Anthony Marcus Shalhoub must have learnt something about acting from his brother, actor Michael Shalhoub. Even if he hasn't, however, he has long done a fine job of proving his own talent.

Shalhoub's family left Lebanon to escape religious persecution, and he was born in Wisconsin in 1953. He went on to attend Yale University and, after deciding to get into cinema, managed to work with big names such as the Coen Brothers, in films like Barton Fink and The Man Who Wasn't There.

This isn't his first brush with success either. In 1992, he was nominated for a Best Actor Tony Award, for Herb Gardner's Conversations With My Father. And if you haven't caught him as eccentric detective Monk yet, you don't know what you're missing.