Trivia: A muscular, darkly handsome actor who defies easy categorization, Brendan Fraser has an enviable versatility that has allowed him to be equally convincing in comedies, dramas, and adventure films alike. The son of a Canadian tourism executive, Fraser was born in Indianapolis on December 3, 1968. Thanks to his father's job, Fraser and his family led a fairly peripatetic existence, living in locales as varied as Ottawa, London, Rome, and Seattle. During his time in London, Fraser became interested in theater and eventually enrolled in Seattle's Cornish Institute for training.After an early appearance in Dogfight (1991), Fraser got his break in 1992's Encino Man as a Stone-Age man unfrozen in modern-day California. He went on to gain audience prominence in diverse roles such as a Jewish football player in an all-WASP environment in School Ties (1992), a grunged-out musician in Airheads (1994), a Harvard student who loses his thesis in With Honors (1994), and a quirky baseball phenom in The Scout (1994). Fraser has been quoted in one magazine article as saying that he seeks out roles combining "silliness and sexiness"; his work during the second half of the '90s certainly reflected this. Particular highlights were George of the Jungle (1997), a satire of jungle adventure films; Gods and Monsters (1998), the acclaimed rendering of the last days of director James Whale, for which Fraser earned particular praise in his role as Whale's strapping gardener; the romantic comedy Blast From the Past (1999); and a big-budget remake of The Mummy (1999) that effectively showcased Fraser as a hero well-suited to old-school adventure. So successful were the extravagantly computer generated exploits of the revived Mummy soon became a franchise, birthing sequels like The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008). Fraser would spend subsuquent years appearing in a number of varied projects, including comedies like Bedazzled and Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, dramas like The Quiet American and Crash, and adventure movies, like Journey to the Center of the Earth and Inkheart.

Trivia: A British actress whose name and dark looks effortlessly conjure up associations with Eastern European exoticism, Rachel Weisz first earned the attention of an international audience with her role as the spoiled daughter of a sculptor in Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty (1996). The daughter of a Jewish-Hungarian inventor and an Austrian psychoanalyst (both sides of the family fled Fascist Europe during the '30s), Weisz was born in London on March 3, 1971. Much of her adolescence was spent modeling, and after attending Cambridge to study English, she broke into acting with a role in Sean Mathias' West End revival of Noel Coward's Design for Living.Weisz's performance in the play won her the Critics' Circle Best Newcomer award, and she subsequently took advantage of this recognition with a starring role in the BBC's TV adaptation of Scarlet & Black (1993), and then in 1996 with her aforementioned part in Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty. Although most attention was paid to Liv Tyler in her role as the film's protagonist, Weisz managed to garner notice of her own, and this recognition was furthered by her top billing opposite Keanu Reeves in Chain Reaction that same year. Unfortunately, the big-budget thriller was an unmitigated turkey; Weisz followed it with leads in smaller films such as The Land Girls (1997), a WWII drama that cast her as a young socialite sent to work on a farm; and Going All the Way (1997), a post-war coming-of-age drama starring Ben Affleck and Jeremy Davies that saw Weisz play Wasp, Affleck's Jewish girlfriend.After returning to Britain to star as a hairdresser in the noirish drama I Want You (1998), Weisz reappeared on the Hollywood radar as Brendan Fraser's damsel in distress in the 1999 summer blockbuster The Mummy. That same year, she played yet another love interest, that of a womanizing Ralph Fiennes in Sunshine, István Szabó's epic drama about three generations of a family of Hungarian Jews. Weisz' subsequent turn in the period drama Enemy at the Gates (2000) saw her play the inamorata of yet another Fiennes brother, Joseph. As a Russian-American sniper caught between the affections of a Russian party official (Fiennes) and a legendary sniper (Jude Law), the actress again returned to the early part of the 20th century (this time the Battle of Stalingrad) and to the deep end of the Fiennes family gene pool.Dutifully returning for The Mummy Returns a few short months later, that same year found the starlet gaining positive notice for her role in director Neil LaBute's biting stage drama The Shape of Things. Cast as a young art student whose latest "piece" is a strikingly original form of sculpture, Weisz's character would attempt to transform her boyfriend from schlub to stud to surprising effect. When the play was adapted to film in 2001, the team stuck together with Weisz and co-star Paul Rudd stepping before LaBute's all-seeing lens. For her role in the 2003 crime drama Confidence, Weisz would join a band of talented con artists in a daring bid to take a banker with ties to organized crime for all he's worth. Though the film may not have struck box-office gold, it did prove something of a sleeper and drew generally favorable reviews from critics. Confidence would be one of two films that found Weisz cast alongside screen legend Dustin Hoffman in 2003, the other being the courtroom thriller Runaway Jury. If her last few years had been slightly weighed down in drama, audiences could be assured that things would lighten up considerably when Weisz joined the cast of the Barry Levinson comedy Envy (2004).In 2005 she starred alongside Keanu Reeves again in the comic book adaptation Constantine. The dark film about a man trying to avoid his fate in hell by battling demons on Earth helped keep Weisz's name in circulation, but her next project would create the biggest buzz of her career thus far. Her role in Fernando Meirelles' The Constant Gardener garnered praise from critics and audiences alike, winning her an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Weisz played a British activist working in Kenya whose investigations into government corruption cause her to turn up dead, prompting her husband, Ralph Fiennes, to embark on an epic search to reveal the truth behind her murder. On the heels of this tremendous success, she joined the cast of Darren Aronofsky's psychological science-fiction film The Fountain-a story spanning a thousand years and exploring issues of love, death, and spirituality. Weisz joined Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo for The Brothers Bloom (2008), and worked with celebrated director Alejandro Amenabar in Agora (2009), a historical drama featuring Weisz in the lead role. In 2010, Weisz played a major role in The Whistleblower, which was inspired by a true story of a corporation involved in human trafficking, and later worked opposite Daniel Craig in director Terrence Malick's thriller Dream House (2011).

Trivia: With his gaunt handsomeness and infectious Scottish burr, John Hannah made a memorable impression on audiences on both sides of the Atlantic in his role as Simon Callow's lover in Four Weddings and a Funeral. The popularity of his portrayal was a significant feat for the actor, who, prior to the picture, had only appeared in one small film and numerous television shows in the United Kingdom.Born in 1962 in East Kilbride, a small town near Glasgow, Hannah worked as an electrician for four years before getting into acting. After training at a Glasgow drama school, the actor headed to London to find work. After his 1990 debut in a generally unheard of film called Harbour Beat, Hannah found work on television. After his breakthrough role in 1994's Four Weddings, he was able to do more film work, appearing the following year in three films, Madagascar Skin, The Final Cut, and The Innocent Sleep. After work in a few forgettable pictures and the title role on the British TV series McCallum, Hannah got his next significant role in Peter Howitt's 1998 romantic comedy Sliding Doors. The film was a relative success and Hannah netted praise for his work as Gwyneth Paltrow's love interest. The film paved the way for him to appear in his first Hollywood blockbuster, The Mummy (1999), in which he was cast against type as a ne'er do well English fop. Despite rotten reviews, the film scored massively at the box office, helping to ensure further work for the talented, versatile actor. Over the next several years, Hannah would remain active as an actor, appearing on shows like MDs, New Street Law, Spartacus, Vengeance, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, and Damages.

Trivia: An actor who is best known for his role as the eponymous dead man with a grudge in 1999's The Mummy, Arnold Vosloo has been active in film since he immigrated to the U.S. from his native South Africa. Born the son of actors in Pretoria on June 16, 1962, Vosloo spent much of his childhood travelling South Africa with his parents. After leaving school, he went into the army and then spent two years with the Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal. Vosloo made a name for himself on the Pretoria stage, winning one of its most prestigious awards, the Dalro, and then set off for the U.S. Once there, he acted on the Chicago and New York stages, at one point performing alongside Al Pacino in the Circle in the Square's production of Salomé. Although Vosloo made his film debut in 1985, it was not until he starred in The Mummy that he gained any substantial measure of recognition. The film, which was one of 1999's summer hits, also starred Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and John Hannah. Vosloo and his fellow cast members reprised their roles two years later for the film's sequel, the aptly-titled The Mummy Returns.

Trivia: Patricia Velasquez, a model-turned-actress, was born on January 31, 1971, in Guajira, Venezuela, where she grew up. After graduating from San Vincente de Paul High School in 1987, she completed a year of college before being discovered and flying off to Milan, Italy, to begin her modeling career. Her exotic beauty bestowed her with enormous success in runway and print modeling for top designers, and in 1994, she appeared in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Video.Velasquez made her acting debut in 1996 in Le Jaguar, but it wasn't until 1999 that she was really noticed with her role in The Mummy. She kept busy with three other films that same year: Beowulf, No Vacancy, and Façade. The Mummy had earned her spotlight enough to compete for screen attention with Heather Graham in Committed (2000). In addition to roles in other films like Turn It Up and Saint Bernard (both 2000), Velasquez had appeared on television in the miniseries Fidel and the series Ed in 2001. Also, in 2001, she acted in the sequel to the film that had brought her acting breakthrough, The Mummy Returns. Velasquez had recurring roles on Arrested Development and The L Word, and she appeared on Celebrity Apprentice in 2012.

Trivia: The seeming embodiment of the old cliché "tall, dark, and handsome," Israeli-born actor Oded Fehr has the worldly handsome looks that perfectly suited him for his breakthrough role of mysterious desert warrior Ardeth Bay in the 1999 blockbuster The Mummy. Born to European parents in Tel Aviv in November of 1970, Fehr served a three-year tenure in the Israeli Navy before relocating to Frankfurt, Germany, to work in business with his father. Enrolling in a few minor acting classes as a fluke, Fehr would take a role in playwright David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago before later deciding to cement his thespian tendencies with a three-year stay at the Bristol Old Vic in London. Not surprisingly taking on such stage roles as Don Juan in Don Juan Comes Back From War, Fehr was a familiar face to U.K. television audiences with his roles in The Knock and Killer Net in 1998 before his breakthrough in Hollywood. Also turning up as a male gigolo in SNL alumni Rob Schneider's Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo the following year, Fehr would later appear in American television with Cleopatra (1999) and Arabian Nights following his success in The Mummy. Not surprisingly returning to his role in that film's 2001 sequel, The Mummy Returns, the multi-lingual actor would become a permanent fixture on the small screen when he joined the cast of U.C. Undercover in 2001. Proving that his sense of humor was as healthy as his good looks, Fehr joined fellow Mummy cast member Arnold Vosloo in spoofing the film and its sequel at the 2001 MTV Movie Awards. Fehr's other television work include appearances on the WB's supernatural fan-favorite Charmed, in which he played a demon known as Zankou, and as the character of Farik on the Showtime drama Sleeper Cell (2005 -- 2006). In 2008, Fehr appeared in first-time writer/director Nancy Kissam's family drama Drool, while 2010 found the actor with a several guest appearances on USA's Covert Affairs.

Trivia: From his earliest days, character actor Erick Avari's family knew that he would eventually end up with a career in show business -- though given the fact that his grandparents on both sides of the family owned movie theaters throughout India and Asia (not to mention that his great-grandfather was a Victorian-era theater producer often credited with introducing women into Indian theater), they no doubt thought he would lean more towards the "business" side and less towards the "show." The majority of Avari's childhood was spent in Darjeeling, India. Though young Avari's primary language was English, he also mastered Nepali, Bengali, Hindi, and Gujarati over the course of his childhood. A steady diet of English-language films viewed at one of his father's two theaters no doubt aided the aspiring actor in bettering his English skills, and following a small role in Satyajit Ray's Kanchenjungha and a chance meeting with the Kendall family theater troupe, Avari's career was soon moving in the right direction. Following several years of college in India, Avari was awarded a scholarship to the College of Charleston, SC, where he studied acting before moving to New York to pursue a stage career. Roles in New York's Joseph Papp Public Theater and in the Broadway production of The King and I were quick to follow, and Avari made his feature debut with a role in the 1984 fantasy comedy Nothing Lasts Forever. Through the remainder of the '80s and the '90s, Avari carved a successful niche in film as the go-to guy for roles that called for mysterious men from the Far East, and roles in such wide-release films as Encino Man, For Love or Money, Stargate, and The Mummy kept him in the public eye. By the millennial turnover, audiences were no doubt familiar with Avari's face, with roles in Planet of the Apes, Mr. Deeds, The Master of Disguise, and Daredevil cementing his status as a talented character actor with impeccable comic timing.

Trivia: Kansas native Tuc Watkins built a career acting on daytime soap operas with two multi-year runs on One Life to Live, as well as extended stints on General Hospital and All My Children. In 1999, he was cast as the lead on the Showtime original series Beggars and Choosers, which was an edgy drama about the TV industry and lasted two seasons. Watkins' first major prime-time network role came in 2007 when he scored a role on ABC's hit comedy drama Desperate Housewives, playing one half of Wisteria Lane's first gay couple. In the years to come, Watkins would remain active on screen, making guest appearances on shows like Parks and Recreation and Franklin and Bash, while continuing his regular role as David Vickers on One Life to Live.

Trivia: Left Australia for the United Kingdom in 1969; shortly after his arrival, he saw Ian McClellan perform on the stage in Richard II and decided to become an actor. Was an original cast member of Not the Nine O'Clock News; left the show when it underwent heavy cast changes for the second season. Is an Associate Member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. A member of the Royal Shakespeare Company; performed in the RSC's tour of King Lear in 2007, opposite Ian McKellan. Is an accomplished singer and painter.

Trivia: Acclaimed as one of Britain's funniest standup comedians, Omid Djalili also retained the distinction of being the country's sole Iranian standup act. Following the smashing success in the 1995 Edinburgh Festival and such satirical U.K. efforts as Small Potatoes (2001) and Between Iraq and a Hard Place (2003), Djalili seemed poised to take the U.S. by storm with his supporting role in the new Whoopi Goldberg sitcom Whoopi. Born to an Iranian journalist and photographer who had settled in London in 1957, Djalili's father was both a contributor to Iran's top newspapers and a translator for the Iranian embassy. Severing his ties with the Iranian government following the 1979 Iranian revolution, the elder Djalili opened a medical hostile for Iranian immigrants, and it was there that young Omid witnessed his father's unique ability to entertain and began to get a true sense of the cultural differences between native-born Londoners and their Iranian immigrant counterparts. His enrollment in London's multi-cultural Holland Park school also served to provide young Djalili with a strong catalog of various foreign accents that would later prove key to his success as a standup act. Djalili graduated from the University of Ulster with a degree in English and theater arts in 1988, and embarked on a series of odd jobs after returning to London and being rejected from 16 different drama schools. Gradually working his way from the outskirts of the theater scene to small roles on stage and screen, it wasn't long before Djalili met his future wife, Annabel Knight, at a friends wedding and the two began collaborating on various projects. After working themselves into the experimental theater scene in the Czech Republic via a cultural exchange program, the couple was preparing to have their first child when Mrs. Knight decided to pen a one man play for her husband to star in. An introspective, humorous, and honest depiction of the struggle for truth in the face of religious prosecution, A Strange Bit of History proved an enormous hit after debuting in Edinburgh to capacity crowds. His crossover appeal in part the result of his ability to relate to numerous foreign cultures, Djalili took home the coveted LWT Stand Up Award in 1997 and has since gone on to numerous film and television roles. Djalili endeared himself to U.K. television audiences in the late '90s, and after making his film debut in the 1999 Hollywood blockbuster The Mummy, it seemed as if his appeal had made the sometimes difficult translation from the U.K. to the U.S. Alternating between work in Europe and America into the new millennium, Djalili received stateside exposure with roles in such high-profile releases as The World is Not Enough (1999) and Spy Game (2001) while maintaining U.K. credibility with supporting performances in Mean Machine (2001) and The Calcium Kid (2003). Following the premiere of Whoopi, Djalili began preparation for his role as Pablo Picasso in the feature Modigliani (2004). Over the next several years, Djalili would continue to remain a force on screen, appearing in films like Casanova and The Infadel, as well as TV series like The Paul Reiser Show.

Trivia: Bernard Fox was descended from a long line of British stage actors; perhaps his most famous forebear was his uncle, veteran comic actor Wilfred Lawson. Fox made his screen debut in 1956's Soho Incident, appearing in several other British films before he was brought to Hollywood by actor/producer Danny Thomas in 1963. Generally cast in stuffy, old-school-tie roles, the toothbrush-mustached Fox flourished in American films and TV programs well into the late 1980s. Bernard Fox was most widely recognized for his TV work, notably his recurring appearances as gentleman's gentleman Malcolm Merriweather on The Andy Griffith Show and wacky warlock Dr. Bombay on Bewitched; he also played Dr. Watson opposite Stewart Granger's Sherlock Holmes in the 1972 TV-movie adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles. He appeared in blockbusters like Titanic (1997) and The Mummy (1999) towards the end of his career; one of his final roles was reprising his Dr. Bombay character on the supernatural soap opera Passions. Fox died in 2016, at age 89.

Trivia: Actor Jake Johnson began his career in the virgin territory of the Internet, appearing in the popular Michael Cera web series Clark and Michael in 2006. He would go on to make appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Unit, as well as in the David Mamet film Redbelt, before collaborating with Cera once again for 2009's Paper Heart. He appeared in the comedy Get Him to the Greek, and had a very busy 2011 with parts in No Strings Attached, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, and a major part in the new FOX sitcom New Girl. He also appeared in the comic big-screen version of 21 Jump Street the next year.