Who Plays Janis Ian In Mean Girls?

When teenager Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) moves from Africa to the United States in "Mean Girls," it is an uphill battle for her to assimilate into the life of an average high schooler. Luckily, she does not have to go through this transition alone. Amongst arriving to North Shore High, Heron finds companionship in Damian Leigh (Daniel Franzese) and Janis Ian. 

The trio becomes especially close when Cady starts befriending Regina George (Rachel McAdams) and her clique, the Plastics. Given Janis' negative history with Regina, she leads an operation to ruin Regina's reputation thanks to Cady; however, as Cady's personality begins to mirror that of Regina's, her friendship with Janis and Damian is put to the test. Cady eventually apologizes at the Spring Fling Dance, and Janis gets a happy ending. 

With her rebellious attitude, artistic mindset, and accepting nature, Janis is the kind of friend many wish they had in high school. Giving Janis her lovably snarky persona is none other than Lizzy Caplan in one of her first prominent roles following appearances in projects such as "Freaks and Geeks," "Orange County," and "Smallville."  

Lizzy Caplan's next major movie role came in 2008's "Cloverfield" as Marlena Diamond. In the film, Marlena is the party-loving friend of Hud (T.J. Miller), who has feelings for her. Their Manhattan party comes to a halt when a rampaging monster attacks the city. Marlena tags along with Hud and some others to try saving Beth (Odette Yustman) from being trapped in an apartment, only to be caught in a battle between the monster and the military. 

Marlena gets attacked by one of the monster's parasites, which causes her to become deathly ill. She is taken by a patrol squadron when her bleeding becomes more intense, which results in her body exploding in a bloody burst. 

The Matt Reeves-directed film took a unique approach to its casting. To keep the monster's reveal in upmost secrecy, the actors were given practically no information on the plot. 

"The scenes that they gave us for the first part of the audition were just in the party scene, so it was like 'We've gotta get this place ready for a party!' That was like the biggest drama going on, so we just assumed," Caplan said to Movieweb. "We saw character breakdowns, and the characters were there, but it didn't say anything about a monster [or] anything like that." 

Two years after her run in with monsters, Lizzy Caplan returned to the comedy genre with the 2010 cult favorite "Hot Tub Time Machine." In the film, which follows a group of friends who must recreate a specific night when they are transported to the year 1986 through a malfunctioning hot tub, Caplan plays April Drennan, a music journalist on tour with the metal band Poison. 

She and the time-traveling Adam Yates (John Cusack) meet and grow close, despite Adam trying not to mess up the timeline. Later, after he is dumped by his girlfriend and reveals to April he is from the future, she encourages Adam to "embrace the chaos" and not stress as much about controlling his life. When Adam returns to his proper timeline, he and April are now a married couple. 

Playing opposite Cusack was a dream come true for Caplan, a longtime admirer of his work.

"I feel like it was a role that I'm born to play," Caplan told Cinemablend. "It was great to finally meet him... Everybody grew up watching his movies. He ruined men for women, so getting to work with him it's like one of those things that you cross off your bucket list." 

One of Lizzy Caplan's most significant roles came in the 2013 Showtime series "Masters of Sex." The period-drama sees Caplan portray the real-life sexologist Virginia Johnson, whose studies and treatments alongside Dr. William Masters (Michael Sheen) were considered groundbreaking for the time. 

The series, while fictionalized in some regard, chronicles the hardships faced in the pair's professional lives as their studies draw controversies and conflict from various members of the public. The two also experience their own highs and lows as they jump between different relationships and have feelings for one another. 

"I was so enamored with this woman, and her story, and who she was, that I knew it would be such a privilege and an honor to get to play her," Caplan said to Deadline. 

The show would go on for four seasons, ending in 2016 with 46 episodes. During its run, the series received widespread critical acclaim and accolades, including multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Amongst these nods was a 2014 Primetime Emmy nomination for Caplan's lead performance as the trailblazing researcher. 

Lizzy Caplan is no stranger to the world of adult animation, having provided voices in shows such as "American Dad," "Family Guy," "The Simpsons," and "The Cleveland Show." While most of those roles were minor, she got the chance to sink her teeth into a more substantial part in the Netflix series "Inside Job." The sci-fi comedy centers on a team under a secret government organization led by robotics engineer Reagan Ridley (Caplan) as they work to preserve the secrecy of conspiracy theories which are true. 

Despite her brilliance, Reagan is an insecure individual whose rough childhood leaves her emotionally disconnected from those around her. Reagan's struggle is one Caplan strongly connects with.

"It's a conversation we're never not having," Caplan told Awards Watch. "It's not news that it's different for women than it is for men in the workplace. It's hard enough for the most charming, smartest woman in the world. Reagan has none of those people skills." 

Overtime, she learns to embrace her oddball coworkers as she unpacks more of the problematic elements of her life. Despite largely positive reviews  and initally being renewed for a second season, the show would be cancelled by Netflix after only one season. 

Lizzy Caplan most recent project is the Paramount + series "Fatal Attraction." Based on the Oscar-nominated 1987 film of the same name starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close, the show chronicles an affair between district attorney Dan Gallagher (Joshua Jackson) and Alex Forrest (Caplan), which turns dangerous when Alex refuses to let her lover go. 

With the erotic-thriller, series creator Alexandra Cunningham aimed to do more than retell the same story. Given how society's views have greatly shifted since the late 1980s, it was crucial that the team put in the time to flesh Caplan's character out in a way that was more nuanced. 

"[Cunningham wanted to take] a more measured and careful look at Alex and where she was coming from ... to hopefully get us to a place of finding some compassion for this woman," Caplan said to Harpers Bazaar, "or, at least, to see her in a light that was different to how audiences saw her in the film, which was as this evil monster who deserved to be crucified. That doesn't really vibe with how audiences feel about female characters, or really characters in general, in 2023." 

The show currently contains one season with eight episodes, with no news as to if a second season has been green-lit.