Many fear the unknown, but actress Linda Cardellini, who plays Nurse Taggert on NBC's long-running medical drama ER, certainly isn't one of them.  This bodes well for the 32-year-old star, considering the unpredictable and unstable nature of the industry wherein she works.

"You don't get into this business to know your future, and there's part of you that loves the roller coaster ride of the unknown,” Cardellini told the McClatchy-Tribune.

Cardellini has experienced a lot of ups and downs in the 11 years that she has worked in the entertainment industry. She made her television debut on a show called Bone Chillers, after which she landed guest-starring roles in several other series, including 3rd Rock from the Sun, Kenan & Kel, Pacific Palisades and Boy Meets World.  In 2000, she landed a starring role on television, playing Lindsay Weir on the Judd Apatow-produced teen series, Freaks and Geeks.  Unfortunately, the show was canceled after only 18 episodes.

After Freaks and Geeks, she appeared in two films, Unsaid and Legally Blonde, before finally hitting it big with the titular role of Velma on the big screen adaptation of Scooby Doo.  The film was released in 2002, and a year later, Linda Cardellini began her stint on ER.  Staring January 13, viewers can catch her on the CBS' miniseries, Comanche Moon, a prequel to the award-winning Lonesome Dove.

On Comanche Moon, Linda Cardellini plays the younger version of Clara, the character portrayed by Oscar winner Anjelica Huston in Lonesome Dove.

"I was dying to play Clara because she was the great love of Gus McRae's [Steve Zahn] life," the ER star said.  “In Lonesome Dove you see the end of the relationship and you realize what happens to them.  The anguish in the end, them never being together, is the joy of them being together in the Comanche Moon days and the great love that begins and is fostered during that time.  But it's still star-crossed."

Lonesome Dove and Comanche Moon are based on the eponymous books authored by Larry McMurty.  Cardellini had worked with McMurty and his co-writer Diana Ossana on the feature, Brokeback Mountain, and it was Ossana who called Cardellini when they were casting for the upcoming miniseries.

"They knew that Lonesome Dove is my favorite novel and Gus McCrae is my favorite character in literature."


-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: McClatchy-Tribune
(Image Courtesy of askmen.com)