Skating in Beverly hills 90210

[michelle K]

I happened to catch part of old episode of Beverly hills 90210 yesterday on a local cable channel.
Brandon was dating a figure skater named Trisha. They showed her competitng in sectionals. (Do they broadcast sectionals?)
Anyway, who was this girl? Was the actress a real skater?
Just curious.

[Flatfoote]

Well, because I love the challenge of researching and seeing what I can find out, I did a Google search on 90210. I found a site that had an episode guide, and found an episode in season 2 titled "Fire And Ice." The character, Trisha Kinney was played by actress Gabrielle Anwer (I actually had to go to another 90210 site to find the actress's name).

Anyway, I then went to the IMDB, and looked up Gabrielle Anwer, and her bio never did mention figure skating. So, she either was never a real skater, and they had a double do her skating (I have no way of figuring out if a site would list stand-in doubles!), or she was just a recreational skater, and knew enough to get by for that episode.

Here is the page at the IMDB about the actress, if you are interested (I did recognize some of the movies she has been in).

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Anwar,+Gabrielle


Interesting side note. While researching 90210 on IMDB, I came across Emma Caufield, who currently plays Anya on Buffy. She played a character on 90210 in season six. The character's name was Susan Keats. I guess she dated Brandon, and was an editor or reporter or something for the Condor (was that the school paper, or the town paper?). It's always fun to see someone we see regularly now, and find them showing up on old shows we watched.

[AxelAnnie22]

I remember that! It was a really good episode. She had to make a choice between skating and life (Brandon), and chose skating. (Or Brandon chose it for her----I don't remember). It was really sad :cry:

[Mazurka Girl]

She was the horse rider in Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken & she was also in Scent of a Woman. I don't remember ever seeing anything about her skating though. I will have to watch for a rerun of that episode.

[Trillian]

I remember the episode--I caught it in a rerun recently, actually; it was one of my favorites way back in the days when I was about 12 and watched the show regularly. Gabrielle Anwar is a decent actress and very petite (not more than 5'2"); they cast someone with a realistic figure for a teenage skater at least. I never heard anything for sure but I'm guessing she doesn't have much of a background in skating; however, judging by her role in Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken she's at least got an athletic background.

The story was about a teenage skater Brandon met after his hockey practice; she impressed him by beating him when he challenged her to a race around the rink. She had an overprotective coach who got all cranky when Brandon asked her out; after she bombed at a qualifying competition (regionals or sectionals, I forget) and didn't qualify, she decided to quit skating and have a normal life. Then someone ahead of her got injured and she got a second chance; she realized she wanted to stick with skating after all. There was one scene when they went to the rink during a date, and I'm pretty sure both actors were actually skating (I know Priestley probably was because he really can play hockey). They both looked fairly competent, but nothing special. I'd guess they had a stunt double for the competition scenes because IIRC we never got an up close look at the skater.

Incidentally, I also remember that during the two hour high school graduation episode which was filled with flashbacks, one of Brandon's friends asked him which of his many girlfriends he remembered most fondly. We got a flashback to the skater.

[Gingi]

She is the girl that Al Pacino tango's with in Scent of a Woman.

That is one of the coolest movie scenes ever.

[Kruss]

She also played the queen in The Three Musketeers (with Keifer Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell, Charlie Sheen, etc.).

[peachstatesk8er]

She now does a contact lens commercial, but I can't remember the name of the brand. She's got her hair short though and in the commercial she's starts out playing a game of pool.

[cienicsk8]

Speaking of the Buffy/Figure Skating Connection...........
Sarah Michelle Gellar is a former skater, and Julie Benz, who played Darla on Buffy and Angel used to be a Nationally ranked ice dancer:)

[ILoveAllSkaters]

Thanks cienicsk8. That is very interesting. :)