Kathleen Chalfant | |
|---|---|
 Chalfant at Make It Fair in 2015 | |
| Born | Kathleen Ann Bishop |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Kathleen Ann Chalfant (née Bishop) is an American actress. She has appeared in many stage plays, both on Broadway and Off-Broadway, as well as making guest appearances on television series, including the Law & Order franchise.
Chalfant was born Kathleen Ann Bishop [1] in San Francisco, California, and was raised in her parents' boarding house in Oakland. Her father, William Bishop, was an officer in the Coast Guard. She studied acting in New York with Wynn Handman, who was a protégé of Sanford Meisner, [2] and with Alessandro Fersen in Rome. [3]
Chalfant worked as a Production Coordinator at Playwrights Horizons in the mid-1970s, beginning with Demons: A Possession by Robert Karmon. [4] She made her Off-Broadway acting debut in Cowboy Pictures in June 1974. [5] She has since appeared in over three dozen Off-Broadway productions. In 2015, she appeared in the Women's Project Theater production of Dear Elizabeth by Sarah Ruhl [6] and as Rose Kennedy in the Nora's Playhouse production of Rose by Laurence Leamer. [7]
Chalfant was nominated for her official Broadway debut role [8] at the 1993 Tony Awards for Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) in Tony Kushner's Angels in America: Millennium Approaches . She earned the Outer Circle Critics, Drama Desk, Obie and Lucille Lortel awards for her performance as Vivian Bearing in Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Wit in 1998; she shaved her head for the role. [9] During her work with Wit, she incorporated her experiences dealing with terminal cancer of her half-brother, Alan Palmer, who died in 1998. [10]
For her 2003 performance in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads , [11] Chalfant won a second Obie award. In 2009, Chalfant performed in The People Speak, a documentary feature film [12] utilizing dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States .
Chalfant has played recurring roles in a number of television series including House of Cards , Law & Order , Rescue Me , and The Guardian . Her roles in feature films have included Isn't It Delicious and Kinsey .
Chalfant recently played Margaret Butler in The Affair on Showtime.
She was presented with the 2018 Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement. [13]
In 2018, Chalfant read T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets at the Bard SummerScape Festival as part of a new performance with choreography by Pam Tanowitz, music by Kaija Saariaho, and images by Brice Marden. [14]
In 1966, Chalfant married Henry Chalfant, a photographer and documentary filmmaker. They have a son, David Chalfant, who was the bass player for the folk-rock band The Nields, and a daughter, Andromache, a set designer in New York.
Chalfant has spoken about the role of art and artists in advocating for civil rights and social justice, [15] and "theater as a platform for social change." [16] She has been hosted by the Center for Constitutional Rights as part of the Guantanamo Lawyers Panel, [17] and was among a group of artists endorsing a cultural boycott of Israel as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign to advocate for Palestinian rights. [18]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Five Corners | Mrs. Fitzgerald | |
| 1989 | Miss Firecracker | Miss Lily | |
| 1990 | Tales from the Darkside: The Movie | Dean | Segment: "Lot 249" |
| 1991 | Dangerous Music | Therapist | Short |
| Out of the Rain | Ruth | ||
| 1992 | Bob Roberts | Constance Roberts | |
| 1996 | MURDER and murder | Mildred | |
| 1998 | The Last Days of Disco | Zenia | |
| Side Streets | Nanda | ||
| 1999 | QM, I Think I Call Her QM | Dr. Ruth Fielding | Short |
| 2000 | Company Man | Mother Quimp | |
| Woman Found Dead in Elevator | Woman | Short | |
| 2002 | Book of Kings | Nina | Short |
| 2004 | Kinsey | Barbara Merkle | |
| 2007 | First Born | Mrs. Kasperian | |
| Perfect Stranger | Elizabeth Clayton | ||
| The Last New Yorker | Mimi | ||
| 2008 | Second Guessing Grandma | Jean | Short |
| 2009 | Duplicity | Pam Frailes | |
| 2012 | Lillian | Lillian Manning | Short |
| 2013 | Isn't It Delicious | Joan Weldon | |
| The Bath | Liz | Short | |
| A Dream of Flying | Old Woman | Short | |
| 2017 | They Shall Not Perish: The Story of Near East Relief | Mabel Elliot | Documentary |
| Class Rank | Editor in Chief | ||
| In the Studio | Ilene | ||
| 2020 | Before/During/After | Olga | |
| 2021 | Old | Agnes | |
| 2024 | Familiar Touch | Ruth | |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978- 1979 | The Edge of Night | Louise | TV series |
| 1991 | American Playhouse | Mrs. Hauser | "The Hollow Boy" |
| 1992 | L.A. Law | Marlene Branson | "Zo Long" |
| 1994 | All My Children | Rae Ella | 1 episode |
| 1997 | Spin City | Mother Superior | "Hot in the City" |
| 1997–00 | Prince Street | TV series | |
| 1999 | Storm of the Century | Joanna Stanhope | TV miniseries |
| 2000 | The Beat | Mrs. Waclawek | "Someone to Watch Over Me" |
| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Mrs. Nash | "Noncompliance" | |
| 2001 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Priscilla Van Acker | "Smothered" |
| 2001–09 | Law & Order | Lisa Cutler | "Phobia", "Shrunk", "Illegitimate" |
| 2001–04 | The Guardian | Laurie Solt | Main role |
| 2002 | Benjamin Franklin | Silence Dogood | TV miniseries documentary |
| A Death in the Family | Aunt Hannah | TV film | |
| 2005 | Lackawanna Blues | Mrs. Carmichael | TV film |
| 2006 | The Book of Daniel | Catherine Webster | Regular role |
| 2007 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Bessie Holland | "Bombshell" |
| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Judge Cutress | "Haystack" | |
| 2009 | Rescue Me | Sean's Ma | Recurring role |
| Georgia O'Keeffe | Mrs. Stieglitz | TV film | |
| Mercy | Mrs. Borghouse | "Can We Get That Drink Now?" | |
| 2012 | NYC 22 | Ginny Williams | "Pilot" |
| 2013 | Elementary | Mrs. Clennon | "An Unnatural Arrangement" |
| Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight | Ethel Harlan | TV film | |
| 2013–16 | House of Cards | Margaret Tilden | Recurring role |
| 2014 | The Americans | Aunt Helen | "The Walk In" |
| Good Medicine | Coco LaRue | "Raj" | |
| Forever | Gloria Carlyle | "The Art of Murder" | |
| 2014–15 | The Strain | Abraham's Grandmother | "Runaways", "BK, NY" |
| 2014–15 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | President Roberts | "Pornstar's Requiem", "Devastating Story" |
| 2014–19 | The Affair | Margaret Butler | Recurring role |
| 2015–16 | Madam Secretary | Dean Ward | "The Ninth Circle", "Unity Node", "Render Safe" |
| 2017 | Doubt | Margaret Brennan | 5 episodes |
| 2019 | High Maintenance | Mamie | "Fingerbutt" |
| New Amsterdam | Molly | "The Denominator" | |
| 2021 | The Blacklist | Alberta Gilbert | "The Skinner (No. 45): Conclusion" |
| Year | Venue | Show | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Playwrights Horizons | Cowboy Pictures | n/a |
| 1975 | The Coronor's Plot | ||
| Mississippi Moonshine | |||
| 1976 | Paradise | ||
| 1977 | Westside Theatre | Jules Feiffer's Hold Me! | |
| 1978 | American Place Theatre | Fefu and Her Friends | n/a (Understudy) |
| 1980 | Killings on the Last Time | n/a | |
| 1982 | Westside Theatre | Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You/ The Actor's Nightmare | Sister Mary Ignatius/ Sarah Siddons (Replacement) |
| 1988 | WPA Theatre | Just Say No | Mrs. Potentate |
| 1989 | Perry Street Theater | The Investigation of the Murder in El Salvador | Lady Aitkin |
| 1990 | Union Square Theater | The Crucible | Mrs. Ann Putnam |
| Eugene O'Neill Theatre | M. Butterfly | Helga (Understudy) | |
| 1992 | Vineyard Theater | The Party | Women |
| 1994 | Walter Kerr Theatre | Angels in America: Millennium Approaches | Rabbi Chemelwitz, Henry, Hannah Pitt, Ethel Rosenberg |
| Angels in America: Perestroika | Prelapsarianov, Hannah Pitt, Henry, Ethel Rosenberg, Council of Principalities, Rabbi Chemelwitz | ||
| 1995 | East 13th Street Theatre/Classic Stage Company | Iphigenia and Other Daughters | Clymenestra |
| Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater | Twelve Dreams | Jenny | |
| East 13th Street Theatre/Classic Stage Company | Endgame | Clov | |
| Vivian Beaumont Theatre | Racing Demon | Heather Espy | |
| 1996 | Delacorte Theatre | Henry V | Mistress Quickly/Queen Isabel |
| New York City Center-Stage I | Nine Armenians | Non/Marie | |
| 1998 | East 13th Street Theatre/Classic Stage Company | Phaedra in Delirium | n/a |
| MCC Theater | Wit | Vivian Bearing Ph.D. | |
| Union Square Theatre | |||
| 1999 | Westside Theatre | The Vagina Monologues | n/a |
| Vineyard Theatre | True History and Real Adventures | n/a | |
| 2003 | Minetta Lane Theatre | Talking Heads | Susan (Bed Among the Lentils) |
| East 13th Street Theatre/Classic Stage Company | Savannah Bay | Madeleine | |
| Lucille Lortel Theatre | The Last Letter | Anna Semyonova | |
| 2004 | Theatres at 45 Bleecker/Bleecker Street Theatre | Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom | Gareth Peirce |
| New York City Center-Stage II | Five By Tenn | Anna/Vera Cartwright/Frieda/One | |
| 2006 | Barrow Street Theatre | an oak tree | Father |
| Lucille Lortel Theatre | Great Expectations | Mrs. Havisham | |
| 2007 | Minetta Lane Theatre | Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell | Love |
| Harold Clurman Theatre | A Hard Heart | n/a | |
| 2008 | Playwrights Horizons | Dead Man's Cell Phone | Mrs. Gottlieb |
| 2010 | Lucille Lortel Theatre | Family Week | Lena |
| 2012 | New York Theatre Workshop | Red Dog Howls [19] | Rose Afratian |
| 2013 | Vineyard Theatre | Somewhere Fun | Evelyn Armstrong |
| 2014 | New York City Center- Stage I | Tales From Red Vienna | Edda Schmidt |
| 2015 | McGinn-Cazale Theatre | Dear Elizabeth | Elizabeth |
| 2017 | Playwrights Horizons | For Peter Pan on her 70th birthday | Ann |
| 2018 | Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre | St. Vincent's Project: Novenas for a Hospital | Sister Elizabeth Ann Seton |
| 2021 | Brooklyn Academy of Music | Four Quartets | Narrator |
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Angels in America: Millennium Approaches | Nominated |
| Tony Awards | Best Featured Actress in a Play | |||
| 1994 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Angels in America: Perestroika | |
| 1996 | Actors' Equity Association | Joe A. Callaway Award | Henry V | Won |
| 1997 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Nine Armenians | Nominated |
| 1999 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Wit | Won |
| Obie Awards | Outstanding Performance | |||
| Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance | |||
| Outstanding Actress in a Play | ||||
| Lucille Lortel Awards | Outstanding Actress | |||
| 2003 | Obie Awards | Best Performance | Talking Heads | |
| 2004 | Lucille Lortel Awards | Edith Oliver Award for Sustained Excellence | — | |
| 2015 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | A Walk in the Woods | Nominated |
| 2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Solo Performance | Rose | |
| 2024 | Venice Film Festival | Orizzonti Award for Best Actress | Familiar Touch | Won |
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100.
Georgia Bright Engel was an American actress. She is best known for having played Georgette Franklin Baxter in the sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show from 1972 to 1977, Pat MacDougall on Everybody Loves Raymond from 2003 to 2005, and Mamie Sue on Hot in Cleveland from 2012 to 2015. She was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards and a BAFTA award.
Lucille Lortel was an American actress, artistic director, and theatrical producer. In the course of her career Lortel produced or co-produced nearly 500 plays, five of which were nominated for Tony Awards: As Is by William M. Hoffman, Angels Fall by Lanford Wilson, Blood Knot by Athol Fugard, Mbongeni Ngema's Sarafina!, and A Walk in the Woods by Lee Blessing. She also produced Marc Blitzstein's adaptation of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, a production which ran for seven years and according to The New York Times "caused such a sensation that it...put Off-Broadway on the map."
W;t is a one-act play written by American playwright Margaret Edson, which won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Edson used her work experience in a hospital as part of the inspiration for her play.
Margaret "Maggie" Edson is an American playwright. She is a recipient of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Wit. She has been a public school teacher since 1992.
Kathleen Effie Widdoes is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Emma Snyder in the television soap opera As the World Turns, which earned her four Daytime Emmy Award nominations.
Second Stage Theater is a non-profit theater company that presents work by living American writers both on and off Broadway. It is based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and is affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres.
Classic Stage Company, or CSC, is a classical Off-Broadway theater company. Founded in 1967, Classic Stage Company is one of Off-Broadway's oldest theater companies.
MCC Theater is an off-Broadway theater company located in New York City. The theater was founded in 1986 by artistic directors Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey and William Cantler. Blake West joined the company in 2006 as executive director. MCC opened its current location in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, as The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space, on January 9, 2019.
The Lucille Lortel Theatre is an off-Broadway playhouse at 121 Christopher Street in Manhattan's West Village. It was built in 1926 as a 590-seat movie theater called the New Hudson, later known as Hudson Playhouse. The interior design is largely unchanged, though as of 2024 it has 295 seats.
Lisa Emery is an American stage, film, and television actress. Emery is best known for playing Darlene Snell on Netflix series Ozark.
David Cromer is an American theatre director, and stage, film, and TV actor. He has received recognition for his work on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in his native Chicago. Cromer has won or been nominated for numerous awards, including winning the Lucille Lortel Award and Obie Award for his direction of Our Town. He was nominated for the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for his direction of The Adding Machine. In 2018, Cromer won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for The Band's Visit.
Tracee Chimo Pallero is an American stage, television and film actress who became an arts critic favorite after her 2012 breakout role as Daphna Feygenbaum, the antagonist in Joshua Harmon’s hit dark comedy Bad Jews.
Amy Herzog is an American playwright. She is known for her poignant and character-driven plays that explore themes of family dynamics, personal relationships, and the complexities of human experience. She has received a Drama Desk Award as well as a nomination for a Tony Award.
The Select (The Sun Also Rises) is a stage adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises by Elevator Repair Service theater ensemble. It has been performed in several venues. It premiered at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Off-Broadway production, which ran from September 11 – October 23, 2011 at the New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW), earned awards for its sound design. The show directed by John Collins and produced by Ariana Smart Truman and Lindsay Hockaday received the Lucille Lortel Award for being outstanding.
Mia Barron is an American actress. She won the Lucille Lortel Award for her performance in the Lincoln Center production of The Coast Starlight, an Obie award for her performance in Hurricane Diane at New York Theatre Workshop, as well as a second Obie and a Drama Desk Award for her work in the ensemble of the Off Broadway production of The Wolves. She co-created, along with director Lars Jan, a theatrical adaptation of Joan Didion's The White Album, which premiered in New York to sold out houses at BAM's Harvey Theatre as part of the Next Wave Festival. She is known for her extensive New York City theater credits, alongside her television and independent film work, most recently Half Empty Half Full, which received a New York Film Award nomination for Best Ensemble. She is also known as the voice of Molotov and Sally Impossible on the Cartoon Network's long-running comic science-fiction series, The Venture Bros.
Oslo is a play by J. T. Rogers, recounting the true-life, previously secret, back-channel negotiations in the development of the pivotal 1990s Oslo Peace Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. The play premiered Off-Broadway in June 2016 and then transferred to Broadway in April 2017.
Rebecca Taichman is an American theatre director. In 2017, she received the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for Indecent.
Mary Jane is a two-act dramatic stage play written by American playwright Amy Herzog. The play had its World Premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre in 2017 and officially premiered on Broadway on April 23, 2024. The Broadway cast is led by Rachel McAdams in the titular role. The play won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play in 2018. The play is semi-autobiographical and based on Herzog's daughter Frances, who was born with nemaline myopathy and died at age 11 in 2023.
Kecia Lewis, also credited as Kecia Lewis-Evans is an American singer and actress, known primarily for her work on the stage. In 2017, her performance as Sister Rosetta Tharpe in Marie and Rosetta earned her an Obie Award and a nomination for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play. In 2006, she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her performance as Dorcas in Dessa Rose. Her performance in Hell's Kitchen earned her a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, a Lucille Lortel Award, a Outer Critics Circle Award, and a Drama Desk Award.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
