>
Mel Gorham
This pretty, dark-haired fiery actress labored for years in small roles before getting her due as a Latina spitfire in Wayne Wang's "Smoke" (1995). As she has described it, Gorham had an "I Love Lucy" childhood with a Cuban-born mother and Jewish-American father. Twice-divorced by her early 20s, she left her native Florida and headed for New York, where she appeared in more than 30 shows, mostly off-Broadway and storefront productions. Gorham appeared on the TV shows "The Equalizer" (CBS, 1989) and "Law & Order" (NBC, 1991), but mostly concentrated on film and theater work.