Trivia: First acting experience was in a middle school play as a clown in Aesop's Fables: A Musical Circus. During high school, was involved with Central Touring Theatre and quit the baseball team in order to join an improv comedy group. Became friends with Nick Swardson and Charlie Sanders during high school and went on to work professionally with both of them. Moved to New York City in 1998 to pursue a career in comedy. Performed at the Aspen Comedy Festival and Just for Laughs. Has taught and performed at Upright Citizens Brigade since 1999.

Trivia: Minneapolis native Melissa Peterman studied theater at Minnesota State University before moving into the professional sphere, starring in over 600 performances of the Hey City Theater production of Tony n' Tina's Wedding. Her first film role came in 1996, when she was cast as Hooker #2 in the Cohen Brothers classic Fargo. Peterman went on to find her big break with a starring role on the sitcom Reba in 2001. She would also appear in several popular shows over the coming years, like American Dad! and Rita Rocks. In 2009, Peterman took on hosting duties on the reality series The Singing Bee.

Trivia: Won a slot in the Texas All-State choir as a teenager. Played Diana in a 2008 national tour of A Chorus Line. Made her Broadway debut in the ensemble and as an understudy in In the Heights in 2010. Appeared in the original 2014 Broadway production of If/Then, opposite Idina Menzel. Teaches master classes to Latino youth as a way to give back to the community.

Trivia: Jaleel White ascended to cult stardom during his early teenage years with a now-iconic portrayal of über-nerd Steve Urkel on the Friday-night ABC sitcom Family Matters (1989-1998). A veteran of television commercials and guest spots on various prime-time series from early childhood, White appeared as a regular on the short-lived CBS sitcom Charlie & Co. (1985-1986), starring Flip Wilson and Gladys Knight. The Urkel role, however, brought about his greatest popularity, and he landed it not long after the series first bowed in late September 1989 (appearing as early as the 12th episode). Though originally intended as a one-episode guest star, White generated massive popularity among audience members -- encouraging producers Tom Miller and Robert Boyett to rethink their strategy for the show. Urkel quickly became not only a fixture, but the program's lucky charm -- the wild card that turned it into a number one hit, much as the same producers had done with The Fonz, years prior, on Happy Days. Over the course of the program's run, White ascended to prominent billing (also mirroring the Fonzie situation). Unfortunately, as time passed, the Urkel characterization became increasingly difficult to sustain, thanks in no small part to White's accelerating age and height -- which dealt the series writers an incredibly difficult hand and forced them to figure out bizarre ways to work around this handicap (strategies included giving Urkel a "cool" alter-ego, Stefan, and affording that persona a great deal of screen time).The program wrapped in 1998, but in the meantime, White graduated from UCLA Film School, then moved into his heart's true calling -- that of screenwriting. He authored occasional teleplays for such venues as The Disney Channel and PBS, moved into big-screen work (with projects including a feature rewrite for director Joel Zwick), and continued to act on the side. Roles included lead billing in Damon Daniels' independent feature Who Made the Potatoe Salad? (2005) and a supporting contribution to the inspirational volleyball drama Green Flash (2008). He was in the low-budget Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus, and in 2011 he played a teacher in Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer. In 2012 the artist formerly known as Urkel competed on the 14th season of the popular ABC reality series Dancing With the Stars.

Trivia: Worked on the assembly line for General Motors while still in high school; she discovered she had a proficiency for electrical engineering and earned a scholarship to Prairie View A&M University in Texas. Worked as a stand-up comedian nights during college. Briefly worked as a full-time engineer for companies like Xerox before switching to comedy full-time. Was the runner-up in the 2003 season of Star Search. In 2009, was named one of the Top 10 Comics to Watch by Variety. Became a host of The Real talk show in 2013. Wrote Love Him Or Leave Him, but Don't Get Stuck With the Tab, a book about relationships in 2013.

Trivia: Began her career as a stand-up comedian in Dallas. First TV special was The Half Hour: Cristela Alonzo, which aired on Comedy Central in June 2013. Wrote and executive produced her semiautobiographical comedy series Cristela, which premiered on ABC in 2014. Cites Carol Burnett, Roseanne Barr and Kathleen Madigan as her biggest comedic influences.

Trivia: Comic Finesse Mitchell shot to fame in 2003 when selected by Lorne Michaels and others to perform sketches in the god's hall of comedians, Saturday Night Live. Mitchell received a promotion to regular SNL cast member within a remarkably short time -- two years, in fact -- an accomplishment that seemed to pave the way for certain movie stardom. He followed it up by headlining comedy concert films such as the 2006 Finesse Mitchell: Snap Famous -- Live and snagged roles in films such as the 2007 Big Boi-starrer Who's Your Caddy? and the 2008 Mad Money.

Trivia: Pitched for the Princeton baseball team. Left his residency in internal medicine at the University of Colorado to pursue a comedy career in Hollywood. In 2000, made his TV debut as an extra on an episode of The Drew Carey Show. Performed stand-up at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at age 32. Made his TV-hosting debut in 2004 on the reality game show Scream Play. Won the eighth season of The Celebrity Apprentice, raising nearly a million dollars for the Arthritis Foundation. Has performed for U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Croatia and South Korea.

Trivia: Something many fans of Greg Grunberg may have noticed is that the actor has appeared in a noticeably large number of projects by producer J.J. Abrams. This is because Grunberg and Abrams, in fact, grew up together and remained friends. His first big break came when his friend set to work on a one-hour dramedy called Felicity. Grunberg was cast in the role of Sean Blumberg -- a role he would continue to play for all of the show's four-year run. His next notable part came when he assumed the recurring role of Agent EricWeiss on the spy show Alias. He then popped up in the Abrams pilot for the series Lost, as the pilot of the crashed airplane, before joining the cast of the wildly popular sci-fi series Heroes as police officer Matt Parkman, whose superhuman power is that he is able to hear other people's thoughts.

Trivia: A comic actor who began his Hollywood career working behind the scenes, Orlando Jones is more than just the popular pitch man exhorting the 2000-2001 TV audience to "Make 7-Up Yours." Raised in South Carolina, Jones discovered acting when he was cast in a school play while attending the College of Charleston. Aiming to make it in show business one way or another, Jones also formed Homeboy's Productions and Advertising while in college. Jones got his break, however, when a Hollywood visitor in Charleston saw him perform and signed him up, leading to a writing job on the Cosby Show spin-off A Different World. Jones then wrote for the sitcom Roc in 1991 and became a producer on The Sinbad Show in 1993. Jones finally got to act as well as write when he was cast in Fox's sketch comedy show Mad TV in 1995. After two seasons, Jones left the series and moved to films with a small part in Seinfeld co-creator Larry David's first feature Sour Grapes (1998). Jones managed to work consistently in movies from then on, with bit parts in Mike Judge's comedy Office Space (1999) and Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia (1999), as well as a starring role in Barry Levinson's praised but little-seen nostalgia piece Liberty Heights (1999). In 2000, Jones made his mark in TV advertising as the humorously incompetent advocate for 7-Up, enhancing his potential as a comic draw. Jones' lead role as one of the hapless scabs in The Replacements (2000) and a multi-character turn in Harold Ramis' version of Bedazzled (2000) further revealed his goofy versatility. After his action-comedy vehicle Double Take was a January 2001 washout, Jones was poised to team with Ivan Reitman for the latter's summer 2001 sci-fi comedy Evolution.Still, Jones retired as 7-Up's pitch man in early 2002, and would spend the 2000's nurturing his film and TV career, appearing in Runaway Jury and Drumline, as well as TV shows, like The Adventures of Chico and Guapo and Rules of Engagement.

Trivia: Accomplished stage actress Kate Flannery graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia before diving headfirst into professional comedy. As a member of Second City's National Touring Company, Chicago's Annoyance Theater, and her own act, The Lampshades, Flannery has created over 15 shows. She's also starred in successful plays like Valley of the Dolls and The Phacts of Life. Flannery has appeared in numerous independent movies and on shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm, but she's most well known for playing the divorced, alcoholic, single mother Meredith on the hit NBC comedy series The Office.

Trivia: Played for back-to-back state championship basketball teams in high school before taking up football his senior year and compiling 11 sacks and 74 tackles. Named to the All-Mountain West team his senior year at San Diego State, where he wore No. 94, one higher than his older brother Kabeer (KGB) wore at the same school. Joined the group Athletes For Action while in college and became passionate about community involvement, particularly in arming young people with life skills and financial literacy. Played sparingly in the NFL (31 games, 27 with the Raiders), but was one of the first to enroll in the Broadcast Boot Camp in 2005. Broke into television in San Diego as a local football analyst before moving on to CBS Sports Network and The Mountain. Founded Rush The Passer, a year-round academic, athletic and life skills program for youth in Southern California.