The Pretender/Trivia

• Acting for Two:
  • Sydney and his twin brother Jacob are played by the same actor.
  • The actress who plays Miss Parker in the present also plays her mother in flashbacks.
  • Jarod's clone, being considerably younger than him, is played by one of the actors who plays Young Jarod in flashbacks.
• Actor Allusion:
  • Miss Parker is played by Andrea Parker, who previously was cast in the pilot of JAG as Lieutenant Parker. Doubles as The Danza, obviously. Interestingly, both are unintentional, as the character of Miss Parker was named before she was cast.
  • In the first-season episode "Jaraldo!", Lisa Howard plays a reporter who befriends Jarod. In Days of Our Lives, Lisa Howard played April Ramirez, a love interest to Michael T. Weiss' character Dr. Mike Horton.
• The Danza:
  • Mr Raines's favorite Mook, Willie (played by Willie Gault), and Miss Parker's favorite Mook, Sam (played by Sam Ayers).
  • Miss Parker herself is played by Andrea Parker, but this is a coincidence: the character was named before she was cast.
• Fake Brit: Pamela Gidley as Mr Lyle's sidekick, Brigitte. After half a season, the writers had Brigitte drop the accent and admit that she'd been putting it on all along, to the lampshade-festooned unsurprise of every other character who had ever heard her speak.
• Hey, It's That Guy!:
  • Jon Gries, who plays Broots, has shown up in dozens of HITG roles.
  • Jarod's first love interest, Nia, is the girl from Predator.
  • Miss Parker's father is also the father of Lois Lane and Jean Lundegaard, as well as the guy who sent Tom Hanks to save Private Ryan.
  • Jarod's father Major Charles is James Bond.
  • The old con in "Prison Story" is Tom Robinson (or, for younger viewers, Joseph Sisko). Also, Worf as an army colonel in "Survival".
  • The Sheriff in "Mirage" is Lizzie's dad and Lewis.
  • The serial killer in "Once in a Blue Moon" is Murdoc. No surprise there.
  • The Elvis Impersonator in "Curious Jarod" is Colonel Campbell.
• Technology Marches On: Jarod's library of mini-discs was a lot more impressively high-tech when the show started than it is to a viewer now.
• Write Who You Know: "Gigolo Jarod" has an in-universe example, when it's revealed that Jarod has written a novel, The Saddest Little Valentine, whose protagonist is basically Miss Parker.
• Written in Infirmity: In "Dragon House", a handyman Jarod talks to happens to have his arm in a cast -- because the actor broke the arm shortly before filming.

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