Eric McCormack

Biography: Back when this Canadian-born performer was honing his acting skills in Shakespearean theater roles, he couldn't have imagined the groundbreaking sitcom character that would make him a star and earn him an Emmy. A versatile performer, McCormack alternated between stage and screen, playing serious, comic and even musical parts. But after a decade of toiling in relative obscurity, he burst into the limelight as a neurotic gay lawyer on Will & Grace. Although McCormack is straight in real life, he helped push open the closet door for actors to play all sexual orientations. In 2001, he fulfilled a lifelong dream and made his Broadway debut in a revival of The Music Man. In 2003, he made his writing/directing debut with the film short Pirates, and has since started his own production company and starred in the TNT drama Trust Me, which only lasted one season. His proudest accomplishment, though, is his son Finnegan, who was born in 2002.