Why Grace Sawyer From The Rookie Looks So Familiar
Nathan Fillion has remained the heart and soul of "The Rookie" ever since it debuted on ABC back in 2018. That said, the show has seen a fair number of strong supporting characters come and go as well. One such character is Grace Sawyer –- a doctor and an on-again-off-again love interest for John Nolan (Fillion), who appeared in a grand total of 13 episodes from 2019 to 2020. In her most recent appearance on the show, she seemingly departed the series, voicing her intent to return to her ex-husband.
Grace may look familiar to fans of "The Rookie." That is because she is portrayed by actress Ali Larter, an actress who has been working consistently in Hollywood ever since the late 1990s. With an IMDb list comprised of more than 40 roles, let's take a closer look at some of the biggest and best performances that have helped Larter become a Hollywood star.
She played a cheerleader in Varsity Blues
One of the earliest roles that audiences may recognize Ali Larter from is her performance in the 1999 coming-of-age film "Varsity Blues." The film centers on a small-town high school football team in Texas and has a cast of major stars of the era, including James Van Der Beek, Amy Smart, and Paul Walker. In the film, Larter plays a cheerleader named Darcy Sears, who is in a relationship with starting quarterback Lance Harbor (Walker) and wants to escape small-town life in Texas.
One of the most iconic moments in "Varsity Blues" is a moment in which Larter's Darcy tries to seduce James Van Der Beek's Mox — who has replaced the injured Lance as West Canaan High School's No. 1 QB — while wearing a whipped cream bikini. (Mox, however, rebuffs her advances.) In the years since the film hit theaters, the concept of the whipped cream bikini has been referenced and parodied numerous times across film and television. Perhaps most notably, future "Captain America" star Chris Evans pulled the same move in the subversive 2001 teen comedy, "Not Another Teen Movie," which lampooned coming-of-age teen movies of the era, including "Varsity Blues."
She tried to escape death in the Final Destination franchise
Ali Larter has worked in numerous genres over the course of her career in Hollywood. That said, one area where she found success was in the realm of horror. Specifically, Larter earned her status as a Hollywood scream queen in the 2000s with her performance in the "Final Destination" franchise. In 2000's "Final Destination," she made her first appearance as high school student Clear Rivers, a loner of sorts who is the only one who believes classmate Alex Browning's (Devon Sawa) premonitions of death. Larter would go on to reprise the role three years later when "Final Destination 2" came out.
Alas, like many characters in the "Final Destination" franchise, Clear ultimately did not get to last longer than two installments. While she is fortunate enough to survive the events of the first film, she is eventually killed by finding herself engulfed in flames in "Final Destination 2." That film marked the end of Clear's formal arc in the franchise, but due to the series' tight continuity, the character (and her death) would eventually be referenced in other films in the franchise.
She played an animal rights activist in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse remains arguably one of the most interesting interconnected film universes in existence. Instead of being centered on superheroes or movie monsters, it primarily follows the adventures of Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) as they weave in and out of the lives of characters circling the "Clerks" franchise. However, Jay and Silent Bob got to take center stage in their very own movie in 2001 when "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" took them to Hollywood, providing numerous cameos along the way. One such cameo was Ali Larter as Chrissy.
In "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," Chrissy is introduced as a member of an all-female group of animal rights activists. However, they are eventually revealed to be far more dangerous and skilled than previously assumed. A riff on leather-clad action franchises of the era such as "Charlie's Angels," "The Matrix," and "Mission: Impossible 2," the group of activists (which also includes Shannon Elizabeth, Eliza Dushku, and Jennifer Schwalbach), are responsible for framing the titular duo as terrorist masterminds.
She was defended by Elle Woods in Legally Blonde
2001 was a big year for Ali Larter in Hollywood. In addition to her cameo appearance in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," she also took on a supporting role opposite Reese Witherspoon in "Legally Blonde." In the film, Larter plays a young woman named Brooke who is accused of murdering her husband. Ultimately, Elle Woods (Witherspoon) is able to prove Brooke's innocence through her vast knowledge of hair care, scoring her a win and a major legal victor to cap off the film.
"Legally Blonde" has become a fan-favorite film in the two decades since it was released. The movie has even been adapted into a Broadway production. However, Brooke's murder trial was actually not part of the original conception of the film (via The New York Times). That subplot was added later in development in order to give "Legally Blonde" greater stakes and a more mature narrative focus instead of just focusing on Elle's time at Harvard.
She was Claire Redfield in the Resident Evil franchise
Paul W.S. Anderson took the "Resident Evil" series in a wildly different direction from its survival horror source material when he brought the video games to life on the silver screen. His films centered on Milla Jovovich as Alice –- a character created solely for the film series -– and followed her in her mission to take down the Umbrella Corporation and defeat the T-Virus. However, despite the differences between the "Resident Evil" video game franchise and the film series, Anderson still made sure to include numerous characters from the games in his adaptations. One of the biggest additions came with the inclusion of Ali Larter as "Resident Evil" icon Claire Redfield, who serves as the protagonist of several of the franchise's games.
Over the course of her tenure in the "Resident Evil" franchise, Larter played the role of Claire Redfield two times but mainly played second fiddle to Jovovich's Alice. Her first outing as the character came with the release of "Resident Evil: Afterlife" in 2010. The second came in 2016 with the release of "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter." The franchise was recently rebooted with the release of "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City," so for now, it seems that the story of Alice has been put to rest.