The 19-year-old actress with screen credits in The 40 Year Old Virgin, Raise Your Voice, Big Momma's House 2, Sex and the City, ER, CSI: as well as a lead in Raising Dad, is huddled near another woman on a couch, enjoying conversation and warmth. "Hi, I'm Kat," she says extending her hand for a firm shake. The other woman is Kat's mother, Ellie. I tell them I am here to do the interview, and at Kat's insistence, Ellie walks to a far corner of the building and Kat and I engage in conversation, something that seems to come easily for her.

Pristine white sand covers miles of camera cord, lighting equipment overheats in the tropical sun, and the cast of Lost portrays marooned survivors just feet away from their flossy oceanfront villas in Oahu.

Here, the camera's eye captures what it wants; a deserted island with mystical powers, stranded castaways fighting to get home, and a plot so complicated it twists and turns like a roller coaster. But beyond the camera lens and director's chair lies a different story.

Okay, so I admit it; I was a little afraid of meeting Criss Angel. All right, very afraid. After all, he's no David Copperfield. With Copperfield, I've always felt you knew what you were getting: a talented magician. Angel appears much darker as he's built his career out of pushing the limits of reality and illusion with an in-your-face kind of magic the world has never before seen. And quite frankly, it actually creeped me out. As I meet Criss, I'm wondering if I'm in too deep.

It's a long way from the pounding surf of Bonzai Beach in Australia to the dank and depressing surroundings of Joliet Correctional Center outside of Chicago. By most measures, that would be considered a really bad detour in life. But in the case of Dominic Purcell, it is merely one more step along his walk of fame.

You know this face, but for the record, the name is Danny Trejo. You've probably seen him as the bad guy (or apparent bad guy) in one of the more than 100 films he's been in over the last three decades. And while you might think that he really is a badass, well, you're right. Sort of.

The first time that Pauley Perrette excused herself from the room during our interview, she said, "The best thing to do is sit her on my chair. As long as you don’t stand up while I am gone, you’ll be fine." She was talking about her Chihuahua, Cece. I had been warned. When we were arranging a time and place to talk, she told me that she would be bringing her two dogs along. "One of them bites," she said. "I just wanted to let you know."

If contradiction was measured in carats, Rob Dyrdek and Christopher "Big Black" Boykin would be the Hope Diamond. Consider the stats:

TURF: Dyrdek, from Ohio, is true Yankee, northern, corn-fed stock. Boykin is as Southern Mississippi syrupy as can be.

SIZE: Dyrdek stands (on his tiptoes) at 5'7" and might hit 135 pounds after being chucked into a pool. The latest mathematical projections have Boykin somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 pounds and 6'enormous.”

When I blabbed to everyone I knew that I was going to interview Dwight, nobody asked “Dwight who?” Instead, they offered advice. “Hey, start off with the word Question” (the preface used by Dwight on the hit TV show The Office whenever he is about to ask something he considers important). While I didn’t take their advice I did realize that Rainn Wilson—or more accurately, Dwight K. Schrute—has achieved single-name status, in my circle at least, offering hope to less famous nerds living in quiet desperation.

Billy Bob Thornton has a child's heart, a truck-driver's mouth and a William Faulkner brain. His pal Robert Duval has dubbed him the hillbilly Orson Wells, but he could have just as easily called him the Socrates of the South. He is far more philosophical and complex than he lets on. That famous, which smile burns about as hot and long as a flashcube, does not appear to come from happiness. Still, it seems authentic enough—maybe something he learned as a kid to get out of washing the dishes.