Edward Norton (shown here with co-star Gugu Mbatha-Raw) describes his Motherless Brooklyn character as a sad and lonely "street kid." Glen Wilson/Warner Bros. Pictures hide caption

"The way the public feels about Tom Hanks has a similar quality to how we feel about Mister Rogers," says director Marielle Heller. But she found that Hanks and Rogers had a very different energy. At the beginning, she tried to "rein Tom's natural buoyancy back and settle him into a kind of zenlike state." Lacey Terrell/Sony Pictures hide caption

In the late 2000s, Robert Pattinson began playing vampire Edward Cullen in the film adaptations of the Twilight novels. "It was so sudden, it didn't feel real to me at all," he says of the fame. Fadel Senna /AFP via Getty Images hide caption

"I will be a storyteller 'till the day I die," Reese Witherspoon says. "It's really what I was born to do." Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Turner Image hide caption

Filmmaker Judd Apatow describes his mentor, the comedian Garry Shandling (above), as a perfectionist: "He just could not just be chill and make it easy on himself. He wanted everything to be amazing." Bonnie Schiffman/HBO hide caption

Saeed Jones has served as BuzzFeed's LGBT editor and culture editor, and is the author of Prelude to Bruise. Courtesy of Saeed Jones hide caption

Allison Moorer's music has been nominated for an Oscar, a Grammy and an Academy of Country Music Award. Heidi Ross/Da Capo Press hide caption