Joanna Merlin
Joanna Merlin (born Joann Ratner; July 15, 1931) was an American actress and casting director who has worked with Stephen Sondheim and starred in the original Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof. She has written two acting guides and is a faculty member of New York University's graduate acting program. In recent years, she has become known for her recurring role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Judge Lena Petrovsky.
Joann Ratner, who later took her mother's maiden name, was born i
Merlin made her first screen appearance in Cecil B. DeMille's film The Ten Commandments in 1956. Five years later, she made her Broadway debut in Becket before playing Tzeitel in Harold Prince's production of Fiddler on the Roof. She left the cast of Fiddler on the Roof before the end of its tour to take care of her two small children but Harold Prince gave her the opportunity to become involved in casting with a more flexible schedule. Company was the first musical for which Merlin served as the casting director. She was also in charge of casting for such plays as Follies, Evita and Sweeney Todd.
In 1986, she served as casting director for the John Carpenter film, Big Trouble in Little China.
After making appearances in several feature films, including the movie Fame, in which she played Miss Olivia Berg, a classical dance teacher; Merlin appeared in the NBC crime drama Law & Order in 1992 as a defense attorney. Like many actors from that show, she went on to play other characters in the Law & Order franchise - another defense attorney in the original show and a more recurring role as Judge Lena Petrovsky, a judge who was very stern, by-the-book, and has scolded or sanctioned, at various times, ADAs Casey Novak (Diane Neal) and Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March) and Detective (now Lieutenant) Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), in its first spin-off Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In the latter role, she appeared in every season between the years 2000 and 2011.
In 2001, Joanna Merlin wrote Auditioning: An Actor-Friendly Guide and in 2007, shared her knowledge of the theatre industry in the instructional video Master Classes in the Michael Chekhov Technique. She teaches in New York University's graduate acting program at the Tisch School of the Arts and in 1999, founded the Michael Chekhov Association where she teaches acting workshops.
Source: Article "Joanna Merlin" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Born
Jul 16, 1931
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Died
Oct 15, 2023
Known For
Acting
Movies
30 acting
6 crew
Popularity
0.5
Known For
The Ten Commandments
1956
as Jethro's Daughter
City of Angels
1998
as Teresa
The Invasion
2007
as Joan Kaufman
The Killing Fields
1984
as Schanberg's Sister
Prince of Darkness
1987
as Bag Lady
All That Jazz
1979
as Nurse Pierce
The Wackness
2008
as Grandma Shapiro
Mystic Pizza
1988
as Mrs. Arujo
Fame
1980
as Miss Berg
Sarah's Key
2010
as Mrs. Rainsferd
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