Though not evident at first, Lacey Nicole Chabert (pronounced sha-bare) is actually a real Southerner at heart. She was born on September 30th, 1982 in Purvis, Mississippi, and her father, Tony, is of Cajun descent. As a child, Chabert immediately gravitated toward the stage, appearing in dramatic and musical performances before reaching double digits in age.
In 1991, this multi-talented actress was a junior vocalist finalist on Star Search. This opened the door to several TV opportunities, the first being a cough syrup commercial. Theater, however, loomed large in her future; Broadway came calling and for two years Chabert portrayed Cosette in the hit musical, Les Misérables.
After short stints in a handful of TV projects (including the soap All My Children), Chabert landed her most significant role on the long-running series, Party of Five. Though mainly a supporting player when the drama debuted on FOX in 1994, her portrayal of Claudia Salinger came to the forefront during the show’s later years. When the incredible ride finally ended in 2000, the show had already produced two stars in Neve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt, and few doubted that Lacey Chabert would be the third.
This belief was based on Chabert’s work during the drama’s run. She appeared in the commercial hit but critical flop Lost in Space (1998) and showed a talent for cartoon voiceover work in the Nickelodeon show The Wild Thornberrys (as Eliza Thornberry, among others) and the cult hit Family Guy (as Meg before Mila Kunis took over), in addition to films like Anastasia (1997), The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (1998) and two installments of the American Tail animated trilogy (1999 and 2000).
Coming out of a long-running TV show and reinventing oneself is never easy, even for a talent like Chabert. Her first effort post-Party was 2001’s Tart, a B-movie at best, but she improved with a comedic performance in Not Another Teen Movie later that year, in which she spoofed Jennifer Love Hewitt’s role in Can’t Hardly Wait. But her bread and butter continued to be big-screen cartoon work, as she reprised her animated role of Eliza Thornberry for The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002) and Rugrats Go Wild! (2003).
Always a stickler for putting out quality work, Chabert turned down several MTV-movie offers and instead took up two independent projects in 2002. Hometown Legend and The Scoundrel’s Wife are both great films in which Chabert shows real talent - they are recommended rentals.
In 2003, she got some great exposure in Daddy Day Care, starring Eddie Murphy. This, along with her animated voice work, is proof that this once shy and innocent woman is now poised for some serious time in the spotlight.