Joanna Gleason

Joanna Gleason was born in Winnipeg, Canada, moving to the U.S. in 1956. She retains dual citizenship.

Her Broadway debut was in Cy Coleman's musical. "I Love My Wife", in 1977, for which she won a Theatre World Award.

She returned to Broadway and off Broadway with "Joe Egg" in 1984, for which earned a Tony nomination.

Stephen Sondheim's "Into The Woods" won her a Tony Award as Best Actress, plus Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. In 1991, she starred as Nora in "Nick and Nora", the ill-fated musical. What she won, however , was a her husband -to - be, Chris Sarandon. They have been together ever since. They have four children between them, with song-writer-producer Aaron David Gleason being Joanna's son from her first marriage.

In 2004, she starred in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" on Broadway (Tony nomination) the same year she was in "The Normal Heart" at The Public Theatre in New York City.

"Sons Of The Prophet" and "Happiness" were two other off-Broadway shows.

Film appearances include "Boogie Nights", Heartburn", The Wedding Planner" "The Skeleton Twins"

TV roles include "West Wing", "The Newsroom", "Friends", "Bette", "Love and War"

Joanna has directed off-Broadway, and for CBS Television and Lifetime. She made a deeply personal short, "Morning Into Night", which will soon be available.

"The Grotto" marks her first feature as writer/director