| <><><><> | |
|---|---|
 Poppy Montgomery, March 2009  | |
| Born | Poppy Petal Emma Elizabeth Deveraux Donahue 19 June 1975 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Partner | Adam Kaufman, 1 child |
Personal life
Poppy Petal Emma Elizabeth Deveraux Donahue was born in Sydney, Australia, the daughter of Nicola (née Montgomery), an executive and market researcher, and Phil Donahue, a restaurateur.[3] Her parents named her and her sisters (Rosie Thorn, Daisy Yellow, Lily Belle and Marigold Sun) after flowers, and their brother after Jethro Tull. She attended the Ascham School, Edgecliff, New South Wales.Montgomery and boyfriend, actor Adam Kaufman, have a son together named Jackson.[4][5]
Career
Montgomery quit school to travel with her then-boyfriend, emigrating to the United States around 1993. She came to prominence with her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in the 2001 CBS mini-series Blonde, based on the novel by Joyce Carol Oates.[6] She got her big break in 2002, when she was picked out of over 100 women for the role of Samantha Spade on Without A Trace.As of April 2011, she has completed filming a biopic Magic Beyond Words, playing J. K. Rowling[7] and is filming "Unforgettable," a Ed Redlich TV pilot of a police procedural drama about a former detective gifted/cursed with perfect recall, for CBS and Sony, based on the short story The Rememberer.[8] [9]
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Silk Stalkings | Angel | Episode: "Natural Selection: Part 1" Episode: "Natural Selection: Part 2" |
| 1994 | Tammy and the T-Rex | Party Girl #1 | |
| 1995 | Jake Lassiter: Justice on the Bayou | Cindy | TV movie |
| 1995 | Devil in a Blue Dress | Barbara's Sister | |
| 1996 | The Cold Equations | Marilyn 'Lee' Cross | TV movie |
| 1996 | Peacock Blues | TV short | |
| 1996 | Party of Five | Allison | Episode: "Poor Substitutes" |
| 1996 | NYPD Blue | Lisa | Episode: "Burnin' Love" |
| 1996 | Relativity | Jennifer Lukens | 7 episodes |
| 1997 | Desert's Edge | Mary | TV short |
| 1998 | Dead Man on Campus | Rachel | |
| 1999 | The Wonder Cabinet | Dr. Sarah Coleman | TV movie |
| 1999 | The Other Sister | Caroline Tate | |
| 1999 | Life | Older Mae Rose Abernathy | |
| 2000 | Men Named Milo, Women Named Greta | Barri Noodleman | Short film |
| 2000 | The Beat | Elizabeth Waclawek | 3 episodes |
| 2001 | Blonde | Norma Jean Baker / Marilyn Monroe | TV miniseries |
| 2001 | Going to California | Penelope | Episode: "Hurricane Al: A Tale of Key Largo" |
| 2002 | Glory Days | Ellie Sparks | 9 episodes |
| 2002–2009 | Without a Trace | Samantha Spade | 160 episodes |
| 2004 | Raising Waylon | Julia Bellows | TV special |
| 2004 | 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover | Allison | |
| 2005 | Between (film) | Nadine Roberts | |
| 2005 | Murder in the Hamptons | Generosa Rand | TV movie |
| 2005 | Snow Wonder | Paula | TV movie |
| 2010 | True Blue | Katherine Miller | TV pilot |
| 2010 | Lying to Be Perfect | Nola Devlin | TV movie |
| 2011 | Magic Beyond Words | J. K. Rowling | TV Movie |
| 2011–present | Unforgettable | Carrie Wells | American television series |
References
- ^ EW profile
- ^ IMDb profile
- ^ Profile at Film Reference.com
- ^ Jenny Sundel (12 June 2007). "Without a Trace's Poppy Montgomery Pregnant". People. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20042215,00.html. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
- ^ Poppy Montgomery Welcomes a Boy, People, 4 January 2008. Accessed 12 July 2008.
- ^ Martindale, David. Meet Poppy Montgomery, TNT. Accessed 12 July 2008.
- ^ "Victoria to star in film on Rowling". Times Colonist. 12 February 2011. http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Victoria+star+film+Rowling/4271775/story.html. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
- ^ "2011 Fall Preview Video-Unforgettable". CBS.com, 22 May 2011
- ^ "Poppy Montgomery in Sunnyside Queens". Sunnyside Post, 4 April 2011
External links
Unforgettable with Poppy Montgomery CTV series
If only this show lived up to it’s name, unfortunately, the pilot episode IS a bit forgettable. I’m hard-pressed to find anything to break down too much. The execution is smooth, the concept is solid, the acting is at least up to par and better in some cases, so what then is holding back this show?
Poppy Montgomery stars as Carrie Wells, an ex-police officer with an eidetic memory. Although it would seem nearly impossible to show a person who simply can’t forget anything on TV, the creators have found a way to show us what happens in Carrie’s head. As she strains to remember every detail about a situation she’s seen, we watch it from an outside perspective, and we get to see the direction she was looking while she was there. Essentially, she concentrates really hard until she notices the thing that she didn’t consciously notice before. She seems to have to struggle a little too much to access the information, but let’s chalk that up to her being rusty at the beginning of the show. Unfortunately, for someone who can’t forget, she spends way too much time remembering. Ultimately, she’ll have to learn to do this almost effortlessly. With her police training, she should be well equipped to notice details that are important. In this episode, she has to watch memories two or three times to glean the relevant information. As intriguing as the shooting style is, this could grow quite boring pretty quick.
This concept has real potential. It’s a bit fascinating to watch her rebuild the world in her own head, but it seems to have a few serious limitations. The show is moving towards a cop-drama of sorts. Each week, Carrie will be pulled in to help on a different case, and each week her memory will save the day. However, the real problem here is that she has to be present at a crime. If she doesn’t witness it, her memory can’t really help. If she does witness a crime a week, she should take out a HUGE life insurance policy. There’s a nice story woven in about Carrie trying to remember the day her sister was murdered, and that should help propel the series, but there’s still more which seems a bit off.
I’ve never been able to see Dylan Walsh, who plays her detective/ex-boyfriend Al Burns, as a leading man of any sort. Even in Nip/Tuck there was something about him that never screamed to me: this is why he got a leading role. He seems like a quirky friend, or a villain at best. Yet somehow he keeps landing leading roles in dramas. It’s not a lack of talent. It’s more of a chemistry issue. A leading man has a huge burden to shoulder. Leading men always have to have a romantic arc, an action side, and they have to be more calculated than any other character. Their choices have to be bold and interesting. Dylan Walsh just doesn’t seem like the type of person who could make these tough choices. It’s not his fault, and it’s certainly not a fault of the writing. It’s a casting misstep.
The story of the pilot is tight. It doesn’t focus too much on the extraneous details of Carrie’s backstory, while still giving enough to make the audience empathetic with her. Most of the dialogue is sharp and on point. They also managed to give Carrie a nice arc about coming to terms with every event she’s ever experienced that will stay with her. Memories pop into her head at inopportune times. She has to struggle with putting these memories into her world and work with all her problems.
This show has a lot of potential to do well. It could definitely find an audience among bereaved Ghost Whisper fans. There’s certainly enough backstory in Unforgettable to make a few seasons of pretty good TV. It’s from the same creative team that brought us Without a Trace, a show that ran and ran and ran. Several members of the cast (Montgomery included) are alums of Trace. It seems only logical that this show will also find its audience. As for me… I’m not the target demographic. But there’s a lot of potential for this show to go quite far, if anyone “remembers” to watch it.
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