Crista Flanagan (born February 24, 1976) is an American television and stand-up comedian as well as a live theatre actress. Flanagan is notable for her membership in the recurring cast of comedians on sketch comedy series MADtv.
Flanagan was born in Mount Vernon, Illinois. She received a BS in Theatre from the University of Evansville. Flanagan received 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's notable guest appearances on television include Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Practice, ER, and a recurring role on You've Got a Friend. She has recently partnered up with the team behind Ask A Ninja to create a video podcast called Hope is Emo. Flanagan currently lives in Los Angeles. Flanagan played the role of Hermione Granger in the 2007 film, Epic Movie.
Flanagan officially joined the cast of MADtv in 2004 as a feature performer, for the tenth 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, Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, and Hayden Panettiere. Also, in one of her "Jazzed for Crafts" sketches, as Epic Movie is playing on the TV, her character Denise says "I love Epic Movie, I especially like that girl who plays Hermione", she is talking about herself, since Crista played Hermione in Epic Movie.
As of February 2007, Flanagan is a regular cast member of the twelfth season (the current) cast.
Crista plays the title character in Hope is Emo, an internet comedy podcast that satires 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, whose popularity with Ask a Ninja has been phenomenal.
