The June 2002 poll question was "What actress would you cast as Eva Cassidy in a film about her life?"
With the help of the members of the Eva Cassidy discussion group on Yahoo, I compiled a list of choices. I decided that the potential actresses should be fairly young (so as to be able to play Eva credibly as a teenager as well as a 33-year-old), and have at least some vague resemblance to Eva. This eliminated some otherwise interesting choices (for example, Mare Winningham and Robin Wright are too old, Gwyneth Paltrow too tall and gangling). Singing ability is not essential because in my opinion any actress playing Eva would have to be lip-synching to her recordings. Remember that hair can change!
Below are the names, a photo of each candidate, and a few quick details. The voting page is now closed. To view the final results, visit the Poll Results Page.
Rachael Leigh Cook (Josie in "Josie and the Pussycats")
Clea Duvall (Georgina in "Girl Interrupted," Beatrice in "13 Conversations About One Thing")
Kirsten Dunst (currently seen as a redhead in "Spiderman," also appeared in "Fifteen and Pregnant," "Little Women," "Get Over It," and the television show "ER")
Daisy Eagan (young stage actress who won a Tony award for her role as Mary Lennox in "The Secret Garden")
Iben Hjejle (I believe this is pronounced "EEE-bin YIE [like tie]-lee": Danish-born actress best known for playing John Cusack's girlfriend in "High Fidelity." Don't worry, she doesn't have an accent.)
Kate Hudson (Goldie Hawn's daughter, best known for Penny Lane in "Almost Famous")
Jennifer Lien (best known as Kes on "Star Trek Voyager")
Kellie Martin (best known as Lucy Knight in "ER" and Becca Thacher "Life Goes On")
Anna Paquin (an Oscar winner as a child for "The Piano," recently seen in "Finding Forrester" and "X-Men")
Sarah Polley (young Canadian actress best known for role of Sara Stanley in "Road to Avonlea")
Reese Witherspoon (credits include "Importance of Being Earnest," "Pleasantville," "Legally Blonde," "Election")
Renee Zellweger ("Bridget Jones' Diary," "Jerry Maguire")
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I have temporarily borrowed these photos from various places on the web. I feel guilty about it, but it's only for about a month, and they are publicity photos which were made for this kind of purpose.