Last week, we learned that the very popular online video diaries of LonelyGirl15 were not authentic, but a publicity stunt product of entertainment creatorcritters linked to Hollywood talent agency CAA.
Today, the identity of LonelyGirl15 has also been revealed — and appropriately, by an 18-year-old.
Matt Foremski, the son of ex-Financial Times reporter Tom Foremski who runs Silicon Valley Watcher, cracked the case with help from MySpace and Google cache. Matt published his investigation and findings at LG15.com, and his dad posted recaps on his blog. Young Mr. Foremski wrote:
I was surfing the article on Lonelygirl15 on TMZ.com when I came across a comment that linked to a private MySpace page that was allegedly that of the actress who plays Lonelygirl15. As the profile was set to
"private," there was no real info one could glean from the page. However, when I queried Google for that particular MySpace user name, "jeessss426," I found a Google cache from the page a few months ago when it was still public.A lot of the details of the girl's background clicked for me: She was an actress from a small city in New Zealand who had moved to Burbank recently to act. The name on the profile was "Jessica Rose." When next I happened to query Google image search for "Jessica Rose New Zealand" I was instantly rewarded with two cached thumbnail photos of Lonelygirl15, a.k.a. Jessica Rose, from a New Zealand talent agency that had since removed the full size versions. A later search on Yahoo on "jeessss426" also turned up a whole load of pictures from her probably forgotten ImageShack account.
Link, also recapped on
Tech Chronicles and PBS mediashift blog.
Previously: LonelyGirl15 is a filmmakers' project?
Update: The jig is officially up. Looks like both the LAT and NYT had to abide by a 7PM PT embargo or something, because at 7PM promptly, twin tell-alls emerged with more details.
Richard Rushfield and Clare Hoffman at the LA Times scored an exclusive interview with LG15's creators: Link, and this New York Times story by Tom Zeller and Virginia Heffernan has a lovely ending:
The series, which Mr. Flinders and Mr. Beckett plan to continue on a site overseen by them, may play differently with fans now that they know for sure that Bree is an actress. Part of the appeal of the series was that the serious-minded, literate Bree offered an unbeatable fantasy: a beautiful girl who techy guys had something in common with.
On learning that Ms. Rose was an actress whose interests, unlike the scientific and religious issues that fascinated Bree, ran to parties and posing, one fan wrote, "Very cute, but she's really not into Feynmann and Jared Diamond! (I'm heart-broken …But a wonderful actress, had me fooled into thinking she was a geek like me.)"
Reader comments: Tristan says,
This appears to be the school jessica rose attended in new zealand.
I note that modeling comments were made before the LG15 was made. And here is a google image search of new zealand web sites for jessica rose.
