Why Cathy Simms From The Office Looks So Familiar
Cathy Simms had a very brief tenure on "The Office," where she became notorious as the temptress that tried to break up fan-favorite couple Jim and Pam Halpert. In an interview with People, John Krasinski explained that his character was supposed to actually kiss Cathy, but Krasinski felt it would ruin Jim. Thus, Jim turned down Cathy's advances, and her character disappeared from the show with no explanation.
And the actor who played Cathy still gets harassed to this day by fans of "The Office" who have trouble separating fiction from reality. In a 2020 tweet, eight years after her last appearance on "The Office," she wrote: "If anyone is wondering what it was like to be on The Office, the best comedy of this century: I just posted something on Instagram about how my dog was murdered and a bunch of people were like 'F*** you, Cathy, she deserved it!' So. There ya go!"
The actor that has been continuing to catch abuse because of her fictional counterpart is Lindsey Broad, and fans of "The Office" probably remember seeing her face elsewhere, as Broad has had a long career in film and television, starting with her first role in the "Gossip Girl" pilot when she played the role of "Girl Who Takes Photo of Serena." So where else might you have seen her?
She played Ally Stark on 'Til Death
In 2009, Lindsey Broad became the third of four actors on the sitcom "'Til Death" to play the character of Ally Stark, daughter of main characters Eddie (Brad Garrett) and Joy Stark (Joley Fisher). The role was played by Krysten Ritter in the first two seasons, then was picked up by Laura Clery, then Broad, and finally, Kate Micucci took over the role at the very end of the series. Lindsey and her husband, Doug (Timm Sharp), live in a trailer in the backyard of Ally's parents' home.
In an interview with 102.7 KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, Broad mentioned this role being her first multi-camera sitcom and her first major job in the industry. In 2009 she was interviewed at the EMA (Environmental Media Association) Awards by Pacific Rim Video Press, and she explained that the show's scenes touched on the environment, especially considering the trailer Ally and Doug live in is converted to run on vegetable oil. "I think every week, pretty much, something comes up on our show that's environmentally conscious," Broad explained. According to the EMA website, that year's award for television comedy went to "Better Off Ted," but it's, of course, an honor just to be nominated.
She was Lisa aka The Girl in the Limo in 21 Jump Street
A little over a week after her last episode of "The Office," Lindsey Broad had a small role in a very big movie. She played the role of Lisa in the 2012 film adaptation of "21 Jump Street." While most of her scenes were barely noticeable, she had the very memorable moment of being the drunk girl in the limo who inconveniently wakes up in the midst of the limo being used in a high-speed chase. Broad's character becomes such a nuisance for the two officers trying to finish the car chase that she's kicked out of the limo while still drunk.
The movie's producer, Neal Moritz, boasted about the film's two major chase sequences in an interview with Collider and how comedy was infused into both of them. "One is a freeway chase which is done with great action, but with comedy," Moritz explained to Collider. "And then one is at the end, that involves the prom, which is a big chase through the prom in limos to the end. You saw some of the pictures, which involve limos and prom people. It's still infused with comedy, action that's infused with comedy."
Much of that scene's comedy comes from Broad's character, Lisa, who insists on standing up in the limo through the sunroof until a drug dealer shoots at her bottle of champagne, and who later tries to undo Jenko's (Channing Tatum's) pants as he's firing his gun at the criminals. Her next recurring role would be short-lived, but it's certainly all about comedy.
She played Karen on the short-lived IFC sitcom Benders
In 2015, IFC launched a new sitcom called "Benders," created by Tom Sellitti and Jim Serpico, who had worked together previously on a number of Dennis Leary projects like "Rescue Me" and "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll." The show focused on the friendship of a group of male friends on a pathetic amateur ice hockey team. Lindsey Broad starred as Karen, the long-suffering wife of the show's lead character Paul (Andrew Schulz). AV Club said of Broad's role: "Lindsey Broad has the thankless role of being the sole regular woman in the cast ... " The show drew regular comparisons to FX and FXX's hit sitcom "The League" for its offbeat humor and focus on male camaraderie.
"Benders" only lasted for eight episodes before it was canceled by IFC, but it still remains a memorable role for Broad. In a 2020 interview with Tiny Beans, Broad was asked which role she identified with most, and she surprised everyone by naming her character in "Benders." "I played Karen on an IFC/Netflix series called Benders, and she was a super smart and cool mom, and it was a really weird and specific show that I thought nicely captured marriage," Broad explained.
She played Chelsea on In the Dark
It took a while after her appearance on "The Office" for Lindsey Broad to find her way again in acting, and, in an interview on the podcast "Funny in Failure with Michael Kahan," Broad explained that some of that was the pressure of having finally landed a role like "The Office." "I felt a lot of pressure coming off of that because now I felt like I needed to make something of it," Broad explained. "I finally got something. I got a carrot. Now I need to run it. And it actually kind of messed me up a little bit."
The CW series "In the Dark" has run since 2019 on the CW and starred Perry Mattfeld as Murphy Mason, a blind woman seeking to find the truth about the murder of her good friend. Lindsey Broad stars on the show as Chelsea, Murphy's bartender. In the aforementioned interview with Tiny Beans, Broad explained why the role of Chelsea was made for her, quite literally. "Chelsea on In the Dark was written for me, and I think she sounds a lot like me, and I really identify with her vulnerability," Broad explained.
According to an article in Newsweek, CW canceled "In the Dark" in 2022, making its fourth season its last. Newsweek explained that the show was already teetering on the brink of cancellation and that the ending of a streaming deal between the CW and Netflix led to a number of shows being canceled, including "In the Dark."
She played Karin Immergut on American Crime Story
In 2021, "American Crime Story" launched its third season entitled "Impeachment," covering the long and ridiculous case of the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski sex scandal in the 1990s. In the show, Lindsey Broad plays Karin Immergut, a lawyer for Kenneth Starr's team who questioned Monica Lewinsky.
Monica Lewinsky was actually involved in the show as a producer, but according to an interview with Collider, showrunner Sarah Burgess explained that even had Lewinsky not been involved, it would have been important to depict Lewinsky in a sympathetic light. "I think that, even if Monica were not a producer, reading about what happened to her, the way she was taken apart by our culture, the way a second Monica was sort of created by our culture and the media, I think always, always, always, in writing the story, I would feel a moral imperative to present her as a full and complicated human being. To not sort of do that trauma again." Even Broad's character, Immergut, seems to be apprehensive about questioning Lewinsky in the show.
She plays Dorothy Zinberg on Julia
In 2022, Broad took on the role of Dorothy Zinberg on HBO Max's series "Julia," which tells the story of Julia Child's rise to success. Alongside Avis DeVoto (Bebe Neuwirth) and Judith Jones (Fiona Glascott), Dorothy makes up the important support system that Childs relies on. "She had this group of Cambridge [Massachusetts] women that all came together to help her," executive producer Daniel Goldfarb told E! News in an interview.
According to an article regarding her receiving the Harvard Signet Society's Signet Award, Dr. Dorothy Zinberg was a biochemist and a sociologist who championed female scientists over several generations. In an article that she wrote for the Atlantic in 2009, Zinberg herself explained that the Cambridge academic community in the late 1950s and early 1960s had an obsession with french cuisine and that Julia Child herself was frequently an honored guest at social events.
According to THR, "Julia" was renewed for a second season in 2022, so hopefully, fans haven't seen the last of Broad's Zinberg.