Why Rachel From Coyote Ugly Looks So Familiar
The 2000 film "Coyote Ugly" has become one of the most notable cult classics of the early aughts. David McNally's movie follows a young aspiring singer-songwriter named Violet (Piper Perabo) as she comes to New York City with aspirations of launching a musical career, only to find herself working as a bartender at a raucous hangout spot known as Coyote Ugly. The film was a box office hit when it debuted in theaters and gave a big boost to the careers of actors such as Perabo and Maria Bello.
Among the roster of all-women bartenders at the Coyote Ugly is confident, take-no-prisoners Rachel. There's no doubt that she probably looks familiar to a large portion of the film's audience. That is because the character is portrayed by model and actor Bridget Moynahan, who has more than a few well-known film and television credits to her name. Here are some of the biggest and best performances that audiences may recognize her from.
Bridget Moynahan appeared as Natasha on Sex and the City
One of the earliest roles of Bridget Moynahan's career that members of the audience may recognize her from is her performance as Natasha Naginsky on "Sex and the City." Making her debut in Season 2 of the beloved series, she was the second wife of Mr. Big (Chris Noth), whom he cheated on with Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie Bradshaw. Moynahan appeared in a total of seven episodes during the run of "Sex and the City" on HBO.
Although Natasha herself had relatively limited screentime on the original series, the character has proved to be one of Moynahan's most enduring. In fact, she reprised the part in 2021 for an episode of HBO Max's revival series "And Just Like That..." The series (which will be getting a 2nd season) sees Carrie track down Natasha after learning that Big left $1 million to her in his will. The two ultimately reconcile over the drama they shared years earlier, going their separate ways and putting the past behind them.
Moynahan played Dr. Cathy Muller in The Sum of All Fears
In 2002, Bridget Moynahan starred alongside Ben Affleck in "The Sum of All Fears." An adaptation of the Tom Clancy novel of the same name, the film follows CIA agent Jack Ryan (Affleck) as he attempts to quell international tensions between the United States and Russia. Moynahan co-stars in the film as Dr. Cathy Mueller, Ryan's long-time love interest in the Clancy universe.
Bridget Moynahan is one of several actors to take on the role of Dr. Cathy Mueller over the years. In addition to her depiction in "The Sum of All Fears," the character has also been played by Anne Archer, Gates McFadden, and Keira Knightley. More recently, Abbie Cornish played Dr. Mueller in the first season of Amazon Prime's "Jack Ryan." While the character was not mentioned in Season 2, she will reportedly (per Deadline) make her formal return to the Tom Clancy universe when Season 4 premieres.
Moynahan played a brilliant robotics expert in I, Robot
In 2004, Moynahan appeared in the film "I, Robot," a sci-fi action flick directed by Alex Proyas and starring Will Smith. The film follows Detective Spooner (Smith) as he investigates the alleged murder of a pioneering robotics expert (James Cromwell) at the hands of a robot named Sonny (Alan Tudyk). The alleged murder violates the first of the Three Laws of Robotics and puts everything humanity knows about their cybernetic creations into question.
Moynahan's Dr. Calvin is introduced early in the film as a brilliant robopsychologist who assists Spooner in his investigation. Portrayed as incredibly intelligent but somewhat timid in the face of action, she slowly grows to understand Spooner's hatred of robots. In the end, she helps him defeat the evil artificial intelligence known as VIKI, which has orchestrated the conspiracy, as well as helping to free the NS-5 robots that are at the forefront of the murder investigation.
Similar to the character Cathy Mueller, Moynahan is one of several actors to play Susan Calvin. As a literary creation by sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, she had been portrayed by other actors in other adaptations, including Maxine Audley, Beatrix Lehmann, and Ann Firbank.
Moynahan is John Wick's deceased wife
Though she is canonically dead at the start of the movie, Bridget Moynahan plays a massive role in the overall story of "John Wick." As Wick's deceased wife Helen, she is the one who gifts Wick (Keanu Reeves) his beagle puppy Daisy shortly after her death as a way for the grieving widower to find something new to love and move on with his life. However, that attempt to rebuild is cut short when a group of thugs break into Wick's house, steal his car, and kill the puppy in front of him.
Moynahan appears as Helen Wick in flashbacks in the first two "John Wick" movies, also appearing in a photograph obtained by Wick at the beginning of the third installment in the series. Her death continues to hang over John as he tears his way through the assassin underworld, but it remains unclear how much Helen will play a role in future "John Wick" movies as the series becomes less about him getting revenge for the death of Daisy and more about him trying to dismantle The High Table. Audiences will know more when "John Wick 4" eventually debuts.
Moynahan portrays Erin Reagan on Blue Bloods
The final entry on this list is Bridget Moynahan's longest tenure in a TV series by an extensive margin. Specifically, the actor has had a consistent role on the hit CBS police procedural "Blue Bloods" for over a decade. In fact, as of 2022, Moynahan has appeared in over 250 episodes of the show, which follows a family of police officers working in New York City.
In "Blue Bloods," Moynahan portrays Erin Reagan, the only daughter in the Reagan family and the second-oldest. A divorced single mom on the show, Erin is shown to work for the New York City District Attorney's office, having opted to not follow the traditional family path of becoming a police officer. That said, despite not directly working for the NYPD, she still carries a gun with her (which she has used on the show in the past) and makes consistent appearances at the Reagan Family dinner scenes.