Actress Kate Mara is known for her roles on House of Cards (reporter Zoe Barnes), 24 (computer analyst Shari Rothenberg), American Horror Story: Murder House (mistress Hayden McClaine), and in movies including Brokeback Mountain, We Are Marshall, The Martian, and Fantastic Four — where she met her future husband, actor Jamie Bell (see below).
Mara also has family ties to the NFL. She is a great-granddaughter of both New York Giants founder Tim Mara and Pittsburgh Steelers founder Art Rooney, Sr.
Neither team made it to the 2023 Super Bowl but on the big football day this year, Mara shared her ad which ran during the first quarter of the 1998 Super Bowl (the Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers.)
As seen above, Mara stars as Angela, a girl who reveals to her best friends (who promise not to tell!) that she likes a boy named Bobby. Word quickly spreads via phone, pagers, faxes and dial-up modems.
Mara’s fans and famous friends are going wild over the throwback ad. Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul replied: “This makes me so happy.” Downton Abbey star Lily James wrote: “Too good.” The Rookie star Jenna Dewan “OMG already a star.”
Big Sky star Brooke Smith replied: “OMG you were going viral before anyone! ❤️🔥” Smith rightly sees that Mara was way out in front of a trend: every Super Bowl ad’s goal today is to go viral and extend reach beyond the 30- or 60-second spot.
More than one fan wants to know: “What happened to Bobby Templeton?!”
Mara recently narrated the Audible podcast American Football: How the Gridiron Was Forged with former NFL star Michael Strahan (see above).
