Background
Chalfant was born as 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.
Chalfant was born as 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 with Wynn Handman, who was a protégé of Sanford Meisner and with Alessandro Fersen in Rome, Italy.
Chalfant made her Office-Broadway debut as Production Coordinator for Demons: A Possession by Robert Karmon at Playwrights Horizons in 1974. She made her acting debut at Playwrights Horizons in Cowboy Pictures in June 1974 She has since gone on to appear in many Office-Broadway productions. In 2015 she appears in the Women"s Project Theater production of Dear Elizabeth by Sarah Ruhl.
She earned kudos for her performance as Vivian Bearing in Margaret Edson"s play Wit.
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.
Her awards for her performance include the Outer Circle Critics, Drama Desk, Obie and Lucille Lortel awards. 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 starred in an independent feature film, Isn"t lieutenant Delicious?.
She played Margaret Tilden during the first season of House of Cards. Chalfant is currently playing Margaret Butler in Showtime"s, The Affair. Chalfant endorsed cultural boycott of Israel in a youtube video published on November 17, 2015.