A long-time favorite of discriminating theatergoers, Calista Flockhart acted in several Off-Broadway plays (e.g., "All for One", "Sophistry", "Wrong Turn at Lungfish") before triumphing on Broadway in the role of Laura, opposite Julie Harris, in a 1994 revival of "The Glass Menagerie". It was while appearing to great praise in the stage production of "The Loop" that she came to the attention of Mike Nichols, who gave the actress her breakthrough screen role as the daughter of a conservative politician engaged to the son of a gay man in "The Birdcage" (1996), a loose remake of "La Cage aux Folles". Flockhart's rather ordinary countenance and somewhat mousy demeanor was often an antidote to the high powered antics of stars Robin Williams, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane and Dianne Wiest.
The daughter of a Kraft Foods executive, Flockhart led a peripatetic childhood, living in Iowa, Minnesota and upstate New York before the family finally settled in New Jersey. After completing her studies at Rutgers, she relocated to NYC to pursue a career. Between work in regional theater and on the boards in Manhattan, she accepted occasional film and TV roles. Her feature debut was in the tiny part of a college student in Robert Redford's "Quiz Show" (1994). "Drunks" (1995; released in 1997) afforded her a showy 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 failed attempt at magic realism, she played the lackluster girlfriend of the lead character and she lent an aura of authenticity to her blue collar worker who becomes the object of a teenager's crush in "Telling Lies in America" (1997).
Although she had several TV roles to her credit (including the title role in "The Secret Life of Mary-Margaret: Portrait of a Bulimic" (HBO, 1992), it was as the title character in the David E Kelley-created "Ally McBeal" (Fox, 1997-2002) which vaulted her to stardom. As the a Boston lawyer prone to fantasies and coping with being a single working woman, Flockhart delivered a dead-on performance that treaded carefully between comedy and pathos. The character, who often bemoaned the state of her romantic life, touched a nerve with viewers. Either you loved Ally or hated her. Everything from her short skirts to her constant search for Mr. Right was grist for the discussion mill. That was also a position in which the actress found herself. There was constant speculation over her love life and, more controversially, her weight. A petite, slender woman, the actress was rumored to be suffering from either an eating disorder or a drug problem. No amount of spin could stop the rumors—not even her going on "The Late Show with David Letterman" where she pronounced that those critical of her size could "kiss my skinny, white ass."
Capitalizing on Flockhart's newfound fame, earlier projects that had been languishing in distributor limbo began turning up on screens, notably "Jane Doe" (filmed in 1996; screened at festivals in 1999). As the titular character, she offered a compelling turn as a charismatic drug addict who falls for a shy writer. On the more mainstream front, Flockhart undertook the role of the headstrong Helena in Michael Hoffman's screen adaptation of "William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1999), giving a strong and dynamic performance. Along with Christian Bale (as Demetrius), Anna Friel (as Hermia) and Dominic West (as Lysander), she rounded out the quartet of young lovers at the core of the play and further demonstrated her versatility deftly handling the comedy and the iambic pentameter.
Instead of capitalizing further on her "Ally McBeal" persona (as the Fox network planned with "Ally,” a half-hour sitcom version culled from new and existing footage set to premiere in fall 1999) or seeking a leading role in a Hollywood studio flick or a quality indie, Flockhart opted to return to her theatrical roots in the summer of 1999, headlining two-thirds of an evening of typically controversial one-acts written by filmmaker Neil LaBute collectively titled "bash: latter day plays.” She earned raves for her two characterizations—one an intense portrayal of a woman recounting an affair with a teacher and its tragic aftermath, the other as a Mormon woman visiting NYC with her boyfriend—and her mere presence guaranteed that the limited off-Broadway production was sold out.
Flockhart took a dramatic turn in her next feature, “Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her” (2001), an episodic drama following three storylines about several women in the throes of major life crises. Flockhart played a remarkably accurate tarot card reader who futility nurses her cancer-ridden lover (Valeria Golino) while finding solace in recounting the warm memories of their relationship. Despite winning the Fondation Gan Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, “Things You Can Tell” failed to obtain theatrical distribution in the United States, though Showtime Networks eventually picked up the rights to air. Returning to comedic fare, Flockhart joined an strong cast that included Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin and Toni Collette in “The Last Shot” (2004), a fact-based satire about an FBI agent (Baldwin) who sets up an elaborate sting operation to take down infamous mob boss John Gotti by enlisting an unsuspecting wannabe director (Broderick) to direct a film that will never get made. Flockhart was the director’s aspiring actress girlfriend who has lost all tolerance for living above a kennel full of yapping dogs.
Returning to regular television work for the first time in four years, Flockhart starred in the “Dallas”-like soap drama, “Brothers and Sisters” (ABC, 2006- ), a family saga about five siblings who take over the family’s lucrative produce business after the sudden death of their father (Tom Skerritt). Flockhart played a New York-based rightwing radio talk show host who returns to her Los Angeles origins to start a television talk show, but must deal with her troubled family—particularly her estranged mother (Sally Field)—while helping to run the business. After the initial pilot was shot in March 2006, the network felt the show needed drastic changes—never a good sign. They recast a third of the actors—Betty Buckley originally played Flockhart’s mom—and dismissed executive producer Marti Noxon. The new-and-improved “Brothers & Sisters” emerged in fall 2006 with a lead-in from the popular “Desperate Housewives” (ABC, 2004- ) and earned decent—but not great—ratings. Despite the over-soapy storylines and generally slow-pace, Flockhart displayed considerable dramatic chops, a welcome change to her “Ally McBeal” silliness.