Biography

Calista Kay Flockhart was born 11 November, 1964 in Freeport, Illinois. Her mother, Kay (Honohan), was a school teacher, and her father, Ronald Flockhart, worked for Kraft Foods Inc. She has Irish, Scottish, German, and English ancestry. Calista was named after her great-grandmother.

Flockhart attended Rutgers University in New Jersey to study acting. After college, she worked in regional theatre in Cleveland, Louisville, Chicago and Houston for $400 for eight weeks of work. In 1994, she got her first Broadway role playing "Laura" in Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie", for which she was recognized with the Theater World and Clarence Darwent Awards. She's also played in an all-star production of Anton Chekhov's "The Three Sisters" playing "Natasha". She wasn't too fond of TV before Ally McBeal (1997), but did take part in a 1992 episode of the HBO series Lifestories: Families in Crisis (1992). She did take part in many movies, but among them is the remake of The Birdcage (1996). Calista played the fiancée of Robin Williams's son. In 1997, she appeared in Telling Lies in America (1997) as the object of Brad Renfro's obsession.

Calista has established herself in New York, Chicago and elsewhere with an impressive stage and theater repertoire. She worked in the off-Broadway productions of "The Loop", "All for One", "Sophistry", "Wrong Turn at Lungfish", "Beside Herself" and "Bovver Boys". She also starred in non-NYC productions, such as "The Three Sisters" in Chicago, and "Our Town" and "Death Takes a Holiday" at the Williamstown Theater Festival.
- IMDb mini biography by: anonymous

Her slim figure

For me it's mostly about the process, and once you shoot an episode, there's something anticlimactic about watching. I watched some of Ally. Sometimes I thought they were great and sometimes I couldn't bear watching myself. I have to watch it at the right time of day. I certainly can't watch a show I'm in before I go to bed. It would drive me crazy. -- on if she ever watches herself on TV

Personally, it was a good time for me to get back to work - my son started kindergarten, and he was gone for eight hours a day. So it felt like the right time for my family. I liked the material, and they put together an amazing cast. And I liked the political aspect -- on returning to TV in Brothers & Sisters (2006).

I don't think I ever felt that way. As an actress, you want to play many different parts, and you want to explore different sides of yourself. So in that way, yes, but never in a negative way. I took a break to be a full-time mom -- on taking time off after Ally McBeal (1997) ended.

No, honestly, I was quite intrigued by it. I thought it was smart! Obviously, it was symbolic of Ally's biological clock ticking away, and I thought, what a great way to do that. I loved the fantasy sequences; I loved that we got to see her imagination come to life -- on the imaginary dancing baby in Ally McBeal (1997).

I got a call from a girlfriend in L.A. She was also an actress, doing what they refer to as "pilot season". She had read the script and she called me about it, and then I called my agent and he said, "Oh, yeah, I saw that and I passed". [Beat] And I said, "Oh, well maybe we should revisit it". So I did. I eventually flew out and screen-tested, and I got the part -- on how she got Ally McBeal (1997).