Christina Rene Hendricks (born May 3, 1975) is an American actress and former model. With an extensive career onscreen and stage, she has receivedvarious accolades, including twoScreen Actors Guild Awards and twoCritics' Choice Awards, as well as nominations for sixPrimetime Emmy Awards. She is known for her role asJoan Holloway on the critically acclaimedAMC period drama seriesMad Men (2007–2015). In 2010, a poll of female readers taken byEsquire magazine named her "the sexiest woman in the world".[2] She was also voted "Best Looking Woman in America".[2][3]
Born to an American mother and English father inKnoxville, Tennessee, Hendricks was raised inPortland, Oregon, andTwin Falls, Idaho, where she became active in local theater.[4][5] After completing high school inVirginia, she moved toNew York City to pursue a modelling career, following her entry into aSeventeen cover contest. She continued to work internationally as a model for over a decade before transitioning into acting.
Hendricks was born[6] inKnoxville, Tennessee,[7] the second child of American mother Jackie Sue Hendricks (née Raymond), a psychologist, and English father Robert Hendricks, aForest Service employee originally fromBirmingham.[8] Through her father, she has dual British and American citizenship.[9] She has one older brother.[10] Her family relocated frequently due to her father's Forest Service job—first toGeorgia when she was two months old,[11] then toPortland, Oregon, where she attended elementary school.[10][12][13]
When Hendricks was nine years old, the family moved from Portland toTwin Falls, Idaho, where she completed elementary and middle school.[14] She described her family as "outdoorsy", relating that they frequently went on camping trips in thePacific Northwest.[15] Her mother encouraged her and her brother to join a local theater group in Twin Falls to make friends, and Hendricks appeared in a production there ofGrease.[10] She recalled, "I had all these amazing friends through the theatre company. And it was a community that really respected theatre. The kids would put on a play and the entire town would show. And you were cool if you were an actor."[10] A natural blonde, Hendricks began coloring her hair red at age 10, inspired by the bookAnne of Green Gables.[16]
When Hendricks was a teenager, her father's job required the family to move nearWashington, D.C. They settled inFairfax, Virginia. She described the move from Idaho to Virginia as "traumatic" for her, and she was frequently bullied while attendingFairfax High School.[17] Hendricks described herself as an "outcast" and a "goth" and found companionship in the school's drama department, where she appeared in plays.[18] In addition to theater, she studiedballet throughout her teen years.[19] She left Fairfax High School in her senior year and completed her studies atNorthern Virginia Community College.[20][21]
She began modeling in New York,London, andJapan between the ages of 18 and 27 before transitioning into commercials.[25] She lived in London for around a year during this period, living with two friends who were teachers.[26] In her early twenties, she moved with her mother and brother toLos Angeles, California.[27] Initially, she pursued a career in the administrative sector of the music business, but was dissuaded by friends, and kept working as a model before auditioning for acting roles.[28] She appeared in commercials forCarl's Jr. andDr. Pepper,[29] and starred in the music video forEverclear's "One Hit Wonder" (1997).[30] She was the hand model in the poster for the filmAmerican Beauty.[31]
She made her television debut in the MTV anthology seriesUndressed. Her first starring role was as an intern onBeggars and Choosers, aShowtime comedy series about a group of young professionals that was filmed inVancouver and ran from 1999 to 2001.[32] She also had a guest role on the seriesAngel in 2000. She subsequently appeared in the television filmThe Big Time (2002), and had recurring guest roles onER (2002),The Court (2003), andFirefly (2002–2003). After a guest appearance onTru Calling, she was cast as Nicolette Ray in theUPN legal dramaKevin Hill, which aired during the 2004–05 television season.[33]
In perhaps her best-known role to date, Hendricks played office managerJoan Holloway on the AMC seriesMad Men, set in a series of fictitious advertising agencies in 1960s New York City. Her performance received critical praise, and earned her sixPrimetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series over the show's seven seasons.[34]
Also in 2007, Hendricks made her feature film debut inLa Cucina, adrama film that premiered onShowtime in December 2009, starring Hendricks as a writer.[35] That year, she also starred in the thriller filmSouth of Pico,[36] and appeared in four episodes of theNBC seriesLife (2007–2008) in the recurring role of Olivia, detectiveCharlie Crews' soon-to-be stepmother and Ted Earley's love interest.
In 2014, she played the lead character in Ryan Gosling's directorial debutLost River, a fantasy film set in Detroit;[43] it received mixed reviews.[44] She voiced Zarina inDisney'sThe Pirate Fairy. She starred in the novel adaptationDark Places (2015).[45] After the conclusion ofMad Men in 2015, she starred as a prostitute in two seasons of theComedy Central seriesAnother Period (2015–2016), set in the early 20th century.[46]
In 2016, she appeared as one of the leads in Refn's thriller filmThe Neon Demon, portraying a modeling agent.[47] Critical response to the film was polarized, though the French film magazineCahiers du cinéma named it the third-best film of 2016.[48] The same year, she starred in six episodes of the seriesHap and Leonard, playing the ex-wife of investigator Hap Collins.[49]
In 2018, she appeared in home-invasion based horror filmThe Strangers: Prey at Night, playing the matriarch of a family under siege by killers. Upon release, the film received generally unfavorable reviews from critics,[50][51][52] thoughThe Guardian's Benjamin Lee praised Hendricks's performance.[53] It was a commercial success, however, grossing $30 million.[54]
In 2018, Hendricks returned to television in theAmazon Prime seriesThe Romanoffs, reuniting withMad Men creatorMatthew Weiner.[55] She stars as one of the leads on theNBC comedy crime seriesGood Girls, playing a woman who attempts to gain financial control of her life by holding up a grocery store.[56] The show ran until 2021.[57] In late 2018, Hendricks starred oppositeSienna Miller in the dramaAmerican Woman, portraying a woman helping her sister raise her family in rural Pennsylvania.[58] She also voicedGabby Gabby, the mainantivillain in theDisney/Pixar animated sequelToy Story 4 (2019).[59] In 2020, Hendricks voices Officer Jaffe in the Warner Bros. 2020'Scooby-Doo filmScoob!.
On October 11, 2009, Hendricks married actorGeoffrey Arend.[60] Ten years later it was announced that they had separated, with a divorce finalized in December 2019.[61][62] Since 2021, she has been in a relationship with camera operator George Bianchini. They announced their engagement in March 2023,[63] and married on April 20, 2024.[64]
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 onMad Men and then all anyone was talking about was my body."[65][66]
