Christina Applegate is celebrating the upcoming holiday season in classic fashion. The actress has been cast as Mary in a live table read of the famed Christmas film, It’s a Wonderful Life.
Alongside Applegate, James Cromwell will portray Pa Bailey and Sue Ann Pien is to play the role of Violet.
The 2022 virtual gala table read is being put on by The Ed Asner Family Center non-profit and features a star-studded list of contributing actors. Applegate will star alongside Brendan Fraser, who will play George Bailey.
Additionally, previously announced participants of this year’s table read event include Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, JK Simmons, Jean Smart, Ken Jeong, Jim Beaver, Brent Spiner, Phil Lamarr, Chelsea Darnell, Ben Mankiewicz, and host Tom Bergeron alongside honorees Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann. Jennifer Hudson will also spread some holiday joy with a musical performance during intermission.
The table read will benefit The Ed Asner Family Center, which promotes mental health and enrichment programs for children with special needs and their families.
The film It’s a Wonderful Life was released in December 1946 and follows the story of businessman George Bailey, who is desperately frustrated and thinking of ending it all — despite it being Christmastime. An angel is sent from Heaven to show him what life would have been like if he had never existed.
Applegate, who is known for roles in Dead to Me, Married With Children, Anchorman and The Sweetest Thing, revealed she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the summer of 2021. At the time, she tweeted, “It’s been a strange journey. But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition.”
Christina Applegate poses with her star during her Hollywood Walk of Fame Ceremony on Nov. 14, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.
In an interview with the New York Times, the actress acknowledged that she will never fully accept her new reality as she continues her fight against MS. “Although it’s not like I came on the other side of it, like, ‘Woohoo, I’m totally fine.’ Acceptance? No, I’m never going to accept this. I’m pissed.”
Despite her diagnosis, Applegate has finished the last season of her Netflix series, Dead to Me, and earlier this month she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.