What Bianca From 10 Things I Hate About You Is Doing Today
Despite being over two decades old, 10 Things I Hate About You has remained one of the most popular teen rom-com classics. Generations of girls have grown up relating to either the rebellious Kat (portrayed by Julia Stiles) or the popular Bianca (Larisa Oleynik), both of whom are strong female protagonists. If you're one of the people who don't think so on the Bianca front, may we turn your attention to the scene where she beats the crap out of Joey (Andrew Keegan) in defense of her prom date (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), her sister, and herself? We rest our case.
Anyway, enough about the character — what about Oleynik? Is she still in the film industry, or was Bianca one of her last roles?
Thankfully, the California native went on to have a pretty busy film and television career post-10 Things I Hate About You. The actor appeared as a main character in Netflix's 2020 series The Healing Powers of Dude, a heartwarming show that follows an 11-year-old boy with social anxiety who is given an emotional support dog. Oleynik plays the boy's mother, Karen, who is also a lawyer and that's only one of her more recent roles.
Larisa Oleynik has a leading role in this Netflix comedy
Larisa Oleynik also had a small, recurring role in another Netflix comedy series called Trinkets. In the teen-led show, Oleynik portrayed a kleptomaniac named Shawn, who goes to the Shoplifter's Anonymous meetings also attended by the show's main characters. As for projects the actor has lined up for 2021, she's currently working on the film We Broke Up according to IMDb profile. According to Deadline, the forthcoming film centers on a couple who break up but pretends to be together at a wedding to avoid unnecessary drama.
Prior to these projects, the Mad Men star also returned to where she found her start — television. After debuting on screen in Nickelodeon's The Secret World of Alex Mack in the early '90s, the actor went on to have recurring television roles in 3rd Rock from the Sun, the animated series Winx Club, and Pretty Little Liars. She also had guest roles in Malcolm in the Middle, Boy Meets World, and Psych.
Oleynik even made a name for herself on Broadway in a 2016 one-woman show titled I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti as well as the satirical musical comedy Who's Your Baghdaddy, or How I Started the Iraq War the following year.