Saturday, February 3, 2007

The Next 'It' Girl?

I tend to stay up way past my bed time on Tuesday nights. Tuesday is choir practice, so I get my husband to tape my shows for me (hello, my name is Jennifer and I'm a TV addict). Happily we have two VCRs, so I get to come home and watch both 'Intelligence' and 'House'.

Last Tuesday's episode of 'House' was astonishing. The story and the writing were top notch, to be sure, but what really caught my attention was the girl who played 'Eve'.

Meet Katheryn Winnick.

Now, keep in mind that I have a plain girl's aversion to pretty girls. It's a form of bigotry I don't endorse, but I must admit to a tendency to assume that if a woman is classically beautiful then she probably isn't smart, funny or talented until she proves otherwise.

Katheryn Winnick may be beautiful, but I hardly noticed. I was too mesmerized by her performance. Mind you, this was a spectacular, scene-chewing role she was handed, but I suspect that not many actresses could have pulled it off without going over the top into melodrama.

The last time I reacted to an actress like this was the first time I saw Claire Danes in 'My So-Called Life'. Remember that? Remember how fresh and open and genuine she was? Remember thinking that this actress was somehow different and wonderful and going places? That's what this was like.

Sadly, Claire Danes' career never really lived up to that initial flash of potential. In fact, she's way up on my list of the 'Top 10 People Who Should Fire Their Agent' along with Vin Diesel and Christian Slater. Hopefully Winnick has a better agent, because I would really like to see her in more than a single TV episode. It looks like she's got fairly significant roles in a costume drama and a psychological thriller coming up, so this gives me hope.

Oh, and as an added bonus... she's Canadian!

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