Trivia: Mainstream America got its first taste of David Caruso when he appeared in a nationally syndicated mid-'70s coffee commercial as a stock boy in a general store run by Margaret Hamilton. In those days, Caruso would pick up extra cash by appearing in lineups for the New York police department, where his street-urchin style made him fit right in. This same street-tough quality won Caruso his first semi-regular TV series role in 1981, as the Irish-American gang leader "Shamrock" on Hill Street Blues. Building up his resumé, he continued to take supporting roles like the "washout" aviation candidate in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) and assistant to Judd Nelson's quest for revenge in Blue City (1986). 1984 proved a busy year as he divorced wife Cheri Maugans and married Rachel Ticotin, with whom he had a daughter, Greta, later that year. More supporting roles paid Caruso's bills throughout the '80s, as well as a starring TV gig on a short-lived 1990 cop series called H.E.L.P. A much more important law enforcement role still lay ahead, however, in the form of a hot new series called NYPD Blue that premiered in 1993. Playing the role of Detective John Kelly on the series made Caruso an overnight star. The show was produced by his old Hill Street Blues boss Steven Bochco, and Caruso had the groundbreaking drama to thank for his transformation from working actor to sought-after star -- yet he remained with the monumentally successful show for only 26 episodes. After a very public series of disagreements with producers, Caruso left NYPD Blue in 1994, hoping to use his new celebrity to invigorate a film career. He returned to audiences in 1995, starring the crime thriller Kiss of Death. Unfortunately, Kiss of Death was a critical and box-office failure, as were his successive suspense thrillers Jade, Cold Around the Heart, and Body Count. Though he walked down the isle a third time in 1995, the actor's wedding seemed to be the only happy news associated with his name. By the end of the '90s, Caruso's decision to leave NYPD Blue was considered one of the most infamous career blunders in history, landing him on the C-list and making a joke of the inflated ego that some said put him there. In 1997, the first episode of the outrageous animated media satire South Park seemed to summarize the actor's status with a gag in which the two-year-old character Ike is persuaded to jump from a spaceship and fall several feet to the ground when his brother yells "Do your impression of David Caruso's career!" Many actors find themselves remembered as cinematic or TV one-hit wonders, and this was how Caruso was already being recorded in pop-culture history. The new millennium, however, would find the actor defeating the Hollywood laws of physics with a resurrection on a par with that of John Travolta. In 2002, the hit procedural prime-time crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation was launching a spin-off, CSI: Miami, and in the starring role of Lieutenant Horatio Caine was none other than David Caruso. The spin-off proved to be just as successful as its predecessor, and almost ten years after his first shot at fame with NYPD Blue, Caruso was back in the game. While cynics predicted that he would grow too big for his britches and leave the series in a disastrous repetition of history, Caruso remained loyal to the show, even making cameo appearances on the other CSI series. Though 2005 brought a divorce, it also saw the birth of a son with girlfriend Liza Marquez.

Trivia: Born October 08, 1968, actress Emily Procter made her way into the stormy world of acting by forecasting the weather. While a Journalism and Dance major at East Carolina University, she landed a job as a weather anchor for a local CBS affiliate. One thing led to another, and soon she was headed west, travelling the well-travelled route to Los Angeles. Luck greeted Procter shortly after her arrival, when she began landing spots on television sitcoms and dramas. After appearing on such shows as Lois and Clark and Friends, Procter made her film debut with a small role in Leaving Las Vegas in 1995. Work in a number of small films followed, as did parts in Jerry Maguire (1997), the HBO movie Breast Men (1997), and such television movies as The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! (also 1997). 1999 proved a busy year for the actress, as she had supporting roles in both Guinevere and the Scottish film The Big Tease. She also starred in Body Shots, playing a member of a group of friends looking for love and/or sex in pre-millennial Los Angeles.2002 brought what could effectively be called a "big break" as Procter landed a leading role on the CSI spin-off CSI: Miami. The show proved just as successful as its predecessor and Procter found herself on one of the most watched shows on television, sticking around for season upon season as its popularity seemed to only grow with each passing year.

Trivia: Latino actor and heartthrob Adam Rodriguez found a convenient backdoor to Hollywood success. Proving definitively the old adage that "it's all in who you know," Rodriguez's dad, the longtime COO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, happened to be watching the Emmys in 1996 and recognized an old army buddy accepting a production award. The gentleman in question had graduated from policeman to NYPD Blue consultant to one of the program's producers. The elder Rodriguez impulsively phoned his pal to congratulate him on the award; this led to a renewed friendship, and in time, a small guest spot for Adam on NYPD Blue. At that point, Rodriguez had only just decided on his true calling in life. A stint of seemingly random occupations (including stockbroker and bellhop) followed by a brief theatrical tenure at the Jersey Peppermill Playhouse convinced the young man that his passion lay in acting. The Emmy incident, as it were, happened almost immediately afterward.A recurring role on the brief series drama Brooklyn South ensued, followed by a guest spot on Law & Order, then a bit part in the Gary Fleder movie Impostor. Rodriguez attained his first substantial recognition, however, as Jesse Ramirez, an erudite attorney unknowingly saddled with an extraterrestrial girlfriend, on the sci-fi series Roswell. But his greatest exposure was still yet to come. Beginning in 2002, he played Eric Delko, drug and fingerprint expert at the Miami-Dade crime laboratory, on CSI: Miami, the first successful spin-off to the crime series phenomenon CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Shortly thereafter, Rodriguez also signed for a part in Jessica Kavana Dornbusch's indie coming-of-age drama Thanks to Gravity (2005), about the trials and travails of a young woman of Jewish-Hispanic ancestry enrolled at Harvard. Numerous film roles followed, and on the heels of an appearance in Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself Rodriguez turned up in Ugly Betty as Hilda's on again-off again flame Bobby Talercio. In 2012 the chisled actor could be seen opposite Channing Tatum in Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike.

Trivia: U.S. character actor Jonathan Togo is best known for his multi-season portrayal of Ryan Wolfe, the police officer-turned-laboratory geneticist on the blockbuster crime series CSI: Miami. His resumé also includes an appearance in the Clint Eastwood-helmed ensemble feature Mystic River (2003).

Trivia: With his bald head and beefy exterior, Hollywood character player Rex Linn quickly built up an acting resumé replete with many portrayals of toughs, feds, cops, thugs, and -- occasionally -- unremarkable, beleaguered everymen. Born in the panhandle of the Lone Star State, Linn came of age in the small Texas town of Spearman. He discovered a lingering interest in drama during his teenage years, but buckled under the weight of discouragement from an acting coach, and put acting on the shelf to focus on career pursuits in banking and the oil industry. Dissatisfied with these fields, Linn convinced an Oklahoma talent agent to sign him, and made the leap from commercials to feature roles with his portrayal of serial murderer Fred Epps in the Peter Masterson-directed thriller Night Game (1989), opposite Roy Scheider. The pleasure of this experience prompted Linn to head to the West Coast, where he worked construction, landed intermittent acting assignments, and studied the craft under the tutelage of Silvana Gallardo in Studio City, CA. Linn was memorable as the rogue treasury agent who assists terrorist John Lithgow in the Sylvester Stallone vehicle Cliffhanger (1993), which brought the actor the recognition he so persistently sought and led to a series of supporting roles in dozens of feature films. Linn's portrayal of Frank McLaury in Wyatt Earp (1994) marked the first in a series of several onscreen collaborations with Kevin Costner that also included the romantic comedy Tin Cup (1996) and the laborious sci-fi epic The Postman (1997). Linn also landed guest appearances on such series as JAG and 3rd Rock From the Sun. He is best known, however, for his fine portrayal of Miami-Dade Police Department detective Frank Tripp on the hit crime series CSI: Miami.

Trivia: Sexy and talented, with a memorably exotic look (due to a multiethnic ancestry), model-turned-actress Eva La Rue (also occasionally billed by her married name, Eva LaRue Callahan) launched her career in print work, with a heavy emphasis on covers for such periodicals as Woman's World, Latina, and Cosmopolitan en Español. La Rue segued into acting in the late '80s and early '90s, and landed a number of nonfiction television assignments, first as cohost, with the legendary Dom DeLuise, of the gag-laden series revival The New Candid Camera (1991), then as hostess of the Miss America Pageant and the Lifetime network special Weddings of a Lifetime. The ever-versatile La Rue concurrently tackled scripted roles as well. After supporting parts in many a Hollywood programmer (Robocop 3, Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College, Mirror Images 2) and several years as a regular on the soap All My Children, she earned stellar notices for her portrayal of Mouseketeer-turned-beach bunny Annette Funicello in the telemovie A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story. She went on to perform in recurring roles on the popular series Third Watch and Soul Food. La Rue culled her broadest fan base, however, for her portrayal of lab specialist and grant writer Natalia Boa Vista on the crime series phenomenon CSI: Miami.

Trivia: A native of rural Humboldt, IA, character actor Christian Clemenson left his home state when a scholarship that he netted as part of his paperboy route afforded him the opportunity to attend the prestigious Phillips Academy preparatory school in Andover, MA. That experience imparted Clemenson with a deep-seated love of theatrics, and he spent his Iowan summers during college acting in local stage productions. The upstart subsequently attended Harvard as an undergraduate and Yale Drama School as a grad student, then moved to Los Angeles in the mid-'80s, where he accepted a long series of bit parts and supporting roles in A-list features, typically cast as nebbishy professional types. Early films in which Clemenson appeared included Heartburn (1986), Legal Eagles (1986), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and Broadcast News (1987).Beginning in the late '90s, Clemenson began placing a stronger emphasis on television work, with guest roles in series including Ally McBeal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The West Wing, and NYPD Blue. He received critical kudos for his portrayal of ill-fated executive Thomas E. Burnett Jr., a victim of the September 11th terrorist attacks, in Paul Greengrass' feature United 93 (2006), then joined William Shatner, Candice Bergen, and James Spader of David E. Kelley's offbeat seriocomedy Boston Legal in a recurring capacity during the show's second season; on the program, Clemenson played Jerry "Hands" Espenson, a troubled lawyer plagued by Asperger's Syndrome. He went on to win Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2006 for that role, and continued to appear on the show, later attaining regular status and staying with the series until it folded in 2009. Clemenson would continue to appear regularly on screen as the years went on, appearing on shows like CSI: Miami and Harry's Law.

Trivia: More a sex goddess than an actress, the statuesque Raquel Welch was one of the most popular celebrities of the 1960s and 1970s. While she appeared in dozens of films, they earned little notice, her success depending almost exclusively on her stature as a buxom pin-up. Born Raquel Tejada on September 5, 1940, in Chicago, she began taking dancing lessons as a child and by her teens was already winning beauty contests. At the age of 18, she married high school sweetheart James Welch; the couple had two children before divorcing in 1961. After working in Dallas, TX, as a waitress and model, Welch relocated to Hollywood in 1963; within three days, she had already landed a manager, Patrick Curtis, and soon they formed a promotions company, Curtwell Enterprises. After appearing in Life magazine in a revealing bikini, she began working on the ABC series Hollywood Palace, and in 1964 made her feature debut with an unbilled appearance in the Elvis Presley vehicle Roustabout. Welch next appeared as a prostitute in 1964's A House Is Not a Home, followed by another uncredited appearance a year later in Do Not Disturb. In 1965, she scored her first lead role in the pop musical A Swingin' Summer, resulting in a contract with 20th Century Fox, which cast her in the sci-fi hit Fantastic Voyage before loaning her to the British horror studio Hammer. There she starred in a 1967 remake of One Million Years B.C.; clad in little more than strategically placed strips of fur, Welch's publicity stills appeared everywhere, and she became a major sex symbol -- still, few went to actually see the movie itself. Despite the publicity, Fox was clearly wary of her talents, and did not ask her to return to Hollywood; instead she remained in Europe, starring with Edward G. Robinson and Vittorio de Sica in 1968's The Biggest Bundle of Them All and with Monica Vitti and Claudia Cardinale in Le Fate. While in Paris, Welch and manager Curtis married, issuing a series of provocative wedding night publicity photos.After appearing as Lust incarnate in Stanley Donen's seven-deadly-sins comedy Bedazzled, Welch finally returned to the U.S. Fox used her judiciously in pictures like the 1968 James Stewart Western Bandolero! and the Frank Sinatra mystery Lady in Cement. Following in 1969 was 100 Rifles, a controversial Western which paired Welch with Jim Brown, and a year later she earned her first real starring role in the disastrous Myra Breckenridge. Her situation was unusual; she was certainly a star and a household name, yet few people ever went to see her movies -- neither 1971's Hannie Caulder nor the following year's Fuzz did anything to alter the dilemma, and when the 1973 roller-derby melodrama Kansas City Bomber also tanked at the box office, Welch divorced Curtis and returned to Europe to appear in Bluebeard. While both 1973's The Three Musketeers and its sequel The Four Musketeers were well received, she earned little credit for their success, and when the 1976 black comedy Mother, Jugs and Speed failed, Hollywood largely washed their hands of her.Welch instead turned to nightclubs, concert stages, and television; she also continued making films in Europe, including 1977's The Prince and the Pauper and L' Animal, co-starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. In 1980, she was tapped to star in Cannery Row, but was fired a month into production; she filed suit against MGM for damages, and was awarded 11 million dollars. Welch spent the entirety of the 1980s away from theaters, focusing primarily on television productions like 1982's The Legend of Walks Far Woman and 1987's Right to Die, in which she delivered one of her strongest performances as a woman suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. After an absence of over a decade, in 1994 Welch returned to cinema in the comedy The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult. Throughout the decade, she also made a number of infomercials and exercise videos, and in 1995 also starred in the short-lived nighttime soap opera CPW. In 1997, she took over for Julie Andrews in the troubled Broadway musical Victor/Victoria, which closed less than a month after Welch's debut performance. In the years to come, Welch would remain active on screen, playing Aunt Dora on the massively popular sitcom American Family.

Trivia: Born October 12th, 1962, Carlos Bernard is best known for his multi-season contribution to Fox's blockbuster serialized action drama 24, in which he portrayed Tony Almeida, a counter-terrorism agent. He joined the cast of the short-lived comedy drama Scoundrels in 2010, and continues to be active in television.

Trivia: Grew up speaking Spanish and German. Played the violin since the age of 6 and received a scholarship to Mozarteum University in Austria; at 17 decided to change career paths and study acting. In 1996, made his television debut in the Spanish soap opera, Para Toda la Vida. Learned to speak English in order to land the role of Gustavo Santos in Imagining Argentina (2003).

Trivia: Moved to Hollywood at the age of 17 to pursue a career in acting. Studied comedy at Los Angeles' Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Has appeared in commercials for Adidas and Dickies. Was already familiar with magic prior to her work on The Magicians, as she grew up living with her hypnotherapist grandmother who practiced witchcraft and held séances. Is a founding member of the online sketch-comedy group 5 Second Films, which aims to post a new video every day.

Trivia: Played football in the Big Ten for the Fighting Illini. Is a certified personal trainer. Enjoys scuba diving, tennis, snowboarding and racquetball. Modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch.

Trivia: Richard Herd was a busy character actor for 20 years, mostly playing tough cops, ruthless corporate executives, and murderous villains in everything from topical dramas to science fiction thrillers before he became a comedy star in the 1990s, thanks to the series Seinfeld. A stage actor of long experience, he has received awards for his theatrical work, most notably The Couch With Six Insides, which he co-produced and which garnered an Obie. Herd began appearing on television in the early '60s, in commercials, for Newport cigarettes and other products, which frequently had a comic side to them, but it was in harder and heavier roles in movies and television that he was best known in the 1970s and 1980s: Captain Sheridan in the police show T.J. Hooker; villains in Scarecrow and Mrs. King and numerous other hour-long dramas; tough executives and military officers on M*A*S*H and other series; and as the alien leader John in the NBC miniseries V. His portrayal of ruthless power company executive Evan McCormack in the feature film The China Syndrome left Herd typed as a heavy for years, which didn't prevent him from giving memorable performances in series such as Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and feature films like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. In the 1990s, however, his flair for comedy also came to the fore with his portrayal of Mr. Wilhelm, George Costanza's high-pressure boss at the New York Yankees, which earned him an award from the Screen Actors Guild. He has also appeared in series such as E.R. and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and has a growing legion of fans in the field of science fiction from his work on Star Trek: Voyager.

Trivia: Stocky and heavyset African-American supporting player Omar Benson Miller (whose looks recalled a young Forest Whitaker) debuted onscreen in the early 2000s. Miller appeared in a host of films of varying quality, including 8 Mile (2002), the Richard Gere remake Shall We Dance? (2004), and the direct-to-video sexploitation comedy American Pie Presents: Band Camp (2005). In 2007, Miller tackled slightly more somber material with a key role in the Halle Berry-Benicio Del Toro psychological drama Things We Lost in the Fire, about the relationship between a grieving widow and a heroin addict. Miller would continue to find success on screen for years to come, appearing in movies like Miracle at St. Anna and The Sorcerer's Apprentice, as well as on the TV series CSI: Miami.

Trivia: An artist, a dancer, and a true "actor's actor," hard-working Khandi Alexander began her career on-stage with the first national touring company of Bob Fosse's Dancin' and then on Broadway in Dreamgirls. While the mid-'80s saw Alexander land small roles in movies like Streetwalkin' and Maid to Order, her skills as a dancer earned her a full scholarship at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater School. Her dance career also regularly found her appearing in award shows, which eventually brought her into contact with pop sensation Whitney Houston. Impressed with Alexander's talent and no-nonsense attitude, Houston signed Alexander on to choreograph her sold-out I'm Your Baby Tonight world tour.Music was only part of the picture for the thespian, however, and to pursue her dream of becoming an accomplished actress, Alexander enrolled at the Stella Adler Conservatory. While she would continue to accept supporting roles in projects she was attracted to, two prominent gigs would catapult Alexander's career in 1995 when she accepted a regular part on the prime-time drama ER as sister to Eriq La Salle's Dr. Peter Benton, as well as a starring role in the critically acclaimed ensemble sitcom NewsRadio. While the two strong characters and formats were drastically different, Alexander stayed with NewsRadio until 1998, and continued to reprise her role on ER for seven years. After retiring from both of her TV gigs, Alexander continued to participate in a variety of projects until 2002, when an irresistible character would draw her back into television. The CSI spin-off CSI: Miami offered the part of smart, dignified coroner named Dr. Alexx Woods. The character seemed tailor-made for the charismatic actress, who joined the cast from the show's inception. Alexander would stick with the series for season upon season, as it became one of the most watched shows on TV. Alexander never abandoned the love of dance and stage acting that once dominated her career. In 1998 she played the leading role of Velma Kelly in a nationally touring production of Bob Fosse's Chicago. She has also taken to the stage in productions such as The Tragic and Horrible Life of the Singing Nun, Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?, Legacy, Period of Adjustment, and Color of Blue.

Trivia: Though her family would ultimately settle in Italy, Sofia Milos was born to a Greek father and Italian mother in Zurich, Switzerland. By the time she reached adolescence, Milos had demonstrated a clear knack for the liberal arts, and, in addition to proving herself a skilled painter, had become fluent in Italian, French, German, Greek, Suisse, Spanish, and English. Though she wouldn't begin acting until later in life, Milos nonetheless got used to public scrutiny when she won a beauty contest at the age of 14, beginning a successful modeling career a year later -- so successful, in fact, that the money she earned modeling throughout France, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States paid for her education at the School of Business and Economics in Switzerland.In 1990, Milos decided to take up residence in the United States, where she spent time living in New York before settling down in Los Angeles. Shortly after her arrival, Milos began attending acting classes at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, which is led by renowned acting coach and director Milton Katselas. Milos worked primarily in theater circles until 1993, when she was cast in Café Americain, NBC's short-lived sitcom co-starring Valerie Bertinelli and Maurice Godin. Though the show wasn't a hit, the right people noticed her potential, and Milos began racking up an impressive television resumé. She appeared on Friends in 1995, made a guest appearance on Mad About You in 1996, and landed a reoccurring role on Caroline in the City from 1997-1998. Though she made her feature film debut in 1999 -- she played one of Tim Meadows' voluptuous love interests in The Ladies Man -- it wasn't until her performance as mob boss Annalisa Zucca on HBO's The Sopranos that she would achieve mainstream recognition.HBO continued to showcase Milos' talents in Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm, for which she played an entirely improvised role as the girlfriend of Richard Lewis. After several more unsuccessful television pilots and a guest spot on ER, Milos starred as a long-suffering widow opposite Jason Isaacs and Lupe Ontiveros in Passionada (2003). Following the film, Milos landed a regular role as detective Yelina Salas in the hit television drama CSI: Miami.

Trivia: A native of Houston, TX, actress Leven Rambin acquired an interest in drama via performances in school plays, and then studied acting at the nearby Houston School of Film and Theatre. Rambin's decision to subsequently relocate to Los Angeles led to one of her first and most visible roles: that of Lily Montgomery, an autistic teen, on the seminal American soap All My Children (an assignment later broadened by the network when they had Rambin also portray Lily's half sister, Ava). The ingenue's work on Children earned her a 2006 Daytime Emmy nomination for Younger Leading Actress; in the meantime, she also landed a role on the unusual, short-lived prime-time drama series The Book of Daniel. She was cast in the TV series Scoundrels in 2010 and played the recurring role of Mark Sloan's daughter on Grey's Anatomy. In 2012, she would be part of her biggest success to date when she was cast as Glimmer in the highly successful adaptation of The Hunger Games. Rambin played a demigod in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters and had recurring roles on both the CW series The Tomorrow People and the second season of HBO's True Detective.