Jennifer Garner

I always, always meant to be on stage. I only ended up even auditioning for television and movies because I was understudying a Turgenev play on Broadway and was so broke that, when I got a mini-series, I had to take it and was so ashamed because I was such a snob.

American Actress

Lucas Hedges

My dad's a filmmaker, and my mom's an actress. She was the original understudy, actually, for Harper in 'Angels in America' and did the show for about several months while she was pregnant with my older brother. And so I grew up obsessed with film and filmmaking.

American Actor

Jeffrey Tambor

My part had three lines. I said, 'You look wonderful, sir,' three times. All my friends said, 'Do not take that role - and do not understudy. You'll regret it the rest of your life.' I did both of those things, and I've never regretted it once.

James Lecesne

As an actor you make choices that are either right or wrong, and you find the ones that are right for you. As an understudy, the choices have been made, so you have to make those choices right. Going into the role, you can't really question it.

Emma Watkins

Even when I was working for the company as a dancer, I didn't think it was even going to be a feature in the future at all. The Wiggles had understudies in case there were family issues, but it was never a thing.

Glenn Ford

I don't know how it is now but the assistant stage manager had to understudy several parts. You had to be ready to go on at any time if the actor couldn't make it to the play. I didn't think anything of it.

Madeleine M. Kunin

The vice presidential candidate does not usually make much difference at the polls. But that may be changing as voters become more aware that the understudy must be ready to take over if needed.

American Diplomat

Haley Joel Osment

With 'The Sixth Sense,' my dad and I discussed how this was not so much a horror story as a story about communication. I understudied with my dad, in a sense. It made a huge difference.

Alice Ripley

Norm Lewis, who plays Jake in 'Side Show,' and I had a song together in 'Tommy,' and I understudied Mrs. Walker.

Elizabeth Mitchell

I did theater for 15 years, and I spent a lot of time as an understudy.

The term 'understudy' is mostly used in theater and performing arts contexts.

Theater Specific

'Understudy' often implies being ready for sudden chances to perform, rarely with short notice.

Unexpected Opportunity

An understudy might not receive much public recognition unless they perform.

No Spotlight

To understudy means to prepare diligently, often learning all lines and cues.

Prepare for Roles

Understudying gives no guarantee of performing; it depends on unforeseen circumstances.

Not a Guarantee

An understudy must always be ready to step in, even last minute, without prior notice.

Ready to Step In

 sorts of studies on the world lemurs just it's very interesting isn't it really we've done all sorts of studies just orally my behavior and that kind of thing the amount of numbers they've got in the world because that's something that's relatively understudied and they're in the middle of building

4 Adorable Animals That...

 compared to, let's say, Europe, was so understudied that it was something akin to near virgin territory. But that, along with its location, made the sheer potential for discovery so exciting, and I had so many questions.

The fascinating (and...

 today we're in a lake system in north of Ottawa my research assistant and I are heading to an understudying water body to document ecosystem health what makes protecting watersheds