Interviewee: Christina Applegate
Interviewer: Polly Gillespie
Date: December 30, 2008

Christina Applegate is one of the beloved comic actresses in the face of Hollywood. She is best remembered for her performance as Kelly Bundy in the 10-year sitcom Married… with Children which ran from 1987 to 1997. Aired by Fox Broadcasting Company, the show propelled Fox into the ranks of the “big three” broadcasting companies during that time (ABC, CBS, and NBC).

Christina Applegate was a TV star early on; she made her first TV appearance when she was 3-months old in the soap opera Days of Our Lives with her mother. Five years later, she was in a Playtex TV commercial. She also starred in several TV series and films and became quite popular after landing the Kelly Bundy role. Her starring first movie came in the comedy Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, where she plays the lead role Sue Ellen Crandell, the eldest of five siblings who are left with a sitter while their mother goes on a 2-month Australian vacation.

Applegate has received several nominations for her comical performances in television and has won the Emmy Award for “Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Show” in 2003 for her role in an episode in the hit TV sitcom Friends.

Currently, Applegate stars in the ABC comedy Samantha Who?, where she plays the lead role Samantha “Sam” Newly. In the show, Sam is vice-president of a realty firm based in Chicago who becomes an amnesiac after surviving a car crash and an eight-day coma.

In an interview with ABC News, which was aired on October 15, 2007, Christina Applegate explained the plot of Samantha Who? Applegate revealed that Sam was a cruel person who treated people badly, including her family. However, after the accident, Sam begins to act differently. Upon realizing, piece by piece, what kind of person she was, Sam commits herself to change for the better. Christina Applegate further explained that Sam is someone who acts as a normal person, she just doesn’t have most of her memory.

Applegate said during the interview that playing someone who has amnesia is a very interesting challenge. Being a stage actress though, Applegate commented that performing in Broadway is a more rewarding experience for her. Acting reputations there can easily be tarnished by sub-par performances. Critics however, have given positive reviews for the show and have deemed Christina Applegate’s performance excellent.

Christina Applegate has been single for three years now, after divorcing her husband of 5 years, Johnathon Schaech. The judge who ruled on their divorce awarded Applegate two of the ex-couple’s Los Angeles residences, a 2006 Lexus and more than $7.5 million in bank accounts dating back to late December 2006.

Applegate’s upcoming movies include: The Rocker (where Applegate plays Amanda Wood, love interest of the movie’s main character) and Everything Is Going to Be Just Fine, which is still in production. It is interesting to note the little known fact that Applegate is one of the founding members of the Pussycat Dolls, a wildly popular all-female pop quintet.

Christina Applegate was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She has undergone surgery and has fully recovered, resuming her busy shooting schedule. Applegate’s mother is also a breast cancer survivor.