A tall, soft-spoken and leathery leading man who, since the 1960s, has diversified into directing and producing after achieving iconic status, Clint Eastwood arose from the world of television westerns to become the number-one box-office star in the world, and subsequently earned critical acclaim as a director. His production company, Malpaso, has crafted moderate-budget features that range from mainstream fare to personal and ambitious endeavors. Eastwood is not entirely part of the Hollywood establishment—his business is run out of Carmel, California, on the Monterey Peninsula, where he has also served as mayor and ran a restaurant.

 The third son of actor Martin Sheen, intense, square-jawed Charlie Sheen exploded into the public's consciousness as the narrator-grunt of Oliver Stone's autobiographical Vietnam War picture "Platoon" (1986), a deja vu of sorts that returned him to the Philippines, the scene of his first feature film (as an extra), Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" (1979), starring his father. That performance coupled with his role as Michael Douglas' unscrupulous protégé whose naked ambition leads him into conflict with his blue-collar father (played by his real-life dad) in Stone's "Wall Street" the following year, catapulted him to the status of one of the hottest young actors in Hollywood. Since then, Sheen has worked prolifically, but for much of the 90s, it was his profligacy that earned the biggest headlines and arguably prevented him from fulfilling his early promise.

 A handsome, muscular leading man, Burt Reynolds first achieved prominence on TV's "Riverboat" (NBC, 1959-61). Although he made his film debut in 1961, he remained best known for his small-screen work, notably as partly Native American characters on "Gunsmoke" (CBS, 1962-65; a blacksmith), and "Hawk" (ABC, 1966; a detective).

 Bryan Adams has established himself as both a successful rock musician and a singer-songwriter of romantic movie theme ballads. Born in Canada to British parents, he dropped out of school at age 16 to pursue his music career. After appearing with a few bands, he was signed to a recording contract by A&M Records (Canada). His eponymous debut album followed in 1980. Three years later, Adams had his first Top Ten hit single, "Straight From the Heart", a track on his third album "Cuts Like a Knife".

Since gaining national attention for his role as a religious army sniper in Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” (1998), actor Barry Pepper proved himself to be a dependable and versatile performer in a variety of lead and supporting roles.

Representing the third generation of Hustons to win an Academy Award, Anjelica Huston finally emerged from the shadows of father John and long-time beau Jack Nicholson to parlay her striking, off-beat beauty and "deep class" (as termed by Nicholson) into a career as an actress of great strength and emotional range. Though she managed to survive a disastrous starring debut in her father's "A Walk with Love and Death" (1969), the howls of nepotism that nearly ended her career before it began did cause her to withdraw temporarily from the profession.