Calista Flockhart

**Calista Kay Flockhart** (born November 11, 1964) is an American actress. On television, she is best known for her roles as the title character on *Ally McBeal* (1997–2002), Kitty Walker on *Brothers & Sisters* (2006–2011), and Cat Grant on *Supergirl* (2015–2019). In film, she is known for roles in *The Birdcage* (1996), *A Midsummer Night's Dream* (1999), and *Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her* (2000). Flockhart has received a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award, and been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards. She is married to actor Harrison Ford.

## Career

### TV/Films

In spring 1989, Calista made her first television appearance in a minor role in an episode of the CBS-TV daytime soap opera series *Guiding Light* as a babysitter. Also, she played a teenager battling an eating disorder on a one-hour Afternoon Special on TV.

She earned a Golden Globe Award for the role in 1998. Flockhart also appeared on the June 29, 1998, cover of *Time* magazine, placed as the newest iteration in the evolution of Feminism, relating to the ongoing debate about the role depicted by her character. Flockhart starred on the show until it was canceled in 2002.

### *Ally McBeal* TV series

Calista is still perhaps best known for her famous titular TV role on FOX TV's *Ally McBeal* (1997-2002). Petite yet sexy, strong and smart yet vulnerable and love-lorne, her portrayal was both praised and derided as representative of a new late-20th-Century feminism. She earned a Golden Globe Award for the role in 1998. Flockhart also appeared on the June 29, 1998, cover of *Time* magazine, placed as the newest iteration in the evolution of feminism, relating to the ongoing debate about the role depicted by her character. Flockhart starred on the show until it was canceled in 2002.

### *Brothers & Sisters* TV series

In 2007, in a starring role as Kitty Walker, opposite Sally Field, Rachel Griffiths and Matthew Rhys, Calista became part of the ensemble cast of the ABC-TV series *Brothers & Sisters*, also starring Sally Field. With this role, she gets to show her dramatic and comedic chops again in the same way she did in *Ally McBeal*, but with a very different character.

During her career, Calista was also involved in various films such as 1996's *The Birdcage* with Nicolas Cage, *Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her* (2000), *Jane Doe*, *Midsummer Nights Dream* (1999), and *Fragile* (2005), which premiered in September 2005 at the Venice Film Festival.

Also, in 2001, Calista apeared in the movie *Bash: Latter-Day Plays*, later accompanying Eve Ensler to Kenya in order to protest violence against women, particularly female genital mutilation. Flockhart also starred in the Off-Broadway production of Ensler's *The Vagina Monolouges*.

She was offered the role of Susan Mayer on the ABC-TV series *Desperate Housewives* but declined, and the role later went to Teri Hatcher.

### Theater acting

Flockhart made her professional debut on the New York stage, appearing in *Beside Herself* alongside Melissa Joan Hart, at the Circle Repertory Theatre. Two years later, Flockhart appeared in the television movie *Darrow*. Though she later appeared in films *Naked in New York* (1993) and *Getting In* (1994), her first substantial speaking part in a film was in *Quiz Show*, directed by Robert Redford.

Flockhart debuted on Broadway in 1994, as Laura in *The Glass Menagerie*. Actress Julie Harris felt Flockhart should be hired without further auditions, claiming that she seemed ideal for the part, as she received a Clarence Derwent Award for her performance.

In 1995, Flockhart became acquainted with actors such as Dianne Wiest and Faye Dunaway when she appeared in the movie *Drunks*. Later that year, Flockhart starred in *Jane Doe* as a drug addict. In 1996, Flockhart appeared as the daughter of Dianne Wiest and Gene Hackman's characters in *The Birdcage*. Throughout that year, she continued to work on Broadway, playing the role of Natasha in Anton Chekhov's *Three Sisters*.

## Personal life

Though slender her whole life, Calista was also targeted as an example of overly thin celebrities in American culture, with constant speculation about Calista having eating disorders.

After *Ally McBeal* ended, Calista then became known more as part of a May/December romance with actor Harrison Ford, and being part of a trend of celebrities who chose to adopt rather than have their own children. Calsta and Harrison became engaged on Valentine's Day in 2009, and were married on June 15, 2010, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The ceremony was presided over by Governor Bill Richardson and New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles W. Daniels. Flockhart and Ford have one adopted son together, Liam Flockhart Ford (b. 2001), whom Flockhart adopted at birth.

From 2004 to 2014, Flockhart served as the national spokesperson for Peace Over Violence.

## References

1. ↑ Calista Flockhart Bio.. A&E Television Networks 2015. Retrieved on March 7, 2015.
2. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
3. ↑ "TIME Magazine Cover: Is Feminism Dead?", Time, June 29, 1998.
4. ↑ Ginia Bellafante. "It's All About Me!", Time, June 29, 1998.
5. ↑ http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/18/ally.mcbeal.canceled/index.html
6. ↑ "TIME Magazine Cover: Is Feminism Dead?", Time, June 29, 1998.
7. ↑ Ginia Bellafante. "It's All About Me!", Time, June 29, 1998.
8. ↑ http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/18/ally.mcbeal.canceled/index.html
9. ↑ "Coulda Been a Contender", slide 7 of 14. AOL Television. Retrieved December 21, 2009.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Mike Haederle. "Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart get married!", People.com, June 16, 2010. Retrieved on February 19, 2013.
11. ↑ Calista Flockhart Adopts Baby (January 6, 2006). Retrieved on June 6, 2018.
12. ↑ National Spokesperson Emeritus. Peace Over Violence. Archived from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved on April 19, 2015.
13. ↑ Peace Over Violence 37th Annual Humanitarian Awards.

## External links

* Calista Flockhart article at *Wikipedia*
* Calista Flockhart links at FreeOnes
* Calista Flockhart at Babepedia