Deanna Dunagan biography

Deanna Dunagan is a Tony Award winning actress who is best known for the role of Violet, the pill-popping matriarch of an Oklahoma family, in the original Steppenwolf production of the Pulitzer Prize winning play, August: Osage County. For her stage work in Chicago she has been awarded three Joseph Jefferson Awards, three After Dark Awards, and an Artisan Award for roles as diverse as Claire in A Delicate Balance, Abby in Desire Under the Elms, Aunt Julia in James Joyce's the Dead and Margaret in I Never Sang for My Father. She most recently appeared in Chicago at Goodman Theatre as Nancy Reagan in Blind Date. Other Chicago credits include: Death Tax (Lookingglass Theatre Company, where she is an artistic associate), Marvin's Room (Shattered Globe Theatre) and two of her favorites, Butley (with William Brown) in the Writers Theatre Bookstore and A Little Night Music (a longtime dream realized with Shannon Cochran) in the Women’s Library Club of Glencoe space. For her role as Nana in the M. Night Shamalyn film, The Visit, she was awarded a Fright Meter Award. Her most recent films are So Cold the River and Stillwater (to be released on July 30) in which she plays Matt Damon’s mother-in-law. Her TV credits include recurring roles on “The Exorcist,”“Unforgettable,” “Prison Break;” and “Tell Me Your Secrets,” currently streaming on Amazon Prime.