Sydney Sweeney was Female Student #1

I have a nasty habit when I am watching any movie or TV show when an actor comes on that looks familiar or piques my interest, I jump on the IMDb app on my phone and look them up. Sometimes I will say “Oh, that’s where I know them from” and other times I go “Oh, Wow!”

Everyone knows the old favorites like the fact that Leondardo DiCaprio was in Growing Pains, or any of the famous Mickey Mouse Club members, but there are some surprising entries that will almost certainly blow your hair back.

So, this is an exploration of some famous artists today, and what their earlier IMDb entries say about them.

Sydney Sweeney

She was the star of the 2023 Australian-based romantic comedy ‘Anyone but You’ opposite Glen Powell. She wowed audiences and has now gone on to star in Madam Web and the 2024 horror movie ‘Immaculate’. Miss Sweeney’s also set to appear in the Ron Howard-directed thriller ‘Eden’.

However, back in 2017, in the penultimate episode of the penultimate season of the mid-western TV comedy series ‘The Middle’, Sydney Sweeney played the role of Female Student #1. As luck would have it, I watched that episode just the other night but for the life of me, I couldn’t spot her in the crowd.

Glen Powell

Let’s stick with the ‘Anyone by You’ theme for a second, Glen Powell being 9 years older than Sweeney (but we won’t get into the whole age discrepancy debate here) has a lot more on his list of credits. He was a cocky flyboy in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and got to play the real-life hero pilot, John Glenn in ‘Hidden Figures’. Now he’s set to take on the lead role in the sequel disaster movie ‘Twisters’.

But next time Mr Powell is on the red carpet I want to hear someone ask him about his role in Spy Kids 3: Game Over. “Mr Powell, which was more challenging? This role, or the role of long-fingered boy?” Just the character's name is worth the discussion on its own.

Ryan Gosling

He was just Ken (but before you ask, no I haven’t seen the movie) in ‘Barbie’, he has recently played Colt Sievers in the remake of 'The Fall Guy’, but I’ve got a whole other story where I rant about remakes.

Gosling has a long list of credits, after all, he’s been around for a while. I had, however, forgotten that he used to play ‘Young Hercules’. What you may not have realized was before he played the son of Zeus, he guest starred in the Kevin Sorbo series ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’. A youthful and energetic Gosling obviously impressed and earned his own stand-alone series of the young hero.

Katee Sackhoff

Few people in this universe have better sci-fi credentials than Katee Sackhoff, she was in Battlestar Galactica, she IS Bo-Katan Kryze in every Star Wars story that involves a Mandalorian, plus she played Vic Moretti in Longmire. Sackhoff in addition to being a hard-working actor (physical and voice actor), also goes above and beyond for the sometimes fanatical sci-fi fanbase attending conventions and other events.

But IMDb tells us that in 1998, Sackhoff made her acting debut when she starred alongside Kerstin Dunst in the made-for-TV movie ‘Fifteen and Pregnant’. The image below shows an unmistakable Sackhoff in the scandalous tale of a young girl getting pregnant at the age of fifteen.

Let me recommend taking some time to go down the IMDb rabbit hole, it's entertaining. Even better is when you jump on and something reminds you of an old movie or TV show that you can rediscover.

Thanks for taking the time to read, if you can like or comment it would be greatly appreciated.