Brushes with Fame

[_moksha]

Mormon related showbiz folk? Here is an interesting cut 'n paste from Beliefnet:

BillThinks4Himself
6/6/2007 4:18 AM 1 out of 5

I thought the above would be a whimsical title for a thread about Mormon actors, which are apparently on the rise but often as just the opposite of what you'd expect.

For example, Aaron Eckhart, is not only LDS. He's a returned missionary and a BYU film major. Great preparation for playing a biker (Erin Brockavich), a wife beater (Nurse Betty), a cut-throat technologist (Paycheck) and his most famous role, that of a tobacco apologist (Thank You For Smoking).

And then there's Wilford Brimley (the homicidal gatekeeper of The Firm), A.J. Cook (The Virgin Suicides), Eliza Dushku (one of a group of pizza-guy balling female bankrobbers in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back), Ryan Gosling (a closeted gay sociopath in Murder by Numbers), Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket), Kelly Packard (April Griminski on "Baywatch"/one of Bob Craine's sexual exploits in Auto Focus), Kevin Rahm (who supplemented his TV career with films like Moosecock), Paul Walker (The Skulls, Joyride, The Fast and the Furious), Jon Heder (who went from Napoleon Dynamite to a spiritualist in Just Like Heaven and a couples skater with a male partner in Blades of Glory).

The latest is Katherine Heigl, whose strict-Mormon upbringing is reflected in her role as Alison Scott in Knocked Up, a comedy about a woman who goes dancing and drinking with her sister, goes home with a stranger and ends up with a bun in the oven.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. Things are certainly more interesting than they were when Mormon claims to fame were limited to the Osmonds, Billy Barty and Gordon Jump. But it's still pretty funny. What do you suppose is behind all of this? My skewed editing? The economics of acting (where work is work)? Does anybody think it was one hymn too many? Perhaps we can blame it on Saturday's Warrior and My Turn on Earth. Maybe it was having to listen to Janice Kapp Perry. Perhaps it was a bad interaction between the postum and the cracked wheat. Maybe somebody turned their CTR rings upside down.

moksha8088
6/6/2007 6:40 PM 2 out of 5

Working actors usually go with the parts given and are happy to be working.

Isn't Katherine Heigl a honey? I liked her ever since the movie Prince Valiant. I didn't realize till now that she was LDS.

[_Who Knows]

Cool. I didn't know Eckhart and Heigl were Mormons (well, looks like former Mormons).

Thanks for posting.

[_Blixa]

Wilford Brimley used to live up the street from my folks. My dad hated him. They had some contrempts over a hedge, I think.

Eliza Dushku does not consider herself Mormon. Her connection with Mormonism was tenuous: her mother, a divorced women's studies professor, married a Mormon man and "converted." The mother was baptized, perhaps even sealed to the guy, whether Eliza was also, I don't know. My information is from a colleague who worked under the Mormon second husband (in the library of the university where her mother teaches) and babysat Eliza.

In recent interviews that I've read, Ryan Gosling no longer considers himself a Mormon.

Ditto Matthew Modine.

Jon Heder is a self-identifying Mormon (and IMHO completely useless as an actor).

Katherine Heigl has, I think, also recently declared in an interview that she's not a believing Mormon.

[Guest]

I went to church with Donny and Marie for a while in Provo.

I got an autograph from JFK (when he was nominated but not elected). That same year, a famous guy named Mike something who had a TV show I can't remember the name of either, but you would have heard of it, [EDIT: Mike Connors, show called Tightrope] was at the state fair, he hit on my cousin, who was fair queen, and got slugged by her boyfriend, which was all way more exciting than JFK at the time and I don't know what became of the autograph.

An old boyfriend and I were having dinner before going to see Jesus Christ Superstar, when who should overhear our conversation and come up and introduce himself but TED NUGENT!!

[_skippy the dead]

Here's what I got:

Went to law school with Steve Young. Highlights: same Sports/Entertainment law and Con Law III classes, said "excuse me" to him in the staircase, had him refuse to donate anything to a public interest law auction to raise funds to provide grants to students doing good works in the summer (by the way - he wasn't an enthusiastic student - played handheld football often in class).

Had Wynonna tell me to "hush, now" during a concert when I hollered "Sing it Wynonna" - although she seemed to enjoy it.

My kids played with the kids of former 49ers defensive coordinator (until he got fired and took a job with Phoenix).

Live in the same development as Bryant Young, Dana Stubblefield and Nate Clements (2 current and 1 former 49er).

[_cacheman]

Cool. I didn't know Eckhart and Heigl were Mormons (well, looks like former Mormons).

Elder Aaron Eckhart and I were in the same mission. I didn't really know him though. He went home a couple of months after I arrived in the mission field.

And to make you all really jealous... I once shook Jimmy Osmond's hand!

cacheman

[_Who Knows]

Elder Aaron Eckhart and I were in the same mission. I didn't really know him though. He went home a couple of months after I arrived in the mission field.

Wow. That's awesome. I'm a big fan of his.

Now I'm going to have to go watch TYFS again.

[_KimberlyAnn]

Well, Runtu, since I'm about to meet you, and you've met all those famous people, can you be my brush with fame? I've never cared much about celebrities. I've probably met or ran into a few but didn't recognize them.

KA

[_Blixa]

Ok. Now I'm insanely jealous KA. You get to meet runtu? Dayam, girl!

[_Polygamy Porter]

I had lunch with Linus Torvalds back in 1998. Real nice fellow geek.

Sitting at the same table was Bob Young founder of RedHat Linux.

If Jgirl asks who Linus is, I am gonna come ungnued! :)