Kathleen Chalfant


Kathleen Ann Chalfant 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.

Life and career

Chalfant was born Kathleen Ann Bishop 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 and with Alessandro Fersen in Rome.
Chalfant worked as a Production Coordinator at Playwrights Horizons in the mid-1970s, beginning with Demons: A Possession by Robert Karmon. She made her Off-Broadway acting debut in Cowboy Pictures in June 1974. 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 and as Rose Kennedy in the Nora's Playhouse production of Rose by Laurence Leamer.
Chalfant was nominated for her official Broadway debut role at the 1993 Tony Awards for Best Actress in Tony Kushner's . 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. During her work with Wit, she incorporated her experiences dealing with terminal cancer of her half-brother, Alan Palmer, who died in 1998.
For her 2003 performance in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads, Chalfant won a second Obie award. In 2009, Chalfant performed in The People Speak, a documentary feature film 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 currently plays Margaret Butler in The Affair on Showtime.
She was presented with the 2018 Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement.
In July 2018 she will 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.

Personal life

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.

Social justice and political activism

Chalfant has spoken about the role of art and artists in advocating for civil rights and social justice, and "theater as a platform for social change." She has been hosted by the Center for Constitutional Rights as part of the Guantanamo Lawyers Panel, and was among a group of artists endorsing a cultural boycott of Israel as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign to advocate for Palestinian rights.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre Credits

Theatre

YearVenueShowRole
1974Playwrights HorizonsCowboy Picturesn/a
1975Playwrights HorizonsThe Coronor's Plotn/a
1975Playwrights HorizonsMississippi Moonshinen/a
1976Playwrights HorizonsParadisen/a
1977Westside TheatreJules Feiffer's Hold Me!n/a
1978American Place TheatreFefu and Her Friendsn/a
1980American Place TheatreKillings on the Last Timen/a
1982Westside TheatreSister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You/ The Actor's NightmareSister Mary Ignatius/ Sarah Siddons
1988WPA TheatreJust Say NoMrs. Potentate
1989Perry Street TheaterThe Investigation of the Murder in El SalvadorLady Aitkin
1990Union Square TheaterThe CrucibleMrs. Ann Putnam
1990Eugene O'Neill TheatreM. ButterflyHelga
1992Vineyard TheaterThe PartyWomen
1994Walter Kerr Theatre'Rabbi Chemelwitz, Henry, Hannah Pitt, Ethel Rosenberg
1994Walter Kerr Theatre'Prelapsarianov, Hannah Pitt, Henry, Ethel Rosenberg, Council of Principalities, Rabbi Chemelwitz
1995East 13th Street Theatre/Classic Stage CompanyIphigenia and Other DaughtersClymenestra
1995Mitzi E. Newhouse TheaterTwelve DreamsJenny
1995East 13th Street Theatre/Classic Stage CompanyEndgameClov
1995Vivian Beaumont TheatreRacing DemonHeather Espy
1996Delacorte TheatreHenry VMistress Quickly/Queen Isabel
1996New York City Center-Stage INine ArmeniansNon/Marie
1998East 13th Street Theatre/Classic Stage CompanyPhaedra in Deliriumn/a
1998MCC Theater WitVivian Bearing Ph.D
1998Union Square Theatre WitVivian Bearing Ph.D
1999Westside TheatreThe Vagina Monologuesn/a
1999Vineyard TheatreTrue History and Real Adventuresn/a
2003Minetta Lane TheatreTalking HeadsSusan
2003East 13th Street Theatre/Classic Stage CompanySavannah BayMadeleine
2003Lucille Lortel TheatreThe Last LetterAnna Semyonova
2004Theatres at 45 Bleecker/Bleecker Street Theatre]Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend FreedomGareth Peirce
2004New York City Center-Stage IIFive By TennAnna/Vera Cartwright/Frieda/One
2006Barrow Street Theatrean oak treeFather
2006Lucille Lortel TheatreGreat ExpectationsMrs. Havisham
2007Minetta Lane TheatreSpalding Gray: Stories Left to TellLove
2007Harold Clurman TheatreA Hard Heartn/a
2008Playwrights HorizonsDead Man's Cell PhoneMrs. Gottlieb
2010Lucille Lortel TheatreFamily WeekLena
2012New York Theatre WorkshopRed Dog HowlsRose Afratian
2013Vineyard TheatreSomewhere FunEvelyn Armstrong
2014New York City Center- Stage ITales From Red ViennaEdda Schmidt
2015McGinn-Cazale TheatreDear ElizabethElizabeth
2017Playwrights HorizonsFor Peter Pan on her 70th birthdayAnn
2018Rattlestick Playwrights TheatreSt. Vincent's Project: Novenas for a HospitalSister Elizabeth Ann Seton

Awards and nominations

Theatre

YearAwardShowResult
1993Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play'rowspan=3
1993Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play'-
1994Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play'-
1996Joe A. Callaway AwardHenry V
1997Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actress in a PlayNine Armenians
1999Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play Witrowspan=7
1999Obie Award for Outstanding Performance Wit-
1999Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance Wit-
1999Drama League Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play Wit-
1999Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Actress Wit-
2003Obie Award for Best PerformanceTalking Heads-
2004Lucille Lortel Award, Edith Oliver Award for Sustained Excellencen/a-
2015Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actress in a PlayA Walk in the Woodsrowspan=2
2016'Drama Desk Award Outstanding Solo PerformanceRose''-