Why Nikki From Texas Chainsaw Looks So Familiar

Texas Chainsaw – officially titled Texas Chainsaw 3D, since it was, unsurprisingly, presented in 3D — was released in theaters in 2013. It is the seventh film in the Texas Chainsaw franchise, which began way back when in 1974 with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which has a rich background story just on its own and revolves around the cannibalistic serial killer, Leatherface.

Texas Chainsaw 3D is a direct sequel to the 1974 film and has two of the original film's stars, Gunner Hansen and Marilyn Burns. The sequel follows a young woman named Heather (Alexandra Daddario) who finds out that she inherited a mysterious Texas estate from her grandmother.

Tania Raymonde plays Nikki, Heather's best friend, who travels with Heather, along with their respective boyfriends, to the estate to check out what Heather's grandmother left behind for her. Raymonde has been working consistently since 2000, appearing in various film and television roles, making it very possible that viewers of Texas Chainsaw may have been struck by her familiar face. Here's a breakdown of Raymonde's projects and where you may have previously seen her.

One of Tania Raymonde's earliest roles was in a short arc on the seven-season sitcom Malcolm in the Middle (whose legacy may be most remembered for bringing the future Walter White to television viewers' attention). She played Cynthia Sanders, a friend and classmate of Malcolm, first introduced in the middle of season 2. Cynthia quickly develops a crush on Malcolm, and while he eventually reciprocates it and the two even almost kiss several times, nothing romantic ends up culminating. Still, their friendship remains and is endearing, even though she's only in a few episodes.

In 2003, shortly after her appearance in Malcolm in the Middle, Raymonde landed a lead role in a different family sitcom. It was titled The O'Keefes and, unfortunately for Raymonde, only lasted one season (although it, interestingly, featured Kristen Bell in a very early career role). It followed the O'Keefe family, the parents of which have been homeschooling their children for most of their lives. The siblings then have trouble adjusting to "the real world" when they begin going to public school. Raymonde played one of the siblings, Lauren. While the short-lived show is pretty obscure, the pilot episode can be watched on YouTube.

Five years after The O'Keefes, Tania Raymonde made her first appearance on Cold Case, a CBS crime drama show that ran for seven seasons. Cold Case starred Kathryn Morris as Lilly Rush, the lone woman working in a Philadelphia homicide squad, who gets assigned the station's "cold cases" (older cases that were never solved). Raymonde had an eight-episode arc in the sixth season, playing Frankie Rafferty, a lab technician. Her character had a short relationship with Detective Scotty Valens (Danny Pino), who eventually becomes seriously involved with protagonist Lilly.

After her run on Cold Case, Raymonde landed, arguably, her most prominent role so far: She played Alex Rousseau on ABC's mystery-adventure drama Lost – a show whose ending is still being talked about. Her character, Alex, makes her first appearance in mid-season 2. Alex was born 16 years before the crash of Oceanic Flight 81 but was taken from her mother, Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan), by Ben Linus (Michael Emerson), the leader of the Others (a group of island natives). Under the impression that her mother had died, she was raised among the Others. Alex's eventual death is frequently cited as one of the most memorable.

In 2008, the CW rebooted the popular '90s teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210, opting to shorten the name to just 90210. It included Shanae Grimes-Beech, Tristan Mack Wilds, AnnaLynne McCord, and Matt Lanter in the ensemble cast and ran for five seasons. In the fourth season, Tania Raymonde appeared in a short three-episode arc. She played Sonia Reese, who runs an art gallery, with her storyline interweaving with main character Ivy Sullivan (Gillian Zinser).

In the same year, 2012, she appeared in the ABC Family (now called Freeform) show Switched at Birth, which follows two teens who discover they were accidentally, as the title suggests, switched at birth (a rare but real thing that can and has happened). The teens' two families then intertwine their lives. The show, which ran for five seasons, was praised for its depiction of deaf characters. Raymonde appeared in an eight-episode arc in seasons 1 and 2 as the character Zarra, a street artist who befriends one of the protagonists, Bay (Vanessa Marano).

After many guest arcs or recurring appearances, Tania Raymonde finally has a lead role in a series. She stars in Goliath, a legal drama by Amazon Studios. It currently has three seasons out and available to watch and has been picked up for a fourth and final season. It follows a disgraced lawyer, Billy McBride (Billy Bob Thorton), who has recently been fired by his firm (which he helped build) and is simultaneously left by his wife Michelle (Maria Bello). Raymonde plays Brittany Gold, a paralegal who sometimes moonlights as an escort. Brittany cares for and is a friend to Billy, occasionally working with him as his paralegal.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood News, Raymonde spoke about her time on the show and how it has provided some insight into directing, something she aspires to do. Raymonde said that Thorton, who has directed some Goliath episodes, is among the "great directors" that she's been learning from. She stated, "That was really cool to see this actor that I — he's awesome — that I love and respect so much, to see him directing also and to be directed by him is very interesting to see both sides. I feel like all directing, writing, acting... all things feed into one another in a cool way."