Kathleen Ann Chalfant (née Bishop; born January 14, 1945) is an American actress. She has appeared in many stage plays, both on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and

Off-Broadway 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 tha ...

, as well as making guest appearances on television series, including the ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...

'' franchise.

Life and career

Chalfant was born Kathleen Ann Bishop in San Francisco, California, and was raised in her parents' boarding house in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

. Her father, William Bishop, was an officer in the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

. She studied acting in New York with

Wynn Handman Wynn Handman (May 19, 1922 – April 11, 2020) was the Artistic Director of The American Place Theatre, which he co-founded with Sidney Lanier and Michael Tolan in 1963. His role in the theatre was to seek out, encourage, train, and present n ...

, who was a protégé of Sanford Meisner, and with

Alessandro Fersen Alessandro Fersen (5 December 1911 – 3 October 2001) was a Polish-born Italian dramatist, actor, theater director, author and drama teacher. Born Aleksander Fajrajzen in Łódź to a Jewish family, Fersen he moved to Genoa with his family in 1 ...

in Rome. Chalfant worked as a Production Coordinator at

Playwrights Horizons Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. Under the ...

in the mid-1970s, beginning with ''Demons: A Possession'' by Robert Karmon. She made her

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 Sarah Ruhl (born January 24, 1974) is an American playwright, professor, and essayist. Among her most popular plays are ''Eurydice'' (2003), ''The Clean House'' (2004), and ''In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)'' (2009). She has been the reci ...

and as

Rose Kennedy Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy (July 22, 1890 – January 22, 1995) was an American philanthropist, socialite, and matriarch of the Kennedy family. She was deeply embedded in the " lace curtain" Irish American community in Boston. Her father ...

in the Nora's Playhouse production of ''Rose'' by

Laurence Leamer Laurence Leamer (born October 30, 1941) is an American author and journalist. Leamer is a former Ford Fellow in International Development at the University of Oregon and a former International Fellow at Columbia University. He is regarded as an ...

. Chalfant was nominated for her official Broadway debut role at the 1993

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

s for Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) in

Tony Kushner Anthony Robert Kushner (born July 16, 1956) is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Lauded for his work on stage he's most known for his seminal work ''Angels in America'' which earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award. At the turn ...

's '' Angels in America: Millennium Approaches''. She earned the Outer Circle Critics,

Drama Desk The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fol ...

Obie The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

and

Lucille Lortel Lucille Lortel (née Wadler, December 16, 1900 – April 4, 1999) 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 ...

awards for her performance as Vivian Bearing in

Margaret Edson Margaret "Maggie" Edson (born July 4, 1961) 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. Background and education Edson was born in Was ...

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-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 Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and tw ...

's ''

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talkin ...

'', 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 Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist thinker and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political scien ...

's '' A People's History of the United States''. Chalfant has played recurring roles in a number of television series including ''

House of Cards A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a structu ...

'', ''

'', '' Rescue Me'', and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Her roles in feature films have included ''Isn't It Delicious'' and '' Kinsey''. Chalfant recently played Margaret Butler in '' The Affair'' on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

. She was presented with the 2018

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

for Lifetime Achievement. In 2018, Chalfant read T. S. Eliot's ''

Four Quartets ''Four Quartets'' is a set of four poems written by T. S. Eliot that were published over a six-year period. The first poem, ''Burnt Norton'', was published with a collection of his early works (1936's ''Collected Poems 1909–1935''). After a f ...

'' at the Bard Summerscape Festival as part of a new performance with choreography by Pam Tanowitz, music by

Kaija Saariaho Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; born 14 October 1952) is a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho has received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble Inter ...

, and images by

Brice Marden Brice Marden (born October 15, 1938) is an American artist generally described as Minimalist, although his work may be hard to categorize. He lives and works in New York City; Tivoli, New York; Hydra, Greece; and Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania. Lif ...

Personal life

In 1966, Chalfant married

Henry Chalfant Henry Chalfant (born January 2, 1940) is an American photographer and videographer most notable for his work on graffiti, breakdance, and hip hop culture. One of Chalfant's prints is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Ne ...

, a photographer and documentary filmmaker. They have a son, David Chalfant, who was the bass player for the folk-rock band

The Nields The Nields is a folk-rock band that started in 1991. As a five-piece band, they toured much of the United States, performing with artists such as Dar Williams, Moxy Früvous, 10,000 Maniacs, Ani DiFranco and Catie Curtis and appeared at many folk f ...

, 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 The Center for Constitutional RightsThe Center for Constitutional Rights
(CCR) is a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's obligations ...

(BDS) campaign to advocate for Palestinian rights.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chalfant, Kathleen 1945 births American film actresses American television actresses Drama Desk Award winners Living people Obie Award recipients Actresses from Oakland, California 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses American stage actresses Actresses from San Francisco