Why schadenfreude? She seems to be doing fine even though she’s doing commercials. And what do you have against her? I’m honestly puzzled.
I do not have anything against her. She’s a fine actress, and does indeed seem to be having a fine career. I really enjoyed her run on The Sopranos. But her departure from Criminal Minds felt* very much like “I’m getting off this show before it gets cancelled,” and that really amuses me 13 seasons later. Truth be told, I sort of hope she comes back as a villain in the final season coming up (either her or Thomas Gibson, but I suspect his bridges are burned beyond repair).
The schadenfreude I feel in this case is more akin to the feeling you get when the car that cut you off is sitting at the red light when you get there 3.4 seconds later. Just sort of a general “well, look who didn’t get very far after all.” There’s really no point in nitpicking it beyond that, it’s just a gut reaction thing.
- Googling reveals that she left the show because she wanted to return to the east coast. That’s cool, and is certainly a valid reason to leave. I’m talking about my perception.
I never watched Criminal Minds, but I always thought Lola Glaudini was excellent in everything I have seen - her turn in NYPD Blue was outstanding for example. So I really don’t get your dislike of her.
I mean, if she had come out and said “I feel this show isn’t showcasing my talents, and I’m a far better actor than this show deserves”, as she left, then sure, you’d have a case. But that doesn’t appear to be the case here. I’ve never understood the whole “I feel I should have input into actor’s career decisions”, but you do you I guess.
Back when I was auditioning for commercials, I would run into a number of people who had regular occasional supporting roles in a series that was no longer running. Not name actors, but if you watched the series you would recognize them.
They would be sitting in the waiting room on a plastic folding chair just like the rest of us. Actors gotta work!
I think the most prominent examples are JK Simmons in the Farmers Insurance commercials, and Dean Winters as “Mayhem” in the Allstate commercials. I’d wager as many or more people know those actors from those commercials as from their regular acting gigs (of which there is no shortage).
And re: Lola Glaudini, she’s had a perfectly cromulent career post “Criminal Minds” having recurring roles in “The Expanse”, “Agents of SHIELD” and “Ray Donovan” in the past 4-5 years, as well as a lot of one-off roles in various shows. I hardly think doing a commercial counts as having some sort of career flame-out these days.
I never said anything against her acting. I’ll grant that “fine” is faint praise, but it’s not a slam.
I specifically said, “I do not have anything against her.”
I’m not making a case. I reported a feeling, and then explained that feeling when asked. And then I specifically said, “it’s just a gut reaction thing” to underscore that I’m not trying to make a rational argument and to suggest that I don’t expect anyone else to share my feeling or join in.
Nor do I, and I hope we can agree that I’ve said literally nothing to suggest that I do.
Thanks, I will, and I encourage you to do the same, to the extent that it doesn’t involve putting words in my mouth.
Agreed.
Robert De Niro did some Amex card commercials a while back. I read that he did it to get Amex to support his film festival.
Lola Glaudini played an FBI agent on the Sopranos. At first she was undercover but later was a regular agent.
And Captain Shaddid on the first season of “The Expanse” (Miller’s Star Helix boss on Ceres)…
Bumping this thread after a long hiatus. Spotted a familiar face in a Wendy’s commercial, but couldn’t place her. Turns out she’s Vernee Watson, who’s had a long career in TV, soaps, and movies. For some reason she keeps playing nurses and doctors.
This is still my big “I’m not the only one seeing this, right? I didn’t imagine it? Okay, then.” moment. Robert Loggia shilling for Minute Maid orange juice:
Stephen Ogg, who played Simon on The Walking Dead, as well as Rebus in Westworld, plus appeared as the voice actor and physical representation of Trevor Phillips in Grand Theft Auto V, is currently in an ad for Old Spice.
Verne Watson is currently appearing “Bob hearts Abishola” playing a nurse.
Except he’s not playing a character. He’s playing Robert Loggia so it doesn’t meet the spirit of the thread.
Do print ads count? Because I was reading some old, 1970s magazines, and I saw one with Tom Selleck as a cigarette guy pretty face, and Arnold Schwarzenegger shilling something not as himself but just as a muscular model.
I’d say those count. But both of those examples seem to be before the actors were famous. My idea behind the thread was actors you recognize from relatively prominent roles in TV or Movies being spotting in commercials playing a random character.
When Geico first started TV commercials, the lizard was voiced by Kelsey Grammer. That didn’t last long.
Yes, and the next month had a different, Selleck-like pretty face for the same brand of cigarette. I wonder what the other guy thought - damn that Selleck! I should be famous!
Christian Slater was the voiceover for numerous Autotrader commercials about 10 years ago. Here’s one of them:
I don’t know if this counts or not, but Paul Scheer and Yvette Nicole Brown did a series of T-Mobile commercials in which they are never named or credited, and play hosts for some kind of talk show. I feel like those are two people that people recognize, but don’t necessarily know from where.
(Scheer is a standup comedian and actor who’s been in a bunch of diifferent stuff, and Brown is probably best known from Community. I had to look them both up for this post. 
)