Donna Murphy is an American actress and singer, known for her work in musical
theater. A five-time Tony Award nominee, she has twice won the Tony for Best
Actress in a Musical; for her role as Fosca in Passion and as Anna Leonowens
in The King and I. She was also nominated for her roles as Ruth Sherwood
in Wonderful Town, Lotte Lenya in LoveMusik and Bubble/Raisel in The
People in the Picture. Murphy made her Broadway debut as a
replacement in the 1979 musical They're Playing Our Song. Her other stage
credits include the original Off-Broadway productions of Song of
Singapore and Hello Again. In 1997, she won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding
Performer in a Children's Special for her role in Someone Had to be Benny, an
episode of the HBO series Lifestories: Families in Crisis. Her film roles
include Anij in Star Trek: Insurrection; Rosalie Octavius in Spider-Man 2; Mother
Gothel in the animated film Tangled, and as one of the government secretaries in
The Bourne Legacy. Personal life
Murphy, the eldest of seven children, was born in Corona, Queens, New York,
the daughter of Jeanne and Robert Murphy, an aerospace engineer. Murphy is
of Irish, French, German, and Czech ancestry. Her family moved to Hauppauge,
Long Island, New York. At age three, she asked for voice lessons, and she put on
shows as a child in Hauppauge. She later moved to Topsfield, Massachusetts and
graduated from Masconomet Regional High School in 1977.
Murphy has been married to actor and singer Shawn Elliott since 1990. She is
the stepmother of Elliott's two daughters. In 2005, they adopted a
daughter from Guatemala, Darmia Hope. Career
Murphy dropped out of the New York University drama program in her
sophomore year when she was cast to understudy the three backup singers in
the 1979 Broadway musical They're Playing Our Song. In a 2007 interview,
Murphy explained, "At the end of my sophomore year, I took a leave of
absence. I needed to audition without cutting classes." She also studied at
the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She has appeared in many Off-Broadway
productions, including the musical Francis in 1981 at the York Theatre at
St. Peter's, The Mystery of Edwin Drood in 1985 at the Public Theater's
Delacorte Theatre, Birds of Paradise in 1987, Privates on Parade in 1989, the
musical Song of Singapore in 1991, the Michael John LaChiusa musical Hello
Again at the Lincoln Center Mitzi Newhouse Theater in 1993, Twelve Dreams
at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater in 1995, and Helen at the Public Theater/New York
Shakespeare Festival in 2002. In 2012, she appeared in Stephen Sondheim's Into
the Woods at The Public Theater's Delacorte Theatre as the Witch.
On Broadway, after They're Playing Our Song, she was an understudy in the
musical/opera The Human Comedy in April 1984 and played various roles in The
Mystery of Edwin Drood from 1985 to 1987. She also played Audrey in Howard
Ashman and Alan Menken's Little Shop of Horrors. In 1994, she played the role of
Fosca in Stephen Sondheim's and James Lapine's Passion, winning the Tony Award
for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance. A year later she appeared
in Lapine's revival, Twelve Dreams. In 1996, she played Anna Leonowens in the
revival of The King and I alongside Lou Diamond Phillips. The role earned her a
second Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She appeared as Ruth Sherwood
in a revival of Wonderful Town from 2003 to 2005, and was nominated for the Tony
Award, Best Actress in a Musical and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding
Actress in a Musical. In 2007, she appeared in LoveMusik as Lotte Lenya,
opposite Michael Cerveris as Kurt Weill, receiving nominations for Tony and Drama
Desk Awards. She appeared in the 2007 New York City Center Encores! staged
concert of Follies as Phyllis. She appeared in the Roundabout Theatre
production of a new musical, The People in the Picture, which opened on April
28, 2011 and closed on June 19, 2011. She was nominated for a 2011 Tony Award
for Leading Actress in a Musical for her role in the production.
Murphy's film roles include, Anij, Captain Jean-Luc Picard's love interest,
in Star Trek: Insurrection, in the film Center Stage, as a ballet teacher, as
Rosalie Octavius, wife of Dr. Otto Octavius, the film's villain in
Spider-Man 2, as Betty, a surgical research assistant in Darren Aronofsky's
film The Fountain, Scarlett Johansson's mother in The Nanny Diaries, Mother
Gothel in the animated musical film Tangled and sang the song "Mother Knows
Best", Kathleen, Vera Farmiga's mother in Higher Ground and Marie in Dark
Horse. In 2012, she appeared as government secretary Dita Mandy, in The
Bourne Legacy. On television, Murphy appeared in the
NBC soap opera Another World from 1989 through 1991 as District Attorney Morgan
Graves. She won an Emmy in 1997, for playing Armando Agrelo in Someone Had to
be Benny, an episode of the HBO series Lifestories: Families in Crisis. Other
television series roles include, a recurring role as Abigail Adams in
Liberty! The American Revolution, Murder One, Law & Order as Carla Tyrell in a
recurring role, Hack and Trust Me. Her voice-over work in TV commercials,
includes the Le Vian chocolate diamonds series for Jared Jewelry.
Broadway theatre Filmography
Television Awards and nominations
References External links
Official Donna Murphy Facebook Page Donna Murphy at the Internet Movie
Database Donna Murphy at the Internet Broadway
Database Donna Murphy at the Internet
Off-Broadway Database Donna Murphy at the TCM Movie Database
Donna Murphy official website The Donna Murphy Database - Unofficial
Fan Website Donna Murphy at AllMovie
2007 Interview with Donna Murphy at The Sondheim Review