Huffman was born inBedford, New York, into a wealthy family, the daughter of Grace Valle (née Ewing) and Moore Peters Huffman, a banker and partner atMorgan Stanley.[3][4] Her parents divorced a year after her birth, and she was raised by both of them.[5][6] When Huffman was a young teenager, she discovered that her biological father was Roger Tallman Maher, who was a family friend.[5] She has six sisters[7] and a brother. In the 1970s, Huffman's mother left New York and bought property inSnowmass, Colorado, where Felicity and her siblings spent their youth.[8][9] Her great-grandfather was Gershom Moore Peters, founder of thePeters Cartridge Company and Baptist minister, author ofThe Master.[10] Another great-grandfather, Frederick Berthold Ewing, graduated fromYale University and became aSt. Louis businessman. Huffman's great-great-grandfather was Joseph Warren King, founder of the King Mills Powder Company.[11] She has German, English, Scots-Irish, Scottish, French-Canadian, and Irish[5] ancestry.
Huffman made her debut on stage in 1982 and in the 1980s and 1990s worked as a rule on stage productions.[14] In 1988, she debuted onBroadway in the role as Karen inDavid Mamet's playSpeed the Plow.[13][14] In 1995, Huffman wonObie Award for her performance in the playThe Cryptogram by David Mamet.[14] In 1999 she starred in the premiere of David Mamet's playBoston Marriage, about the daringly intimate relationship between two turn-of-the-century women, as well as in several other major theatrical productions.[15][16]
Huffman debuted on the big screen in 1988 with a small role in Mamet's filmThings Change. Two years later, she appeared as Minnie, a Harvard law school student in the courtroom dramaReversal of Fortune. Her other credits include 1992 thrillerQuicksand: No Escape withDonald Sutherland andTim Matheson,The Water Engine opposite William H. Macy, and supporting roles onThe Heart of Justice (1992),Hackers (1995),Harrison: Cry of the City (1996) andThe Underworld (1997).
Huffman said that after seeing her as Lynette Scavo onHousewives for eight years it was difficult for audiences to think of her as anything else. She said that's why she was eager for a role that's a distinctive departure.[22] AfterDesperate Housewives finale, Huffman reunited with playwright David Mamet in the comedy playNovember. The play debuted on September 26 and ended on November 4, 2012.[23] In 2012, she also appeared in the ensemble cast independent movie,Trust Me, oppositeClark Gregg.[24]
On February 15, 2013, Huffman signed on for the lead role of theFox drama pilotBoomerang, directed byCraig Brewer. The show centers on Margie Hamilton, a spy and master of disguise, who is the matriarch of the Hamilton clan, a "briskly professional assassin who can kill and dispose of a suspected terrorist in the afternoon – then switch to wife and mother mode without a hitch".[25] However, Fox did not pick upBoomerang as a new series.[26]
In 2013, Huffman starred in the independent dramaRudderless,[27] and in the adventure filmBig Game oppositeSamuel L. Jackson.[28][29] She also starred in another independent dramaStealing Cars,[30] and was cast in the comedy filmZendog.[31] In April 2014 she appeared in the independent filmCake oppositeJennifer Aniston.[32]
Huffman at the 2006 Malibu Triathlon
In 2014, Huffman was cast as the lead in the ABC anthology legal drama pilotAmerican Crime created byJohn Ridley.[33][34][35] The pilot was picked up to series in May 2014.[36][37][38] On October 2, 2014, it was announced that Huffman would be star and executive producer alongsideCarol Mendelsohn in her untitled drama about a special agent (Huffman) who is the fearless leader of a team of young agents on the New York City Joint Terrorism Task Force. The project was developed for ABC, but was not green-lighted for 2015–16 television season.[39]American Crime debuted on ABC in March, 2015 and Huffman received critical acclaim for her performance as an antagonistic character.[40][41][42] Robert Bianco fromUSA Today said in his review "A triumph for Oscar winner John Ridley, who created, produced and directedAmerican Crime, and a reconfirmation that Felicity Huffman is one of the best actors we have... In no case is that truer than with Huffman's Barb, who is the morally questionable center of the story. Barb is a Lifetime movie heroine: a tough, divorced mother who raised her children alone, and is fighting now to bring her son's murderer to justice. Except this isn't that kind of show, and Barb's battles have not just made her stronger; they've made her hate all the people she's felt she had to fight. Which is why Huffman's gut-wrenching performance is so startling. A bundle of barely concealed fury, Huffman forces us to invest in a woman who thinks her bigotry makes her not just right, but noble."[43]
In November 2020, it was reported that Huffman would star in anABC comedy television series pertaining to minor league baseball.[50] However, the pilot was ultimately not picked up as a series.[51]
In March 2023, Huffman appeared in an episode ofThe Good Doctor, in which she portrayed distinguished attorney Janet Stewart.[52] Huffman was meant to reprise the role in a spin-off titledThe Good Lawyer; however, this spin-off was cancelled due to the2023 Writers Guild of America strike.[53]
Huffman dated actorWilliam H. Macy on and off for 15 years[55] before they married on September 6, 1997. They have two daughters, Sophia and Georgia.[13] She has appeared on television, in movies and on stage many times with her husband. The couple each received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame on March 7, 2012.[56][57]
In 2005, Huffman revealed that she had had bothanorexia andbulimia in her late teens and twenties.[58]
Huffman is the co-author of the self-help bookA Practical Handbook for the Boyfriend.[59] On March 1, 2012, Huffman launched What The Flicka, a website dedicated to women and mothers where she was a regular contributor. In March 2019, the website was reportedly deactivated.[60]
Huffman was among those charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office on March 12, 2019, in anationwide college entrance exam cheating scandal.[64][65][66] Prosecutors alleged that Huffman's $15,000 donation to the Key Worldwide Foundation, ostensibly a charitable contribution, was in fact payment to someone who posed as Huffman's daughter Sophia to take theSAT, receiving a score that showed significant improvement over Sophia's score on thePreliminary SAT (PSAT).[67] Huffman was arrested at her California home on March 12 byFBI agents andIRS agents and charged with conspiracy to commitmail fraud andhonest services fraud.[68][69] She appeared on March 13 in Los Angeles Federal Court, where federal agents took her passport and the court released her on $250,000 bail.[70] At hercourt appearance inBoston on April 3, she acknowledged her rights, charges and maximum possible penalties then waived a pretrial hearing, signed conditions of her release and was allowed to leave.[71] On April 8, she agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.[72]
Huffman formally pleaded guilty to honest services fraud on May 13 and to federal charges for paying $15,000 to have aproctor correctSAT questions answered incorrectly by her daughter.[73] On September 13, she was sentenced to 14 days in jail and one year of supervised release, fined $30,000 and ordered to do 250 hours ofcommunity service.[74][75][76] She reported to theFederal Correctional Institution inDublin, California on October 15 to begin her sentence.[77] She was released on October 25, two days early, because October 27 fell on a weekend.[78] No charges were filed against her husband and Sophia's father, actor and directorWilliam H. Macy.[79]
In a November 2023 interview withKABC-TV, Huffman spoke about theVarsity Blues scandal for the first time, saying "It felt like I would be a bad mother if I didn't do it."[80]
