A good actor can play a plethora of different roles. Ideally, they get to do so over the course of their careers. However, some characters are so iconic and important to an actor’s career that they are forever associated with the performer. Emma Watson will always be Hermione to me, just as Alfonso Ribeiro will always be Carlton. Neither of them deserve to be typecast, but they’ve been burned into my pop culture memory as those indelible characters. I didn’t think the same was true for Reese Witherspoon after she played Elle Woods in 2001’s Legally Blonde . But now that the actress has returned to produce and star in HBO’s new series Big Little Lies, I can’t help but think that I'm seeing the older version of the only person to ever make law school seem cool to me.