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Joanna Gleason

A wonderfully familiar face to movie audiences and TV viewers, and a hero to lovers of Broadway, Joanna Gleason was born in Toronto, Canada in 1950. Her father was TV game show host Monty Hall, and as Gleason's family relocated to New York and then to Los Angeles, Gleason had ample opportunity to become inspired by the entertainment industry. She graduated from Occidental College and began auditioning for roles on both the stage and screen, eventually landing her debut Broadway role in the play "I Love My Wife" in 1977. After a monumental 14 month run with the production, Gleason moved to the screen, co-starring on the sitcom "Hello, Larry" (NBC, 1979-1980). After returning to Broadway for "Joe Egg" in 1985 and appearing in the Woody Allen film "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986), Gleason landed one of her most famous and celebrated roles, playing the baker's wife in the original Broadway cast of Steven Sondheim's acclaimed musical "Into the Woods." She would return to the screen for a period following the show's hugely successful run, co-starring on "Love & War" (CBS, 1992-95) and in the film "Boogie Nights" (1997), in addition to guest starring on shows like "The West Wing" (NBC, 1999-2006) and "Friends" (NBC, 1994-2004). When Gleason returned to the stage, it was to tremendous acclaim, starring in back-to-back Broadway and off-Broadway productions of "The Normal Heart," "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," and "Sons of the Prophet" from 2004 to 2008. After mounting a well received autobiographical cabaret act at 54 Below in 2013, Gleason joined the cast of the Canadian-made HBO series "Sensitive Skin" (HBO, 2014-), alongside Kim Cattrall.