On a recent expedition into the long-untouched catacombs of my parents’ basement, I stumbled across this: my much-loved copy of the classic Milton Bradley talking board game Mall Madness. I dusted it off to investigate the battery corrosion on the game’s pretend plastic credit card machine, hoping to recapture precious first lessons about the concept of money — namely that all money is, apparently, limitless and discretionary. I was stopped, however, by the image of the girl on the box.

I know, your brain is probably fighting it. That’s because of Danes’ sterling reputation. She did make her debut in the public consciousness with that famous portrayal of pensive high-school sophomore Angela Chase on My So-Called Life — a show that was just “too real to last(!)” And Danes never had to worry about being lumped in with gals like Jennifer Love Hewitt and Tara Reid. Her indie film cred and general air of smartyness kept her in what viewers think of as the Jodie Foster school of young actresses — though the stint at Yale didn’t hurt.
 
In fact, for all her sparkly red carpet dresses, Danes’ enduring image is still kind of brooding — do you know how hard it was to find pictures of her smiling for this comparison shot? I’ve watched the MSCL bonus features and I’ve heard the story about how the show was her first gig ever, plucking her fresh, vernal genius from the masses, but whatever. You KNOW that girl had a binder of pre-teen modeling shots, full of ecstatic grins and Blossom hats.