TV

UT alum has become a Web celebrity, geek heroine

Felicia Day went from UT violin prodigy to a popular actress and writer on TV and the Web

By Omar L. Gallaga
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, May 08, 2009

Tonight, the Fox network is airing the season finale of Joss Whedon's TV show "Dollhouse." Well, it's sort of the season finale. Because of unusual circumstances including a re-shot pilot episode and a contract for a 13-episode run that turned out to consist of 12 aired episodes (the scrapped pilot counted as one of the 13), a bonus hour directed by Whedon, called "Epitaph One" will eventually appear on DVD.

That turned out to be bad news for fans of Felicia Day, an actress and writer who has emerged as an Internet star after working with Whedon on the popular viral Web musical "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" alongside Neil Patrick Harris. Day has also earned notoriety for her own Web series, "The Guild," which she stars in and writes.

Day, a University of Texas alumna, appears in the 13th episode of "Dollhouse," but it turned out her episode is the one that will end up a DVD bonus. In fact, it was a post of hers on Twitter that alerted "Dollhouse" fans to the change. In early April, she posted, "Found out my Dollhouse ep, #13 isn't gonna air. Only on DVD. Such a great part too. Thx Fox. :("

The firestorm that erupted between that post and the eventual explanation from producers on "Dollhouse" is evidence of the stir Day has created online. She has a huge fan base that has swelled with the success of "Dr. Horrible" and "The Guild," a comedy about players of an online multiplayer fantasy game. That show is now a fixture on Microsoft's Xbox Live network, and Day is currently writing a third season of episodes.

Today, Day is sanguine about the "Dollhouse" episode. In an e-mail, she said the situation with the season finale was "a bit strange, but I know it will cause a splash when it's released. It's a fantastic episode, and I believe they will promote it with the DVD a lot."

Day was a star presence at South by Southwest Interactive in March. She was on a panel about low-budget filmmaking — the first season of "The Guild" was largely shot in her home — and her distinct red hair and Twitter fame made her a topic of conversation at the fest.

At the time, the number of people following her on Twitter was in the tens of thousands, but has since exploded to more than half a million. She told the American-Statesman in an interview that Web fame is a little different from Hollywood fame. "To me, I think the Internet personality-driven sort of social networking thing is about being real and being relatable," she said. "It's weird when I'm standing there looking at my phone and I see a group of people staring at me. I'd rather they say hi."

Part of Day's appeal to the world of bloggers, gamers and Twitterers is her rock-solid geek cred. "The Guild," with its jokes about buffs and real-life versus virtual relationships, rings true. It also balances a tricky mix of biting and humanistic humor. As quirky as its characters are, the show never belittles its geek crew for being geeks.

Day's fans are usually thrilled to find out that she tends to forgo the L.A. meat-market scene for nerdier pursuits. "I'm glad I don't have to apologize about the fact that I play D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) on the weekends or I like playing video games instead of going out to a bar," she said.

Day's time in Austin included winning a National Merit Scholarship in 1995 when she was already a 17-year-old freshman at UT. She performed violin locally and also acted here, including a production of "The Fantasticks" and earned degrees in mathematics and violin performance at the university.

She left for L.A. to act soon after.

Although she's recognizable from ads for Sears, her role as Vi on Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and shows including "House" and "Monk," Day's breakout seemed to be the three-part, "Dr. Horrible." In that show, produced during the Writer's Guild strike last year, she was the female lead. She sang, she was fought over by Harris and Nathan Fillion and, not to spoil it, but she met a heartbreaking fate.

The Whedon-produced series, shot on a shoestring independently, was a hit on iTunes and Hulu. It spawned a DVD and talk of sequel. It also helped shape Day's future as a producer of "The Guild" and her dealings with Microsoft. "Joss is a brilliant creator, and he's also a brilliant businessman," she said. "There was a viral, enthusiastic fan base to spread it and link it and talk about it and get it out onto the Internet."

"The fact that so many people came to my show through Dr. Horrible means I owe him everything," Day said.

ogallaga@statesman.com; 445-3672