Zach Braff’s career has encompassed acting, writing, producing, and directing in and on films, television series, and stage productions.

He made his feature directorial debut with the comedy/drama Garden State, which he also wrote and starred in. The independently made and financed movie was filmed on location in his home state and world-premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Showcasing a cast that included Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard and Ian Holm, Garden State grossed over $35 million worldwide. The movie won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and was also nominated for Best First Screenplay. Mr. Braff was a Writers Guild of America Award nominee for Best Original Screenplay and received the Best Directorial Debut prize from the National Board of Review, which also honored the movie with a Special Recognition for Excellence in Filmmaking. Its breakout soundtrack, which he produced, sold more than 1,000,000 copies and earned Mr. Braff a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album. He also received the Hollywood Award for Breakthrough Directing, among other honors.

One of the New Jersey native’s most notable characters is that of Dr. John “J.D.” Dorian on the beloved television series Scrubs. During the half-hour comedy’s nine-year run, Mr. Braff received Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations for his portrayal. He directed several episodes of the program, including the 100^th episode, and was an executive producer during the final season. The show was twice Emmy Award-nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series and won three Humanitas Prizes. His other television work has included a recurring role on the classic series Arrested Development.

Prior to earning his film degree from Northwestern University, he made his feature acting debut in Woody Allen’s 1993 comedy Manhattan Murder Mystery, opposite the director and Diane Keaton as their characters’ son. Mr. Braff’s other movies as actor include Greg Berlanti’s ensemble comedy/drama The Broken Hearts Club; Tony Goldwyn’s The Last Kiss; Jesse Peretz’s The Ex; Deborah Chow’s The High Cost of Living; Lisanne and Tristine Skyler’s Joyce Carol Oates adaptation Getting to Know You, adapted from works by Joyce Carol Oates; and a dual role, on-screen and in voiceover, in Sam Raimi’s blockbuster Oz the Great and Powerful. He also voiced the lead role in the hit animated feature Chicken Little, directed by Mark Dindal.

Marking his Broadway debut, he is currently starring onstage in New York City in the 1920s-set musical comedy Bullets over Broadway, adapted by Woody Allen from the latter’s own hit movie and directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman.

The Broadway run follows Mr. Braff’s West End debut starring in his own original play, All New People. The latter was previously staged at the Second Stage Theatre in New York City in 2011, which followed his having starred at Second Stage in Paul Weitz’s drama Trust in 2010. His other theater credits include the Public Theater staging of Macbeth and its New York Shakespeare Festival production, at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre, of Twelfth Night. Following college, he had worked at the renowned Public.

Kate Hudson’s performance as “band aid” Penny Lane in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous brought her a Golden Globe Award as well as Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, among numerous other accolades.

She has completed production on Henrik Genz’s Good People, starring opposite James Franco; and is currently at work on Barry Levinson’s Rock the Kasbah, with Bruce Willis and Bill Murray. Among her recent movies have been Greg Mottola’s HBO telefilm Clear History, alongside Larry David and Jon Hamm; Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist; Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me, opposite Casey Affleck; and Luke Greenfield’s Something Borrowed.

For Rob Marshall’s all-star musical Nine, Ms. Hudson shared a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination with her fellow actors from the ensemble. She produced and starred in Gary Winick’s Bride Wars, opposite Anne Hathaway. Her other films include Donald Petrie’s How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Andy Tennant’s Fool’s Gold, the hit romantic comedies in which she starred alongside Matthew McConaughey; Anthony and Joe Russo’s You, Me and Dupree; Iain Softley’s The Skeleton Key; Shekhar Kapur’s The Four Feathers, with Heath Ledger and Wes Bentley; Risa Bramon Garcia’s 200 Cigarettes; Robert Altman’s Dr. T and the Women, with Richard Gere; and Raising Helen, directed by Garry Marshall. In 2013, she showcased her musical talents once again in a guest-starring role on the hit television series Glee.

In 2007, she made her directorial debut with Cutlass as part of Glamour’s “Reel Moments” series of short films. Ms. Hudson co-founded Fabletics, an affordable, innovative new line of activewear featuring forward-thinking design and cutting-edge fabrics and technologies. She has also partnered with her longtime friend Laurie Lynn Stark, co-owner of Chrome Hearts, to create CK+KH, a unique line of jewelry and accessories.

With his Broadway debut in 1979, Mandy Patinkin won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Che in Harold Prince’s staging of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s epic musical Evita, in which he starred alongside Patti LuPone. He was again a Tony nominee in 1984, for his starring role opposite Bernadette Peters as George in the groundbreaking and Pulitzer Prize-winning Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine musical Sunday in the Park with George; and in 2000, for George C. Wolfe and Michael John LaChiusa’s musical The Wild Party.

Among Mr. Patinkin’s numerous other stage credits over the years have been the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning drama The Shadow Box, in its original Broadway staging; Falsettos and The Secret Garden, both on Broadway; An Enemy of the People, at the Williamstown Theater Festival; and The Tempest, Hamlet, The Winter’s Tale, and Henry IV, Part I.

In 1989, he embarked on his concert career at Joseph Papp’s Public Theater. This coincided with the release of his first solo album, Mandy Patinkin. Since then, he has created multiple solo concerts, including Dress Casual, Mamaloshen, Celebrating Sondheim, and Let Go. The tours of these concerts have taken Mr. Patinkin through the United States, Canada, London, and Australia. His subsequent albums have included Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Dress Casual, Experiment, Oscar & Steve, Leonard Bernstein’s New York, Kidults, Mamaloshen, and Mandy Patinkin Sings Sondheim.

In October 2007, he debuted a duet concert with his dear friend Patti LuPone; they have since toured with An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin across the U.S., including a nine-week run on Broadway. His other notable collaborations and stagings have included An Evening with Mandy Patinkin & Nathan Gunn and The Last Two People on Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville, the latter pairing him with performance artist Taylor Mac, directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman. 

His portrayal of Saul Berenson on the Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning television series Homeland – which he reprises for the show’s fourth season airing in the fall of 2014 – has brought Mr. Patinkin Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations. He has also shared Screen Actors Guild Award nominations with his fellow actors from the ensemble, as he had with his colleagues from the television series Chicago Hope. His portrayal of Dr. Jeffrey Geiger on the latter show earned him an Emmy Award. He has also had starring roles on the series Dead Like Me and Criminal Minds.

Mr. Patinkin’s notable movies have included Rob Reiner’s classic The Princess Bride, in which he memorably portrayed Inigo Montoya; Barbra Streisand’s Yentl, for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination; Leon Ichaso’s Piñero, in which he portrayed Joseph Papp; John Sayles’ Men with Guns; Philip and Belinda Haas’ The Music of Chance, opposite James Spader; James Lapine’s Impromptu; Randa Haines’ The Doctor; Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy; Graham Baker’s Alien Nation, alongside James Caan; Peter Yates’ The House on Carroll Street; Sidney Lumet’s Daniel; and Milos Forman’s Ragtime.

Josh Gad’s most recent movie was the phenomenon Frozen, which won two Academy Awards and grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide. For his voice performance as the snowman Olaf in the animated musical, directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, Mr. Gad was honored with the Annie Award – the animation world’s Oscars equivalent – for Outstanding Achievement in Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production.

His breakout performance on Broadway in another musical phenomenon, the Tony Award-winning The Book of Mormon, earned him a Tony Award nomination. With his colleagues from the production, he shared a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. His portrayal of Elder Cunningham also brought him Drama League and Astaire Award nominations. Mr. Gad had earlier starred on Broadway in the award-winning musical The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama, he began his career in the theater. Among his stage credits are All in the Timing, at the Elephant Asylum, and Axis of E, at the York Theatre. At the University, he performed in The Skin of Our Teeth, among other shows.  He also co-founded the comedy troupe The Lost Nomads.

For television, he was executive producer, co-creator, and star of 1600 Penn; and was executive producer, co-writer, and star of Gigi: Almost American. He was a regular on the series Back to You and, in voiceover, Good Vibes. He has made guest appearances on such hit shows as Modern Family and New Girl. Mr. Gad next stars opposite Billy Crystal in The Comedians, a series which will air on the FX Network in 2015.

His other movies include Joshua Michael Stern’s Jobs, starring as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak opposite Ashton Kutcher; Stuart Blumberg’s Thanks for Sharing, alongside Alecia Moore (a.k.a. Pink), Mark Ruffalo, and Tim Robbins; Edward Zwick’s Love & Other Drugs, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway; Wayne Kramer’s Crossing Over, alongside Jim Sturgess; Shawn Levy’s The Internship; Peter Cattaneo’s The Rocker; Robert Luketic’s 21, for which he and his fellow actors from the ensemble shared the ShoWest Award for Best Ensemble; Jeremy Garelick’s soon-to-be-released The Wedding Ringer, in which Mr. Gad is teamed with Kevin Hart; and Chris Columbus’ upcoming Pixels, alongside Adam Sandler, Kevin James, and Peter Dinklage.

Joey King began her acting career at four years old, in a national commercial for Life cereal. But it was while making her first movie at age five, writer/director Camille Cellucci’s short film Grace, that she knew she had found her calling.

Since then, Ms. King has starred in a host of movies. She made a memorable and pivotal appearance in Christopher Nolan’s epic Batman trilogy capper The Dark Knight Rises. She brought to life on-screen Beverly Cleary’s irrepressible Ramona Quimby in Ramona and Beezus, starring opposite Selena Gomez for director Elizabeth Allen. She battled alongside Channing Tatum in Roland Emmerich’s White House Down.

Her other movies have included such hits as Glenn Ficarra and James Requa’s Crazy, Stupid, Love.; James Wan’s The Conjuring; Jonathan Liebesman’s Battle Los Angeles and, in a dual role, on-screen and in voiceover, Sam Raimi’s Oz the Great and Powerful.

Ms. King has lent her voice talents to several movies, including such animated blockbusters as Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino’s Horton Hears a Who! and Carlos Saldanha and Mike Thurmeier’s Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

Her television appearances include guest roles on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, New Girl, Medium, Ghost Whisperer, CSI, Jericho, and Entourage. She was a series regular on NBC’s Bent, opposite Amanda Peet and David Walton; and most recently starred on the acclaimed FX limited series Fargo, with Colin Hanks.

Ms. King has also performed in theater productions and improv stagings. She lives with her family, their dogs, and the potbelly pig that was gifted to her on-air by Jay Leno and which she named Jay Jay.

Pierce Gagnon made an unforgettable impression on movie audiences worldwide in Rian Johnson’s hit Looper, playing opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt. He is currently at work on another highly anticipated tale, Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland, starring George Clooney.

Among his other movies are Tristram Shapeero’s upcoming Merry Friggin’ Christmas, with Joel McHale, Lauren Graham, and Robin Williams; Breck Eisner’s The Crazies; and, in voiceover, Carlos Saldanha’s Rio 2.

Mr. Gagnon will be seen this summer on the event television series Extant, starring Halle Berry. Television viewers previously saw him in a recurring role on One Tree Hill. He will be nine years old this summer, and has been acting since he was four months old.

Donald Faison is well-known to audiences for his starring roles in popular television series and movies.

The Emmy Award-nominated television comedy series Scrubs ran for nine years, and his portrayal of Dr. Christopher Turk earned him six NAACP Image Award nominations and two BET Comedy Awards. He was again an NAACP Image Award nominee for his performance as Phil Chase on The Exes, which is currently in its fourth season; in 2012, Scrubs colleague Zach Braff reunited with Mr. Faison for an episode of The Exes.

Among his other notable television work is hosting the reality shows Who Gets the Last Laugh? and The Playbook; being a series regular on Felicity, opposite Keri Russell and Tangi Miller; and doing voiceover for such shows as Clone High, TRON: Uprising, and Robot Chicken. He also starred in the television series Clueless for its three-season run, reprising the role he had played in the hit movie of the same name that was directed by Amy Heckerling.

In addition to Clueless, Mr. Faison’s feature films include the blockbuster Jerry Bruckheimer production Remember the Titans, directed by Boaz Yakin, in which he starred alongside Denzel Washington; Uptown Girls, again directed by Boaz Yakin, with Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning; Forest Whitaker’s Waiting to Exhale; Sanaa Hamri’s Something New, also for Focus Features; Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan’s Can’t Hardly Wait and Josie and the Pussycats; Benny Boom’s Next Day Air, opposite Mos Def and Mike Epps; the Brothers Strause’s Skyline; Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-Ass 2; and, in his debut, Ernest Dickerson’s Juice. He will soon be seen starring in Let’s Kill Ward’s Wife, written and directed by his Felicity colleague Scott Foley.

The native New Yorker began his acting career at age five, while attending the Children’s School of Intuitive and God-Conscious Art; he went on to study theatre at the Professional Children’s School.

Ashley Greene is best known for her role as vampire Alice Cullen in Summit Entertainment/Lionsgate’s global phenomenon The Twilight Saga. The five films broke box office records worldwide, cementing the movies’ place in history as one of the most commercially successful franchises of all time.

The Jacksonville, Florida native will be seen next in Eddie O’Keefe’s Shangri-La Suite, playing Priscilla Presley; Rhys Thomas’ Staten Island Summer, produced by Lorne Michaels; and the Joe Dante-directed comedy Burying the Ex. Her past film credits include Randall Miller’s CBGB; Jim Field Smith’s Butter; Todd Lincoln’s The Apparition; and Anthony Burns’ Skateland.

Ms. Greene is currently the global ambassador of Oakley Women’s Eyewear. She was previously the face of brands including DKNY, DKNY Jeans, Avon’s Mark beauty and fashion brand, and SOBE Lifewater. She is active in the philanthropic initiative known as m.powerment, which raises awareness and funds to help break the cycle of dating abuse and partner violence affecting young women.

She was the recipient of the 2009 Teen Choice Award for Fresh Face (Female); and the 2010, 2011, and 2012 recipient of the Teen Choice Award for Scene Stealer (Female).

Jim Parsons has won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award, and received Screen Actors Guild Award and People’s Choice Award nominations, for his starring performance as Sheldon Cooper on one of television’s Top 10 series, The Big Bang Theory. The acclaimed show will be back for an eighth season in the fall of 2014.

Mr. Parsons received a Theatre World Award for his Broadway debut as Tommy Boatwright in Joel Grey and George C. Wolfe’s staging of Larry Kramer’s classic play The Normal Heart, starring opposite Ellen Barkin, John Benjamin Hickey, and Joe Mantello. The production won multiple Tony Awards, and with his fellow actors from the ensemble he shared the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. He re-created the role of Tommy for the HBO telefilm directed by Ryan Murphy from Mr. Kramer’s own screenplay adaptation, joining Mark Ruffalo, Julia Roberts, Matt Bomer, and Taylor Kitsch in the cast. The latter feature aired in May 2014.

He returned to Broadway to play Elwood P. Dowd in a revival of Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy Harvey, directed by Scott Ellis. Mr. Parsons has performed in many other stage productions, including The Castle, with the Manhattan Ensemble Theater; The Countess, at the Globe Theatre; and The Tempest and As You Like It, both for the Houston Shakespeare Festival. He earned a Masters in Fine Arts degree from the Old Globe Theatre/University of San Diego; and a BA from the University of Houston.

Mr. Parsons’ movies include James Bobin’s The Muppets, playing in the sequence showcasing the Academy Award-winning song “Man or Muppet;” Wish I Was Here director Zach Braff’s previous feature, Garden State; David Frankel’s The Big Year; Chris Terrio’s Heights; Todd Phillips’ School for Scoundrels; Kevin Connolly’s Gardener of Eden; and Danny Leiner’s The Great New Wonderful.

He will soon be heard as a lead voice in Tim Johnson’s animated fantasy adventure Home, opening nationwide in March 2015. Based on Adam Rex’s award-winning book The True Meaning of Smekday, the DreamWorks Animation feature also counts among its cast Rihanna and Steve Martin. He also recently completed production on Kevin Greutert’s thriller Visions, with Isla Fisher, Gillian Jacobs, and Eva Longoria.

Michael Weston first garnered audience and industry attention for his memorable appearances opposite Michael C. Hall on the acclaimed television series Six Feet Under; and continued to earn them with his recurring roles on House, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Scrubs.

His other television credits include guest shots on Burn Notice, Psych, ER, and The Office; and the miniseries Coma, directed by Mikael Salomon.

Mr. Weston was among the cast of Wish I Was Here director Zach Braff’s Garden State. He also starred alongside Mr. Braff in Tony Goldwyn’s The Last Kiss. His other movies include Kevin Macdonald’s State of Play; Jay Chandrasekhar’s The Dukes of Hazzard; Gregory Hoblit’s Hart’s War; Dermot Mulroney’s Love, Wedding, Marriage; Jessie McCormack’s Expecting, opposite Michelle Monaghan; James Roday’s Gravy, which was the opening night selection of the 2014 Friars Club Comedy Film Festival; and, starring alongside writer/director Ryan O’Nan, Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best.

On stage, he most recently starred opposite Aya Cash in Zoe Kazan’s Trudy and Max in Love, at South Coast Repertory, under the direction of Lila Neugebauer; and Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities, at the Mark Taper Forum, directed by Robert Egan.