Dana Delany

An Emmy Award-winning actress, Dana Delany first made her mark on primetime audiences during the 1980s as the star of the Vietnam War-set medical drama "China Beach" (ABC, 1988-1991). After her role as a mild-mannered Midwestern nurse with the highly desirable hairstyle, Delany became a frequent star in made-for-TV-movies like "Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story" (1995) and "True Women" (CBS, 1997), where she embodied "every day" women who found great courage in the face of adversity. Feature films rarely offered as many challenging portraits of heroic women, and while Delany did make supporting film appearances, she spent the majority of her career as a mainstay on hour-long medical, family, and legal dramas, earning considerable attention for her run on the dramedy "Desperate Housewives" (ABC, 2004-2012). Meanwhile, Delany held down a lucrative side career as an animation voiceover artist, primarily playing Lois Lane in the DC animated universe as well as on "The Batman" (The WB/The CW, 2004-08). But it was live action where Delany truly thrived and after her run on "Desperate Housewives" ended, she moved on to another hit show, "Body of Proof" (ABC, 2011-13), where she played a former neurosurgeon turned medical examiner. Delany's performance confirmed that she was an actress of considerable range able to tackle a wide array of complicated roles.