Amanda Seyfried Reveals the Actor Who Changed Her Craft

There’s a peculiar tradition in the film industry: take someone strikingly attractive, pop a pair of specs on them, add a dab of muted lipstick, and suddenly, we’re meant to believe they’re the outcast. Amanda Seyfried found herself at the centre of this charade in the 2009 comedy Jennifer’s Body, a move that still irks some fans. Equally persistent is the notion that those with Seyfried’s looks—blonde, conventionally beautiful, with a background in soaps—are somehow unsuited to serious roles. In recent years, she’s made a habit of proving that particular myth wrong.

Her turn as Marion Davies in Mank, which earned her an Oscar nod, and her bold portrayal of the Shaker movement’s founder in Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee, have both showcased a willingness to take risks. Seyfried’s filmography is now a patchwork of unexpected choices, each one a quiet rebuke to those who doubted her range.

Unlikely Inspirations

It would be easy to assume that Seyfried’s role models are the usual suspects—Hollywood’s leading ladies who’ve sidestepped typecasting and defied expectations. She’s hardly the first to move from daytime television and theatre to the big screen. Yet, the performer she holds in the highest regard is not one of these icons. In a 2022 interview, Seyfried let slip that her guiding light is Thomas Haden Church, a name more likely to conjure up images of comic book villains or jungle hijinks than high drama.

Church, best known to some as Sandman or Lyle van Groot, set the bar for Seyfried with a performance that’s rarely mentioned in the same breath as the greats. It’s his stint as Lowell Mather in the 1990s sitcom Wings that left the deepest impression. Seyfried explained,

“He’s able to play idiotic yet truthful, and relatable and hilarious. I just think it’s a master class… Playing characters like that is just so satisfying and harder than it seems. He’s so consistently present.”

She even admitted to using his work as a touchstone when preparing for her part in Mean Girls.

The Wings Effect

Wings, while not enjoying the cult status of Friends or Seinfeld these days, was a staple of 1990s television, running from 1990 to 1997. At its peak, it outperformed the likes of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and The Simpsons in the ratings. Set in a small Nantucket airport, the show followed a cast of oddballs, with Church’s character, a well-meaning but dim-witted mechanic, at the heart of much of the chaos. Over the years, Lowell Mather’s journey took some wild turns, including a stint in the Witness Protection Programme.

What set Church apart, in Seyfried’s eyes, was his knack for blending a sort of vacant charm with genuine believability. He managed to make a character with few apparent smarts both endearing and utterly convincing. Seyfried reckons it’s a performance every actor ought to study, not least because it’s far trickier than it looks. Despite never receiving major awards for the role, Church’s work has clearly left a mark where it counts—among his peers.

Recognition Beyond Awards

There’s a certain irony in the fact that Church’s portrayal, so influential to someone of Seyfried’s stature, never attracted the usual accolades. Yet, as she points out, sometimes a nod from a fellow actor is worth more than a trophy. Whether or not that’s strictly true is up for debate, but it’s a sentiment that rings true in an industry where recognition often comes in unexpected forms.