A tall, attractive radiant performer, Christine Lahti moved to NYC in 1973, beginning an impressive career that has spanned film, theater and television. An appearance in a commercial for the rug shampoo Spray 'n' Vac led to other product endorsements (like Sominex and Joy dishwashing liquid) which prefaced her breakthrough theatrical role opposite Chris Sarandon in the Off-Broadway production of David Mamet's "The Woods" (1978). Lahti's TV debut came as a co-star of the 1978 ABC movie-pilot "Dr Scorpion", and she followed quickly with a short stint as a series regular on "The Harvey Korman Show" (ABC, 1978) before her work in the TV-movie "The Last Tenant" (ABC, 1978) caught the eye of producer-director Norman Jewison, who cast her as Al Pacino's lawyer girlfriend in her first feature, " ... And Justice for All" (1979).

She gained considerable attention with her portrayal of Goldie Hawn's neighbor and co-worker, an aspiring singer, in 1984's "Swing Shift". Taking what could have been a stereotypical best pal role (personified in the 1940s by Eve Arden and Ann Miller), she added a much needed dose of acerbic wit. Despite the film's troubled production history (the film was recut before its release and the original writers refused screen credit), Lahti walked off with the picture, earning great reviews and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. A similar role as a single career woman befriended by a married woman (Mary Tyler Moore) who learns they share a man in common in the soapy tearjerker "Just Between Friends" (1986) threatened to typecast her but she broke the mold as the free-spirited aunt who inspires her nieces in "Housekeeping" (1987). Lahti confirmed her status as a forceful screen presence as a 60s radical coping with the stresses of a life on the lam in Sidney Lumet's intense "Running on Empty" (1988). Most of her subsequent feature roles have wasted her talents in unchallenging roles, like her turn as William Hurt's unhappy wife in "The Doctor" (1991).

The small screen, on the other hand, has offered her meaty roles. Critics applauded her work and she received such honors as an Emmy nomination as a repressed woman who blossoms when she falls in love with an East German operative in the controversial ABC miniseries "Amerika" (1987), a Golden Globe Award as the matriarch of a family forced to live on the streets in "No Place Like Home" (CBS, 1989) and a CableACE Award as a conservative educator who finds unlikely romance with an Hispanic janitor in "Crazy from the Heart" (TNT, 1991), directed by her husband Thomas Schlamme.

After a stunning turn in the Off-Broadway play "Three Hotels" in 1992, Lahti took a hiatus to give birth to twins. Returning to a shortage of good offers prompted her to reevaluate her career. Taking a different tack, she moved behind the cameras to make her directorial debut with "Lieberman in Love" (1995). Co-starring as a prostitute opposite Danny Aiello, she earned an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film. Though she had once spurned the interest of the creators of NBC's "Cheers", thinking a TV series would be "selling out", she convinced the folks at "Chicago Hope" that she was just the person to replace Mandy Patinkin. The daughter of a surgeon, Lahti had played doctors onscreen in "Whose Life Is It Anyway?" (1979) and 1989's "Gross Anatomy", but she found her niche in 1995 when she joined the CBS series as the complicated, ambitious cardiothoracic surgeon and feminist, Dr Kathryn Austin. The role earned her four consecutive Emmy nominations as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series fom 1996 to 1999, with a victory in 1998; she also famously won a Golden Globe for the role in 1998, and was forced to rush out of the ladies' room and scurry red-faced onto the stage to collect her trophy.

After "Chicago Hope" concluded, the actress kept busy in a variety of made-for-television projects, including the Goldie Hawn-helmed drama about small town secrets "Hope" (1997); writer-director Stephen Tolkin's smart biopic about a religious woman who kills a camp counselor after discovering he molested her son, "Judgment Day: The Ellie Nesler Story" (1999); and the Wendy Wasserstein-penned tale of a prominent Senator's daughter nominated for the post of Surgeon General who comes under a media attack for minor transgressions in "An American Daughter" (2000).

The actress then stepped behind the camera to direct her first indie feature "My First Mister" (2001), a lighthearted, well-reviewed tale of a 17-year-old misfit (Leelee Sobieski) and her relationship with a neurotic middle aged man (Albert Brooks). After strong turns headlining a string of telepics on various networks and cable outlets--including "The Pilot's Wife," "Women Vs. Men" (both 2002), "Open House," "Out of the Ashes" (both 2003), "The Book of Ruth" and "Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman" (both 2004), Lahti returned to series television to play Grace McCallister, the fiery, strong-willed, pot-smoking college professor mother of two teen sons, one of whom whill eventually become the U.S. President, in The WB drama "Jack & Bobby" (2004-), executive produced by Schlamme. Despite weak intial ratings, strong reviews--particularly centering on Lahti's multidimensional portrayal--prompted the network to order a full season of the series.