Birth Name: Calista
Flockhart
Nickname: Ally
Birthday: 11 November 1964
Birth Place: Freeport, Illinois, USA
Sign: Sun in Scorpio, Moon in Aquarius
Height: 165cm (5' 5 1/2")
Weight: 47kg (105lbs)
Hair: Natural hair color is kind of a dark blonde
Eyes: Blue
Family: FATHER - Ronald Flockhart (executive at Kraft Foods);
MOTHER - Kay Flockhart (teacher); BROTHER - Gary; SON - Liam
(January 1 2001; adopted)
Relationship: Ben Stiller (actor director; dated in 1999; broke
up);
Sam Mendes (director)
Claim to fame: as Ally McBeal in TV Series: Ally McBeal (1997)
Nationality: American
Education: Shawnee High School Medford New Jersey;
Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey (majored in Theater)
Occupation: Actress
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.