A statuesque Danish beauty, Connie Nielsen has lent her considerable talents to parts that have cast her as everything from Satan's spawn to an astronaut to an emperor's daughter. Regardless of the role or the quality of the script, she has managed to transcend the limitations and delivered memorable full-bodied performances. Raised in a small coastal village in Denmark, Nielsen became enamored with movies at a young age through weekly visits at the local movie theater. She was encouraged to pursue a theatrical career by her actress-writer mother, alongside whom she made her stage acting debut at age 15. Three years later, Nielsen moved to Paris to pursue a career and she further studied her craft in such far-flung locations as South Africa, NYC and Rome. Fluent in several languages, she easily found work in films produced in Italy and France and caught a break with the American made-for-cable movie "Voyage" (USA Network, 1993).

To look upon the face of Claire Danes is to discover an exquisitely expressive canvas for all the emotional colorings of life. This remarkably self-possessed young performer brought startling authenticity as well as intelligence and complexity to her starring role in the landmark high school/family drama "My So-Called Life" (ABC, 1994-95). Danes' often heartrending portrayal of a fifteen-year-old coping with the rigors of adolescence contributed to the cult series' avalanche of kudos and won a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nod for its rising star. The low-rated, short-lived program counted Steven Spielberg and Winona Ryder among its followers.

 South African actress Charlize Theron made Oscar and Golden Globe-worthy impressions with heavy-hitting dramatic roles which often saw her struggling to survive oppressive environments. Theron’s own experiences surviving the strife of an unstable childhood home gave her a strong perspective, as did the strong-willed independence that inspired her to head to Europe and begin a professional modeling career while she was still a teenager. But if the 5’10” blonde was misdiagnosed as merely an actress-turned-model for her early supporting roles, that persona was shattered with a pair of Oscar-nominated starring performances in “Monster” (2003) and “North Country” (2005); both portraits of two women who came to deal with second-class citizen status in very different ways.

 While still in his twenties, the likeable and low-key Casey Affleck, who enjoyed a slow and steady rise as an actor, saw the show business mechanics from the inside out while watching his older brother Ben Affleck gain meteoric Hollywood success – as well as the inevitable and subsequently vicious backlash. Still, the younger Affleck saw himself on another path, eschewing studio-produced Frankenstein projects in favor of eclectic character parts. The promise of his early work in “To Die For” (1995) and “Good Will Hunting” (1997) did eventually lead him to the blockbuster types like “Ocean’s Eleven” (2001) and its star-packed sequels. While nestled comfortably into one of Hollywood’s most entertaining ensembles, Affleck still found a way to comfortably transform in a variety of projects, creating a witty, quirky onscreen persona along the way.

As someone who believes that Samuel L. Jackson is a national treasure, I spend all day watching clips like these, showing the actor’s best yelling scenes. Now, it seems, he has a new co-star who might want to invest in a good pair of earplugs.

The darkly handsome Billy Crudup (pronounced CREWD-up) quickly established himself as a rising star soon after graduating with an MFA from New York University in 1994. The Long Island native made his Broadway debut as the Byronic tutor in Tom Stoppard's acclaimed "Arcadia" in 1995 and returned to the New York stage the following year to star opposite Mary-Louise Parker in a revival of William Inge's "Bus Stop". For the former, the intense actor earned numerous accolades including the Theatre World and Clarence Derwent awards for most promising newcomer.

It was unclear which fact was more extraordinary about Anna Paquin – that she won an Academy Award at age 11 for her performance in “The Piano” (1993), or that after the win, she had no plans to continue acting.