Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five

Jack Black (Actor) .. Po

Born: August 28, 1969 in Hermosa Beach, California

Best Known For: The School of Rock.

Early-life: Born Thomas Jacob Black on August 28, 1969, in Santa Monica, California. He's the only child of divorced satellite engineer parents and he has five half-siblings. At school he was the class clown. He became interested in music thanks to his mother's journalist lodger and his older half-brother, who was a music engineer. He made his acting debut in The Wizard of Oz at school; his professional debut came in a TV advert for a computer game at age 13. Following a difficult period during his teens he studied theatre at UCLA.

Career: Black left university early to join Tim Robbins' Actors' Gang theatre group, where he met his musical partner Kyle Gass. Black's first film was Robbins' Bob Roberts in 1992. He then moved into TV, making numerous appearances in such shows as The Golden Palace, The X-Files and Touched By An Angel. Other early films include Waterworld, Dead Man Walking and Mars Attacks! His breakthrough role was in 2000's High Fidelity. He's also starred in Shallow Hal, Orange County, School of Rock, Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong and The Muppets. Lending his vocal talents to the animated Kung-Fu Panda movies cemented his star status.

Quote: "You must never underestimate the power of the eyebrow."

Trivia: He is a member of comedy rock duo Tenacious D with Kyle Glass.

Dustin Hoffman (Actor) .. Shifu

Born: August 08, 1937 in Los Angeles

Best Known For: Tackling difficult roles.

Early-life: Dustin Lee Hoffman was born in Los Angeles on August 8, 1937, the son of a furniture salesman and an amateur actress. He was named after silent-movie star Dustin Farnham and has an older brother, Ronald. He trained to be a doctor and a pianist, but preferred studying acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. He and classmate Gene Hackman were voted least likely to succeed. He shared an apartment with Hackman and later with Robert Duvall, and studied at the famous Actors Studio in New York.

Career: Hoffman spent 10 years trying to get decent roles, making ends meet by teaching and appearing in commercials and TV series. In 1967 he landed the lead role in The Graduate which made him a star and secured his first Oscar nomination. He gained further nods from the Academy for Midnight Cowboy, Lenny, Tootsie and Wag the Dog, and has won twice for Kramer vs Kramer and Rain Man. Other notable films include Straw Dogs, Little Big Man, Sleepers, Runaway Jury, Finding Neverland, I Heart Huckabees, Meet the Fockers and Stranger Than Fiction. More recent projects include Last Chance Harvey, Little Fockers, the short-lived TV series Luck and Esio Trot. He also directed the BBC-backed film Quartet.

Quote: "I don't like the fact that I have to get older so fast, but I like the fact that I'm ageing so well."

Trivia: Hoffman is a huge fan of the Archie series of comics, and owns a copy of every issue ever published.

Will Shadley (Actor) .. Nerdy Bunny

Eamon Pirruccello (Actor) .. Impatient Bunny

Grace Rolek (Actor) .. Shy Bunny

Max Koch (Actor) .. Young Mantis

Tom Owens (Actor) .. Ladybug

Carol Kane (Actor) .. Sheep

John DiMaggio (Actor) .. Gorilla/Crocodile

David Cross (Actor) .. Crane

Stephanie Lemelin (Actor) .. Mei Ling

Raman Hui (Director)

5:00 pm - 5:25 pm, Wednesday, December 31 on CBBC (201)

About this Broadcast

Cast & Crew

More Information

Did You Know..

Before / After