Christina Appelgate Biography

Christina Applegate was born in Hollywood, California. Her father, Robert Appelgate, was a record producer and her mother, Nancy Lee Priddy was a singer and actress. Her parents divorced soon after she was born. Christina made her debut when she was just 5 months old in a commercial for baby bottles. Having started this early, it seems her career path was made out.

Christina then made her small screen debut in Days of Our Lives. Without her knowing, her career was moving ahead. Appearing in a small cameo, Christina made her big screen debut in Jaws of Satan. She played a young Grace Kelly in the made-for-TV movie Grace Kelly (1983). Her first TV series came her way in the form of Washingtoon (1985). The show was a political drama in which Christina played the daughter of a Congressman. Sadly, the show lasted only a year, but there was no dearth of work for her. She kept making cameo appearances on many hit TV shows.

All these roles were good, but none of them proved to be the career push she required. Finally, Christina managed to get her best role till date in Fox’s Married…With Children. The show was a phenomenal success, and she played the beloved Kelly Bundy for ten long years. During this time she appeared in quite a few films and TV shows. Her first full-fledged starring role came in Don’t Tell Mom the Baby Sitter is Dead (1991). The film was a moderate hit, but gave her film career the kick start it required.

Because comedy was her forte, Christina chose to mostly work in comedy films. She played a small role in Mars Attacks! (1996) And played lead in satirical comedy Jane Austen’s Mafia (1998) opposite Jay Mohr. She also did try her hands at other serious roles like in Wild Bill and Nowhere. In 1997, Married…With Children got cancelled, and her film career too was not going that great. It was television that she got her most fame, so it was television again to the rescue. She played the title role in the sitcom Jesse; the show was hit with both critics and audiences and brought Christina a few awards like the People Choice Awards. Unfortunately, this phase too did not last very long, and the show was cancelled in 2000 despite its high popularity.

Now, she solely concentrated on films; Christina won praises for her supporting role in The Sweetest Thing (2002), which had Cameron Diaz in the lead, and did supporting roles in many other films. But somehow, she could not keep TV out of her life. She played the role of Rachel’s sister Amy Green on Friends. The fans loved her; she reprised her role in another episode, and even won an Emmy Award. Her comic performance alongside Will Ferrell in The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) was also well appreciated as the movie did well at the box-office earning a cool $100 million. The film spawned a sequel Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie (2004), but it did not do well.

After having a sitcom on Fox and NBC, it was now ABC where she landed another sitcom. Samantha Who? Was the story of woman who loses her memory, and has to rediscover her friends and family, and become a better person along the way. The show did well in its initial season, but had to be put on hold. Christina by now had seen it all, great heights of fame, cancelled TV shows and even a broken marriage. However, her biggest battle was yet to come.

In August 2008, Christina was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Her mother too was a breast cancer survivor, and it seemed that she too had inherited the gene. Luckily, for her, the cancer was diagnosed very early and was removed within the same month. After surgery Christina needed to go through some reconstruction surgeries so taping of show was delayed, but ABC then changed their mind and cancelled the show altogether.

Christina was very public about her cancer and spoke widely about it to create awareness. She even appeared in one hour TV special called Stand Up to Cancer which was shown on all the major networks. Christina last lent her voice in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, and will again be giving her voice in the third part planned in 2012. She also lent her voice for Cats & Dogs: Revenge of the Kitty Galore (2010), which was again a hit.