Christina Hendricks felt "emboldened" after filming 'Mad Men'

Speaking to the Radio Times magazine, the flame-haired beauty said: "It would be a shame to have played that character for nine years and not steal some of Joan's qualities. I poured myself into her and the response she received was very positive. It emboldened me and I learnt it was OK to embrace that self-confidence."

When the 'Bad Santa 2' star gets some free time away from her busy schedule, she likes to return to her home in Los Angeles, and will often throw a party so she can catch up with her friends and family.

She explained: "When I return to LA I like to throw a party as soon as possible and get everyone that I haven't been able to see for a long time together in a room and we just ink, eat and catch up.

"I've been travelling so much in the past two years that I find myself eating out and ordering in more than I would like to, so when I'm with friends I cook for everyone. The last thing I did was a big summer barbecue - nice salads, grilled chicken and sausages, homemade pizzas".

However, Christina spends a large portion of her life in New York - where she resides with her husband Geoffrey Arend - and has said her two homes are vastly different.

She said: "I have a very small 1930s apartment in New York and a very large sofa. When you can only walk ten paces across the room, there aren't many places to put the TV, so it's very prominent, right there above the fireplace. When my husband and I moved into our home in LA we found it had a projector screen that you pull down from the ceiling, so we get to watch TV like we're at the movies. It's really fun. We've got to the point where we order dinner and take our food into the living room and ear while we watch."