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Dana Delany
Dana Delany winning the Emmy for China Beach at the 41st Emmy Awards
Born	March 13, 1956 (1956-03-13) (age 52) New York City, U.S.
Official website
Awards won Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series 1989, 1992 China Beach

Dana Welles Delany (born March 13, 1956) is an American film, stage, and television actress. Known especially for her two-time Emmy Award winning performance as Colleen McMurphy on the ABC television show China Beach (1988–91) and for her role as Katherine Mayfair on Desperate Housewives (2007-), Delany has been active in film, television, and stage since the late 1970s.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Personal and public life 3 Filmography 4 References 5 External links

Biography

Delany was born in New York City. After growing up in Stamford, Connecticut, she attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, then Wesleyan University.

She was cast as Colleen McMurphy on China Beach, airing from 1988 to 1991, which brought intense media attention to the actress. This role not only garnered two Emmy Awards, but two other Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations.

Leveraging this newfound fame, she appeared in feature films such as Light Sleeper (1992), Housesitter (1992), Tombstone (1993), and Fly Away Home (1996), plus TV movies such as Promise to Keep (1991) and Wild Palms (1993).

She took on controversial roles, such as Margaret Sanger in the TV movie Choices of the Heart (1995), Mistress Lisa in the 1994 feature film Exit to Eden (adapted from the Anne Rice book), and an Emmy-nominated role as a gun-owning mother in an episode of the TV series Family Law (1999) (which was not rerun, due to sponsorship withdrawal).

Delany provided voiceover work as Andrea Beaumont in the 1993 animated feature Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Lois Lane in the Warner Bros. animated production of Superman, starting in the mid-1990s and continuing through 2005. She was also mentioned by name in the theme song of Animaniacs, another Warner Bros. production.

During the latter part of the 1990s and early 2000s, she focused on roles in TV series, such as the short-lived Pasadena (2001) and Presidio Med (2002); TV movies like True Women (1997), Resurrection (1999), A Time to Remember (2003), and Baby for Sale (2004); and feature films by indie film producers, such as The Outfitters (1999), Mother Ghost (2002), and Spin (2003).

During this period, she found time to get back to the stage, on and off Broadway, in Translations (1995, Broadway), Dinner With Friends (2000, New York City, Los Angeles, Boston), and Much Ado About Nothing (2003, San Diego).

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. Dana also starred in the short-lived TV series Kidnapped (2006).

In 2007, Delany took parts in the films A Beautiful Life, Camp Hope, and Multiple Sarcasms. She then joined the cast of the TV series Desperate Housewives^[1] for the 2007–08 season. (Delany had previously turned down an offer to play Desperate Housewives character Bree Hodge, saying it was too similar to her role on Pasadena ^[2] ) On May 13, 2008, it was announced that Delany would reprise her role on Desperate Housewives for season five, having been promoted to the fifth lead. ^[3]

Personal and public life

Since the mid-1990s, Delany has served on the board of the Scleroderma Research Foundation, and with her friend Sharon Monsky, she helped campaign for support in finding a cure for scleroderma. Working with director Bob Saget, Dana starred in the TV movie For Hope (1996), based on Saget's sister Gay, who had died as a result of the disease.

Since the mid-1990s, she has had a notable World Wide Web 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.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role
1981	The Fan	Saleswoman
1984	Almost You	Susan McCall
1984	Threesome	Laura Shaper
1986	A Winner Never Quits	Nora
1986	Where the River Runs Black	Sister Ana
1988	Patty Hearst	Gelina
1988	Masquerade	Anne Briscoe
1988	Moon over Parador	Jenny
1990	A Promise to Keep	Jane Goodrich
1992	Light Sleeper	Marianne
1992	Housesitter	Becky Metcalf
1993	Wild Palms	Grace Wyckoff
1993	Donato and Daughter	Lieutenant Dena Donato
1993	Tombstone	Josephine Marcus
1993	Batman: Mask of the Phantasm	Andrea Beaumont
1994	The Enemy Within	Betsy Corcoran
1994	Exit to Eden	Lisa Emerson
1995	Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story	Margaret Sanger
1995	Live Nude Girls	Jill
1996	Superman: The Animated Series	Lois Lane
1996	Fly Away Home	Susan Barnes
1996	The Adventures of Mowgli	Bagheera (voice) [English version]
1996	For Hope	Hope Altman
1997	True Women	Sarah Ashby McClure
1998	Wide Awake	Mrs. Beal
1998	The Curve	Dr. Ashley
1998	Rescuers: Stories of Courage — Two Couples	Johtje Vos
1998	The Patron Saint of Liars	Rose Cleardon Abbott
1999	Outfitters	Cat Bonfaim
1999	Sirens	Sally Rawlings
2000	The Right Temptation	Anthea Farrow-Smith
2001	Final Jeopardy	Alexandra Cooper
2002	Conviction	Martha
2003	Intimate Portrait: Dana Delany	Herself
2003	Justice League: "Hereafter," Part 1	Lois Lane (voice)
2003	Justice League: "Only a Dream," Part 2	Lois Lane (voice)
2003	Justice League: "A Better World," Part 1	Lois Lane (voice)
2004	Baby for Sale	Nathalie Johnson
2004	Justice League Unlimited: "For the Man who has Everything"	Loana (voice)
2004	Spin	Margaret Swift-Bejarano
2006	Battlestar Galactica	Sesha Abinell
2006	Superman: Brainiac Attacks	Lois Lane
2006	The Woman with the Hungry Eyes	Theda Bara (voice)
2006	Kidnapped	Ellie Cain
2007	Drunkboat	Eileen
2007	The Batman	Lois Lane
2007–present	Desperate Housewives	Katherine Mayfair
2008	Multiple Sarcasms	Annie
2008	A Beautiful Life	Anne
2008	Camp Hope	Patricia
2008	Route 30	Amish Martha

References

External links

• Dana Delany at the Internet Movie Database
• Dana Delany at TV.com
• Official Dana Delany web site
• Playboy 20 Questions Interview with Dana Delany

v • d • e Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series Michael Learned (1976) · Lindsay Wagner (1977) · Sada Thompson (1978) · Mariette Hartley (1979) · Barbara Bel Geddes (1980) · Barbara Babcock (1981) · Michael Learned (1982) · Tyne Daly (1983) · Tyne Daly (1984) · Tyne Daly (1985) · Sharon Gless (1986) · Sharon Gless (1987) · Tyne Daly (1988) · Dana Delany (1989) · Patricia Wettig (1990) · Patricia Wettig (1991) · Dana Delany (1992) · Kathy Baker (1993) · Sela Ward (1994) · Kathy Baker (1995) · Kathy Baker (1996) · Gillian Anderson (1997) · Christine Lahti (1998) · Edie Falco (1999) · Sela Ward (2000) Complete list: (1952-1975) · (1976-2000) · (2001-present)