Bonus celebrity crush: Marisol Nichols

How does this entry fit my 4th of July theme? Let me count the ways: 1.) She's of Hungarian and Romanian ancestry on her dad's side of the family, Mexican and Spanish on her mom's side, fitting in with our history of immigration. 2.) On 24, she played a Muslim government agent -- one of the good guys! -- though in keeping with some of the less authentically American subtext of the show's conservative producers, she was tortured after being framed. (Torture is un-American.) 3.) As she played a member of one feared and often persecuted religion on 24, she's a member of another (the Church of Scientology) in real life; and if you don't believe in freedom of (and from) religion, you have no business calling yourself American.

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Name: Marisol Nichols (images | Web site | Twitter)
Hometown: Born in Chicago and raised in Naperville, Ill., according to her Wikipedia profile.
Best Known For: Being a Bally Total Fitness spokesmodel in 2008? No, she's best known as a character actress, I think, appearing on a variety of television dramas (for the most part) -- a season of 24, the short-lived dramas The Gates (about a gated Florida community full of vampires, werewolves, and other such things), Blind Justice (as partner to a blind homicide detective), In Justice (about an Innocence Project-style legal aid group), and three years of the Latino-centric drama Resurrection Blvd. on Showtime.

Actually, looking at her résumé, the role that has brought her before the most viewers is likely Aubrey Griswold, daughter of Chevy Chase's Clark Griswold, in Vegas Vacation. She'll be seen this fall alongside the lovely Leslie Bibb and the multi-talented Kristin Chenowith on Good Christian Belles (formerly known as Good Christian Bitches, until some people the title probably would have fit to a T took offense at the title).

Humble Beginnings: Bit parts include guest turns on Friends and ER, appearances in Scream 2 and Can't Hardly Wait, and a two-part engagement on the sitcom Boy Meets World in its latter days. She starred in two similarly titled but unrelated movies around the turn of the millennium -- The Princess and the Barrio Boy (an urban love story which earned her an ALMA nomination) and The Princess and the Marine (a pre-9/11 love story set in Bahrain).

That last credit and her 24 role as a South Asian CTU officer illustrate that all non-Caucasian or non-African-American actors look alike to Hollywood.

Obligatory Edgy Stuff: So, yes, the Scientology thing. She's involved in anti-psychiatry groups. I don't agree with it. But she has her right to free speech. And I've gradually resumed watching Tom Cruise projects a few years after the Brooke Shields bit, it would be hypocritical for me to boycott Marisol -- not to mention difficult, as she gets cast in so many things I like. (Plus, Erika Christensen is already on this list, too.)
Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: She's a versatile and skilled actress, plus very easy on the eyes. Given that she's less than a month younger than Ye Olde Podcaster, her time at Bally Total Fitness has served her well.

Film and TV-movie credits: Felon (2008) (Amazon | iTunes) * Struck (2008 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Delta Farce (Amazon | iTunes) * Big Momma's House 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Homeland Security (2004 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Pitcher and the Pin-Up (Amazon | iTunes) * Laud Weiner (2001 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Princess and the Marine (2001 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Princess and the Barrio Boy (2000 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * Bowfinger (Amazon | iTunes) * The Sex Monster (1999) (Amazon | iTunes) * Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998) (Amazon | iTunes) * Can't Hardly Wait (Amazon | iTunes) * Scream 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation (Amazon | iTunes) * Friends 'Til the End (1997 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes)

TV and Web series credits: Good Christian Belles, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * NCIS: Los Angeles, season 2: "Stand-off" (Amazon | iTunes) * The Gates (2010) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Storm (2009 miniseries) (Amazon | iTunes) * Life, season 2: "Initiative 38" (Amazon | iTunes) * 24, season 6 (Amazon | iTunes) * In Justice (2006) (Amazon | iTunes) * Blind Justice (2005) (Amazon | iTunes) * Cold Case, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Charmed, season 6: "Chris-Crossed" (Amazon | iTunes) * Nip/Tuck, season 1: "Antonia Ramos" (Amazon | iTunes) * Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, season 5: "Mother" (Amazon | iTunes) * CSI, season 4: "All for Our Country" (Amazon | iTunes) * Friends, season 9: "The One With Rachel's Dream" (Amazon | iTunes) * The Division, season 3: "Murder.com" (Amazon | iTunes) * The Twilight Zone (2002): "Hunted" (Amazon | iTunes) * Alias, season 2: "Dead Drop" (Amazon | iTunes) * Resurrection Blvd., season 3 (Amazon | iTunes) * Resurrection Blvd., season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Resurrection Blvd., season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Malcolm & Eddie, season 4: "Swooped" (Amazon | iTunes) * Boy Meets World, season 7 (Amazon | iTunes) * Odd Man Out: "The First Girlfriend's Club" (Amazon | iTunes) * Cybill, season 4: "Fine Is Not a Feeling" (Amazon | iTunes) * Diagnosis Murder, season 5: "Malibu Fire" (Amazon | iTunes) * ER, season 3: "The Long Way Around" (Amazon | iTunes) * Beverly Hills, 90210, season 6: "Ray of Hope" (Amazon | iTunes) * Due South, season 2: "Some Like It Red" (Amazon | iTunes)