Celebrity crush: Linda Cardellini

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This week's entry has quite the varied résumé, including a beloved show that tops most critics' "canceled too soon" lists, a long run on another show that was repeatedly cited as an example of a show outliving its welcome, and a film career going from low-brow (Good Burger) to high-brow (Brokeback Mountain).

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Name: Linda Cardellini (images | Web site | Twitter)
Hometown: Redwood City, Calif., according to her Wikipedia profile.
Best Known For: Linda came to prominence -- at least critical acclaim -- as the star of the short-lived teen dramedy Freaks and Geeks on NBC, which only lasted one season but was much beloved by critics and its fans and launched the careers of a lot of people who've risen to stardom since.

She also played Velma in two live-action-and-animation Scooby Doo movies, alongside real-life couple Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. And she was a co-star on ER for the final six of that medical drama's 15 seasons; she's largely focused on film, stage, and voice work since that wrapped in 2009.

Other work includes a starring voice role on the short-lived Fox animated comedy The Goode Family, the Lonesome Dove prequel mini-series Comanche Moon, a starring role in this year's drama Return, and a small but memorable appearance in Ang Lee's Western love story Brokeback Mountain. Her voice work also includes the recent All-Star Superman animated feature, two episodes of the current Scooby Doo cartoon (but not as Velma), and a video game called Gladius from a few years back.
Humble Beginnings: At age 21, Linda landed a starring role in a Saturday morning live-action kids' horror series titled Bone Chillers, following this up with guest roles on primetime comedies such as Clueless, Boy Meets World (a multi-episode gig), Step by Step, and 3rd Rock from the Sun (the only one of them I watched).

Her first film role came in Good Burger, which was followed by an appearance on that film's stars' TV series, Kenan & Kel. She also appeared in the comedy Dead Man on Campus (which had fellow crush Poppy Montgomery as the female lead and also featured fellow crush Alyson Hannigan). Shortly after joining ER, she played actress Linda Cardellini, friend of actress Jenna Fischer, in the comedy LolliLove, directed and co-written by fellow celebrity crush Jenna Fischer.

Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: She was charmingly sarcastic ... and cute in a post-grunge way ... on Freaks & Geeks, but won me over on ER. The show floundered for a good while in the middle, but the addition of Linda and folks like John Stamos (seriously) helped re-energize it in its latter years.

And the dimples don't hurt her case, either.
Voice Work: Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * All-Star Superman (Amazon | iTunes) * The Goode Family (Amazon | iTunes) * Robot Chicken, season 3: "Chirlaxx" (Amazon | iTunes) * Robot Chicken, season 1: "Operation Rich in Spirit" (Amazon | iTunes) * Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004 video game) * Gladius (2003 video game)

As Velma in, I think, the first of her two
live-action Scooby-Doo adventures. (The cartoon
version never looked so ... extroverted.)

Film and TV-Movie Credits: Return (2011) (Amazon | iTunes) * Kill the Irishman (Amazon | iTunes) * Super (2010) (Amazon | iTunes) * Gleeclipse (2010 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Protect Insurance Companies" (Funny or Die) * The Lazarus Project (2008) (Amazon | iTunes) * Grandma's Boy (2006) (Amazon | iTunes) * American Gun (2005) (Amazon | iTunes) * Brokeback Mountain (Amazon | iTunes) * LolliLove (Amazon | iTunes) * Jiminy Glick in Lalawood (Amazon | iTunes) * Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (Amazon | iTunes) * Certainly Not a Fairytale (2003 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Scooby-Doo (2002) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Unsaid (2001) (Amazon | iTunes) * Legally Blonde (Amazon | iTunes) * The Prince and the Surfer (Amazon | iTunes) * Dying to Live (1999 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * Strangeland (1998) (Amazon | iTunes) * Dead Man on Campus (Amazon | iTunes) * Good Burger (Amazon | iTunes) 

In the Western mini-series
Comanche Moon, a prequel
to the classic Lonesome Dove.

TV and Web Series Credits: Freaks and Geeks/Undeclared Reunion: Live at the Paley Center (Amazon | iTunes) * Cupid (2009): "My Fair Masseuse" (Amazon | iTunes) * ER, season 15 (Amazon | iTunes) * Comanche Moon (2008 mini-series) (Amazon | iTunes) * ER: 300th Episode Celebration: Cast & Creators Live at the Paley Center (Amazon | iTunes) * ER, season 14 (Amazon | iTunes) * Human Giant, season 1: "Mind Explosion" (Amazon | iTunes) * ER, season 13 (Amazon | iTunes) * ER, season 12 (Amazon | iTunes) * ER, season 11 (Amazon | iTunes) * ER, season 10 (Amazon | iTunes) * Twilight Zone (2002): "The Path" (Amazon | iTunes) * The Lot, season 1: "Happy Landings" (Amazon | iTunes) * Freaks and Geeks (Amazon | iTunes) * Boy Meets World, season 6: "The Psychotic Episode" (Amazon | iTunes) * Boy Meets World, season 5 (Amazon | iTunes) * Guys Like Us (1998) (Amazon | iTunes) * Promised Land, season 3: "Chasin' the Blues" (Amazon | iTunes) * Kenan & Kel, season 3: "Chicago Witch Trials" (Amazon | iTunes) * Step by Step, season 7: "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (Amazon | iTunes) * Clueless, season 2: "Chick Fight Tonight" (Amazon | iTunes) * Pacific Palisades (1997) (Amazon | iTunes) * 3rd Rock from the Sun, season 2: "Dickmalion" (Amazon | iTunes) * Bone Chillers (1996) (Amazon | iTunes)