Dana Welles Delany
,
New York City, New York, U.S.
Birthday
1956-03-13
Occupation
Actress
Spouse(s)
Years Active
1974–present
Biography
Dana Welles Delany (born March 13, 1956) 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. As of 2011 she is 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. In March 2010, Delany appeared as FBI agent Jordan Shaw in a two-part story on the TV series Castle, 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.
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