A gregarious actor with a smile that lights up the screen, Cuba Gooding, Jr. experienced the highs and lows of show business growing up as the son of his famous singer father. As he explained to the Los Angeles Times on January 5, 1997: "We lived in a big house and had chauffeurs, we'd go backstage at the concerts and then in the fifth grade . . . bang! Rock bottom." When his parents divorced, he moved with his mother, brother and sister out of the limelight and began facing financial hardships, which included stretches of being evicted and living in a car, as well as time on the welfare rolls. While the family was staying in a cheap motel in suburban Orange County, Gooding befriended future personal assistant Shawn Suttles and production company partner Derek Broes, and the three perfected their breakdancing moves, christening themselves the Majestic Vision Breakdancers.

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).

 Christopher Walken is that rare actor who made the successful transition from child player to adult star. Born and raised in Astoria, Queens, he studied dance as a youngster and, from the age of 10, appeared in live musicals and dramas in the so-called "Golden Age of Television" in the 1950s. (He also occasionally traded off with his brother Glenn playing the character of Mike Bauer on the CBS daytime serial "Guiding Light" between 1954 and 1956.) The tall, angular blue-eyed performer was in his mid-teens when he made his Broadway debut (then billed as 'Ronnie' (short for Ronald) Walken) in Archibald MacLeish's award-winning verse play "J.B." in 1959.

 For a world filled with comic book fans, Christopher Reeve had for years been the definitive Superman. For thousands suffering with paralysis and spinal cord injuries, in one tragic moment, he morphed suddenly from an actor perfectly cast onscreen, to a real-life personal inspiration and a champion of medical research and healthcare reform. Standing six-foot-four and sporting a jaw as square as his illustrated predecessor, the then-unknown Reeve became an overnight success when he was cast in “Superman: The Movie” (1978) – most notable for his evenhanded portrait of both the character’s sensitive vulnerability and commanding power in the face of injustice – all the while, wearing tights and a cape. Despite playing such an iconic role, he resisted typecasting in the wake of the film series’ success, sticking close to his original love of live theater when Hollywood failed to deliver worthy scripts.

A long-time favorite of discriminating theatergoers, Calista Flockhart acted in several Off-Broadway plays (e.g., "All for One", "Sophistry", "Wrong Turn at Lungfish") before triumphing on Broadway in the role of Laura, opposite Julie Harris, in a 1994 revival of "The Glass Menagerie".

 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).

Actor, writer, and director Ben Affleck hit the Hollywood radar in 1997 as the co-writer and co-star of “Good Will Hunting,” earning an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay along with childhood best friend Matt Damon. In fact, the seemingly overnight ascent to stardom in tandem with Damon, became one of the great “Hollywood” stories” of all time – right up there with Lana Turner being discovered at Schwab’s Drugstore.

While most of her peers were still worrying about curfews and pimples, Amanda Bynes was starring in her own TV show at the age of 13. Her radiant smile, comedic timing, and fearlessness earned the actress rave reviews and a preteen fanbase for “The Amanda Show” (Nickelodeon, 1999-2001).

Arguably the greatest and most accomplished actor of his generation, Al Pacino became a cultural icon thanks to revered performances in a wide range of classic films, including “The Godfather” (1972), “Scarface” (1983) and “Glengarry Glen Ross” (1992).