Keith David (IMDB credits: 180 credits, The Thing, Platoon, They Live, Gargoyles, Princess Mononoke, There's Something About Mary, Pitch Black, Requiem for a Dream, Coraline)
Keith David is an actor known just as well for both his on screen performances as well as voice over work. When I see his face I immediately think of Childs in John Carpenter's The Thing. When I hear his voice I think of Goliath from Disney's Gargoyles, one of the best children's animated shows from the 1990s. David was born in Harlem, New York in 1956 and first found himself moving towards acting as a career when playing the Cowardly Lion for a school production of The Wizard of Oz. He entered into New York's High School for the Performing Arts and attended Julliard afterwards. You can definitely hear the classical Shakespearean training in his voice, particularly as the Celtic Goliath. David has become a frequent collaborator with John Carpenter and provided the voice-overs for three Ken Burns documentaries ("The War", "Unforgivable Blackness", "Jazz") and won Emmys for the first two. He is one of those actors more and more directors are using and his IMDB boasts 12 projects in various stages of production.
Paul Dooley (IMDB credits: 160 credits, Slap Shot, Popeye, Strange Brew, Sixteen Candles, Waiting For Guffman, Insomnia, A Mighty Wind, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Cars, Hairspray)
Dooley is one of those people that has always had a creative mind and was bound to be involved in entertainment and the arts somehow. Born in Virginia in the 1920s, Dooley was very into cartooning and even drew a regular strip that was part of the local newspaper. He joined up with the Navy, but after getting out and enrolling in West Virginia University he discovered theater. Comedy was his strength, so he moved to New York and did stand up for five years, and then worked as a stage magician and clown. Dooley was discovered by Mike Nichols and cast in the original stage production of The Odd Couple. In the 1970s he helped co-create The Electric Company for PBS and worked as one of its writers for its initial run. Around this time he also got involved with Robert Altman's films, playing key roles in A Wedding and Popeye. In the 1990s, Dooley got involved in the Christopher Guest movies, as well as becoming a regular in shows like My So Called Life and The Practice.
Grace Zabriskie (IMDB credits: 134 credits, Norma Rae, An Officer and a Gentleman, Drugstore Cowboy, Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart, Fried Green Tomatoes, Ferngully, Seinfeld, The Grudge)
Grace Zabriskie was born in New Orleans and grew up amongst some interesting guests of her father's cafe and various business in the city. She claims that they were visited by Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, and Truman Capote at various times. As a young adult, she wrote poetry and would perform it in coffeehouses in New Orleans as well as Atlanta. It was also during this time she became a very accomplished silkscreener, and she has been recognized for her very artistic lamps, which she says is an attempt to sculpt using light. Zabriskie is best known for her role as Sarah Palmer on David Lynch's brilliant Twin Peaks. While her character faded from episodes after the middle of the second season, she remains one of the most iconic figures in the series. Since then Zabriskie has had a recurring role on Seinfeld as well as continued to work with David Lynch, one of the few directors she says she continues to enjoy working with.
Harry Dean Stanton (IMDB credits: 173 credits, Cool Hand Luke, Alien, Escape From New York, Repo Man, Paris Texas, The Last Temptation of Christ, Wild at Heart)
Harry Dean Stanton was born to a Kentucky tobacco farmer, got a degree in journalism and radio arts, and starred in at least one episode of pretty much every Western television series from the 1950 through 60s. Stanton has the perfect face for the weather beaten soul that has seen too much in lifetime. It's helped him convey a lot of unspoken emotion, particularly in his best film Wim Wender's Paris, Texas. Stanton got a start in low budget films of the late 1960s like Two-Lane Blacktop, but went on to befriending up and coming directors like Sam Peckinpah, David Lynch, and Franics Ford Coppola. Stanton has become a favorite of critic Roger Ebert who says any movie starring Stanton can't be bad. Outside of film, he has toured bars and clubs playing covers of classic country on his guitar, a true modern cowboy.
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