Crista Flanagan

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Crista Flanagan is an American actress, best known for her work as a cast member on the Fox sketch comedy series MADtv from 2005 to 2009, various roles in films made by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, and her recurring role as Lois Sadler on the AMC series Mad Men.

Flanagan, a native of Mount Vernon, Illinois, is the daughter of Bonnie Jerdon and David Flanagan.^[1] She received a bachelor of science in theatre from the University of Evansville and a master of fine arts from the University of California, Irvine, where she sharpened her theatrical skills in plays including Fool for Love, The Time of Our Life, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Marriage of Figaro, and Oklahoma!. Her extensive background in theater led to the development of Flanagan's one-person show titled But wait…I have Impressions!

Flanagan officially joined the cast of MADtv in 2005 as a featured performer, for the 10th season, then became a repertory cast member at the beginning of the following season. Her frequent impersonations were of Alex Hooser, Ellen Pompeo, Heidi Klum, Patricia Arquette (as Allison DuBois from Medium), Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, and Miley Cyrus (as herself and as Hannah Montana from the Disney Channel show of the same name).

Crista had a long-standing gag with fellow cast member Bobby Lee, where their behind-the-scenes characters had a love/hate relationship. This relationship can be seen in the "Secret Santa" skit, where Bobby proposes to Crista, to which she replies, "I cannot marry someone I have a restraining order against." This can also be seen in the "Celebrity Triathlon" skit, where Crista slams the door after Bobby asks for her help, and she makes reference to not helping him dig up a dead body, but reluctantly agrees to help him train.

After MADtv, Flanagan's most notable television role was the recurring role of Lois Sadler on the drama series Mad Men, on which she appeared for the first three seasons from 2007 to 2009. She has also appeared on Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Practice, and ER, and had a recurring role on You've Got a Friend (TV program). She partnered up with the team behind Ask a Ninja to create a video podcast called Hope is Emo. Flanagan played the role of Hermione Granger in the 2007 film, Epic Movie. She later appeared as Ugly Betty/Oracle in the "sequel" Meet the Spartans, and in Disaster Movie played Juney, a parody of Juno, and Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus. She also appeared in Seltzer and Friedberg's 2010 project, Vampires Suck, as Eden Sullen. With the release of Best Night Ever in 2013, she became the most recurring actress in Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer films. She posed nude in the August 2010 issue of Playboy.^[2] She appeared in an episode of Big Time Rush as an evil producer named Kennedy.

Crista plays the title character in Hope Is Emo, an Internet comedy podcast that satirizes the life of a struggling emo girl named Hope. The series was created by Crista and the Ask a Ninja' team at Beatbox Giant Productions.

• Crista Flanagan at IMDb
• Official MADtv Website at the Wayback Machine (archived March 5, 2006)
• Hope Is Emo Website at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived September 24, 2008)
• Suburban Blight Review (Crista Flanagan played Wilma)
• TV.com Archived March 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Crista Flanagan's TV roles and appearances