Editor’s note: This is the final installment of a series in which a Pucks and Rec writer will select the top contemporary entertainment citizen of every city in a select minor-league hockey division. The seven markets comprising the ECHL Mountain Division are this week’s focus. All filmography and award information is courtesy of the Internet Movie Database.
Allen: Brad Leland
As Buddy Garrity, he was part of a successful six-season ensemble on Friday Night Lights. While he has yet to land in another core cast, he has answered calls from a string of top-notch programs.
Leland’s first credit after Friday Night Lights’ conclusion was a guest spot on Parks and Recreation. His only other credit for the year 2012 was his first of six appearances on Veep. Leland later added a one-time spot on Angie Tribeca, and had a supporting part in Deepwater Horizon in between.
Colorado (Loveland): Kyle Howard
The precocious Howard started picking brains on the local level at a Loveland dinner theater in his early teens. By age 18, he had his first major film role in 1996’s House Arrest, for which he received a Young Artist nomination.
Howard has gained consideration for only one other award since then. Nonetheless, he tops his hometown’s output as a consistent, relatively mainstream actor. Of particular note, he guest starred on USA Network’s Royal Pains 16 times between its third and eighth seasons.
Idaho (Boise): William Petersen
For 15 years, Petersen sported a two-billed hat on CSI as a producer and as Gil Grissom. His acting yielded one individual Golden Globe nomination and an ensemble Screen Actors Guild victory.
At the program’s nine-year mark, Petersen earned a star on the TV section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Since the show’s ending in 2015, he has seen little action in front of the camera. But that will change in the near future as he tries his hand at the TV movie Hurt People.
All of this is Petersen’s reward for abruptly changing aspirations from football at Idaho State University.
Rapid City: Catherine Bach
In Bach’s heyday, a People cover profile mentioned Rapid City Central High School as her alma mater. A subsequent move to UCLA parlayed her into film and later her most notable TV role.
While 32 years have elapsed since the Dukes of Hazzard concluded, the original Daisy remains her city’s entertainment pride. She has not retained that unofficial honor with full passivity, either. Bach was a regular on The Young and the Restless from 2012 to 2015 and garnered a guest spot on the Hawaii Five-0 reboot.
(Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Tulsa: Bill Hader
When impersonating cable anchor Shepard Smith on Saturday Night Live, Hader professed to “come from a town full of secrets.” In reality, he comes from a town full of notable pop-culture figures, and he presently stands above them all.
With fellow SNL contemporary Kristen Wiig, Hader branched out to poignant drama through 2014’s The Skeleton Twins. He continued to accrue accolades the next year onscreen via Trainwreck and from the booth with Inside Out.
Hader’s voice talent, versatility and team-player proficiency have kept him on the Emmy ballot with his work on South Park and Documentary Now! And he is in perpetually heavy demand for one-off movie and recurring TV supporting roles.
Alfrede Woodard warrants an honorable mention for her still-running, decorated career of three-plus decades. Woodard garnered an Oscar nomination in 1984, and has since added 16 Primetime Emmy candidacies, most recently in 2013.
The seasoned Woodard is joining a celestial voice cast for the 2019 remake of Disney’s The Lion King. Her colleagues will include Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, James Earl Jones, Keegan-Michael Key, John Oliver and Beyonce.
Utah (Salt Lake/West Valley City): Jessie Gallagher
Gallagher is one of only two IMDB-profiled people with a connection to the Grizzlies’ actual town. Moreover, she is the only one who has done any real acting, as opposed to appearances in documentaries.
While Gallagher has no official TV or film credits, her bio says she has been acting in L.A. since 2011.
As it happens, the nearby bigger city of Salt Lake City has not produced much in this field, either. Matthew Davis of The Vampire Diaries juts the highest among contemporary actors from the Utah capital.
Wichita: Annette Bening
Earlier this month, IndieWire reported that Bening will be the star of the 2017 Museum of the Moving Image Salute. Museum trustee Michael Barker raved, “her stunning range as an actress has always been staggering and uncompromising.”
Bening will accept this toast on the heels of her seventh Golden Globe nomination in the last quarter-century. Her part in 20th Century Women also put her up for an AARP Movies for Grownups Award. In addition, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists singled her out (along with Isabelle Huppert) for “defying age and ageism.”
Nearly 60, the four-time Oscar nominee will look to build on that distinction with five upcoming projects. Bening is portraying Kathleen Blanco in the next iteration of American Crime Story and has four movies ahead in 2018.
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