Dana Ivey

Biography

Ivey's first job was at the age of 16, in Davison's, a department store in Atlanta, GA. With the earnings, she bought a guitar and opened a bank account for her savings.[5] [edit]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 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.[6] Ivey's performances in Quartermaine's Terms and Driving Miss Daisy (creating the title role)[7] earned her Obie Awards,[8] as did that in Mrs. Warren's Profession (2005).[9] 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.[10][11] In July 2010 she appeared as Winnie in Happy Days by Samuel Beckett at the Westport Playhouse.[12] She appears as "Miss Prism" in the Roundabout Theatre Company Broadway production of The Importance of Being Earnest in 2011.[13] [edit]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, Simon Birch, 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. In 2011, she played the role of Grace Higginbotham in the critically acclaimed film, The Help. [edit]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 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").