Many people went to see the political thriller “State of Play,” starring Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck, last weekend. Jackie Crawford of St. Joseph was one of them, but she wasn’t there to see A-list actors. She was looking for “Reporter #5,” played by her granddaughter and St. Joe native, Denae D’Arcy.

“I went to see the movie, and she’s certainly there,” Crawford says.

The crazy part is, the role that Denae D’Arcy played in the film is a role she plays in real life.

D’Arcy, 29, was born and raised on South 40th Street in St. Joseph and attended Pickett Elementary School before moving to Tennessee with her family. She attended college at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tenn., obtaining a bachelor’s degree in mass communication specializing in journalism. From there, she got TV anchor/reporter jobs in Hazard, Ky., Knoxville, Tenn., and Cincinnati, Ohio, before moving to London, England, to attend the University of Westminister for a master’s degree in international journalism. While living in London, she got a job as a nanny for Justine Wright, a film editor for the Oscar-winning film “The Last King of Scotland” and the new film “State of Play.” After three months, D’Arcy got a job as an anchor and reporter for KVAL TV in Eugene, Ore., but she also got a request from her former employer.

“(Wright) called me up and said, ‘Hey, I’m working on this movie, could you help me out?’” D’Arcy says.

The help came in a fake news story D’Arcy recorded in the KVAL studio that she sent to Wright, which would later end up as part of a news montage in “State of Play.”

D’Arcy’s role in the film is a small one. She didn’t get to meet any celebrities and has no plans to quit her day job. But even the minor results of her work in the film, from phone calls received from London colleagues to her presence in the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com), still registers.

“It said (I’m) listed as an “actress” and this kind of hit me that this is kind of a big deal,” D’Arcy says.