Today in TV History: Mae Whitman — HER! — Was Born

Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone. 

IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: June 9, 1988

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: It is the rare child performer who manages to float along in the business long enough to make it as a legitimate grown-up working actor. Even those who do tend to be novelty acts like Mary-Kate Olsen, who gets cast occasionally, whenever a film or TV show needs to cast a teenage scarf-witch (seriously, watch Beastly some time). Which makes Mae Whitman such a great Hollywood success story; she was a child star who had some big moments but never became much of a name, which meant she was able to grow up, improve her craft, and re-enter the Hollywood work force organically. And now she’s one of our most likeable young comedic actresses.

Whitman’s child-star career was no joke. She had featured roles in some major motion pictures, most prominently as the president’s daughter in Independence Day, but also as Meg Ryan’s youngest daughter in When a Man Loves a Woman, George Clooney’s daughter in One Fine Day, and as Sandra Bullock’s bespectacled daughter in Hope Floats. Some of those movies were better than others, but it put Whitman in the company of the top child stars of her day. The Majorinos. The Wilsons.

After treading water on family cable dramas for a while, Whitman re-entered the mainstream in the most unheralded way possible. Her first performance as Ann Veal in Arrested Development was in the second episode of season 2, as she slipped Michael Bluth’s notice despite sitting right there in the kitchen, eating her hard-boiled egg.

Egg Ann ended up becoming such a popular recurring gag that her profile was significantly increased when Arrested Development returned for its fourth season on Netflix. This probably also had something to do with the fact that, in the interim, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and TV’s Parenthood had significantly increased her standing.

Whitman hasn’t been in a major film or television show — save for voice work — since The DUFF last year. Can we get her some more roles, Hollywood? She’s gone from “her?” to “her!” and she deserves her chance to shine.

[You can stream Arrested Development on Netflix.]