How people get their kick-starts in their careers is always baffling. In the case of Australian performer Teresa Palmer, it’s actually pretty interesting. Growing up in Adelaide Australia, Palmer dabbled in and out of the entertainment biz when she was a young teenager. She was seen in a few Aussie commercials and took acting classes here and there; but before her big break, Palmer had her eyes set on helping animals (isn’t that sweet….) and had plans to run a shelter. Amidst all of the plans to save the little furry ones, Palmer also needed to make some cash to survive and what better way to do so than to work in the mall?

Teresa Palmer worked in an Aussie t-shirt store called Cotton On when she was “discovered.” With one foot still remaining in the entertainment industry, Palmer’s headshot was floating around when young Indian director Murali Krishna Thalluri caught wind. Thalluri’s student film 2:37 needed a female lead and it seems as though he found one in Palmer. The indie flick about a teenage girl contemplating suicide after being impregnated by her brother (um…. strange) did extremely well in the festival circuit garnering a standing ovation at the 2006 Cannes Festival.

Palmer met her manager at Cannes and the rest is a Hollywood story…. Sort of. Teresa Palmer’s Hollywood career got off to a rocky start. She was cast to play the female lead in the original script for Jumper, but after the story changed to involve older characters, her part was given to Rachel Bilson. But that was just speed bump number one. Her next big break came a few years later when she was officially cast to play Talia al Ghul in the Justice League movie alongside Adam Brody and Anton Yelchin. Then the writers strike came and bulldozed any chance of the film being made.

But Palmer remained resilient and after a few noticeable roles in The Grudge 2 opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar and December Boys opposite Harry Potter‘s Daniel Radcliffe she was picked by Adam Sandler to play an important role in his movie Bedtime Stories. Believe it or not, since Bedtime Stories, Palmer’s career is finally hitting high gear. She played Becky Barnes in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice alongside Jay Baruchel and Nick Cage and will be seen in the upcoming Take Me Home Tonight and I Am Number 4.

So after a few bumps along the way it looks as though Teresa Palmer has arrived, and in a big way. Look for her in the upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road if it is ever completed and as Number 6 in the I Am Number 4 franchise if it does well in theatres next year.

Morning all,

Happy Friday and welcome to another installment of Almost Famous. To be fair, this actress is quite well known for her work, but over the next couple of years you’ll be hearing a lot from her so here’s an opportunity to get up to date on one of the next big things. This week we’ll be taking a look at Abigail Spencer. Who? Well, I’m glad you asked.

The middle of three siblings, Abigail Spencer was born and raised in Florida where she spent most of her youth. It wasn’t long before she caught the performance bug and made her way to the television screen in a pretty big way. Normally younger performers get their professional starts on independent projects or commercials, but for Abigail Spencer, the jump to the screen was much quicker. While still a teenager Abigail was cast to play Becca Tyree on one of the most watched daytime soaps of all time – All My Children.

Although the stint on daytime only lasted a couple of years, it was enough for producers to take notice. When she left daytime the future looked bright for Abigail, she was talented and had a couple years of professional experience under her belt. After a few MOW’s and a couple of guest appearances on shows like CSI and Gilmore Girls, The Lifetime Network decided to take a chance.

In 2006 Abigail Spencer was cast in the lead role of the new series Angela’s Eyes. It looked as though her career was really going to take off as she played Angela Henson, a young FBI agent whose parents were imprisoned for selling government secrets. Abigail’s talents showed tons of promise, but the show did not and was canceled after only one season.

The next few years saw Abigail back into the pool of guest stars where she appeared on single episodes of shows like How I Met Your Mother, Bones, Private Practice and The Ghost Whisperer. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the situation other than the fact that she was still extremely talented and deserved a proper story arc on a show that could utilize her.

Then came the really big break, the break that would put Abigail Spencer in the spotlight in a major way. in 2009 she was cast to play Sally Draper’s teacher in Madmen and the rest is pretty much gravy. As Miss Farrell, the school teacher with a crush on Don and a troubled brother, Abigail showed everyone that she could be much more than a soap regular turned guest star. After the six episode arc on Madmen she was cast in an eight episode arc on Hawthorne.

But one of the most recognizable pieces of work from Abigail Spencer was her work as Deborah in the interactive Twix commercials. I won’t put all of them up, but if you head on over to the site you can check it out.

As for the big screen, Abigail Spencer will be seen in John Faverau’s next big movie Cowboys and Aliens alongside Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde. Then you will be able to find her along side Katee Sachoff and Chad Michael Murray in The Haunting In Georgia. Finally, and this news has just been released, Abigail will be featured in the spy versus spy romantic action comedy “thing” (it’s from McG so you never know what it is) called This Means War starring Tom Hardy, Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon. Look for the name because you probably already recognize the face.

Whoa it’s been a long time since we last did one of these.

Credit Zoe Bell, credit Kill Bill or credit whoever you want, but the stereotype of the female martial artist always being Asian is now completely out the window. Whether you believed if before or not, high-flying kicks, gun-wielding chicks and head-bashing beautiful women aren’t just from Hong Kong anymore (yes I’m going somewhere with this, trust me).

When it comes to stunt people fans rarely get a glimpse of their faces, but in the case of Etobicoke’s Katheryn Winnick we should be glad she can perform most of her own stunts.

Katheryn Winnick is currently recognizable for her role on the Fox comedy/CSI style show Bones guest starring alongside Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz (AKA Angel) as agent’s Booth’s new flame Hannah. But before we get into why she’s actually making Bones a more entertaining show this year, let’s step into the way-back-machine and see where Katheryn Winnick comes from and why she’s being noticed of late.

About 10 years ago Katheryn was starring as Holly Benson on YTV‘s teen comedy Student Bodies. For those of you who have never heard of Student Bodies or YTV, consider yourself lucky. It was not a very memorable show, but it gave Katheryn her start.

Fast forward a few years (and a couple of national Tae Kwon Do championships) and you might remember her as a random girl in 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler. For the next few years she guessed starred on the regular guest star circuit (CSI, CSI:NY, CSI: Miami, House, Law and Order and Criminal Minds) and played bit parts in flicks like Failure To Launch and the critically acclaimed Cold Souls.

But then came the big mainstream break. Katheryn was cast in Killers opposite Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher and absolutely stole the show. Her character Vivian has one of the more memorable death scenes (killed by swinging antlers) and she actually made the movie watchable for the few scenes she was in. But what was really amazing is that Katheryn got to show off her martial arts skills in an all out ass-kicking of Ashton Kutcher (insert smile here).

So, as Katheryn Winnick juices up Bones for the season (or however long her character lasts) remember that she can do more than bat her eyes are agent Booth – she can probably kick his ass 7-times over. You’ll be able to catch Katheryn on the big screen soon in the experimental hypnotic film Tranced as well as opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway in Love and Other Drugs.

Morning all,

Welcome to the best day of the week – FRIDAY!!!! Time to undo the top button from your pinstriped shirt, let out the tie and sip hot chocolate instead of your morning coffee. Wow I hope I didn’t really describe you there cause that would be terrible and I suggest a vacation.

Onto the daily and in this case it’s a different kind. Today I’m going to talk about my favourite character from iCarly, none other than Gibby. Who? Well good sirs and madams, I’m glad you asked.

To get the full scope of brilliance behind the genius that is Gibby, you first have to understand that the GF and I had a 4-day iCarly marathon this week. iCarly is a Nick show about some teenagers with a web show. Created by the wonderful Dan Schneider (Dennis from Head of the Class), iCarly is really just about the zany antics of teenagers these days explained in extremely watered down family-friendly terms. The key players are Carly, Sam and Freddy (who run the web show) as well as Carly’s older brother Spencer. I know what you’re thinking, “Why are we talking about a character from a show that isn’t even one of the key players?” Well, Gibby will be a regular on iCarly’s forth season and he’s also pretty damn awesome to boot (to boot? yeah…)

Gibby is a good friend of the iCarly gang and although he may not be on a Tiger Beat cover anytime soon, it’s not for lack of trying. See, the gimmick with Gibby is that he’s usually at the butt-end of a joke. Whether that be coming out of a pie, dressing up as the Statue of Liberty or simply ripping off his shirt and going berserk, whenever he’s on screen he simply steals the scene.

Gibby is played by teenage actor Noah Munck and although you’ve probably never heard of him, if you ever catch him on iCarly, you’ll definitely remember him. The chunky shirtless kid with a knack for bringing a smile has appeared in shows like ER and Wizards of Waverly Place, but before iCarly there’s been nothing substantial. I have a feeling this is going to change pretty soon if enough people catch on to what he brings.

So, to end this strange love-affair/obsession with Gibby, here are a few clips to enjoy.

And check out this interview with Gibby’s lil’ brother Guppy

Morning all,

Back in the early 90′s it wasn’t that uncommon to see a kid star go on to different things. Take for example Keri Russell, you know the girl who grew up to play Felicity and then opposite Tom Cruise in MI:3. So it wasn’t that uncommon. Then something strange happened. Kids became child stars on youth networks and… that was it. With the exception of the High School Musical kids, not a lot of others look like they can break away. Call it lack of talent, bloated lifetime contracts, or whatever you want, but the fact remains, child performers on kid networks kind of suck these days.

But through the darkness there’s always a tiny glimmer of hope that the new generation of Disney and Nickelodeon graduates can actually do some good things. Which brings us back to the title. Meet Nickelodeon survivor Allison Scagliotti. Who?

Allison Scagliotti is currently starring as Claudia Donovan on the SyFy Network‘s Warehouse 13. She’s got talent, she’s on a show that has a bit of cult stature and she actually steals scenes from the other main characters by simply being around. Scagliotti got her start like a lot of other child stars. She was cast a one-off character on a show that not a ton of people really care about, Zoey 101 on Nickelodeon. After her one appearance, it looked as though Nick liked what they saw and gave her a small, yet recurring role on another show nobody really cared about, Drake and Josh. It looked as though she was going down the road of child star who wouldn’t be able to shake the stereotype. Then she landed a small guest role on a show called Party Down things started to change.

Scagliotti played the daughter to JK Simmons‘ character of a movie mogul. Basically all she had to do was cry a bit because nobody wanted to come to her birthday party, but instead of just doing the job, she added to it and gave her character Taylor some actual depth. Now, Party Down is an off-beat comedy which is no longer on the air, but Scagliotti’s performance in that one episode landed her on an episode of Smallville as one half of the Wonder Twins and now a recurring role on Warehouse 13. As Claudia Donovan she is the genius girl with a checkered past. Her storyline is interesting as she spent her teen years studying physics in order to get brother out of another dimension (did I mention that Warehouse 13 is on the SyFy Network?). She’s spunky, smart and pulls off the attitude extremely well. I have a feeling we’ll be hearing a lot about Allison Scagliotti in the future.

Wow, haven’t done one of these in a very long time, but here we go.

This installment of Almost Famous focuses on a really new face to movies and television, Sophie Wu. Who?

Sophie Wu is mostly recognized for her small, yet memorable part in the movie Kick-Ass. Although she has barely any lines, she plays the friend of Katie Deauxma, Erika Cho. In her most memorable scene, she is actually making out with Clark Duke‘s character, but other than that you probably have no idea who she is. Well, Sophie Wu is a British actress who trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art from 2003-2006. Born to Scottish and Chinese parents, she took performing very seriously at an early age. If you look her up, that’s pretty much all of the info you’re going to find. But I’m saying it here, she’s going to be a big deal.

It seems as though some creepy people have created some kind of fanlisting here, but there really isn’t a lot of info on Sophie and her career.

In any case, it does give off a couple of other titles you might recognize her from such as the movie Wild Child along side Emma Roberts and horror flick called Tormented. She’s very new (had a typo in here originally, but one of the commenters called me on it) to the scene, but I have a feeling we’ll be hearing and seeing a lot from Sophie Wu in the next few years.

Dear Taj Pannun – You’re Welcome.

For those of you who couldn’t stand the shaky cam, first person style of the 2008 flick Cloverfield, Jessia Lucas‘ face is probably new – unless you frequent the CW and are a fan of the resurrected Melrose Place. But I’ll get into that a little bit later as this profile is going to go into more background information than anything. Jessica Lucas is another talented Vancouver girl who is going to make a huge splash in Hollywood sooner or later. Her career started on stage, like most, and after some childrens’ parts in prodictions of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderalla, a teenage Lucas jumped onto the Canadian after-school-special-style drama Edgemont opposite Kristin Kruek in 2001. Lucas played the pat of Bekka Lawrwence for the better part of four years before Edgemont was finally cut. What followed is the typical floater times for a professional actor that involved a lot of auditions, bit parts and guest starring roles.

Although Edgemont was a slight success, Hollywood wasn’t causing Lucas to leave the phone off the hook. She found herself on a random episode of The L Word, a canceled ABC series called Life As We Know It and landed small parts on movies like She’s The Man and The Covenant. Then Lucas landed a bit of a break. She was cast as Ronnie Lake on CSI bacck in 2007 and it looked like she would continue as a series regular for a few seasons. But, like so many other bad decisions made on CSI, her character was mysteriously written off after barely a season.

It looked like Lucas was going to hit on some hard times and possibly deal with a life of pilots and short lived guest starring roles (don’t read that as a bad thing by the way), but then came the big call. The real call. The call that really changed everything and put her in front of millions of people on the big screen. Jessica Lucas was cast to play a major role in the 2008 super monster-destroying-NYC flick Cloverfield and got to work with JJ Abrams. Like many performers, the key is usually JJ as it seems like whatever he touches turns to diamond. After the huge success of Colverfield (earning just shy of 200 million bucks), Lucas landed a guest starring role on the new 90210 as Kim MacIntyre and carried a four episode arc.

The peeps over at the CW must have seen something as after her stint on 90210, she was contacted about a starring role on the new Melrose Place. Jessica Lucas currently plays kindergarten teacher and resident good-girl Riley Richmond on the show and from the looks of things, her face could be popping up in a few more places soon. She is currently filming another installment of the Martin Lawrence movie franchise Big Mommas House in a sequel titled Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son.

I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan of the CSI Series as a whole. I’ve popped in a few episode of the original Vegas-centric series once or twice, but I find the show a little too graphic (I draw the line with close-up shots of bones snapping). When the franchise decided to branch off into other cities, mainly Miami and New York, I rolled my eyes. It’s formulaic, it’s kind of predictable, and although I haven’t seen a new episode in a while, I haven’t heard or seen anything that would make me want to watch… Until now.

During one of my many ventures through IMDB I found out that Sarah Carter is actually a series regular on CSI:NY. Who is Sarah Carter? Well, I’m glad you asked.

The Canadian actress was born in Toronto and grew up in Winnipeg. After some teenage years in the hotbed of performing arts, known t some as Manitoba (I’m kidding) she ventured across the world to study acting for a year only to return to the land of Timmy Ho’s to join the Ryerson Theater School in T-Dot. It was there where Sarah was discovered after her monologue impressed a Vancouver casting agent. After a quick, and mostly forgettable guest spot on a show called Wolf Lake, she managed to land a small part for an episode of Dark Angel opposite Jessica Alba. This was before Jessica went crazy and married a dude named Ca$h.

I digress…

After her one episode stint on Dark Angel, Sarah was cast in a pilot of a show called Black Sash. The show followed Russel Wong‘s character as he ran a martial arts school in San Francisco – as you can probably tell, it failed miserably and lasted only six episodes. But Black Sash required Sarah to learn martial arts and this lead to a big screen roll in 2006 as she starred along side Devon Aoki and Jaime Pressly in DOA (Dead Or Alive). Yes, I’ve seen this flick, and yes, it’s as bad as you can imagine, but Sarah’s character Helena helps ease the pain. It’s a good thing Sarah’s work on Smallville as Alicia Baker shows what she can really do as her next break would be on a much more national stage.

Remember back when Entourage was good? When the guys weren’t old losers like they are now? Well, back in the Entourage hay-day, the gang traveled to Sundance to promote one of Vinny’s flicks and eventually meet James Cameron. While there, the Entourage was given a personal driver and this driver was played by Sarah Carter. I bring this up because I really think she stole that entire show for the few moments she was on. If you haven’t checked it out, The Sundance Kids episode of Entourage is really good.

Alright, so we’ve dabbled long enough in the back story and I’ll bring this back to the subject at hand – CSI:NY. If you need a reason to watch CSI:NY (like I do) then Sarah Carter is your reason. She seasoned her episodic TV acting chops in a show called Shark where played opposite James Woods and has since landed a recurring role on CSI. So there you have it – Canadian girl making it big on the small screen.

Emmanuelle Vaugier has one of those faces that you simply recognize. The problem is, once you recognize that you’ve seen her face before, it becomes difficult to pinpoint from where. Well, rest easy boys and girls cause she’s been in just about everything.

Okay maybe that was a bit hyperbolic, but the Vancouver born and raised bilingual Emmanuelle really has appeared in a lot of mainstream network TV shows in the past while. We’ll start at the beginning though so you can all get a good sense of where she’s coming from.

Emmanuelle got her start in TV acting like a lot of local Vancouver performers – on a sci-fi show that was locally produced. For Emmanuelle, this was Highlander back in 1995. Soon after she landed a nine episode run on a high school drama called Madison and then guest starred on everything from Outer Limits to Police Academy The Series. She then got a small break when she landed the role of Elaine Berringer on a Vancouver-based series called Higher Ground. Higher Ground was actually the first stop for Darth Vader himself Hayden Christensen (deuchebag…). Emmanuelle’s work on Higher Ground must have impressed someone in Canadian television as she then landed a starring role on the very short-lived series My Guide To Becoming A Rockstar. Although the show lasted barely a season, it put her on the map as someone with potential.

Enter the role that really pushed Emmanuelle Vaugier into the spotlight – Smallville. Emmanuelle was cast as Lex Luther’s love interest Dr. Helen Bryce in the second and third seasons of Smallville. Once her time concluded on the WB (now CW) show she started showing up in everything from Veronica Mars to One Tree Hill. She then landed a ten episode arc on CSI New York alongside Gary Senise playing Detective Angell. Since leaving CSI: NY, Emmanuelle has tried the sitcom route playing Mia opposite Charlie Sheen in Two and a Half Men and is currently starring as a recurring character in the new FOX comic book adaptation Human Target.

Emmanuelle’s TV credits seem like they go forever, but her film credits aren’t’ anything to scuff at either. She appeared in the Josh Hartnett rom-com 40 Days and 40 Nights and also plays the part of Addison in Saw II and Saw IV. Oh, and back in 2006 she graced the cover of Maxim and was given spot 31 on the Hot 100 list of that year.

Okay, so Cassie Campbell isn’t really almost famous considering she is one Canada’s greatest hockey heroes of all time, but for those of you who have been watching the Olympic coverage of late and are not familiar with the educated female voice of hockey, here’s some background info.

Cassie Campbell is basically Canada’s broadcasting darling. No, she doesn’t cover the weather in a one-piece pantsuit, no she doesn’t anchor a local news show and no she doesn’t waste her time with ridiculous human interest stories about places and people that nobody should care about – Cassie Campbell is a bruisingly (is that a word? doubt it…) swift, trash talking, hockey great with a keen eye for spotting the details of one of the fastest games on the planet. Although she’s been getting a ton of international coverage because of those games out in Vancouver, her full time gig is actually as one of CBC‘s color analysts on Hockey Night In Canada. With respect to Jim Hughson, she’s really the best voice CBC has behind a mic every Saturday.

But Cassie’s time in front of the camera wasn’t always behind a mic, in fact she shot up to hockey stardom on an international scale as she gathered 21 national hockey medals in her career (World Championships, Olympics, ect). She currently sits 8th in all time scoring for Canada’s national Woman’s Hockey program.

Enough about the hockey career though right? Since leaving the game Cassie has been heavily involved in charity work and motivational speaking to go along with her full time stint on Hockey Night in Canada. She’s one of the spokespersons for Scotia Bank, you may have seen her on a Pepsi or Gatorade commercial of late and if you’ve ever seen a montage of Canada competing in national hockey tournaments, you’ll probably recognize her as the one wearing the flag. The Brampton Ontario native currently lives in Alberta with her husband, but you can see her most Saturdays on CBC.