Felicity Huffman Movies
An alumna of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, actress Felicity Huffman is one of many classically trained stage performers who have found a home on television. She appeared on Broadway in David Mamet's Feed the Plow and co-founded the New York Atlantic Theater Company, along with Mamet and her husband, film actor William H. Macy.Making her feature-film debut in 1988 in Mamet's comedy drama Things Change, Huffman continued her acting career in the world of made-for-TV movies. A few exceptions include small roles in Reversal of Fortune, Hackers, The Spanish Prisoner, and Magnolia. In 1997 she won an Obie award for her work in the off-Broadway production of David Mamet's Cryptogram.
Moving to the small-screen, Huffman was bumped up to starring status for the role of Dana Whitaker on the sitcom Sports Night, which ran from 1998 to 2000 on ABC before moving over to Comedy Central in syndication. She earned Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for her work on that show. After Sports Night's cancellation in 2000, Huffman had her first child and could be seen in a string of TV movies, notably as Lady Bird Johnson in John Frankenheimer's Path to War. She then lent her voice to Disney's animated series Kim Possible and made appearances on Frasier, The West Wing, and irls Club.
In 2003 Huffman was back to lead status as Lorna Colm on the Showtime original series Out of Order, also starring Eric Stoltz and husband Macy. Though the show was soon cancelled, it wouldn't be long before Huffman was back at it with another new show. This time around, she starred in ABC's dark primetime dramatic comedy series Desperate Housewives, which premiered in the Fall of 2004. The wildly successful series proved to be a break unlike anything the actress had ever experienced, earning her an Emmy, a Screen Actor's Guild Award, multiple Golden Globe nominations, and a stardom that finally made her a household name.
In 2006, she won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama for her role in Transamerica, in which she plays a pre-op male-to-female transsexual who learns she has a teenage son from a clumsy sexual encounter during her life as a man. Huffman's critical acclaim cemented that she had arrived as an actress and would not need to rely on the notoriety of Desperate Housewives in order to maintain a vibrant career. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- 1978
The year is 1947; the place, Brooklyn. Sammy is a shy 12-year-old white boy who has no father and few friends. Davy is a 60-year-old black cook, far from shy but also suffering from a variety of illnesses. These two very different but surprisingly kindred souls are ultimately bound together by their love of baseball in general -- and their fascination with rookie Brooklyn Dodgers player Jackie Robinson in particular. A sensitive tale of friendship and racial tolerance, A Home Run for Love is based on Barbara Cohen's novel Thank You, Jackie Robinson (which is also the title of the 30-minute VHS version of this ABC Afterschool Special). Watch for an early appearance by a young Felicity Huffman, here billed as Flicka Huffman. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronnie Scribner, Charles Lampkin, (more)
Perhaps it was his collaborator Shel Silverstein who said to screenwriter David Mamet "Lighten up. Do a comedy." Whatever the case, Things Change was a welcome change of pace for Mamet, both as scenarist and director. Don Ameche also goes against his usual grain by playing a downtrodden Chicago shoeshine boy (if one can call an 80-year-old a "boy") who is arrested for a crime he didn't commit. Not having much of a future anyway, Ameche has agreed--for a hefty sum--to take the rap for a gangland rubout. Mob henchman Joe Mantegna is assigned to keep an eye on Ameche over the weekend to make sure he doesn't try to weasel out of his agreement. Mantegna has been ordered to remain in Ameche's Lake Tahoe hotel, but the young guy takes a liking to the old loser. Like Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail, Mantegna takes Ameche on one last fling around Nevada. The location photography is terrific, and Ameche even more so. One would like Things Change to be equally as good, and while it never comes up to its potential, it remains a pleasant means to while away 100 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Ameche, Joe Mantegna, (more)
This film is a darkly humorous, determinedly ambiguous adaptation of Alan Dershowitz's book about his successful legal appeal of Claus von Bulow's conviction for the attempted murder of his wife, Martha "Sunny" von Bulow. Sunny (Glenn Close) -- who remains in a "persistent vegetative state" resulting from a suspicious injection of insulin -- narrates the film, summarizing the first murder trial, which ended with Claus (Jeremy Irons) convicted and released on bail pending appeal. Claus approaches Harvard Law professor Dershowitz (Ron Silver) to handle the case. Working with a small group of law students recruited from his classes, Dershowitz presents sufficient new evidence to cast doubt as to Claus' guilt and the veracity of the star witness, her maid. Jeremy Irons' extraordinary, Oscar-winning performance dominates the film. He plays the role of Claus with a alternatively pompous, aloof snobbishness and an engagingly enigmatic, kinky, sly humor. Barbet Schroeder was also nominated for an Academy Award for his extraordinary, off-beat, direction of this sophisticated, exceptionally intelligent legal drama. Reversal of Fortune with its sharp, witty, Oscar-nominated screenplay by Nicholas Kazan is unusual in its understanding that legal guilt and moral culpability are not the same thing -- making for an unusually provocative tragicomedy of bad manners and bad behavior among the rich. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, (more)
This made-for-TV mini-series from the notorious horror writer centers upon a hapless old janitor who begins undergoing incredible physical changes after he is accidentally covered with experimental chemicals following a laboratory mishap. Now the government will stop at nothing to get him back. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keith Szarabajka
In this made-for-cable thriller, the idyllic life of an upstanding architect is nearly destroyed when his partner attempts to corrupt a city official. When murder ensues, the architect must evade the prying eye of a sleazeball detective. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
A Depression-era inventor finds a way of revolutionizing manufacturing technology and then discovers that this invention has its dark side as well. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1992
This episode is a showcase for actress Carolyn McCormick in the recurring Law & Order role of NYPD psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Olivet. Paul Hecht is cast as prominent gynecologist Dr. Alex Merritt, whom Olivet accuses of molesting her. Further investigation reveals that the high-profile Merritt may have also been responsible for the suicide of his wife. The case takes a bizarre twist when the presiding judge weighs Merritt's counterclaim of police harassment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
In this tense drama a reporter tries to figure out the reason a wealthy young man shot a popular pulp-fiction writer and then shot himself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Stoltz, Jennifer Connelly, (more)
In this high-tech thriller, Dade Murphy (Jonny Lee Miller) has been fascinated with computers all his life; at the age of 11, he was able to break into the computer network of several top Wall Street investment and banking firms, and he nearly caused a major stock market crash in the process. As punishment, Dade was forbidden to use a computer until his 18th birthday, but now that he's of age, he's diving back into his PC head first. Dade meets up with a group of fellow hackers: tough-talking cyber gamer Kate, aka Acid Burn (Angelina Jolie), junior hacker Jesse Bradford, born prankster Cereal Killer (Matthew Lillard), Nikon (Lawrence Mason), named for his photographic memory, and telephone expert Phantom Phreak (Renoly Santiago). Dade and his pals aren't out to destroy systems or do cybercrime for profit; they simply want to know more about the systems they encounter, and they like raising some good-natured havoc. But in their travels through cyberspace, they discover The Plague (Fisher Stevens), a former hacker turned computer security expert with a huge multinational corporation. The Plague has not only done the unthinkable and gone into anti-hacker enforcement, he's secretly allied himself with a group of criminals and is using his expertise to drain funds from corporate bank accounts and transfer them to himself and his mistress, Margo (Lorraine Bracco). The Plague is also smart enough to leave clues that would lead investigators to someone else -- in this case, Dade and his friends -- and has a secret weapon at his disposal, a computer virus that could wipe out the entire world wide web in a matter of minutes. Several sequences for Hackers were shot at New York City's Stuyvesant High School, where coincidentally several months after filming, several students were arrested by F.B.I. agents for their involvement in computer hacking. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, (more)
- 1996
Edward Woodward of The Equalizer fame stars in this TV movie as Edward "Teddy" Harrison, a retired Scotland Yard detective currently visiting his daughter Cecilia (Elizabeth Hurley) in New York City. At the request of a prominent lawyer, Harrison takes on the challenge of proving that an ex-convict-- and known drug dealer--did not murder a much-beloved NYPD narcotics officer. As he delves deeper into the case, Harrison is struck by the curious fact that the Police Department itself is only half-heartedly pursuing the investigation of the killing. As for Cecilia, she would just soon her dad drop the whole matter--at least before her marriage to a city cop! Chock full of unanticipated twists and turns, Harrison: Cry of the City made its first appearance over the UPN network on February 27, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) are visibly shaken by their latest investigation, centering around the murder of a retired cop. When it turns out that the victim trafficked in illicit sex and murder, the trail leads to a pair of interior decorators who "moonlight" as prostitutes. Once the ball is in the D.A.'s court, McCoy (Sam Waterston) and Ross (Carey Lowell) must again deal with feminist lawyer Lanie Stieglitz (Elaine Stritch). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Writer-director David Mamet crafted this unusual, Hitchcockian thriller in which no one is who they appear to be. Campbell Scott is Joe Ross, who has just created a "process" that stands to make his company and his boss, Klein (Ben Gazzara), millions of dollars. At a clandestine meeting in the Caribbean, Ross discusses the details of the process with company executives. There, purely by chance, or so he believes, he meets the wealthy, enigmatic Jimmy Dell (Steve Martin), and the two strike up an unusual friendship. Dell informs Ross that he's naïve to believe that his company will fairly compensate him for his valuable work. Upon returning home, Ross becomes paranoid that Dell is right, and he takes steps to protect his invention, becoming unsure if he can trust Klein or even his own love-struck assistant (Rebecca Pidgeon). When Ross discovers that Dell has lied to him about his identity, he contacts the FBI -- he then finds himself set up as a murder suspect who learns, almost too late, to trust no one. The title of the film refers not to any of the characters but to a classic con artist's scam. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Campbell Scott, Rebecca Pidgeon, (more)
Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson followed his critical and commercial breakthrough Boogie Nights with this wildly ambitious story of lives intertwining on a single day in California's San Fernando Valley. Earl Partridge (Jason Robards), a successful producer of television game shows, left his wife when she contracted cancer to marry the younger and more beautiful Linda (Julianne Moore). Now, Earl has cancer himself, and Linda spends her day fetching medicines and trying to deal with the imminent death of her husband, whom she has only now come to love. Earl asks his nurse Phil (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to arrange a meeting with his estranged son, Frank Mackey (Tom Cruise), known for his self-help program "Seduce and Destroy," in which he preaches the importance of male sexual prowess; he cared for his mother after Earl left her, and he has no desire to see his father again. Earl's best-known show is hosted by Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall), who also learns that he is dying. Jimmy's show pits bright adults against unusually smart kids; one of Jimmy's child contestants, Stanley (Jeremy Blackman), arrives late for a taping after being left stranded by his father Rick (Michael Bowen), who is supported by his more successful son. Meanwhile, Donnie Smith (William H. Macy), who was a champ on Jimmy's show as a child, is not having as much luck as an adult; he's just lost his job and needs to pay for some expensive dental work. Jimmy wants to reconcile with his estranged and emotionally fragile daughter Claudia (Melora Walters), who despises him and who will become involved with well-meaning police officer Jim Kurring (John C. Reilly), who has been desperately lonely since his divorce three years ago. Magnolia reunites much of the cast and crew of Boogie Nights and features eight original songs by singer/songwriter Aimee Mann and a musical score by Jon Brion. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Robards, Jr., Julianne Moore, (more)
- 2001
Inspired by a true story, this made-for-TV drama follows two women who find themselves wrongly accused under a broadly worded child protection law, and now must fight for their lives and reputations. Jennifer Bradley (Mare Winningham) is a mother of three living in Cincinnati, and Carrie Dixon (Felicity Huffman) is one of Jennifer's best friends -- and also the godmother of her children. Carrie works as a photographer and brings a camera along when she comes to Ohio to pay Jennifer a visit. One morning, while the kids are running about as Jennifer tries to get them dressed, Carrie pulls out her camera and takes photos of the children playing. The children are only partially dressed in the pictures, and when she takes the film in to be processed, Carrie is accused by an overly zealous lab employee of producing child pornography. When the identity of the children becomes known, Jennifer is accused of being an accomplice, and despite the protests from both women that the pictures are simply family photos and perfectly innocent, both find themselves having to defend themselves in court. For Carrie, losing the case would mean a long stretch in jail and the end of her career, while for Jennifer defeat would mean an even worse fate -- losing the custody of her children. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mare Winningham, Felicity Huffman, (more)
- 2003
Felicity Huffman makes her first series appearance as Julia Wilcox, KACL's new financial analyst. The abrasive, condescending Julia rubs everyone the wrong way, but Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) -- who can be pretty abrasive and condescending himself -- believes she's merely insecure. He extends the hand of friendship, only to have the nasty Julia nearly bite it off. Thus spruned, Frasier expresses his outrage to everyone -- which merely confirms their belief that he had a crush on Julia. The situation culminates with threats of a harrassment suit and a remarkable revelation. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Felicity Huffman, Dan Butler, (more)
- 2003
Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) is willing to donate a huge amount of money to KACL's bike-a-thon fundraiser for AIDs research, but he balks at participating in the event. Julia (Felicity Huffman) goads Frasier into riding one of the bikes, while Daphne (Jane Leeves) does the same with Niles (David Hyde Pierce). Only one problem: Neither brother knows one end of a bike from another. Elsewhere, Daphne's mom (Millicent Martin) manages to bollix up the relationship between Martin (John Mahoney) and Cora Winston (Emily Yancy). ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Millicent Martin, Felicity Huffman, (more)
- 2003
When Niles (David Hyde Pierce) partners up with someone other than Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) for their club's squash tournament, Frasier teams with Chelsea Gray (Jeanne Tripplehorn), a sexy phys-ed teacher. At the end of the tournament, Martin is delighted that at last one of his sons has won a trophy -- but the other son, Niles, is not. As for Chelsea, Frasier wonders if his lifelong terror of P.E. instructors will ruin his chances at romance. This is the classic episode in which actor Bob Hoskins repeatedly materializes on the shoulders of guest star Jeanne Tripplehorn. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hoskins, Jeanne Tripplehorn, (more)
- 2003
Worried over financial difficulties, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) heads to his favorite hangout, the Café Nervosa, only to have his teeth set on edge by a bizarre folksinger named Ben (Elvis Costello!). Vowing never to return to the café until Ben is fired -- and dragging Niles (David Hyde Pierce) along with him -- Frasier seeks out another out-of-the-way spot he can call his own. In the process he spots his co-worker Julia (Felicity Huffman) in a passionate embrace with his accountant Avery McManus (John Hannah) -- who happens to be married. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elvis Costello, Felicity Huffman, (more)
- 2003
Though she has decided to leave Seattle for a better job out of town, Roz (Peri Gilpin) begins having second thoughts about bidding farewell to Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) -- especially since he is drawing ever closer to the mercurial Julia Wilcox (Felicity Huffman). This state of affairs leads to two different showdowns, while a third is in the offing as Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and Daphne (Jane Leeves) square off against Daphne's meddlesome mother (Millicent Martin). This was the final episode of Frasier's tenth season. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Felicity Huffman, Millicent Martin, (more)
- 2003
Julia (Felicity Huffman) breaks up with Avery when it becomes obvious he won't divorce his wife -- and when she also realizes he has been appropriating her ideas for his software company. Somehow this situation leads to Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) helping Julia burgle Avery's office, whereupon the two are locked in the same closet. Inevitably, Frasier and Julia use this "opportunity" to make love -- with Julia alternately showering Frasier with affection and haranguing him for his shortcomings. Meanwhile, Roz (Peri Gilpin) is offered a new job out of town, and Niles (David Hyde Pierce) makes some new "friends" at a shooting range. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Felicity Huffman, Millicent Martin, (more)
- 2003
This limited-run cable series starred Eric Stoltz as screenwriter Mark Colms and Felicity Huffman as his wife and writing partner, Lorna. While working on an inconsequential movie project, Mark began entertaining notions of cheating on his spouse for the first time in their 16-year marriage and dallying with either his next-door neighbor Annie (Justine Bateman) or sexy soccer mom Danni (Kim Dickens). Meanwhile, Lorna, who suffered from chemical depression, did her best to keep working though beclouded by booze and medication. The fine line between reality and fantasy was constantly blurred as Mark, who saw his life as a never-ending movie, addressed the audience (whom he referred to as his "jury") and went off on flights of illusion and delusion, much of it R-rated in nature. William H. Macy, husband of series co-star Huffman, played Lorna's erstwhile drinking partner, washed-up Hollywood producer Steven, while director Peter Bogdanovich was seen as Mark and Danni's obnoxious boss. Created by the genuine husband-and-wife writing team of Wayne and Donna Powers, the weekly, 60-minute Out of Order was launched with a two-hour premiere on June 1, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Stoltz, Felicity Huffman, (more)
Based on the best-selling novel by author Scott Turow, this four-hour miniseries tells the tale of a lawyer determined to find the evidence that will deliver the potentially innocent convicted murderer from a grim walk down the silent halls of death row. The date of execution is drawing ever closer, and mentally challenged convict Romeo "Squirrel" Gandalf's (Glenn Plummer) lawyer, Arthur Raven (William H. Macy), stumbles across evidence indicating that his client was framed for the murder. Though Raven sees the case as clear cut, he has underestimated the determination of original prosecuting lawyer Muriel Wynn (Monica Potter) and her lover, Larry Starczek (Tom Selleck), who also happens to be the original investigating officer in the case and is resolute in seeing the case followed through and the original verdict upheld. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William H. Macy, Tom Selleck, (more)
