Before Amanda Seyfried starred in beloved movie musicals like “Mamma Mia!” and “Les Misérables,” she frequently made appearances on popular TV shows.
The start of Seyfried’s career was in soap operas. After starring as Karen Smith in “Mean Girls,” she guest-starred in a good number of crime/mystery shows before she landed leading roles in blockbuster Hollywood films.
Take a look back at Seyfried’s TV career before turning into an internationally recognized movie star.
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Seyfried’s first role in the industry came in the soap opera “How the World Turns.”
This soap opera ran for 55 years, and for a short time, a young Seyfried appeared on the show.
Seyfried was part of “As the World Turns” from 1999 to 2001, where she played Lucinda Montgomery. Seyfried appeared on the show for 16 episodes when she was 15 years old.
After Seyfried’s departure from the show, her character lived on. Peyton List joined the cast as the character from 2001 to 2005. Then a third actress, Spencer Grammer, took over in 2006.
Sarah Glendening played an older version of the character in later seasons.
“All My Children” was another sitcom that Seyfried appeared in very early on in her career.
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She was in five episodes of the widely popular sitcom starring Susan Lucci.
The show, set in a fictional Pennsylvania suburb, aired on ABC from 1970 to 2011. Seyfried was on the show in 2003 and played Joni Stafford.
Early in Seyfried’s career, she starred in many crime shows. One of these was “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” which is a long-running spin-off of “Law & Order” that aired in 1999 and continues to this day.
The detectives in this show focus on sexually-oriented crimes. Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni and Ice-T are the stars of this show, which welcomes many guest stars.
Each episode tells its own story. Seyfried played the character Tandi McCain in the 2004 episode titled “Outcry.” In the show, her character accuses her stepfather’s boss of sexual assault.
Another show in which Seyfried was a guest star was the medical drama “House.”
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In a season 8 episode titled “Detox,” Seyfried played Pam, the girlfriend of hospital patient Keith Foster.
In the episode, while the couple is driving down the road, Foster begins to cough up blood, causing Seyfried’s character to panic and crash the vehicle.
This episode aired in 2005. The show continued on until 2012.
“Wildfire” was a mystery show that ran for four seasons from 2005 to 2008.
Seyfried’s time on the show was brief. She played Rebecca in five episodes.
Seyfried continued with her work in crime shows when she appeared in a 2006 episode of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”
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Seyfried’s character was Lacey Finn, a bridesmaid at a wedding where the mother of the groom is murdered. Finn becomes a prime suspect in the murder investigation.
This episode, called “Rashomama,” was part of the show’s sixth season.
“Veronica Mars” was a crime show in which Kristen Bell starred as the titular character.
Even though the drama began in 2004, there have been more recent additions to the story, with a 2014 film and a TV revival in 2019.
Seyfried was part of the cast from the show’s inception. She played Lily Kane, the best friend of Mars who was murdered before the show begins. Seyfried’s character was part of the show through flashbacks.
“Justice” was a short, one-season crime series.
Seyfried was in one episode titled “Pretty Women.” This was one of her last roles before she began landing major movies.
“Big Love” was a television series that really put Seyfried on the map.
This HBO show was about a Mormon family in Utah that practiced polygamy.
Bill Paxton played Bill Henrickson, the patriarch of the family. His three wives were played by Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin.
Seyfried played Hendrickson’s oldest child from 2006 to 2011. Her leading role as Sophie in “Mama Mia!” came in the middle of this show’s airing.
