Dana Welles Delany was born on March 13th, 1956, in New York City and grew up in Stamford, Connecticut. Her family already experienced fame of sorts, as Dana's grandfather invented the Delany flush valve, an improvement on the toilet still in use today. Dana's parents divorced when she was 16, and she moved with her father and two siblings to Virginia.
Soon bored of her surroundings, the headstrong Dana applied to Phillips Academy Andover, the prestigious Massachusetts boarding school, without her parents' knowledge. She was accepted there after writing an essay about where she saw herself in 20 years -- as an actress, not a homemaker. Next, Dana attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut as a drama major. Once her university studies were complete, Dana moved to New York City to work as an actress.
Delany landed a number of roles both on and off Broadway, and built up her resume in the late 1970s and early 1980s with appearances on soap operas such as Love of Life and As the World Turns. During her days in the Big Apple, Dana befriended such future stars as John Goodman and Bruce Willis -- all three hung out at the same bar.
In the mid-1980s, Dana made the inevitable move to Hollywood, where she had notable guest shots in such seminal '80s TV shows as Moonlighting, Magnum, P.I. and thirtysomething, as well as a number of TV movies. In 1988, she got her big break playing army nurse Colleen McMurphy on the series China Beach, also starring Marg Helgenberger. Although the Vietnam War-era drama lasted only three seasons, Dana was nominated for a Best Actress Emmy every year, and won the award twice.
The early 1990s were good to Delany. She made guest appearances on Cheers, The Larry Sanders Show, starred in the miniseries Wild Palms, and appeared in the movies Housesitter (1992), Tombstone (1993), Exit to Eden (1994), and Live Nude Girls (1995). Dana also did high-profile work in '90s cartoons: she lent her voice to Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) as Bruce Wayne's girlfriend, portrayed Lois Lane on the Superman animated series, and even had a guest shot on Duckman in 1997.
In the last few years, Dana has returned to television, starring in such short-lived series as Pasadena in 2001 and Presidio Med in 2002. She also starred in a number of made-for-TV movies, and not just as an actress -- she executive produced 2001's Final Jeopardy and was also an executive producer on 2003's Open House.
Although Dana has had several long-term relationships -- and a reportedly not so long-term one with Treat Williams -- she remains unattached. "I honestly haven't found the right guy," she explains. Dana has come to realize that her career isn't everything, since "I've reached a place with my work where I'm ready to concentrate more on life."
Still, Dana seems to be doing well enough with life: when she's not at her Los Angeles home looking out over the Pacific, she's at the spa -- if not visiting foreign countries like France, Spain and Vietnam.
