Though she entered professional acting at just four years old, Allison Mack had to wait until her late teens for her defining role, playing misfit Chloe Sullivan on the hit series, “Smallville” (The WB/CW, 2001- ). Prior to her nine-season stint on the show, Mack amassed a long resume of appearances on television series and in movies-of-the-week and even feature films. Though she had a not-so-auspicious start with “Police Academy 6: City Under Siege” (1989), she found her stride with multi-episode arcs on “Evening Shade” (CBS, 1990-94) and “7th Heaven” (The WB/CW, 1996-2007), while landing regular roles on short-lived series like “Opposite Sex” (Fox, 2000). But it was Chloe on “Smallville” that became her signature role and endeared her to a legion of comic book fans who made her a perennial favorite on “Hot 100” lists in magazines like Femme Fatales, establishing her as one of television’s most sought-after geek goddesses. With her 2008 foray into directing episodes of “Smallville,” Mack proved that the full extent of her talent had yet to be explored.
Born on July 20, 1982 in Preetz, Germany, Mack was raised by American parents – her father, Jonathan, a successful opera singer who encouraged her to pursue the arts at a young age, and her mother, Mindy. When she was two, the family moved back to the states and took up resident in Long Beach, CA. By the time she was four, Mack was already appearing in television commercials. She began taking acting classes at The Young Actors Space in Los Angeles when she was seven and soon landed her first feature, “Police Academy 6: City Under Siege” (1989). That same year, she made her television debut in the two-part miniseries, “I Know My Name Is Steven” (NBC, 1989), a true-to-life telling of the 1972 abduction of a California boy who was held hostage for seven years. After guest-starring on “Empty Nest” (NBC, 1988-1995), she landed supporting roles in a series of made-for-television movies, including “The Perfect Bride” (USA Network, 1991), “Living a Lie” (NBC, 1991) and “A Message From Holly” (CBS, 1992).
As the decade advanced, Mack continued to crop up on the small screen while occasionally appearing in less-than-desirable features like “Night Eyes III: On Guard” (1993). Following a recurring role on “Evening Shade” (CBS, 1990-94) and an episode of the short-lived courtroom drama “Sweet Justice” (NBC, 1994-95), she landed more prominent parts in television movies, including “Unlikely Angel” (CBS, 1996) and “The Care and Handling of Roses” (CBS, 1996). Her first major break came when she snagged her first regular role on the sitcom “Hiller and Diller” (ABC, 1998), about two oddball television writers (Richard Lewis and Kevin Nealon) struggling to reconcile their dysfunctional families with their careers. Mack appeared as Lewis’s precocious daughter Brooke in the smart, but ill-fated series. A year later, she appeared in more serious fare with an episode of “7th Heaven” (WB/CW, 1996-2007) where she appeared as Nicole Jacob, a young woman suffering from a compulsion to cut herself.
Back on the big screen, Mack co-starred in the third and last installment of the Disney franchise, “Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves” (1997), which went straight-to-video instead of securing a theatrical release. She returned to series television as a regular with “Opposite Sex” (Fox, 2000), a short-lived series that focused on a 15-year-old (Milo Ventimiglia) who moves to Northern California with his widowed dad and enrolls at a prestigious high school. After spending a lifetime performing, Mack finally landed her breakout role on the hit series, “Smallville” (The WB/CW, 2001- ), a teen drama that focused on the adolescent years of Clark Kent (Tom Welling), who searches for his place in the world while keeping his superhuman powers secret. Mack played Chloe Sullivan, Clark’s best friend who is also in love with him, though the feeling is not mutual. As the editor of the school newspaper, The Torch, Chloe constantly searches for the truth, especially when she begins digging into Clark’s life. Both misfit and lovelorn, Mack’s Chloe was embraced by a legion of loyal comic book fans. Although her role was created specifically for the show, her effortlessly sunny personality and trademark chopped-bob haircut became as iconic as Lex Luthor’s bald head.
So popular was her character that producers decided to create a web-based spin-off, “Smallville: Chloe Chronicles,” which were aired exclusively on AOL.com starting in 2003. Turning back to features after a long absence, Mack voiced Tiffany Nickle in the animated feature, “The Ant Bully” (2006), while working in live theater as a member of the experimental acting troupe, the Iris Theater Company, which performed around the world, including at the Prague Fringe Festival in 2009. Along with her “Smallville” co-star Kristin Kreuk, who portrayed Lana Lang, Mack started her own film production company, Parvati Creative Inc., with the intention of creating “Human-centric” films. In 2008, she produced her first short film, “Alice and Huck,” while the following year, she sat in the director’s chair for an episode of “Smallville.” Meanwhile, Mack announced that she was leaving the show after its ninth season to pursue other ventures, including producing, directing and designing a signature clothing line.