Spotlight On: Lizzy Caplan

Lights off, spotlight on! Time to see which series Lizzy Caplan also has on her resume. Maybe you don't know her from a series, but from a movie. Lizzy Caplan became known to the general public for her roles in Mean Girls and Cloverfield. Nice variety of genres. A variation that you actually see throughout her resume - in both series and films.

That starts with Freaks and Geeks, a comedy-drama that only runs for one season at the turn of the century. However, the series is highly rated. It is not for nothing that big names such as James Franco, Seth Rogen and Jason Segel are on the call sheet. For Caplan, there was a modest place in the series in four episodes.

After that, Caplan basically hops on a hop-on-hop-off bus. From a small acting job in a series here to a film role there, and then back to television. She is working on her name through series such as Undeclared and Once and Again and she has a small part in the superhero series Smallville. She can also be seen in The Pitts - a very mediocre family comedy that was quickly taken off the screen.

2004 is then the year of Mean Girls, after which the general public finally gets to know Caplan. She can be seen briefly in series that follow, while her roles in films become bigger and more important. The mystery series Tru Calling is an example of this. Caplan's status is big enough to give her a longer guest role, she does not accept a regular role in the series. Here too, it ultimately remains with four episodes.

The Comedy series Related, in which Caplan has a leading role, does not make it. The series will be taken off the air after one season, which also applies to Caplan's successor The Class. Perhaps a sign for Caplan to focus more on film. Although she also dabbles in voice acting, for example through Family Guy, American Dad! and The Lifes & Times of Tim.

In the meantime, she has had success with the found footage horror film Cloverfield, a fairly unexpected cinema hit from the production company Bad Robot of J.J. Abrams.

Through a recurring guest role in the seriously suspenseful True Blood, she moves on to the fun movie Hot Tub Time Machine and the drama 127 Hours. Not much happens on the series front, with only an episode of voice acting on The Cleveland Show and roles on Mr. Sunshine, Children's Hospital and Wainy Days. What is bigger is her role in Party Down.

A brief, recurring guest role on New Girl sets the stage for another starring role in a long-running series: Masters of Sex. In four seasons, Caplan shows that she is also at home on the small screen. Something that, until then, just didn't quite work out. Caplan then continues to divide her acting endeavors across the big and small screen, from movies like Now You See Mee 2 to guest appearances on Newsreaders and Kroll Show and a small role in the oddball The League.

Masters of Sex also means more focus on series work for a longer period of time. Although Caplan made trips, she hasn't been involved in too many projects over the course of Masters of Sex. That changes in 2017 when the drama series ends. What is special is that you can immediately see the variation in the jobs she tackles.

In The Simpsons she does a voice for one episode and in the crime series Angie Tribeca she plays a guest role. She only holds the lead role in Ill Behavior for three episodes, before the comedy is transported to the graveyard of the failed series. In the aptly titled I'm Sorry, she then continues in a - again - one-off guest role.

In the war drama Das Boot - the sequel to the 1981 film classic - Caplan plays a bigger supporting role, just as bigger roles seem to suit her more. JJ Abrams' Castle Rock means a short leading role for Caplan and in Truth Be Told she plays a recurring supporting role. For the animated series Inside Job, she provides the voice of the main character.

Apart from a small foray into film, Caplan's focus is now on series. Via Fleishman Is in Trouble, she moves to the revived Party Down, a comedy about a group of actors who move to LA to make it there.

For the coming period, Fatal Attraction is on the program, a retelling of the psychological thriller film from 1987. In addition, Caplan is involved in the development of the mini-series Zero Day - with Robert de Niro - about the influence of conspiracy theories in what appears to be a crumbling society. The central question of that series is: how do I find out the truth? - in many cases this is quite a realistic question. One thing is not in doubt: Caplan is - if you will - here to stay.

Are you a fan? Look here for more (guest) roles played by Lizzy Caplan.

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