Early life, family, educational background
American musician and actress Cassidy Bree Freeman was born on 22 April 1982, in Chicago, Illinois, USA, making her a Taurus. She was born to attorneys Lee and Glynna Freeman, who also owned a cattle ranch located in Montana. Cassidy has three older brothers – musician Clark Freeman, voice actor Crispin Freeman, and their adoptive brother Ryan Freeman, most well-known for his roles in “How I Met Your Mother,” “Loveless in Los Angeles,” and “Soul Fire Rising.” Their mother has English, Irish, Scottish and German ancestry while their father is Jewish.
Cassidy attended The Latin School of Chicago before studying at Middlebury College, Vermont, from where she graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Spanish and Theater.
She is best known for her roles in “The Righteous Gemstones” as Amber Gemstone, in “Longmire” as Cady Longmire, as Jack in “Once Upon a Time,” and in “Smallville” as Tess Mercer.
Career
Acting
From 16 October 2001, she began playing Tess Mercer in CW’s “Smallville,” until the show’s end in May 2011. Concurrently, she appeared in the short film “Razor Sharp” as Veronica Sharpe, which was a commercial success, and in 2007 received the Best Action Film award at Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival. In 2010, she starred in “YellowBrickRoad,” a thriller written and directed by Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton.
Cassidy has frequented the CSI franchise, she appeared in “Coup de Grâce,” the fourth episode of season 10 of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” in October 2009. In “CSI: NY,” she appeared in the first episode of season eight entitled “Indelible” in September 2011, and in March 2012, she appeared in the 15th episode entitled “No Good Deed” in the tenth season of “CSI: Miami”.
On 13 January 2012, CW announced that she would portray Sage – who was born in the late 11th century – in season three of their fantasy drama “The Vampire Diaries.” Her best-known quote as Sage, which says this to Damon Salvatore in the year 1912 in a flashback scene, is ‘But what is being a vampire if not relishing in the pleasure of it?’ Sage was quite influential in Damon’s early life as a vampire, and they reunite decades later when she visits Mystic Falls to look for her lover Finn Mikaelson. Finn is a very old vampire, born circa 973 A.D and was turned in the Autumn of 1001. Finn turned Sage because he was in love with her and they wanted to be together for eternity; she was the first vampire he created. The first episode Cassidy appeared in was “1912,” a flashback episode, and “Break On Through,” which was set in the modern day; the last episode she appeared in was “The Murder of One.” Sage is a stereotypical vampire – she views humans as purely a food source and a plaything. Due to her age, she is a very powerful vampire, both physically and in her vampiric abilities such as Dream Manipulation and Tactile Telepathy. In the book series, Sage was actually a male character and was a friend of Damon’s; this background fact was reflected in the series as her character is a tomboy. Another thing that was changed is that in the book, Sage’s father is the Devil, but in the series, her family history is unknown.
From 2012 and 2017, she starred in A&E’s “Longmire” as Cady Longmire; the crime drama eventually moved to Netflix. In 2013, she guest-appeared in “Once Upon a Time” in the episode entitled “Tiny” as Jacqueline ‘Jack,’ a minor character who fought against giants in a war; she was able to kill the majority of the giants, but when the last one was left, she was defeated in battle. However, her story did not end there; many decades later, the niece of her lover found Jack’s sword and decided to spare the last giant.
The following year, Cassidy played Peyton Lake in “Don’t Look Back,” and Kate in the short film “One Last Look.” 2016 was a busy year for her career. She began playing Russian spy Eva Azarova from 2016 to 2017 in “NCIS: New Orleans.” During that time, Cassidy also starred in a crossover episode between “NCIS” and “NCIS: New Orleans.”
She played Ellie in “Stitchers” in the episode entitled “Hack Me If You Can,” Young Charlotte in the film “We Go On,” and in “Fender Bender” as Jennifer. In 2017, she played Rosie in “Cortez,” and the recurring role of Assistant District Attorney Abby Burris in the series “Doubt.”
Since 18 August 2019, she has been portraying Amber Gemstone as the lead role in HBO’s black comedy “The Righteous Gemstones,” which was created by Danny McBride, a Southern native. The series centers around a dysfunctional and famous family of television evangelists – in her Variety interview, she discussed her character’s change from Stepford’s Wife to ride-or-die, she shared that season three may include some female team-ups, and that seriousness has never been as important as creativity. Cassidy told Variety how even though the COVID protocols were strict, they were grateful that they had jobs, ‘The rush of emotions coming back from that year of being so isolated and so far away from everyone and everything else felt incredible.’ In 2021’s “The Forever Purge,” she starred as Cassie Tucker alongside Will Patton as Caleb Tucker; this is the fifth film in the franchise.
Music
Cassidy, Andy Mitton, and Clark Freeman established their band, The Read D’Coy; Cassidy plays the piano and sings for the band.
Andy is a director, writer, editor and composer, who mainly works on musical theatre and horror films. He lived in Boston until he moved to Los Angeles in 2001 to be at the center of the birth of films. He co-directed and co-wrote the 2010 independent film “YellowBrickRoad” along with Jesse Holland; they premiered the film in 2010 at the Slamdance International Festival, and at the New York Horror Film Festival, the movie won the Best Feature award. In 2016, Andy and Jesse directed the supernatural thriller, “We Go On,” starring Annette O’Toole. He also directed 2018’s “The Witch in the Window,” starring Alex Draper as Simon.
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Personal life
Cassidy married American actor Justin Carpenter on 23 September 2012, in a private ceremony attended by family and close friends. They divorced in 2015, but the reason for their split is unknown. Justin is best known for his roles in 2016’s “We Go On,” and 2017’s “Swimming with Sharks.” She has been dating American director, Ben Ellsworth since at least January 2021; he has worked on the 2014 documentaries, “The Creeping Garden,” “Tough Choices,” and “Infinity Is Now.” Although they shared the birth and name of their daughter, they keep the rest of their lives private. However, they do enjoy posting photos together on their social media. The family also has a 50lbs Swiss Mountain dog named Shasta.
Cassidy announced her pregnancy in January 2022, and gave birth to her and Ben’s first child on 6 February, naming their daughter Gigi Kaya Ellsworth. On 10 March 2022, Variety released their interview with her; Cassidy joked that parenting is easy, and elaborated on how she was able to keep her pregnancy a secret. ‘Well, no one knew minus my roommate and my bestie, Edi [Patterson]’. Of course, COVID protocols helped quite a bit with hiding her pregnancy, but she didn’t let anything get in the way of filming. The majority of the cast – Tim Baltz, Jennifer Nettles, Dermot Mulroney, Adam DeVine, Skyler Gisondo, Tony Cavalero, and Gregalan Williams – and crew had no idea Cassidy was pregnant during the period they were shooting season two, and her lack of morning sickness was a great help.
After actress Ariane Bellamar accused actor Jeremy Piven of sexual harassment, Cassidy came out with her story, and in November 2017 accused him of predatory behavior when she was a young girl.
Cassidy supports Heal the Bay, a charity whose mission is to clean and protect the waters on the West Coast. She is also a member of the Virginia Avenue Project, and tutors children who are based in Santa Monica.
Hobbies, favorite things and interesting facts
- Cassidy obviously enjoys singing and playing the piano.
- She also finds her parents’ Montana cattle ranch to be a relaxing place to clear her mind in between jobs.
- In her spare time, she likes to play water polo and volleyball, go hiking and trekking, and do quilting.
Some people think she looks like Ashley Williams Dodson, a fellow American actress who played Victoria in CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother,” starred in “Good Morning Miami” on NBC, and in TV Land’s “The Jim Gaffigan Show” – just to name a few of her extensive roles.
Appearance
Cassidy has red-brown hair, blue-green eyes, stands at 5ft 8ins (173cm), weighs about 125lbs (57kg), with vital statistics of 32-26-30, and wears a US size 8 shoe.
Net worth and salary
According to sources, as of October 2022, her net worth is estimated at $3 million. This accumulation is thanks to her hard work as an actress for all of these years. She has also earned some money through her music, but as her acting jobs are in abundance when compared to her music gigs, the greater majority of her net worth comes from her roles.
Family’s personal life
Crispin Freeman
American screenwriter, voice director and voice actor Crispin Freeman mainly voices characters in video games, Japanese anime, and animation. He has voiced Gyomei Himejima in “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba,” Kyon in “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya,” Shizuo Heiwajima in “Durarara!!”, and Itachi Uchiha in “Naruto.” When he was a child, his greatest influence came from animes such as “Battle of the Planets,” and “Speed Racer.”
Keeping dry on a rainy day in LA in my @JINX #Overwatch windbreaker and #Winston glasses. Tea time! pic.twitter.com/m7GXTmuQKg
— Crispin Freeman (@CrispinFreeman) March 2, 2018
In 1990, Crispin matriculated from the Latin School of Chicago, before attending Williams College from where he earned his BA degree majoring in Theater and a minor in Computer Science. Crispin then went to Columbia University where he graduated with his MFA in Acting. Afterwards, he performed at Cincinnati’s Playhouse in the Park, on Broadway, and plenty more. He has shared that one of his main reasons for wanting to join the acting profession was thanks to his favorite anime, “The Vision of Escaflowne.” His friend was voicing a role in “Peacock King,” and helped Crispin get into the voice-over section.
Some of his most notable roles were in 2010’s “Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated” as Howard E. Robertson, Ben, Cook, and Rhino in the episode entitled “The Shrieking Madness,” and in 2012’s “Scooby-Doo! Haunted Holidays,” as Fabian Menkle. In the English-dubbed anime film, “Howl’s Moving Castle” in 2005, he voiced Prince Justin/Turnip Head, as well as in 2021’s “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train” as Gyomei Himejima.
He’s voiced characters in the 2013 video game “Batman: Arkham Origins” as Firefly – reprised in 2015’s “Batman: Arkham Knight” – 2014’s “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare” as A.S.T., and 2022’s “Chocobo GP” as Adelbert Steiner and Maduin.
Clark Freeman
Clark Dietz Freeman was born on 21 February 1977, in Chicago, and was raised in downtown; he’s younger than Crispin but older than Cassidy. Like his siblings, he is an actor and producer. At the young age of 10, he knew he wanted to be part of the acting profession. He studied at The Piven Theatre Workshop before attending Chicago’s Latin School, and then Northwestern University. Afterward, he worked for Steppenwolf and The Chicago Shakespeare Repertory Theatre; he has taught at Northwestern Universities National High School Institute. He majored in Theatre and minored in Music and Film at Middlebury College located in Vermont, and graduated Cum Laude from Middlebury’s Theatre Department with honors, and then moved to Los Angeles to propel his career.
He appeared in “NCIS: New Orleans,” “We Go On” as Miles, as a Park Ranger in a 2009 episode of “Parks and Recreation,” 13 episodes of “Narcos: Mexico”, and as Ed Heath in 2018. He worked as an executive producer on the 2010 film “YellowBrickRoad,” wherein he also played Daryl Luger, and in 2022’s “The Harbinger.”
He’s played in several bands including Special Opps, Kindle, WAV, and The Real D’Coy, and has performed at The Knitting Factory, 14 Below, The Viper Room, B.B. Kings, and more.
