Why The Actress In The HelloFresh Commercial Looks (And Sounds) So Familiar

Since late 2011, HelloFresh has been in the meal kit game, providing customers with high-quality meals of all kinds. Of course, even though the company has been around for well over a decade, it still goes out of its way to get more eyes on it and expand its reach. One such way it goes about doing so is through good old-fashioned television commercials, which give viewers a good idea of what to expect from the service. In the company's latest advertising campaign, it recruited some celebrity help to get its message across.

In late December 2023, HelloFresh dropped an ad on YouTube, which depicts a woman sifting through her refrigerator to select her next meal. Upon grabbing a container of plain chicken, she's taken aback by the presence of a talking disembodied head behind it. That head promptly emerges from the fridge, now atop a full body, to tell the masses all about the benefits of HelloFresh, taking her new friend on a journey of food exploration. This spokesperson is none other than actor and singer Keke Palmer, who has maintained a steady presence in popular culture for years.

For those unfamiliar with Palmer's work in the entertainment world, here are some of her highlights so far.

Keke Palmer's Hollywood career dates back to the early 2000s, when she scored minor roles in such films as "Barbershop 2: Back in Business" and "Madea's Family Reunion" and on shows like "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "House of Payne." She also tried her hand at music while building her name as an actor, releasing her first studio album, "So Uncool," in 2007. Come 2008, all of her hard work paid off as she stood front and center as the lead of her own Nickelodeon teen sitcom. 

Titled "True Jackson, VP," the series follows Palmer's Jackson as she goes from an average teenager to an executive at the high-end fashion office Mad Style. The series ran for three seasons that encompassed a total of 56 episodes, all of which Palmer appeared in, before coming to an end in 2011. Despite its relatively short run compared to such Nick juggernauts as "Drake & Josh" and "iCarly," the series benefitted Palmer's career tremendously as she continued exploring various opportunities and avenues in the entertainment world. 

With the completion of "True Jackson, VP," the series became Keke Palmer's longest-running television effort. However, in only a few short years, that impressive 56-episode tenure was very much surpassed by another Nickelodeon series. In 2011, Iginio Straffi's "Winx Club" — an animated series about the adventures of the fairy students studying at the magical Alfea College for Fairies — was revived at Nickelodeon, leading to multiple established Nick stars joining the cast list in various roles.

Alongside the likes of "Victorious" stars Elizabeth Gillies, Daniella Monet, and Ariana Grande, Palmer featured on "Winx Club" as Aisha — the Fairy of Waves and the Crown Princess of the ocean realm of Andros. She first lent her voice to the series in the 2011 episode "The Perfect Dress," going on to play the Aisha character for a staggering 109 additional episodes. Palmer's last Aisha performance came in the 2015 episode "Winx Forever." Outside of "Winx Club," she voiced Aisha in 2007's "Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom" and 2010's "Winx Club 3D: Magical Adventure."

Amid her "Winx Club" tenure, Keke Palmer got the chance to try out other voice-acting projects elsewhere in Hollywood. Arguably, the most notable came in the form of "Ice Age: Continental Drift," where she joined franchise veterans Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, and Queen Latifah — Manny, Sid, Diego, and Ellie, respectively. She signed the dotted line to voice Manny and Ellie's woolly mammoth daughter, Peaches, who was born in the previous film, "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs."

In the years following the theatrical run of "Continental Drift," Palmer voiced Peaches in a variety of "Ice Age" endeavors. She did so in the 2012 video game "Ice Age: Continental Drift — Arctic Games," as well as the 2016 short, "Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade." Her final Peaches performance to date came in the "Continental Drift" theatrical sequel, "Ice Age: Collision Course," from 2016. Considering the "Ice Age" franchise has largely been put on ice since then, it stands to reason fans won't hear Palmer play Peaches again for some time, if ever again.

As noted previously, Keke Palmer explored the world of music while building up her filmography. After her 2007 studio album debut, she released multiple mixtapes, contributed to the soundtrack for the 2012 Nickelodeon musical "Rags," which she also starred in, and appeared in numerous music videos for tracks such as "Look at Me Now," "Doubtful," and "Assets," to name a few of her musical efforts. She has even gotten to show off her musical side in big-screen productions, notably impressing in the 2012 Todd Graff musical film "Joyful Noise."

In the film, Palmer plays Olivia Hill, who frequently clashes with her mother, Vi Rose (Queen Latifah), as teenagers tend to. Despite their conflicts, which begin to center on Olivia's choice of romantic partners, Olivia continues to contribute to the church choir where her mother has recently taken over as director. As Vi Rose and the former choir director's widow, G. G. Sparrow (Dolly Parton), try to prepare the group for a national competition, Olivia proves to be a standout among the choir's many voices. In the end, her vocal skills help greatly in the choir securing first place.

Even as her stock rose at the movies, Keke Palmer remained a frequent face on TV in the second half of the 2010s. More specifically, she delved deeper into more mature productions like "Berlin Station" and "Scream: The TV Series." Before making it to those titles, though, she impressed on the short-lived Fox black comedy slasher series "Scream Queens." The Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan-created program debuted in 2015, ran for two seasons, and was officially canceled in 2017. Of its 23 total episodes, Palmer appears in all of them.

"Scream Queens" is set against the backdrop of Wallace University, where the Kappa Kappa Tau sorority has been terrorized by a mysterious serial killer. Palmer plays Zayday Williams, who leads Kappa Kappa Tau alongside Chanel Oberlin (Emma Roberts) for a time before becoming president herself and later graduating from Wallace University. In the second season, it's revealed that she's now one of the top medical staffers at the C.U.R.E. Institute Hospital next to Libby Putney (Abigail Breslin).

In 2019, Keke Palmer landed one of her highest-profile cinematic credits to date: director Lorene Scafaria's "Hustlers." Based on the 2015 New York magazine article "The Hustlers at Scores" by Jessica Pressler, the film follows a group of New York City dancers who steal money from various high-level executives and stockholders who come to see them perform. The cast includes such pop culture mainstays as Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Cardi B, and Lili Reinhart, who all do a great job of bringing this wild tale to life.

Palmer joins them in the role of Mercedes, who learns alongside Annabelle (Reinhart) how to earn big money in their line of work from Ramona Vega (Lopez). Vega is loosely based on one of the individuals Pressler interviewed in her article, Samantha Barbash, with Annabelle and Mercedes taking inspiration from her business partners, Karina Pascucci and Marsi Rosen, respectively. Palmer gets a fair amount of screentime in "Hustlers," with Mercedes' story concluding with her arrest along with Ramona, Annabelle, and Destiny (Wu).

After making his name in the comedy sphere, Jordan Peele became a highly-regarded horror director. The longtime "Key & Peele" star blew audiences away with 2017's "Get Out" and 2019's "Us," making moviegoers wonder what he had in store as the 2020s began. He soon answered that question with the reveal that "Nope" was on the way, with a cast including Daniel Kaluuya as Otis Haywood Jr., Steven Yeun as Ricky "Jupe" Park, and Keke Palmer as Otis' brother, Emerald Haywood.

In this surreal, thought-provoking neo-Western sci-fi film, the Haywoods run a ranch in the middle of Agua Dulce, California, though all is not well. Their father, Otis Sr. (Keith David), is killed by a nickel that suddenly falls out of the sky, their horses have begun to disappear, and a strange unidentified flying object has been spotted soaring overhead. Thus, the Haywoods and their allies have to confront these terrifying anomalies and figure out what's really going on. Throughout the story, Palmer delivers in all of her Em scenes, selling the mounting confusion, intrigue, and fear she and her brother feel over their predicament.

Evidently, HelloFresh made the right call bringing Keke Palmer in for its latest ad campaign. She's a recognizable and relevant face who has contributed to numerous high-profile projects throughout her entertainment career.