Joanna Gleason

Joanna Gleason (born Joanne Hall; June 2, 1950) is a Canadian-American actress and singer. She is a Tony Award–winning musical theatre actress and has also had a number of notable film and TV roles. She is known for originating the role of the Baker's Wife in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She is also known for her film work in Mike Nichols' Heartburn (1986), Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), and Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997). She has had television roles in shows such as ER, Friends, The West Wing, The Good Wife and The Affair.

Joanne Hall was born in Toronto, the eldest of three siblings born to television producer and game show personality Monty Hall, and his wife, Marilyn (née Plottel), both of whom died in 2017.^[1] At the time of her birth, her father was working at the Canada Wheat Board and had changed his name from Halparin to Hall. He later started his TV career and went on to fame as host of Let's Make a Deal.^[2] In May 1956, the Hall family moved to New York and, in the early 1960s, they moved to Los Angeles.

Hall graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1968.^[3] She was in the school's productions of The Music Man, The Mikado, The Grass Harp, and The Madwoman of Chaillot. In high school, Gleason received acting instruction from John Ingle, the soap opera star, who taught at BHHS from 1955 to 1985. She continued her education at UCLA,^[4] then Occidental College, from which she graduated. Gleason has been a teacher herself, holding classes and workshops all over the country.^[5]

Although Gleason started her acting career in television, she is best known for her stage and musical theatre work. She made her Broadway debut in 1977 in I Love My Wife,^[6] for which she was honored with a Theatre World Award.^[7]

Additional Broadway credits include Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, Peter Nichols' A Day in the Death of Joe Egg,^[8] Nick & Nora,^[9] Into the Woods (for which she won several awards including a Tony Award in the lead role of the Baker's Wife,^[10] which she also played in the PBS Great Performances production of the musical), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,^[11] and The Cartells.^[12]

Her film and television career began in 1977. In 1979, she was cast as a supporting character in the much-maligned two season sitcom Hello, Larry. She had film roles in Hannah and Her Sisters and Heartburn (both 1986).^[7] In the television movie Still the Beaver she played Beaver's ex-wife, Kimberly. Gleason worked again with Woody Allen in Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), this time playing the wife of Allen's character.^[13] Gleason appeared in several films in the 1990s, including F/X2,^[14] Mr. Holland's Opus, Boogie Nights, and The Boys. More recently she has appeared in The Good Wife, Blue Bloods, The Wedding Planner,^[15] and The Newsroom. On television, she played the role of Nadine Berkus on the show Love & War (1992–95), several episodes of which she also directed. She played Joan Silver on Temporarily Yours (1997).^[16]

She starred in the Lifetime series Oh Baby as Charlotte from 1998 to 2000, also directing episodes of this show. Shortly following the end of this series, she starred opposite Bette Midler on Bette as agent Connie Randolph.^[17] Her numerous guest starring TV credits include episodes of The West Wing, The Practice, King of the Hill, Friends, Password Plus, Tracey Takes On..., Murphy Brown, ER and The Outer Limits. Gleason appeared in six episodes of the Canadian black comedy series Sensitive Skin as Veronica, from 2014 to 2016.

In 2007, Gleason was honored by the New England Theatre Conference with a Special Award for Achievement in Theatre.^[18]

Gleason has been married three times. She was married to acting coach Paul G. Gleason. She kept his surname professionally, although they divorced on June 28, 1982. Later, she married Michael Bennahum.^[2] Gleason has one child, Aaron David Gleason, from her first marriage.

Gleason has been married to actor Chris Sarandon since 1994. The two met while performing in Broadway's short-lived 1991 musical Nick & Nora, returned to the stage together in Thorn and Bloom (1998),^[19] and collaborated on several films, such as Road Ends, Edie & Pen, Let the Devil Wear Black, and American Perfekt.

Gleason's siblings are television writer/director Sharon Hall Kessler and Emmy award-winning television writer/director Richard Hall.^[20]

• Joanna Gleason at the Internet Broadway Database
• Joanna Gleason at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Joanna Gleason at IMDb
• Joanna Gleason – Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org
• TonyAwards.com Interview with Joanna Gleason
• BroadwayWorld: Holtzman's 'Something You Did' Premieres Off-Bway with Gleason