|
Calista Flockhart Profile |
|
-
Birth Date: November 11, 1964
-
Birth Place: Freeport, Illinois, USA
-
Birth Name: Calista Kay Flockhart
-
Height: 5'6"
|
|
|
Biography |
Calista Flockhart was born November 1l, 1964, in Freeport,
Illinois. The daughter of Ronald, a former Kraft Foods
business executive, and Kay, a teacher, Calista was raised
in Iowa, Minnesota and New York State, before finally
settling down in Medford, New Jersey.
While a student at Shawnee High School, Calista (which means
"most beautiful" in Greek) showed her school spirit by being
an executive on the student council and a member of the
cheerleading squad. Once a high school graduate, Calista
went on to study Fine Arts at Rutgers University in New
Brunswick, New Jersey. By the time she graduated in 1987,
she had already trained under acting coach William Esper and
appeared in numerous student theater productions.
Calista then decided to pursue acting full-time and headed
to New York to follow her dreams. She got a quick start,
with roles in a Williamstown Theater Festival presentation
of Death Takes a Holiday, and off-Broadway productions of
Wrong Turn at Lungfish, Sophistry, and All for One, and
audiences were beginning to take notice.
She then moved to television with bit parts on several soap
operas (namely Guiding Light), and finally a supporting role
in 1991's Darrow, co-starring Kevin Spacey. In 1992, she was
cast in the lead role of a woman with an eating disorder in
the segment of "The Secret Life of Mary-Margaret: Portrait
of a Bulimic", in the HBO series Lifestories: Families in
Crisis (Ironically, Calista is constantly denying
allegations that her thinness can be attributed to an eating
disorder).
Her job as an aerobics instructor supplemented her income,
and she soon hired an agent and a manager. While she was
gaining praise in theater circles, especially after roles in
Beside Herself and Three Sisters, she had not yet broken
through in the real moneymakers: television and film.
Doomed to a very tight-budget life, Calista finally made it
to Broadway with her award-winning role in The Glass
Menagerie. With a Theater World Award and a Clarence Derwent
Award to her name, she appeared in her first feature film --
albeit a very small role -- in Quiz Show. But it was thanks
to her role in The Loop that she was cast in a supporting
role in the 1996 hit comedy, The Birdcage.
After her name went up in Broadway lights yet again, this
time in another production of Three Sisters, television
producer David E. Kelley heard about Calista, who was
becoming known as a reputable Broadway actress. After much
encouragement from her friends -- Calista was not keen on
going back to television -- she finally went to the
audition, and was cast as the lead in Ally McBeal right
away.
Kelley's intuition that Calista was the perfect actress to
play the romantic, neurotic lawyer forever searching for Mr.
Right wasn't too far off. Audiences immediately took to the
quirky show, which was receiving sky-high ratings and
critical praise. Calista's Ally McBeal role has garnered her
the 1998 Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in
a TV series, and the Q Award in the same category. She has
also been nominated for an Emmy in 1998, and Golden Globe
and People Choice Award in 1999, to name a few.
Named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in
1998, Calista has been keeping busy with other projects
since the start of Ally McBeal in 1997. She appeared in the
romantic comedy Milk and Money in 1997, and co-starred with
Michelle Pfeiffer (incidentally David E. Kelley's wife) in
the film adaptation of a A Midsummer Night's Dream. She was
most recently seen in 2000's Things You Can Tell Just By
Looking At Her, co-starring Cameron Diaz. She also returned
to her theater roots and starred in the Broadway production
of The Vagina Monologues.
Now single after a courtship with Gary Shandling, Calista
has recently adopted a baby boy, an addition to her first
"child," a terrier named Webster. |
|
|
Other
Information |
The name "Kallista" means "most beautiful" in Greek.
"Callista" (her spelling "Calista") is an Anglicization.
Graduated from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ in
1988, with a BFA in theatre
One of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People [1998]
Graduated Shawnee High School in Medford, NJ. While there
she was a cheerleader and was active in the student council.
[1983]
Named after her great-grandmother
Calista's Mother, Kay, was a high school English Teacher.
Her father, Ronald, was an executive at Kraft Foods. She has
one older brother, Gary.
13 December 2000 - Calista collapsed on the set of her TV
show, _"Ally McBeal" (1997). It was announced she suffered
from dehydration and exhaustion and had nothing to with her
thinness, that many have attributed to bulemia.
Adopted a baby boy she named Liam. [11 January 2001]
Dated director Sam Mendes in the late spring and summer of
1999.
Had a dog called Webster. He was her best friend until he
died.
Engaged (2002) to Harrison Ford.
One of the nine Rutgers alumni who are inducted into the
Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni on 3rd May, 2003.
Calista graduated from the Mason Gross School of the Arts in
1988.
Best known for her role in "Ally McBeal" (1997)
Is of Irish, English and Italian descent
She won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Female
Television Performer on January 9, 2000 at the 26th Annual
People's Choice Awards from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium,
Pasadena, California, USA.
Won a Q Award for Best Actress in a Quality Series for "Ally
McBeal" (1997) at the Viewers for Quality Television Awards
on October 3, 1998 at the Burbank Airport Hilton and
Convention Center in Burbank, California, USA. Her show,
"Ally McBeal" (1997) also won for Best Quality Comedy
Series.
She was inducted into the South Jersey Arts and
Entertainment Hall of Fame on April 27, 2006.
She is the national spokesperson for the Los Angeles
Commission on Assaults Against Women and was presented with
a Humanitarian Award by them on October 21, 2005. |
|
|
|
