Thursday, November 10, 2011

Awesome Characters - Annie Walker

There are characters we fall in love with. The perfect mix of actor and writer that breathes magic onto the screen or inside the television.

Called up from The Farm six months before completing her training Annie Walker begins working for the Domestic Protection Division of the Central Intelligence Agency. Annie is the best of the current crop of trainees with an ear for foreign languages and is fluent in English, Italian, Russian, Spanish, German, French, Farsi, and Portuguese.

Originally Annie is called up and thrown into the field in hopes of drawing out a former boyfriend (Eion Bailey), who, unbeknownst to Agent Walker, is a former agent turned rogue and now doing things his own way. However, Annie proves herself so useful even after the Mercer situation is handled the head of the DID decide to keep her around full-time.

A self-proclaimed "army brat," Annie and her sister (Anne Dudek), who has only recently learned what Annie really does for a living, moved around quite a lot as children. She's comfortable in a wide variety of cities around the world. She is a talented in surveillance, as a pursuit driver, and has been known to hold her own in a fight.

What separates Annie from most movie and televisions spies is she leads with her heart, even when she knows it will over-complicate the situation, but always knows where to draw the line to protect not only herself but those she cares about. Her emotions have served her well in not only getting others to trust her but also a gut instinct that has kept her alive in more than a few precarious positions.

Annie is played with a mix of smarts and sexiness by Piper Perabo who worked mostly in movies before taking the lead on Covert Affairs. Most will recognize Perabo from her role as Violet Sanford in Coyote Ugly, but my first encounter with the actress was as Federal Agent Karen Sympathy in the underrated The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Perabo imbues the character with a real heart, humor, and just the right amount of sass. And, I'll admit, it doesn't hurt that she's pretty damn adorable. We root for Annie not only because she's helping keep our country safe far behind just the scenes we're shown but because she's the kind of person we want to invite into our living rooms every week and spend time with. She's all kinds of awesome.







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