Hendrickson was born in New York City. Her family later moved to Northport, Long Island, and maintained a home there. At an early age, Hendrickson showed an interest in the performing arts. "Artistic people have always surrounded me," she stated in a Q&A interview, citing her actor/artist family as her inspiration for wanting to become an actress. "Their talent and love for the arts continue to inspire me and always will." Her cousin is documentary filmmaker Dennis Michael Lynch. By age 5, Hendrickson was tap dancing on tabletops at family weddings. As she aged, her love for performing deepened. Hendrickson studied musical theatre at Syracuse University for two years before returning to New York. She transferred to Fordham College in her sophomore year. She auditioned for the roles of Bianca Montgomery, Rain Wilkins and Pine Valley High cheerleader Mindy on the daytime drama All My Children, but others were cast in the parts. She tried out as Guiding Light character Michelle Bauer Santos, a role that eventually went to actress Rebecca Budig.
Career
''All My Children''
In 2001, when All My Children head writer Richard Culliton wanted to set up a murder storyline, he created character Mary Frances Stone. Hendrickson was cast in the part. Her character was set to be the lesbian girlfriend of Bianca Montgomery and be killed in 3 months. It was deemed unlikely that a homosexual pairing on a soap opera would be successful, but fan reaction to the Bianca and Frankie pairing was unprecedented. Unfortunately, the Culliton murder storyline could not be rewritten, so Frankie was killed and Bianca's mother, Erica Kane, was seen standing over her corpse holding a gun. This prompted uproar in the soap opera community, and producers quickly thought up a way to bring the actress back to the show. Rather than rewrite Frankie's murder, the writers created her identical twin sister, Mary Margaret Stone, in 2002. Maggie quickly became instrumental in solving her sister's murder. Storyline tension was created when it was revealed that unlike Frankie, character Maggie was not gay. This, however, did not stop Bianca and Maggie fans from becoming very vocal about their support for the couple. After several heterosexual pairings involving Maggie did not work on the show, the writers began to develop a deepening relationship between the two characters. Eventually, Maggie kissed Bianca, moments before Bianca's lover, Lena Kundera, walked in. Bianca and Maggie became one of the most demanded couples in soap opera history. Hendrickson subsequently gained a loyal lesbian following. In 2006, Lesbianation.com, self-proclaimed as the leading online community for lesbians, voted her on their top ten list of Women We Love. The following year, Hendrickson again made the list. Hendrickson portrayed the popular role of Maggie until February 2005. Onscreen, Maggie exited Pine Valley with Bianca, traveling with her and her daughter, Miranda, to live in Paris. In late 2005, during Bianca's visit to Pine Valley, it was revealed that Maggie and Bianca had become lovers offscreen. In real life, Hendrickson and former castmate Eden Riegel have since separately moved to Los Angeles, and are pursuing other acting ventures. Riegel, however, did return to All My Children for a year, as part of a major storyline in late 2006, early 2007. Hendrickson returned again in January 2007 for a short 3-week stint. Her last airdate was February 7, 2007 when her character returned to Paris.
Other roles
Since leaving All My Children, Hendrickson has earned guest starring roles in the television showsMedium, Cold Case, and an uncredited role in Criminal Minds. She was to guest star on an episode of Criminal Minds titled Doubt on April 25, 2007, in the role of Katie, but the episode was pulled in deference to the tragedy at Virginia Tech and similar subject matter. The episode became the Season 3 premiere instead. Hendrickson signed on to play the role of Chloe Mitchell, a fashionista who stirs up trouble on the daytime drama The Young and the Restless in early 2008. It was revealed on the August 29, 2008 episode that the character was actually Kate, daughter of Katherine Chancellor's maid, Esther Valentine. Hendrickson exited the program in spring 2014. In May 2016 it was announced that Hendrickson was returning to The Young and the Restless. Hendrickson has starred in the web series Imaginary Bitches with Riegel. In May 2018, it was announced that Hendrickson had joined the cast of General Hospital as Margaux Dawson.
Personal life
Hendrickson married Rob Meder on June 29, 2019, after becoming engaged in December 2018. The couple's daughter, Josephine James, was born on March 27, 2020. Her pregnancy was written into her character's storyline on The Young and the Restless.
