Dana Barron is an American actress who is best known for her role as the original Audrey Griswold in the 1983 film ''

National Lampoon's Vacation ''National Lampoon's Vacation'', sometimes referred to as simply ''Vacation'', is a 1983 American road trip comedy film directed by Harold Ramis starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Imogene Coca, Randy Quaid, John Candy, and Christie Brink ...

'' which she reprised in 2003's '' National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure'' for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

television.

Early life

Barron was born in New York City. Her mother, Joyce McCord, is a

stage actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lite ...

. Her father, Robert Weeks Barron, was a director of commercials and a Congregationalist church pastor; Robert founded The Weist-Barron School of Television, the first

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

and

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

acting for

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

school in the world."Celebrity Parents Exclusive: Dana Barron"
. Celebrity Parents Magazine. Retrieved July 14, 2013. Barron has a sister named Allison. She is a fifth generation entertainer. Her grandfather was an

opera singer Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretti ...

, and her mother moved from

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

to become an actress.

Career

Barron's sister, Allison, had been doing TV commercials at a young age, and Barron told her father that she wished to do the same. She began acting at age 10, doing TV commercials as well. By age 11, she was appearing with Christine Baranski in ''Hide and Seek'' on Broadway. By age 13, her first film was the horror film ''

He Knows You're Alone ''He Knows You're Alone'' is a 1980 American slasher film directed by Armand Mastroianni, written by Scott Parker, and starring Caitlin O'Heaney, Don Scardino, Elizabeth Kemp, Tom Rolfing, and Tom Hanks in his feature film debut. The plot follo ...

'', with

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

, which was also Hanks' first film. In 1983, Barron starred in the

Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...

comedy ''

'', originating the role of Audrey Griswold. The film became a classic, and Barron would reprise the role 20 years later in the NBC TV movie spinoff, '' National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure''. Barron received a

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

in 1989 for her appearance in the CBS after-school special ''No Means No''.Sharbutt, Jay (June 30, 1989)
"NBC's 'Santa Barbara' Is Top Daytime Emmy Winner"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. Barron appeared on the

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes ...

'' from 1984 to 1985 as Michelle Boudin. She starred in the 1998 ''

The Magnificent Seven ''The Magnificent Seven'' is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Sturges. The screenplay by William Roberts is a remake – in an Old West–style – of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film '' Seven Samurai'' (itself initially relea ...

'' as Casey. She had a recurring role as Nikki Witt on the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

series ''

Beverly Hills, 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to by its short title, ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling under his production company Spelling Television. The series ran fo ...

'', during which she was able to make her character's clothes and modify her lines. In 1992, she starred with

JoBeth Williams Margaret JoBeth Williams (born December 6, 1948) is an American actress and television director. Her directorial debut with the 1994 short film ''On Hope'' earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. In 2009 she began ...

and Chris Burke in the NBC movie '' Jonathan: The Boy Nobody Wanted''. Barron has made guest appearances on TV shows including '' The Equalizer'', '' In the Heat of the Night'', ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

'', and ''

Babylon 5 ''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tel ...

'' as a

telepath Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

named Lauren Ashley in the Season 5 episode " The Corps Is Mother, the Corps Is Father".

Personal life

Barron was in a long term relationship with filmmaker Michael Vickerman. They have a son, Taylor.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barron, Dana Living people Actresses from New York City American child actresses American film actresses American soap opera actresses American television actresses People from New York City 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Year of birth missing (living people)