: Gabrielle Anwar

Remember when Gabrielle Anwar was the ultimate ingénue? She played sweet but determined young-lady characters like nobody’s business, and everyone seemed to be in consensus that she was the prettiest girl in the world. (People magazine even made it official by including her in their 1993 list.)  As a tween viewer in 1991, Anwar’s tomboy look and courageous horse-diving in Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken made me a lifelong fan. And then there was her seminal appearance as the burrito-loving ice-skater on Beverly Hills, 90210. (Apparently the 9-0 writers liked The Cutting Edge almost as much as I did.)

But after the famous tango scene in Scent of a Woman, Anwar’s career went B-list, and then C-list. And, as with so many other ultimate ingénues, no one seemed to notice. There must have been a new prettiest-girl-in-the-world that year. Maybe Neve Campbell?

So imagine my delight at seeing Anwar return to the small screen as Fiona Glenanne on Burn Notice. Fiona’s got more of an edge than Anwar’s earlier characters. She’s a morally ambiguous former IRA agent who dates the protagonist, but has a greater passion for shooting bad guys.

It’s always refreshing to watch a female character in an action show who matches the male protagonist in skills, smarts, and plain old bad-assery. It’s even more refreshing that Burn Notice casts age-appropriate actresses across the board. As a low-budget USA series about spies, it could easily have gotten away with having a 20-year-old woman play opposite a 30-something dude (hell, high-budget action movies do it almost every time). But Burn Notice eschews the cult of the ingénue in favor of more experienced actresses (who, for the record, are still crazy good looking). It’s a smart move -- Anwar’s gumption and gravitas have only increased with age, and she brings a lot more to Fiona than just a pretty face.

With a recurring role on The Tudors as well, you might say Anwar is getting better parts than she did in her first blush of fame. And that makes life seem a little more fair.

Comments

[brady]

Gabrielle Anwar and Bruce Campbell are both people whose careers never quite reached the heights that their talent promised. That they are both now finding their much deserved success is satisfying. I would never have guessed that signing on for a show on USA would be a career move. But then, I would never have guessed that USA would come up with a show as fun and as addictive as Burn Notice.

[Lara]

Oh! She played Sonora in WHCBB? Awesome. I loved that movie for Sonora's character as much as for the fact that Jake Ryan (real name unspellable) played the love interest, so that's saying something.

Also, is Burn Notice good? We liked the pilot, but haven't kept up.

[brady]

Lara-

It's good. Solid popcorn fare. Not in the Michael Bay "As long as it's loud and has boobs, the script can be utterly awful way." More like it's completely light and committed to being fun.

[mct]

I like watching Brandon's cheek cut heal in that scene.
Also Anwar could stand to remember how cool burritos are again. She's looking a bit drawn.

[tadera]

I remember her only from beverly hills ( http://rapid4me.com/?q=beverly+hills+90210 ), perhaps, she is also good in other movies.