With the exception of Infinity War, Clint Barton a.k.a. Hawkeye has been a mainstay
of the Avengers gatherings, and the introduction of his wife Laura in Age of Ultron proved
that Earth's mightiest heroes could have a home life as well.
If the kind, supportive Mrs. Barton looks familiar, it's probably because you've almost
definitely seen Linda Cardellini in something before.
The actress has been active in Hollywood for more than two decades and has racked up some
impressive credits along the way.
From roles in children's favorites of the late '90s to peak TV appearances, here's where
you may have seen Cardellini before.
TGIF
After enjoying a breakout role in ABC's kid-thriller series Bone Chillers, Cardellini spent a great
deal of her early career in the kid-centric television circuit.
She enjoyed cameo roles in TGIF shows like Step by Step and Boy Meets World and also
made appearances on 3rd Rock from the Sun and the Clueless small screen series.
Boy Meets World was significant for her because it was the first role for which she was recognized
out and about, albeit for all the wrong reasons.
As she told The A.V.
Club:
"I was at my hometown carnival and about eight kids ran up to me, they couldn't have been
older than 8 years old, and yelled, 'Homewrecker!'"
Hey, those Team Topanga fans can be intense.
Good Burger
Cardellini's silver screen breakthrough came by way of Nickelodeon's Good Burger, a bizarre
fast food film based on a regular sketch from the TV network's All That.
In the movie, she appears as Heather, a young woman in a mental institution whose history
may or may not include breaking into a zoo to "free the kangaroos" at the behest of space
aliens.
"I'm a psychopath."
"I'm Ed!"
She'd later reunite with the film's stars, Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell, for an episode
of their buddy comedy, Kenan & Kel.
Strangeland
Shortly after the advent of the AOL chatroom came Strangeland, a feature-length PSA about
the dangers of meeting strangers online.
Although the technology is now outmoded, the movie's message is still as relevant today
as it was back then, and Cardellini's turn as a girl who's abducted after going to the
fake party of a guy she met on the internet still produces a lot of terror.
Freaks and Geeks
After earning several regular television spots in series that didn't last, Cardellini landed
the central role of Lindsay Weir in NBC's Freaks and Geeks.
The show featured her as an awkward high schooler who decides to make friends with some of the
less academically-inclined members of the student population, much to her parents' disappointment.
Although it was cancelled after the first season, it's since become a cult favorite.
"I love the show.
I continue to love it, and I feel so lucky.
How can you not be proud of that show?"
It may not have offered her long-term job security at the time, but the series does
offer her one heck of a highlight reel as the series continues to draw in new fans.
Legally Blonde
Cardellini's appearance in this romantic comedy taught us all about the unexpected legal importance
of a solid hair care regimen.
In Legally Blonde, Cardellini takes the stand as the daughter of a murdered millionaire
to testify against the client of Reese Witherspoon's Elle Woods.
Cardellini's role might've been small, but it was hardly superfluous when it comes to
the overarching plot of Elle Wood's overnight ascent to master litigator.
"You, however, had time to hide the gun, didn't you, Chutney?
After you shot your father?"
"I didn't MEAN to shoot him!
I thought it was YOU walking through the door!"
Scooby Doo
Although the Scooby-Doo films didn't quite make her a household name, they did align
her with some very popular teen stars of the time, including Freddie Prinze, Jr., Sarah
Michelle Gellar, and Matthew Lillard.
And her turn as Velma had some purposefully provocative moments that are still worth discussing.
Thanks to her thick glasses and unusual hair in the first film, her face wasn't exactly
getting seared into audiences' memories during the movie.
But after her big makeover scene in Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, her true appearance
became much less of a mystery for moviegoers.
Brokeback Mountain
Cardellini also had a brief role in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain as Cassie Cartwright, a
small-town waitress who takes a shine to Heath Ledger's Ennis Del Mar, not knowing he's still
holding a candle for Jake Gyllenhaal's Jack Twist.
Cardellini admitted that her interest in the small role first stemmed from her admiration
for the director and screenwriter.
She told The A.V.
Club:
"I'm a huge Ang Lee fan and a huge Larry McMurtry fan.
That script is so beautiful.
I remember spending 45 minutes auditioning and thinking, 'I may not get this part, but
it doesn't matter because I just spent 45 minutes getting directed by Ang Lee.'
When I got the part [...] it was really a gift and privilege."
ER
Cardellini really got to show off her flare for the dramatic with her long-standing role
on NBC's ER as Samantha Taggart, a nurse who is both a recovering alcoholic and a single
mother.
She played the character for six seasons, enduring everything from unstable exes to
a hostage situation at the hospital to an exploding ambulance.
Although she was able to do other projects during her five-season run on the show, she's
called the experience of being on the series a "marathon" and didn't commit to doing any
regular TV work, other than voice roles in animated series, for the better part of a
decade afterward.
Return
One of Cardellini's post-ER passion projects was a small film called Return, which featured
her in the lead as a war veteran returning home to her family and finding that although
she's wanted nothing more than to be with them again, she doesn't recognize or feel
recognized by her old world.
The film was one of the first that would feature Cardellini in every scene, and while it might
not have been a box office smash, it was one of several well-reviewed projects that would
help earn the actress some serious indie cred.
Mad Men
Among the many prestige TV shows to take hold of Hollywood in recent years, AMC's Mad Men
had to have the most buzzy cameo list of all, Cardellini included.
In the show's sixth season, she debuted in her recurring role as Sylvia Rosen, a neighbor
to Jon Hamm's Don Draper.
She becomes his part-time lover and, eventually, full-time obsession.
Her appearance on the show reveals some staggering details about his oft-mysterious past.
For Cardellini, being a part of the awards season favorite series meant that she'd have
to keep a set secret, but that extra work on the home front was worth it because she
earned her first and only Emmy nomination for her work in the show.
Daddy's Home
As genre-bending as her screen career has been, Cardellini does seem particularly at
home in the comedy realm.
It's what made her a good fit for a guest role on New Girl and why she was such a scene-stealer
in Grandma's Boy, and Daddy's Home and its sequel gave the actress another chance to
play around with some other funny people for a while, namely, Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.
In the movies, she stars as Sara, the mother of two whose new spouse is an ideal step-father
to her children, but whose first husband is a mess who returns to stir up trouble and
attempt to win back his family from the new guy.
Antics ensue.
"Do over!"
"That's a do over!"
Bloodline
Cardellini's real return to the small screen scene came by way of Netflix's Bloodline as
Meg Rayburn, the youngest in a tumultuous family who tries and often fails to broker
peace between her siblings.
She starred in the series for three seasons, which gave her character plenty of room to
arc into some dark places, and Cardellini relished the opportunity.
She initially joined the series because of the talent that she'd get to work with on
the show but found that working on another series gave her the opportunity to stretch
her creative legs in a way films cannot.
As she told Elle Magazine:
"I think there are great roles for women in television because there is time to allow
those characters to evolve."
Voice work
In addition to having a diverse portfolio of screen appearances, Cardellini is also
a prolific voice actress.
She started doing vocal work for video games before earning a title role in the short-lived
ABC animated series The Goode Family.
She'd go on to do voice work for a number of other cartoon shows, including Scooby-Doo!
Mystery Incorporated, Out There, Regular Show, and Disney's Gravity Falls.
"I'm gonna [to] slipper!"
Her familiar voice may make it difficult for her to make prank calls, but the ability to
act off-camera has definitely helped her pay the bills over the years in between on-screen
gigs!
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