Halloween celebrity crush: Christina Cole

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This Halloween crush starred in the first -- better -- half of the British horror series Hex, guest-starred on the British horror series Sea of Souls, and co-starred in the thriller Surviving Evil.

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Name: Christina Cole (images -- not all of which will be her, as there's at least a figure skater by the same name | Web site | Twitter)
Hometown: Born and raised in London, England, according to her Wikipedia profile.
Best Known For: Christina's television résumé includes a mix of period pieces (lead roles in Emma and Jane Eyre adaptations, appearances on Foyle's War and Marple, and the fantasy Lost in Austen) as well as her starring turn in at least the early episodes of Hex. (She and her Hex co-star Jemima Rooper worked together again in Lost in Austen, though I'm not sure if their connection was as sapphicly charged.)

With Hex co-star Jemima Rooper. Their characters were
sorta like Buffy and Willow there -- except Buffy and
Willow never made out in a dream sequence.

She left Hex to focus on other things, but genre entertainment isn't entirely out of her system; she appeared in a David Tennant episode of Doctor Who ("The Shakespeare Code," even doing DVD commentary with Tennant), did a two-parter in the British psychic drama Sea of Souls, and more recently (last month) appeared in the H.G. Wells-inspired Morlocks on The Network Formerly Known as Sci-Fi Before Some Illiterate Fool Renamed It. (I still refuse to use the new name, and whoever rebranded the network should never work in that town again.)

In Casino Royale.

She co-starred last season on CBS's short-lived CIA dramedy Chaos alongside Eric Close. Other American television work includes a fun "fugitive of the week" turn on Breakout Kings and guest appearances on Jimmy Smits' drama Cane and the Mark Valley version of Human Target.

On the big screen, she appeared in the Amanda Bynes-loose-in-London comedy What a Girl Wants and alongside fellow crush Amy Adams in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day but rounded those out with horror films Doghouse and The Deaths of Ian Stone.

Hex featured a number of young and beautiful
actresses: From left, Jemima Rooper, Christina Cole,
Amber Sainsbury, and Zoë Tapper, the last of whom
(spoilers!) will be profiled on Boxing Day, Dec. 26.

Humble Beginnings: What a Girl Wants came along very early in her career; Wikipedia notes that she graduated from drama school early to do the project. Other film work includes a cameo in Casino Royale, the James Bond reboot introducing Daniel Craig as 007, as a hotel clerk.
Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: Christina gave a great performance on Hex, a show that never recovered from her departure early in its second season; her character there, a young school girl learning she had mystical powers -- and then proceeding to screw up in ways even worse than Buffy Summer ever managed -- was believably flawed and then some. But it was her appearance on Breakout Kings as a femme fatale that really locked her into an appearance on this list; she was delightfully evil as an escapee who used her wiles on any male who crossed her path.

Film and TV-movie Credits: Morlocks (2011 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * Blitz (Amazon | iTunes) * Surviving Evil (2009) (Amazon | iTunes) * Doghouse (Amazon | iTunes) * Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Amazon | iTunes) * Ladies and Gentlemen (2007 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Deaths of Ian Stone (Amazon | iTunes) * Casino Royale (2006) (Amazon | iTunes) * Julian Fellowes Investigates: A Most Mysterious Murder - The Case of Rose Harsent (2005 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage (2004 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * What a Girl Wants (2003) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Project (2002 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes)

TV and Web Series Credits: Chaos (2011) (Amazon | iTunes) * Inspector Lewis, season 5: "The Mind Has Mountains" (Amazon | iTunes) * Breakout Kings, season 1: "Queen of Hearts" (Amazon | iTunes) * Midsomer Murders, season 13: "The Silent Land" (Amazon | iTunes) * Human Target (2010), season 1: "Victoria" (Amazon | iTunes) * Emma (2009 mini-series) (Amazon | iTunes) * Lost in Austen (2008 mini-series) (Amazon | iTunes) * Agatha Christie's Poirot, season 11: "Appointment With Death" (Amazon | iTunes) * Sold (2007) (Amazon | iTunes) * Cane (2007): Pilot (Amazon | iTunes) * Sea of Souls, season 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * Doctor Who (2005), season 3: "The Shakespeare Code" (Amazon | iTunes) * Jane Eyre (2006 mini-series) (Amazon | iTunes) * Hex, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Hex, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * He Knew He Was Right (2004 mini-series) (Amazon | iTunes) * All About Me, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Foyle's War, season 2: Among the Few" (Amazon | iTunes)