Since her Broadway debut in the 1977 musical hit by Cy Coleman "I Love My Wife", Joanna Gleason has won acclaim for the forthright intelligence of her performances and the elegant grace she brings to her roles. She was the critical friend of the parents of a spastic child in "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg" (1985); the Baker's Wife, who movingly yearns for a child in the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical "Into the Woods" (1987), for which she won a Tony Award; and the feminine half of the famed sleuthing team in the disappointing, short-lived 1991 musical "Nick and Nora".

Gleason's film roles, though few and small, have been notable, especially as the embarrassed wife of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow's prospective sperm-donor (Tony Roberts) in Allen's "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986) and as Woody Allen's indifferent wife in "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (1989). She also had a brief but memorable turn as Mark Wahlberg's unhappy mother in "Boogie Nights" (1997). Gleason's first break on the small screen was in a regular role on the sitcom "Hello, Larry" (NBC, 1979-81), about a radio show host who gives on-air romantic advice. She went on to appear in several specials, including recreating her role from "Into the Woods" for PBS' "American Playhouse" series in 1991. Gleason landed a regular role on the CBS sitcom "Love & War" (1992-95), as Nadine Berkus, a waitress wannabe who has fled her suburban housewife existence and jailbird husband to make a life of her own. With pretensions to upgrading the restaurant, she brought a daffy elegance to a character who seemed perpetually on the make. She returned to series TV with a 1996 recurring role as a love interest of Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards) on the hit NBC drama "ER".