Celebrity crush: Amanda Seyfried

This actress may, in all honesty, be a little too high-profile for this list, but I've decided in recognition of her work with some fellow crushes to include her here. 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: Amanda Seyfried (images -- some NSFW | Web site | Twitter)
Hometown: Allentown, Pa., according to her Wikipedia profile.
Best Known For: Being all things to all people, maybe. Amanda has held a regular role on the HBO drama Big Love as the elder daughter of a polygamist family (with fellow celebrity crush Tina Majorino as her best friend and fellow crush Ginnifer Goodwin as one of her moms); she's had recurring roles on the teen noir Veronica Mars (which of course starred celebrity crush Kristen Bell) and Wildfire (which starred future crush Genevieve Cortese and had fellow crush Amy Jo Johnson in a recurring role).

With Kristen Bell on Veronica Mars. Seyfried's work
as murdered Lilly Kane so impressed the show's
creators, they increased the number of flashbacks
with her character, Wikipedia notes.

But she's also a singer-songwriter who led the Abba-based musical film Mamma Mia! and a versatile actress whose roles include wholesome romantic dramas such as Dear John and Letters to Juliet and edgier fare such as the erotic thriller Chloe, the horror flop Jennifer's Body (blame the film's sexy but acting-impaired star Megan Fox), and the crime film Alpha Dog.

Humble Beginnings: Amanda is a veteran of the daytime soap opera scene, appearing from 1999-2001 on As the World Turns and from 2002-03 on All My Children, all before she turned 18. She had begun her modeling career when she was 11.

Her film breakout was in her first film, the Lindsay Lohan vehicle Mean Girls, written by Tina Fey and featuring Amanda as quite possibly the ditziest blonde to grace a screen until Heather Morris' Brittany on Glee. (It also co-starred celebrity crush Lizzy Caplan and the scrumptious Rachel McAdams, who is unarguably too high-profile for this blog; Amanda auditioned for the role that went to Rachel and was considered for the role that went to Lohan.)

Plus, she looks like this.

Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: Amanda has great pipes, and of course she's a marvelously curvy woman with the added blessing of hair that looks sorta like every mermaid or siren who ever tempted a sailor on the high seas.

But she can also act her heart out. Her work as the murdered Lilly Kane on Veronica Mars was something to behold, creating a character who could be quite charming and childlike but also had a serious wild and dark side. (She auditioned to play Veronica.) Her role as Karen in Mean Girls was laugh-out-loud funny, and of course she was charming as all get out in Mamma Mia! (which Ye Olde Podcaster's niece watched in his presence).

Amanda's work as Sarah on Big Love is her longest engagement as an actress, and it's just heartbreaking on a number of levels. Her performance captures all the conflicting emotions of a young woman who not only loves her parents and her mother's sister-wives but also disagrees to her core with her parents' decision to enter into a plural marriage; Amanda battles doubts about how she can respect either her mother or father as a result of it, and hopes her siblings will walk away from that lifestyle, but at the same time she's protective of the family.
Voice work: American Dad, season 5: "Escape from Pearl Bailey" (Amazon | iTunes)
Musical work: Dear John soundtrack (Amazon | iTunes) * Mamma Mia! soundtrack (Amazon | iTunes)

With Tina Majorino on Big Love.

TV and Web series credits: Big Love, season 5 (Amazon | iTunes) * Big Love, season 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * Big Love, season 3 (Amazon | iTunes) * Big Love, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Veronica Mars, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Justice: "Pretty Woman" (Amazon | iTunes) * CSI, season 6: "Rashomama" (Amazon | iTunes) * Big Love, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Wildfire, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * House, season 1: "Detox" (Amazon | iTunes) * Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, season 6: "Outcry" (Amazon | iTunes) * Veronica Mars, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes)
Music video: "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" (from Mamma Mia!) (iTunes)

Film and TV-movie credits: Gently Down the Scream (Amazon | iTunes) * Gone (Amazon | iTunes) * In Time (Amazon | iTunes) * Red Riding Hood (Amazon | iTunes) * A Bag of Hammers (Amazon | iTunes) * Letters to Juliet (Amazon | iTunes) * Dear John (Amazon | iTunes) * Chloe (Amazon | iTunes) * Jennifer's Body (Amazon | iTunes) * Boogie Woogie (Amazon | iTunes) * Official Selection (2008 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Mamma Mia! (Amazon | iTunes) * Solstice (Amazon | iTunes) * Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves (2006 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Alpha Dog (Amazon | iTunes) * American Gun (Amazon | iTunes) * Nine Lives (2005) (Amazon | iTunes) * Mean Girls (Amazon | iTunes)