K Callan ('64) has dueled with Archie Bunker and raised Superman. Callan, who first attended North Texas in the 1950s as Kay Borman and returned in the '60s to complete her degree in speech and drama, has established herself in a wide range of parts in four decades of acting.

Her breakthrough performance came in 1970 in the movie Joe with Peter Boyle. She got to shoot in Spain for A Touch of Class with Glenda Jackson and George Segal. On a groundbreaking episode of All in the Family, she played the lesbian partner of Edith Bunker's cousin Liz. She portrayed Ma Kent in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and she guest starred in countless episodes of ER, CSI, How I Met Your Mother, Nip/Tuck, Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns and Justified.

She's written several books including How to Sell Yourself as an Actor and Directing Your Directing Career about how to get work in the entertainment field. But her love for acting comes first.

"I decided I wanted to be an actress at about age 5," she says. "I'm sure if you had asked me, I would have said what most young people say: 'I just want to.' And it's a rocky road -- a terribly difficult, but very rewarding career."