ACTOR BIO

On Ally McBeal, she danced with a digital baby and charmed us with her dating mishaps. Now this vibrant actress has snagged our attention once more as the conservative Kitty Walker on Brothers And Sisters.

Calista Flockhart, a classically trained stage actress who has been critically acclaimed for both her classic and contemporary work on stage, quickly gained overnight fame as she endeared herself to millions as the provocative and controversial Ally McBeal.

Most recently Flockhart returned to her roots to star in Neil LaBute's highly praised play entitled Bash, for which she received outstanding reviews. Prior to that, she appeared on Broadway as the evil and narcissistic Natasha in Scott Elliot's production of The Three Sisters.

Flockhart made her Broadway debut opposite Julie Harris in The Glass Menagerie, for which she received the Theatre World Award and the Clarence Derwent Best New Talent Award. Additional New York theatre credits include: Warren Leight's The Loop, which landed her the role of Gene Hackman's daughter in Mike Nichols' The Birdcage; Sophistry and Sons and Fathers, both opposite Ethan Hawke and written by Jonathan Marc Sherman; Wrong Turn at Lungfish, written and directed by Garry Marshall; All for One, with Liev Schreiber, and Caryll Churchill's Mad Forest.

Regionally, Flockhart was Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at The Hartford Stage, Cordelia in King Lear at The Actors Theater in Louisville, Irina in The Three Sisters at The Goodman Theater in Chicago, and Emily in Our Town, directed by legendary Jose Quintero. Summers at the Williamstown Theater Festival and the Berkshire Theater Festival featured her in Death Takes a Holiday, opposite Christopher Reeve, and Jitta's Atonement, opposite Dianne Wiest.

Flockhart starred in Rodrigo Garcia's Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her, with Glenn Close and Cameron Diaz. Additional movie credits include FOX Searchlight's A Midsummer Night's Dream, co-starring Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Everett; Drunks; The Birdcage, which received the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble; and Telling Lies in America, scripted by Joe Esterhas and co-starring Kevin Bacon and Brad Renfro.

Ally McBeal, created by David E. Kelley, marked Flockhart's debut in a network television series. In the sophisticated hybrid, she portrayed a Harvard grad who finds success in the courtroom but fumbles outside the firm in pursuit of personal happiness. The role earned her a Golden Globe Award in 1997, a People's Choice Award in 1999, plus Emmy, People's Choice, SAG, TV Guide and American Comedy Award nominations in 1998, 1999 and 2001. Additionally she received Golden Globe Award nominations in 1998, 1999 and 2000, and has received many international awards for best actress in a television series.