Christine Dunford is an American actress from the
Bronx, New York.
Life and career
Christine Dunford was born in the
Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
.
[ She graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1979, the year that she played a featured role in the school's production of '' Dark of the Moon''. She was also voted class president during her senior year.
She received theater training at the ]Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...
and began her career in the New York theater, cast in Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp (born Joseph Papirofsky; June 22, 1921 – October 31, 1991) was an American theatrical producer and director. He established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in Lower Manhattan. There Papp created ...
's New York Shakespeare Festival
Shakespeare in the Park (or Free Shakespeare in the Park) is a theatrical program that stages productions of Shakespearean plays at the Delacorte Theater, an open-air theater in New York City's Central Park. The theater and the productions ar ...
production of '' Two Gentlemen of Verona'' at the Delacorte Theater
The Delacorte Theater is a 1,800-seat open-air theater in Central Park, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is home to the Public Theater's free Shakespeare in the Park productions.
Over five million people have attended more than 15 ...
in Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
.
Dunford spent the next two years working at the Joseph Papp Public Theater
The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...
in the American premiere of the off-Broadway and Broadway runs of '' Serious Money'' and in the lead role of ''Love's Labours Lost
''Love's Labour's Lost'' is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s for a performance at the Inns of Court before Queen Elizabeth I. It follows the King of Navarre and his three companions as ...
'', directed by Gerald Freedman
Gerald Alan Freedman (June 25, 1927 – March 17, 2020) was an American theatre director, librettist, and lyricist, and a college dean.
Life and career
Freedman was born in Lorain, Ohio, the son of Fannie (Sepenswol), a history teacher, and Barn ...
.
Other New York stage appearances include ''Infidelities'' at Primary Stages
Primary Stages was founded in 1984 by Casey Childs as an Off-Broadway not-for-profit theater company. In 2004, Primary Stages moved from its 99-seat home of 17 years at Davenport Theatre, 354 West 45th Street to the 199-seat theater at 59E59 Theat ...
and the title role in '' Tamara''. On the west coast, Dunford starred with Ed Begley, Jr. in David Mamet
David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, filmmaker, and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and '' Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first gained cri ...
's ''The Cryptogram
''The Cryptogram'' is a play by American playwright David Mamet. The play concerns the moment when childhood is lost. The story is set in 1959 on the night before a young boy is to go on a camping trip with his father. The play premiered in 1994 ...
'' at the Geffen Playhouse
The Geffen Playhouse (or the Geffen) is a not-for-profit theater company founded by Gilbert Cates in 1995. It produces plays in two theaters in Geffen Playhouse, which is owned by University of California Los Angeles. The Playhouse is located ...
. She appeared and in the Bottom's Dream Theater Company productions of ''Losing Venice'' and ''7 Blow Jobs'', and was directed by fellow Juilliard alumnus Keith David
Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his signature deep voice and commanding screen presence in over 300 roles across film, stage, television, and interactive media.
He has starred in such films as '' T ...
in ''The Shadow Box
''The Shadow Box'' is a play written by actor Michael Cristofer. The play made its Broadway debut on March 31, 1977. It is the winner of the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. The play was made into a telefilm, directed ...
'' at the Edgemar Theater.
Since moving to Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, Dunford has appeared in over 100 television episodes, both as a series regular (''Good Sports
''Good Sports'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on the CBS network from January 10 to July 13, 1991, starring Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal. It was Fawcett's only scripted TV series after ''Charlie's Angels''.
Synopsis
The ...
'', '' Hudson Street'' with Tony Danza
Tony Danza (born Anthony Salvatore Iadanza; April 21, 1951) is an American actor. He is known for co-starring in the television series ''Taxi'' (1978–1983) and '' Who's the Boss?'' (1984–1992), for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award a ...
, '' Something So Right'', ''Bob
Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to:
Places
* Mount Bob, New York, United States
*Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica
People, fictional characters, and named animals
*Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
*Bob (surname ...
'', with Bob Newhart
George Robert Newhart (born September 5, 1929) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery style. Newhart came to prominence in 1960 when his album of comedic monologues, ''The Button-Down Mi ...
, and ''The Secret Lives of Men
''The Secret Lives of Men'' is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from September 30, 1998 to November 11, 1998. The series aired in full in Ireland on RTÉ2.
Premise
Three divorced men get thrown back into the bachelor life. With nothing left ...
'') and as a guest star ('' Law & Order: LA'', ''Harry's Law
''Harry's Law'' is an American legal comedy-drama television series created by David E. Kelley, which ran for two seasons on NBC from January 17, 2011, to May 27, 2012. On May 11, 2012, NBC announced that ''Harry's Law'' would not be renewed fo ...
'', ''Two and a Half Men
''Two and a Half Men'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS for twelve seasons from September 22, 2003, to February 19, 2015. Originally starring Charlie Sheen in the lead role alongside Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, t ...
'', '' Boston Legal'', '' Seinfeld'', ''Frasier
''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons. It premiered on September 16, 1993, and ended on May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee (as Grub ...
'', '''Til Death
''Til Death'' is an American sitcom which aired on the Fox network from September 7, 2006, to June 20, 2010. The series was created by husband and wife team Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, who were also the writers and executive producers. The ...
'', ''Without a Trace
''Without a Trace'' is an American police procedural drama television series created by Hank Steinberg that aired on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009 with the total of seven seasons and 160 episodes. The series focuses the cases of ...
'' and others). She also co-starred in Fox's ''The Please Watch the Jon Lovitz Special'' in 1992. In 2019, Dunford recurred on ''The Purge
''The Purge'' is an American anthology media franchise centered on a series of dystopian action horror films distributed by Universal Pictures and produced by Blumhouse Productions and Platinum Dunes, which are written and in some cases also ...
'' as the evil Andrea Ziv. She also appeared on the mentalist (season 6 episode 3).
On film, Dunford made her debut in the 1989's ''Slaves of New York
''Slaves of New York'' is a 1989 American comedy-drama Merchant Ivory Productions film. Directed by
James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant, it stars Bernadette Peters, Adam Coleman Howard, Chris Sarandon, Mary Beth Hurt, Mercedes Ruehl, ...
''. The following year, she appeared in '' Reversal of Fortune'' alongside Oscar winner Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre ...
. Her other film roles include 1997's ''Ulee's Gold
''Ulee's Gold'' is a 1997 American drama film written and directed by Victor Nuñez and starring Peter Fonda in the title role. Co-stars include Patricia Richardson, Christine Dunford, Tom Wood, Jessica Biel, J. Kenneth Campbell and Vanessa Zima. ...
'' opposite Peter Fonda, 2000's ''Love & Basketball
''Love & Basketball'' is a 2000 American romantic sports drama film written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood in her feature film directorial debut. The film is produced by Spike Lee and Sam Kit and stars Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps. It tells ...
'', ''How to Go Out on a Date in Queens'', and the award-winning short ''Dos Corazones''.
Dunford is also a playwright, and was invited to perform her series of monologues, ''Out Loud'', at HBO's Aspen Comedy Festival
The Comedy Festival, formerly known as the US Comedy Arts Festival, was a comedy festival that ran from 1995 to 2008. The festival included stand-up comedy performances, appearances by the casts of television shows, and has a film component calle ...
as well as at the Edgemar Theater in Los Angeles. She performed another solo show, ''Toucan in the Bronx'', at the Improv in Los Angeles.
In addition to her work on stage and screen, Dunford is a voice artist on several animated series as well as television and radio commercials. She provides narration for documentary films and museum installments, and does voice work for video games in the ''Mass Effect
''Mass Effect'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Casey Hudson, Drew Karpyshyn and Preston Watamaniuk. The franchise depicts a distant future where humanity and several alien civilizations have colonized the known unive ...
'', ''Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...
'', ''Civilization
A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system).
...
'', ''Hitman
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may ...
'', and '' X-COM'' series, as well as '' Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War'', ''EverQuest
''EverQuest'' is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows PCs. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North Amer ...
'', and ''Infamous Second Son
''Infamous Second Son'' (stylized as ''inFAMOUS Second Son'') is a 2014 action-adventure game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. The standalone sequel to the 2011 video game ...
''.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunford, Christine
American actresses
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
People from the Bronx
21st-century American women