Kathleen Chalfant

Acting

Kathleen Chalfant

Born

1945-01-14 (81)

Place of birth

San Francisco, California, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

73 titles

Kathleen Chalfant (b. 1945, San Francisco) is an American actress, primarily a stage performer. She earned a Tony nomination for Angels in America (1993) and won multiple awards for Wit (1998), including a Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, and Obie. She received the Obie for Lifetime Achievement in 2018. On screen, her highlights include Old (2021) and Familiar Touch (2024), the latter earning her the Venice Orizzonti Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress. She is married to photographer Henry Chalfant.

Known for

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit poster
8.0

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

1999

Law & Order poster
7.3

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.

Law & Order

1990

The Blacklist poster
7.6

Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, surrenders in person at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He claims that he and the FBI have the same interests: bringing down dangerous criminals and terrorists. In the last two decades, he's made a list of criminals and terrorists that matter the most but the FBI cannot find because it does not know they exist. Reddington calls this "The Blacklist". Reddington will co-operate, but insists that he will speak only to Elizabeth Keen, a rookie FBI profiler.

The Blacklist

2013

Law & Order: Criminal Intent poster
7.6

The third installment of the “Law & Order” franchise takes viewers deep into the minds of its criminals while following the intense psychological approaches the Major Case Squad uses to solve its crimes.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

2001

Elementary poster
7.6

A modern-day drama about a crime-solving duo that cracks the NYPD's most impossible cases. Following his fall from grace in London and a stint in rehab, eccentric Sherlock escapes to Manhattan where his wealthy father forces him to live with his worst nightmare - a sober companion, Dr. Watson.

Elementary

2012

House of Cards poster
8.0

Betrayed by the White House, Congressman Frank Underwood embarks on a ruthless rise to power. Blackmail, seduction and ambition are his weapons.

House of Cards

2013

Film credits

2020s · 6 titles

2010s · 10 titles

Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight poster
6.4

Muhammad Ali’s historic Supreme Court battle from behind closed doors. When Ali was drafted into the Vietnam War at the height of his boxing career, his claim to conscientious objector status led to a controversial legal battle that rattled the U.S. judicial system right up to the highest court in the land.

Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight

2013

Class Rank poster
6.9

Two high school misfits join forces in an attempt to overtake the local school board. Guided by their families, they enter the perilous word of politics and, in the process, learn a thing or two about love.

Class Rank

2017

Heart of Broadway: The Ensemble Behind Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS poster
NR

Heart of Broadway goes inside Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS for an in-depth look at the organization and its key players. Since 1988, they have raised more than $195 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses.

Heart of Broadway: The Ensemble Behind Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

2011

My America poster
NR

21 monologues written by American playwrights form a sort of fractured portrait of the American collective psyche. Ranging from the sad to the hilarious, from the angry to the tentatively celebratory, many of the major and recurrent issues associated with our fraught but beloved union are reconsidered with elegance, wit, brutal honesty, and a little outright insanity.

My America

2014

Isn't It Delicious poster
4.2

When Joan Weldon discovers she is dying of lung cancer, she sets out to reconcile her dysfunctional relationships with her three children, her husband, and along the way, her former best friend. The family's destructive ways are offset by messy and somewhat humorous attempts by Joan to set her children on the right course before she dies. In this big dysfunctional mix, they will all learn to connect in their own ways, and realize on their own terms what life is about.

Isn't It Delicious

2013

A Dream of Flying poster
8.3

In a world where some children are able to fly, one girl is placed in an institution until she learns to keep her feet on the ground. She spends her life trying to be normal, even when a romance prompts her to unleash her special talent

A Dream of Flying

2013

The Last New Yorker poster
7.3

Lifelong friends Lenny Sugarman and Ruben Liebner , both in their 70s, both dyed-in-the-wool New Yorkers, barely recognize the Manhattan of their youth. The city they’ve loved for decades has become a playground for the too-rich; their places, the ones they’ve frequented for years, are now refuges from a changing world they’re increasingly unable to keep up with. When Lenny—a lone schemer all his life—finally gets in over his head, he decides to seek the one thing he’s never had: true love. But to achieve it, he may have to abandon the only place he’s ever known. THE LAST NEW YORKER is a tale of friendship, love and the world’s greatest city -- and how all three keep us young and make us feel alive.

The Last New Yorker

2010

Welcome to This House poster
NR

Welcome To This House, a feature documentary film on the homes and loves of poet Elizabeth Bishop, is about life in the shadows, and the anxiety of art making without full lesbian disclosure. Hammer filmed in Bishop's best loved homes in the U.S., Canada, and Brazil, believing that buildings and landscapes bear cultural memories. Interviews with poets, friends,and scholars provide missing documents of numerous female lovers. Bishop's intimate poems and the creative music composition by Joan La Barbara bring the poet into our lives with new facts and unexpected details.

Welcome to This House

2015

They Shall Not Perish poster
7.0

The Near East Foundation, known initially as Near East Relief, spearheaded this first great mobilization of international humanitarian assistance in the United States, in September 1915, in response to the Armenian Genocide. Driven by the conviction that ordinary citizens had the collective power to save the lives of people coping with adversity, the organization's efforts helped save more than one million lives.

They Shall Not Perish

2017

Ambition's Debt poster
6.2

Adapted from William Shakespeare's epic tale of honor, ambition, betrayal, hubris, and the supernatural. The story follows the downfall of Rome's most honored citizen, Marcus Brutus, as he conspires to assassinate Julius Caesar, in order to forestall tyranny and preserve democracy.

Ambition's Debt

2017

2000s · 13 titles

Perfect Stranger poster
5.8

A journalist goes undercover to ferret out businessman Harrison Hill as her best friend's killer. Posing as one of his temps, she enters into a game of online cat-and-mouse.

Perfect Stranger

2007

Duplicity poster
5.9

Two romantically involved government operatives Claire Stenwick and Ray Koval team up to manipulate a race between opposing corporations to corner the market on a medical innovation that will reap huge profits and allow them to lead an extravagant lifestyle together. They find themselves on opposing sides as corporate spies; however, as they each try to outdo the other, neither one can decide how far to trust the other in this high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse.

Duplicity

2009

Kinsey poster
6.6

Kinsey is a portrait of researcher Alfred Kinsey, driven to uncover the most private secrets of a nation. What begins for Kinsey as a scientific endeavor soon takes on an intensely personal relevance, ultimately becoming an unexpected journey into the mystery of human behavior.

Kinsey

2004

Company Man poster
5.1

In the 1960's, a school teacher pretends to be a CIA spy to get his nagging wife off his back. He helps a Russian ballet dancer defect and is then sent to Cuba to locate "Agent X" for the CIA.

Company Man

2000

First Born poster
5.2

Laura's expecting. Her husband, Steven's a loving guy but has little time for her. Her mom lives thousands of miles away. Forced to give up on her dreams, she's always been a bit edgy. A C-section drives her over the edge, making her see things in a different light. A creepy babysitter doesn't make things any better. She begins seeing things, trusts no one, as she goes into self-destruct mode.

First Born

2007

The Laramie Project poster
6.2

"The Laramie Project" is set in and around Laramie, Wyoming, in the aftermath of the murder of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard. To create the stage version of "The Laramie Project," the eight-member New York-based Tectonic Theatre Project traveled to Laramie, Wyoming, recording hours of interviews with the town's citizens over a two-year period. The film adaptation dramatizes the troupe's visit, using the actual words from the transcripts to create a portrait of a town forced to confront itself.

The Laramie Project

2002

The People Speak poster
7.2

A look at America's struggles with war, class, race and women's rights. based on Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States."

The People Speak

2009

Lackawanna Blues poster
5.9

In a story fueled by rhythm and blues, a young boy's life is shaped by love and the stories of a cast of characters in the boarding house where he lives in 1960s Lackawanna, New York.

Lackawanna Blues

2005

Georgia O'Keeffe poster
4.8

Biopic of American artist Georgia O'Keeffe and her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz.

Georgia O'Keeffe

2009

A Death in the Family poster
5.5

A young wife's religious faith is shaken when her husband dies in a car accident.

A Death in the Family

2002

2BPerfectlyHonest poster
6.2

Business partners Frank and Josh go bankrupt after their dot-com start-up collapses before it goes online. Frank, a bachelor and broke, reluctantly moves back home to live with his parents while Josh, a hippie computer wiz who's married and has a son, is forced to consider the unthinkable - getting a real job.

2BPerfectlyHonest

2004

The Pornographer: A Love Story poster
5.7

The relationship between a director and an actress takes a turn when the lines between art and life are crossed.

The Pornographer: A Love Story

2004

No artwork available
8.5

A short film by Chris Terrio.

Book of Kings

2002

1990s · 13 titles

The Last Days of Disco poster
6.3

Two young women and their friends spend spare time at an exclusive nightclub in 1980s New York.

The Last Days of Disco

1998

Junior poster
5.2

A research scientist becomes the world's first pregnant man in order to test a drug he and a colleague have designed for expectant women. To carry out the trial, he has an embryo implant, believing that he will only carry the baby for three months – hardly expecting to face the prospect of giving birth.

Junior

1994

Tales from the Darkside: The Movie poster
6.2

A young boy tells three stories of horror to distract a witch who plans to eat him.

Tales from the Darkside: The Movie

1990

Bob Roberts poster
6.6

Millionaire conservative Bob Roberts launches an insurgent campaign against incumbent senator Brickley Paiste, firing up crowds at his rallies by singing '60s-style acoustic folk songs with lyrics espousing far-right conservative social and economic views.

Bob Roberts

1992

A Price Above Rubies poster
5.4

About a young woman who is married to a devout Jew and the problems that trouble their marriage because of the woman wanting something more out of her life.

A Price Above Rubies

1998

Jumpin' at the Boneyard poster
6.3

Manny tries to get his crack addict brother, Danny, to clean up.

Jumpin' at the Boneyard

1991

Side Streets poster
6.8

The lives of diverse characters in each of New York City's five boroughs overlap.

Side Streets

1998

Out of the Rain poster
5.0

The heir to a small-town tannery follows a young woman to the truth about his brother's death.

Out of the Rain

1991

In the Wings: Angels in America On Broadway poster
10.0

Backstage documentary chronicling the Original Broadway Production of “Angels in America.”

In the Wings: Angels in America On Broadway

1993

MURDER and murder poster
4.9

Mildred and Doris are two middle-aged white women, from very different backgrounds, who become lovers and set up house together. Film explores the pleasures and uncertainties of later-life emotional attachment and lesbian identity in a culture that glorifies youth and heterosexual romance.

MURDER and murder

1996

David Searching poster
5.6

The story of a young gay man's search to find himself. David is a young, gay aspiring documentary filmmaker and takes his first tentative steps towards his adult life. His roommate, Gwen, after ending a mysterious marriage, is looking for stability. Together they try to manoeuvre their way through New York on a search for happiness. Instead, they find bad dates, worse job interviews and bizarre sexual encounters.

David Searching

1997

Dangerous Music poster
NR

A woman, a string quartet, and a lot of anxiety.

Dangerous Music

1991

QM, I Think I'll Call Her QM poster
9.0

An elderly female psychiatrist in New York finds a female giant monster under her bed, becomes obsessed and exposes it to various scientific investigations.

QM, I Think I'll Call Her QM

1998

Series credits

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit poster
8.0

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

1999

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit poster
8.0

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

1999

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit poster
8.0

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

1999

Law & Order poster
7.3

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.

Law & Order

1990

Law & Order poster
7.3

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.

Law & Order

1990

The Blacklist poster
7.6

Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, surrenders in person at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He claims that he and the FBI have the same interests: bringing down dangerous criminals and terrorists. In the last two decades, he's made a list of criminals and terrorists that matter the most but the FBI cannot find because it does not know they exist. Reddington calls this "The Blacklist". Reddington will co-operate, but insists that he will speak only to Elizabeth Keen, a rookie FBI profiler.

The Blacklist

2013

Law & Order: Criminal Intent poster
7.6

The third installment of the “Law & Order” franchise takes viewers deep into the minds of its criminals while following the intense psychological approaches the Major Case Squad uses to solve its crimes.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

2001

Law & Order: Criminal Intent poster
7.6

The third installment of the “Law & Order” franchise takes viewers deep into the minds of its criminals while following the intense psychological approaches the Major Case Squad uses to solve its crimes.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

2001

Elementary poster
7.6

A modern-day drama about a crime-solving duo that cracks the NYPD's most impossible cases. Following his fall from grace in London and a stint in rehab, eccentric Sherlock escapes to Manhattan where his wealthy father forces him to live with his worst nightmare - a sober companion, Dr. Watson.

Elementary

2012

House of Cards poster
8.0

Betrayed by the White House, Congressman Frank Underwood embarks on a ruthless rise to power. Blackmail, seduction and ambition are his weapons.

House of Cards

2013

L.A. Law poster
7.0

L.A. Law is an American television legal drama series that ran for eight seasons on NBC from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it contained many of Bochco's trademark features including a large number of parallel storylines, social drama and off-the-wall humor. It reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s, and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot-topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights, homophobia, sexual harassment, AIDS, and domestic violence. The series often also reflected social tensions between the wealthy senior lawyer protagonists and their less well-paid junior staff. The show was popular with audiences and critics, and won 15 Emmy Awards throughout its run, four of which were for Outstanding Drama Series.

L.A. Law

1986

The Strain poster
7.5

A high concept thriller that tells the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City. He and his team are called upon to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism. As the strain spreads, Eph, his team, and an assembly of everyday New Yorkers, wage war for the fate of humanity itself.

The Strain

2014

Madam Secretary poster
7.0

After years away from the CIA, Elizabeth McCord is pulled back into the political arena. The newly appointed Secretary of State is tough, fair, and smart, driving international diplomacy, wrangling office politics, and circumventing protocol as she negotiates global and domestic issues, both at the White House and at home.

Madam Secretary

2014

Madam Secretary poster
7.0

After years away from the CIA, Elizabeth McCord is pulled back into the political arena. The newly appointed Secretary of State is tough, fair, and smart, driving international diplomacy, wrangling office politics, and circumventing protocol as she negotiates global and domestic issues, both at the White House and at home.

Madam Secretary

2014

The Americans poster
7.9

Set during the Cold War period in the 1980s, The Americans is the story of Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, two Soviet KGB officers posing as an American married couple in the suburbs of Washington D.C. and their neighbor, Stan Beeman, an FBI Counterintelligence agent.

The Americans

2013

New Amsterdam poster
8.3

The new medical director breaks the rules to heal the system at America's oldest public hospital. Max Goodwin sets out to tear up the bureaucracy and provide exceptional care, but the doctors and staff are not so sure he can succeed. They've heard this before. Not taking "no" for an answer, Dr. Goodwin's instinctive response to problems large and small is four simple words: "How can I help?" He has to disrupt the status quo and prove he'll stop at nothing to breathe new life into this underfunded and underappreciated hospital, returning it to the glory that put it on the map.

New Amsterdam

2018

American Playhouse poster
6.6

American Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.

American Playhouse

1982

American Playhouse poster
6.6

American Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.

American Playhouse

1982

Rescue Me poster
7.6

The aftermath of 9/11 has left the firefighters of the NYFD traumatized, and no one more so than Tommy Gavin. Recently separated from his wife and their three kids, Tommy drifts between sorrow and anger as he tries to shake the recurring nightmares of his fallen comrades, especially his late cousin, Jimmy Keefe. Working alongside veterans like Lt. “Lou” Shea, Franco Rivera and Sean Garrity, and rookie Mike Lombardi, Tommy battles alcohol and drugs as he struggles to remain first and foremost a New York City firefighter.

Rescue Me

2004

Spin City poster
7.0

Workaholic Mike Flaherty is the Deputy Mayor of New York City, serving as Mayor Randall Winston's key strategist and much-needed handler. Mike runs the city with the help of his oddball staff: an anxious and insecure press secretary; a sexist, boorish chief of staff; an impeccably groomed gay activist running minority affairs; a sharp and efficient, man-crazy accountant; and an idealistic young speechwriter. Like Mike, they are all professionally capable but personally challenged.

Spin City

1996

The Affair poster
6.7

The emotional effects of an extramarital relationship between Noah, a New York City schoolteacher and budding novelist with a wife of twenty years and four children and Alison, a young waitress and wife from Montauk at the end of Long Island, trying to piece her life back together in the wake of a tragedy.

The Affair

2014

The Guardian poster
7.0

Nick Fallin is a hotshot lawyer working at his father's ultrasuccessful Pittsburgh law firm. Unfortunately, the high life has gotten the best of Nick. Arrested for drug use, he's sentenced to do 1,500 hours of community service, somehow to be squeezed into his 24/7 cutthroat world of mergers, acquisitions and board meetings. Reluctantly, he's now The Guardian - a part-time child advocate at Legal Aid Services, where one case after another is an eye-opening instance of kids caught up in difficult circumstances.

The Guardian

2001

New York Undercover poster
7.3

New York Undercover is an American police drama The series stars Detective J.C. Williams and Detective Eddie Torres, two undercover detectives in New York City's Fourth Precinct who were assigned to investigate various crimes and gang-related cases.

New York Undercover

1994

Forever poster
7.8

Doctor Henry Morgan, New York City’s star medical examiner, has a secret. He doesn't just study the dead to solve criminal cases, he does it to solve the mystery that has eluded him for 200 years—the answer to his own inexplicable immortality. This long life has given Henry remarkable observation skills which impresses his new partner, Detective Jo Martinez. Each week, a new case and their budding friendship will reveal layers of Henry’s long and colorful past. Only his best friend and confidant, Abe knows Henry’s secret.

Forever

2014

Storm of the Century poster
7.0

When a blizzard hits an isolated island town it brings with it a mysterious stranger intent on terrorizing the people for a sinister purpose.

Storm of the Century

1999

The Copenhagen Test poster
6.6

When an analyst discovers his eyes and ears have been hacked, he's drawn into a controlled world designed by his agency to draw out their enemies.

The Copenhagen Test

2025

Mercy poster
5.8

Mercy is a medical drama which aired on NBC from September 23, 2009 to May 12, 2010. The series initially aired on Wednesday nights at 8/7c, as part of the 2009 fall season, but was pushed back to 9/8c in April. On October 23, 2009, Mercy was picked up for a full twenty-two-episode first season. On May 14, 2010, NBC announced that Mercy had been cancelled and would not return for a second season due to low ratings.

Mercy

2009

The Beat poster
4.0

The Beat delves into the personal and professional lives of two young police recruits who patrol New York's streets. The city's daily machinations are seen through the often bloodshot eyes of Officers Mike Dorigan and Zane Marinelli, two youthful, irreverent partners who are truly products of their generation and unique urban environment. Issues of race, excessive police force – and the unpredictable quirkiness of New York's outspoken locals – compel both men to rely on their sense of humor just to make it to the end of their shift.

The Beat

2000

The Book of Daniel poster
7.0

Rev. Daniel Webster is an unconventional Episcopalian priest who not only believes in Jesus, but actually sees him and discusses life with him. He is challenged on many levels as he struggles to be a good husband, father and minister, while navigating an often rocky relationship with the church hierarchy.

The Book of Daniel

2006