Christina Hendricks Christina Rene Hendricks is an American actress.
She is most known for her role as Joan Harris on the AMC television series Mad Men and as
Saffron on the FOX series Firefly.
She has been nominated for four Emmy Awards for her work on Mad Men.
A poll of female readers taken by Esquire magazine named Hendricks "the sexiest woman
in the world".
In 2010, she was voted Best Looking American Woman by Esquire magazine.
Early life Hendricks was born in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Her mother, Jackie Sue (née Raymond), was a psychologist.
Her father, Robert Hendricks, who worked for the United States Forest Service, was from
Birmingham, England.
Through her father, she has dual U.S./U.K. nationality.
Her family moved because of her father's profession, living in Fairfax, Virginia; Portland, Oregon;
and Twin Falls, Idaho.
Career Hendricks began acting in children's musical
theater productions in Twin Falls.
She was a model from the ages of 18 to 27.
She made a number of guest television appearances, starting as a regular in the series Beggars
and Choosers.
Since then, she has starred in the series The Big Time and The Court, opposite Sally
Field and Craig Bierko, as well as the legal drama Kevin Hill, which was filmed in Fort
Cobb, Oklahoma.
She has also had recurring roles in ER and Firefly and guest-starred in episodes of Angel,
Miss Match, Tru Calling, Presidio Med, Without a Trace, and Las Vegas.
Hendricks starred opposite Kip Pardue in South of Pico.
La Cucina, an award-winning indie film, premiered on Showtime in December 2009 and stars Hendricks
as a writer opposite Joaquim de Almeida.
She has appeared in four episodes of the NBC TV show Life in the recurring role of Olivia,
detective Charlie Crews' soon-to-be stepmother and Ted Earley's love interest.
She also starred in music videos for "The Ghost Inside" by Broken Bells, and Everclear's
"One Hit Wonder".
She plays Joan Harris on the AMC series Mad Men where Hendricks' character is the office
manager of advertising agency Sterling Cooper & Partners, providing mentoring to a group
of women who must deal with the come-ons and callousness of professional advertising executives.
Her performance has received critical praise, resulting in four Primetime Emmy nominations
for Outstanding Supporting Actress in A Drama Series.
She appeared in the action-thriller Drive, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, alongside
Carey Mulligan and Ryan Gosling.
Cultural influence Hendricks has been credited as having an ideal
shape for a woman.
British Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone praised Hendricks' hourglass figure as an
ideal shape for women, saying "Christina Hendricks is absolutely fabulous...
We need more of these role models.
There is such a sensation when there is a curvy role model.
It shouldn't be so unusual."
Los Angeles Times television critic Mary McNamara says her portrayal of Joan has revolutionized
perceptions of beauty on television.
She has been called the "new modern ideal of Hollywood glamour—full figured, voluptuous;
a throwback to the days of Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell and Veronica Lake."
British designer Vivienne Westwood selected her to represent its "Get A Life" Palladium
jewelry collection in March 2011.
Westwood described Hendricks as "the embodiment of beauty."
A study by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons attributed a 10% rise in
2010 of the number of British women receiving breast augmentation surgery in part to Hendricks'
influence.
Hendricks has moved away from accepting the term "full-figured" and once lambasted a reporter
who angered her by using the term while interviewing her.
Hendricks commented in September 2010 that the media is too focused on women's bodies
and not their actual talents, "I was working my butt off on the show and then all anyone
was talking about was my body."
Personal life Hendricks is a natural blonde and began coloring
her hair red at the age of 10, inspired by the book Anne of Green Gables.
She plays the accordion, and used her talent on an episode of Mad Men.
On October 11, 2009, Hendricks married actor Geoffrey Arend.
Filmography Television
Awards and nominations