Susan Misner

Susan Misner is an American actress and dancer born on February 8, 1971, in Paterson, New Jersey. She grew up in the Pompton Plains section of Pequannock Township, New Jersey, and attended Pequannock Township High School. During her school years she participated in a semi-professional dance troupe, and she later enrolled in acting classes, having read that Bob Fosse believed that being an actor would make a dancer better by providing a means to tell stories.

Misner launched her professional career on Broadway as a dancer, appearing in four musicals between 1992 and 1997. Her Broadway run began with Guys and Dolls, which ran from 1992 to 1995, and also included Dream, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, in which she played the role of Geminae from 1996 to 1998. While still active on Broadway, she made her film debut in the direct-to-video Cyber Vengeance in 1995, followed by an appearance as one of the dancers in Woody Allen's musical Everyone Says I Love You in 1996.

Misner shifted her focus to acting in 1999, taking on the role of Grace Davidson on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live for a nine-month run that concluded on November 17, 1999. In 2002, she appeared in the film Chicago as Liz, performing in the "Cell Block Tango" number. That same year she began accumulating an extensive list of television guest appearances, including episodes of three series in the Law & Order franchise: Law & Order: Criminal Intent in 2001 and 2005, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2002, and Law & Order in 2006. She also appeared in both CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2002 and CSI: Miami in 2004, and in two episodes of Without a Trace during the 2004–2005 television season.

Among her recurring television roles, Misner played Theresa on Rescue Me from 2006 to 2007 and portrayed Gretchen Martin in the 2007 miniseries The Bronx Is Burning. She appeared in a four-episode arc as Alison Humphrey on Gossip Girl and in a four-episode arc as Sergeant Burnett on New Amsterdam in 2008. In the first season of Person of Interest in 2011, she appeared in five episodes in brief flashbacks as Jessica, the ex-girlfriend of Jim Caviezel's lead character.

Beginning in 2013, Misner took on the role of Sandra Beeman in the drama series The Americans, serving as a main cast member for two seasons and in a recurring capacity for two additional seasons. She subsequently played the main character Dr. Nora White in Shut Eye and held recurring roles in two seasons of Billions, in 2016 and 2018. She appeared in season two of Jack Ryan in 2019 and joined the cast of FBI: Most Wanted for its sixth season in 2024–25.

Misner returned to the stage in 2014 as co-creator, choreographer, and performer in the play The Shape She Makes, which was staged at the Oberon in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1999, she has been in a relationship with playwright and director Jonathan Bernstein.