Christina Applegate Biography

CHRISTINA APPLEGATE

Date of Birth: November 25, 1971

This natural blond beauty from California had a taste of show biz as early as three months old, when she appeared on Days of Our Lives with her singer-actress mother, Nancy Priddy. Her father, record producer Robert Applegate, and her mother split up shortly after Christina's birth.

Applegate's mother took her along on all of her auditions and acting jobs. She made her second acting showing at age five months, when her mother got her in a commercial for Playtex nursers. "It was not easy for my mother, being a struggling actress and raising a child," explains Applegate. "We were these two sort of vagabonds, never knowing where the money was going to come from. She always says she couldn't afford a babysitter, which is why she put me on the stage." When she was ten, she made her feature film debut in Jaws of Satan (1981), followed shortly by a stint in Beatlemania.

After appearing in the telefilm Grace Kelly, Applegate landed a role on the television series Heart of the City. Her work was impressive and earned her a Young Actor's Award for Best Young Actress in television. Two years later she landed regular work in another series, one she became famous for, Married... with Children. Playing the dumb but sexy Kelly Bundy on the long running series, Applegate earned a nomination from the Young Actor's Awards for Best Young Actress in a Comedy series in 1988, winning the honor the following year.

When her father remarried, Christina was introduced to two new step-siblings, including Alisa, who became her best friend. By the time she was 17, Applegate left school to pursue an acting career. Although a good move for her career, Applegate personally regrets the decision. "It's one of those choices that I can honestly say was a big mistake. I wish I had a better knowledge of history and the other things I could've learned."

During her successful run on Married... with Children, Applegate found time to work on a number of films including a starring role in Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991), Wild Bill (1995), and Mars Attacks! (1996).

After Married ended in 1997, Applegate focused her career on more feature work such as The Big Hit (1998), and Jane Austen's Mafia (1998). The same year these films came out, she was given an opportunity to take another regular role in a television sitcom, Jesse. Playing the lead character, Jesse Warner, Applegate soon won a People's Choice Awards for Favorite Female Performer in a New Television Series, followed by a nomination for a Golden Globe award for Best performance by an Actress in a TV series.

After that she moved on to a new sitcom, Samantha Who?, which ran two seasons and garnered her two Golden Globe nominations and two Emmy award nominations.

Applegate is divorced from actor Johnathon Schaech from That Thing You Do. More recently, she lent her voice to the animated film The Book of Life (2014), and starred in the comedies Vacation (2015), Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015), Bad Moms (2016), and Crash Pad (2016).

A vegetarian, Christina studies jazz dance, reads poetry and is a supporter of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). She lives in Los Angeles with three cats and a turtle.

Filmography:

Crash Pad (2016)
Bad Moms (2016)
Youth in Oregon (2016)
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015)
Vacation (2015)
The Book of Life (2014)
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)
Up All Night: Season One (2012)
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011)
Hall Pass (2011)
Going the Distance (2010)
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010) (voice)
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009) (voice)
The Rocker (2008)
Surviving Christmas (2004)
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
Employee of the Month (2004)
Grand Theft Parsons (2003)
Wonderland (2003)
View From the Top (2003)
The Sweetest Thing (2002)
Just Visiting (2001)
The Giving Tree (1999)
Out in Fifty (1999)
Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998)
The Big Hit (1998)
Claudine's Return (1998)
Nowhere (1997)
Mars Attacks! (1996)
Vibrations (1995)
Wild Bill (1995)
Across the Moon (1994)
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991)
Streets (1990)
Beatlemania (1981)
Jaws of Satan (1981)