Trivia: Born Carlos Ray Norris, Chuck Norris served in Korea in the Army. While there, he studied karate and later became the World Middleweight Karate Champion. He was encouraged by one of his karate students, actor Steve McQueen, to go into acting. He debuted onscreen in the enormously popular Bruce Lee vehicle Enter the Dragon (1973); since the death of Lee he has been the screen's premier martial arts star. He has appeared primarily in militaristic movies in which he single-handedly kills many enemies. His breakthrough film was Missing in Action (1984), in which he played an ex-POW in search of American prisoners still held in Vietnam.

Trivia: Formerly a schoolteacher, Texas-born Noble Willingham has been essaying crusty character roles since 1969. Willingham's resumé includes a brace of location-filmed Peter Bogdanovich films, The Last Picture Show (1971) and Paper Moon (1973), and the role of Clay Stone in both of Billy Crystal's City Slickers comedies. Among his TV-movie credits is the part of President James Knox Polk in 1985's Dream West. A regular on several TV series (The Ann Jillian Show, Texas Wheelers, Cutter to Houston, AfterMASH, When the Whistle Blows), Willingham is best known to 1990s viewers as Mr. Binford (of Binford Tools) in Home Improvement and C. D. Parker in Walker, Texas Ranger. Noble Willingham's most recent film assignments include Ace Ventura, Pet Detective (1994) Up Close and Personal (1996) and Space Jam (1996). In 2000, Willingham left Walker, Texas Ranger to run for Congress in Texas. After losing the election to his Democratic opponent, Max Sandlin, Willingham returned to acting with a supporting role in the Val Kilmer thriller Blind Horizon. Sadly, the part would be the actor's last. In early 2004, at the age of 72, Willingham passed away at home from natural causes.

Trivia: Comedian Fred Travalena first gained notoriety in the 1970s, appearing on the ABC Comedy Hour to do impersonations of celebrities. He spent the next few decades appearing on game shows and providing voices for characters on cartoons like The Smurfs and Scooby Doo. Travalena also enjoyed tremendous success with his live act, performing in Las Vegas, Reno, and Atlantic City. He still enjoyed performing for the camera, however, and memorably used his skills at impersonation to play Jimmy Carter in the 2007 comedy An American Carol. Sadly, Travalena passed away in 2009 at his home in California. He was 66.

Trivia: Angular Anglo-Latino actor Gregory Sierra began showing up on screen in 1971 in such films as The Wrath of God. Sierra quickly familiarized himself with TV viewers via his continuing role as Julio Fuentes in the weekly sitcom Sanford and Son. He left Sanford in January of 1975 to accept the part of detective sergeant Chano Amenguale on Barney Miller, a role he held down until the fall of 1976. Next up, Sierra starred as Dr. Tony Menzies on A.E.S. Hudson Street, a 1978 TV comedy that folded after six weeks despite positive critical comment. Two years later, he was cast as South American revolutionary "El Puerco" on the nighttime serial spoof Soap, figuring prominently in the series' up-in-the-air final episode in 1981. Gregory Sierra's more recent television roles have included Lt. Victor Maldonado on the NBC sci-fier Something is Out There (1988), and the ill-fated Lt. Lou Rodriguez on the trendy 1980's cop show Miami Vice.

Trivia: Actor Scott Allan Campbell is a gifted character lead, skilled at portraying tough working-class characters. Born in Florida in 1959, he graduated from the University of West Virginia and made his small-screen acting debut in his mid-twenties. His early performances include appearances on episodes of such series as St. Elsewhere and 21 Jump Street, in such movies as In the Hands of the Enemy (1987), and in a handful of commercials. He has worked in period films, such as Ted Turner's Civil War drama Gettysburg (1993), and in genre vehicles such as The X-Files and Dark Skies. Audiences watching the FOX network's Boston Public will also have seen him in a prominent guest-starring role, but Campbell's most visible part since 1994 has been on NYPD Blue, where he has played the hard-nosed Detective Sergeant Martens of the Internal Affairs Bureau. Usually seen as an antagonist with a special resentment of Detective Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz), owing to the latter's early history of alcoholism, Martens originally was the relatively thankless role of a heavy in a series filled with anti-heroes. Beginning in the series' sixth season, with the episode "Show and Tell," however, Campbell's portrayal of Martens took on new dimensions as the writers added significantly to his depth. In that episode, Campbell gave as good as he got from Dennis Franz's Sipowicz, over what his character's job is and how he does it. From that episode onward, the sergeant from IAB (usually referred to informally as the "rat squad") has come off as more of a standup guy with an unpleasant job than a resident heavy. In 2002, Campbell also took on a small role in the high-profile drama White Oleander.

Trivia: Guich Koock was one of seven children born to a Texas farmer and his wife. Koock attended Texas A&M University, where he earned a BA in history and an MA in Texas folklore. Newly married, he spent his immediate post-college years as a bartender, shooting his own food (squirrels, rabbits etc.) to save money. He went on to work as a schoolteacher, woodcarver, blacksmith, rodeo clown, and organizer of the annual Luckenbach, Texas "World's Fair," regaling the crowds with all manner of eccentric displays and contests. The story goes that Koock was downing a brew at a local bar when a casting director for Steven Spielberg offered him the supporting role of a Louisiana deputy in Spielberg's The Sugarland Express. Thus was launched his on-and-off acting career, with Koock generally cast as a bucolic good ol' boy who wasn't as dumb as he looked. After several busted TV pilots, he landed the part of Deputy Harley Puckett in the 1977-79 sitcom Carter Country. Guich Koock has since played variations of that role in such weekly TVers as The Chisholms (1980, as Frank O'Neill), Lewis and Clark (1981-82, co-starring with Gabe Kaplan as the manager of a C&W club) and She's the Sheriff (1987-88, as still another deputy, this one named Hugh Mulcahy).