Donna Lynne Champlin

Donna Lynne Champlin is an American actress, singer, and dancer born on January 21, 1971, in Rochester, New York, to a mother who worked as a technical writer and a father who worked as a scientist. During her childhood, she trained extensively in voice, piano, flute, dance, and theatre, competing in national and international competitions. She went on to earn a BFA in musical theatre from Carnegie Mellon University in 1993, and in 1992 she studied Shakespeare and Chekhov as an Advanced Acting Scholar at the University of Oxford. That same year she received the Princess Grace Foundation Award in Theatre. While still completing her undergraduate studies, she performed the role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz with Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera.

Champlin made her Broadway debut in James Joyce's The Dead, beginning a Broadway career that spanned from 2000 to 2008. Her subsequent Broadway credits include By Jeeves, Hollywood Arms, Sweeney Todd, and Billy Elliot: The Musical. Off-Broadway, she appeared in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, a production for which she received the 2007 Obie Award. Additional stage credits include No, No Nanette, Very Good Eddie, First Lady Suite, Harold and Maude, My Life with Albertine, Bloomer Girl, Jolson, and Very Warm for May. She also performed alongside Len Cariou in the inaugural Simply Sondheim concert, held to celebrate the opening of the Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts.

Among her many distinctions, Champlin holds the title of National Tap Dance Champion four consecutive times. Her awards include the 2013 Drama Desk Award and the 2019 Gracie Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has received grants from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the Anna Sosenko Trust, the Princess Grace Foundation, and the Charlie Willard Memorial Grant.

From 2015 to 2019, Champlin starred as Paula Proctor in the CW comedy-drama series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, a role for which she became widely recognized. Her additional television credits include Law & Order, The Good Wife, The Good Fight, The Good Doctor, the 2000 and 2006 Annual Tony Awards broadcasts, The View, Live with Regis and Kelly, and the Showtime series The First Lady, in which she appeared in 2022. She also played Hortense in Another Period and Barb in the Netflix film Feel the Beat. Her film work includes The Dark Half.

Beyond performing, Champlin released a solo album titled Old Friends and presents a one-woman show called Finishing the Hat. She has taught acting at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Hartford, and New York University. Champlin married actor Andrew Arrow in 2010, and the couple have one child. They reside in New York City.