After catching She’s All That and 10 Things I Hate About You on television this weekend I was reminded of how happy it makes me when certain likable stars are able to transcend the fluff genre into which they’re initially placed. This obviously did not happen with Freddy Prince Jr., and I’m still waiting for it to happen with Gabriel Union, but several of the other teen (or not so teen) actors in these movies did move on rather nicely. The obvious winners here were Julia Styles and Heath Ledger. However, I’m not a huge fan of either of them outside of 10 Things. What I noticed to make this thought worth posting about was the token black guy in She’s All That. Any guesses on who that might have been?

Dule Hill

There isn’t a West Wing fan alive who doesn’t love Charlie, and I hear that his new show is likewise pretty funny. He could have continued with crap roles, but instead his type casting is portraying him as intelligent, independent, and trustworthy. Essentially he combines excellent moral fiber with the ability to be dead sexy in a suit. I’m not certain that type-casting is ever a good thing for an actor, but I’m glad that he’s been typed as something positive and employable as opposed to the eternal teeny bopper.