Entertainment
Where's Valerie From 'Sabrina' Now?
Lindsay Sloane only joined Sabrina The Teenage Witch in Season 2 to play Sabrina's best friend Valerie, but soon it felt like she'd been there forever. While Sabrina, Harvey, and her aunts all radiated Pollyanna-esque levels of sunny optimism, Valerie was, well, more like an actual teenager. She was insecure, often neurotic, depressed and/or anxious, making her pretty much the most relatable character on Sabrina The Teenage Witch; Libby was too mean, Salem was too magical and Mr Pool was too close to the brink of financial ruin for any teen viewer to relate to. But where is Valerie from Sabrina now?
Although Valerie could be kind of a drag sometimes, Sloane played her with a whole heap of charm. Which got me wondering: did the end of Sabrina The Teenage Witch (at least the high school part — the less said about Sabrina's university years, the better) mean curtains for her career? Or did she go on to bigger and better things? As we know, Libby Chessler ended up on Broadway, doing musicals and starring alongside Kristen Bell, while Harvey Kinkle makes folk music. But what about the show's goofy wallflower? Well, Sloane went for a very different role than Valerie for her first big post-Sabrina acting gig.
Yep, she played none other than queen-of-mean ex cheerleading captain Big Red in Bring It On. So far, so un-Valerie: Big Red was closer to Libby than anyone else in Sabrina. She operated with complete ruthlessness, ripping off another team's cheers to lead her team to victory year after year at the national cheerleading competition.
Sloane then became the world's most successful (and overqualified!) extra, getting teeny bit parts in the shows we all know and love: That ‘70s Show, The West Wing, Entourage, How I Met Your Mother. Just before hitting it big again (hang on, we'll cover that in a second), she starred in the movie A Good Old Fashioned Orgy. I haven't seen it, but critics seemed to love reviewing it for all the wrong reasons (sample review from Star Tribune: "You don't review a movie like A Good Old Fashioned Orgy. You autopsy it."), but it boasted a fairly accomplished cast, with Jason Sudeikis (30 Rock, Horrible Bosses, We're The Millers), Nick Kroll (Parks and Recreation) and Lake Bell (Wet Hot American Summer) playing alongside her.
Shortly after Sloane landed a part in Horrible Bosses (coincidence or all important networking with Jason Sudeikis on the set of A Good Old Fashioned Orgy?). She plays Stacy, one of the three male leads, Dale's fiancee and a pivotal part of the plot: after Dale finds his female boss has taken incriminating photos of him without his consent that make it look as if they're having an affair, he plots to kill his boss to save his relationship with Stacy. Sloane also appeared in Horrible Bosses 2. But what about now? Sloane is now a series regular on The Odd Couple, playing Emily, one of two sisters who live in the same building who date two former college friends who have recently been dumped by their wives. So far, so sitcom.
Sloane's doing as charming a job now as she did back then on Sabrina The Teenage Witch. I can't wait to see what she'll be adding a touch of magic to next.
Images: Viacom Productions; Universal Pictures; CBS Television Studios (2)