Mary-Joan Negro (born January 9, 1951) is an actress of stage, film, and television. Negro has appeared in nearly fifty television shows and films and numerous stage productions since the early 1970s. Since the mid-1990s she also directs and teaches theatre in addition to her screen appearances.
Negro was born in Yonkers, New York. After graduating with a BA in Drama and Language Arts from the University of Michigan, she was granted a Juilliard scholarship, and in 1970, joined the first class of the Drama Division under John Houseman, along with Kevin Kline and David Ogden Stiers. She graduated from the class in 1972, at which time Houseman wanted to form an equity company.
Negro is a founding member of John Houseman's and Margot Harley's The Acting Company in New York City, and of Joseph Stern's Matrix Theatre Company in Los Angeles, and The Antaeus Company.
Her stage performances include Broadway, off-Broadway, and American repertory companies such as The Acting Company, San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, and the O'Neill Playwrights Conference in Connecticut.
Negro was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role in Arthur Kopit's Wings (1979), directed by John Madden.
In 1976 as part of the Great Performances series, PBS produced and televised William Saroyan's play, The Time of Your Life featuring Keven Kline in which Negro played the role of Society Lady. Also in the 1970s, she began appearing on televisions series such as Kojak (1976) and The Andros Targets (1977), and the television movie The Family Man (1979). In 1983, she appeared on PBS in American Playhouse in an adaption of Kopit's Wings in the role of Amy. Other special appearance roles include Helen Matian in the ABC Afterschool Special episode, "Date Rape" (1988), and Barbara Fitts in the CBS Schoolbreak Special episode "Other Mothers (1993)."
Negro appeared twice on the CBS series The Equalizer. In the 1988 episode "The Child Broker" she played Irene Winters, the hard-working single mother of teenager Danny, played by Christopher Collet, who is being led into criminality by Shep Morrow, played by Thomas G. Waites. In the 1989 episode "Lullaby of Darkness" she portrays Rebecca Morrison, the belittled and battered wife of Joseph Morrison, played by Stephen Lang. Also in the 1980s, Negro appears on Another World (1982), Remington Steele (1983), two 1986 episodes of ', and the television movie The Littlest Victims (1989).
She had two roles on NBC's series Law & Order, the first in the 1991 episode "In Memory Of" and the second in 1994, "White Rabbit," in which she portrayed Rita Levitan, an alias for her real name, Susan Forrest. In "White Rabbit," Rita is accused of murdering a police officer 25 years prior, while committing a heist as Susan, a member of a radical anti-war group. Also in the 1990s, she had a recurring role as Roberta Braun on The Practice (1997), as well as roles on L.A. Law (1990), Touched by an Angel (1998), and the television movie The Patron Saint of Liars (1998).
In the 2001, Negro made guest appearances on NYPD Blue as Mary McElroy, Frasier as Joanne, and again on The Practice, this time in a new role as the plaintiff's attorney, Audrey Turner. She also appeared on Crossing Jordan (2002). In 2004 she appeared in Cold Case as Renee (2004) in a 1969 case hearkening back to the post-Summer of Love era in "Volunteers." That same year Negro played Pam Morton on CBS's legal drama Judging Amy, and appeared on Showtime's Huff. She also had roles on ABC's political drama Commander in Chief as Margaret Shoop, and as Emma Hadley in the medical drama ER, both in 2006
Negro's theatrical film appearances include Dominick and Eugene (1988), Employee of the Month (2004), Moonbeams (2001), and Mont Reve (2012).
Negro directs and teaches at venues that include The Acting Company, the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble in Los Angeles, the California Institute of the Arts, and at the University of Southern California where she is a Professor of Theatre Practice.
Mary-Joan Negro was married to fellow actor Norman Snow, who was also a member of John Houseman's The Acting Company.
|- ! scope="row" | 1979 | Tony Award | Best Featured Actress in a Play<br>Arthur Kopit's Wings | |
Some of Mary-Joan Negro theatre appearances include the following.