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Why Mayor Randolph From Ginny & Georgia Looks So Familiar

Netflix's drama "Ginny & Georgia" centers on the two titular characters and their mother-daughter relationship. 30-year-old, Georgia, and her 15-year-old daughter, Ginny, often seem more like peers than parent and child when it comes to their levels of maturity. And as a result, Ginny seeks to understand more of her mother's past as the family moves to a small New England town.

One of the supporting characters is the mayor of the town, Paul Randolph, played by Scott Porter, who develops a relationship with Georgia. While watching his scenes, viewers may wonder just who the actor playing Paul is, as he may seem familiar to some — especially those who like to watch dramas set in small towns. Here's where else you may have seen Scott Porter before.

Scott Porter was Jason Street on Friday Night Lights

"Friday Night Lights," the drama about the fictional town of Dillion, Texas, ran from 2006 to 2011 and produced five seasons. Developed by Peter Berg, the series followed the football team of the local high school and the tight-knit community of the town. The storylines of the series were elevated by an extraordinary cast, with many of its lead stars going on to become regular names in Hollywood today. Kyle Chandler played the team's coach, Eric Taylor, with Connie Britton playing his wife, Tami. The cast changed over the seasons, especially amongst the teen characters, but the original lineup included Aimee Teegarden, Minka Kelly, Adrienne Palicki, Zach Gilford, Taylor Kitsch, Jesse Plemons, and, of course, Scott Porter.

Porter played Jason Street, the star quarterback who early in Season 1 suffers a spinal injury that forces his football career to end abruptly. Jason struggles to adapt to the idea of a future without football — especially since he had been set to receive football scholarships to major colleges — and strains many of his relationships in the process, including with his serious girlfriend Lyla (Kelly). By the end of his arc, Jason has become a sports agent and is happily married with a child. Porter was a series regular for the first three seasons and came back for a guest appearance in the 5th and final season.

He was also a regular on Hart of Dixie

Scott Porter also spent time in another fictional town: Bluebell, Alabama. "Hart of Dixie," created by Leila Gerstein, ran for four seasons on the CW from 2011 to 2015. Rachel Bilson starred as Zoe Hart, a recent medical school graduate who moves to Bluebell after discovering she has inherited half of a medical practice from her biological father whom she never knew. Initially finding it hard to adjust to small town life and clashing with her co-practitioner, Zoe eventually adjusts to and grows fond of the small town life.

Porter plays George Tucker, a local attorney who happens to be the first person Zoe meets in the town upon arriving. Zoe is attracted to George right away, but soon discovers he is engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Lemon (Jaime King). After George eventually leaves his relationship, a love triangle develops between him, Zoe, and Zoe's neighbor Wade. While most of the show revolves more around Zoe's relationship with Wade, George becomes intertwined with other members of the small community.

Scott Porter played a P.I. on The Good Wife

A bit of a departure from the rest of the roles on this list, Scott Porter appeared in a recurring role on the CBS legal drama, "The Good Wife," for 14 episodes. "The Good Wife" follows Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), a woman who returns to her law career after her husband, the former Cook County, Illinois State Attorney, is involved in a public political sex scandal. With her husband jailed, Alicia, who has been a stay-at-home mom for over a decade, returns to work to provide for her two children.

Porter played private investigator Blake Calamar, who first appears in the second season premiere. He worked with Derrick Bond (Michael Ealy) and became the competitor of Kalinda Sharma (Archie Panjabi), the in-house investigator who works with Alicia. In a 2016 interview with TellTaleTV, Porter described the character of Blake as "a wrecking ball" who ended up leaving "a wake of destruction behind him."

He played Tim on Scorpion

"Scorpion" was a CBS drama series that premiered in 2014 and was ultimately canceled in 2018, running for a total of four seasons. The show follows a group known as Scorpion that works to solve major threats that could potentially cause mass damage to humanity and the planet. Made up of a series of geniuses with expertise in areas such as hacking, engineering, and mathematics, they often work with the Department of Homeland Security and private organizations as a last line of defense.

Porter was introduced in Season 2 as Tim Armstrong, a former Navy SEAL and employee of Homeland Security. He eventually goes on to join Scorpion as a trainee and eventually develops strong feelings for Katharine McPhee's character Paige Dineen. However, he struggles to establish himself in the group and leaves to take a job in Jordan in Season 3 (via Entertainment Weekly).

Acknowledging that there was sometimes some frustration among fans of the show regarding the way that Tim got in the way of Walter and Paige's relationship, he told My Entertainment World that he had a lot of fun on "Scorpion." He went on to say that Tim is a "fully-rounded character, he's not just a foil for Walter" and praised the writing staff for the job they did in fleshing out the character and giving him a lot of different aspects to his personality.

He played a detective on Lucifer

For those unfamiliar with the mystery fantasy series "Lucifer," it is a show that follows the Devil living on Earth after abandoning his position in Hell. Lucifer Morningstar, played by actor Tom Ellis, forms a strong bond with Detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German) and aids her in her police investigations using his godly powers. The two tackle a variety of crimes and combat other supernatural beings who oppose Lucifer while slowly falling in love. Originally airing on the Fox network, the show moved to Netflix for Season 4 in 2018 and continued airing new episodes on the streaming service until its conclusion at the end of Season 6.

The actor made his debut in "Lucifer" during the two-part finale of Season 5 and continued in his role as Detective Carol Corbett through Season 6. A close friend of homicide detective Dan Espinoza, he becomes a love interest for Ella Lopez (Aimee Garcia) and takes over from Decker as the new senior detective at the LAPD. Ellis was full of praise for the way that Porter slipped straight into the role, telling Collider, "I did my first ever pilot, actually, with Scott back in 2009, so it was lovely to have him, in that sense, and have an old mate there."

He's popped up in a number of movies

While most of his major roles have been in television, Porter has also had an extensive career in films as well. Although he may not be as recognizable for these roles, there's a good chance you'll have seen his face at some point. His first movie part came in 2007 when he had a minor part in the romantic comedy film "Music and Lyrics" playing Colin Thompson. He followed that up by portraying Rex Racer, the older brother of the titular character in 2008's "Speed Racer."

The late 2000s also saw him appear in "Prom Night," "Bandslam," and "The Good Guy," where he was part of the main cast as Tommy Fielding opposite Alexis Bledel and Bryan Greenberg. In 2010, he worked with celebrated Swedish director Lasse Hallström on the film "Dear John," starring alongside the likes of Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried. He appeared in another romantic comedy the following year, "10 Years," once again starring with Tatum and a host of other actors such as Chris Pratt, Rosario Dawson, Anthony Mackie, and Jenna Dewan.

His final movie appearance came in 2013 when he was part of the cast of "The To Do List" with Aubrey Plaza, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, and Donald Glover. Unfortunately, the film received largely mixed reviews from critics but it did prove to be a slight financial success.

You might recognize his voice

It is not just Porter's face that many readers will be familiar with. As a prolific voice actor, it is highly likely that you may have heard him perform in a number of animated series or video games over the last two decades. Many of his roles have come in superhero cartoons, including The Flash in "Harley Quinn," the White Wolf in "Avengers Assemble," Cyclops in the mini-series "Wolverine," and George Stacy in "Spidey and His Amazing Friends." Outside of these DC and Marvel projects, the actor has had numerous roles in "Robot Chicken" in addition to portraying Francis in "Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts" and KC in "Archibald's Next Big Thing."

The actor has also voiced characters in a number of video games. Most notably, he had a major role as Luke in the second season of Telltale Games' "The Walking Dead." One of the three main protagonists in the game, he formed a close bond with Clementine, acting as an older brother to the young girl. He provided voicework for another Telltale Games title in 2017 as the character Lukas in "Minecraft: Story Mode" and also went on to portray Colt Cruise in "Madden NFL 18: Longshot." More recently he has provided the voice of Harry Osborn in "Spider-Man" and Heimdall in "God of War: Ragnarök."