Dana Ivey

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; Mary Nell was considered by John Huston to be "one of the three or four greatest actresses in the world."NYT April 21, 1999 {{full citation needed|date=January 2017}} Her father, Hugh Daugherty Ivey, was a physicist and professor who taught at Georgia Tech and later worked at the Atomic Energy Commission.{{Citation needed |date=March 2023}} Her parents later divorced. She has a younger brother, John, and a half-brother, Eric Santacroce, and one nephew, Evan Santacroce from her mother's remarriage to Dante Santacroce.{{cite web |url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800019556/bio |title=Dana Ivey Biography |publisher=Yahoo! Movies |access-date=2008-12-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080410023057/http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800019556/bio |archive-date=2008-04-10 }}

Dana Ivey received her undergraduate degree at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. She was a member of Phi Mu women's fraternity and earned a Fulbright grant to study drama at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.{{Cite web |url=http://www.phimuaglaia.com/secondary.aspx?item=Fall%202007%2FFeatures%2FSuccessful%20Sisters.xml&secondary=Fall%202007%2FFeatures%2FSuccessful%20Sisters%2FDana%20Ivey.xml&page=2 |title="phimuaglaia article, Winter/Spring 2008 |access-date=2019-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229062505/http://www.phimuaglaia.com/secondary.aspx?item=Fall%202007%2FFeatures%2FSuccessful%20Sisters.xml&secondary=Fall%202007%2FFeatures%2FSuccessful%20Sisters%2FDana%20Ivey.xml&page=2 |archive-date=2012-02-29 |url-status=dead }} She received an honorary doctorate (humane letters) from Rollins College in February 2008.[http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/stage/theater/orl-ivey1508feb15,0,3191998.story Orlando Sentinel article, February 15, 2008]{{Dead link|date=November 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Before making New York City her home in the late 1970s, Ivey appeared in numerous American and Canadian stage productions and served as director of DramaTech in Atlanta from 1974 to 1977, as had her mother before her from 1949 to 1966. In 1981, Ivey made her Broadway debut playing two small roles in a production of Macbeth; the following year, she was cast in a major supporting role in a revival of Noël 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.[http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/archive/dyk/index.html "Twice Blessed"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030609195106/http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/archive/dyk/index.html |date=June 9, 2003 }} tonyawards.com, accessed April 17, 2011

Ivey's performances in Quartermaine's Terms and Driving Miss Daisy (creating the title role)Gussow, Mel, [http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?html_title=&tols_title=DRIVING%20MISS%20DAISY%20%28PLAY%29&pdate=19870416&byline=By%20MEL%20GUSSOW&id=1077011429822&scp=3&sq=%22driving%20miss%20daisy%22&st=cse "The Stage: Driving Miss Daisy"], The New York Times, April 16, 1987. Retrieved 2011-02-15. earned her Obie Awards,[http://www.danaivey.com/ Dana Ivey], official website. Retrieved 2011-02-15. as did that in Mrs. Warren's Profession (2005).Staff.[http://www.broadway.com/buzz/95591/winners-of-51st-annual-village-voice-obie-awards-named/ "Winners of 51st Annual Village Voice Obie Awards Named"], broadway.com, May 16, 2006

Ivey performed in the New York premiere in 2009 of The Savannah Disputation by Evan Smith at Playwrights Horizons. The comedy co-starred Marylouise Burke, Reed Birney, and Kellie Overbey.{{Cite web |url=http://www.playwrightshorizons.org/current_season.asp |title=Current Season at Playwrights Horizon |access-date=November 18, 2008 |archive-date=December 16, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216144609/http://www.playwrightshorizons.org/current_season.asp |url-status=dead }}Isherwood, Charles, [http://theater.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/theater/reviews/04sava.html "Dodging Hellfire, Armed With Quips and the Obliging Father Murphy"], The New York Times, March 4, 2009. Retrieved 2011-02-15

In July 2010, she appeared as Winnie in Happy Days by Samuel Beckett at the Westport Playhouse.Hetrick, Adam.[http://www.playbill.com/news/article/140826-Dana-Ivey-and-Jack-Wetherall-Face-Happy-Days-at-Westport-Playhouse-Beginning-July-6 "Dana Ivey and Jack Wetherall Face Happy Days at Westport Playhouse, Beginning July 6"], Playbill, July 6, 2010 She appeared as Miss Prism in the Roundabout Theatre Company Broadway production of The Importance of Being Earnest in 2011.Isherwood, Charles.[http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/theater/reviews/14importance.html "A Stylish Monster Conquers at a Glance"] The New York Times, January 13, 2011 Ivey played Mrs Candour in the 2016 production of The School for Scandal at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.[http://www.theatermania.com/off-broadway/news/interview-dana-ivey-the-school-for-scandal_76849.html "Dana Ivey on Loving Language, Social Media, and The School for Scandal"] by David Gordon, TheaterMania.com, April 26, 2016

In December 2016, Ivey was invited by the Noël Coward Society to lay flowers on the statue of Sir Noël Coward at the Gershwin Theatre in Manhattan to celebrate the 117th birthday of "The Master".

Ivey's first film appearance was in Joe Dante's 1985 science-fiction fantasy film Explorers with Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix.{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/08/dana-ivey-the-big-c-maggie-smith_n_3148131.html|title=Dana Ivey on "the Big C"|last=Harnick|first=Chris|date=May 8, 2013|work=The Huffington Post|access-date=January 2, 2017}} Her first major screen appearance was in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Alice Walker's The Color Purple later that same year. Among her other film credits are Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the 1995 remake of Sabrina, Simon Birch, Postcards from the Edge, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, The Addams Family,Sleepless in Seattle, Addams Family Values, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde, The Adventures of Huck Finn, Orange County, Rush Hour 3, The Leisure Seeker, The Importance of Being Earnest, and as Sandra Bullock's character's mother, Mrs. Kelson, in Two Weeks Notice. In 2011, she played the role of Grace Higginbotham in the critically acclaimed film, The Help, and starred in Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight.

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 opposite 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").

• Macbeth (1981){{Cite web |title=Macbeth – Broadway Play – 1981 Revival {{!}} IBDB |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/macbeth-4092 |access-date=2022-06-13 |website=www.ibdb.com}}
• Present Laughter (1983)
• Heartbreak House (1984)
• Sunday in the Park with George (1984)
• Pack of Lies (1985)
• The Marriage of Figaro (1985)
• Indiscretions (1995){{Cite web |title=Indiscretions – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/indiscretions-4296#Replacements |access-date=2022-06-13 |website=www.ibdb.com}}
• Sex and Longing (1996){{Cite web |title=Sex and Longing – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/sex-and-longing-4799 |access-date=2022-06-13 |website=www.ibdb.com}}
• The Last Night of Ballyhoo (1997)
• Waiting in the Wings (1999/2000)
• Major Barbara (2001)
• Henry IV (2003)
• A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (2003)
• The Rivals (2005)
• Butley (2006)
• The Importance of Being Earnest (2011)

• 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)
• 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)
• 1987 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play (Driving Miss Daisy, 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)
• 2005 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (The Rivals, nominee)
• 2007 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (Butley, nominee)
• 2008 Induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame{{cite web|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/2008/01/30/Hall-of-Fame-theater-veterans-get-a-night-in-limelight/stories/200801300249|title=Hall of Fame: theater veterans get a night in limelight|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{IBDB name}}
• {{iobdb name |2545}}
• {{IMDb name|412374}}
• [http://playwrightshorizons.org Playwrights Horizons]
• {{official|http://www.danaivey.com}}

{{DramaDesk PlayFeaturedActress}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivey, Dana}}

Category:Living people

Category:1941 births

Category:Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art

Category:American film actresses

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:Drama Desk Award winners

Category:Obie Award recipients

Category:Actresses from Atlanta

Category:Rollins College alumni

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:21st-century American actresses