Biography for
Dana Ivey More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

12 August 1941, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Birth Name

Dana Robins Ivey

Mini Biography

Dana Ivey was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She decided at age six that she wanted to act, and throughout school she pursued it. She majored in theatre at Rollins College in Florida. She received a grant to study drama in England at the London Academy of Music and Art. She has received critical acclaim on the stage, winning many honors, such as a Tony Nomination, an Outer Critics award, a Drama Desk Award. She has appeared on such television shows as "Law & Order" (1990) and "Frasier" (1993). She currently lives in New York City.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Matt Dicker

Trivia

Daughter of Hugh Ivey and Mary Nell Santacroce.

In 1984, she was nominated for two Tony Awards: as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) for George Bernard Shaw's "Heartbreak House," and as Best Actress (Featured Role - Musical) for "Sunday in the Park with George," a performance she recreated in the television version of the same title, "American Playhouse: Sunday in the Park with George (#5.19)" (1986). This made her one of only three actors (the others being Amanda Plummer and Kate Burton) to receive two Tony nominations for acting in the same year. She was also nominated in 1987 as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) for "The Last Night of Ballyhoo."

She received her fourth Tony Award Nomination (2005 Best Supporting Actress in a Play) for her role as Mrs. Malaprop in The Rivals. Unfortunately, she did not win.

Graduate of Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, USA

The original "Miss Daisy" in the first Off-Broadway production "Driving Miss Daisy," written by her personal friend and fellow Southerner Alfred Uhry. The movie role, however, went to Jessica Tandy, who, after several decades of award-winning theatre work, won her first Oscar as the matron.

In 2007, received her 5th Tony nomination for Butley (in which she co-starred with Nathan Lane who revived Alan Bates' Tony award-winning role). She did not win, but she is now among only a handful of Broadway veterans to have received 5 or more Tony award nominations for acting in both plays and musicals, among whom are Angela Lansbury, Julie Harris, and Audra McDonald.

Member of Phi Mu women's sorority (Alpha Omega chapter).

Nominated for the 2005 Tony Award (New York City) for Supporting or Features Actress in a Drama for "The Rivals".