Smell of Success (2009). Not long after, Thornton announced his return to directing with the eagerly-anticipated drama Jayne Mansfield's Car. In 2011 he voiced Jack, of Jack and Kill fame, in the hit animated film Puss In Boots. In 2014, Thornton took a lead role in the massively popular TV series Fargo, nabbing an Emmy nomination in the process. Later in the year, he had a supporting role in the film The Judge.

Trivia: Though he has proven to be a natural, allegedly Lucas Black's ambition is not to be an actor when he grows up. Born and raised in Alabama, Black became a professional actor when an open casting call landed him a bit part in Jon Avnet's The War (1994). After starring on TV's American Gothic (1995), Black definitively caught the audience's attention with his pivotal role in Billy Bob Thornton's award-winning drama Sling Blade (1996). Resisting child actor treacle, Black turned in a genuinely charming and moving performance as the young boy who befriends Thornton's mentally challenged ex-con. Despite the acclaim, however, Black opted to stay home in Alabama rather than go Hollywood. Black continued to act throughout his high school years, playing supporting roles in the racial drama Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) and the big-screen version of The X-Files (1998), and starring in the TV movie Flash (1997) and as the politically aware Peejoe in Crazy in Alabama (1999). In Thornton's second directorial effort All the Pretty Horses (2000), Black's performance as the young drifter who gets Matt Damon into trouble once again revealed his ability to hold his own against -- indeed outshine -- Hollywood's best. Black, however, has asserted that his ultimate goal is to become a professional fisherman. High profile roles as everything from a piano savant in Killer Diller to a high school football star in Friday Night LIghts and a fresh-faced Marine in Jarhead proved without question that Black had the acting range needed to craft and impressive and enduring career, and in 2006 Black put the peddle to the metal as a troubled teen whose trip to Tokyo finds him mastering the art of the drift in the adrenaline-charged sequel The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Trivia: Midwestern-born actor Garrett Hedlund debuted in the mid-2000s with a series of plum roles in A-list features. In the beginning, he seemed typecast as a well-rounded, average American young man, and made particularly strong impressions in that vein with his portrayal of high-school football hero Don Billingsley in Friday Night Lights, opposite Billy Bob Thornton. Yet Hedlund surprised and delighted his followers with a strong show of versatility thereafter, with effective portrayals as struggling musician Jack Mercer, who joins forces with his siblings to determine the reasons behind his mother's death, in John Singleton's urban drama Four Brothers (2005), and as Murtagh in the otherworldly fantasy Eragon (2006). In 2007, Hedlund essayed two very different roles: he joined Jane Fonda and Lindsay Lohan in the gentle rural drama Georgia Rule, then co-starred alongside Kevin Bacon in the one-man vigilante drama Death Sentence, about a father who attempts to wreak vengeance on those who rubbed out his family. Over the next several years, Hedlund would enjoy increasing success on screen, starring in TRON: Legacy, showing off his singing chops in Country Strong, and appearing in the highly anticipated Kerouac adaptation On The Road.Hedlund had an impressive string of films, working with big-name directors, in the following years: Inside Llewyn Davis with the Coen brothers, Lullaby with noted Renaissance man Andrew Levitas, Unbroken with Angelina Jolie and the live-action Peter Pan film Pan, playing a young James Hook, with Joe Wright.

Trivia: Derek Luke was an all-but-unknown actor who was still working a day job when Denzel Washington plucked him from obscurity in 2002 for the leading role in his first directorial effort, Antwone Fisher. Born in Jersey City, NJ, in 1974, Luke displayed a precocious interest in drama at the age of four, telling his mother he wanted to be an actor, and, in 1995, he moved to California in hopes of making a career for himself in film and television. The 1,000-dollar nest egg Luke brought with him didn't last long, but, determined to get his foot in the door of the business, he took jobs that would allow him to meet people in the entertainment industry -- first serving as an usher for television tapings at the Universal Pictures studios and later as a sales clerk at a shop selling candy, gifts, and sundries on the Sony Pictures Studios lot. While there, Luke became acquainted with Antwone Fisher, a screenwriter who had a development deal with the studio, and learned that Fisher's memoir about his turbulent early life was being made into a film. Luke became even more intrigued when he learned Denzel Washington was interested in directing the film, but, despite landing an audition for the project, the picture was put on hold before casting could be completed. In the meantime, Luke continued to work at the store and landed bit parts on the sitcoms The King of Queens and Moesha before auditioning for Antwone Fisher a second time in 2001. While Luke wasn't happy with his reading, Washington was convinced the actor had the right emotional pitch for the character, and, several weeks later, the Hollywood veteran stopped by the Sony Studios store to tell Luke he'd won the part. Though opinions on the film were mixed, Luke was singled out for his raw, authentic, and emotional performance. After completing Antwone Fisher, Derek Luke was soon cast in two 2003 features: Pieces of April and Biker Boyz.Though Luke was still every bit the dramatic powerhouse that he was in Antwone Fisher, his abilities were put on the back burner somewhat in the ensemble casts of Spartan, Friday Night Lights, and Glory Road. As a wronged family man who becomes a freedom fighter in apartheid-era South Africa, however, Luke proved in Phillip Noyce's 2006 biopic Catch a Fire that he was more than capable of carrying a major film. Luke would remain a familiar face on screen for years to come, appearing most notably in movies like Madea Goes to Jail and on TV shows like Trauma and Hawthorne.

Trivia: Of the dozens of fresh faces thrust upon the public by Hollywood in 2001, few made an impression like Jay Hernandez. Although his breakthrough film Crazy/Beautiful received only mixed reviews and middling box office, critics praised the 23-year-old for his sensitive portrayal of a lower-class kid pulling himself up out of the barrio. He also received notices for his chemistry with in-demand co-star Kirsten Dunst.Javier "Jay" Hernandez was born February 20, 1978, in Montebello, CA, where he was raised from childhood on alongside two older brothers, and sister. A chance encounter with a Hollywood agent while riding in a Los Angeles elevator was all it took to get the ball rolling for the handsome aspiring actor, and in 1998 Hernandez made his acting debut as Antonio Lopez on the NBC sitcom Hang Time before moving on to MTV's over-sexed soap Undressed.Subsequently in high demand thanks to an impressive performance in Crazy/Beautiful, Hernandez's feature career soon hit the fast-track with supporting performances in such wide-release efforts as Joy Ride, The Rookie, Torque, and Ladder 49. In 2004 the emerging star would hit the gridiron as a Texas high-school football underdog in Friday Night Lights, but it wasn't until 2005 that Hernandez would finally come into his own with lead role in both the blood-soaked shocker Hostel and the eagerly-anticipated crime thriller sequel Carlito's Way: Rise to Power. The following year Hernandez would work with one of the most controversial filmmakers in Hollywood when he landed a key role in director Oliver Stone's World Trade Center; an inspirational drama detailing the experiences of two port authority officers who became trapped in the rubble when the Twin Towers collapsed during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The actor co-starred in Quarantine, the 2008 remake of Paco Plaza's Spanish-language horror film [REC], and joined the cast of Nothing Like the Holidays, which followed a family in a state of crisis during the proverbial most wonderful time of the year. Hernandez took a small role in Takers (2010), a gritty crime caper starring Matt Dillon, and appeared in LOL (2012), a poignant comedy drama starring Miley Cyrus and Demi Moore. Much like his character in Crazy/Beautiful, Hernandez enjoys playing sports and reading during his spare time.

Trivia: At age 8, he attended local festivals and community events telling traditional Carolinas folk tales. At 10, he portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in a community-theater production of A Night of Stars and Dreams. Appeared in commercials for McDonald's and Robitussin cough medicine. Wrote a 2000 episode for the Disney series The Famous Jett Jackson, in which he played the title role. Was in the 2009 video for Sugarbabes' "About a Girl."

Trivia: Hailed as the prime successor to Garth Brooks in the new millennium -- both for his rousing, Southern-fried honky tonk tunes and his laid-back countrypolitan ballads -- country and western performer Tim McGraw shot to fame on the basis of his sophomore recording, the 1994 Curb release Not a Moment Too Soon, which sold over five million copies and heralded the arrival of a major new superstar. Each additional album confirmed this status, and McGraw peaked critically and commercially with the 2004 Live Like You Were Dying. He gained additional acclaim from his high-profile marriage to Southern belle Faith Hill, also a chart-topping country singer; the two often headlined concerts and tackled interviews together. Coincident with Dying's release, McGraw opted to branch out from music videos into dramatic turns. He was particularly effective as an obnoxious, abusive, narrow-minded father in the Billy Bob Thornton-headlined sports drama Friday Night Lights (2004), and as a loving, supporting dad in the 2006 family-oriented drama Flicka (2006). McGraw would find continual opportunities to branch into acting in the years to come, appearing in movies like The Kingdom, Four Christmases, The Blind Side, and Country Song.

Trivia: A leading and supporting actress of television and feature films, willowy, green-eyed, red-haired Connie Britton may be best known for playing Nikki opposite Michael J. Fox in the ABC sitcom Spin City. Prior to that, she had a semi-regular role on the network's comedy Ellen. Born in Boston, she has a fraternal twin sister (whom she claims is her exact opposite). They were raised in Lynchburg, VA, after the age of seven. Britton's interest in acting developed at a young age, something her parents avidly supported. While majoring in Asian studies at Dartmouth, she still found time to participate in theatrical productions. For a while she studied Chinese in Beijing, an exercise she states helped her as an actress because it broadened her view of the world. Following graduation, she spent two years studying under Sanford Meisner at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse and another two years appearing on the New York stage. Movie director Ed Burns was responsible for her film debut playing Molly in his acclaimed The Brothers McMullen (1995). The film was a hit at Sundance and won two major awards. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Hollywood, obtained an agent, and before long found herself joining the cast of Spin City. She would go on to star in series like 24, Friday Night Lights, and American Horror Story.

Trivia: An actress who first fell into her screen niche playing beautiful and voluptuous teenage girlfriends, Amber Heard was blessed with a visage that seemed tailor-made for modeling, and indeed she began her ascent to fame on that route. The Austin, TX, native reportedly dropped out of high school a year early and made a beeline for Los Angeles, her eyes fixed on glossies and catwalks. That dream failed to materialize, but in seemingly no time at all, Heard received a bid to act instead. She garnered two of her first major breaks when cast as the lead in the teen slasher movie All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (produced 2006, released 2008) and when she landed a key regular role on Kevin Williamson's short-lived prime-time soap Hidden Palms (2007). The cancellation of that series aside, 2007-2008 actually represented a watershed period for Heard, and one that witnessed the actress' enlistment in such big-screen features as Day 73 With Sarah (2007), The Beautiful Ordinary (2007), Never Back Down (2008), and the David Gordon Green-Judd Apatow crime comedy The Pineapple Express (2008), as the love interest of a stoner played by Apatow mainstay Seth Rogen. She appeared in the horror comedy Zombieland in 2009. Two years later she had a recurring role in the short-lived television series The Playboy Club, and landed major parts in The Rum Diary, opposite Johnny Depp, and Drive Angry, with Nic Cage. In 2013, she had a supporting role in Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills and appeared in the box-office flop Paranoia. She next played an elite CIA assassin in 3 Days to Kill. In 2015, Heard turned in strong supporting roles in Magic Mike XXL and the Oscar-nominated film The Danish Girl.

Trivia: Versatile performer Christian Kane posed a dual threat in Hollywood, juggling multiple careers as an actor and vocalist/guitarist. Born to a prosperous oil-industry family in Dallas, TX, Kane relocated frequently with his family as a youngster, but ultimately settled in Norman, OK. From early boyhood, he nurtured dreams of Hollywood stardom -- dreams that eventually prompted him to leave college and head to the lights of Los Angeles; he also possessed an ingenuity that helped him find an "in" to the seemingly impenetrable entertainment industry, by approaching a prestigious Hollywood production company and offering to deliver scripts in exchange for talent consideration. It marked a bold but innovative move; significantly, the bid worked and Kane got his foot in the proverbial door. He soon landed his premier on-camera role, as one of the leads in the late '90s television series Fame L.A. Meanwhile, he jump-started a career as a musician on the side, by meeting the man who quickly became his songwriting partner, Steve Carlson. The two formed a band, christened KANE and started turning heads via Christian's unique country & western-infused vocals; with that outfit they headlines numerous Southern California hotspots including The Mint and The Viper Room.Unfortunately, Fame L.A. only lasted a short time, but Kane connected with much greater success via a recurring run on the vampire-themed fantasy series Angel, as attorney Lindsey McDonald. He then moved into feature roles and racked up a series of supporting turns in A-listers including the gentle Disney drama Secondhand Lions (2003), the dismal Ashton Kutcher sex farce Just Married (2003), and the critically acclaimed Billy Bob Thornton sports drama Friday Night Lights (2004). In the years that followed, Kane returned to television on two high-profile series: he played prosecutor's husband Jack Chase on the acclaimed Jerry Bruckheimer procedural drama Close to Home (2005-2006), then signed to star opposite Timothy Hutton and Beth Riesgraf in Leverage (2008), a TNT original series about an insurance investigator-turned-high-tech outlaw. While continuing to work on that successful program, he appeared in The Donner Party and Universal Squadrons.

Trivia: Charles Saunders (often misspelled Sanders) was active in the British film industry from at least 1930. Saunders started out as an art director, then served as editor for films as diverse as the chop-licking meller Murder in the Red Barn (1935) and the patriotic We Dive at Dawn (1943). His first directorial credit was the 1944 comedy Tawny Pipit. Active until 1962, Charles Saunders spent the 1950s specializing in unsubtle melodramas, notably Kill Her Gently (1957) and Womaneater (1959).

Trivia: Though actor Barney Welch may have gotten a late start to his onscreen career, supporting roles in such popular television series as Prison Break and Friday Night Lights seemed to indicate an actor whose ambition served as a comfortable counterbalance to his belated arrival. In 2008, the distinguished-looking player could be seen in the free-love-era CBS drama Swingtown. In addition to his television work, Welch also serves as the president of the Basin Film Society -- a Permian Basin-based collective of artists, actors, filmmakers, and fans who seek to encourage local filmmaking through community support.