Yesterday we rented Red Eye (cute little thriller) and Colby Donaldson of Survivor fame had a small role. It was very strange seeing him in the movie after seeing him on reality TV. I’ve heard from many famous actors how people think they “know” them because they know their characters, and can’t make that distinction. But watching Colby made it clear to me that I can make that distinction for a normal actor. With Colby, I do feel that I “know” him, and trying to buy him in a pretend role was too strange. It was like seeing someone I know on the big screen trying to be a CIA agent — I’d be too aware that, “That’s my friend!” I found I was too conscious of watching Colby do the actor thing to have him just blend into his role. Any other actor wouldn’t have been a big deal at all.

Interesting…I think Colby has definitely come the farthest of any reality show contestant in terms of building an acting career, but I don’t know how far he can go when everyone is distracted by seeing him in a movie.