Lane’s band, Hep Alien, is an anagram for Pai’s name.Ĩ. The character of Lane was modeled after Amy Sherman-Palladino’s best friend, Helen Pai, who is a producer on the show. If you ever want to solve this debate at a party, just say Michel is bisexual.

He is also the only character of the show’s core group to never get his own romantic storyline. (P.S. In addition, the Dion thing is a reference to Michel’s sexuality, which is left ambiguous throughout the show (although the night manager, Tobin, is more overtly gay). In early seasons, scenes suggest that Michel is straight, but the more the show goes on, the more it alludes to the opposite (like Stewie on Daniel Palladino’s other show, Family Guy). Although Michel is French in Gilmore Girls (and apparently the only black man around), Yanic Truesdale, who played Michel, is French-Canadian. This makes sense, because his character is a fan of Celine Dion, the famous Quebecoise singer. (Also, she hates drinking coffee and had to have all of her coffee cups filled with Coke throughout the run of the show.)Ħ.

(Her voice IRL is disconcertingly high pitched.) However, Alexis Bledel, who is half Argentinian and considers herself Latino, did not start speaking English until she entered elementary school. Her first language is Spanish. Kim) is also not Korean and was born in Fresno, California. Like Agena, her first language is English, and Kuroda doesn’t speak with the thick accent you see on TV. Keiko Agena is Japanese, not Korean, and like Lauren Graham, she was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Emily Kuroda (who plays her mother, Mrs. Agena is only six years younger than Lauren Graham, who plays her best friend’s mom. She will turn 40 next year.ĥ. Alexis Bledel was the closest, at the age of 18 when the show started. (Her only previous role was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it spot in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore the year before.) Liza Weil was 21 when she took the role of Paris and Keiko Agena (Lane) was 25. Almost none of the young actors are the same age as their characters. While working on Gilmore Girls, Daniel Palladino was also one of the producers and head writers for Family Guy, which often references and lampoons Gilmore Girls’ fast-talking precociousness, despite having a similar pop-culture-reference-heavy style. In one episode, Peter and the Griffins sit down to watch Gilmore Girls, only to see Rory and Lorelai make out. #cantunseeĤ.

This is one of many examples of the Palladinos re-using actors they’ve worked with before, and Torrez likewise worked with Sally Struthers on All in the Family.ģ. That show also featured Liz Torres, who would later play Miss Patty on Gilmore Girls. Gilmore Girls was executive produced by Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband, Daniel Palladino, who previously worked on Roseanne and Over the Top (starring Tim Curry, Seinfeld’s John O’Hurley, Annie Potts, Steve Carell and Marla Sokoloff). Celine, Emily Gilmore’s ambiguously aged, celebrity-name-dropping stylist. Borstein would be replaced with Melissa McCarthy and Borstein’s husband would land the role of Jackson. Lisa Weil originally tried out for Rory and was denied the part, but the producers were so taken with Weil that they wrote Paris Geller for her instead.Ģ.

Swan on MADtv) was the original choice to play Sookie but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with MADtv and Family Guy, on which she plays Lois Griffin. Like Rachel Dratch on 30 Rock (who was the original choice for the Jenna role), Borstein instead makes numerous cameos in the show as different characters - like Ms.

Keiko agena age at gilmore.girls