Christine Lahti
{{Short description|American actress and director (born 1950)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Christine Lahti
| image = Christine Lahti 2025 (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Lahti in 2025
| birth_name = Christine Ann Lahti
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1950|4|4}}
| birth_place = Birmingham, Michigan, U.S.
| education = Florida State University
University of Michigan (BFA)
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1973–present
| spouse = {{marriage|Thomas Schlamme|1983}}
| children = 3
}}
Christine Ann Lahti{{cite news |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-RJKAAAAIBAJ&pg=912,3683742&dq=christine-ann-lahti&hl=en |title= Schools, colleges grant undergraduate honors |date= March 28, 1969 |newspaper= The Michigan Daily |access-date= September 30, 2012}} (born April 4, 1950) is an American actress and filmmaker.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/told-shed-never-make-it-christine-lahti-has-the-last-laugh-1543332642|title=Told She'd Never Make It, Christine Lahti Has the Last Laugh|last=Myers|first=Marc|date=November 27, 2018|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=April 23, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660}} She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1984 film Swing Shift. Her other film roles include ...And Justice for All (1979), Housekeeping (1987), Running on Empty (1988), Leaving Normal (1992), and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019). For her directorial debut with the 1995 short film Lieberman in Love, she won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.
Lahti made her Broadway debut in 1980 as a replacement in Loose Ends and went on to star in the Broadway productions of Present Laughter (1982) and The Heidi Chronicles (1989). An eight-time Golden Globe nominee and six-time Emmy Award nominee, she won a Golden Globe for the 1989 TV movie No Place Like Home and won a Golden Globe and an Emmy in 1998 for her role as Kate Austin in the CBS series Chicago Hope (1995–99). She returned to Broadway in 2009 to star in God of Carnage. She has had a number of recurring roles: as Sonya Paxton in the NBC series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2009–11), as Doris McGarrett in the CBS series Hawaii Five-0 (2012–19), as Laurel Hitchin in NBC's The Blacklist (2015–17), and as Sheryl Luria in the CBS/Paramount+ series Evil (2019–24).
Early life
Lahti was born in Birmingham, Michigan, the daughter of Elizabeth Margaret (née Tabar),[http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue2/1995/12/28/197397-funeral-notices/ Tucsoncitizen.com] a painter, homemaker, and nurse, and Paul Theodore Lahti,[https://web.archive.org/web/20150402111419/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2001-09-06/news/0109060012_1_moton-lahti-lady-lake Orlando Sentinel] a surgeon. She has three sisters, Carol, Catherine, and Linda, and two brothers, Paul Jr. and James Lahti.{{cite news|url= http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue2/1995/12/27/221302-funeral-notices/ |title=Funeral Notices — Tucson Citizen Morgue, Part 2 (1993–2009) |newspaper=Tucson Citizen |date=December 27, 1995 |access-date=September 30, 2012}} Her paternal grandparents were Finnish immigrants{{cite news |url= http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=LA&p_theme=la&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EF61666D36CFFD0&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |title= Lahti looks beyond mainstream for her roles as real women |date=May 31, 1992 |newspaper=Los Angeles Daily News |access-date=September 30, 2012}}{{cite web |url= http://members.fortunecity.com/cordula/mag/mag20.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050316122410/http://members.fortunecity.com/cordula/mag/mag20.html |archive-date=March 16, 2005|title= Intimate Portrait: Christine Lahti |date= March 16, 2005 |publisher= fortunecity.com |access-date=September 30, 2012}} and her maternal grandparents were from Austria-Hungary. Lahti was raised in the Lutheran Church.{{cite web |last= Pfefferman |first=Naomi |url= http://www.jewishjournal.com/arts/article/showtime_examines_shoah_diva_doctor_20030411/ |title= Showtime Examines Shoah Diva Doctor | Arts |newspaper=Jewish Journal |date=April 10, 2003 |access-date= September 30, 2012}}
Lahti studied Fine Arts at Florida State University and received her bachelor's degree in Drama from the University of Michigan, where she joined Delta Gamma sorority. She studied acting at HB Studio[https://hbstudio.org/about-hb-studio/alumni/ HB Studio Alumni] in New York City, as well as completing a two-year professional actor training program at the William Esper Studio for the performing arts in Manhattan.{{cite web|url=https://esperstudio.com/notable-alumni/ |title= William Esper : Notable Alumni |publisher= esperstudio.com |year=2020}}
Career
After college, Lahti headed to New York City in 1973, where she worked as a waitress and did commercials. Her breakthrough movie was ...And Justice for All (1979) with Al Pacino. In the film Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981), starring Richard Dreyfuss and John Cassavetes, she was cast as a physician who grows attached to a paralyzed patient seeking the right to leave the hospital. Later, she was cast in an important role in Running on Empty, a 1988 movie in which she and Judd Hirsch played the parents of a musically promising son; the family went underground to avoid the FBI after the parents had damaged a napalm factory, and they all must periodically move on short notice and assume new identities. She has also focused on television, beginning with her role in the made-for-TV adaptation of The Executioner's Song (1982). She appeared on Broadway in Wendy Wasserstein's seriocomic play, The Heidi Chronicles.
Lahti received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Swing Shift (1984), and won an Academy Award for Best Short Film, Live Action for Lieberman in Love (1995), in which she starred and also directed. It was adapted from Lieberman in Love, a short story by W. P. Kinsella. Lahti won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award in 1998 for her role in Chicago Hope. Lahti was in the bathroom when she won the third award and finally came to the stage following an attempt by show producer John Tinker to accept on her behalf and an interruptive riff by Robin Williams. In 1999, she presented with a piece of toilet paper attached to her shoe as an "inside joke" about her previous appearance.
In 2001, her first directorial feature-length film, My First Mister, was released. Starring Leelee Sobieski and Albert Brooks, the movie debuted with good reviews. In DVD commentary she applauds the work of her cast and crew, remarking "[I] was very lucky to have such a wonderful crew..." She said she felt regret that the film was rated R, for language, despairing that the movie might not be viewed by teens who would relate with the characters.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}} Also, Lahti mentioned that she would have liked to have had more time to shoot different perspectives in order to facilitate story arc.
Lahti starred in the executive ADA role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Sonya Paxton while the character Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March) was in appeals. She was in the first four episodes of the 11th season{{cite web|first=Michael|last=Ausiello|url=http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/06/svu-scoop-christine-lahti-is-the-new-ada.html|title='SVU' scoop: Christine Lahti is the new ADA!|date=June 29, 2009|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=June 29, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100104110603/http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/06/29/svu-scoop-christine-lahti-is-the-new-ada/|archive-date=January 4, 2010}} and returned for the show's eighth episode, where she clashed with Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March).{{cite web|last=Ross|first=Robyn|url=http://www.tvguide.com/news/christine-lahti-svu-1010070.aspx|title=Christine Lahti Back for More Law & Order: SVU|work=TV Guide|access-date=September 22, 2009}} Lahti later guest starred in the ninth and 17th episodes of the 12th season, where she reprised her role as Paxton. Her character was murdered in the 17th episode.
She returned to Broadway upon joining the cast of the Tony Award–winning play God of Carnage on November 17, 2009, replacing Marcia Gay Harden.{{cite news|last=Piepenberg|first=Erik|url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/lahti-birney-join-the-cast-of-adam-rapps-new-play/|title=Lahti, Birney Join the Cast of Adam Rapp's New Play|date=August 18, 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=September 30, 2012}}{{Clarify|date=April 2011}} Both actresses had a few special appearances on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In September 2011, Lahti starred with Morgan Freeman in the Broadway debut of Dustin Lance Black's play, 8—a reenactment of the federal trial that overturned California's Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage—as Kris Perry.{{cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Mark |title='8,' Dustin Lance Black Gay Marriage Play, Goes National During 2012 |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/17/8-dustin-lance-black-play_n_1210089.html|work=The Huffington Post|access-date= March 18, 2012 |date=January 17, 2012}} In March 2012, she was featured with Jamie Lee Curtis and Jansen Panettiere at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre. The production was broadcast on YouTube to raise money for the American Foundation for Equal Rights.{{cite web|title="8": A Play about the Fight for Marriage Equality|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlUG8F9uVgM |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/qlUG8F9uVgM |archive-date=December 21, 2021 |url-status=live|date=March 3, 2012|website=YouTube|access-date= March 18, 2012}}{{cbignore}}{{cite news|last=Gray|first=Stephen|title=YouTube to broadcast Proposition 8 play live|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/03/01/youtube-to-broadcast-proposition-8-play-live/|date=March 1, 2012|website=pinknews.co.uk|access-date= March 18, 2012}}
Her book of autobiographical essays, titled True Stories From an Unreliable Eyewitness, was published in 2018 by Harper Wave.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/03/books/christine-lahti-true-stories-from-an-unreliable-witness.html|title=Christine Lahti's Tales of Feminism, Sex and Aging in Hollywood|last=Newman|first=Judith|date=April 3, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 23, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062663672/true-stories-from-an-unreliable-eyewitness|title=True Stories from an Unreliable Eyewitness - Christine Lahti - Hardcover|website=HarperCollins Publishers: World-Leading Book Publisher|language=en-US|access-date=April 23, 2019}}
In 2020, Lahti appeared as a guest on the Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip marathon fundraiser episode of The George Lucas Talk Show.
Personal life
Lahti has been married to television director Thomas Schlamme since September 4, 1983. They have three children. Lahti resides in Los Angeles, California, with her family.{{Cite web|url=https://thriveglobal.com/stories/thrive-questionnaire-christine-lahti/|title=The Thrive Questionnaire with Christine Lahti|website=thriveglobal.com|date=June 19, 2018 |language=en|access-date=April 23, 2019}} She also owns an apartment in Greenwich Village.
In 2004, Lahti took part in a protest against the murders of women in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.{{cite news|title=Celebrities Protest Killings in Mexico|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-feb-15-fg-mexico15-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times/Reuters|access-date=March 26, 2012|date=February 15, 2004}}
Since May 2005, Lahti has been a contributor at HuffPost.
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ {{Sronly|List of film appearances, with year, title, and role shown}} ! Year ! Film ! Role ! Notes |
| 1979
| Gail Packer | |
| 1981
| Dr. Clare Scott | |
| 1981
| Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains | Aunt Linda | |
| 1984
| Hazel Zanussi | New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 1986
| Rose Chismore | Uncredited |
| 1986
| Sandy Dunlap | |
| 1987
| Stacking | Kathleen Morgan | aka Season of Dreams |
| 1987
| Sylvie | |
| 1988
| Annie Pope/Cynthia Manfield | Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress |
| 1989
| Clara Archer | |
| 1989
| Dr. Rachel Woodruff | |
| 1990
| Meg Lloyd Bergman | |
| 1991
| Anne MacKee | |
| 1992
| Darly Peters | |
| 1995
| Shaleen | Also director |
| 1995
| Doctor and Queen Raptenahad | |
| 1995
| Hideaway | Lindsey | |
| 1996
| Ruby | |
| 2001
| Mall Patron | Also director |
| 2003
| Gisella Perl | |
| 2008
| Nancy | |
| 2008
| Janice | |
| 2009
| Obsessed | Reese | |
| 2010
| Carolyn Conway | |
| 2012
| Petunia | Felicia Petunia | |
| 2012
| Thelma | |
| 2013
| Eileen | |
| 2015
| Sherry | |
| 2015
| Sara | |
| 2015
| Peg | |
| 2016
| Operator | Beth Larsen | |
| 2017
| Becks | Ann | |
| 2019
| A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood | Ellen | |
| 2025
| Carlotta | |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ {{Sronly|List of television appearances, with year, title, and role shown}} ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |
| 1978
| Maggie Kavanaugh | Recurring role, 5 episodes |
| 1978
| The Last Tenant | Carol | Television film |
| 1978
| Dr. Scorpion | Tania Reston | Television film |
| 1980
| The Henderson Monster | Dr. Louise Casimir | Television film |
| 1981
|[https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0939525/ Wolcott] |Melinda Marin |4 Part British Mini-Series |
| 1981
|"Wolcott" |Investigative Reporter |British TV Drama |
| 1982
| Brenda | Television film |
| 1984
| Single Bars, Single Women | Elsie | Television film |
| 1985
| Marylin | Television film |
| 1987
| Amerika | Alethea Milford | Television miniseries |
| 1989
| Zan Cooper | Television film |
| 1991
| Crazy from the Heart | Charlotte Bain | Television film |
| 1992
| Meredith Cole | Television film |
| 1995–1999
| Dr. Kathryn Austin | Main role |
| 1994
| Frasier | Laura | Episode: "Author, Author" |
| 1997
| Hope | Emma Percy | Television film |
| 1999
| Judgment Day:The Ellie Nesler Story | Ellie Nesler | Television film |
| 2000
| Lyssa Dent Hughes | Television film |
| 2001
| Sydney Gale | Episode: "Queen Bee" |
| 2002
| Women vs. Men | Dana | Television film |
| 2002
| Kathryn Lyons | Television film |
| 2003
| Gisella Perl | Television film |
| 2004
| Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman | Rose | Television film |
| 2004–2005
| Grace McCallister | Main role |
| 2006
| Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip | Martha O'Dell | 3 episodes |
| 2009
| Operating Instructions | H. Keller | Television film |
| 2009–2011
| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Recurring role, 7 episodes |
| 2011
| The Doctor | Emily Campbell | Unsold television pilot{{cite web|last=Wightman|first=Catriona|url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/news/a304984/californication-star-joins-cbs-pilot.html|title='Californication' star joins CBS pilot|date=February 21, 2011|website=Digital Spy|access-date=September 30, 2012}} |
| 2012–2019
| Recurring role, 10 episodes |
| 2015
| Lydia Foster | Episode: "The Funeral" |
| 2015–2017
| Recurring role, 10 episodes |
| 2015–2016
| Andrea Stevens | 2 episodes |
| 2017–2018
| Andrea Stevens | 2 episodes |
| 2019–2024
| Evil | Sheryl Luria | Main role |
| 2020
| Herself | Episode: "Artificial Fruit" |
=Theater=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" Style="text-align:center"
|+ {{Sronly|List of stage appearances, with year, title, and role shown}} !scope="col"| Year !scope="col"| Title !scope="col"| Role !scope="col"| Director(s) !scope="col"| Venue |
| 1980
|Loose Ends |Susan |
| 1980
|Division Street |Dianah |
| 1981
|Scenes and Revelations |Helena |
| 1982–83
|Joanna Lyppiatt |
| 1989–90
|Heidi Holland |
| 2009–10
|Veronica |
| 2017
|Hester Smith |
| 2018
|Gloria: A Life |
| 2023
|The Smile of Her |Herself |Robert H. Egan |
Published works
- Lahti, Christine. True Stories from an Unreliable Eyewitness (2018)
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
{{Commons}}
- {{IMDb name|1441}}
- {{IBDB name}}
- {{iobdb name|7603}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20170824012543/http://www.finnfilm2.bravehost.com/christine_lahti.html Christine Lahti biography by Finn Film Entertainment]
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Christine Lahti
|list =
{{EmmyAward DramaLeadActress}}
{{GoldenGlobeBestActressTVDrama 1980-1999}}
{{GoldenGlobeBestActressTVMiniseriesFilm}}
{{Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress 1981-2000}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress}}
{{Satellite Award Best Actress Television Series Drama}}
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lahti, Christine}}
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:Actresses from Michigan
Category:American film actresses
Category:American people of Finnish descent
Category:American stage actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:American women bloggers
Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (television) winners
Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actress Golden Globe winners
Category:Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actress in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners
Category:Directors of Live Action Short Film Academy Award winners
Category:Florida State University alumni
Category:People from Birmingham, Michigan
Category:William Esper Studio alumni
Category:University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance alumni