10 Things You Learn Rewatching Gilmore Girls
2. Two Characters, One Actor
Having a cast member play more than one character on Gilmore Girls became a recurring habit over the series.
Alex Borstein was cast as the rude harp player in season one, before later playing the odd stylist of Emily Gilmore. She also played unseen characters, such as the crazy woman on the answering machine.
She is not the only one. Seth McFarlane played Zach at Lorelai's graduation, as well one of Emily's lawyers and on another occasion, an uncredited folk singer. Meanwhile, Marion Ross played Richard's mother Trix and her niece Marilyn (this was probably intentional so that the two beared a resemblance). Additionally, there are other minor examples, such as Lance Barber as Hugo and an Inn guest, and Riki Lindhome as Juliet and a Stars Hollow High student.
Arguably the worst instance of using one actor for two roles was with Sherilyn Fenn, who portrayed both the girlfriend of Jess Mariano's biological father and April Nardini's mother. Whilst they're obviously meant to be two different characters, it was very hard to distinguish them because of the connections they had with the main characters.
Otherwise, the two characters for an one actor habit is mostly a quirkly little staple of the Stars Hollow universe.