A Field Guide To Lizzy Caplan

With Masters of Sex back on the air, we're gearing up for a whole lot of hot, historically accurate nudity – with no nudity hotter (or more historically accurate) than that put forth by Lizzy Caplan. But much as we enjoy watching Lizzy strip down to her skivvies (and then some), there's something to be said for knowing more about a woman than just what she looks like naked. So yes, folks, it's time to dig through the annals of the internet and learn a little bit more about the life and times of Lizzy Caplan.

Lizzy Caplan (or Elizabeth Anne Caplan, if you're overly formal) was born June 30, 1982, in Los Angeles, CA. Though her natural talents might lead you to believe that she's been acting since she came out of the womb, Caplan actually didn't discover her craft until her first acting lesson at age fifteen (prior to drama, she'd been planning on pursuing piano). But though Caplan may have come late to acting, she definitely came correct: she scored her first role at age seventeen, playing Jason Segel's girlfriend in the cult classic series Freaks and Geeks; from there, things only got better. When considering Lizzy Caplan's filmography, it's hard to pick a favorite work – this is a woman who's been featured in Mean Girls, Hot Tub Time Machine, Cloverfield, Party Down, and True Blood (not to mention Masters of Sex, but we're pretty sure you knew that one). 

If Caplan seems comfortable with all the nudity in Masters of Sex, it's partly because she's had some practice. Eagle-eyed fans will remember that Caplan first shed her clothes on camera for True Blood; while she was suave and self-assured on the Masters of Sex set, her earlier experiences were a little bit different. As she recounted to The Huffington Post:

It was like seven in the morning and I was chugging vodka completely naked while a makeup artist I had just met was on her knees in front of me like sponging my ass... I was so nervous and then I was so drunk that after I shot the scene I was going up to the crew members -- I had just met all these people the day before -- and I was going up to all of them being like (imitates drunk self), "You gotta boner! You do! You got one!" It was horrible.

(It sounds adorable to us, but different strokes for different folks, right?)

Caplan's carefree attitude towards onscreen nudity is what first caught our eye, and her talent for acting (and comedy) is what kept our attention. But if we're being honest, it's the fact that she's smart, thoughtful and unashamed about sex that's really had us fall head over heels in love. Not only does she do GQ interviews where she freely talks about threesomes (spoiler alert: under the right circumstances, she's totally down), she also says smart things about how much better the world would be if we were able to just be chill about sex. As she remarked to Collider in an interview about her work on Masters of Sex:

It’s refreshing, honestly, to be able to have more intellectual conversations about sex and the meaning of sex, and intimacy and what that means in relationships.  As a person in the world, it’s on your mind.  It’s a part of your life, after a certain age until you’re dead.  So, to be able to examine it in a different way is really fulfilling.  I feel really lucky.  It’s so fascinating.  If somebody asked me to do this, I don’t think I’d be eager to sign up.  I don’t know anyone who would be.  It’s strange.  It really is luck of the draw.  The family you were raised in, the time period you were born in, and the part of the country you’re in absolutely shape your view on sex, which shapes a huge part of anybody’s personality.  It’s scary how it’s very easy to get bad information or be told there’s something wrong with you or you have dirty thoughts or you’re being judged, in any way.  If you’re raised in a household where questions are encouraged, you’re the minority.  It’s sad.  One of the things that has resonated the most for me is that, in the ‘50s, if your sex life was unfulfilling, it was your fault, as a woman.  It was never the man’s fault.  Millions of women thought they were working with faulty equipment.  If they couldn’t have orgasms from having sex with their husbands, then they were broken.  That’s insane, and everybody believed it. 

Lizzy, get out of our heads: we totally agree with you. (Or don't get out of our heads, because we kind of love having you there.) We don't know if a Showtime show has the power to transform the world's attitudes towards sexuality – but we certainly hope it helps to make the world more comfortable with nudity (and, of course, helps ensure that we get to see a lot more of Lizzy Caplan nude).