Christina Applegate

Keep working.

When casting agents tell her she has too much sitcom baggage, "I always think, 'At least it's Louis Vuitton.' "

Start a family.
Escape her past.
It's all part of the plan.

by Janet Weeks

Will Ferrell was watching a television profile of newswoman Jessica Savitch when inspiration struck. In the biography of one of TV's first female news stars, a broadcaster who'd worked with her explained how male anchors had fought against sharing their desks with women.

"This man literally said, 'Back then I was a real male chauvinist pig,' " Ferrell says. Right then, he hatched the idea for "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," a disco-decade spoof that hits movie theaters next Friday.

Ferrell knew he would be the movie's leading cad. But who could play his foil -- a smart, ambitious woman who suffers the humiliations of industry stereotyping but ultimately comes out on top?

Then again, who else but Christina Applegate, who spent years trying to get casting directors to see her as someone other than Kelly Bundy, the sexy, stupid daughter she played for 10 years on "Married ... With Children."

Sprawled on a couch in the lobby of L.A.'s posh Chateau Marmont hotel, Applegate, 32 and married, no children yet, smiles and shrugs at how her life has come full circle: the ex-teen star trying to escape the bimbo image playing, in her biggest movie role yet, a TV personality who wants to be taken seriously.

Admittedly, it hasn't been easy. "You give everything you have and it's 'No. You have too much baggage,' " she says, referring to her sitcom history. "You lose jobs because of silly things like that. When I hear the baggage thing, I always think, 'At least it's Louis Vuitton baggage.'

"You know, having to struggle ..." She pauses and takes a sip of green tea. Then she brightens. "But I can't say it's a struggle for me anymore. People know what I can do. It's a big relief. I was never going to give up. But it's nice not to have to fight as hard."

In a town littered with the broken careers of former child TV stars, Applegate is a rarity: a woman who survived the sitcom trenches and is finally poised to break out in a big movie.

Consider "Anchorman's" chances: It stars the red-hot Ferrell, whose last two films, "Old School" and "Elf," together grossed nearly $250 million. If "Anchorman" follows suit, Applegate will find her name on the marquee of a hit.

"This couldn't come at a better time, considering the star power of Will Ferrell," says film writer Chris Gardner of "The Hollywood Reporter." "Christina is proving she could be a big player."

Still, Applegate had to compete with several actresses vying for the "Anchorman" role and audition twice before landing it. "That part was coveted," Gardner confirms. "With fewer movies being made, parts in big studio movies don't come around every day."

Says Ferrell, who co-wrote the "Anchorman" script: "It was a more difficult role to cast than we thought it would be. She is the reactor to all of our buffoonery. She had to know her way around a joke. Not everyone had the right feel for it. Christina fit in."

Applegate is clearly relieved she's fitting in at all. Early on, she made a conscious choice not to exploit her hottie-of-the-moment days during Married ... With Children. The idea was to avoid being permanently branded as Kelly Bundy. "I didn't do any publicity," she recalls of those days. "I didn't go to Hollywood parties. I didn't self-promote. I kept my life really quiet and under the radar. I just knew if I had a publicist and went all out, once the show was over, it would have been over. And why do you want to burn out at 18?"

Instead, it seems Applegate's career is just starting to smolder. Critics lauded her for stealing scenes from Cameron Diaz in the forgettable movie comedy "The Sweetest Thing," and she won an Emmy for a hilarious turn as Rachel's rotten sister on "Friends." She has two movies in the can and was to start production this month on a black comedy, "Pretty Persuasion." Later this year, she'll be seen in "Surviving Christmas" with Ben Affleck.

Yet she still has to work for roles and often ends up "two down" on casting directors' lists of choices. "You hear 'no' so many more times than 'yes,' " she says.

Applegate says she's restless when she's not acting -- which she hasn't since September. "Too much time off can get really difficult for me," she says. "There are some people who feel they want more time off. But I love working. It's how I grew up. It's who I am. There's a part of me that feels more alive working than doing anything else."

Her latest obsession is "American Idol," which she TiVos when it's in season and watches religiously with her husband, actor Johnathon Schaech -- best known for his role in the 1996 movie "That Thing You Do!" -- in their Hollywood Hills home. "Sometimes I think if I could go to sleep and only wake up for "Idol" on Tuesday and Wednesday, I'd be satisfied," she says. "I get so excited about it."

She and Schaech keep off the red carpets and away from parties to avoid the "Hollywood couple" label. Working with Affleck when he was engaged to Jennifer Lopez gave her a front-row seat to the kind of stress the label brings to a relationship. "They were together and very much in love, and it was great to watch," she says. "What went wrong was media attention."

By contrast, she and Schaech are "low-key. We're not going to flaunt all over the place. It's not who we are. If we do go to an event, John does his thing, and I do mine." The two prefer spending time with their PlayStation 2 playing "Karaoke Revolution." "You have to sing these songs," she says, "and there's this little arrow on the screen that tells you whether you're in pitch. It's the best game."

She hopes the game helps her get ready for her biggest challenge to date: starring in a 2005 Broadway revival of the 1966 musical "Sweet Charity." Trained in dance, Applegate beat out a host of actresses (including Marisa Tomei, Jenna Elfman and Jane Krakowski) for the title role. But she has never sung onstage. "Vocally ... I'm going to get better," she quips. "I'm singing in my car all the time now."

After the Broadway run, Applegate also hopes to work on another project -- parenting. "We're a little late on the plan," she says. "I better get on it. I really want to be a mother."

So motherhood would make her married ... with children. A full circle, indeed.

"I've been around a long time, and that's a testament to having a vision," she says while exiting the hotel. "It's knowing it's not just about one little spurt of time where everyone gets excited about you and you blow up." She stops at her black Mercedes and opens the door.

"I just want to keep going as long as I possibly can." W

Janet Weeks, a freelance writer in Sacramento, last wrote for USA WEEKEND Magazine about

Maria Shriver.

HOW APPLEGATE MAKES A DIFFERENCE

Before driving off, Christina Applegate grabs my hand and says urgently, "Pap smears don't test for ovarian cancer. Sorry to end on such a grim note."

Unusual parting remarks, to be sure. But after a close experience with cancer, Applegate is committed to spreading the word.

Applegate was 7 when her mother, actress Nancy Priddy, was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy. The surgery saved Priddy's life. Then, 10 years ago, doctors discovered Priddy's cancer had returned, this time in cells in her abdomen. She underwent seven operations, including a hysterectomy, and two years of chemotherapy.

"The second bout was more aggressive and harder to treat, because it wasn't a tumor," Applegate says. "I was still doing ["Married ... With Children"], and it was pretty awful. It was a test of strength to get out there every week and be funny."

Today, Priddy's cancer is in remission, and Applegate is dedicated to making a difference by raising money for cancer research.

Beyond that, she says, she's telling every woman she meets about screening tests for hard-to-detect gynecological cancers. "I feel like I'm on a mission," she says.

And mission accomplished, she drives away. -- J.W.

Makeup: Bethany Karlyn, Margaret Maldonado Agency. Hair: Jenny Cho, Exclusive Artists/Kerastase. Clothing stylist: Jessica Paster, Luxe. Prop stylist: Darren Ransdell, Cloutier.

Clothing credits -- Cover: Top and pants by Juicy; shoes by Prada; necklace by Wagner & Ko. Inside: Dress by Nanette Lepore.