Did you ever wear a pen on a lanyard around your neck and spend your days writing clues in a secret notebook, with hopes that a flashing circle would jump on the page, rearrange the letters, and help you solve mysteries? Me too!
I recently discovered that most of my favourite Ghostwriter episodes are on YouTube. While wallowing in nostalgia for a few hours, I was excited to spot some now-famous faces in the cast.
SAMUEL L. JACKSON
Jackson had the privilege of appearing as Jamal's father in the very first scene of the series. If you're wondering why you don't remember Jamal having a dad, it's probably because he seems to be somewhat of an absentee parent. He and his wife disappear half-way through the first episode when they take their eldest daughter to college and never return.
He pops up now and again in some of the earlier episodes, but leaves mailwoman Grandma Jenkins to pick up most of the parental slack. Fun fact: Grandma Jenkins (aka Marcella Lowery) later went on to play a postal employee in an episode of 30 Rock! She has a real knack for fake mail delivery.
JULIA STILES
"Can you jam with the console cowboys in cyberspace?" This shit's intense. Ghostwriter is where Stiles got her acting debut. When she caresses her computer at the end of this clip, we're getting a glimpse into the kind of raw, nuanced performances she would later deliver in such films as Save the Last Dance and 10 Things I Hate About You.
Now all I want to know is what happened to the actors who played Lenni, Alex, Jamal, and Ghostwriter.