MovieChat Forums > Freaks and Geeks (1999) Discussion > High school shows always have one actor ...

High school shows always have one actor way older than the others

posted 9 years ago by GuyOnTheLeft
11 replies | jump to latest

This show actually featured a surprising number of actors not playing really young (some were 17, playing high school seniors, which is borderline shocking). But I would never have guessed that the actor who played Lindsey was the outlier: she's a GenXer, born in 1975, while the rest of the cast are Millennials born in the '80s. But is it just me, or does she look like one of the youngest ones?

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[–] vicky_lc2001-1 8 years ago

Yeah she looked very young for her age to me and could pull off being 16. Rogen otoh at 16-17 could pass as 33, lol.

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[–] GuyOnTheLeft 8 years ago

True!

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[–] Dollhouse_89 8 years ago

Yea it wasn't even just her looks. Her mannerisms, even her voice and diction, were all spot on for portraying a 15 year old brat.

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[–] hihihi-42 8 years ago

That's so strange! Haha when I was reading through your post, I immediately assumed the girl who played Lindsey was the one who was 17. She definitely looked young for her age.

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[–] GuyOnTheLeft 8 years ago

I know, right? But on the set, at least at first, she must have seemed kind of old to those teenagers (I know when I was in my teens, a 25 year old seemed way older).

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[–] Valentino55 8 years ago

I agree. She did look younger than many of her castmates. She definitely looked younger than Busy Phillips, who was four years her junior.

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[–] GuyOnTheLeft 8 years ago

Totally. Phillips nailed that look of the older, tough (but pretty) girl from the "wrong side of the tracks".

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[–] Caprizonica8 8 years ago

She was 23 not 25. Franco was 21. Its like saying Seth Rogen was 19 instead of 17 or that the boy playing her brother was 16 instead of 14. She was the oldest but not a 25 and she looked much younger.

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[–] GuyOnTheLeft 8 years ago

I overlooked that Franco was also born in the '70s. Mea culpa. But he was '78 and she was '75, so she is three years older, not two (and seven years older than Rogen). And I agree she looks younger: I said that right in my OP.

It would still be accurate to say that when they filmed the pilot, Rogen was too young to vote, Franco was too young to buy beer, and Cardellini was old enough to be a college graduate, out in the working world. At those ages, those disparities loom large, even if now they would all be seen as close to the same age.

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[–] TwoThousandOneMark 8 years ago

I think Linda looked her real age during family dinner table scenes, with John looking even younger there too.

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[–] GuyOnTheLeft 8 years ago

Huh, why would it be just in those scenes? I went back and looked and I don't see a difference compared to any of the other scenes.

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