A curvy, ginger-haired beauty whose buxom proportions recall the heydays of Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, Christina Hendricks was born May 3, 1975, in Knoxville, Tenn., but grew up in Idaho and Virginia. Though her signature red locks are her trademark, she's a natural blonde who's been dyeing her hair since she was 10 years old.

After a stint as a teen model, Hendricks broke into television, enjoying featured runs on "ER" and "Firefly" as well as several one-off guest turns. But she practically stopped TV traffic as slinky office manager Joan Harris on the critically acclaimed cable series "Mad Men" (2007-). The role earned Hendricks a 2010 Emmy nomination, and the cast as a whole won multiple Screen Actors Guild awards for best ensemble in a drama series.

Hendricks made her big-screen debut in the food-themed indie La Cucina (2007), playing a young writer who makes dinner for a much older man.