Christina Hendricks Biography

Christina Hendricks began playing Joan, the red-haired siren of the secretarial pool, on the TV show Mad Men in 2007. Her Kennedy-era curves and hot red lipstick made Hendricks an instant favorite with viewers and a popular presence on Hollywood red carpets. Hendricks was born in Tennessee but raised in Idaho and Virginia. She had her first steady work on TV in four episodes of the MTV series Undressed (1999) and then 19 episodes of the Showtime series Beggars and Choosers (2000-01). She also had a recurring role (as the con artist Saffron) in the short-lived but beloved sci-fi show Firefly (2002). For the next five years she bounced around TV (including a run on the series Kevin Hill) before landing her part on Mad Men. As Joan, the office manager, she carried on an affair with partner Roger Sterling (played by John Slattery) and charmed clients while controlling the firm's secretaries with an iron girdle. (In season two she married doctor Greg Harris, changing her name from Joan Holloway to Joan Harris.) In real life, Hendricks married actor Geoffrey Arend on 11 October 2009.