Calista Flockhart

Actor

Calista Flockhart's appearance as the lovelorn lawyer Ally McBeal made her a hot item from the show's debut in 1997. Her ups and downs as a quirky young Boston lawyer made her one of TV's top comic actresses during the late 1990s, but Flockhart's weight somehow became a hot off-screen topic, as she was dogged by rumors that she was unhealthily skinny. Her romance with movie star Harrison Ford, begun in 2002, made tabloid headlines and has occasionally eclipsed her work as an actress, but she continues to appear occasionally in big-screen comedies and TV roles. Flockhart's movie credits include The Birdcage (1996, with Gene Hackman), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999, with Christian Bale) and The Last Shot (2004, with Matthew Broderick). She joined Sally Field in 2006 as a cast member in the TV family drama Brothers and Sisters.

Extra credit: Flockhart's long-lost daughter in Ally McBeal was played by young Hayden Panettiere.

Other TV stars of the era include Gillian Anderson, Jessica Biel, Nana Visitor and Jerry Seinfeld.