Johanna Day

Johanna Day is an American actress born in 1964 in Winchester, Virginia, who grew up in Rappahannock County, Virginia. The daughter of Eileen Mitchell Day of Sperryville and Walter Day of Flint Hill, she is the ninth of their children. Day trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, graduating in 1984.

Day's Broadway career spans more than two decades, from 2000 to 2022, and includes productions such as Proof, August: Osage County, Sweat, You Can't Take It With You, The Nap, and How I Learned to Drive. Her performance as Claire in David Auburn's Proof at the Walter Kerr Theatre in 2000 earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play. She returned to Broadway as Barbara Fordham in the 2007 production of August: Osage County at the Imperial Theatre. Her role in the 2016 production of Lynn Nottage's Sweat brought her a second Tony nomination, this time for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play. In 2022, she appeared on Broadway in Des Moines, Denis Johnson's play set entirely in a kitchen, in which she played the role of Marta.

Beyond Broadway, Day has accumulated a substantial body of off-Broadway and regional theater work. Her off-Broadway credits include the 1997 production of Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive at the Century Center for the Performing Arts, Edward Albee's Peter and Jerry at Second Stage Theatre in 2007, and Will Eno's Middletown at the Vineyard Theatre in 2010. In 2014, she won an Obie Award for her performance in Appropriate at the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre. Her regional work includes the 2006 Arena Stage production of N. Richard Nash's The Rainmaker, for which she received the Helen Hayes Award for Leading Actress in a Resident Play. She also appeared in the world premiere of Will Eno's The Realistic Joneses at the Yale Repertory Theatre on April 20, 2012, alongside Tracy Letts and Parker Posey, and co-starred in the world premiere of Carly Mensch's Oblivion at the Westport Country Playhouse in August 2013.

Day's accolades include the Helen Hayes Award, the Obie Award, two Tony Award nominations, and additional nominations for the Drama Desk Award, the Drama League Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, and two Lucille Lortel Awards. Her 2008 Drama Desk nomination recognized her portrayal of Ann in Peter and Jerry at Second Stage Theatre. On television, Day has appeared in guest roles across numerous dramas, including The Americans, Madam Secretary, Elementary, Masters of Sex, Fringe, Judging Amy, and multiple entries in the Law & Order franchise. She is also known for her recurring role as Marilyn Stafford on the daytime drama All My Children.