Jon Hamm is all very well, but where have I seen that woman behind him?

Extras have become weirdly compelling since an opera singer tackled her reflux ...

May 27, 2026 — 11:16am

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You’re not supposed to focus on the extras when you’re watching TV – they’re sometimes even referred to as “human set dressing”. But I became fixated on background actors while watching the Apple TV series Your Friends & Neighbours and now I can’t stop looking at them.

The show is about a finance guy (Jon Hamm) who lives in an exclusive suburban enclave in New York. When he loses his job, he starts breaking into his friends’ and neighbours’ houses, stealing their luxury goods. In the early episodes, I kept spotting one background actor who looked eerily familiar. I couldn’t figure out where I’d seen her, or her likeness, before. Reality TV? The local pool? The Aldi checkout?

Then it clicked. This background actor looked just like an American opera singer whose reflux recovery journey I’d been mysteriously drawn into on Instagram about two years ago. (I don’t follow any other opera singers and still have no idea why the algorithm delivered me this stomach-juicy content.)

The first couple of episodes........

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