Editor’s note: This is the latest installment in a recurring series where a Pucks and Rec writer will select the top contemporary actor from each city in a hockey league. This week, we focus on the current markets in the WHL U.S. Division. All filmography and award information was found on the Internet Movie Database.
Everett: Michael Shamus Wiles
Wiles beat out Billy Burke in a compelling footrace for this virtual honor. Once a brief supporting player on 24 (seven episodes), Burke has more recently guest starred on Chicago P.D., The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles. In addition, he garnered a 2012 Saturn nomination for his performance on Revolution.
But Wiles is the more all-round accomplished ringer among Everett natives in showbiz. In the last decade alone, he has logged recurring spots on Breaking Bad (11 appearances) and Sons of Anarchy (five). Since those shows closed up shop, he has answered one-off casting calls from Grey’s Anatomy and American Crime Story.
Other notable programs on Wiles’ resume: Melrose Place, The X-Files, CSI, NCIS, NYPD Blue, Monk, Medium and Criminal Minds.
Honorable mention: Patrick Duffy, once of Dallas fame, spent the latter stages of his upbringing in Everett.
Portland: Brenda Strong
To cap Desperate Housewives’ eight-year run and commence this calendar decade, Strong broke through with back-to-back Emmy nominations. She was on the ballot in 2011 and 2012.
Though her Mary Alice Young days are behind her, Strong remains a primetime constant. The last six years have been more of a collage, but a celestial one at that. She showed up twice on Scandal and one apiece on Bones and Chicago P.D.
Within the last two years, Strong has become more of a regular on two programs. She appeared in four episodes of The Walking Dead and has portrayed Lillian Luthor on Supergirl in a dozen installments.
Honorable mention: Carrie Brownstein, a Seattle transplant who settled in Oregon’s largest city long before playfully lampooning it. Besides several shared nods, her performances on Portlandia have fetched a solo 2015 Critics Choice nomination.
Seattle (Kent, Wash.): Josie Bissett
Growing up in Kent, Bissett broke into acting as a teenager by exploring her neighboring city’s offerings. After briefly relocating to Japan, she returned stateside and eventually broke out as Jane Andrews Mancini on Melrose Place.
After that show’s seven-year run ended in 1999, Bissett landed all of four acting gigs in nine years. Implicitly focusing on her home life for a time, she kindled another main role as Kathleen on The Secret Life of an American Teenager.
Five seasons of that program kept her plenty professionally occupied. And in the five years since, Bissett has consistently represented Kent through a slew of TV movies.
Honorable mention: Rebecca Corry, a contemporary of Bissett’s who has had less success with main roles. But for what it’s worth, while Bissett was born in Seattle and raised on the outskirts, Corry cites Kent as her town of birth.
Spokane: Craig T. Nelson
As recently as 2015, the final year of Parenthood, Nelson has drawn accolades for his performances on the small screen. The Critics Choice academy nominated him that year for top supporting actor in a drama series.
Granted, Nelson’s more recent track record sits in the blanketing shadow of his past. He landed four straight Golden Globe nominations in the early ’90s for Coach. The start of that run overlapped with three straight Emmy ballots, including a victory in 1992, for the same show.
But while the radiant gold has dimmed for the seasoned Nelson, the demand for his talents has not. Since finishing Parenthood, he has put in at least one film appearance every calendar year. A pair of projects due for release in 2018 includes his return as the patriarch in Incredibles 2.
Tri-City (Kennewick, Wash.): Janet Krupin
Neither of the other Tri-Cities (Pasco and Richland) offer much competition. No one born in the actual Tri-City Americans town, and still living anywhere, has had an exceptional acting career. And other than Krupin, no one else with Kennewick ties has appeared in anything since 2014.
This title is thus a default decision, though Krupin can still fill out her credentials. The 30-year-old is chiefly a stage performer and musician. But as Dori O’Neal of the Tri-City Herald articulated in 2013, “She’d eventually love to slide into TV or film work as an actor.”
Since the time of that story, Krupin has appeared in one full-length movie (David Cross’ 2014 dramedy, Hits). She subsequently starred in the 13-minute short film, Cause of Attraction.
While that is not much, it is more than any other Tri-Cities product can claim of late. And it could still serve as a foundation for more.
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