Big Spring Herald

Carla Gugino didn’t necessarily set out to be a horror star, but thanks largely to the work she has done with Netflix, she’s built a reputation for herself in the genre.

She has teamed again with filmmaker Mike Flanagan on Netflix’s new, currently streaming version of the Edgar Allan Poe tale “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The limited series updates the story to make Usher siblings (played by Bruce Greenwood and Mary Mcdonnell) the controllers of a prominent pharmaceutical firm, though their business doesn’t prevent others in their family from dying under mysterious circumstances, thanks to someone who returns from the past … with Gugino’s character Verna having a major role in what happens

Gugino previously worked with Flanagan on three Netflix projects in the horror vein: “The Haunting of Hill House,” “The Haunting of Bly Manor” and “Midnight Mass.” She’s clearly a vital part of the acting company that Flanagan has built through his work, not unlike producer Ryan Murphy’s casting pattern through such ventures as “American Horror Story” and “American Crime Story.”

However, Gugino entered the supernatural genre even before her association with Flanagan began. Among the other series she has done was “Threshold,” a short-lived 2005 sci-fi drama that CBS pulled with several episodes left to air. The actress plays the central part as crisis-management expert who prepared advance scenarios on how to handle various emergencies if they became real, one such situation being contact with aliens. (Of course, that happened in “Threshold,” thus the reason for the show existing.)

However, more down-to-earth roles have been Gugino’s calling cards more frequently – a notable one being “Karen Sisco,” a 2003 ABC series detailing more adventures of the federal deputy marshal created by Elmore Leonard and played by Jennifer Lopez in the 1998 movie “Out of Sight.” Still, Gugino clearly enjoys having otherworldly turns, and her latest one is on display now.

Birthdate: Aug. 29, 1971

Birthplace: Sarasota, Fla.

Current residence: Los Angeles

Marital status: Single (but she is the longtime companion of filmmaker Sebastian Gutierrez)

Other television work includes: “The Haunting of Bly Manor,” “Midnight Mass,” “Manhunt: Deadly Games,” “Jett,” “The Haunting of Hill House,” “Nashville,” “Roadies,” “The Brink,” “Wayward Pines,” “New Girl,” “Political Animals,” “Justified,” “Hide,” “Callfornication,” “Threshold,” “Karen Sisco,” “She Creature,” “Chicago Hope,” “A Season for Miracles,” “Hotel Alexandria,” “Spin City,” “The Buccaneers,” “Davis Rules,” “Quantum Leap,” “The Wonder Years,” “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” “Ferris Bueller,” “American Dreamer,” “Falcon Crest,” “ALF.”