Kate Flannery

Kate Flannery (born June 10, 1964)^[1] is an American actress. Following her early theatre work, Flannery had her screen breakthrough playing Meredith Palmer on the NBC series The Office, which won her two Screen Actors Guild Awards. She went on to guest star on CBS shows Magnum P.I. and Young Sheldon. She competed on the 28th season of Dancing with the Stars and voiced Barb on the animated series Steven Universe.

Early life

Flannery was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, daughter of Tom and Joan Flannery,^[1] and was raised in the suburb Ardmore, Pennsylvania.^[2] She studied for two years at Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia and then transferred to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.^[2] She has five sisters and a brother,^[2] and is three minutes younger than her twin sister, who is a social worker.^[3]

Career

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

The Lampshades, a cult comedy lounge act consisting of Flannery and veteran improviser Scot Robinson, has been running in Hollywood and in comedy festivals since 2001 and was seen at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. The Lampshades was New York magazine's "LA Pick" for 2006,^[4] and was declared "Best Saturday Comedy Show of the Year" by LA Weekly.^{[citation needed]}

Flannery appeared as the alcoholic, divorced, single mother Meredith Palmer on the television comedy The Office, following appearances on The Bernie Mac Show, Boomtown, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The Office earned her and the rest of its cast acclaim, along with several accolades, such as winning two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, with an additional five nominations for the same award. 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.

In 2010, Flannery played Harper's mom on the Disney Channel's Wizards of Waverly Place as Elaine Finkle. Flannery also appeared as a judge in a 2009 episode of Iron Chef America.^[5] Flannery has been touring with Jane Lynch as her sidekick on stage since 2013 in her show See Jane Sing with Tim Davis and the Tony Guerrero Quintet, playing the Kennedy Center, Joe's Pub, the Borgata and 30 cities.

Flannery was in the long running New York hit, Nora Ephron's Love, Loss, and What I Wore. She also played Neely O'Hara in the 1996 off-Broadway musical Valley of the Dolls, an adaptation of the 1967 film, at the Circle in the Square Theatre in New York City and Los Angeles.^[6] 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 Three Feet Under at The Evidence Room. Jane Lynch's Christmas album A Swingin' Little Christmas features Kate Flannery, and reached #8 on the Billboard top 100 charts.^[7]

Flannery also appeared on The Jay Leno Show portraying Wendy in a skit at the time of the burger chain's 40th anniversary.^[8] She was a contestant on 19 episodes of Celebrity Name Game, two episodes of Hollywood Game Night with Jane Lynch. Flannery also appeared on Don't Forget the Lyrics and hosted Standup in Stilettos for two seasons on the TV Guide network. She is the former musical director of the Los Angeles Drama Club, teaching Shakespeare to children and young adults.

In 2016, she had a recurring role on ABC's American Housewife as Crossing Guard Sandy,^[9] played a janitor in an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, appeared on FOX's New Girl and MTV's Mary + Jane, and in 2017, recurred on Cartoon Network's Steven Universe as Barbara "Barb" Miller.^[10] Flannery was a member of the band Mono Puff under the stage name "Lady Puff". She toured with the band and sang on their second album, It's Fun to Steal.

In 2019, Flannery was announced as one of the celebrities to compete on season 28 of Dancing with the Stars. She was partnered with first-time professional Pasha Pashkov and was eliminated fifth.^[11] She joined the show's live tour in 2020, but it was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[12]

In 2022, it was announced that Flannery would star in the comedy film Plan B alongside Jon Heder, Tom Berenger, and Shannon Elizabeth.^[13]

In 2024, Flannery competed in season eleven of The Masked Singer as "Starfish". She was eliminated on "Queen Night" alongside Charlie Wilson as "Ugly Sweater".^[14]

In 2025, Flannery appeared on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire alongside her co-star from The Office, Oscar Nuñez. She and Nuñez went on to win the million-dollar top prize, becoming only the fourth celebrities and the seventeenth overall to do so, splitting $500,000 each for their respective charities, Philabundance and Planned Parenthood.^[15]

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Dancing with the Stars performances

¹ Score given by guest judge Leah Remini.

Awards and nominations

References

1. ^ "Kate Flannery Biography". TV Guide. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016.
2. ^ "One on One with Kate Flannery". HoboTrashCan.com. April 4, 2006. Archived February 15, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
3. ^ Tuesday June 19, 2012 episode of The Wendy Williams Show
4. ^ Abramovitch, Seth (2006). "Los Angeles Spring 2006 Travel Guide: Comedy". New York Magazine. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
5. ^ "Battle: Skirt Steak, Episode IA0709". No. 15. Iron Chef America. Episode 15. May 31, 2009.
6. ^ Evans, Greg (2 September 1996). "Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls". Variety. Retrieved 7 January 2022. ... an outrageously campy rendering of the trashy 1967 film about dolls and the dolls who take them. Performing a pared-down version of the movie’s actual Helen Deutsch - Dorothy Kingsley screenplay ...
7. ^ Metz, Nina (December 11, 2019). "The six degrees of Kate Flannery: From improv in Chicago to 'The Office' to 'Dancing with the Stars'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 14, 2009. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
9. ^ Lowman, Rob (October 11, 2016). "'American Housewife' doesn't offer anything new". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
10. ^ Burke, Minyvonne (February 21, 2016). "Former 'The Office' Star Kate Flannery Talks 'Must See TV: James Burrows' NBC Special, 'Steven Universe'". International Business Times. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
11. ^ "DWTS: The Office's Kate Flannery Is Eliminated". People. Archived November 5, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
12. ^ "'Dancing With the Stars: Live! 2020' Cancels Remaining Tour Dates Amid Coronavirus Outbreak". ET Online. March 31, 2020. Archived July 13, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
13. ^ "Jamie Lee & Jon Heder Topline Comedy 'Plan B' for Joke Zero and Future Proof Films". July 16, 2022. Archived July 16, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
14. ^ Schneider, Michael (April 17, 2024). "'The Masked Singer' Reveals Identities of Ugly Sweater and Starfish: Here Are the Celebrities Under the Costumes". Variety. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
15. ^ Garner, Glenn (September 25, 2025). "The Office Stars Win 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' Finale". Deadline Hollywood
16. ^ Amorosi, A. D. (May 28, 2014). "Boldface May 28: A.D. Amorosi rounds up the local gossip". Metro Philadelphia. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
17. ^ bent (May 26, 2015). "EXCLUSIVE: Clip From Andrew Nackman's 'Fourth Man Out'". IndieWire. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
18. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (March 22, 2017). "Denise Richards, Mischa Barton Star In 'The Toybox'; Katrina Bowden & Kate Flannery Join 'Fishbowl California'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
19. ^ Lang, Brent (August 21, 2020). "'Golden Arm' Sells Global Rights to Utopia (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
20. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 9, 2021). "Rita Moreno To Star In Dark Comedy Feature 'The Prank'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived August 9, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
21. ^ "Kate Flannery (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved May 29, 2025. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.

External links

• Kate Flannery at IMDb
• The Lampshades, Flannery's comedy lounge act