DC ExtraTime: Catching Up with... Jacinda Barrett

From during Real World Bad Blood; updated to include new media not included in original post

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Me and fellow insider & webcast host Ali Lasher seem to agree on one thing: unlike many of you the both of us actually like Real World Bad Blood (more on the Debrief). But from seeing the tweets of some others, including one from Jemmye from RW Back to NOLA last week, there's those of you who feel fond of when this MTV icon was just a pure & simple docu-soap that predated everything in reality TV. Well, this 'Pulse ExtraTime is just for you old school fans... and for this, you gotta go all the way back some 20 years to find our subject when this current cast were still in their diapers.

   In the aftermath of the single most significant season in the history of the Trifecta, those who would be on the season after The Real World San Francisco no doubt would find themselves with the uneasy task of following up that monumental season in the City by the Bay. Of course, we all remember the poignant story of Pedro Zamora and his valiant fight against AIDS, the house drama ignited by that ultimate Real World rebel Puck, the love story of a cartoonist and nurse in Judd & Pam Winick, and the flirtation Puck had with Rachel Campos, now wife of Congressman, RW Boston alum and one-time lumberjack, Rep. Sean Duffy.

In 1995, this reality TV original made its way for the first time outside of the United States and to that most vibrant city and yet one with such old-school values and landmarks as London. Inspired by MTV's wide international reach as a worldwide network with a presence on all six continents, Season 4 of Real World boasted its only hybrid cast of international and U.S.-born roommates. Young adults from Australia, Germany and England joined Americans from the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest in what the Brits refer to as a "flat" -- their term for what we stateside refer to as an apartment.
   There wasn't as much drama on that season as the first three as the Americans didn't have work permits to get employed there and just spent overnights watching TV's back when there were those in the house. But like several other seasons, cameras documented the roommates' personal passions: Mike and Kat pursued their loves for motor sports and that Olympic sport of fencing, while Jay pursued one of the Brits' great pastimes of playwriting, and DJ Lars played at the clubs much like Robbie of this season. But no doubt, the most memorable moment of RW London was when he was performing for his band, Englishman Neil got too close to one of his fans, and that fan who supposedly was a hater of his pulled a Mike Tyson: he bit off a portion of Neil's tongue, which sent him to the hospital and would have impaired speech after surgery was done to repair his tongue.

One of the international four who made their way to jolly old England was Jacinda Barrett, who flew all the way to London from Brisbane, Queensland -- Australia's third largest city -- and she came to the right place to pursue her career aspiration. There, she built up her resume of modeling in one of the world's capitals of her profession and host to one of the year's annual Fashion Weeks. She had a passion for posing for the camera and strutting down the runway since winning a cover girl contest in her teenage years and began to model across Europe afterwards.
   Just as we've seen with several other aspiring models over the years on Real World and before there was America's Next Top Model, cameras captured her many moves in London as she made her way through the cutthroat world of fashion. It would eventually catch the attention of People Magazine with her being named to their list of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World that year, and later brought her into the pages of Maxim Magazine. And for some time, she was engaged to Singled Out alum and Walking Dead after show host Chris Hardwick before becoming wife to Suits star Gabriel Macht.
   After Real World, the attention of this firefighter's daughter turned from posing for the cameras to acting in front of them. In her acting debut in 1997, Jacinda joined a young James Marsden for the horror flick Campfire Tales, and appeared in several other films with the likes of Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Anthony Hopkins. In 2004, she landed her first major lead role in Ladder 49, playing the wife of key character Joaquin Phoenix and joining the many who have starred alongside that enduring icon John Travolta.

   Two years later, Jacinda played a supporting role in Poseidon with Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas, Richard Dreyfuss and Emmy Rossum; and later in 2006 she was female lead alongside Zach Braff, Casey Affleck and Rachel Bilson in The Last Kiss. Then came School for Scoundrels with Billy Bob Thronton, Jon Heder, Michael Clarke Duncan, Sarah Silverman and Ben Stiller; and another movie with Luke Wilson. And this doesn't even include TV roles on the likes of Hercules, Millennium, main roles on D.C. and Citizen Baines, and a recurring spot along her husband on Suits.

   The past few years have seen her on the drama Zero Hour and The Following before landing her latest gig: Last year, Jacinda added lead role plant nursery worker Diana Rayburn, wife of policeman John - played by Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler, on the Netflix series Bloodline, which debuted last year and will have its 3rd and final season coming up in the new year for those like you who love to binge watch. She has another movie coming next year with more TV roles headed her way too, just as many saw her RW season for the first time recently when it aired on MTV Classic.

Yes, it's one thing to be on The Challenge with some of the biggest names in this ecosystem of the MTV reality TV world. But, it's certainly another to have a deep acting resume and to share the set with some of the silver screen's biggest names. Jacinda Barrett has certainly carved her name as one of Real World's most successful alums, and while her season is largely forgotten it helped her get on the path to make her mark both as a model and now as a leading actress. She's proven that you don't have to do other reality shows for the sake of face time like most people in the Trifecta today: she has those beautiful looks and has developed a strong following with the showbiz world that now she's one of the best in her field. Maybe an Oscar, Emmy or Golden Globe next? It might come sooner.

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