# Donna Murphy
**Donna Murphy** (born 1959) is an American stage and screen actress, a singer, and a two-time winner of the [Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-award-for-best-actress-in-a-musical), first as Fosca in [Stephen Sondheim](https://www.edgepedia.org/stephen-sondheim) and [James Lapine](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-lapine)'s *Passion* (1994) and then as Anna Leonowens in the 1996 revival of *The King and I*.[1](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donna-murphy-54096) On screen she is known for voicing the villainess Mother Gothel in Disney's animated film *Tangled* (2010) and, since 2022, for playing Mrs. Astor on HBO's *The Gilded Age*.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1959, Queens, New York[1](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donna-murphy-54096) |
| Tony Awards | Best Actress in a Musical, *Passion* (1994) and *The King and I* (1996); later nominations for *Wonderful Town* (2004), *LoveMusik* (2007), and *The People in the Picture* (2011)[1](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donna-murphy-54096) |
| Drama Desk Awards | Winner for *Passion* (1994), *Wonderful Town* (2004), and *LoveMusik* (2007)[1](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donna-murphy-54096) |
| Emmy | Daytime Emmy Award, Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special, 1997, for HBO's "Someone Had to be Benny"[3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/) |
| Best-known screen role | Mother Gothel in *Tangled* (2010), singing "Mother Knows Best"[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220) |
| Current television role | Mrs. Astor (Caroline Schermerhorn Astor) on HBO's *The Gilded Age*, from 2022[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220/) |
| Marriage | Wife of Shawn Elliott from 1990 until his death in 2016[1](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donna-murphy-54096) |
## Early life and start on Broadway
Murphy was born in Queens, New York, and was raised in Hauppauge, New York, and Topsfield, Massachusetts.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220) She studied with [Stella Adler](https://www.edgepedia.org/stella-adler) and at the Lee Strasberg Institute.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220)
**First Broadway job.** She left New York University's drama program in her sophomore year when she was cast to understudy the three backup singers in the 1979 Broadway musical *They're Playing Our Song*, later becoming a replacement swing and the voice of Sonia Walsk in that production.[3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/) • [1](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donna-murphy-54096) In a 2007 interview she explained, "At the end of my sophomore year, I took a leave of absence. I needed to audition without cutting classes."[3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/)
Her early Broadway credits progressed from chorus and understudy work to leading parts: she was an understudy in *The Human Comedy* (1984), performed in *The Mystery of Edwin Drood* (1985–1987), taking over the title role of Edwin Drood as a replacement, and, per BroadwayWorld, played Audrey Fulquard in [Howard Ashman](https://www.edgepedia.org/howard-ashman) and [Alan Menken](https://www.edgepedia.org/alan-menken)'s *Little Shop of Horrors*.[1](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donna-murphy-54096) • [3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/)
## Tony-winning stage career
The break that fixed her reputation came in 1994. As Fosca in Sondheim and Lapine's *Passion*, Murphy won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical at the 48th [Tony Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-awards), along with the Drama Desk Award and the Drama League Award.[3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/) • [1](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donna-murphy-54096) The *Passion* cast album on Angel won a Grammy Award.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220)
Two years later she played [Anna Leonowens](https://www.edgepedia.org/anna-leonowens) opposite [Lou Diamond Phillips](https://www.edgepedia.org/lou-diamond-phillips) in the Broadway revival of [Rodgers and Hammerstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/rodgers-and-hammerstein)'s *The King and I*, ran in the role from March 1996 to March 1997, recorded a cast album, and received her second Tony Award at the 50th Tony Awards.[3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/) • [1](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donna-murphy-54096)
**Revivals and new roles, 2003–2011.** After originating Ruth Sherwood in the 2000 City Center Encores! staging of *Wonderful Town*, she repeated the role when the revival moved to Broadway from November 2003 to January 2005, winning the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Musical and receiving a Tony nomination at the 58th Tony Awards.[3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/) • [1](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donna-murphy-54096) In 2007 she played the Austrian chanteuse [Lotte Lenya](https://www.edgepedia.org/lotte-lenya) opposite [Michael Cerveris](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-cerveris) as [Kurt Weill](https://www.edgepedia.org/kurt-weill) in *LoveMusik*, directed by Hal Prince, earning another Tony nomination and a Drama Desk Award, which that year was given as a tie for Outstanding Actress in a Musical.[3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/) In 2011 she starred as Bubbie/Raisel, a Yiddish theater actress during the Holocaust, in the Roundabout Theatre Company's *The People in the Picture*, receiving a Tony nomination.[1](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donna-murphy-54096) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220)
**Sondheim and Encores! work.** [Off-Broadway](https://www.edgepedia.org/off-broadway) and in concert, Murphy appeared in Lincoln Center Theater's *Hello Again* (1993, Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Musical), *Twelve Dreams* (1995, Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play), Tony Kushner's production of Ellen McLaughlin's *Helen* at the Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival in 2002, and three of the most successful New York City Center Encores! productions, *Anyone Can Whistle*, *Follies*, and *Wonderful Town*.[1](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donna-murphy-54096) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220) In the April 2010 Encores! staging of *Anyone Can Whistle* she played Mayor Cora Hoover Hooper, the role originated by [Angela Lansbury](https://www.edgepedia.org/angela-lansbury) in 1964.[4](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatre-news/news/anyone-can-whistle-donna-murphy-joins-cast)
In 2012, for Shakespeare in the Park's 50th anniversary season, she played the Witch in Sondheim and Lapine's *Into the Woods* at the Delacorte alongside Amy Adams, Jessie Mueller, and Denis O'Hare, earning Drama League and Drama Desk nominations.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220) • [1](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donna-murphy-54096)
**Hello, Dolly!** Murphy returned to Broadway in 2017, sharing the role of Dolly Gallagher Levi with Bette Midler in the Tony-winning revival of *Hello, Dolly!*; per one account she played Dolly on Sundays and Mondays while Midler played other performances.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220) • [5](https://parade.com/694082/jerylbrunner/broadway-and-bourne-legacy-star-donna-murphy-on-playing-a-role-of-a-lifetime/) IBDB credits her as replacement and alternate in the role in two stints, from June 2017 to January 2018 and from July to August 2018.[1](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donna-murphy-54096)
## Film and television
Murphy's film work has leaned toward character parts. She played Anij in *Star Trek: Insurrection*, the ballet instructor Juliette Simone in *Center Stage*, Judy Braddock, the mother of Scarlett Johansson's character, in *The Nanny Diaries*, and Rosalie Octavius in *Spider-Man 2*; other credits include *Jade*, *The Astronaut's Wife*, Darren Aronofsky's *The Fountain*, Oliver Stone's *World Trade Center*, *The Door in the Floor*, and Todd Solondz's *Dark Horse* (2011), in which she played Marie.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220) • [3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/)
Her animated feature debut came as the voice of Mother Gothel in Disney's *Tangled* (2010), in which she sang "Mother Knows Best."[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220) • [3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/) In 2011 she appeared in Vera Farmiga's directorial debut *Higher Ground* as Kathleen, and in 2012 she played government secretary Dita Mandy in *The Bourne Legacy*.[3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/)
**Television.** Murphy's first steady TV role was District Attorney Morgan Graves on the NBC soap opera *Another World* from 1989 through 1991.[3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/) Her first television film, HBO's "Someone Had to be Benny" (1996, in the *Lifestories: Families in Crisis* series), earned her a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special at the 24th Daytime Emmy Awards in 1997, as well as a Cable Ace Award.[3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220) Recurring and guest roles since then have included *Murder One* (1995–1996), *Law & Order*, *Hack* (2002–2003), *What About Joan*, *Trust Me* (2009), *Made in Jersey*, *The Blacklist*, *Resurrection*, *Quantico* (2017), and Jane Green in the PBS Civil War drama *Mercy Street*.[3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220)
**Recent work.** In 2022 Murphy joined the cast of HBO's *The Gilded Age* as Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, the role credited on IMDb as Mrs. Astor across 17 episodes from 2022 to 2025.[3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220/) She has since appeared as Dr. Muriel Landon in the NBC series *Brilliant Minds*.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220/) TV Insider's coverage links her *Gilded Age* character to the Russell family storylines of the series.[6](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/donna-murphy/)
## Recognition
New York Magazine named Murphy one of "Three Living Legends" of the New York theater and in 2003 awarded her one of its New York Awards; Variety's Women's Impact Issue named her one of three "Legit Luminaries," alongside Joan Didion and Christine Ebersole.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220) Beyond her Tony, Drama Desk, and Drama League honors, she received the Astaire Award for her performance in *Wonderful Town*, and honors from organizations including Symphony Space, the Women's Project, and Emerson College for her contribution to arts and culture.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220) • [3](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/)
## References
1. [Donna Murphy – Broadway Cast & Staff, IBDB](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/donna-murphy-54096)
2. [Donna Murphy, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614220)
3. [Donna Murphy (Actor) – Broadway & Theatre Credits, Bio, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Donna-Murphy/)
4. [Anyone Can Whistle: Donna Murphy joins cast, New York Theatre Guide](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatre-news/news/anyone-can-whistle-donna-murphy-joins-cast)
5. [Donna Murphy on Playing a Role of a Lifetime, Parade](https://parade.com/694082/jerylbrunner/broadway-and-bourne-legacy-star-donna-murphy-on-playing-a-role-of-a-lifetime/)
6. [Donna Murphy, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/donna-murphy/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Theater and dance › Stage practitioners and craft › Practitioners overview*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license