Fans love nothing more than when an actor shows their inner nerd, especially when it relates to one of their upcoming projects. And while “One Piece” is great on its own, it looks like Emily Rudd is coming for Henry Cavill’s crown as the most popular nerd-turned-actor — and it only starts with her love for anime. During an appearance on Netflix Geeked’s “Growing Up Geeked,” Rudd revealed where her passion for anime came from, saying, “I grew up on ‘Dragon Ball Z.’ I grew up on ‘Pokemon,’ ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ I saw ‘Spirited Away’ in theaters when it came out here in the States. So, all of the anime stuff that made me into who I am, 100%. ‘Sailor Moon,’ I made my parents rent the ‘Sailor Moon’ movie all the time, and they were so sick of it, but I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh. Women are so cool and so powerful, and they can do anything.’ And it also just really solidified anime in my life.”
At the time of the recording, Rudd also stated that she was rereading “One Piece,” meaning not only does her love for the manga go past her day job as Nami on Netflix, but she’s also read it before — possibly in preparation for the Netflix series, but with her evident love for all things anime, it wouldn’t be a surprise if she was already a fan long before landing the role.
As if her geek status wasn’t clear enough, Rudd states one of her biggest regrets was getting rid of all of her “Pokemon” cards, her GameBoy Color, and the original “Pokemon” games, which all would likely be worth a pretty penny today.