Mental Floss

CELEBRITIES

RuPaul hosts RuPaul's Drag Race.

From its humble beginnings on Logo TV to its current status as an awards show darling (19 Emmys and counting), 'RuPaul's Drag Race' has been on our TV screens for over a decade now.

Meg Fozzard


(L to R) Law & Order stars Jerry Orbach, Angie Harmon, Sam Waterston, and Jesse L. Martin pictured in 1999.

Though NBC called it quits on 'Law & Order' in 2010, after 20 seasons and more than 450 episodes, the series lives on in reruns and spinoffs. In fact, it's probably playing somewhere on TV right now.

Randee Dawn






Rami Malek once handed out his headshot as part of takeout orders.

Actor Rami Malek has earned acclaim for his roles in 'Mr. Robot' and 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' But his first credited work was something he had to pay a fee to get.

Jake Rossen
Franz Drameh, Alex Esmail, Leeon Jones, and John Boyega in Joe Cornish's Attack the Block (2011).

When 'Attack the Block' arrived in theaters in 2011, it recouped just half of its $11 million budget. The critics, however, were positive in their reviews, and the film became a cult classic.

Tony Dunnell








The Backstreet Boys—Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, and Kevin Richardson—photographed in 1995.

Although they’ve never been taken too seriously, boy bands have been a force ever since The Beatles took the stage on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' and the world witnessed female "hysteria" at its best.

Erika Wolf
APIC/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The real life of Lana Turner, the ice-blonde goddess of the silver screen, was as dramatic and tragic as that of any of the heroines she ever played onscreen.

Rebecca Pahle


Stanley Tucci feels right at home being photographed at Rome's Hotel Eden.

Stanley Tucci is truly a renaissance man. He’s an actor, a writer, a director, a producer, a cookbook author, a viral cocktail connoisseur, and now, the host of his very own food show—'Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy.'

Olivia Truffaut-Wong






Amy Winehouse performs at Lollapalooza on August 5, 2007 in Chicago, Illinois.

Contemporary music has become a constantly expanding repository of classics whose origins sprung up from their most painful and profound experiences, the relationships that dominated portions of the artists’ lives, or just chance encounters that lodged in

Todd Gilchrist
Mariska Hargitay and Joe Biden in a 2016 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

'Law & Order: SVU' is known for its shocking twists, but in 2016 the show featured a surprise of a different variety: A cameo appearance from then-VP Joe Biden.

Rebecca OConnell
Patricia Highsmith poses at home in Locarno, Switzerland in 1987.

Celebrated author Patricia Highsmith, who was known for her psychological thrillers, believed that life "didn’t make sense without crime in it."

Carla Delgado