Meet Caitlin Clark's Scottsdale doppelganger
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Photo: WBB Clips courtesy Xfinity
A casting director discovered a Scottsdale woman on LinkedIn and quickly put her in a commercial that debuted over the weekend.
Why it matters: The woman had no professional acting experience, but she met the only qualification for the role: She shares a name with college basketball sensation Caitlin Clark.
The big picture: Xfinity's new "real deal" TV ad campaign features Scottsdale's Clark struggling to complete a series of basketball drills, followed by shots of the University of Iowa's Clark easily sinking a half-court shot.
- "Not all Caitlin Clarks are the same. Just like not all internet providers are the same. Don't settle," the narrator says.
How it happened: The local Clark, who is a Scottsdale city planner, told Axios Phoenix that Xfinity reached out to her on LinkedIn earlier this month and asked her to record a short audition video.
- She thought it was a scam at first, but about a week and a half later, Clark was filming in Los Angeles.
Zoom in: The ad debuted during Saturday's UofA game and is expected to continue airing throughout the Final Four.
- Clark's husband shared the clip on social media, and it was viewed 2.3 million times in the first 24 hours.
- Clark said she didn't tell many people in advance, so she was inundated with texts from shocked friends.
1 funny thing: "[During the drills] They kept telling me, 'Try your hardest!' And I'm like, 'I am trying my hardest!' So that's embarrassing," Clark joked, noting that professional sports are not in her future.
The intrigue: The commercial was serendipitous, she said, because she had recently become a big college basketball fan because she shares a name with the Iowa star.
- The local Clark said she kept hearing the buzz around a basketball player with her name, so she decided to watch her play. And she was hooked.
- Clark said she hopes to meet her name doppelganger someday, as the basketball star was competing in March Madness and filmed her segment of the commercial separately.
The bottom line: "She is insane in the best way. Just an outstanding player," she told us.