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2002-03-11 Entry: "Recurring Actors"

Considering my viewing habits on television aren't all that diverse - I tend not to stray outside the sci-fi arena too much - it's surprising how many actors and actresses keep reappearing. Usually they appear in fairly minor roles playing similar characters over and over. You'd think they'd want to play something different, but perhaps they're just obviously typecast.

I've previously picked out Eric Close, for his luck at picking short lived shows (Now And Again, Dark Skies), but the past week or so has shown quite a few with smaller parts.

The first spot was Jeff Kober, who played Rack in Buffy episodes Smashed and Wrecked. He made a previous appearance in Buffy as a vampire in the season three episode Helpless. He also had a starring role in the short lived "Kindred: The Embraced" as Daedalus.

Second spot was Brian Thompson who plays the alien bounty hunter in the X-Files. He also made two appearances in Buffy (Luke in the pilot, and the Judge in the Season Two two parter Surprise / Innocence), and had a starring role in "Kindred: The Embraced" as Eddie Fiori.

Third spot was Mia Kirshner who appeared in the short lived Wolf Lake (that's just started being shown over here at a late hour on an unwatched station... if this was the treatment it got in the US, then there's no wonder it only lasted about 8 episodes). The other appearance was in "24" where I spotted her name in the cast at the start and then tried to spot her later in the episode - which I think I did, but wasn't sure about... she may have been the girl who blew up the plane, but I'm not sure...

Finally, after much pondering, I worked out the fourth. The guy who plays the Senator in 24 sounded horribly familiar in the first episode (and again in the second). It turned out it was Dennis Haysbert, who I was more familiar with as Doctor Theodore Morris in Now And Again. This threw me slightly as he didn't look at all similar.

I'm sure there are a lot more out there, but these four sort of leapt out at me over the past week. Is it typecasting, or is it that these sort of shows have more opportunities for guest appearances, so actors can move from one to the next (and even back again due to heavy makeup) fairly easily?