Who is Christine Lahti?
Christine Ann Lahti was born in Birmingham, Michigan USA, on 4 April 1950 – her zodiac sign is Aries, and she holds American nationality. She’s an actress and moviemaker, with close to 100 acting credits to her name, while she’s perhaps still known best for her portrayal of Dr. Kathryn Austin, one of the lead characters in the popular mystery thriller series “Chicago Hope”. It was created by David E. Kelley, also starred Mandy Patinkin and Adam Arkin, and follows the lives of doctors and nurses working at a hospital in Chicago, Illinois; the series aired from 1994 to 2000, and won 31 awards, including seven Primetime Emmys, while it was nominated for 108 other awards.
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Early life and education
Christine was raised in Birmingham alongside her two brothers and three sisters, by their father Paul Theodore Lahti who was a surgeon, and their mother Elizabeth Margaret (nee Tabar) who was a nurse and painter; Christine’s paternal grandparents immigrated from Finland, while her maternal grandparents were from Hungary and Austria.
Christine grew up being interested in a couple of activities, including acting, dancing and singing, but her parents urged her to focus on her education. She studied at a local high school in Birmingham, and was mostly into dancing and playing sports during her four years there.
Upon matriculating in 1968, Christine enrolled at Florida State University, but transferred to the University of Michigan not long afterwards, from where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama in 1972, and then studied acting at both HB Studio and William Esper Studio.
Roles in movies
Christine had done a bit of modelling prior to making her debut film appearance in 1978 – she was cast to play Tania Reston in the adventure drama “Dr. Scorpion”. A couple of her following roles were in the 1978 drama “The Last Tenant”, the 1979 crime thriller drama “And Justice for All”, and the 1980 science fiction horror drama “The Henderson Monster”.
What marked the ‘80s for her was perhaps her portrayal of Hazel Zanussi, one of the lead characters in the 1984 romantic war drama “Swing Shift”, directed by Jonathan Demme, and which also starred Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. It tells the story of a woman who has begun working at an aircraft plant, and the movie won one of the five awards for which it was nominated, including an Oscar nomination for Christine, for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
A couple of Christine’s most notable performances in the ‘90s were perhaps in the 1991 drama “The Doctor”, the 1995 romantic comedy “Pie in the Sky”, and the 1999 thriller drama “Judgment Day: The Ellie Nesler Story”.
The year 2001 saw her appear in the romantic comedy drama “My First Mister”, which she also directed; the movie starred Albert Brooks, Leelee Sobieski and Rutanya Alda, and follows a 17-year-old girl who’s in a relationship with a 49 years old man; it was nominated for a Chicago International Film Festival Gold Hugo Award for Best Feature. A couple of popular movies in which Christine appeared in the remainder of the 2000s, were the 2003 drama “Out of the Ashes”, the 2004 drama “Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman”, and the 2009 romantic comedy drama “Obsessed”.
Three of her most recent film roles have been in the 2017 thriller drama “Controversy”, the 2018 crime drama “Gone Baby Gone”, and the 2019 biographical drama “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”.
Roles in TV series
Christine made her debut TV series appearance in the 1978 comedy “The Harvey Korman Show”, but it was only in 1987 that she gained recognition, when cast to star as Alethea Milford in the action fantasy mini-series “Amerika”. It also starred Kris Kristofferson and Robert Urich, and follows the life in America which has been taken over by the Soviet Union; the mini-series was nominated for eight awards, including three Primetime Emmys.
Christine voiced Laura in the 1994 episode “Author, Author” of the hit comedy “Frasier”, and she played Ellen in the 1998 episode “Ellen: A Hollywood Tribute: Part 1” of the romantic comedy “Ellen”.
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The year 2001 saw her play Sydney Gale in the episode “Queen Bee” of the fantasy comedy drama “Ally McBeal”, and in 2004 and 2005, Christine portrayed the lead character Grace McCallister in the romantic science fiction drama “Jack & Bobby”. It was created by Greg Berlanti and Steven A. Cohen, also starred Matt Long and Logan Lerman, and follows Bobby McCallister, US President from 2041 to 2049; the series won five of the 14 awards for which it was nominated.
A couple of Christine’s most notable performances in the 2010s were perhaps in the mystery crime dramas “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”, “The Good Wife” and “The Blacklist”.
Since 2019, she’s been playing Sheryl Luria in the crime horror drama “Evil”, created by Michelle King and Robert King, and which stars Mike Colter, Aasif Mandvi and Katja Herbers.
The series follows a clinical psychologist, a blue collar contractor, and a priest in training, as they’re investigating abnormal events together.
Other credits
Christine has three directing credits: the 1995 short film “Lieberman in Love”, the 1998 episode “The Things We Do for Love” of the mystery thriller drama “Chicago Hope”, and the 2001 romantic comedy movie “My First Mister”.
She’s received four special thanks, including for the 2009 historical documentary movie “Capitalism: A Love Story”, and the 2019 comedy film “Brittany Runs a Marathon”.
Christine’s made a guest appearance in numerous talk-shows, such as “The Talk”, “Larry King Now” and “Home & Family”.
Awards and nominations
Christine has won 12 awards, including a 1996 Oscar for Best Short Film, Live Action for “Lieberman in Love”; she’s been nominated for 38 other awards.
Weight loss
When cast to play the lead character Dr. Gisella Perl in the 2003 drama “Out of the Ashes”, Christine had to lose a significant amount of weight, as her character’s a doctor imprisoned in Auschwitz; the movie was based on a true story, and on Gisella’s book “I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz”. Christine’s revealed in an interview with the magazine “New York Times” that it took her a couple of months to recover from her diet after she’d finished filming.
Love life and husband
Christine prefers to keep the details of her love life away from the media’s attention, but it’s still widely known that she’s today a married woman.
She exchanged vows with American film director and producer Thomas David Schlamme on 4 September 1983, in a private ceremony attended by around 150 people; Thomas is probably known best for having produced the critically acclaimed drama series “The West Wing”, which aired from 1999 to 2006.
Christine gave birth to their son Wilson Lahti Schlamme on 5 July 1988, and their daughter Emma Lahti followed on 3 August 1993; Christine and Thomas also have another son Joseph Schlamme, but his birthdate remains undisclosed; both Wilson and Emma are today quite active in the film industry.
Christine hasn’t spoken of any other men whom she’s perhaps been with, and as of June 2022, she’s married to Thomas David Schlamme, and has three children with him.
Hobbies and other interests
Christine’s quite active on Instagram, and is today followed by close to 4,000 people; she’s uploaded over 160 pictures onto the network, most of which have been taken during her everyday life.
She’s interested in all kinds of art, and has been to various galleries and museums in the US, as well as in many European countries; Christine’s also passionate about travelling, and has been all around the world, for both work and pleasure.
She enjoys spending her spare time in nature, and her Instagram account’s filled with pictures which feature her near bodies of water, and high up in the mountains.
Christine has her own favorite actors and actresses, some of whom are Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Natalie Portman, while a couple of her favorite films include the trilogy “The Godfather”, “Bruce Almighty” and “The Shawshank Redemption”.
Age, height and net worth
Christine’s age is 72. She has long brown hair and brown eyes, her height is 5ft 10ins (1.8m) and she weighs around 155lbs (70kgs).
As of June 2022, Christine’s net worth is estimated to stand at over $2 million.
