Remember when the summer months meant the only thing there was to watch on television was reruns of your favorite TV shows? Now summer is the perfect time to catch fresh episodes of the hottest series on television, including the CBS hit Under the Dome. The drama, which is based on the Stephen King novel, is currently airing its third season. The cast features some popular names in the television industry, including Dean Norris (Breaking Bad), Eddie Cahill (CSI: New York), and Mike Vogel (Bates Motel). I like to do my research on the talented actors who play my favorite TV characters each week, so here are 10 things you may not know about the cast of Under the Dome.
1. Barbie was a model?
Mike Vogel has been playing Dale “Barbie” Barbara on Under the Dome since it premiered in 2013. He graduated from high school in the late 90’s and then would begin to look for work on film and television in the early 2000’s. He lived in Pennsylvania and would frequently travel to New York City on auditions. Prior to finding his first role which was on the sitcom Grounded for Life, Vogel was a model for the popular jeans brand Levis.
2. Julia is a vampire
You may have thought that Rachelle Lefevre looked familiar when you began watching her on Under the Dome. She appeared in the first two Twilight movies as vampire Victoria Sutherland. Lefevre would be replaced for the third film by Bryce Dallas Howard due to scheduling conflicts with another film she was working on at the time. Lefevre was shocked that she was replaced over a 10-day conflict, and fans of the movie franchise voiced their disappointment over the recasting of the character on Twitter.
3. Junior likes his dad in real life
Alexander Koch is new to the world of acting as Under the Dome is one of his first television starring roles. Koch graduated from DePaul University in 2012 with a BFA, but felt he got his first taste of acting from watching his father work. Koch’s dad was a prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan. Koch claims that when his father was presenting a case it was almost as if he was performing a monologue. Sadly, he passed away in 2001.
4. Big Jim is an Ivy League graduate
Dean Norris has made a career out of playing loud-mouthed characters on both Breaking Bad and Under the Dome. Norris was at the top of his high school class when he graduated in 1981. He would then go on to Harvard College, one of the most prestigious schools in the United States. Norris would receive a degree in social studies in 1985, the same year he scored his first movie role.
5. Sam was “Friends” with a Popular TV Gang
Eddie Cahill has had a pretty popular career on television most recently appearing on CSI: New York as Detective Don Flack and currently as Sam on Under the Dome. One of Cahill’s first television appearances was on the hugely popular NBC comedy Friends. Cahill would star on seven episodes of the series’ seventh and eighth season as Rachel’s younger boyfriend Tag.
6. Norrie has starred in another movie adapted from a book
Mackenzie Lintz is also fairly new to the world of acting and has only one other television credit to her name other than starring as Norrie on Under the Dome since 2013. Lintz was featured in the first Hunger Games movie. She played Sarah, the District 8 female tribute. Sarah survives the initial bloodbath at the beginning of the games, but would seal her fate when she makes a fire at night that attracts other contestants.
7. Joe is an award-winning actor
Colin Ford has been appearing in television and movies since he was 6 years old. Now 18. Ford has received several accolades and nominations for his work on TV and film. In 2009, he would win his first Young Artist Award for portraying a young Sam on Supernatural. He would also win for his voice over work on Jake and the Never Land Pirates and for the film Jack and the Beanstalk. Ford even received a Saturn Award nomination for Under the Dome.
8. Angie was only intended to be in 10 episodes
Britt Robertson has appeared in four films in the span of two years. Prior to this, she appeared on the first season of Under the Dome. She initially agreed to appear in 10 episodes. When the show was renewed for a second season, she agreed to an additional five episodes before she was killed by Sam during Season 2. Angie survived a lot longer on the series. The character is murdered by Junior in the first chapter of the novel.
9. Hunter is no stranger to CBS
Max Ehrich did not join the Under the Dome cast until the end of the drama’s second season. Prior to scoring this role, Ehrich already appeared on CBS, but it was during the daytime. Ehrich currently plays Fenmore Baldwin on The Young and the Restless, a role he had held since 2012. His character went through being cyberbullied and Ehrich’s performance on the show has earned him three Daytime Emmy Award nominations.
10. Catherine knows the weather pretty well…
Marg Helgenberger is the newest addition to the cast of Under the Dome. She is playing Catherine Willows, a mysterious woman who is now stuck in Chester’s Mill after Julia helps the citizens escape the cocoons they were trapped in while trying to escape the dome. Helgenberger has an extensive career in television appearing in series like CSI, ER, and China Beach. She got her start as a weather girl in Nebraska. The producer made her change her name to Margi McCarty because he thought her last name was too long.
Who is your favorite character on Under the Dome? Let us know in the comments section below.
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
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Why is marg helgenbarger stuck messing up all the good adventure shows? CBS sticks her in and she takes over ruining every plot upstaging all the already established beautiful ladies with her wrinkly face and malformed lips. Screwed up Josh Holloway’s ‘Intelligence ‘..now the thrilling ‘Under the dome’ … she has just DOOMED IT! Somebody tell me wen they kill her off… ‘One can only HOPE’
And by the way; she played Catherine willows on csi, she is currently acting as queen alien bee Christine price.