After Dinner Speakers: Calista Flockhart, Hugh Grant, Shakatak

Actress. Born Calista Kay Flockhart on November 11, 1964, in Freeport, Illinois. Flockhart is best known for her portrayal of the character Ally McBeal in the highly successful television drama of the same name. Born to a teacher and Kraft Foods employee, Flockhart moved around a great deal in her youth, finally settling in Medford, New Jersey. After graduating from high school in Medford, she attended nearby Rutgers University, where she studied drama. Flockhart graduated in 1987 and spent roughly seven years shuttling between on- and off-Broadway productions, often paying the bills through small roles in daytime soap operas. In 1991, she got a small break with an appearance in the biographical television movie Darrow, which starred the still-emerging Kevin Spacey. An appearance in an HBO drama about bulimia soon followed. But Flockhart’s rise to stardom was slow and steady. She spent much of the 1990s fighting for progressively larger roles, including an award-winning performance in a Broadway run of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie (1994). But it wasn’t until Flockhart caught the eye of producer David E. Kelley in 1997 that she became a household name. Kelley cast the relatively unknown Flockhart in the lead role of his new series, Ally McBeal. Ally became an immediate popular success and Flockhart’s portrayal of the character -- a successful lawyer who is at once an independent career-woman and a mass of insecurity regarding relationship and family issues -- became the subject of heated controversy. While detractors claimed the character played on classic female stereotypes, many found the troubled McBeal a realistic and human version of modern womanhood. After Ally McBeal’s inaugural season, Flockhart won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. The show ended its run in May 2002. Still single, Flockhart has been romantically linked with the likes of Ben Stiller, Ben Affleck and producer Jeffrey Kramer. Most recently, the entertainment media has reported that she is dating mega-star Harrison Ford. Flockhart has a son, Liam, whom she adopted in 2001.