Christine Baranski

Character: Diane Lockart

The two-time Tony, Emmy, Screen Actors Guild and American Comedy Award-winner’s feature film credits include Mama Mia, Chicago, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Bowfinger, Bulworth, Cruel Intentions, Jeffrey, Reversal of Fortune, Legal Eagles, Welcome to Mooseport, The Ref, Lovesick, Addams Family Values, Life With Mikey, 9 ½ Weeks and The Birdcage, for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award.

After graduating from Julliard she began earning roles in regional productions and off-Broadway. She received her big break being cast in Tom Stoppard's hit Broadway comedy The Real Thing, directed by Mike Nicols and starring Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons. Within the same year, she was married, gave birth to her first child and won a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award.

Baranski went on to earn a second Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for her performance in Neil Simon's Rumors, and a Drama Desk Award for Lips Together Teeth Apart.

In addition to the Emmy for the television comedy CYBILL, on CBS, Baranski received an American Comedy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy. She also received four additional Emmy nominations, one of which was for guest starring in Frasier, and three Golden Globe nominations. Her television film credits include Eloise at the Plaza, Eloise at Christmastime and Recipe for a Perfect Christmas.

A native of Buffalo, Baranski now lives with her husband and two children in Connecticut. Her birth date is May 2.

Josh Charles

Character: Will Gardner

A veteran of television, film and theater, Josh Charles most recently co-starred in season one of HBO's lauded In Treatment as Jake, the emotionally-explosive husband struggling to save his marriage. His other television credits include two seasons on Aaron Sorkins’ critically-acclaimed, Emmy® Award-winning series Sports Night, for which the cast earned a Screen Actors Guild nomination. He also portrayed civil rights martyr Andrew Goodman in Murder in Mississippi and NPR producer Dave Isay in the Showtime drama, Our America.

Charles made his feature film debut in John Waters’ original film, Hairspray, and followed that up with breakthrough performance as Knox Overstreet in the iconic, Academy Award®-winning movie Dead Poets Society. His additional film credits include Crossing The Bridge, Threesome, Pie In The Sky, Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead, S.W.A.T., Seeing Other People, and Four Brothers.

This fall, Charles can be seen in the ensemble of John Krasinski’s directorial debut, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.

On stage this summer, Charles co-starred opposite Judith Ivey in the Long Wharf Theater production of The Glass Menagerie. Additional theater credits include the U.S. premiere of Neil LaBute’s The Distance From Here, which received a Drama Desk Award for Best Ensemble Cast, the world premiere of Richard Greenberg’s The Well-Appointed Room for the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and Caryl Churchill's A Number for director Anna D. Shapiro at ACT in San Francisco. In 2007, he appeared in the world premiere of Adam Bock's The Receptionist for director Joe Mantello at the Manhattan Theatre Club.

An avid sports fan, Charles can't stop rooting for anything with the word Baltimore in front of it, especially the Ravens and Orioles. Born and raised in Baltimore, Charles currently lives in New York. His birth date is September 15.

Matt Czuchry

Matt Czuchry is perhaps best known for his role as Logan in Gilmore Girls. His additional television credits include Friday Night Lights, Veronica Mars, 7TH HEAVEN, The Practice and Young Americans.

Czuchry attended the College of Charleston in South Carolina, where he graduated with honors and was the captain of the tennis team.

In his free time, he loves to play basketball. Raised in Kingsport, Tenn., Matt divides his time between Southern California and New York City. His birth date is May 20.

Julianna Margulies

Character: Alicia Florrick

As an Emmy and Screen Actors Guild award winner, and Golden Globe nominee, Julianna Margulies has achieved success in television, theater and film.

Julianna Margulies' television credits include The Sopranos, The Grid, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination, and the mini-series The Mists of Avalon. She also starred as one of the original members of ER, for which she received both an Emmy Award and SAG Award as nurse Carole Hathaway.

Margulies' feature film credits include Snakes on a Plane, The Darwin Awards, Slingshot, Ghost Ship, Evelyn, What's Cooking, The Newton Boys and The Man From Elysian Fields.

On stage, Margulies made her Broadway debut in 2006 starring in Festen. Margulies completed a successful run in Jon Robin Baitz's Ten Unknowns at Lincoln Center opposite Donald Sutherland for which she won the Lucille Lortel Award.

Margulies was born in New York, where she currently resides.

Chris Noth

Character: Peter Florrick

Chris Noth is best-known for his roles as Det. Mike Logan on both Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, as well as for his role as Carrie Bradshaw's enigmatic on-again/off-again boyfriend Mr. Big on SEX AND THE CITY. He played the role for six seasons and received a Golden Globe nomination and a Golden Satellite Award nomination for his performance. Noth reprised his role as Mr. Big in the recent Sex and the City movie.

His film credits include The Perfect Man, Robert Zemeckis' film Cast Away, Double Whammy, Searching for Paradise, Texas Funeral, Getting to Know You, The Broken Giant, Cold Around the Heart, Naked in New York, The Confession.

Noth recently starred in and executive-produced the original television movie BAD APPLE. He also starred as Roman general Pompey in the epic miniseries Caesar, opposite Christopher Walken and the late Richard Harris, and has appeared in the telefilms Exiled, Rough Riders, and Abducted: A Father's Love.

Noth's stage credits include a successful Broadway run of Gore Vidal's The Best Man and Christopher Shinn's What Didn't Happen at Playwright's Horizons. He has also performed at the American Shakespeare Festival in Connecticut where he performed the role of Hamlet directed by Zoe Caldwell and was also featured in the Yale Repertory world premiere production of Wole Soyinka's Play of Giants. Noth has been involved with New York’s Manhattan Club, Circle Rep, La Mama and the Roundabout Theater, the Seattle Repertory Theater and the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

Noth, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, resides in Manhattan.

Alan Cumming

Character: Eli Gold

Actor Alan Cumming has recently completed filming the mini-series The Runaway and was just nominated for an Emmy for his guest starring appearance on the first season of the hit CBS drama of The Good Wife playing Eli Gold. He will join the cast as a series regular for the second season.

He made his feature film debut opposite Bruno Ganz and Sandrine Bonnaire in Ian Sellar’s Prague, which premiered at Cannes in 1992 and for which he won the Best Actor award at the Atlantic Film festival and a Scottish BAFTA award nomination. His introduction to American audiences came with Circle of Friends, followed shortly by Goldeneye and Emma. His first movie shot in Hollywood was Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (for which he received an MTV Movie Award nomination), and since the he has alternated between blockbusters such as X2:X Men United, the Spy Kids Trilogy, and smaller independent films like Urbania, Titus (opposite Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange) and Sweet Land (for which he received an Independent Spirit award as producer). With Jennifer Jason Leigh he wrote, produced, directed and acted in The Anniversary Party, which won them a National Board of Review award and two Independent Spirit nominations. Most recently he was seen in the independent films Dare and Boogie Woogie.

In 1998, Cabaret opened on Broadway and Alan was instantly embraced by New York City, and heralded for his stunning performance as the EmCee. He won The Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics’ Circle, Theatre World, New York Press, FANY and New York Public Advocate’s awards for his work, but for him the biggest prize was finding his new home.

He has continued to work on Broadway in The Threepenny Opera opposite Cyndi Lauper, Design For Living and off -Broadway in Jean Genet’s Elle (which he also adapted) and The Seagull, opposite Dianne Wiest. He returned to the British stage in 2006 in Martin Sherman’s Bent, and most recently appeared in the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Euripides’ The Bacchae, which opened the Edinburgh International Festival and toured Scotland, transferred to London and then to the Lincoln Center Festival in NYC. Alan won the Herald Arcangel award for his performance as Dionysus.

On American television he appeared in Sex and the City, Frasier, Third Rock From The Sun, The L Word, the TV movies Annie, The Goodbye Girl and Reefer Madness and the Sci-Fi Channel’s record-breaking Tin Man. He is also the host of PBS’ Masterpiece Mystery. In Britain he wrote and starred in the cult sitcom The High Life as well as many other films for the BBC including Bernard and the Genie for which he won a British Comedy award.

Archie Panjabi

Character: Kalinda Sharma

Archie Panjabi made her film debut in the British hit East Is East. Her additional feature film credits include Traitor, Bend It Like Beckham, The Constant Gardener, A Mighty Heart, and the title role in Yasmin, for which she earned the Best Actress award at the Reims Festival and the Shooting Star Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. She will next be seen in the upcoming film House Husbands, with John Hannah.

Punjabi has a natural ear for accents, a talent frequently utilized in her film and television roles. She has played everything from Scottish to Indian to American.

Born in England, Punjabi spent part of her childhood in Mumbai (Bombay), and considers herself “part Bombayite, part British.” She graduated from Brunel University, England, with a degree in Management Studies. She currently resides in London. Her birth date is May 31.