Linda Cardellini: Biography
Linda Edna Cardellini was born on June 25, 1975, in Redwood City, California, to Wayne David Cardellini and Lorraine Hernan. She graduated from nearby Mountain View's St. Francis High School in 1993, and attended Loyola Marymount University's College of Communication & Fine Arts, graduating in 2001 with a degree in theatre.
Cardellini got her start in television as the lead in Bone Chillers (1996), an ABC children's show. She may be best known for her roles as high school student Lindsay Weir on the television series Freaks and Geeks and nurse Samantha Taggart on NBC's ER. She played Velma in two live-action Scooby-Doo! movies, which were released in 2002 and 2004, respectively. In 2005 she played a supporting role in Ang Lee's critically acclaimed Brokeback Mountain, and also appeared in the socially conscious American Gun. In 2006 she starred with Allen Covert in the lighthearted Grandma's Boy.
- Linda was #93 in FHM online magazine's 2006 list of the "100 Sexiest Women in the World."(edit)
- While starring on ER, Linda appeared in seven of NBC's "The More You Know" public service announcements. The topics she addressed were anti-prejudice, autism, internet safety, the environment, family communication, drinking while driving, and staying in school.(edit)
- In 2006, Busy Philipps joined the cast of ER in a reccurring role. This is the first time Linda has worked with her since they starred alongside each other in Freaks and Geeks. (edit)
- Linda provided the voice of the heroine "Ursula" in the 2003 role-playing video game Gladius.(edit)
- In 1994, Linda appeared as a contestant on The Price is Right and won a fireplace. (edit)
- Linda met director Nick Gossen when she starred in his 2006 film Grandma's Boy. They began dating after production on the movie wrapped.(edit)
- She loves fine art, especially the works of Margaret Keane, an American artist whose signature big-eyed paintings are well-known to art collectors throughout the world.(edit)
- Linda enjoys taking martial arts classes.(edit)
- Linda is of Italian and Irish descent.(edit)
- Linda is 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m) tall. (edit)
- Her parents filmed her giving an Oscar speech when she was ten, but she's not allowed to see it until she actually wins one.(edit)
- According to an article in Seventeen magazine, Linda picked up a new hobby, making game tables, while working on Scooby Doo!.(edit)
- Linda met former boyfriend Jason Segel on the set of the 1998 film Dead Man on Campus. They starred together on NBC's Freaks and Geeks and began dating in 2001. They broke up in February 2006.(edit)
- Linda Cardellini: (on whether she would do a third Scooby Doo! film) Yeah, if it’s a great story definitely. Kids love it. I hear some 3 or 4 year old kids who can’t speak in complete sentences and they love to talk about Scooby-Doo. It’s fun. It’s really a great character. There’s not a lot of broad, young and smart, crazy, zany characters that you get to play like this. (Cinema Confidential; March 23, 2004)(edit)
- Linda Cardellini: The one thing that being on ER has changed is that I’m more recognizable because it’s the first time where I played someone where I look like her on the street. I could stand next to the poster for Scooby-Doo and nobody would know that it’s me. (Cinema Confidential; March 23, 2004)(edit)
- Linda Cardellini: (about her role on ER) It was terrifying. I accepted the job on Monday and started working on Wednesday. I didn’t really have enough time to be scared about it. But, you know, you hit the ground running, and if you can’t keep running—you’re out. So you have no choice but to run with it. It’s pretty amazing. You know, I knew about the dialogue being scary. But I had no idea how technical the actual job is. Physically you have to learn to do things and look like you’re doing procedures and look like you know what you’re doing at all times in a trauma room—where it is life and death. That takes a lot of learning. (from the 2005 article "Miss Versatility," by Jay S. Jacobs)(edit)
- Linda Cardellini: (on her Scooby Doo! role) I love cartoons and childlike things, and this was my favorite. You can't escape it. It has always been on television, at least for my life. If someone would have told me when I was a kid I would be playing Velma in a Hollywood movie, I'd have said they were crazy.(edit)
- Linda Cardellini: I’d really like to be seen as somebody who’s versatile. And I could do many things, not just one… Somebody who is a capable and versatile actress. And a good person. (from the 2005 article "Miss Versatility," by Jay S. Jacobs)(edit)
- Linda Cardellini: With any project that you hope has merit, you hope it changes people’s hearts and minds and it leads them to something that is socially conscious. (from the 2005 article "Miss Versatility," by Jay S. Jacobs)(edit)
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