Dana Ivey

Dana Ivey
Born	Dana Robins Ivey August 12, 1941 (1941-08-12) (age 70) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1962–present

Dana Robins Ivey (born August 12, 1941) is an American character actress, who has performed on Broadway and other stage roles, in film and on television.

Early life and family

Ivey was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Her mother, Mary Nell Ivey Santacroce (née McKoin), was a teacher, speech therapist, and actress who appeared in productions of Driving Miss Daisy and taught at Georgia State University. Her father, Hugh Daugherty Ivey, was a physicist and professor who taught at Georgia Tech and later worked at the Atomic Energy Commission.^[1] Her parents later divorced. She has a younger brother, John, and a half-brother, Eric Santacroce, from her mother's re-marriage to Dante Santacroce.^[2]

She received her undergraduate degree at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and earned a Fulbright grant to study drama at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.^[3] She received an Honorary Doctorate (Humane Letters) from Rollins College in February 2008.^[4]

Career

Stage

Ivey appeared in numerous American and Canadian stage productions before making New York City her home in the late 1970s. She made her Broadway debut playing two small roles in a 1981 production of Macbeth; the following year she was cast in a major supporting role in a revival of Noel Coward's Present Laughter, for which she received the Clarence Derwent Award as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play. She was nominated for two Tony Awards in the same season (1984) - as Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George and Best Featured Actress in a Play for a revival of Heartbreak House - a feat repeated by only three other actresses, Amanda Plummer, Jan Maxwell and Kate Burton.^[5]

Ivey's performances in Quartermaine's Terms and Driving Miss Daisy (creating the title role)^[6] earned her Obie Awards,^[7] as did that in Mrs. Warren's Profession (2005).^[8]

Ivey performed in the New York premiere of The Savannah Disputation by Evan Smith at Playwrights Horizons. The comedy co-starred Marylouise Burke, Reed Birney, and Kellie Overbey. The production ran from February 6, 2009 through March 15, 2009.^[9][10]

In July 2010 she appeared as Winnie in Happy Days by Samuel Beckett at the Westport Playhouse.^[11] She appears as "Miss Prism" in the Roundabout Theatre Company Broadway production of The Importance of Being Earnest in 2011.^[12]

Film

Ivey's first major screen appearance was in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Alice Walker's The Color Purple in 1985. Among her other film credits are Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Sabrina, Postcards from the Edge, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, The Addams Family, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde, The Adventures of Huck Finn, Rush Hour 3, The Importance of Being Earnest, and as Sandra Bullock's character's mother, Mrs. Kelson, in Two Weeks Notice.

Television

In 1978, Ivey made her television debut in the daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow. Her television credits include a starring role in the sitcom Easy Street oppostite Loni Anderson and guest appearances on Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order, Frasier, Oz, The Practice, Sex and the City, Ugly Betty, Boardwalk Empire and Monk (episode "Mr. Monk and the Other Detective").

Broadway credits

• Butley (2006)
• The Rivals (2005)
• Henry IV (2003)
• A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (2003)
• Major Barbara (2001)
• Waiting in the Wings (1999/2000)
• The Last Night of Ballyhoo (1997)
• Pack of Lies (1985)
• Sunday in the Park With George (1984)

Theatre awards and nominations

• 2008 American Theatre Hall of Fame
• 2007 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (Butley, nominee)
• 2005 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (The Rivals, nominee)
• 1997 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (The Last Night of Ballyhoo, nominee)
• 1997 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (The Last Night of Ballyhoo and Sex and Longing, winner)
• 1987 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play (Driving Miss Daisy, nominee)
• 1984 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Sunday in the Park with George, nominee)
• 1984 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (Heartbreak House, nominee)
• 1983 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (Quartermaine's Terms, nominee)
• 1983 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (Present Laughter, nominee)

References

1. ^ "Dana Ivey Biography". Filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/20/Dana-Ivey.html. Retrieved 2008-12-05. 
2. ^ "Dana Ivey Biography". Yahoo! Movies. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800019556/bio. Retrieved 2008-12-05. 
3. ^ "phimuaglaia article, Winter/Spring 2008
4. ^ Orlando Sentinel article, February 15, 2008
5. ^ "Twice Blessed" tonyawards.com, accessed April 17, 2011
6. ^ Gussow, Mel, "The Stage: Driving Miss Daisy", The New York Times, April 16, 1987. Retrieved 2011-02-15.
7. ^ Dana Ivey, official website. Retrieved 2011-02-15.
8. ^ Staff."Winners of 51st Annual Village Voice Obie Awards Named" broadway.com, May 16, 2006
9. ^ Current Season at Playwrights Horizon
10. ^ Isherwood, Charles, "Dodging Hellfire, Armed With Quips and the Obliging Father Murphy", The New York Times, March 4, 2009. Retrieved 2011-02-15
11. ^ Hetrick, Adam."Dana Ivey and Jack Wetherall Face 'Happy Days' at Westport Playhouse, Beginning July 6" playbill.com, July 6, 2010
12. ^ Isherwood, Charles."A Stylish Monster Conquers at a Glance" The New York Times, January 13, 2011

External links

• Dana Ivey at the Internet Broadway Database
• Dana Ivey at the Internet Movie Database
• Dana Ivey at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Playwrights Horizons
• http://www.danaivey.com

Persondata
Name	Ivey, Dana
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 14, 1941
Place of birth	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Date of death
Place of death