I Know I Know Who That Actor Is – So Who Is He?

I was watching a movie the other night on TV when I saw a character in it that looked familiar but I couldn't remember where I had seen her before. Don't you just hate that? I suppose you'll understand my confusion better if you knew what I was watching, except, this is so embarrassing. Please understand that there was nothing on TV and it simply came on after what I had been previously watching. So that's my excuse for the fact that I was actually watching Dodgeball: A True Story. Although I suppose it is even worse to admit that I watched the whole thing and even thought it had its funny moments….

Anyway, there was this cute young high school cheerleader in the movie. I knew that I knew her but darned if I knew from where. The fact that she had her hair in a pony tail and was wearing a cheerleader uniform most of the time probably made it difficult to figure out where I had seen her before. But thank God for one of my most favorite websites on the whole internet.

WWW.IMDB.com - The International Movie Database. If you aren't familiar with this website you should immediately make it one of your Favorites. In the old days we would see a familiar face in a movie and spend the rest of the evening trying to remember just who the hell he is. And how many times have you then woken in the middle of the night thinking "that is where I saw him before"! No more. Now I can go to this website and type in the movie. And if I see a character on Law and Order who looks familiar, I use the Guide or Info button on my remote which will let me know the Episode name of the show and I type that in. A few seconds later, there it is; a brief synopsis of the movie or episode of the TV show followed by a listing of every character in it and who played them, complete with pictures. OK, I sound like some commercial but it really is a terrific website.

Anyway, after typing in Dodgeball, the website brought up the movie. Browsing through the list of characters I found the cheerleader but did not recognize the actress's name; Julie Gonzalo. And here is the magic of IMDB. I clicked on her real name and it took me to another page dedicated to this actress. This page included recent pictures, a brief bio and even their filmography.

The minute I saw Julie Gonzalo's current picture it clicked - she plays the cute young lawyer, Maggie, on Eli Stone. If it wasn't for this website, I seriously doubt if I would have ever figured that one out. Julie also turned out to have an interesting bio. She was born in Argentina and is only 27 yet has a very impressive resume and a long filmography. Before Eli Stone she had an on-going role in Veronica Mars, which I never saw, but it was supposed to be good. Overall she has been steadily acting since 2001 including producing two short films. Oops, too much info, right? Sorry, but it's hard not to get carried away with the site!

Unfortunately Julie will soon be out of work. While looking at her page, I read that ABC has canceled Eli Stone. Drat. I really like that show. Now considering I started off by saying I actually watched and enjoyed Dodgeball I can understand why my opinion might be questionable. But it really was an interesting show with characters you enjoyed (Eli Stone, not Dodgeball). Yes it was quirky with occasional singing but it also made you think and the end of each show gave you hope. But I guess people didn't want that as the show is being cancelled due to low ratings.

Sorry. I have got way off the topic, not that there was much of a topic to this. I just wanted to share with everyone my secret weapon to figuring out the answer to that irritating question "just who the hell is that actor?" So the next time your watching TV and the name of that actor is right on the tip of your tongue but you just can't get it out, well, stop your suffering. Go to this wonderful website, www.IMDB.com, and it will immediately end your frustrations. But I should warn you…. You might start by going to this site, looking up your show, finding the actor and then maybe click on that other show the actor was in and on and on until you become so absorbed in the website that you completely forget about the show you were supposed to be watching! So you may end up knowing who that actor was but miss the scene where they announced who the killer was! Oh well, you can always hit that reverse button on your Tvo!  My, on my, how did we ever manage to exist without all these cool websites and technology?

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