Donna Lynne Champlin
Champlin in 2018
Born	(1971-01-21)January 21, 1971 (age 55) Rochester, New York, U.S.
Education	Carnegie Mellon University(BFA)
Occupations	Actress dancer singer
Years active	1993–present
Spouse	Andrew Arrow ​ (m. 2010)​
Children	1

Donna Lynne Champlin (born January 21, 1971) is an American actress, dancer and singer from New York City. She is best known for playing Paula Proctor onThe CW comedy-drama seriesCrazy Ex-Girlfriend.

Champlin was born inRochester, New York, to a technical writer mother and a scientist father.^[1] She participated in various lessons, theatre productions, and national and international competitions throughout her childhood, in voice, piano, flute, theatre and dance.^[2][3][4]

Champlin went on to study musical theatre atCarnegie Mellon University, graduating with her BFA in 1993, and studied abroad as a 1992 Advanced Acting Scholar in Shakespeare and Chekhov at theUniversity of Oxford. In 1992 she won the Princess Grace Foundation Award in Theatre.^[5] While still in college, she performed as Dorothy inThe Wizard of Oz withPittsburgh Civic Light Opera.^[2][6]

Champlin took on the title role ofVery Warm for May, herBroadway debut inJames Joyce's The Dead, thenBy Jeeves,Hollywood Arms,Sweeney Todd,Billy Elliot the Musical, andThe Dark at the Top of the Stairs, for which she won the 2007Obie Award. Other credits include:No, No Nanette,Very Good Eddie,First Lady Suite,Harold and Maude,My Life with Albertine,Bloomer Girl, andJolson. She also performed withLen Cariou in the Simply Sondheim inaugural concert which celebrated the opening of the Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts.^[2][3][7][8]

Champlin's awards include the 2019Gracie Award for Best Supporting Actress, 2013Drama Desk Award,2007 OBIE award, thePrincess Grace Award, the title of National Tap Dance Champion four consecutive times, and she has received grants from theNational Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, The Anna Sosenko Trust,Princess Grace Foundation, and has received The Charlie Willard Memorial Grant.^[2][4]

Champlin's film and television credits includeThe Dark Half, the 2000 and 2006 AnnualTony Awards,The View,Law & Order,The Good Wife,The Good Fight,The Good Doctor, andLive with Regis and Kelly. From 2015 to 2019, she starred in the role of Paula Proctor inThe CW comedy-drama seriesCrazy Ex-Girlfriend.,^[2] Hortense inAnother Period and Barb inNetflix'sFeel the Beat. In 2022, she appeared in the Showtime seriesThe First Lady.^[9]

Champlin released a solo album entitledOld Friends, performs a one-woman show entitledFinishing the Hat, and teaches acting at theCarnegie Mellon University, theUniversity of Hartford, andNew York University.

Champlin married actor Andrew Arrow in 2010 and they have one child. They live in New York City.^[2][3][4][7] She spends her downtime writing, raising money forJDRF,BCEFA,The Actors Fund, and with her family.^[2][3]

• Donna Lynne Champlin atIMDb

• American film actresses
• American television actresses
• American stage actresses
• Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni
• Alumni of the University of Oxford
• New York University faculty
• University of Hartford faculty
• Carnegie Mellon University faculty
• Living people
• Princess Grace Awards winners
• 1971 births
• 21st-century American actresses
• Actresses from Rochester, New York
• 21st-century American singers
• Singers from New York (state)
• Educators from New York (state)
• American women educators
• 20th-century American actresses
• 20th-century American women singers
• 20th-century American singers

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