L.A. Magazine featured the life of an actor-waiter in its August L.A. Archetype column, and now come November, another former Minnesotan appears in the very same column. Hmmm…

This time it’s former Minnesotan and actress Kate Clarke, who works as Angelina Jolie and Kate Beckinsale’s body double.

If you’re not hip to Hollywood’s cost-cutting measures, body doubles are used in place of the real actor during scenes when the actor's face is not seen. In addition, doubles are used as stand-ins when the crew wants to run lines and/or adjust lights. It’s the look of the stand-in that’s important, not necessarily the performance.
 
According to the story, Clarke was born in Minnesota and worked on a few films before making the move to L.A. eight years ago, only to find work imitating one of the hottest actresses on the planet. Not bad. Clarke can also be seen as Jolie in Taking Lives and as Kate Beckinsdale in Vacancy.

 “Guys think it’s hilarious that I wore Angie’s bra,” she says about having to wear Jolie’s brassiere for a Mr. & Mrs. Smith scene when her bra was too revealing. Whoa, a bra more revealing than a Jolian undergarment? This woman brought quite a war chest, no pun intended, to Hollywood.

I’m surprised former Minnesotans have played such a role in L.A. Magazine's dissection of the city’s cast of characters in its L.A. Archetype column. It goes against the Minnesota archetype of subscribing to an archetype other than that of being Minnesotan. And the Minnesotan archetype certainly doesn’t allow for a full-page spread of oneself unless he/she is holding a trophy walleye or northern. The shot of Clarke in L.A. Magazine is hot, a little femme fatale, with a gun strapped to her left thigh.

Clarke’s Minnesota roots shine through, though. She admits that her mother (presumably a Minnesotan) told her regarding the move West “… normal people don’t do that.” Yes, that’s a response I’ve heard from my relatives as well.

And Clarke shows her mettle too. She says of a scene in Vacancy that required her to crawl through a tunnel with rats, “I didn’t even care. They were cute! I’m more of a tomboy anyway.”

This woman is clearly from the Gopher State.
 
Best of luck, Kate.