In a career spanning over three decades, Sara Rue has racked up over 60 acting credits to her name. Though she has appeared in several movies, including Michael Bay’s “Pearl Harbor,” the romantic drama “A Slipping-Down Life,” and the teen rom-com “Can’t Hardly Wait,” Rue has primarily made her career in television, with roles on popular sitcoms such as “Will & Grace,” “Less Than Perfect,” “Rules of Engagement,” “Two and a Half Men,” “Mom,” and “B Positive.”
However, arguably Rue’s best-known TV role was on the teen romantic dramedy “Popular,” in which she starred as unpopular girl Carmen Ferrara. Though the show only lasted two seasons, it gained a cult following over the years, so much so that Entertainment Weekly included it on its list of “26 Best Cult TV Shows Ever.”
In 2015, Rue hosted an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit to promote the TV Land sitcom “Impastor,” on which she played Dora Winston. One fan asked in a since-deleted comment if she had predicted whether “Popular” would gain a cult following (via AMA). The actor intimated she didn’t and simply hoped that teenagers enjoyed the show, not expecting that it would connect with new audiences.
“The fact that people are still coming up to me. Even teens are coming up to me now and saying ‘I loved “Popular”!’ and I’m like ‘you’re 13, how did you even see it?’ and they’re like ‘Duh, DVDs,'” Rue explained. “It is amazing how much the show spoke to people, but I think it gave a voice to certain kinds of kids that had [trouble] speaking up for themselves at the time.”
