Christina Hendricks

Christina Hendricks plays Joan Holloway in Mad Men, the office manager who knows how Sterling Cooper actually functions. Joan can explain an unwritten rule with a smile that makes it perfectly clear it is not optional. Hendricks gives her wonderful control of a room, then lets us see how much effort that control can require.

The performance earned six Emmy nominations. Joan is memorable partly because Hendricks never treats her composure as the whole character: pride, impatience and disappointment can be visible even while she is keeping a conversation impeccably polite.

Before Mad Men, Hendricks appeared as Saffron in Firefly. Other television work includes Olivia in Life, Trudy in Hap and Leonard, Elizabeth Bradshaw in Tin Star and Beth Boland in Good Girls. Her films include Drive, God's Pocket and The Neon Demon.

That range matters when watching Joan. The wit and glamour are immediately apparent, but Hendricks is just as good when there is no effortless way out of an awkward situation. She allows Joan to be formidable without pretending she is invulnerable.