Donna Murphy has been building a career of striking range and diversity on stage and on the large and small screen. She has been honored numerous times including two Tony Awards, Drama Desk and Drama League Awards, a Cable Ace Award and a Daytime Emmy. This summer she will also be seen in Door in the Floor starring
Jeff Bridges and
Kim Basinger. Murphy is currently starring on Broadway as Ruth Sherwood in the smash hit revival of
Wonderful Town at the Al Hirschfeld Theater, for which she has received spectacular acclaim. She won the first of her two Tony Awards for best Actress in a Musical, along with Drama Desk and Drama league Awards for her portrayal of Fosca in
Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's
Passion, which was televised to great acclaim on
American Playhouse and recently released on DVD. She was awarded her second Tony and Drama League Awards as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for her performance as Anna Leonowans in the highly praised revival of
The King and I with Lou Diamond Philips. Murphy's first television film, HBO's
Someone Had to Be Benny, for their Lifestories series, earned her a Cable ACE Award as Best Actress in a Drama Special or Series, as well as a Daytime Emmy. In addition to her role as Heather Olshansky on the CBS series
Hack, for which she was nominated for a 2002 Christian Film and Television Excellence Award as Best Actress in a Television series, her other television credits include co-starring with
Joan Cusack as Dr. Ruby Stern on ABC's
What About Joan, Showtime's political drama
The Last Debate with
James Garner, playing Mary
Todd Lincoln in
The Day Lincoln Was Shot (TNT), Stephen Bochco's
Murder One,(ABC),
Leonard Bernstein's New York and playing Abigail Adams in
Liberty! (both for PBS), the 2000 and 2002
Kennedy Center Honors (CBS), and guest appearances on
Law & Order,
The Practice, Ally McBeal,
The Education of Max Bickford,
Nothing Sacred
and AMC's Remember WENN." Her feature film work includes Juliette Simone in Center Stage, Anij in Star Trek: Insurrection opposite
Patrick Stewart, The Astronaut's Wife with
Charlize Theron and
Johnny Depp and Jade directed by
William Friedkin. In 2002, she was named by New York Magazine as one of the
Three Living Legends of the New York theater and awarded one of their prestigious New York Awards for her work in the theater, Murphy studied with the legendary Stella Adler and attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She made her professional debut in Neil Simon's Broadway hit
They're Playing Our Song, and went on to create memorable characters in comedies, dramas and musicals on and off-Broadway and in theaters across the country. A versatile singer, Murphy can be heard on a number of recordings, including Leonard Bernstein's
New York,
Hello Again,
The King and I, the Grammy Award-winning
Passion and the new cast recording of
Wonderful Town.Murphy was born in Corona, New York, and raised in Hauppauge, Long Island, and Topsfield, Massachusetts. She is married to actor
Shawn Elliott, has two beautiful stepdaughters and makes her home in New York City.
