Christina Applegate has built and established a successful acting career since a young age. As a young actress, she first gained recognition for starring as Kelly Bundy in a sitcom titled Married… with Children. Her latest prominent television role was playing the role of Jen Harding alongside Linda Cardellini in Netflix’s black comedy series, Dead to Me.
But while filming the third season of Dead to Me, Christina Applegate was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease that disrupts the communication between the brain and the body. In a recent interview, Applegate told Variety that filming the final season was “as hard as you would possibly think it would be.” So although it was a tough season for Applegate, she did not want her condition to get in the way of finishing the series.
'Dead to Me’ (2019 - 2022)
Jen Harding (Christina Applegate) is a recently widowed real estate agent coming to terms with her husband’s death, which was caused by a hit-and-run incident. She decides to go to a support group where she meets another grieving woman, Judy (Linda Cardellini), whose husband died of a heart attack.
A friendship starts to blossom between the two women as they share mutual grief over the deaths of their partners. But what Jen doesn’t know is that Judy is the driver behind the wheels of the car that hit her husband and that her fiancé is very much alive. As time progresses, Jen discovers the mystery behind her husband’s death, and who Judy really is.
‘Bad Moms’ (2016)
Amy Mitchell (Mila Kunis), the mother to two kids, Jane (Oona Laurence) and Dylan (Emjay Anthony), catches her husband Mike (David Walton) cheating on her. She is a good mother who over-commits to her job and children. She prepares healthy lunches for them, helps with their homework, goes to their extracurricular activities, and is active in the PTA that is run by the overbearing Gwendolyn James (Christina Applegate) and her minions, Stacy (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Vicky (Annie Mumolo).
Amy goes to a bar and meets two other moms, Kiki (Kristen Bell) and Carla (Kathryn Hahn), who becomes her close friends. They teach her how to be less uptight and to loosen up. But when Amy finds out that Gwendolyn has been playing dirty games, such as using her PTA authority to get her children in trouble, she runs for PTA president to defeat the treacherous Gwendolyn.
‘Up All Night’ (2011 - 2012)
While Reagan (Christina Applegate) works as a producer on her best friend Ava’s (Maya Rudolph) talk show, her husband Chris (Will Arnett) is a stay-at-home father who is adjusting to life with their newborn baby Amy. In the second season, the story shifts focus following the cancellation of Ava’s talk show and Chris starting a business venture with Reagan’s brother Scott (Luka Jones). Now, Reagan is forced to adjust to her new life as a stay-at-home mother.
Eleven episodes into the second season, Up All Night announced a hiatus from the show. And it was during the hiatus, that creator Emily Spivey and Christina Applegate chose to leave the show, and so did Will Arnett as he was cast in CBS’ The Millers.
‘Going the Distance’ (2010)
Erin Langford (Drew Barrymore) is a journalism student and intern at an NYC newspaper for the summer. One evening, she meets Garrett (Justin Long) at a bar and goes back to his place to drink, smoke weed, and have sex. But as Erin is only in NYC for six weeks as an intern, they decide to keep it casual. But this doesn’t happen, and they develop feelings for each other.
A few months after Erin returns to her hometown, Garrett makes a surprise visit to Erin’s sister Corrine’s (Christina Applegate) house, where he knows Erin is staying. Corrine awkwardly walks in on them having sex in the dining room. Despite this, Garrett soon realizes their relationship might never work, so he returns to New York. A month later, Erin gets a job offer from San Francisco Chronicle and informs Garrett about it. Though initially upset, Garrett tells Erin that he wants her to move to New York and start a life together. But Erin’s sister Corrine, tells Garrett that he shouldn’t be the reason she turns down a job offer. They say their last goodbyes until six months later when they unexpectedly reunite at The Boxer Rebellion's concert in Los Angeles.
‘Samantha Who?’ (2007 - 2009)
Samantha Who? is a sitcom that follows the story of Samantha Newly (Christina Applegate), a real estate vice president who suffers from amnesia after a hit-and-run accident. After waking up from the accident, Samantha realizes how horrible of a person she had been before the incident. She makes it her mission to make amends to her parents Howard (Kevin Dunn) and Regina (Jean Smart), friends Andrea (Jennifer Esposito) and Dena (Melissa McCarthy), and roommate and ex-boyfriend Todd (Barry Watson).
Despite the show’s brief run, Samantha Who? was popular and acquired approximately 20 million viewers across two seasons. Christina Applegate also won and received nominations for Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, People’s Choice Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and more.
‘Anchorman’ Film Franchise (2004 - 2013)
The Anchorman franchise consists of three comedy films; Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie (both 2004), and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013). The premise of the first movie entails Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), a famous anchorman who works for a local television station alongside his childhood friends.
When a new female reporter, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), is hired to co-anchor alongside him, he first welcomes her with open arms but soon realizes that she is outshining him. And so a feud between the two unfolds. The comedy franchise has since become highly successful and commonly referenced in pop culture.
‘Friends’ (2002 - 2003)
Christina Applegate played the character of Amy Greene, one of the younger sisters of Rachel Greene (Jennifer Aniston). Despite only having appeared in two episodes, namely “The One With Rachel’s Other Sister” and “The One Where Rachel’s Sister Babysits,” Amy became one of the most memorable and recognizable guest stars of the sitcom. Amy’s characteristics are associated with being annoying, arrogant, snobby, unlikeable, and irresponsible. At one point, Joey even tells Ross, “She (Amy) may be the hottest girl I’ve ever hated.”
In her brief appearance as a guest star in Friends, Applegate received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, of which she won one.
‘Jesse’ (1998 - 2000)
Jesse Warner (Christina Applegate) is a single mother who lives with her nine-year-old son Little John (Eric Lloyd), in Buffalo, New York. She works in a German-themed bar that her father, John (George Dzundza), owns, alongside her two brothers, John Warner Jr. (John Lehr) and Darren Warner (David DeLuise), and two other girlfriends, Linda (Liza Snyder) and Carrie (Jennifer Milmore).
After being walked out on by her ex-husband seven years ago, she tries to find love again with the charming Diego (Bruno Campos), whom her father disapproves of. But things become complicated when her ex-husband returns to town to win her back. Applegate’s role as Jesse Warner earned her nominations and wins from the Golden Globe Awards and the People’s Choice Awards.
‘Married… with Children’ (1987 - 1997)
The sitcom follows the lives of the Bundy family; father Al (Ed O’Neill), mother Peggy (Katey Sagal), daughter Kelly (Christina Applegate), and son Bud (David Faustino). Al makes a living by selling women’s shoes while his wife Peggy spends his money but refuses to do any housework or get a job. Kelly is their dimwitted daughter who mispronounces and misspells simple words and whose choice of guys irritates her father, Al. On the other hand, Bud is the most level-headed family member but his fixation with sex often leads to failures with women.
Married… with Children, which ran from 1987 to 1997, is regarded as one of the longest-running sitcoms of all time. The show was aired on Fox, which at that time, was a startup network and not as widespread as the Big Three television networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) across the United States. On top of that, because Friends aired on NBC and was already a worldwide hit, Married… with Children struggled to compete against it.
‘Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead’ (1991)
In one of her earliest film roles, Applegate plays the leading role of Sue Ellen “Swell” Crandell, a high school graduate who can't afford to go to Europe with her friends for the summer. As their divorced mother leaves for a vacation with her new boyfriend, Swell looks forward to a liberating summer as she is left with only her siblings Kenny (Keith Coogan), Zach (Christopher Pettiet), Melissa (Danielle Harris), and Walter (Robert Hy Gorman) at home.
Much to her dismay, her mother hires a babysitter to look after them while she is gone. But things quickly take a turn when the babysitter unexpectedly dies in her sleep. Swell and her siblings soon realize that it won’t be such a light-hearted summer after all.