Christina Applegate was born on November 25, 1971 in Los Angeles, California. She made her screen debut at three months of age, in the soap opera Days of our Lives, with her mother, actress Nancy Lee Priddy. Her film debut came at age 9, in the 1981 film Jaws of Satan. She also appeared in the television biopic Grace Kelly, as the younger version of the title role. She also made guest appearances in shows such as Father Murphy and Charles in Charge.
Her first major television role was in the short-lived 1986 police drama Heart of the City. In 1987, she played one of her most memorable roles, ditzy blonde Kelly Bundy, in the comedy series Married… with Children. For ten years, she played the character who is obsessed with boys, hair bleach and talking to the phone—the stereotypical dumb blonde, although the series suggested she wasn’t like that before. During that time, she also appeared in films such as Streets, Vibrations, Across the Moon, Mars Attacks! and Nowhere. She scored her first film starring role in the 1991 comedy Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, as Sue Ellen Crandell, the eldest of five siblings who finds herself heading the household after their babysitter died.
Married… with Children was cancelled in 1997, but Applegate took on roles in films such as Claudine’s Return, The Big Hit and Jane Austen’s Mafia. In 1998, she was given the lead role in the NBC sitcom Jesse, which received plaudits from reviewers, and gave her a People’s Choice Award. The program was, however, cancelled in 2000. She then appeared in films such as Just Visiting, View from the Top, Surviving Christmas and The Sweetest Thing, which earned her wide notice.
Applegate’s guest appearance in an episode of Friends in 2002 won her a Golden Globe for Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. She also appeared in the 2004 comedy Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, where she played the female lead. Her most recent television work is the 2008 sitcom Samantha Who?, where she plays a hit-and-run victim suffering amnesia and searching to rediscover everything.
Spouse: Johnathon Schaech (20 October 2001 - 10 August 2007) (divorced)
Supports People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Enjoys books about spirituality.
Has one half-brother and one half-sister from her father's subsequent marriage after he and Christina's mother, Nancy Priddy, divorced.
Passed the GED with flying colors toward the end of her Junior year.
Chosen as one of People Magazine's, "50 Most Beautiful People, 1999"
Co-wrote "The !$#!# Song" with The Sweetest Thing (2002) co-stars Cameron Diaz and Selma Blair.
First appeared on television as an infant in a commercial for disposable diapers.
Went to high school with Milla Jovovich.
Is referred to in the movie Donnie Darko (2001) by Jake Gyllenhaal's character while visiting the psychiatrist.
Is a Vegetarian.
She and Bruce Willis are the only two actors to have guest starred in "Friends" (1994) and win an Emmy for their performance.
[on accepting her role in the sitcom "Jesse" (1998)] This was a major commitment. I really had to sit and think about it. I eventually came to the conclusion that it came into my life for a reason.
There are a lot of sacrifices a mother makes when she's raising a child by herself. I saw it when I was growing up, watching all my mother did for me. But it wasn't until recently that I fully understood the price she paid because of how we had to struggle.
The person who I have my child with is going to be the right person. I don't want to raise a child by myself. I could do it. But I definitely don't want to. I want to be a mother who has the original father there. And I want to be with that person until I'm 80 years old, sitting out on the porch with our glasses of lemonade, laughing about our lives.