Calista Flockhart Biography:

A long time favorite, Calista Flockhart worked in many Off-Broadway plays (e.g., "All for One", "Sophistry", "Wrong Turn at Lungfish") before succeeding on Broadway in the role of Laura, opposite Julie Harris, in a 1994 revival of "The Glass Menagerie". It was while appearing in the stage production of "The Loop" that she came to the interest of Mike Nichols, who gave the actress her breakthrough movie role as the daughter of a conventional politician engaged to the son of a gay man in "The Birdcage" with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane (1996), a flowing recreation of "La Cage aux Folles". Flockhart's somewhat everyday face and somewhat skittish expression was often an remedy to the high powered actions of stars Robin Williams, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane and Dianne Wiest.

The daughter of a Kraft Foods executive, Flockhart led a wandering childhood, living in Iowa, Minnesota and upstate New York before the family finally settled in New Jersey. After finishing her studies at Rutgers University, she moved to New York City to chase a career. Between work in regional theater and in the plays in Manhattan, she accepted various film and television roles. Her feature debut was in the small role of a college student in Robert Redford's "Quiz Show" (1994). "Drunks" (released in 1997) gave her a flashy opportunity but she was overshadowed by her better known co-stars like Faye Dunaway, Dianne Wiest and Parker Posey. In "Milk and Money" (1996), a botched try at magic realism, she played the boring girlfriend of the lead character and gave a feeling of believability to her blue collar worker who becomes the focus of a teenage boys romantic feeling in "Telling Lies in America" with Kevin Bacon and Brad Renfro (1997).

Although she had many television projects to her credit, it was as the main character in the David E Kelley created "Ally McBeal" playing along side up-and-comers Lucy Liu and Hayden Panettiere (Fox, 1997-2002) which shot her to sexy celebrity stardom. As the a Boston lawyer prone to fantasies and dealing with being a single working woman, Flockhart gave a spot-on portrayal that balanced carefully between comedy and tragedy. Her character, who often complained about the state of her sexual and romantic life, touched a nerve with viewers. Either you loved Ally or hated her. Everything from her short skirts to her endless search for the right male partner was fodder for tabloid media - this was also the case in the real life story of Calista Flockhart. There was relentless rumor over her love life and, more controversially, her weight. A diminutive, lean woman, the actress was rumored to be suffering from either an eating disorder or a drug problem. No amount of public relations could stop the rumors, not even her appearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman" where she announced that those disapproving of her size could "kiss my skinny, white ass." There were also skits on the in-famous Saturday Night Live that parodied her slim build and tiny body frame.

This rush to judgment and media exposure began bringing job offers on both the small and large screens, most notably "Jane Doe" starring with Teri Hatcher (filmed in 1996). As the main character, she gave a convincing performance as a fascinating drug addict who falls for a timid writer. On the more conventional front, Flockhart played the role of the stubborn Helena in Michael Hoffman's screen adaptation of "William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1999), giving a strapping and energetic performance. Along with Christian Bale, Anna Friel, Michelle Pfeiffer and Dominic West (as Lysander), she smoothed out the foursome of young lovers at the heart of the performance and further confirmed her flexibility cleverly handling the comedy and the dialog.

Instead of resting on her "Ally McBeal" personality (as the Fox network planned with "Ally,” a half hour television situation comedy version pulled from new and old footage set to premiere in fall 1999), or looking for a leading role in a Hollywood studio movie or a quality independent profject, Flockhart choose to return to her melodramatic roots in the summer of 1999, controlling almost the entire evening of classically controversial one-act plays written by Neil LaBute together titled "Bash: latter day plays.” She gained great attention for her two roles, one an powerful role of a woman relating an affair with a teacher and its disastrous consequences, the other as a Mormon woman visiting New York City with her boyfriend, and her sheer presence assured that the limited off-Broadway production was sold out.

Flockhart took a dramatic role in her next project, “Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her” with Glenn Close and Cameron Diaz (2001), a serial production following three storylines about numerous women in the middle of major life problems. Flockhart played a amazingly truthful tarot card reader whose attitude feeds her cancer ridden lover (Valeria Golino) while finding relief in telling the warm memories of their relationship. Despite winning the Fondation Gan Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, “Things You Can Tell” failed to gain a theatrical release in the United States, though Showtime Networks ultimately picked up the rights to air the film. Returning to comedy roots, Flockhart joined a well-built cast that included Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin and Toni Collette in “The Last Shot” (2004), a true story spoof about an FBI agent (Baldwin) who sets up an intricate sting operation to stop legendary mafia boss John Gotti by enlisting an naive aspirant director (Broderick) to direct a movie that will never get made. Flockhart was the director’s would-be actress girlfriend who has lost all patience for living above a kennel full of barking dogs.

Returning to regular television work for the first time in four years, Flockhart starred in the soap drama, “Brothers and Sisters” (ABC, 2006- ), a household account about five siblings who take over the family’s profitable produce business after the sudden death of their father (Tom Skerritt). Flockhart played a New York based liberal radio talk show host who comes back to her Los Angeles roots to start a television talk show, but must deal with her problematic family, especially her separated mother (Sally Field), while trying to run the family business. After the initial pilot was produced in April 2006, the network believed the project needed sweeping changes. They recast half of the cast, Betty Buckley originally played Flockhart’s mother, and fired executive producer Marti Noxon. 

The revamped “Brothers & Sisters” began in fall 2006 with a lead-in from the trendy “Desperate Housewives” riding the popularity of Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman and Eva Longoria Parker (ABC, 2004- ) and gained good, but not exceptional, ratings. Even with the over the top and soap opera style scripts and generally slow story plots, Calista Flockhart showed a lot of dramatic talent, a welcome change to her “Ally McBeal” antics.

• Born:
  on 11/11/1964 in Freeport, Illinois
• Job Titles:
  Actor

Family

• Brother: Gary Flockhart. born c. 1961; arrested in July 2001 for heroin possession
• Father: Ronald Flockhart. worked for Kraft Foods
• Mother: Kay Flockhart.
• Son: Liam Flockhart. adopted; born on January 1, 2001 in San Diego

Significant Others

• Companion: Harrison Ford. dating since 2002
• Companion: Ben Stiller. Tabloid rumor
• Companion: Garry Shandling. reportedly dated in 2000; Flockhart has denied they were romantically involved and are nothing more than "just good friends"
• Companion: Jeffrey Kramer. was reported to have been dating in 1998; at the time he separated from his wife with whom he had three children
• Companion: Sam Mendes. reportedly dated; was her date for the Emmy awards in 1999

Education

• Shawnee High School, Medford, New Jersey, 1983

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