Who Played Me in "Erin Brockovich"? Quiz

Answer: Albert Finney

Finney, born on May 9th, 1936 in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, was cast as Ed Masry. Ed represented Erin in a personal injury lawsuit at the beginning of the film but they lost the case after Erin misbehaved in court. Erin went to Ed's law office one day and started doing clerical tasks so Ed approached her and said they had a full staff. Erin claimed that was not the case because, had Ed had a full staff, her numerous phone calls would have been returned. Ed reluctantly hired Erin but initially did not provide her benefits. Later on in the film, Ed took on a case involving PG&E that alleged PG&E's negligence caused many people in Hinkley, California to suffer serious illnesses. Finney starred in the films "The Bourne Ultimatum", "The Playboys" and "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974 version).

In 2001, he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Ed Masry in "Erin Brockovich" but lost to Benicio Del Toro of "Traffic". Other Oscar nominees for Best Supporting Actor that year were Joaquin Phoenix of "Gladiator", Jeff Bridges of "The Contender" and Willem Dafoe of "Shadow of the Vampire".

Answer: Julia Roberts

Roberts, a native of Smyrna, Georgia, landed the part of Erin Brockovich. Erin was a foul mouthed loose cannon but proved to be a very reliable staffer at Ed Masry's law firm. Initially, Ed terminated her employment because he thought she spent too much time having fun but he rehired her after he realized she found documents that could be used in a lawsuit.

Initially, the evidence that Erin gathered against PG&E involved a few clients but eventually there were well over a hundred litigants. The lawsuit Erin worked on claimed that, due to PG&E's carelessness, many residents of Hinkley, California experienced serious medical issues due to the water in Hinkley being contaminated with hexavalent chromium.

As a result of Erin's work on the case, PG&E paid out over $300 million to many residents in Hinkley and Erin got a bonus check of $2 million for her hard work. Roberts had parts in the movies "Hook", "My Best Friend's Wedding" and "Pretty Woman".

In 2001, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in "Erin Brockovich".

Other Academy Award nominees for Best Actress that year were Ellen Burstyn for "Requiem for a Dream", Joan Allen for "The Contender", Juliette Binoche for "Chocolat" and Laura Linney for "You Can Count On Me".

Answer: Peter Coyote

Coyote, born in 1941 in New York City, played Kurt Potter. Kurt was very experienced in toxic torts and Ed mentioned to Erin in one scene that he lost a case to Kurt and found Kurt to be a real tough attorney. He informed Erin after the judge denied PG&E's demurrers in the matter that he contacted Kurt to assist on the case against PG&E. Kurt recommended that their clients go through binding arbitration and he explained to Erin that binding arbitration was similar to a trial but that there was no appeal through binding arbitration.

At the end of the film, Erin supplied Kurt with a document showing that PG&E's corporate office in San Francisco knew about PG&E's carelessness in Hinkley that led to many residents there over the years suffering from drastic illnesses and did nothing to rectify the situation. Coyote portrayed characters in the movies "E.T. the Extra Terrestrial", "Patch Adams" and "Die Laughing".

Answer: Conchata Farrell

Farrell, born in Charleston, West Virginia, landed the role of Brenda. Brenda worked for Ed Masry and was first seen near the beginning when she told him that Erin had arrived to discuss injuries she had sustained in a car accident. In one scene, Erin was at the office and went to see Brenda after noticing that her stuff was not at her desk. Brenda had Erin's stuff packed up and told her that Ed had fired her because she had been gone for many days. Later in the film, Ed asked Brenda to fax many documents to PG&E's headquarters. Farrell starred in the films "Mr. Deeds", "Network" and "Edward Scissorhands".

Answer: Aaron Eckhart

Eckhart, born on March 12th, 1968 in Cupertino, California, starred as George. George lived next door to Erin and at one point told Erin that he would watch her kids for free. He told Erin that he worked in construction but did not work for some months throughout the year.

When Erin came home and told George that she got fired, he was disappointed because he knew that Erin had been working so hard. In one scene, Erin told George that she was Miss Wichita when she was younger. Erin and George eventually got romantically involved but their relationship was tested because George did not like that Erin spent so much time at her job and not enough time with him. Eckhart portrayed characters in the movies "The Dark Knight", "In the Company of Men" and "Any Given Sunday".

Answer: Adilah Barnes

Barnes got the part of Anna. Anna was a support staffer at Ed's law firm and she showed Erin around on her first day, including showing Erin where her desk was as well as where the case files were located. In one scene, Erin asked Anna a question and Anna told her that she would not do her job for her. On the day Erin went to the office after being gone for many days, Anna was offended at some of the profanity that Erin used. Anna was seen later on in the film sitting in on a meeting with Erin, Ed and attorneys representing PG&E. Barnes landed roles in the films "Bulworth", "Basic Instinct" and "Murder By Numbers".

Answer: Jamie Harrold

Harrold, a native of Taylorville, Illinois, had the small part of Scott. Scott worked at the Water Board that Erin visited in order to locate some documents. Once he was there into the night hours because Erin spent so much time looking at many papers. During another visit to the Water Board, Scott at one point tried to get Erin to stop looking through documents but Erin refused, stating that the documents were a matter of public record and she would not leave the Water Board office until she made copies of those documents.

In a later scene, Erin accused Scott of trying to cover up PG&E's negligence that led to many Hinkley residents coming down with massive illnesses. Harrold played characters in the movies "The Score", The Sum of All Fears" and "Natural Born Killers".

Answer: Veanne Cox

Cox, born in 1963 in Norfolk, Virginia, portrayed Theresa Dallavale. Theresa was an attorney who worked for Kurt Potter and she assisted Kurt and Ed on the case against PG&E. In her first meeting with Erin, she complimented Erin on all her work on the project but that they would need to get additional details from Erin, such as the plaintiffs' phone numbers. Erin asked Theresa whose phone number she needed so Theresa replied that Erin did not know all the plaintiffs' phone numbers by heart.

When Theresa saw that Erin was serious, she asked her to give Annabelle Daniels' phone number.

Not only did Erin tell Theresa what Annabelle's phone number was but gave many other facts about Annabelle. Theresa remarked that it appeared that she and Erin had gotten off on the wrong foot and Erin responded with a rude comment.

In a later scene, Theresa was seen at the Linwood residence calling out to Mr. Linwood to speak with him. Cox played characters in the films "The Rebound", "You've Got Mail" and "Dirty Money".

Answer: David Brisbin

Brisbin, born on June 26th, 1952, had a very minor role in the film as Dr. Jaffe. In the opening scene, Erin was at a job interview at Dr. Jaffe's office and mentioned that she had experience in health care because she saw nurses give her children cultures as well as provide other services for them. Dr. Jaffe was surprised when Erin mentioned in the interview that she liked geology. Erin told Dr. Jaffe about how she got fired from a previous job since she took time off of work to tend to her ill child because her husband at the time was useless. Erin sported a disappointed look on her face when it looked to her that Dr. Jaffe would not offer her a job at his medical practice. Brisbin landed parts in the movies "Leaving Las Vegas", "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and "The Big Blue".

Answer: Cherry Jones

Jones, born in 1956 in Paris, Tennessee, got the part of Pamela Duncan. Midway through the film, Erin showed up at Pamela's residence and Pamela asked her what she wanted. Erin said that Donna had told her that Pamela had been sick but Pamela told Erin she was not interested in joining the lawsuit against PG&E. Erin asked why and Pamela mentioned that she felt Erin and the people at the firm did not care and were only involved to get what they wanted. Eventually, though, Pamela changed her mind, albeit very reluctantly, and joined the lawsuit. Later in the film, Pamela wrote a scathing letter to a local publication where she claimed that the lawyers representing the plaintiffs had lied to them by deciding to have the case done through binding arbitration. Jones appeared in the films "Signs", "The Village" and "The Perfect Storm".