Dana Delany
Encyclopedia
Dana Welles Delany is an American film
, stage
, and television
actress, producer, host
and health
activist.
After various roles in the early career, Delany garnered her first leading role in 1987 in the short-lived NBC sitcom Sweet Surrender
and achieved wider fame in 1988–1991 as Colleen McMurphy on the ABC
television show China Beach
, for which she won two Emmy Awards. She received further recognition for her performances in the films Light Sleeper
(1992), Tombstone
(1993), Exit to Eden
(1994), The Margaret Sanger Story
(1995), Fly Away Home
(1996), True Women
(1997) and Wide Awake (1998). Since the mid-1990s, Delany has served on the board of the Scleroderma Research Foundation
.
In 2000s she returned to television with a string of short-lived television series beginning with Pasadena
(2001), Presidio Med
(2002–2003), and Kidnapped
(2006-2007). From 2007 to 2010 Delany played Katherine Mayfair
on the ABC
series Desperate Housewives
. She is currently in the lead role as Megan Hunt
on the ABC drama series Body of Proof
.
Delany is also a voice-actress. She played Lois Lane
in the DC Animated Universe
as well as the television series The Batman
. In an interview, she said she loves to play "complicated characters". Delany has been active in film, television, and stage since the late 1970s.
to parents of Irish
descent and was raised Catholic. She has remarked that, even as a child, she always wanted to go into acting. "The reason a person first gets into acting is because you want attention from your parents as a child," she told a reporter. In her childhood, she went with her family to many Broadway shows, and was fascinated by films.
After growing up in Stamford, Connecticut
, she attended Phillips Academy
in Andover, Massachusetts
for her senior year, and was a member of the school's first co-educational class that included jazz composer Bill Cunliffe
, software executive Peter Currie
, artist Julian Hatton
, poet Karl Kirchwey
, writer Nate Lee
, editor Sara Nelson
restaurateur Priscilla Martel
and sculptor Gar Waterman
. "Andover was the best time of my life," she recalled. She played the lead role of Nellie Forbush in the school's spring musical production of South Pacific
playing opposite Peter Kapetan
as Emile. She commented: "It was just a little awkward to be Nellie at first because she hesitates to marry Emile since he had once lived with a Polynesian woman -- I don't agree with her reasoning so that made things a bit hard at the beginning." She appeared in a student video directed by fellow classmate Jonathan Meath
in a film class taught by Steve Marx. She graduated in 1974 with the academic honor of "cum laude" which was awarded to 80 out of 378 graduating seniors. She majored in theater at Wesleyan University
, worked in summer stock productions during vacations, and graduated in 1978. Later, in an interview, she reported that she sometimes had eating issues during this time of her life. She said: "I binged... I starved ... I was one step from anorexia
–a piece of toast and an apple would be all I would eat in a day."
After college, she found acting work in New York City
in daytime soap operas. She starred in the Broadway show A Life
and won critical acclaim in 1983 in Nicholas Kazan's off-Broadway Blood Moon, where the New York Times cited her "skillful verisimilitude" handling a difficult part requiring two roles "and she does them both with authority." Delany moved to Hollywood and during the next few years found work guest starring in TV shows like Moonlighting
and Magnum, P.I.
.
Dana Delany's first audition for the lead role of nurse Colleen McMurphy was unsuccessful. "They thought I wasn't pretty enough", she said in an interview, but heeding advice from director Paul Schrader
, who had directed her in the film Patty Hearst
, she "cut her long tresses into a bob" and re-auditioned with this new haircut, successfully, after the producers lost their first choice. She won the lead role on the critically acclaimed China Beach
, which appeared weekly from 1988 to 1991 and brought intense media attention to the actress. This role not only garnered two Emmy Award
s, but two other Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations. After several seasons the show suffered from mediocre ratings and was discontinued in 1991.
magazine as one of the "50 most beautiful people in the world." In the years following China Beach
, Delany worked steadily in television, movies and theater. In addition, she established herself as a significant voice talent.
Delany won leading roles in a string of feature films such as the TV movie A Promise to Keep, Light Sleeper
, Housesitter
and Fly Away Home
as well as appearing in the TV mini-series Wild Palms
. She also took on controversial roles, such as Mistress Lisa in Exit to Eden
, where one film critic commented "The script was awful -- Dana looked great." Delany commented in a 2008 interview about the audience reaction: "I had already got pilloried for playing the Exit to Eden dominatrix after China Beach
because audiences had a certain image of me as Colleen and didn’t want to see it change." The provocatively titled Live Nude Girls
included frank discussion by women of their sexual fantasies at a bachelorette party using a low-budget improvisational comedy format with strong chemistry between the actors. Reviews were mixed: Los Angeles Times critic Richard Natale liked the film but wrote older male film executives believed it to be "uncommercial"; another critic agreed it was "genuine girl talk" but "didn't have a lot of substance" and viewers "don't get to know the characters in the film". She also starred as Margaret Sanger
in the TV movie Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story
(1995), about a controversial nurse who crusaded for women's reproductive rights in the early 1900s.
In 1995, Delany appeared in the Broadway show Translations
and in May 1997, Delany returned to her alma mater Phillips Academy
to work with theater students as an artist-in-residence. She appeared in TV movies such as True Women
(1997) and Resurrection
(1999).
In 1998, Delany reportedly turned down the role of Carrie Bradshaw
in the hit TV show Sex and the City
. She commented in a subsequent interview: "The show’s creator Darren Star
asked me to play Carrie ... Darren got the idea of televising Candace Bushnell’s Sex and the City from seeing me and Kim (Kim Cattrall
) in Live Nude Girls." Delany declined the role partly after remembering the negative audience reaction she received with a similar film, Exit to Eden, a few years back. Sex and the City became a successful series, and the role of Carrie made Sarah Jessica Parker
world-famous.
Delany played a gun-toting mother in an episode of the TV series Family Law
(1999) for which she earned an Emmy nomination, but the series was not rerun due to sponsorship withdrawal.
in the 1993 animated feature film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
based on the popular TV show Batman: The Animated Series
. Delany's voice performance in the film impressed filmmakers and led to her being cast as Lois Lane
in Superman: The Animated Series
. She was also mentioned by name in the theme song of Animaniacs
, another Warner Bros. production. She reprised her role as Lois Lane for the character's guest appearances in Justice League
, Justice League Unlimited
, and The Batman
. She returned to the DC Universe in an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold
as Vilsi, an alternate universe variation of Lois Lane. Coincidentally, Delany's future Desperate Housewives
co-star, Teri Hatcher
, also portrayed Lois Lane on the live-action TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
.
Delany continued to find work in a variety of projects, doing pilots, TV series, made-for-TV movies, and feature films. She appeared in the NBC drama Good Guys/Bad Guys (2000), which Newsweek
termed a "Sopranos knock-off". She appeared in the short-lived Pasadena
(2001), a critically acclaimed Fox production which was "underpromoted and endlessly pre-empted" and described as a "twisted rich-family saga" with a "great cast". Delany commented in an interview: "You can see Pasadena
as a black comedy or see it as really tragic. A lot of soaps on television now don't have that layer of tragedy to them." She was an actor and co-executive producer of the film Final Jeopardy
(2001). New York Daily News TV critic David Bianculli gave a positive review to both her performance as an actor -- "Delany, as always, does pensive and independent better than most actresses" -- and as a producer. She played a doctor in the TV series Presidio Med
(2002), described as a "conventional but pleasant drama populated by characters dedicated to medicine who also have messy personal lives." She appeared in TV movies such as A Time to Remember
(2003), and Baby for Sale
(2004). She appeared in feature films by indie film
producers, such as The Outfitters (1999), Mother Ghost (2002), and Spin
(2003).
Returning to theater, she played an artsy and incompetent woman who questions the "imposed conventions of society" after discovering her husband's affair in the Pulitzer-prize winning Dinner With Friends
(2000, New York City
, Los Angeles
, Boston
); her performance earned positive reviews generally. She played Beatrice in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing
(2003, San Diego); one critic described the "verbal sparring" between Delany and actor Billy Campbell
as a "joy".
From 2004 to 2006, Delany played many guest roles on TV shows, such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
, Boston Legal
, Kojak
, Related, The L Word
, and Battlestar Galactica
. She also starred in the short-lived TV series Kidnapped
(2006). One critic wrote "Delany is alternately furious and despondent as Ellie, and she and Hutton (Timothy Hutton
) can do more without words than other actors can do with pages of dialogue. They’re absolutely convincing as rich, complicated Manhattanites and as parents who come face to face with the scary reality that they can’t always protect their kids."
Delany appeared as herself in the TV documentary Vietnam Nurses with Dana Delany which explored their lives and treatment after returning to the United States. Delany has become "something of a heroine to the nurses who served in Vietnam", according to Los Angeles Times writer Susan King, who noted that the actress worked on a nationwide nurse recruitment program in 1990 called the McMurphy project.
In 2007, Delany appeared in the films A Beautiful Life
, Camp Hope
, and Multiple Sarcasms
.
Delany initially declined the offer to play one of the four Desperate Housewives
principal characters, Bree Van De Kamp
, saying it was too similar to her role on Pasadena
. The show became a popular prime-time soap opera with substantial ratings. But in 2007 she was again offered a role by producer Marc Cherry
, this time as a supporting housewife, and she joined the cast of the well-established series for the 2007–08 season. Reaction to the addition of Delany was positive; one critic wrote "...casting Dana Delany as Katherine Mayfair in Season 4 is one of the smartest things Cherry has ever done ... Not many actors can deftly deliver both comedy and drama, but Delany makes it look easy." She commented about playing housewife Katherine Mayfair
: "The hardest thing for me was figuring out the tone of the piece because it's such a specific tone - so it was more of an acting challenge than anything else." She commented in 2008: “I hope that she (Katherine Mayfair
) doesn’t lose her snarkiness, because that’s always fun to play.” On May 13, 2008, it was announced that Delany would reprise her role on Desperate Housewives for season five, having been promoted to the sixth lead.
, which stars Nathan Fillion
, who played her character's second husband on Desperate Housewives.
Delany left Desperate Housewives to star in the new ABC series Body of Proof originally slated to begin airing in late 2010.Delany also voiced a character Margaret Rosenblatt in the film Firebreather
in 2010
In 2011 in Body of Proof
, Delany plays a brilliant neurosurgeon
turned medical examiner
after a car accident causes her to lose dexterity in her hands. Ironically, Delany in real life had an experience similar to her character of Dr. Megan Hunt. Two weeks before filming the pilot episode, Delany's car was hit by a bus in Santa Monica
; two fingers of her hand were broken and her car was totaled. Delany describes her character in Body of Proof
as being "complicated, smart, and definitely complex."
In April 2011 Delany came 9th in People
magazine's annual 100 Most Beautiful list.
In May 2011 Delany was the host the fourth annual Television Academy Honors.
Delany is currently filming the crime drama Freelancers
with director Jessy Terrero
. The film also stars Robert De Niro
, Forest Whitaker
, and 50 Cent
, and is set for a 2012 release.
, and with her friend Sharon Monsky
, she helped campaign for support in finding a cure for scleroderma
. Working with director Bob Saget
, she starred in the TV movie For Hope
(1996), based on Saget's sister Gay, who had died as a result of the disease. She appeared as a contestant on Celebrity Jeopardy in 2001, 2006 and 2009 to raise money for scleroderma research. Scleroderma "robs these women of not only their own lives in many cases, but robs their families which include countless children," she explained in 2002.
Delany is a board member of the arts advocacy organization Creative Coalition
. She appeared in June 2009 in an onstage meeting in New York alongside White House social secretary Desiree Rogers
to discuss ways to promote American cinematic creativity. In August 2009 Delany was named co-president of the Creative Coalition, joining Tim Daly in the leadership of the organization. Delany explained her support for the arts in an interview: "I just think it's so important for children and the future of the country and people's general happiness. I'm one of those people who, whenever I feel cut off spiritually or emotionally, I go to a museum or a play or a movie, and I'm just transported." She participated as a celebrity guest in fundraising events which support the rights of same-sex couples to marry. In addition, she has supported Planned Parenthood
. She attended the organization's 90th birthday celebration in New York City
in 2006. Delany said: "It's hard to imagine where we'd be in this country had Margaret Sanger
not founded that first clinic here in New York, 90 years ago." She attended events sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
.
Delany commented about her personal life in an interview in 2006: "I turned 50 and I'm ready to get married ... I don't know who he is yet but I'm ready ... He has to be smart, funny and kind." She added a year later: "Marriage has never been a big deal for me ... But I think I’m ready now ... I got to have all the fun in the world, to experience a lot of people and figure out what I really like." Delany (in 1988) said she doesn't find being a celebrity to be that appealing: "I'm not a 'personality'. I am never recognized, which I take as a compliment. I have a love-hate thing with publicity."
Since the mid-1990s, she has had a notable Internet presence. She has participated in several online chat events promoting various projects. Her official web site, online since 1996, includes a guestbook in which she participates.
Delany, in 2003, tried having an injection of botox in her forehead, but the needle hit a nerve and created a hematoma
which affected the muscle in her right eye, causing it to droop slightly. In 2010, she vowed she will never have plastic surgery. She told Prevention
in 2010 that she prefers eating healthfully, including vegetables, tofu, fish, gluten-free pasta, and bread. Since she plays a neurosurgeon in her new ABC drama Body of Proof
, she refuses to eat turkey sausage because of a perceived similarity with intestines seen on the set.
In April 2011 Delany came 9th in People
magazine's annual 100 Most Beautiful list.
General source for awards:
Additional sources—Family Law: Prism: Screen Actors Guild: Lone Star Film & Television: TV Land:
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, stage
Stage (theatre)
In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...
, and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
actress, producer, host
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
and health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
activist.
After various roles in the early career, Delany garnered her first leading role in 1987 in the short-lived NBC sitcom Sweet Surrender
Sweet Surrender (TV series)
Sweet Surrender is an American television sitcom that aired for one season on NBC from 18 April, 1987 to 8 July, 1987.-Cast:* Mark Blum as Ken Holden* Dana Delany as Georgia Holden* Viveka Davis as Cak* David Doyle as Frank Macklin...
and achieved wider fame in 1988–1991 as Colleen McMurphy on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television show China Beach
China Beach
China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans...
, for which she won two Emmy Awards. She received further recognition for her performances in the films Light Sleeper
Light Sleeper
Light Sleeper is an US-american drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader in 1992. It stars Willem Dafoe, Susan Sarandon, and Dana Delany....
(1992), Tombstone
Tombstone (film)
Tombstone is a 1993 American action film set in the Old West directed by George P. Cosmatos, along with uncredited directorial efforts by actor Kurt Russell and writer Kevin Jarre. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Jarre....
(1993), Exit to Eden
Exit To Eden (film)
Exit to Eden is a 1994 American comedy-thriller loosely based on the Anne Rice novel of the same name, directed by Garry Marshall and adapted to the screen by Deborah Amelon and Bob Brunner. The original music score was composed by Patrick Doyle....
(1994), The Margaret Sanger Story
Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story
Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story is a TV-movie about the controversial nurse Margaret Sanger who campaigned in the early 1900s in the United States for women's reproductive rights.-Plot:...
(1995), Fly Away Home
Fly Away Home
Fly Away Home is a 1996 drama and comedy film directed by Carroll Ballard, the director of The Black Stallion . The film stars Anna Paquin, Jeff Daniels and Dana Delany. The story follows a young girl from New Zealand who survives a car crash that results in the death of her mother...
(1996), True Women
True Women
True Women is a 1993 novel by Janice Woods Windle. The book was adapted into a 1997 CBS miniseries starring Dana Delany, Annabeth Gish, Angelina Jolie, Julie Carmen, Tina Majorino and Rachael Leigh Cook.-Plot summary:...
(1997) and Wide Awake (1998). Since the mid-1990s, Delany has served on the board of the Scleroderma Research Foundation
Scleroderma Research Foundation
The Scleroderma Research Foundation is a non-profit, 501 organization based in San Francisco. Its mission is to find improved therapies and a cure for scleroderma by funding research and Scleroderma Centers of Excellence, which provide multi-specialty clinical care in dedicated facilities...
.
In 2000s she returned to television with a string of short-lived television series beginning with Pasadena
Pasadena (TV series)
Pasadena is an American primetime soap opera originally broadcast in the U.S. from September to November 2001 on Fox.-Summary:The series starred Alison Lohman as Lily McAllister, an initially naïve young woman who witnesses a stranger's suicide and begins to investigate the secrets being hidden by...
(2001), Presidio Med
Presidio Med
Presidio Med is an American Television series which aired 2002–2003, centering around a San Francisco hospital. It was created by John Wells and Lydia Woodward, who also created ER.-Series premise:...
(2002–2003), and Kidnapped
Kidnapped (TV series)
Kidnapped is an American television drama series from Sony Pictures Television which aired on NBC from September 20, 2006, to August 11, 2007...
(2006-2007). From 2007 to 2010 Delany played Katherine Mayfair
Katherine Mayfair
Katherine Mayfair is a fictional character created by television producer and screenwriter Marc Cherry for the ABC television series Desperate Housewives...
on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
series Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
. She is currently in the lead role as Megan Hunt
Megan Hunt
Dr. Megan Hunt is a fictional character created by television producer Christopher Murphey for the ABC television series Body of Proof. The character is played by Dana Delany.- Overview :...
on the ABC drama series Body of Proof
Body of Proof
Body of Proof is an American medical drama television series created by Chris Murphey and produced by ABC Studios. Starring Dana Delany as medical examiner Dr. Megan Hunt, the series premiered on March 29, 2011 on ABC....
.
Delany is also a voice-actress. She played Lois Lane
Lois Lane
Lois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 ....
in the DC Animated Universe
DC animated universe
The DC Animated Universe is a fan term that refers to a series of popular animated television series and related spin-offs produced by Warner Bros. Animation which share the same continuity. Most of these series are adapted from DC Comics properties...
as well as the television series The Batman
The Batman (TV series)
The Batman is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation based on the DC Comics superhero Batman. It ran from 2004 to 2008, on the Saturday morning television block Kids' WB...
. In an interview, she said she loves to play "complicated characters". Delany has been active in film, television, and stage since the late 1970s.
Early life
Delany was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to parents of Irish
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
descent and was raised Catholic. She has remarked that, even as a child, she always wanted to go into acting. "The reason a person first gets into acting is because you want attention from your parents as a child," she told a reporter. In her childhood, she went with her family to many Broadway shows, and was fascinated by films.
After growing up in Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
, she attended Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
in Andover, Massachusetts
Andover, Massachusetts
Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1646 and as of the 2010 census, the population was 33,201...
for her senior year, and was a member of the school's first co-educational class that included jazz composer Bill Cunliffe
Bill Cunliffe
Bill Cunliffe is an American jazz pianist and composer based in Los Angeles He has been described by The New York Times as being in the "modern jazz mainstream" and as an "accomplished pianist and composer." Ernie Rideout of Keyboard Magazine described Cunliffe's playing as "inventive, melodic,...
, software executive Peter Currie
Peter Currie
Peter L. S. Currie is a business executive notable for being the chief financial officer for Netscape during the 1990s. Currie was described by Wall Street Journal reporter Jessica Vascellaro as one of the "Silicon Valley wise men". He advised Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about business matters in...
, artist Julian Hatton
Julian Hatton
Julian Burroughs Hatton III is an American landscape abstract artist from New York City whose paintings have appeared in galleries in the United States and France. The New York Times described his painting style as "vibrant, playful, semi-abstract landscapes" while New York Sun art critic John...
, poet Karl Kirchwey
Karl Kirchwey
Karl Kirchwey is a prize–winning American poet who has lived in both Europe and the United States and whose work is strongly influenced by the Greek and Roman past. He often looks to the classical world for inspiration with themes which have included loss, loneliness, nostalgia and modern...
, writer Nate Lee
Nate Lee
Nate Lee is an American author and former senior editor at Chicago's Newcity weekly magazine who advocated passionately for live theater. At Newcity, Lee wrote features, a weekly column called Urbanitie, theatre and film reviews as well as stories on architecture and historic preservation, and at...
, editor Sara Nelson
Sara Nelson
Sara Nelson is an American publishing industry figure who is an editor and book reviewer and consultant and columnist and who is currently the book editor at Oprah's O Magazine. Nelson is notable for having been editor in chief at the book industry's chief trade publication Publishers Weekly from...
restaurateur Priscilla Martel
Priscilla Martel
Priscilla Martel is an award–winning American chef, food writer, and consultant notable for desserts, baking, pastries and fireplace-cooked meals. Her recipes appear in magazines such as Food & Wine. She is a contributing writer at Flavor and the Menu Magazine. She teaches and has written...
and sculptor Gar Waterman
Gar Waterman
Gar Waterman is an award–winning sculptor based in New Haven in Connecticut who is notable for large public arts projects which beautify public places as well as creations which mimic sealife. He works in marble, stone, bronze, wood, and sometimes glass. Some of his sculptures resemble "giant...
. "Andover was the best time of my life," she recalled. She played the lead role of Nellie Forbush in the school's spring musical production of South Pacific
South Pacific (musical)
South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
playing opposite Peter Kapetan
Peter Kapetan
Peter Murray Kapetan was an American Broadway actor, singer and dancer notable for playing numerous roles during a thirty year career. He was notable for performing in the musical The Wedding Singer as a Ronald Reagan impersonator...
as Emile. She commented: "It was just a little awkward to be Nellie at first because she hesitates to marry Emile since he had once lived with a Polynesian woman -- I don't agree with her reasoning so that made things a bit hard at the beginning." She appeared in a student video directed by fellow classmate Jonathan Meath
Jonathan Meath
Jonathan Meath is an award–winning American TV producer based in Boston who is notable for earning numerous Emmy nominations and the coveted George Foster Peabody Award in 1993. He is known for his commitment to children's educational television...
in a film class taught by Steve Marx. She graduated in 1974 with the academic honor of "cum laude" which was awarded to 80 out of 378 graduating seniors. She majored in theater at Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
, worked in summer stock productions during vacations, and graduated in 1978. Later, in an interview, she reported that she sometimes had eating issues during this time of her life. She said: "I binged... I starved ... I was one step from anorexia
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
–a piece of toast and an apple would be all I would eat in a day."
1980s: Stage, television, China Beach
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in daytime soap operas. She starred in the Broadway show A Life
A Life
A Life is a bittersweet comedy by Irish playwright Hugh Leonard. The primary character is Desmond Drumm, a highly intelligent but bitterly cynical civil servant who must try to make sense of his life after learning that he has a terminal illness....
and won critical acclaim in 1983 in Nicholas Kazan's off-Broadway Blood Moon, where the New York Times cited her "skillful verisimilitude" handling a difficult part requiring two roles "and she does them both with authority." Delany moved to Hollywood and during the next few years found work guest starring in TV shows like Moonlighting
Moonlighting (TV series)
Moonlighting is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 66 episodes...
and Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
.
Dana Delany's first audition for the lead role of nurse Colleen McMurphy was unsuccessful. "They thought I wasn't pretty enough", she said in an interview, but heeding advice from director Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull....
, who had directed her in the film Patty Hearst
Patty Hearst (film)
Patty Hearst is a 1988 biographical film directed by Paul Schrader and stars Natasha Richardson as Hearst Corporation heiress Patricia Hearst and Ving Rhames as Symbionese Liberation Army leader Cinque...
, she "cut her long tresses into a bob" and re-auditioned with this new haircut, successfully, after the producers lost their first choice. She won the lead role on the critically acclaimed China Beach
China Beach
China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans...
, which appeared weekly from 1988 to 1991 and brought intense media attention to the actress. This role not only garnered two Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s, but two other Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations. After several seasons the show suffered from mediocre ratings and was discontinued in 1991.
1990s: Movies, television, voice
In 1991, Dana Delany was chosen by PeoplePeople (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine as one of the "50 most beautiful people in the world." In the years following China Beach
China Beach
China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans...
, Delany worked steadily in television, movies and theater. In addition, she established herself as a significant voice talent.
Delany won leading roles in a string of feature films such as the TV movie A Promise to Keep, Light Sleeper
Light Sleeper
Light Sleeper is an US-american drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader in 1992. It stars Willem Dafoe, Susan Sarandon, and Dana Delany....
, Housesitter
HouseSitter
HouseSitter is a 1992 romantic comedy film directed by Frank Oz, written by Mark Stein, and starring Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. The premise involves a woman with con-artist tendencies who worms her way into the life of a reserved architect by claiming to be his wife.-Plot:Newton Davis is a...
and Fly Away Home
Fly Away Home
Fly Away Home is a 1996 drama and comedy film directed by Carroll Ballard, the director of The Black Stallion . The film stars Anna Paquin, Jeff Daniels and Dana Delany. The story follows a young girl from New Zealand who survives a car crash that results in the death of her mother...
as well as appearing in the TV mini-series Wild Palms
Wild Palms
Wild Palms is a six-hour mini-series, which first aired in May 1993 on the ABC network in the United States. Written by Bruce Wagner, who was also the executive producer, Wild Palms was a sci-fi drama about the dangers of brainwashing through technology and drugs...
. She also took on controversial roles, such as Mistress Lisa in Exit to Eden
Exit To Eden (film)
Exit to Eden is a 1994 American comedy-thriller loosely based on the Anne Rice novel of the same name, directed by Garry Marshall and adapted to the screen by Deborah Amelon and Bob Brunner. The original music score was composed by Patrick Doyle....
, where one film critic commented "The script was awful -- Dana looked great." Delany commented in a 2008 interview about the audience reaction: "I had already got pilloried for playing the Exit to Eden dominatrix after China Beach
China Beach
China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans...
because audiences had a certain image of me as Colleen and didn’t want to see it change." The provocatively titled Live Nude Girls
Live Nude Girls (film)
Live Nude Girls is a 1995 comedy film featuring Dana Delany, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Stevenson, Laila Robins, Olivia d'Abo and others. The film writer and director Julianna Lavin plays the role of a minor character.-Plot:...
included frank discussion by women of their sexual fantasies at a bachelorette party using a low-budget improvisational comedy format with strong chemistry between the actors. Reviews were mixed: Los Angeles Times critic Richard Natale liked the film but wrote older male film executives believed it to be "uncommercial"; another critic agreed it was "genuine girl talk" but "didn't have a lot of substance" and viewers "don't get to know the characters in the film". She also starred as Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
in the TV movie Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story
Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story
Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story is a TV-movie about the controversial nurse Margaret Sanger who campaigned in the early 1900s in the United States for women's reproductive rights.-Plot:...
(1995), about a controversial nurse who crusaded for women's reproductive rights in the early 1900s.
In 1995, Delany appeared in the Broadway show Translations
Translations
Translations is a three-act play by Irish playwright Brian Friel written in 1980. It is set in Baile Beag , a small village at the heart of 19th century agricultural Ireland...
and in May 1997, Delany returned to her alma mater Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
to work with theater students as an artist-in-residence. She appeared in TV movies such as True Women
True Women
True Women is a 1993 novel by Janice Woods Windle. The book was adapted into a 1997 CBS miniseries starring Dana Delany, Annabeth Gish, Angelina Jolie, Julie Carmen, Tina Majorino and Rachael Leigh Cook.-Plot summary:...
(1997) and Resurrection
Resurrection (1999 film)
-Plot:Detective John Prudhomme, a Cajun transferred to Chicago, is assigned to investigate the savage murder of a man who has bled to death from a severed arm. A message, "He Is Coming", written in blood on the victim's window, is a dark, foreboding clue...
(1999).
In 1998, Delany reportedly turned down the role of Carrie Bradshaw
Carrie Bradshaw
Carrie Preston is the fictional narrator and lead character of the HBO sitcom/drama Sex and the City, portrayed by actress Sarah Jessica Parker. She is a semi-autobiographical character created by Candace Bushnell, who published the book Sex and the City, based on her own columns in the New York...
in the hit TV show Sex and the City
Sex and the City
Sex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...
. She commented in a subsequent interview: "The show’s creator Darren Star
Darren Star
Darren Bennett Star is an American producer, director and writer for film and television. He is best known for creating the hit TV shows Melrose Place, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Sex and the City.-Career:...
asked me to play Carrie ... Darren got the idea of televising Candace Bushnell’s Sex and the City from seeing me and Kim (Kim Cattrall
Kim Cattrall
Kim Victoria Cattrall is an English actress. She is known for her role as Samantha Jones in the HBO comedy/romance series Sex and the City, and for her leading roles in the 1980s films Police Academy, Big Trouble in Little China, Mannequin, and Porky's...
) in Live Nude Girls." Delany declined the role partly after remembering the negative audience reaction she received with a similar film, Exit to Eden, a few years back. Sex and the City became a successful series, and the role of Carrie made Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
world-famous.
Delany played a gun-toting mother in an episode of the TV series Family Law
Family Law (TV series)
Family Law is a television drama starring Kathleen Quinlan as divorced lawyer Lynn Holt, who attempted to start her own law firm after her lawyer husband took all their old clients...
(1999) for which she earned an Emmy nomination, but the series was not rerun due to sponsorship withdrawal.
Work as Lois Lane
Dana Delany has performed substantial voice work periodically. She portrayed Andrea BeaumontAndrea Beaumont
Andrea Beaumont, also known as The Phantasm, is a fictional character in the DC animated universe. Conceived by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini, she first appeared in the 1993 animated film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm as the ex-fiancé of Bruce Wayne/Batman and one of the film's primary antagonists...
in the 1993 animated feature film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is a 1993 animated superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, and is a spin-off of the Emmy Award-winning Batman: The Animated Series...
based on the popular TV show Batman: The Animated Series
Batman: The Animated Series
Batman: The Animated Series is an American animated series based on the DC Comics character Batman. The series featured an ensemble cast of many voice-actors including Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Arleen Sorkin, and Loren Lester. The series won four Emmy Awards and was nominated...
. Delany's voice performance in the film impressed filmmakers and led to her being cast as Lois Lane
Lois Lane
Lois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 ....
in Superman: The Animated Series
Superman: The Animated Series
Superman: The Animated Series is an American animated television series starring DC Comics' flagship character, Superman. The series was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on The WB from September 6, 1996 to February 12, 2000. Warner Bros...
. She was also mentioned by name in the theme song of Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
, another Warner Bros. production. She reprised her role as Lois Lane for the character's guest appearances in Justice League
Justice League (TV series)
Justice League is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 2001 to 2004 on Cartoon Network. The show was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It is based on the Justice League of America and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics...
, Justice League Unlimited
Justice League Unlimited
Justice League Unlimited is an American animated television series that was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on Cartoon Network. Featuring a wide array of superheroes from the DC Comics universe, and specifically based on the Justice League superhero team, it is a direct sequel to the...
, and The Batman
The Batman (TV series)
The Batman is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation based on the DC Comics superhero Batman. It ran from 2004 to 2008, on the Saturday morning television block Kids' WB...
. She returned to the DC Universe in an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Batman: The Brave and the Bold is an American animated television series based in part on the DC Comics series The Brave and the Bold which features two or more super heroes coming together to solve a crime or foil a super villain...
as Vilsi, an alternate universe variation of Lois Lane. Coincidentally, Delany's future Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
co-star, Teri Hatcher
Teri Hatcher
Teri Lynn Hatcher is an American actress, writer, and presenter. She is known for her television roles as Susan Mayer on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and Lois Lane on the ABC comedy-drama series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman...
, also portrayed Lois Lane on the live-action TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was a live-action American television series based on the Superman comic books...
.
2000s: Television, movies, stage, Desperate Housewives
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
termed a "Sopranos knock-off". She appeared in the short-lived Pasadena
Pasadena (TV series)
Pasadena is an American primetime soap opera originally broadcast in the U.S. from September to November 2001 on Fox.-Summary:The series starred Alison Lohman as Lily McAllister, an initially naïve young woman who witnesses a stranger's suicide and begins to investigate the secrets being hidden by...
(2001), a critically acclaimed Fox production which was "underpromoted and endlessly pre-empted" and described as a "twisted rich-family saga" with a "great cast". Delany commented in an interview: "You can see Pasadena
Pasadena (TV series)
Pasadena is an American primetime soap opera originally broadcast in the U.S. from September to November 2001 on Fox.-Summary:The series starred Alison Lohman as Lily McAllister, an initially naïve young woman who witnesses a stranger's suicide and begins to investigate the secrets being hidden by...
as a black comedy or see it as really tragic. A lot of soaps on television now don't have that layer of tragedy to them." She was an actor and co-executive producer of the film Final Jeopardy
Final Jeopardy (film)
Final Jeopardyis an 2001 drama TV film based on a novel by Linda Fairstein and starring Dana Delany. Delany also producer. Premiered April 9, 2001 on ABC...
(2001). New York Daily News TV critic David Bianculli gave a positive review to both her performance as an actor -- "Delany, as always, does pensive and independent better than most actresses" -- and as a producer. She played a doctor in the TV series Presidio Med
Presidio Med
Presidio Med is an American Television series which aired 2002–2003, centering around a San Francisco hospital. It was created by John Wells and Lydia Woodward, who also created ER.-Series premise:...
(2002), described as a "conventional but pleasant drama populated by characters dedicated to medicine who also have messy personal lives." She appeared in TV movies such as A Time to Remember
A Time to Remember (film)
A Time to Remember is a 2003 American drama film starring Doris Roberts and Dana Delany.-Plot:Maggie Calhoun was diagnosed - Alzheimer's disease. Two daughters, Maggie - Britt and Valetta - are quite different...
(2003), and Baby for Sale
Baby for Sale
Baby for Sale is a 2004 television film that premiered on the Lifetime Network on 12 July 2004. It stars Dana Delany and was directed by Peter Svatek...
(2004). She appeared in feature films by indie film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
producers, such as The Outfitters (1999), Mother Ghost (2002), and Spin
Spin (2004 film)
Spin is a 2003 American drama-genre film starring Ryan Merriman, Stanley Tucci, Dana Delany, Paula Garcés and Rubén Blades. It was released at the Cannes Film Market 17 May 2004 and was limited released in the United States 15 October 2004...
(2003).
Returning to theater, she played an artsy and incompetent woman who questions the "imposed conventions of society" after discovering her husband's affair in the Pulitzer-prize winning Dinner With Friends
Dinner with Friends
Dinner with Friends is a 2000 play written by Donald Margulies. It premiered at the 1998 Humana Festival of New American Plays and opened Off-Broadway in New York on November 4, 1999.-Plot summary:...
(2000, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
); her performance earned positive reviews generally. She played Beatrice in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
(2003, San Diego); one critic described the "verbal sparring" between Delany and actor Billy Campbell
Billy Campbell
William Oliver "Billy" Campbell is an American film and television actor. In television, he is best known for his roles as Rick Sammler on Once and Again, as Det. Joey Indelli on Crime Story, as Jordan Collier on The 4400, and as Dr. Jon Fielding on the Tales of the City Miniseries...
as a "joy".
From 2004 to 2006, Delany played many guest roles on TV shows, such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...
, Boston Legal
Boston Legal
Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...
, Kojak
Kojak (2005 TV series)
Kojak is an American television series starring Ving Rhames, airing on the USA Network cable channel, and on ITV4 in the United Kingdom. It was a reimagined version of the 1973-1978 series starring Telly Savalas....
, Related, The L Word
The L Word
The L Word is an American co-production television drama series originally shown on Showtime portraying the lives of a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their friends, family and lovers in the trendy Greater Los Angeles, California city of West Hollywood...
, and Battlestar Galactica
Sacrifice (Battlestar Galactica)
"Sacrifice" is the sixteenth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on February 10, 2006....
. She also starred in the short-lived TV series Kidnapped
Kidnapped (2006 TV series)
Kidnapped is an American television drama series from Sony Pictures Television which aired on NBC from September 20, 2006, to August 11, 2007...
(2006). One critic wrote "Delany is alternately furious and despondent as Ellie, and she and Hutton (Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...
) can do more without words than other actors can do with pages of dialogue. They’re absolutely convincing as rich, complicated Manhattanites and as parents who come face to face with the scary reality that they can’t always protect their kids."
Delany appeared as herself in the TV documentary Vietnam Nurses with Dana Delany which explored their lives and treatment after returning to the United States. Delany has become "something of a heroine to the nurses who served in Vietnam", according to Los Angeles Times writer Susan King, who noted that the actress worked on a nationwide nurse recruitment program in 1990 called the McMurphy project.
In 2007, Delany appeared in the films A Beautiful Life
A Beautiful Life (2008 film)
-Cast:* Debi Mazar as Susan* Ling Bai as Esther* Dana Delany as Anne* Jonathan LaPaglia as Vince* Angela Sarafyan as Maggie* Gloria Alexandra as Stripper* Walter Perez as Enrico-External links:*...
, Camp Hope
Camp Hope
Camp Hope , is a volunteer base camp located in a former school in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Camp Hope has welcomed people from all over the United States and all over the world who have come to participate in the massive recovery efforts of St...
, and Multiple Sarcasms
Multiple Sarcasms
Multiple Sarcasms is a 2009 American drama-genre film starring Timothy Hutton, Mira Sorvino, Stockard Channing, Dana Delany, Chris Sarandon and Mario Van Peebles...
.
Delany initially declined the offer to play one of the four Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
principal characters, Bree Van De Kamp
Bree Van De Kamp
Bree Van de Kamp is a fictional character on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives, played by Marcia Cross. Actress Marcia Cross was nominated from 2005 to 2007 for a Golden Globe Award in the category of Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy...
, saying it was too similar to her role on Pasadena
Pasadena (TV series)
Pasadena is an American primetime soap opera originally broadcast in the U.S. from September to November 2001 on Fox.-Summary:The series starred Alison Lohman as Lily McAllister, an initially naïve young woman who witnesses a stranger's suicide and begins to investigate the secrets being hidden by...
. The show became a popular prime-time soap opera with substantial ratings. But in 2007 she was again offered a role by producer Marc Cherry
Marc Cherry
Marc Cherry is an American writer and producer, best known for creating the show Desperate Housewives.-Early life and career:...
, this time as a supporting housewife, and she joined the cast of the well-established series for the 2007–08 season. Reaction to the addition of Delany was positive; one critic wrote "...casting Dana Delany as Katherine Mayfair in Season 4 is one of the smartest things Cherry has ever done ... Not many actors can deftly deliver both comedy and drama, but Delany makes it look easy." She commented about playing housewife Katherine Mayfair
Katherine Mayfair
Katherine Mayfair is a fictional character created by television producer and screenwriter Marc Cherry for the ABC television series Desperate Housewives...
: "The hardest thing for me was figuring out the tone of the piece because it's such a specific tone - so it was more of an acting challenge than anything else." She commented in 2008: “I hope that she (Katherine Mayfair
Katherine Mayfair
Katherine Mayfair is a fictional character created by television producer and screenwriter Marc Cherry for the ABC television series Desperate Housewives...
) doesn’t lose her snarkiness, because that’s always fun to play.” On May 13, 2008, it was announced that Delany would reprise her role on Desperate Housewives for season five, having been promoted to the sixth lead.
2010s: New series and movies
In March 2010, Delany appeared as FBI agent Jordan Shaw in a two-part story on the TV series CastleCastle (TV series)
Castle is an American comedy-drama television series, which premiered on ABC on March 9, 2009. The series is produced by Beacon Pictures and ABC Studios. On January 10, 2011, Castle was renewed for a fourth season...
, which stars Nathan Fillion
Nathan Fillion
Nathan Fillion is a Canadian actor, currently starring as Richard Castle on the ABC series Castle. He is also known for his portrayal of the lead role of Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the television series Firefly and its feature film continuation, Serenity.He has acted in traditionally distributed...
, who played her character's second husband on Desperate Housewives.
Delany left Desperate Housewives to star in the new ABC series Body of Proof originally slated to begin airing in late 2010.Delany also voiced a character Margaret Rosenblatt in the film Firebreather
Firebreather (film)
Firebreather is a 2010 CGI animated made-for-TV film, based on the Image Comics comic book series of the same name, which premiered on November 24, 2010 on Cartoon Network...
in 2010
In 2011 in Body of Proof
Body of Proof
Body of Proof is an American medical drama television series created by Chris Murphey and produced by ABC Studios. Starring Dana Delany as medical examiner Dr. Megan Hunt, the series premiered on March 29, 2011 on ABC....
, Delany plays a brilliant neurosurgeon
Neurosurgery
Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spine, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system.-In the United States:In...
turned medical examiner
Medical examiner
A medical examiner is a medically qualified government officer whose duty is to investigate deaths and injuries that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdictions to initiate inquests....
after a car accident causes her to lose dexterity in her hands. Ironically, Delany in real life had an experience similar to her character of Dr. Megan Hunt. Two weeks before filming the pilot episode, Delany's car was hit by a bus in Santa Monica
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
; two fingers of her hand were broken and her car was totaled. Delany describes her character in Body of Proof
Body of Proof
Body of Proof is an American medical drama television series created by Chris Murphey and produced by ABC Studios. Starring Dana Delany as medical examiner Dr. Megan Hunt, the series premiered on March 29, 2011 on ABC....
as being "complicated, smart, and definitely complex."
In April 2011 Delany came 9th in People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine's annual 100 Most Beautiful list.
In May 2011 Delany was the host the fourth annual Television Academy Honors.
Delany is currently filming the crime drama Freelancers
Freelancers (film)
Freelancers is an upcoming crime-drama film directed by Jessy Terrero, and stars Robert DeNiro, 50 Cent, Dana Delany and Forest Whitaker. Filming will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana.-Plot:...
with director Jessy Terrero
Jessy Terrero
Jessy Terrero is a Dominican film and music video director.-Life and career:Terrero began his filmmaking career working as an intern on the set of Darnell Martin's I Like It Like That. His acting credits include appearances in Law & Order, The Sopranos and In Search of a Dream...
. The film also stars Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
, Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television...
, and 50 Cent
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
, and is set for a 2012 release.
Personal and public life
Since the mid-1990s, Delany has served on the board of the Scleroderma Research FoundationScleroderma Research Foundation
The Scleroderma Research Foundation is a non-profit, 501 organization based in San Francisco. Its mission is to find improved therapies and a cure for scleroderma by funding research and Scleroderma Centers of Excellence, which provide multi-specialty clinical care in dedicated facilities...
, and with her friend Sharon Monsky
Sharon Monsky
Sharon Monsky founded the Scleroderma Research Foundation. Monsky was born in Omaha, Nebraska on October 23, 1953. She was a competitive figure skater as a teenager....
, she helped campaign for support in finding a cure for scleroderma
Scleroderma
Systemic sclerosis or systemic scleroderma is a systemic autoimmune disease or systemic connective tissue disease that is a subtype of scleroderma.-Skin symptoms:...
. Working with director Bob Saget
Bob Saget
Robert Lane "Bob" Saget is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Although he is best known for his roles as Danny Tanner in Full House, host of America's Funniest Home Videos and Future Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother, Saget is also known outside of television for his blue...
, she starred in the TV movie For Hope
For Hope
For Hope is a 1996 ABC TV movie starring Dana Delany and directed by Bob Saget. Based on Saget's sister Gay, the movie showed the experience of a young woman fatally afflicted with the disease scleroderma...
(1996), based on Saget's sister Gay, who had died as a result of the disease. She appeared as a contestant on Celebrity Jeopardy in 2001, 2006 and 2009 to raise money for scleroderma research. Scleroderma "robs these women of not only their own lives in many cases, but robs their families which include countless children," she explained in 2002.
Delany is a board member of the arts advocacy organization Creative Coalition
Creative Coalition
The Creative Coalition is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, politically-active group formed of members of the American entertainment industry....
. She appeared in June 2009 in an onstage meeting in New York alongside White House social secretary Desiree Rogers
Desirée Rogers
Desirée Glapion Rogers is an American business executive who is the Chief Executive Officer of Johnson Publishing Company. In November 2008 she was selected by Barack Obama's office as the White House Social Secretary for the incoming administration, the first person of African American descent...
to discuss ways to promote American cinematic creativity. In August 2009 Delany was named co-president of the Creative Coalition, joining Tim Daly in the leadership of the organization. Delany explained her support for the arts in an interview: "I just think it's so important for children and the future of the country and people's general happiness. I'm one of those people who, whenever I feel cut off spiritually or emotionally, I go to a museum or a play or a movie, and I'm just transported." She participated as a celebrity guest in fundraising events which support the rights of same-sex couples to marry. In addition, she has supported Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood Federation of America , commonly shortened to Planned Parenthood, is the U.S. affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and one of its larger members. PPFA is a non-profit organization providing reproductive health and maternal and child health services. The...
. She attended the organization's 90th birthday celebration in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 2006. Delany said: "It's hard to imagine where we'd be in this country had Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
not founded that first clinic here in New York, 90 years ago." She attended events sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is a non-governmental media monitoring organization which promotes the image of LGBT people in the media...
.
Delany commented about her personal life in an interview in 2006: "I turned 50 and I'm ready to get married ... I don't know who he is yet but I'm ready ... He has to be smart, funny and kind." She added a year later: "Marriage has never been a big deal for me ... But I think I’m ready now ... I got to have all the fun in the world, to experience a lot of people and figure out what I really like." Delany (in 1988) said she doesn't find being a celebrity to be that appealing: "I'm not a 'personality'. I am never recognized, which I take as a compliment. I have a love-hate thing with publicity."
Since the mid-1990s, she has had a notable Internet presence. She has participated in several online chat events promoting various projects. Her official web site, online since 1996, includes a guestbook in which she participates.
Delany, in 2003, tried having an injection of botox in her forehead, but the needle hit a nerve and created a hematoma
Hematoma
A hematoma, or haematoma, is a localized collection of blood outside the blood vessels, usually in liquid form within the tissue. This distinguishes it from an ecchymosis, which is the spread of blood under the skin in a thin layer, commonly called a bruise...
which affected the muscle in her right eye, causing it to droop slightly. In 2010, she vowed she will never have plastic surgery. She told Prevention
Prevention (magazine)
Prevention is an American healthy lifestyle magazine, started in 1950, and published by Rodale Press in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The range of subjects includes food, nutrition, workouts, beauty, and cooking. It was founded by J. I. Rodale...
in 2010 that she prefers eating healthfully, including vegetables, tofu, fish, gluten-free pasta, and bread. Since she plays a neurosurgeon in her new ABC drama Body of Proof
Body of Proof
Body of Proof is an American medical drama television series created by Chris Murphey and produced by ABC Studios. Starring Dana Delany as medical examiner Dr. Megan Hunt, the series premiered on March 29, 2011 on ABC....
, she refuses to eat turkey sausage because of a perceived similarity with intestines seen on the set.
In April 2011 Delany came 9th in People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine's annual 100 Most Beautiful list.
Filmography
| Year | Film/play/TV/other | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | South Pacific South Pacific (musical) South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its... |
Nellie Forbush | Musical at Phillips Academy |
| 1978 | Ryan's Hope Ryan's Hope Ryan's Hope is an American soap opera, revolving around 13 years of trials and tribulations within a large Irish American family in the Riverside district of New York City. It aired from July 7, 1975 to January 13, 1989 on ABC... |
Ryan's bar patron | |
| 1979 | Love of Life Love of Life Love of Life is an American soap opera which aired on CBS Daytime from September 24, 1951 to February 1, 1980. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation Search for Tomorrow had premiered three weeks before Love of Life, and who would go on to create The Secret Storm two and a half years... |
Amy Russell | |
| 1980 | A Life A Life A Life is a bittersweet comedy by Irish playwright Hugh Leonard. The primary character is Desmond Drumm, a highly intelligent but bitterly cynical civil servant who must try to make sense of his life after learning that he has a terminal illness.... |
Broadway play | |
| 1981 | The Fan The Fan (1981 film) The Fan is a 1981 thriller about a stalker menacing a movie star. It stars Lauren Bacall, Michael Biehn, James Garner and Maureen Stapleton. It was written by Priscilla Chapman and John Hartwell, based on the novel of the same name by Bob Randall, and directed by Edward Bianchi... |
Saleswoman in record store | |
| As the World Turns As the World Turns As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light... |
Hayley Wilson Hollister | ||
| 1983 | Wisk detergent | Lady in an elevator | TV commercial (opposite Tom McBride) |
| Blood Moon | Innocent pre-med student | Off-broadway production by Nicholas Kazan | |
| 1984 | Almost You | Susan McCall | |
| Threesome | Laura Shaper | ||
| The Streets | Jeannie | ||
| 1985 | Moonlighting Moonlighting (TV series) Moonlighting is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 66 episodes... |
Jillian Armstrong | "Knowing Her," episode 206 |
| Magnum, P.I. Magnum, P.I. Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network.... |
Cynthia Farrell | Episodes 7.1, 7.2, 7.19 | |
| 1986 | A Winner Never Quits A Winner Never Quits (TV film) A Winner Never Quits is a 1986 TV movie based on the true story of baseball player Pete Gray, the only one-armed man ever to play major league baseball, hired in 1943 as a "freak attraction" and wartime morale-booster by the Memphis Chicks, Class-A minor league ball club.Though a success, Gray... |
Nora | |
| Where the River Runs Black Where the River Runs Black Where the River Runs Black is a 1986 film directed by Christopher Cain. The screenplay was written by Neal Jimenez and Peter Silverman, based on the novel by David Kendall. The film was entirely shot in Brazil.-Plot:... |
Sister Ana | ||
| Liberty | Moya Trevor | ||
| 1987 | Sweet Surrender Sweet Surrender (TV series) Sweet Surrender is an American television sitcom that aired for one season on NBC from 18 April, 1987 to 8 July, 1987.-Cast:* Mark Blum as Ken Holden* Dana Delany as Georgia Holden* Viveka Davis as Cak* David Doyle as Frank Macklin... |
Georgia Holden | |
| 1988 | Patty Hearst Patty Hearst (film) Patty Hearst is a 1988 biographical film directed by Paul Schrader and stars Natasha Richardson as Hearst Corporation heiress Patricia Hearst and Ving Rhames as Symbionese Liberation Army leader Cinque... |
Gelina | |
| Masquerade Masquerade (1988 film) Masquerade is a 1988 film; a psychological thriller starring Rob Lowe and Meg Tilly. It is directed by Bob Swaim.-Plot:The story centres on the unfolding relationship between Hamptons heiress Olivia and yacht skipper Tim who are introduced soon after the death of Olivia's mother, which has left... |
Anne Briscoe | ||
| Moon over Parador Moon Over Parador Moon over Parador is a 1988 romantic comedy film, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Raúl Juliá and Sonia Braga. It is a remake of the 1939 film The Magnificent Fraud, based on the unpublished short story entitled Caviar for His Excellency by Charles G... |
Jenny | ||
| thirtysomething | Eve | South by Southeast season 1, episode 10 | |
| China Beach China Beach China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans... |
Colleen McMurphy | 62 episodes 1988–1991 | |
| 1990 | A Promise to Keep | Jane Goodrich | |
| 1992 | Light Sleeper Light Sleeper Light Sleeper is an US-american drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader in 1992. It stars Willem Dafoe, Susan Sarandon, and Dana Delany.... |
Marianne | |
| Housesitter HouseSitter HouseSitter is a 1992 romantic comedy film directed by Frank Oz, written by Mark Stein, and starring Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. The premise involves a woman with con-artist tendencies who worms her way into the life of a reserved architect by claiming to be his wife.-Plot:Newton Davis is a... |
Becky Metcalf | ||
| Cheers Cheers Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles... |
Susan Metheny | Season 11, episode 11 | |
| 1993 | Wild Palms Wild Palms Wild Palms is a six-hour mini-series, which first aired in May 1993 on the ABC network in the United States. Written by Bruce Wagner, who was also the executive producer, Wild Palms was a sci-fi drama about the dangers of brainwashing through technology and drugs... |
Grace Wyckoff | |
| Donato and Daughter Donato and Daughter Donato and Daughter is a 1993 drama film. It stars Charles Bronson and Dana Delany.-Cast:* Charles Bronson - Sgt. Mike Donato* Dana Delany - Lt. Dena Donato* Xander Berkeley - Russ Loring* Jenette Goldstein - Det. Judy McCartney... |
Lieutenant Dena Donato | ||
| Tombstone Tombstone (film) Tombstone is a 1993 American action film set in the Old West directed by George P. Cosmatos, along with uncredited directorial efforts by actor Kurt Russell and writer Kevin Jarre. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Jarre.... |
Josephine Marcus Josephine Earp Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp was an American part time actress and dancer who was best known as the wife of famed Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp. Known as "Sadie" to the public in 1881, she met Wyatt in the frontier boom town Tombstone, Arizona Territory when she was living with Cochise... |
||
| Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is a 1993 animated superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, and is a spin-off of the Emmy Award-winning Batman: The Animated Series... |
Andrea Beaumont Andrea Beaumont Andrea Beaumont, also known as The Phantasm, is a fictional character in the DC animated universe. Conceived by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini, she first appeared in the 1993 animated film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm as the ex-fiancé of Bruce Wayne/Batman and one of the film's primary antagonists... |
(voice) | |
| 1994 | The Enemy Within | Betsy Corcoran | |
| Exit to Eden Exit To Eden (film) Exit to Eden is a 1994 American comedy-thriller loosely based on the Anne Rice novel of the same name, directed by Garry Marshall and adapted to the screen by Deborah Amelon and Bob Brunner. The original music score was composed by Patrick Doyle.... |
Lisa Emerson | ||
| Texan Texan Texan normally refers to someone who originated from, or who lives in, the state of Texas in the United States of America.Texan may also refer to:-Aircraft:* T-6 Texan, WWII era training plane... |
|||
| 1995 | Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story is a TV-movie about the controversial nurse Margaret Sanger who campaigned in the early 1900s in the United States for women's reproductive rights.-Plot:... |
Margaret Sanger Margaret Sanger Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood... |
|
| Live Nude Girls Live Nude Girls (film) Live Nude Girls is a 1995 comedy film featuring Dana Delany, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Stevenson, Laila Robins, Olivia d'Abo and others. The film writer and director Julianna Lavin plays the role of a minor character.-Plot:... ' |
Jill | ||
| Fallen Angels Fallen Angels (TV series) Fallen Angels was an American neo-noir anthology television series that ran from 1993 to 1995 on the Showtime pay cable station and was produced by Propaganda Films. No first-run episodes were shown in 1994.... |
Helen Fiske | ||
| Translations Translations Translations is a three-act play by Irish playwright Brian Friel written in 1980. It is set in Baile Beag , a small village at the heart of 19th century agricultural Ireland... |
Maire | Broadway play (short-lived) | |
| 1996 | Superman: The Animated Series Superman: The Animated Series Superman: The Animated Series is an American animated television series starring DC Comics' flagship character, Superman. The series was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on The WB from September 6, 1996 to February 12, 2000. Warner Bros... |
Lois Lane Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 .... |
(voice) (43 episodes 1996–2000) |
| Fly Away Home Fly Away Home Fly Away Home is a 1996 drama and comedy film directed by Carroll Ballard, the director of The Black Stallion . The film stars Anna Paquin, Jeff Daniels and Dana Delany. The story follows a young girl from New Zealand who survives a car crash that results in the death of her mother... |
Susan Barnes | ||
| The Adventures of Mowgli | Bagheera Bagheera Bagheera the black-toned Indian Leopard is an animal fictional character in Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book... |
(voice) English version | |
| For Hope For Hope For Hope is a 1996 ABC TV movie starring Dana Delany and directed by Bob Saget. Based on Saget's sister Gay, the movie showed the experience of a young woman fatally afflicted with the disease scleroderma... |
Hope Altman | ||
| Wing Commander Academy Wing Commander Academy Wing Commander Academy is an American animated television series created and produced by Universal Cartoon Studios, along with a team led by Larry Latham. The show was based on the Wing Commander franchise and loosely served as a prequel to Wing Commander. The show's premiere airdate was September... |
Gwen Archer Bowman | (voice) 13 episodes | |
| 1997 | True Women True Women True Women is a 1993 novel by Janice Woods Windle. The book was adapted into a 1997 CBS miniseries starring Dana Delany, Annabeth Gish, Angelina Jolie, Julie Carmen, Tina Majorino and Rachael Leigh Cook.-Plot summary:... |
Sarah Ashby McClure | |
| Spy Game Spy Game (TV series) Spy Game is a short-lived American action-adventure television series that aired on the ABC network for 13 episodes during the spring and summer of 1997... |
Honey Trapp | Season 1, episode 4 | |
| Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man | Dr. Susan Fox | (voice) | |
| 1998 | Wide Awake | Mrs. Beal | |
| The Curve | Dr. Ashley | ||
| Rescuers: Stories of Courage — Two Couples | Johtje Vos | ||
| The Patron Saint of Liars The Patron Saint of Liars The Patron Saint of Liars is an 1998 drama television film based on a novel by Ann Patchett and starring Dana Delany, Ellen Burstyn and Clancy Brown... |
Rose Cleardon Abbott | ||
| The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest | Lois Lane | (voice) | |
| Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu | Documentary | ||
| 1999 | Outfitters | Cat Bonfaim | |
| Sirens Sirens (1999 film) Sirens is a 1999 crime-drama TV film starring Dana Delany. Premiered September 26, 1999 on Showtime Networks.-Plot:Sally Rawlings is a white woman who is making out with Vincent Morgan, her black husband in a parked car when a group of policemen surround the car and murder Edward... |
Sally Rawlings | ||
| Resurrection Resurrection (1999 film) -Plot:Detective John Prudhomme, a Cajun transferred to Chicago, is assigned to investigate the savage murder of a man who has bled to death from a severed arm. A message, "He Is Coming", written in blood on the victim's window, is a dark, foreboding clue... |
Clare Miller | ||
| Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story | Elaine Gunn | ||
| 2000 | The Right Temptation The Right Temptation The Right Temptation is a 2000 Thriller film directed by Lyndon Chubbuck. It stars Kiefer Sutherland, Dana Delany and Rebecca De Mornay.- Plot :... |
Anthea Farrow-Smith | |
| Dinner With Friends Dinner with Friends Dinner with Friends is a 2000 play written by Donald Margulies. It premiered at the 1998 Humana Festival of New American Plays and opened Off-Broadway in New York on November 4, 1999.-Plot summary:... |
Beth | Stage; Pulitzer-prize script | |
| 2001 | Final Jeopardy Final Jeopardy (film) Final Jeopardyis an 2001 drama TV film based on a novel by Linda Fairstein and starring Dana Delany. Delany also producer. Premiered April 9, 2001 on ABC... |
Alexandra Cooper | Delany was actor, co-executive producer |
| Family Law Family Law (TV series) Family Law is a television drama starring Kathleen Quinlan as divorced lawyer Lynn Holt, who attempted to start her own law firm after her lawyer husband took all their old clients... |
Mary Sullivan | Episode "Safe At Home" | |
| Pasadena Pasadena (TV series) Pasadena is an American primetime soap opera originally broadcast in the U.S. from September to November 2001 on Fox.-Summary:The series starred Alison Lohman as Lily McAllister, an initially naïve young woman who witnesses a stranger's suicide and begins to investigate the secrets being hidden by... |
Catherine McAllister | 13 episodes (2001–2002) | |
| 2002 | Conviction Conviction In law, a conviction is the verdict that results when a court of law finds a defendant guilty of a crime.The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal . In Scotland and in the Netherlands, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", which counts as an acquittal... |
Martha | |
| Mother Ghost | Karen Bennett | ||
| Superman: Shadow of Apokolips Superman: Shadow of Apokolips Superman: Shadow of Apokolips is a video game that was released in 2002 by Atari for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube consoles. It was developed by Infogrames and published by Atari in conjunction with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Comics... |
Lois Lane | (voice) | |
| Presidio Med Presidio Med Presidio Med is an American Television series which aired 2002–2003, centering around a San Francisco hospital. It was created by John Wells and Lydia Woodward, who also created ER.-Series premise:... |
Dr. Rae Brennan | 13 episodes | |
| 2003 | Intimate Portrait Intimate Portrait (TV series) Intimate Portrait is a biographical television series on the Lifetime Television cable network focusing on different celebrities, which includes interviews with each subject.... : Dana Delany |
Herself | |
| Justice League Justice League (TV series) Justice League is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 2001 to 2004 on Cartoon Network. The show was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It is based on the Justice League of America and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics... |
Lois Lane | (voice) (10 episodes 2003–2005) | |
| Spin Spin (2004 film) Spin is a 2003 American drama-genre film starring Ryan Merriman, Stanley Tucci, Dana Delany, Paula Garcés and Rubén Blades. It was released at the Cannes Film Market 17 May 2004 and was limited released in the United States 15 October 2004... |
Margaret Swift-Bejarano | ||
| A Time to Remember A Time to Remember (film) A Time to Remember is a 2003 American drama film starring Doris Roberts and Dana Delany.-Plot:Maggie Calhoun was diagnosed - Alzheimer's disease. Two daughters, Maggie - Britt and Valetta - are quite different... |
Britt Calhoun | aka "Turning Homeward" | |
| Much Ado About Nothing Much Ado About Nothing Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero.... |
Beatrice | Stage, San Diego | |
| 2004 | Baby for Sale Baby for Sale Baby for Sale is a 2004 television film that premiered on the Lifetime Network on 12 July 2004. It stars Dana Delany and was directed by Peter Svatek... |
Nathalie Johnson | |
| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced... |
Carolyn Spencer | "Obscene", episode 603 | |
| Justice League Unlimited Justice League Unlimited Justice League Unlimited is an American animated television series that was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on Cartoon Network. Featuring a wide array of superheroes from the DC Comics universe, and specifically based on the Justice League superhero team, it is a direct sequel to the... |
Loana | (voice) "For the Man who has Everything" | |
| Boston Legal Boston Legal Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC... |
Samantha Fleming | 1 episode | |
| 2005 | Related | Francesca Sorelli | Season 1, episodes 7,18 |
| Getting to Know You | Marla | ||
| Kojak Kojak (2005 TV series) Kojak is an American television series starring Ving Rhames, airing on the USA Network cable channel, and on ITV4 in the United Kingdom. It was a reimagined version of the 1973-1978 series starring Telly Savalas.... |
Kate McNeil | ||
| 2006 | Battlestar Galactica Sacrifice (Battlestar Galactica) "Sacrifice" is the sixteenth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on February 10, 2006.... |
Sesha Abinell | |
| Superman: Brainiac Attacks Superman: Brainiac Attacks Superman: Brainiac Attacks is a 2006 direct-to-video animated film with production designs based on Superman: The Animated Series from Warner Bros. Animation, released on June 20, 2006. It also aired on Toon Disney on June 16, 2008, being the first Superman film to air on Toon Disney. The film... |
Lois Lane | Voice | |
| The Woman with the Hungry Eyes | Theda Bara Theda Bara Theda Bara , born Theodosia Burr Goodman, was an American silent film actress – one of the most popular of her era, and one of cinema's earliest sex symbols. Her femme fatale roles earned her the nickname "The Vamp" . The term "vamp" soon became a popular slang term for a sexually predatory woman... |
Voice | |
| Kidnapped Kidnapped (2006 TV series) Kidnapped is an American television drama series from Sony Pictures Television which aired on NBC from September 20, 2006, to August 11, 2007... |
Ellie Cain | 13 episodes (2006–2007) | |
| The L Word The L Word The L Word is an American co-production television drama series originally shown on Showtime portraying the lives of a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their friends, family and lovers in the trendy Greater Los Angeles, California city of West Hollywood... |
Senator Barbara Grisham | ||
| Vietnam Nurses with Dana Delany | Host | Documentary | |
| 2007 | Drunkboat Drunkboat Drunkboat is a 2010 American drama-genre film starring John Malkovich, Dana Delany and John Goodman.-Cast:* Dana Delany - Eileen* John Malkovich - Mort* John Goodman - Mr. Fletcher* Jacob Zachar - Abe... |
Eileen | |
| The Batman The Batman (TV series) The Batman is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation based on the DC Comics superhero Batman. It ran from 2004 to 2008, on the Saturday morning television block Kids' WB... |
Lois Lane Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 .... |
Voice (2 episodes) | |
| Life on the Refrigerator Door | Narrator | Audio book by Alice Kuipers | |
| 2007–2010 | Desperate Housewives Desperate Housewives Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W... |
Katherine Mayfair Katherine Mayfair Katherine Mayfair is a fictional character created by television producer and screenwriter Marc Cherry for the ABC television series Desperate Housewives... |
Series regular (3 seasons; 64 episodes) |
| 2008 | Route 30 Route 30 (film) Route 30 is a 2008 independent comedy film written by John Putch, and starring Dana Delany, Curtis Armstrong, David DeLuise, Christine Elise, Kevin Rahm and Robert Romanus. Route 30 was released on DVD in the U.S. on Nov... |
Amish Martha | |
| Flying Lessons | Jeanne | ||
| 2009 | Multiple Sarcasms Multiple Sarcasms Multiple Sarcasms is a 2009 American drama-genre film starring Timothy Hutton, Mira Sorvino, Stockard Channing, Dana Delany, Chris Sarandon and Mario Van Peebles... |
Annie | |
| A Beautiful Life A Beautiful Life (2008 film) -Cast:* Debi Mazar as Susan* Ling Bai as Esther* Dana Delany as Anne* Jonathan LaPaglia as Vince* Angela Sarafyan as Maggie* Gloria Alexandra as Stripper* Walter Perez as Enrico-External links:*... |
Anne | ||
| Camp Hope Camp Hope (film) Camp Hope is a 2010 American thriller film about events in a New Jersey Christian community and starring Will Denton, Dana Delany, Andrew McCarthy, Bruce Davison and Jesse Eisenberg. The film is also known as Camp Hell... |
Patricia | ||
| PoliWood PoliWood PoliWood is a 2009 documentary directed by Barry Levinson and produced by Tim Daly, Robin Bronk and Robert E. Baruc.-Synposis:The Democratic and Republican National Conventions held in 2008 during the USA Presidential Elections are examined from an in-depth look... |
Herself | Documentary | |
| Annul Victory | Herself | Documentary | |
| 2010 | Castle Castle (TV series) Castle is an American comedy-drama television series, which premiered on ABC on March 9, 2009. The series is produced by Beacon Pictures and ABC Studios. On January 10, 2011, Castle was renewed for a fourth season... |
Agent Jordan Shaw | 2 episodes; season 2, episodes 17–18 |
| Batman: The Brave and the Bold Batman: The Brave and the Bold Batman: The Brave and the Bold is an American animated television series based in part on the DC Comics series The Brave and the Bold which features two or more super heroes coming together to solve a crime or foil a super villain... |
Vilsi Vaylar | voice | |
| Firebreather Firebreather (film) Firebreather is a 2010 CGI animated made-for-TV film, based on the Image Comics comic book series of the same name, which premiered on November 24, 2010 on Cartoon Network... |
Margaret | voice | |
| 2011-present | Body of Proof Body of Proof Body of Proof is an American medical drama television series created by Chris Murphey and produced by ABC Studios. Starring Dana Delany as medical examiner Dr. Megan Hunt, the series premiered on March 29, 2011 on ABC.... |
Dr. Megan Hunt Megan Hunt Dr. Megan Hunt is a fictional character created by television producer Christopher Murphey for the ABC television series Body of Proof. The character is played by Dana Delany.- Overview :... |
Series regular |
| 2011 | Television Academy Honors | Host | |
| 2012 | Freelancers Freelancers (film) Freelancers is an upcoming crime-drama film directed by Jessy Terrero, and stars Robert DeNiro, 50 Cent, Dana Delany and Forest Whitaker. Filming will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana.-Plot:... |
Filming |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Result | Award | Category | Film or series |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Won | Emmy | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | China Beach China Beach China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans... |
| 1990 | Nominated | Emmy | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | China Beach China Beach China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans... |
| 1991 | Nominated | Emmy | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | China Beach China Beach China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans... |
| 1992 | Won | Emmy | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | China Beach China Beach China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans... |
| 2001 | Nominated | Emmy | Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series | Family Law Family Law (TV series) Family Law is a television drama starring Kathleen Quinlan as divorced lawyer Lynn Holt, who attempted to start her own law firm after her lawyer husband took all their old clients... |
| 1990 | Nominated | Golden Globe | Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-series drama | China Beach China Beach China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans... |
| 1991 | Nominated | Golden Globe | Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-series drama | China Beach China Beach China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans... |
| 1989 | Won | Q Viewers For Quality Television Viewers for Quality Television was an American nonprofit organization founded in 1984 to advocate network television series that members of the organization voted to be of the "highest quality." The group's goal was to rescue "...critically acclaimed programs from cancellation despite their... |
Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series | China Beach China Beach China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans... |
| 1990 | Won | Q Viewers For Quality Television Viewers for Quality Television was an American nonprofit organization founded in 1984 to advocate network television series that members of the organization voted to be of the "highest quality." The group's goal was to rescue "...critically acclaimed programs from cancellation despite their... |
Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series | China Beach China Beach China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans... |
| 1991 | Won | Q Viewers For Quality Television Viewers for Quality Television was an American nonprofit organization founded in 1984 to advocate network television series that members of the organization voted to be of the "highest quality." The group's goal was to rescue "...critically acclaimed programs from cancellation despite their... |
Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series | China Beach China Beach China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans... |
| 2009 | Won | Prism | Best Performance in a Comedy Series | Desperate Housewives Desperate Housewives Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W... |
| 2008 | Nominated | Screen Actors Guild Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide... |
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Desperate Housewives Desperate Housewives Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W... |
| 2009 | Nominated | Screen Actors Guild Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide... |
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Desperate Housewives Desperate Housewives Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W... |
| 1998 | Won | Lone Star Film & Television | Best TV Actress | True Women True Women True Women is a 1993 novel by Janice Woods Windle. The book was adapted into a 1997 CBS miniseries starring Dana Delany, Annabeth Gish, Angelina Jolie, Julie Carmen, Tina Majorino and Rachael Leigh Cook.-Plot summary:... |
| 2007 | Nominated | TV Land Award | Lady you love to watch fight for her life in a movie of the week | Movie of the week |
General source for awards:
Additional sources—Family Law: Prism: Screen Actors Guild: Lone Star Film & Television: TV Land: