Lizzy Caplan

10 Actors to Watch: TV Class Lizzy Caplan gives performances that compel you to find her name in the credits, only to realize youve come across it before. Rarely showcased as a lead, Caplan has nonetheless brought to life one memorable character after another. That leads to quite a few people discovering her and

10 Actors to Watch: TV Class

Lizzy Caplan gives performances that compel you to find her name in the credits, only to realize you’ve come across it before.

Rarely showcased as a lead, Caplan has nonetheless brought to life one memorable character after another. That leads to quite a few people discovering her — and then rediscovering her.

“I change my appearance a lot for every role,” Caplan says, “so I think people don’t recognize me all the time, which I really like.”

Her latest role, as Kat Warbler on new CBS series “The Class,” could change all that — or not.  Caplan will share screen time with a large ensemble but essay perhaps its most prominent female role; the show could disappear like any number of “Friends” derivatives, or catapult her to actual fame.

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“I am completely unprepared for that and dreading it,” Caplan says of her potential celebrity. “But at the same time, I want the show to be successful.”

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Having most recently won critical raves this year in the indie feature “Love Is a Drug,” Caplan resisted “Class” at first, finding it too similar to her 2004 performance as the uncoincidentally named Janis Ian in “Mean Girls.” But she came to realize how enticing another offbeat character would be.

By her own admission, Caplan finds much in common with Kat, a dry, carefully balanced cynic with a good heart.

“I think both of us get a lot of enjoyment from other people’s discomfort, which is sort of a horrible way to be,” Caplan says. “Not laughing at other people’s insecurities, but getting people not to take themselves too seriously.”

Barely in her mid-20s, Caplan has built up a nice little resume — beginning with her debut as the disco-eyed optimist Sara on “Freaks and Geeks” — as well as enough experience to know not to take any job for granted. Her first series-regular role was in  the one-season-and-gone “Related,” and guest appearances have come on other short-lived critical favorites such as “Undeclared” and “Once and Again.”

The latter provides just the right title for Caplan’s career. The first time you learn her name might not be the last. Eventually, maybe, she figures to become unforgettable.

THREE QUESTIONS

An actor should never: “Worry more about her hair than her delivery.”

Five years from now I’ll be: “Hopefully, still working fairly steadily. That will be amazing. It would be really cool if the show went that long — or a second season. ”

I want to work with: “Hands down, the Streep, obviously.”

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