| Ally | John | Richard | Nelle | Renee | Mark
| Billy | Elaine | Ling |
| Larry |
Waif-like wisp and theater heavyweight, whose mini-skirted grace gives McBeal appeal.
Date of Birth: 11/11/1964
Education: Rutgers University, 1988, BFA in theater
So here's the skinny on the actress who plays Ally McBeal: A one-time off-Broadway theater goddess, she reaped awards, acclaim and Hollywood attention for her Broadway debut as Laura in The Glass Menagerie (1995). She's explained her unusual moniker means "most beautiful" in Greek, and indeed, the term's Greek-alphabet transliteration is kallisteuma. She, her brother Gary, and their schoolteacher mother, Kay, moved with their Kraft Foods executive father, Ronald, to Iowa, Minnesota, New York state and finally Medford, NJ, where cheerleader Calista attended high school. She began acting while at Rutgers University, where she earned a fine-arts degree in 1987 (some sources give 1989). She taught aerobics, appeared on Guiding Light, and did theater, making her telefilm debut with the docudrama Darrow (1991) and her feature bow with Quiz Show (1994). A handful of unreleased or direct-to-video movies followed before she landed the substantial fiancée role in The Birdcage (1996). Other films include Telling Lies in America (1997), Showtime's Drunks (1997) and William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999). In 1999, Flockhart canceled appearances on David Letterman's The Late Show, The Rosie O'Donnell Show and Today amid rumors of anorexia. Ironically, Flockhart's first starring role onscreen was as the title character in an episode of HBO's Lifestories: Families in Crisis titled "The Secret Life of Mary-Margaret: Portrait of a Bulimic."
