Kate Flannery

Kate Flannery
Flannery at the June 2009 premiere for The Proposal
Born	Katherine Patricia Flannery (1964-06-10)June 10, 1964 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1999–present

Katherine Patricia "Kate" Flannery (born June 10, 1964) is an American actress best known for playing the role of Meredith Palmer on the NBC hit series The Office.

Personal life

Flannery was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She attended Saint John Neumann School and Archbishop John Carroll High School in Radnor, Pennsylvania. She graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She is one of seven children in an Irish-American family. She is three minutes younger than her twin sister who is a social worker.

Flannery is one of only two cast members from The Office who is actually from Pennsylvania, where the show is set. The other is Zach Woods, who plays the character Gabe.

Career

Improvisation

A former member of The Second City's National Touring Company, Flannery is an original member of Chicago's Annoyance Theater, where she created over 15 shows including "The Miss Vagina Pageant" and "The Real Live Brady Bunch".

The Lampshades, her comedy lounge act with veteran improviser Scot Robinson, has been running in Hollywood at the iO WEST stage for over four years and was seen at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. The Lampshades was New York magazine's "LA Pick" for 2006 and was declared "Best Saturday Comedy Show of the Year" by LA Weekly.^{[citation needed]}

Stage work

Flannery played Neely O'Hara in Off Broadway hit Valley of the Dolls at the Circle in the Square Theatre in New York City and Los Angeles. Also in Los Angeles, she played the teen prostitute and Blair's sister in The Phacts of Life at the Renberg Theatre and in the Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner production of Hildy, Hildy, Three Feet Under at The Evidence Room.

She is the musical director of the Los Angeles Drama Club, teaching Shakespeare to children and young adults.

Filmography

• Can't Stop Dancing (1999) as Tonia
• Trick (1999) as Ridiculous Writer
• Amy Stiller's Breast (2002) as Reporter
• Life Without Dick (2002) as Crampy Legs Partygoer
• Carolina (2003) as Café Waitress
• The Heir Apparent (2005) as Heidi
• I'm Not Gay (2005) as Secretary
• The Office (2005–2013) as Meredith (129 episodes)
• Danny Roane: First Time Director (2006) as Marla
• Jesus People (2007) as Sharon Nyenhuis
• Wild Girls Gone (2007) as Reading Circle #4
• Coco Lipshitz: Behind the Laughter (2009) as Reporter
• You (2009) as Airline Counter Girl
• Finger Babies (2010) as Teacher
• Wizards of Waverly Place (2010) as Elaine Finkle

Music

Flannery was a member of the band Mono Puff using the stage name "Lady Puff". She toured with the band and sang on their second album, It's Fun to Steal.

Television

Flannery appeared as the alcoholic, divorced, single mother Meredith Palmer on the television comedy The Office. Before The Office, she made appearances on The Bernie Mac Show, Boomtown, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! She currently blogs (sometimes as her Office character) on MySpace.

In 2008, Flannery was a talent scout on Last Comic Standing with her Office costar Brian Baumgartner, and she appeared with the cast of The Office on Celebrity Family Feud.

Flannery also appeared as a judge in a 2009 episode of Iron Chef America.

She has also appeared on The Jay Leno Show portraying Wendy in a skit at the time of the burger chain's 40th anniversary, Mother Earth in a skit on the November 19, 2009 episode and Mrs. Claus on December 21, 2009.

In an interview on Chelsea Lately, Flannery stated that she'll be playing Harper's mother on the Disney Channel series, Wizards of Waverly Place.

She was a contestant on Don't Forget the Lyrics.

She is currently the host of Standup in Stilettos on the TV Guide network.

External links

• Kate Flannery on MySpace
• Kate Flannery at the Internet Movie Database
• The Lampshades, Flannery's comedy lounge act
• Kate Flannery video interview on FanLib