Why Brie Sheridan From Virgin River Looks So Familiar
The popular character Brie Sheridan stole the show on "Virgin River" when she was introduced in "Where There's Smoke...," the Season 3 premiere. Brie shows up because her brother Jack has been shot and is being treated in hospital, and she decides to stick around in the town of Virgin River. Fans soon started to gush over her love story with Dan Brady, which serves as an engaging B-story to the show's romance between Mel and Jack. "Brady and Brie should be endgame on the show," tweeted fan @DimitraAntonia7.
Speaking to True Hollywood Talk, Stacey Farber, who plays Tara Anderson on the show, revealed that she originally auditioned for the role of Brie before being cast as Tara. In the end, Farber landed the role that she was most suited for, and the part of Brie went to the very talented Zibby Allen.
In an interview with Chatting with B, Allen explained that she's fond of her role on "Virgin River," but she loves playing different types of characters and enjoys doing drama and comedy equally. She has plied her trade in a variety of genres over the years, which is probably why she looks so familiar to viewers. Here's where you may have seen her before.
She played Nurse Zibby in Grey's Anatomy
Zibby Allen will definitely look familiar to fans of "Grey's Anatomy." She first appeared on the show back in the Season 2 episode "Break on Through," playing an unnamed temp nurse. She came back in the Season 3 episode "I Am a Tree," with the character now seemingly named after the actor. In total, Nurse Zibby appeared in six episodes, with her final appearance coming in the Season 8 entry "If Only You Were Lonely."
In an interview with Numero magazine, Allen had some very kind words to say about "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes, who has produced several other shows, including "Bridgeton" and "Inventing Anna." She said: "I'd love to work with Shonda Rhimes again. I guest starred on 'Grey's Anatomy' way back, and she's cranking out some really incredible programming." In 2019, Allen appeared in an episode of the short-lived series "For the People," and Rhimes was one of the executive producers of that show.
She played Winter Maddox in A.N.T. Farm
Fans of "A.N.T. Farm" will no doubt be familiar with Zibby Allen, because she played a couple of characters on the teen sitcom. She appeared in the Season 1 episode "CANTonese Style Cuisine" as Madam Goo Goo, a one-off character. However, those who watched the Disney Channel show probably remember her more for her turn as Winter Maddox, who first popped up in the Season 3 episode "IndependANTs."
In Season 3, the show follows a group of gifted students at the fictional and futuristic Z-Tech Prodigy School. Allen's character is the school's Vice President of Acquisitions and a huge suck-up to her boss, Zoltan Grundy. She is put in charge of the main characters — the ANTs — as their "den mother," which is especially funny since Winter hates children.
"A.N.T. Farm" is one of the few multi-camera sitcoms that Allen has had a recurring role in — she played Winter in a total of seven episodes. In the previously mentioned interview with Chatting with B, Allen said that she enjoyed the multi-camera setup because it reminded her of working in the theater.
She played Lt. Evans in Agents of SHIELD
In the Season 4 finale of the Marvel series "Agents of SHIELD," Zibby Allen appeared briefly as United States Air Force officer Lt. Evans, a member of a military council which is deciding the fate of the titular organization. The SHIELD agents have to convince her that something otherworldly is going on in order to take the heat off them. In the Season 5 episode "Rewind," Allen returns as Evans, who arrests and interrogates Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) after her team mysteriously disappears.
Evans came across as a bit of a stickler during her two appearances on the Marvel show. In a post on Instagram, Allen said that the stylist who pinned her hair back for the role apologized for "draining [her] of all sex appeal." However, the actor wasn't really concerned about how Evans looked. "Whether the hair flatters me or not, whatever who cares. Really, I'm flattered most by this recurring theme of being cast as a woman of authority."
She played Rita in Nancy Drew
Zibby Allen appeared in three episodes of The CW's "Nancy Drew" between 2019 and 2021. She portrayed Rita, a mysterious woman who comes looking for a job at The Claw in the Season 1 episode "The Curse of the Dark Storm." Throughout the episode, George (Leah Lewis), who interviews Rita, believes her to be cursed after she narrowly avoids death several times under bizarre circumstances. In the end, it's revealed that Rita has supernatural powers, which are seemingly related to George's series of mishaps.
In an article for Elite Daily, published after Rita's first appearance, writer Sarah Halle Corey suggested that Rita could be a ghost — and they were correct. In Rita's third appearance on the show, Season 2's "The Reunion of Lost Souls," it's revealed that the character is indeed a ghost. It turns out that she's one of the victims of Aglaeca, the villain that the main characters fight in Season 2.
Rita is just one of the many characters that Allen has connected with over the course of her varied career. "The coolest thing for me about being an actor is that I get invited into other people's worlds," she told Jejune Magazine. "No matter how different the characters seem from me, through my work I seem to discover over and over again just how much more humanity lives in me than I knew."