What Becca From Superbad Looks Like Today
Nobody really expected 2007's Superbad to be such a roaring success — nobody, that is, but Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The duo started on the script at the tender age of 13, revising the story (based on their real-life experience at high school together) throughout their teenage years. It was 1999 by the time they were ready to shop their baby around, but nobody wanted to listen.
"American Pie had come out around that time and it did really well," Rogen told Thrillist. "I was really frustrated that Superbad was taking so long, that no one wanted to make it... I look back at it now and realize the tone is so different and maybe that's what scared people." Ultimately, this grounded tone is what made the movie a hit with audiences and critics alike. Superbad became an instant cult classic, launching the Hollywood careers of Rogen, Goldberg, and many of the cast.
Jonah Hill (whose character was essentially the young Rogen) is now a two-time Oscar nominee, as is his on-screen love interest Emma Stone, who was named Best Actress in 2017 after delivering a star turn in La La Land. Michael Cera (the young Goldberg) and Christopher Mintz-Plasse went on to establish themselves in Tinseltown, but the same cannot be said of the actress who played Cera's love interest, Becca. Whatever happened to Martha MacIsaac? Read on to find out what she's been up to and see how she looks today.
Superbad was her first ever comedy
Like Rogen and Goldberg, MacIsaac hails from Canada, born on Prince Edward Island in 1984. Her career on the screen got started when she won the lead role of Emily Byrd Starr in CBC's Emily of New Moon (1998-2000). Based on the novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery, Emily of New Moon follows the trials and tribulations of an orphan girl growing up on a Canadian farm. MacIsaac clearly remembers her time on the show fondly (in July 2018 she posted a still of herself as Emily in honor of what she dubbed "Cow Appreciation Day"), but it didn't exactly prepare her for Superbad.
"Well, really Superbad was my first comedy I had done," MacIsaac told She Said Media Said when she sat down to discuss her breakout role. "I was always working in and out of theater and TV movies and the series I did growing up was a drama, so I never really had done that before and I immediately loved it. I love the improv part of it and it's better than crying in front of the camera every day!"
She starred in a Christmas movie
MacIsaac clearly had a blast making her first comedy, but she told She Said Media Said that drama was still "important and dear" to her. She was given the opportunity to combine the two genres in 2011 when she took on the lead role in Hoax for the Holidays, a little-known Canadian Christmas movie with an unusual premise. "I loved it as soon as I read the script," MacIsaac told AXS. "It was such a well-rounded, well-written character... and that is not normally the case for younger female roles. This was a really cool character who was grounded in her own stuff and I instantly loved that about it."
The character in question is a rebellious teen who hoodwinks the residents of her small town when she throws her coffee against the wall of a donut store and manipulates the stain so that it resembles the face of Jesus Christ. For MacIsaac, Hoax for the Holidays (also known as Faith, Fraud and Minimum Wage) was very much a homecoming. "I had worked with a lot of the crew on a TV series in Canada when I was really little," she said, referring to her time on the farm in Emily of New Moon. "They were all like long-lost family. To get to come back and see all of them as an adult was incredible."
She became the president's daughter
In 2012, MacIsaac went from playing a troublesome teen in small-town Canada to playing a troublesome teen in the White House. She appeared in all 13 episodes of NBC sitcom 1600 Penn, portraying the ordinarily straitlaced but accidentally pregnant first daughter. Bill Pullman (still best-known for playing the POTUS in '90s sci-fi classic Independence Day) once again stepped into the shoes of the Commander in Chief, much to the amusement of his co-stars.
"He gets it all the time," MacIsaac told She Said Media Said when asked if Pullman was ever teased about Independence Day. "Yeah, but he's such a good sport about it." MacIsaac's character, coincidentally, was also pretty familiar to her — she was named Becca. "Isn't that weird?" the actress said. "It was chosen way before I was a part of it, it just so happened to be a happy coincidence."
Sadly for MacIsaac, her first TV show in the States didn't last very long, axed by the network after a single season. Co-creator and star Josh Gad (who played her imbecile brother, Skip) confirmed the news on Twitter, thanking MacIsaac and the rest of the cast for their efforts. "I'm such a fan of his," MacIsaac said of the Frozen voice actor. "I mean, he is so, so funny and such a nice, nice man."
She goes to school with Meg Griffin
The cancelation of 1600 Penn meant that MacIsaac would soon disappear from American TV. She continued to make short films and she got the odd TV gig back home (she played real-life detective Kate Warne in procedural western The Pinkertons), but south of the border she slipped out of the public eye. Unbeknownst to many Superbad fans, however, MacIsaac was still popping up on a long-running, hugely popular American comedy.
MacIsaac has provided the voice of Patty in Family Guy, a character previously played by Alexandra Breckenridge (American Horror Story) and Barclay DeVeau (Blood Ransom), since season 11 episode "Friends Without Benefits," which first aired in December 2012. "It's so much fun," she told AXS. "Because you just get to show up in your pajamas, make funny noises, and act like an idiot in a room by yourself." MacIsaac's most memorable (and most controversial) Family Guy episode to date was in 2016, when her character became involved with Brian, the Griffin family's womanizing dog.
Is she still close to her Superbad co-stars?
It's been over a decade since Superbad hit cineplexes, and most of the people who worked on the movie have gone on to bigger and better things. Do they still make time for MacIsaac now that they're all rich and famous? "I see Seth and Evan Goldberg too, who wrote it," she told She Said Media Said. "I don't see Jonah and Michael as much, but yeah, we sometimes run into one another. It was wonderful. They are all wonderful people and still dear friends of mine."
They might be dear to her, but it appears as though MacIsaac isn't particularly close to any of the Superbad boys today. When it comes to her female co-star, it's a different story. "Emma and I are still very close," the actress said, revealing that she and Emma Stone got a place together and were roommates for a few years after Superbad wrapped. "She's one of my very best friends so she and I really keep in contact."
The idea of Jules and Becca bunking together for a time will likely put a smile on the faces of Superbad fans everywhere (sounds like a missed sequel opportunity to us), but the fact that they remain BFFs to this day goes to show just how deeply they bonded on set.
She helped Emma Stone celebrate her Oscar win
In 2012, MacIsaac presented her best friend with the first ever MTV Trailblazer Award, a title that Emma Stone has more than lived up to in the years since. She got her first nod from the Academy for her work in Best Picture winner Birdman (2014) and was named Best Actress for her on-point performance in hit musical La La Land (2016). Just like a best friend should be, MacIsaac has been right by Stone's side every step of the way.
She joined fellow actresses Ahna O'Reilly and Sugar Lyn Beard for a pre-Oscars get together in 2017, with all three sporting t-shirts in support of Stone's bid for Best Actress. MacIsaac helped her former roomie get ready for the star-studded ceremony and she was on hand to help her celebrate when Stone brought the gold statuette home, just as she had been the previous month when Stone triumphed at the Golden Globes. She isn't just an awards season friend, either.
A couple of months after the Oscar buzz had died down, Stone and MacIsaac went on a relaxing trip to Sonoma in northern California, a picturesque city located in the heart of a world renowned winemaking region. "The pair went to Sonoma with some other friends, and the pics are super adorable," Hello Giggles reported. "We love that these two are still friends."
She got married and divorced
MacIsaac married producer and director Torre Catalano in 2010, but sadly, their marriage came to an end five years later. In that time they worked together on a handful of projects, the first being a 2013 short named Seasick Sailor. "When I said, 'This is our first time working together,' a lot of people would say, 'Oh no! What is going to happen?' And that kind of freaked me out," Catalano told AXS. "I think that people's gut reaction is, 'Don't work with your family or with your wife.'"
There's no proof that working together caused the strain that ended their marriage, but the facts certainly read that way — they split in 2015, the same year that Almost Anything (later renamed Milwaukee) was released. Catalano directed his wife in his debut feature film, a saucy dramedy about a bunch of 30-somethings testing the limits of monogamy. MacIsaac plays Greta, a woman struggling with trust issues. It all seems a little awkward now that we know her marriage to Catalano was on the rocks at the time, but what about the movie itself?
"Though the performers are all fine, an entirely character-based piece like this ought to do more to distinguish and background its characters," Variety's Dennis Harvey said. "Even such basics as where most of them met and what each one does for a living are addressed barely, if at all."
There's a new man in her life
Reports that MacIsaac had moved on from Catalano began to pop up after a new man started appearing on her Instagram feed. Her relationship with Kyle McCullough seemed to get serious during the summer of 2017 when the pair set off on a romantic road trip along the world famous Route 66, recreating a journey undertaken by McCullough's grandparents in the 1960s. They have apparently become even closer since, bonding over their love of the open road, video games, and philanthropy. By the end of the year, they were very much in love.
Like MacIsaac's ex-husband, McCullough works on the fringes of Hollywood. He's dabbled in acting, writing and producing, and he also has a couple of semi-notable crew credits (he worked behind the scenes on 2014's Cooties and 2015's The Boy), but his goal right now appears to be making a name for himself in the games industry. He was the creative mind behind JoinDispatch (described as "like Uber but for emergency response services" by AppUnwrapper) and in 2018, a video game that he co-wrote came out on all platforms.
To celebrate the release of his psychological thriller Transference, MacIsaac shared a childhood photo of McCullough sitting at an ancient desktop computer with her Instagram followers. "This little nerd grew up to be the most creative, funniest, smartest, kindest, computer-where-a-brain-should-be human I've ever met," she captioned the pic.
She and Emma Stone reunited for Battle of the Sexes
If you haven't seen 2017's Battle of the Sexes, you're missing out on a brilliantly-crafted sports biopic. Directed by the married couple behind Little Miss Sunshine, it's based on the true story of the 1973 exhibition match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, a historic moment in the history of women's tennis. King defeated him in three straight sets, meaning Riggs (who had belittled women's tennis and its players in the media) had to eat his words. "She was too good, too fast," he admitted.
King is portrayed by Emma Stone, and she brought her bestie along for the ride as Jane "Peaches" Bartkowicz, who was also a member of the Original 9, a group of female players that changed tennis forever. "I think now more than ever, we are in a time where we're trying to encourage more female empowerment and more incredible women to get out there and speak their mind," MacIsaac told Bionic Buzz. "To be part of a film right now that is preaching that message so strongly is such an honor."
The fact that she and Stone are BFFs in real life helped MacIsaac land her role. "She and Emma are friends, and it just felt like if we build this group of women that have a certain camaraderie, that can't hurt," co-director Valerie Faris told CinemaBlend. "And she's great! It's fun to see her in something."
Is she still acting?
At one stage, MacIsaac looked poised to become the next scream queen. After Superbad blew up, she landed the part of Kurt Russell's "headstrong and independent" daughter in The Thaw (2009), described as an "ecological disaster movie" by director Mark A. Lewis. MacIsaac also appeared in the 2009 remake of Wes Craven classic The Last House on the Left, though that didn't fare very well with the critics. Craven approved of the updated version but the movie lacked "the punch" of the 1972 original, according to Rotten Tomatoes critics. Any hopes MacIsaac had of following in the footsteps of Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver were short-lived, though she did make a return to the horror genre in 2018. Her part in What Keeps You Alive was a minor one, however. She was "just there to stretch out the second act," Now Toronto claimed.
MacIsaac doesn't currently have any feature films on the horizon, horror or otherwise. In fact, aside from a couple of short films, she doesn't appear to have any projects on the go, period. Well, not any acting projects, at least — judging from her Instagram feed, MacIsaac spends much of her time nowadays baking delicious-looking cakes.