Celebrity crush: Malin Åkerman

Today's revised standalone entry features an actress originally profiled with some others from outside the United States. Amazon and iTunes links follow. Any affiliate payments earned from your purchase or rental will help pay the hosting fees for my podcasts, so please consider clicking.

Name: Malin Åkerman (images -- some NSFW | Web site | Twitter)
Hometown: Born in Stockholm, Sweden, but raised in Canada, according to her Wikipedia profile -- which also notes that her mother was a model, as was Malin before she became an actress.
Best Known For: Åkerman's highest-profile works are easily Watchmen, in which she played the second-generation superheroine Silk Spectre, and the comedies 27 Dresses (with Katherine Heigl) and Couples Retreat (alongside fellow celebrity crush Kristen Bell).

She also appeared in a particularly "meta" episode of How I Met Your Mother, starring in a movie-within-the-TV show based on events from the TV show. (She played the movie's version of the character played by fellow celebrity crush Sarah Chalke on the show.)

Other work has included the comedy Children's Hospital shorts, some Funny or Die shorts, and an upcoming movie about Deep Throat star Linda Lovelace (a role that Lindsay Lohan had and lost as part of her ongoing self-destruction).
Humble Beginnings: Åkerman appeared in a number of things you might have seen before her breakout role in Watchmen -- The Skulls in 2000, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle in 2004, The Heartbreak Kid in 2007, and TV appearances on Entourage, Witchblade, The Comeback, and Love Monkey.
Not the Courteney Cox Factor: Åkerman sings, too, with a band called The Petalstones (formerly Ozono) -- which is where she met her husband, an Italian musician.

Obligatory Edgy Stuff: Her appearance on Entourage can be summed up in four words: "Threesome. With Emmanuelle Chriqui. *schwing!*" ("Schwing" is a sound effect, not a word.) And there's the whole idea of her playing Linda Lovelace, if the movie ends up happening.

Whether she's half-naked or half-in-a-bikini,
this photo is still made of win.

Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: Did you see Watchmen? She was also not bad at all in Couples Retreat.
Film and TV-movie credits: Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story (Amazon | iTunes) * The Numbers Station (Amazon | iTunes) * The Giant Mechanical Man (Amazon | iTunes) * Wanderlust (Amazon | iTunes) * Criminal Empire for Dummy's (Amazon | iTunes) * Catch .44 (Amazon | iTunes) * The Bang Bang Club (Amazon | iTunes) * Elektra Luxx (Amazon | iTunes) * The Romantics (Amazon | iTunes) * Happythankyoumoreplease (Amazon | iTunes) * Couples Retreat (Amazon | iTunes) * The Proposal (Amazon | iTunes) * Watchmen (Amazon | iTunes) * Bye Bye Sally (Amazon | iTunes) * 27 Dresses (Amazon | iTunes) * Heavy Petting (Amazon | iTunes) * The Heartbreak Kid (Amazon | iTunes) * The Brothers Solomon (Amazon | iTunes) * The Invasion (Amazon | iTunes) * Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (Amazon | iTunes) * The Utopian Society (Amazon | iTunes) * The Fraternity (Amazon | iTunes) * Shotgun Love Dolls (Amazon | iTunes) * The Skulls (Amazon | iTunes)

Why yes, I *do* have a soft spot for
retro pinup-style photos.

Musical work: Stung by The Petalstones (Amazon | iTunes)
TV and Web series credits: Children's Hospital, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * How I Met Your Mother, season 5: "The Wedding Bride" (Amazon | iTunes) * Funny or Die Presents..., season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Entourage, season 3, part 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Love Monkey: "The One That Got Away" (Amazon | iTunes) * The Comeback (Amazon | iTunes) * A Nero Wolfe Mystery, season 2: "Poison à la Carte" (Amazon | iTunes) * Witchblade, season 1: "Conundrum" (Amazon | iTunes) * Doc, season 1: "Face in the Mirror" (Amazon | iTunes) * Twice in a Lifetime, season 2: "Knockout" (Amazon | iTunes) * Relic Hunter, season 1: "Affaire de Coeur" (Amazon | iTunes) * The Others (2000): "Pilot" (Amazon | iTunes) * Earth: Final Conflict, season 1: "Truth" (Amazon | iTunes)