Trivia: The daughter of a California-based civil engineer and a Costa Rican émigré, Madeleine Stowe attended the University of Southern California, but cut classes to watch plays. Her life as a waitress came to an end when she was fired for being "too spacey," but she was anything but spacey when it came to pursuing an acting career on the California theater circuit. Stowe eventually attracted the attention of Richard Dreyfuss' agent -- not for her stage work, but because the agent spotted her watching one of Dreyfuss' performances. This serendipitous turn of events enabled Stowe to get a bit part in the TV series Baretta, which led to more substantial roles on other shows. While working on the mid-'80s miniseries The Gangster Chronicles, the actress met her husband, future Dream On star Brian Benben. Stowe's screen career during the 1980s and '90s was not exactly a string of blockbusters, but she usually garnered excellent reviews and positive audience response, so that when she was in a bona fide hit, such as 1992's The Last of the Mohicans, reviewers were often inclined to credit her for at least some of the film's success. Stowe also starred in Robert Altman's critically-acclaimed Short Cuts in 1993 and Terry Gilliam's sci-fi cult film 12 Monkeys in 1995. She disappeared from screen for the next three years, but reappeared as part of the ensemble in Playing By Heart, and followed that up next year with The General's Daughter. She appeared in the made-for-TV remake of The Magnificent Ambersons, and co-starred opposite Sylvester Stallone in 2002's Avenging Angelo. She tried her hand at TV with 2007's Raines.

Trivia: With short blonde hair and a lean frame, Mary Stuart Masterson has played many tomboys throughout her acting career. Born to director Peter Masterson and actress Carlin Glynn, she made her film debut in The Stepford Wives at the age of nine. As a teenager, she appeared on Broadway in Alice in Wonderland and played tough girl Dani in Heaven Help Us. She studied anthropology at N.Y.U. and returned to acting in 1987 to star in Some Kind of Wonderful as quintessential '80s tomboy Watt, her most recognizable role. After appearing with her folks in Francis Ford Coppola's Gardens of Stone and opposite Robert Downey Jr. in Chances Are, she played a pregnant woman who gives up her baby to Glenn Close and James Woods in Immediate Family. The '90s saw good roles in successful movies like the ensemble comedy Married to It, the tearjerker Fried Green Tomatoes, and the offbeat romance Benny & Joon. However, she also appeared in some unsuccessful films like the revisionist Western Bad Girls and the sentimental romance Bed of Roses. She then turned to television for a lead in the TV period drama Lily Dale (directed by her father) and her own short-lived series, Kate Brasher. In 2000, she married television director Damon Santostefano and went on to win a Tony for her work in the Broadway musical revival Nine.

Trivia: The product of a profoundly unhappy home life, Andie MacDowell was compelled to make her own way from an early age. The Gaffney, SC, native spent her teenage years working a number of minimum-wage jobs before dropping out of Winthrop College when she was a sophomore in order to become an Elite model. Her innocent, well-scrubbed good looks were not only suited to her job as a cosmetics model, but, in 1984, they won her the role of Jane Porter in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. Unable to overcome her natural Carolina cadence, MacDowell's lines were dubbed by Glenn Close in the film -- the first and last time that audiences were denied the actress' warm, relaxing vocal shadings. Joining the Brat Pack brigade with St. Elmo's Fire (1985), MacDowell just as quickly broke away from it with her riveting performance in sex, lies and videotape (1989); her role as a dissatisfied housewife earned her a number of accolades, and helped to establish her as a "serious" actress.MacDowell's likability enabled her to weather such disasters as Hudson Hawk (1991) and Bad Girls (1994), and allowed her to shine in a number of other films, including Groundhog Day (1993), Short Cuts (1993), and the hit romantic comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). Although she starred in a series of disappointing films during the late '90s, she remained highly visible, popping up in such movies as Unstrung Heroes (1995), The Muse (1999), and Town and Country (2000). She earned good reviews playing a middle-age woman infatuated with a younger man in Crush, but the film was poorly distributed and little seen. She appeared in a string of direct-to-video efforts including the supernatural thriller The Last Sign opposite Tim Roth. She returned to the multiplexes after landing a major part in the Queen Latifah film Beauty Shop in 2005. The next year she lent her distinct vocal qualities to the 2006 animated film Barnyard, twenty years after having her voice dubbed out of her film debut.In 2010 MacDowell surpised her fans with a villainous turn in the tense low-budget thriller As Good As Dead, which was quickly followed by an appearance as Vi Moore (a role originally played by Diane Wiest) in Craig Brewer's remake of Footloose.

Trivia: The granddaughter of John Barrymore and grandniece of Ethel Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore, Drew Barrymore was born in Culver City, California on February 22, 1975. From there, she didn't waste much time getting in front of the cameras, making her first commercial at nine months and her first television movie, Suddenly Love, at the age of two. Two years later, she made her film debut, appearing as William Hurt's daughter in Altered States (1980). At the advanced age of seven, Barrymore became a true celebrity, thanks to her role as the cherubic Gertie in Steven Spielberg's E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. The huge success of that 1982 film endeared Barrymore to millions of audience members, but following leads in two more films, Irreconcilable Differences and Firestarter (both 1984), the young actress began to succumb to a destructive lifestyle defined by drugs, alcohol, and too much partying. A child expected to behave like an adult, Barrymore began drinking at the age of nine and started taking drugs a short while later.Unsurprisingly, observers began writing Barrymore off as just another failed child star when she was barely into her teens. She made a string of (largely forgettable) movies, many of which only reinforced her image as a has-been. However, in the middle of her teen years, Barrymore entered rehab, cleaned herself up, and wrote an autobiography, Little Girl Lost, which detailed her travails with drugs and alcohol. In the early 1990s, she entered another phase in her career, gaining notoriety for playing a series of vampy, trampy trailer-park Lolitas. In this capacity, she turned in memorable performances in Poison Ivy (1992), the 1993 made-for-TV The Amy Fisher Story, and Batman Forever (1995), all of which featured her pouting seductively and showing more thigh than all the Rockettes combined. Barrymore's on-screen antics were ably complemented by the off-screen reputation she was forming at the time: first she could be seen posing nude with then-boyfriend Jamie Walters on the cover of Interview magazine, then modeling for a series of racy Guess ads, flashing David Letterman during an appearance on The Late Show as a "birthday present" to the host, and finally posing nude for Playboy in 1995.In 1996, Barrymore's image underwent an abrupt and effective transformation from slut to sweetheart. With a brief but memorable role in Wes Craven's Scream and a lead in Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You that featured her as a Kelly Girl for the '90s, Barrymore's career received an adrenaline shot to the heart. She began working steadily again, and she reshaped her offscreen persona into that of a delightful and sweet-natured girl trying to mend her ways. This new image was supported by her screen work, much of which featured her as a chaste heroine. Her starring role as the "real" Cinderella in Ever After (1998) was a good example, and it had the added advantage of turning out to be a fairly solid hit. Barrymore's other major 1998 film, The Wedding Singer, was another hit, further enhancing her reputation as America's new sweetheart. The following year, the actress all but put the final nail in the coffin of her wild-child reputation of years past, starring as the nerdy, lovelorn twenty-something reporter who bears the titular condition of Never Been Kissed. That movie not only marked a notable transition in Barrymore's reputation, but an advancement in her cinematic career as well. Expanding her role from actress to producer, Barrymore would continue starring in and producing such efforts as Charlie's Angels (2000), Donnie Darko (2001).Though some may have suspected that her millennial transition from sweetheart to skull-cracker in Charlie's Angels may have signaled a shift towards more action oriented roles -- and despite her return to the role in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) -- Barrymore once again charmed audiences with another emotional comedy, Riding in Cars With Boys in 2001, while Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) found Drew in the role of long-suffering girlfriend alongside Sam Rockwell's unlikely CIA operative. Though the film did not fare particularly well critically or otherwise, Barrymore took a nonetheless interesting turn as an apple-pie wife turned sinister in 2003's Duplex, and held her own against scene-chomper Ben Stiller. Barrymore teamed up with fellow Stiller-flick alumni Owen Wilson for 2004's Date School, and once again played Adam Sandler's sugar sweet girlfriend in director Peter Segal's romantic comedy Fifty-First Dates.2005 brought yet another openly fluffy romantic comedy with Fever Pitch, in which she played the straight-girl against Red Sox super-fan Jimmy Fallon, but she soon changed gears, signing on to appear in Lucky You, a gambling drama by Curtis Hanson. She was soon back to romcom terretory, with Music and Lyrics and He's Just Not That Into You, but also took on an extremly meaty character role in the 2009 HBO film Grey Gardens, in which she mimiced the particular speech and mannerisms of infamous shut-in "Little Edie" and met with major critical acclaim. Around this same time, Barrymore took on her first directorial effort, helming the modest, young-adult movie Whip It, which critics deemed a solid debut. Barrymore then took on a starring role alongside sometime boyfriend Justin Long in the 2010 comedy Going the Distance, before signing on to play an environmental activist in the feel-good period movie Big Miracle. She then took a career break in order to focus on her growing family before re-teaming with Adam Sandler in 2014 for the romcom Blended.

Trivia: Manhattan-born character actor James Russo has been showing up in hard-bitten film supporting roles since 1981. In the otherwise teen-oriented Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Russo brought a welcome gust of reality as a nasty robber. His gangster characters have borne spell-it-out names like Bugsy (1982's Once Upon a Time in America) and Vince Hood (1984's Cotton Club). Even in such westerns as 1994's Bad Girls, James Russo could be counted upon to show up as a Bad Boy (in this instance, a worthy by the name of Kid Jarret).

Trivia: Thanks in large part to the independent film movement of the late '80s, the boyishly handsome James LeGros went from being an underrated bit player in Hollywood schlock to a well-respected character actor. A Minnesota native, LeGros found steady work when he migrated to Los Angeles after college in the early '80s, popping up as a guest star in such TV series as Knight Rider, and in Danny DeVito's directorial debut, the made-for-cable satire The Ratings Game (a.k.a. The Mogul). Sci-fi made up the bulk of LeGros' early feature-film roles, including the dreadful post-apocalyptic teen flop Solarbabies (1986) and the thriller sequel Phantasm II (1988).It was director Gus Van Sant who afforded LeGros the opportunity to show his skills with a meaty supporting role in 1989's much-acclaimed Drugstore Cowboy. As part of a quartet of drifters stealing their way across the Pacific Northwest, the actor held his own against the iconic Matt Dillon as well as newcomer Heather Graham. More challenging parts followed in the early '90s, including the psychological drama The Rapture (1991), Cameron Crowe's ensemble romantic comedy Singles (1992), and a pair of firearm-obsessed indies, Guncrazy and My New Gun (also 1992). Pairing with director Todd Haynes for his 1995 sophomore feature Safe, LeGros garnered more acclaim as a confidante/romantic interest for the mysteriously ailing character played by Julianne Moore. That same year, he hilariously sent up a narcissistic Hollywood actor -- not-so-secretly based on Brad Pitt -- in director Tom DiCillo's satire on the perils of indie filmmaking, Living in Oblivion.As the millennium drew to a close, LeGros would re-team with Moore in the ensemble dramedy The Myth of Fingerprints (1997), playing an eccentric New England townie who has a crush on Moore's icy, cosmopolitan yuppie. With the film, LeGros began a long-standing collaboration with the film's writer-director -- and Moore's real-life beau -- Bart Freundlich, who would go on to cast LeGros in his subsequent films, including the road movie World Traveler (2001), the family film Catch That Kid (2003), and the screwball relationship comedy Trust the Man (2006).In the intervening years, LeGros made a successful return to the medium that gave him his first break: television. He was exposed to perhaps his widest audience to date in 1998 on the venerable medical drama ER, and then on the popular series Ally McBeal, in 2000 and 2001. A starring role on Showtime's gritty, controversial terrorist drama Sleeper Cell followed in 2005.

Trivia: Forceful leading actor Robert Loggia left plans for a journalistic career behind when he began his studies at New York's Actors Studio. His first important Broadway assignment was 1955's The Man with the Golden Arm; one year later, he made his first film, Somebody Up There Likes Me. In 1958 he enjoyed a brief flurry of TV popularity as the title character in "The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca," a multipart western originally telecast on Walt Disney Presents. His next weekly TV assignment was as a good-guy burglar in 1967's T.H.E. Cat. A fitfully successful movie leading man, Loggia truly came into his own when he cast off his toupee and became a character actor, often in roles requiring quiet menace. As Richard Gere's bullying father, Loggia dominated the precredits scenes of An Officer and a Gentleman (1981), and was equally effective as the villain in Curse of the Pink Panther (1982) and as mafia functionaries in Scarface (1983) and Prizzi's Honor (1985). He was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of a two-bit detective in The Jagged Edge (1985). The most likeable Robert Loggia screen character thus far is his toy manufacturer in Big (1988), the film in which Loggia and Tom Hanks exuberantly dance to the tune of "Heart and Soul" on a gigantic keyboard. Loggia would remain an active force on screen for decades to come, appearing in movies like Opportunity Knocks, Independence Day, and Return to Me, as well as TV shows like Mancuso, FBI, Wild Palms, and Queens Supreme. Loggia passed away in 2015, at age 85.

Trivia: American actor Dermot Mulroney is decidedly in tune with the 1990s: his film characters are often eccentric, unpredictable, and total strangers to personal hygiene. Curiously, when called upon to appear as a scruffy street kid in Where the Day Takes You (1992), Mulroney seemed a bit too squeaky-clean. An alumnus of Northwestern University, he first made moviegoers' acquaintance in 1988 with Sunset and as part of the Brat Pack western Young Guns. In the acclaimed Longtime Companion (1990), Mulroney played a collar-and-tie type who was still essentially an outsider due to the character's homosexuality and vulnerability to AIDS. Much of Mulroney's subsequent work has gone largely unseen, including the dismal Bad Girls (1994).

Trivia: Joined the United States Marine Corps with several of his close friends after graduating from high school.Previously worked as a newscaster and hosted jazz and classical music programs on Oklahoma City radio station KCSC.Made his professional stage debut as a student in a production of Rain at the Oklahoma Theatre Center in 1972.Worked with the Dallas Shakespeare Festival for 5 seasons.Served as historical consultant on 2006's Hollywoodland, the film about Superman actor George Reeves' life.

Trivia: Nick Chinlund's handsome, rugged exterior makes him an ideal candidate for roles in such high-profile, high-octane releases as Con Air and Tears of the Sun, so casting directors may be tempted to steer him toward films that make use of his somewhat imposing physical presence; nonetheless, the talented stage and screen actor also possesses the chops needed to highlight such little-seen indies as Amy's Orgasm and Chutney Popcorn. That rare combination offers great potential for crossover appeal, so audiences on both sides of the blockbuster spectrum can find reasons for appreciating an actor of Chinlund's caliber. The New York native started out as a jock, but his aspirations on the court were sidelined by a college basketball injury; however, it didn't take long for him to see the silver lining in his career-halting accident, and he soon veered toward acting. Though Chinlund would remain at Brown University in the following years, a shift toward drama classes soon convinced him that his future didn't lie on the well-polished planks of the basketball court, but the well-worn boards of the theater stage. Roles in such Williamstown Theater Festival productions as Mother Courage and Little Oedipus helped the fresh-faced hopeful make a name for himself in the theater community, and shortly after graduation, Chinlund opted to kick-start his feature career by making the move to Los Angeles. In addition to an impressively creepy early role in a pair of X-Files episodes entitled "Irresistable" and "Orison," Chinlund also made a mark in such features as Lethal Weapon 3, Bad Girls, and Eraser. While small-screen roles in episodes of Third Watch and Buffy the Vampire Slayer found Chinlund continuing to make a name for himself among television viewers, his performances in such character-driven dramas as A Brother's Kiss and Once in the Life saw the emerging actor eschewing more action-oriented fare in favor of roles in more down-to-earth features. Though supporting roles in Training Day, Below, and Tears of the Sun did find Chinlund's visibility rising among the multiplex set, it was his participation in such efforts as Goodnight, Joseph Parker (in which he played the eponymous character) that seemed to draw him the most praise from critics. In 2004, Chinlund rejoined Below director David Twohy for a role opposite action icon Vin Diesel in the eagerly anticipated Pitch Black sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick.

Trivia: Supporting actor, onscreen from the '80s.

Trivia: Rustic character actor Cooper Huckabee has been active in films since the early 1970s. Huckabee's first major film role was high-school jock Hardin Tough in the enjoyably sleazy Pom Pom Girls (1976). He went on to portray any number of sheriffs, security guards and small-town political hacks. Cooper Huckabee's film credits include Foul Play (1978), Cohen and Tate (1989), Gettysburg (1993, as Henry T. Harrison) and Bad Girls (1994).

Trivia: Beulah Quo is the founder of one of America's first Asian-American repertory groups, the East West Players. The Emmy-nominated actress embarked on a lucrative film and television career following her film debut in 1955's Love Is a Many Splendored Thing. Born Beulah Kwoh in Stockton, CA, the future dialog coach-cum-actress earned a bachelor's degree in social welfare at the University of California, later obtaining a master's in sociology from the University of Chicago. Subsequently, Quo and her family relocated to China so she could find work as a teacher, but she and her family fled the country on a U.S. destroyer, just as the Communists took over shortly after World War II. It was while working as a sociology teacher at a small community college that Quo received news that director Henry King was searching for an Asian dialect coach for his film Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, and after meeting with the director, King cast Quo in a small role in the film. Her career took off shortly thereafter. Quo appeared in such films as Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962) and Chinatown (1974) before receiving an Emmy nomination for her role as a dowager empress in 1978's Meeting of Minds. Joining the cast of television's General Hospital in 1985, Quo would remain on the soap opera for six years. She also appeared in such films as Bad Girls (1994) and Brokedown Palace (1999). In her later years, Quo's final feature role was in the 2001 film Forbidden City. In late October of 2002, Beulah Quo died of heart failure in La Mesa, CA. She was 79.

Trivia: Stuart Whitman, with a rugged build and sensitive face, rose from bit player to competent lead actor, but never did make it as a popular star in film. The San Francisco-born Whitman served three years with the Army Corps of Engineers where he was a light heavyweight boxer in his spare time. He next went on to study drama at the Los Angeles City College where he joined a Chekhov stage group. He began his film career in the early '50s as a bit player. Although never a star, he did manage to quietly accumulate $100 million dollars through shrewd investments in securities, real estate, cattle, and Thoroughbreds. For his role as a sex offender attempting to change in the 1961 British film The Mark, Whitman was nominated for an Oscar. In addition to features, Whitman has also appeared extensively on television.