Celebrity crush: Jordana Spiro

Here's a lesser-known actress who deserves a higher profile than she's had so far. She's also been active behind the scenes as a director, producer, editor and even still photographer, as detailed below.

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Name: Jordana Spiro (images | Web site | Twitter)
Hometown: New York City, according to her Wikipedia profile.
Best Known For: Jordana's major credits so far are a four-season run on the cable comedy My Boys, a scene-stealing performance in the romantic comedy film Must Love Dogs, and a more recent recurring role on the legal dramedy Harry's Law that might continue this fall after the collapse of the ill-fated NBC series Love Bites and the end of My Boys. Here's hoping.

Film roles include the Ed Helms-Jeremy Piven comedy The Goods and the independent films The Year of Getting to Know Us and Alone With Her, plus the HBO original movie If These Walls Could Talk early on in her career.

Humble Beginnings: Her biography is startlingly spare, noting that she grew up in a Greek and Jewish family in Manhattan and has stage training. Between IMDB and Wikipedia, one learns she briefly studied at the Circle in the Square Theatre and, briefly, London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art; and that she entered the MFA in filmmaking program at Columbia University in 2009.

Her first role as a TV regular was on the short-lived USA Network show The Huntress, which starred Annette O'Toole as a bounty hunter. She was part of the sprawling ensemble cast of young beautiful people on MTV's late-night soap Undressed. There was also a From Dusk Till Dawn sequel that I didn't even know had ever happened.

Jordana became an "overnight success story" with Must Love Dogs in 2005, 10 years into her TV and film career.
Obligatory Edgy Stuff: The sparsity of her biography must mean either witness protection or mob. Maybe both. (Or maybe she's just a private person, but let's make it exciting.)
Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: Whatever her background, she's cute as can be. Funny and endearing on My Boys, winsome on Harry's Law, laugh-out-loud hilarious in Must Love Dogs. Good to see her expanding her horizons through the film school, too.

TV and Web series credits: Harry's Law, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Love Bites (2011) (Amazon | iTunes) * Harry's Law, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * My Boys, season 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * My Boys, season 3 (Amazon | iTunes) * My Boys, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * My Boys, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Kitchen Confidential: "Praise Be Praise" (Amazon | iTunes) * Out of Practice (2005) (Amazon | iTunes) * JAG, season 10 (Amazon | iTunes) * Cold Case, season 2: "Revolution" (Amazon | iTunes) * CSI: New York, season 1: "Tanglewood" (Amazon | iTunes) * The Huntress (2000) (Amazon | iTunes) * Undressed, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * One World, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * City Guys, season 2: "A Guy and a Goth" (Amazon | iTunes) * Beverly Hills, 90210, season 9: "Dealer's Choice" (Amazon | iTunes) * Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 2: "Reptile Boy" (Amazon | iTunes) * Maybe This Time: "The Other Mother" (Amazon | iTunes)

Film and TV-movie credits: Trespass (2011) (Amazon | iTunes) * Blindsided (2010 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Protect Insurance Companies PSA" (2009 Funny or Die video) * The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (Amazon | iTunes) * The Year of Getting to Know Us (Amazon | iTunes) * Resigned (2007 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Living and Dying (2007) (Amazon | iTunes) * Argo (2006 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Alone With Her (2006) (Amazon | iTunes) * Partner(s) (2005) (Amazon | iTunes) * Must Love Dogs (Amazon | iTunes) * The Greener Grass (2004 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Beck and Call (2004 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Playas Ball (Amazon | iTunes) * From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (Amazon | iTunes) * If These Walls Could Talk (1996 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * Her Last Chance (1996 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes)

Other credits: Duct Tape Twins (2011 short -- assistant camera) (Amazon | iTunes) * Clankety, Clank (2010 short -- still photographer) (Amazon | iTunes) * Exit the Castle (2010 short -- director, producer and editor) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Off Track (2009 short -- director and producer) (Amazon | iTunes)