Trivia: A young R&B star who makes music under only his first name, Usher Raymond has also forged a secondary career (fully billed) as an actor. Born in Tennessee, Raymond moved to Atlanta with his family at age 12. Under the eye of his choirmaster mother, Raymond nurtured his singing talent in the church choir, but it was at a local talent show that Raymond caught the attention of LaFace Records impresario Antonio "L.A." Reid. A success with his first album at age 16, Raymond added acting to his repertoire in 1997 as part of the cast of fellow one-name teen music star Brandy's hit sitcom Moesha. Continuing to make the most of the late-1990s teen entertainment explosion, Raymond made his feature film debut in 1998 in the Robert Rodriguez-Kevin Williamson high school horror movie The Faculty. Though the success of his second album made Raymond Billboard's 1998 Artist of the Year, he maintained his dual career with a small part in the popular, teenage Pygmalion retread She's All That (1999) and his first starring role in the urban high school drama Light It Up (1999). Though Raymond proved he had the acting talent and presence to topline a movie, Light It Up did not exactly brighten the box office. Undeterred, Raymond next joined the all-star cast of the splashy TV miniseries Geppetto (2000) and co-starred with James Van Der Beek and Ashton Kutcher in the teen-dream big-screen Western Texas Rangers (2000).

Trivia: Actor, playwright, and screenwriter Chazz Palminteri is anything but an overnight success. For him, stardom was the result of nearly 20 years of relative obscurity as he worked his way from nightclubs to off-Broadway to small television roles. It was only after he penned his one-man 35-character autobiographical play A Bronx Tale that the then-36-year-old actor hit the big time. A big, burly Italian, he has since specialized in playing heavies and other bad guys. Born Calogero Lorenzo Palminteri, the son of a Bronx bus driver, he first dreamed of an acting career at age 13. Following high school, however, Palminteri became a singer and spent over a decade as a lounge crooner; he was also a member of a pop group. Though he made a decent living, Palminteri couldn't forget his initial aspiration and, in 1982, devoted himself full-time to acting. While attending acting classes and auditioning, Palminteri supported himself as a doorman and spent the next few years working off-Broadway in small roles. In 1988, he headed to Southern California to work as a bit-player on television, making his debut appearance on Hill Street Blues. After two years of playing relatively inconsequential parts, a frustrated Palminteri took matters into his own hands and, on five yellow legal pads, wrote the script for A Bronx Tale. The play debuted at the West Coast Ensemble theater to critical raves. He then took it to Playhouse 91 in New York, where it played to standing-room-only crowds for four months. One night, Robert DeNiro caught it and was greatly impressed by both Palminteri and his play. Shortly afterward, Palminteri was visited by Hollywood producers wanting to by the film rights. Cagily, he refused to sell unless he was guaranteed the lead. Four years later, with help from DeNiro, who would use it for his directorial debut and play a supporting role, Palminteri's wish came true. Released in 1993, A Bronx Tale received critical praise but did not catch on with audiences. Still, it was enough to jump-start Palminteri's film career and, in 1994, he co-starred in Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway as Cheech, a gangster thug with a love of the theater. Palminteri's portrayal of Cheech earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 1996, another of Palminteri's plays, Faithful, the offbeat story of a strange relationship between a suicidal housewife and the thug her husband hires to kill her, became a film starring himself and Cher. A subsequent turn as the malevolent headmaster of a prestigious private school in the same year's Diabolique found Palminteri hanging up his gangster hat to turn in an especially menacing performance, with subsequent roles in Mulholland Falls, Analyze This, and Just Like Mona showing an actor who had perfected roles on both sides of the law and seemed to show little interest in branching out. Vocal performances in Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure and the computer animated 2005 comedy Hoodwinked made impressive use of the screen heavy's distinctive voice, and gave the longtime screen actor a chance to have some fun without necessarily having the stress of being on camera. A rare voyage into weekly television followed when Palminteri served as boss to one of television's greatest detectives in the 2005 revival of Kojack (this time featuring actor Ving Rhames in the role of the lollipop -munching cop), with a subsequent role as a crooked cop in Wayne Kramer's hyper-stylized action entry Running Scared finding the actor remaining safely behind the badge. One of six co-recipients of a Special Jury Prize for Dramatic Ensemble Performance at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival for his participation in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Palminteri cold next be seen as a diamond-hunting gangster searching for a most unusual thief in the Wayans brothers comedy Little Man (2006). Since then, Palminteri has divided his time between family life and his film career.

Trivia: A raven-haired Canadian actress with a curiously mysterious history and a friendly smile, Emmanuelle Chriqui has been working frequently in television since 1995. With roles in Steven Spielberg's A.I. and alongside 'N Sync singer Lance Bass in On the Line (both 2001), the fresh-faced actress gained increased exposure and notable momentum in her cinematic career. Born in Montréal, Québec, Canada, in 1977, Chriqui began acting in commercials at the age of ten, later graduating to feature films with roles in Detroit Rock City (1999) and Snow Day (2000). Also turning up frequently in bit roles on television, Chriqui has shown increasing promise in a variety of diverse roles and projects. She appeared in the 2003 thriller Wrong Turn, and in 2005, she began a recurring role on the smash hit HBO series Entourage as Sloan. She'd stay with the series until 2007, while also appearing in films like In the Mix and After Sex. In 2008, she joined Josh Hartnett for the Wall Street drama August, and joined the cast of the Adam Sandler comedy You Don't Mess with the Zohan. In 2009 she starred in Taking Chances and Patriotville, and two years later she appeared in prominent roles in both 13 and 5 Days of War.

Trivia: Actor Robert Costanzo is generally typecast an urban Italian-American, prone to mouthing such lines as "You gotta problem with that?" Costanzo began popping up with regularity in such films as Saturday Night Fever in the late '70s. The first of his many TV-series stints was as plumber Vincent Pizo, the blue-collar father of Travolta clone Joe Piza (Paul Regina), in 1978's Joe and Valerie. He retained his man-of-the-people veneer as maintenance engineer Hank Sabatino in the weekly series Checking In (1980), Lt. V.T. Krantz in the 1990 TVer Glory Days, and the voice of Detective Bullock in Warner Bros.' Batman: The Animated Series (1992). In 1995, Robert Costanzo joined the cast of television's NYPD Blue as Detective Giardella.

Trivia: Rugged, tall, and heavily pock-marked, actor Robert Davi has built a long career out of playing anonymously ethnic bad guys. Born in Queens, NY, to Italian parents, he studied opera, Shakespeare, and stage acting under the wing of Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler before becoming one of Hollywood's most recognizable villains. His big feature-film break came in 1977, playing opposite Frank Sinatra in the detective drama Contract on Cherry Street. He would go on to appear with other superstars, toting guns as a mobster, corrupt cop, or general villain in numerous action movies. One of his most noticeable roles was as a Fratelli brother in The Goonies. He also played bad guys on television, building a long list of credits in popular series like The Fall Guy, The A-Team, and Wiseguy. Mostly a supporting actor, his first lead role was as a Palestinian terrorist in the TV movie Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami. His tough guy career reached its culmination in 1989, in the role of James Bond villain Franz Sanchez in License to Kill. After that, he occasionally broke out of the pattern and appeared in comedies and dramas. His first leading good guy part was in 1996 as FBI agent Bailey Malone in the NBC drama The Profiler. He even went so far as to star in the Rodney Dangerfield comedy The 4th Tenor and Rob Schneider's The Hot Chick. In 2002, Davi appeared in The Sorcerer's Apprentice as Merlin, lent his voice to the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and gained a starring role as Nick in the thriller Hitters.

Trivia: After cutting his teeth on the stand-up comedy circuit on the East Coast, comic Kevin Hart got his big break when he was cast in the Judd Apatow series Undeclared in 2000. The then 21 year old had grown up using his sense of humor to help his family cope with issues like his father's drug addiction and incarceration, and eventually learning to thrive in the stand-up scene helped give Hart the tenacity to make it on a national scale, both on stage and on screen. Hart would headline several successful national stand-up tours over the coming years, in addition to his successful movie career, which would find him appearing in a host of films like Soul Plane, Fool's Gold, The Five Year Engagement, This is the End. In 2014, he had a trio of hits, Ride Along, About Last Night and Think Like a Man Too. His success continued into the following years, headlining The Wedding Ringer and Get Hard in 2015, and Ride Along 2 and a stand-up film, What Now? in 2016.

Trivia: Attended Whittier College on a football scholarship. Sang and toured with the Whittier College choir. Played professional football in Europe as a wide receiver for the Klosterneuburg Mercenaries (Danube Dragons). Was a part-owner of the ABA franchise the Hollywood Fame. Is a producer and founding member of the production company Eleven Eleven Films.

Trivia: Canadian stage and television actor Nick Mancuso was first seen on American TV screens in 1978's Dr. Scorpion. Mancuso's film career was launched the following year with Nightwing. The actor's raffish handsomeness has served him well in both heroic and less-than-heroic roles. Nick Mancuso has played the title character on two TV action series: in 1986's Stingray, he portrayed what was described by the NBC publicity flacks as "a Lone Ranger in a black sports cast;" and in the USA network's 1993 crime-fantasy series Matrix, he starred as a heartless hit man who is given a second lease on life as a celestial do-gooder.

Trivia: Owns her own Record Label called Roseland Records. Has modelled for Victoria's Secret, Noxzema, Frederick's of Hollywood, Escada and many more. Has appeared in numerous adverts including Fanta, Old Spice and Bacardi. Got her first film role in 2002 in The Scorpion King.

Trivia: Made his on-screen debut on The Kennedys in 2001. Was replaced on Desperate Housewives by NaShawn Kearse after only a few episodes. Released a free mix tape on his website called Chronicles of U-Turn, named after his character on Weeds.

Trivia: Is of Japanese and Afro American descent.Wanted to be an actress since first grade.Competed in math competitions while in school.Her father was in the U.S. Military.Is a trained ballerina.Is a fan of the late singer Prince.Is an animal advocate.

Trivia: Born in Denver but grew up in Florida after moving with her family at a young age. Was a cheerleader and played sports in high school. Worked as a model before acting. At the age of 16, drove from Florida to Los Angeles with her parents to pursue her acting career. Supports various animal rights organizations, including the ASPCA, Boxer Rescue LA, Best Friends Animal Society, the Humane Society and Tazzy Fund. Is an avid philanthropist who also supports Children's Hospital LA, Lupus LA, the Dream Builders Project and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Trivia: Actress Kelli Williams was acting onscreen before her first birthday, appearing in a diaper ad, as well as a number of other commercials as a small child. By the time she was a teenager, Williams had an agent and was appearing on television on shows like Picket Fences and Party of Five. In 1997, she snagged the leading role of Lindsay Doyle on the popular courtroom drama The Practice and became a fixture in primetime TV. She stayed with the show until 2003 and continued to enjoy her lucrative TV career with shows like Medical Investigation, The Lyon's Den, Lie to Me, and Army Wives.