Kate_Flannery

Kate Flannery

Kate Flannery (born June 10, 1964 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American actress who plays the role of Meredith Palmer on the NBC sitcom The Office.

Biography

Flannery attended Archbishop John Carroll High School for Girls in Radnor, Pennsylvania. She graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Her family owns a bar (TA Flannery's) in downtown Philadelphia.

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.

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 5 to 8 year olds.

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

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