kate flannery

Kate Flannery was born on June 10, 1964, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. She pursued her education at Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia for two years before transferring to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Flannery began her career in theatre, becoming an original member of Chicago’s Annoyance Theatre and a former member of The Second City’s National Touring Company, where she honed her comedic and acting skills across more than 15 productions. Her early work included performances in shows such as “The Miss Vagina Pageant” and “The Real Live Brady Bunch.”

Flannery gained widespread recognition for her role as Meredith Palmer on NBC’s “The Office,” a character she portrayed for nine seasons from 2005 to 2013. This role earned her and the cast two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, along with an additional five nominations. Beyond “The Office,” Flannery has appeared in various television shows, including guest roles on CBS’s “Magnum P.I.” and “Young Sheldon,” FOX’s “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “New Girl,” and Cartoon Network’s “Steven Universe” as the voice of Barbara “Barb” Miller (2017-2019). She also developed a cult comedy lounge act called “The Lampshades” with Scot Robinson, which has performed nationally and in Hollywood since 2001, receiving accolades such as New York magazine’s “LA Pick” for 2006 and “Best Saturday Comedy Show of the Year” by LA Weekly.

Her career includes stage work such as playing Neely O’Hara in the 1996 off-Broadway musical “Valley of the Dolls” and Nora Ephron’s “Love, Loss, and What I Wore.” Flannery extended her performance career into reality television, competing on the 28th season of “Dancing with the Stars” in 2019, where she was partnered with Pasha Pashkov and finished in fifth place. In film, she has appeared in independent features like the Sundance hit “Cooties” (2014) and “Bolt from the Blue” (2023), and has upcoming roles in “How Hard Can it Be?” and “High Spirits.” She also participated in “The Masked Singer” in 2024 as “Starfish.”