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Joanna Gleason

Full / Real Name: Joanne Hall
Born: 02 June 1950 (75 years old)
Gender: Female

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Bio

Joanna Gleason is a Canadian actress and singer best known to television viewers for her roles as Nadine Berkus in Love & War (1992-1995), as Charlotte St.John in Oh Baby (1998-2000) and as agent Connie Randolph in Bette, from 2000-2001.

Born Joanna Hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, her father was working for the Canadian Wheat Board at the time and breaking into the radio business. As such, by the time Joanna was born, her father had already changed his name to the easier, amiable-sounding Monty Hall for entertainment purposes.

The family moved to New York in May of 1956 when Joanna was five. In the early 1960s the family relocated again to Los Angeles where Monty found work hosting such game shows as Video Village and Let's Make a Deal.

Joanna sought out school productions while attending Beverly Hills High and worked with acting teacher-cum-character actor John Ingle before graduating in 1968. She attended UCLA, then Occidental College (also in Los Angeles) training in both voice and acting.

Making her stage debut on the West Coast in the musical Promises, Promises, she went on to play opposite Stacy Keach in Hamlet in Los Angeles before earning acting accolades back East.

She started off promisingly by winning a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in the musical I Love My Wife, in 1977.

After some TV, including a one-season sitcom Hello, Larry with McLean Stevenson, she regained her Broadway footing in the mid-1980s, copping a supporting Tony nomination and Clarence Derwent Award for Joe Egg (1985) and winning a Drama Desk Award for her combined work in It's Only a Play and Social Security (1985).

She then captured New York's acting triple crown (Tony, Outer Critic Circle, Drama Desk awards) for her show-stopping turn as the Baker's Wife in the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods (1987).

Her lofty stage reputation helped trigger higher-profile work on film. Gaining notice for her matter-of-fact portrayals of sly, classy ladies, she played secondary roles in Heartburn (1986) starring Meryl Streep, and in Woody Allen's more impressive outings Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989).

TV also helped to capture her sardonic spirit. Whether playing assorted manchasers or flip professionals, she always found a way to stand out in a scene with a single quip - most notably as a key ensemble member in the sitcom Love & War, which lasted three seasons.

Divorced twice (her first husband was L.A. acting coach Paul G. Gleason, with whom she had one child and kept her acting surname), Joanna has been married since 1994 to actor Chris Sarandon.

The couple met while appearing in the ill-received Broadway musical Nick and Nora in 1991, and have since continued to perform together on stage (Thorn & Bloom) and in the movies Edie & Pen (1996), American Perfekt (1997), Road Ends (1997) and Let the Devil Wear Black (1999).

Other popular films she has given a boost to have included Mr. Holland's Opus (1995), Boogie Nights (1997), as Mark Wahlberg's mother, and The Wedding Planner (2001).

Joanna's two siblings are also involved in behind-the-scenes television - writer/directors Sharon Hall and Richard Hall. Joanna's son Aaron David Gleason (Gilly Leads as he has called himself since age 19), is from Joanna's prior marriage, and has his own band, All Hours (formerly known as The Midnight Radio).

The couple also have three children from Chris' second marriage.

Joanna continues to find critical applause on the musical stage, receiving Tony, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk nominations for the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in 2005.

She has not only provided sassy support on such TV shows as Friends, The Practice and The West Wing, but has lent her voice to the popular animated sitcom King of the Hill.

A respected acting teacher, she has held classes and workshops on both the East and West coasts. In 2002 she directed her first New York play, A Letter from Ethel Kennedy.


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