Alyson Reed
American dancer and actress
title: "Alyson Reed" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["living-people", "american-female-dancers", "dancers-from-california", "american-film-actresses", "american-stage-actresses", "american-television-actresses", "21st-century-american-women", "year-of-birth-missing-(living-people)"] description: "American dancer and actress" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alyson_Reed" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American dancer and actress ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Alyson Reed |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Anaheim, California, U.S. |
| occupation | |
| years_active | 1978–present |
| :: |
| name = Alyson Reed | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Anaheim, California, U.S. | occupation = | years_active = 1978–present | website = Alyson Reed is an American dancer and actress, best known for appearing as Cassie in A Chorus Line (1985) and Ms Darbus in the High School Musical trilogy (2006–2008).
Early life
Reed was born and raised in Anaheim, California. She graduated from Anaheim High School in 1976.
Career
Reed made her Broadway debut in Dancin' in 1978. At 20, she joined the national touring production of Pippin. Additional Broadway credits include Oh Brother, Dance a Little Closer, Cabaret, A Grand Night for Singing, and Marilyn: An American Fable. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Cabaret at the 42nd Tony Awards in 1988 and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for Marilyn in 1984. In 1992, she starred opposite Michael O'Keefe in the national touring company of A Few Good Men in the role of Lt. Cmdr. Joanne Galloway, and also toured as Cassie/Val in A Chorus Line, and Catherine in Pippin. She has numerous regional credits and can be heard on various cast albums.
Reed portrayed Cassie in Richard Attenborough's film adaptation of A Chorus Line, and she also appeared in the comedy Skin Deep with John Ritter.
In 1990, Reed relocated to Los Angeles. Her many television credits range from: Modern Family, Mad Men, Grey's Anatomy, Bones, Matlock, L.A. Law, Murder, She Wrote, Frasier, Law & Order, Without a Trace, ER, Judging Amy, Chicago Hope, The X-Files, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Nip/Tuck, Crossing Jordan, Numb3rs, Boston Legal, NYPD Blue and Desperate Housewives.
She became known to younger viewers for the role of Ms. Darbus in the popular Disney Channel movie High School Musical and its sequels High School Musical 2 and High School Musical 3: Senior Year.
Reed lent her voice to the video game Diablo III, providing the voice of the witch Adria.
Filmography
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | A Chorus Line | Cassie | Film |
| 1990 | Matlock | Chrissie Dubin | Episode: "The Cookie Monster" |
| WIOU | Det. Beekler | Episodes: "Do the Wrong Thing", "Mother Nature's Son" | |
| 1991 | L.A. Law | Joan Dawson | Episode: "Rest in Pieces" |
| DEA | Ginny Taylor | Episodes: "White Lies", "Zero Sum Game" | |
| The Family Man | Doctor | Episode: "Scenes from a Marriage" | |
| Jake and the Fatman | Beth Fitzroy | Episode: "I'll Never Be the Same" | |
| 1993 | The Disappearance of Nora | Phyllis | Television film |
| Lost in the Wild | Tommy | Television film | |
| 1994 | Ghostwriter | Honey Hawke | Recurring role, 4 episodes |
| 1995 | Law & Order | M.E. Heather Coyle | Episode: "Seed" |
| Frasier | Cindy Carruthers | Episode: "Someone to Watch Over Me" | |
| Murder, She Wrote | Wendy Maitlin | Episode: "Game, Set, Murder" | |
| 1995–1999 | Party of Five | Mrs. Reeves | Recurring role, 9 episodes |
| 1996 | The Secret She Carried | Donna Snow | Television film |
| Murphy Brown | Waitress | Episode: "The Bus Stops Here" | |
| Sisters | Virginia Sprague | Episode: "Dreamcatcher" | |
| Norma Jean & Marilyn | Natalie Kelly | Television film | |
| 2001 | Taking Back Our Town | Roseanne | Television film |
| 2001–2003 | The Agency | Lesley Turnbull | Recurring role, 5 episodes |
| 2002 | Providence | Lenore Decker | Recurring role, 4 episodes |
| 2004 | George Lopez | Mrs. Reynolds | Episode: "Why You Crying?" |
| 2005 | Numbers | Eva Salton | Episode: "Structural Corruption" |
| 2006 | High School Musical | Ms. Darbus | Disney Channel Original Movie |
| 2007 | High School Musical 2 | Ms. Darbus | Disney Channel Original Movie |
| 2008 | High School Musical 3: Senior Year | Ms. Darbus | Film |
| 2012 | Desperate Housewives | Judge Conti | Episode: "Give Me the Blame" |
| 2012 | Mad Men | Ruth Harris | Episode: "Mystery Date" |
| 2013 | Bones | Susan Lauderbach | Episode: "The Mystery in the Meat" |
| 2014 | Grey's Anatomy | Anne | Episode: "Throwing It All Away" |
| 2014–2015 | Modern Family | Angela | Episodes: "Spring-a-Ding-Fling", "Spring Break" |
| 2015 | Silicon Valley | Louise | Episode: "Two Days of the Condor" |
| 2017 | Chance | Lindsay | Recurring role (season 2) |
| 2018 | NCIS | Mrs. Keogh | |
| 2019 | Ad Astra | Janice Collins | Film |
| 2019 | Unbelievable Netflix limited series | Mrs Dallow | Episode 4 |
| 2020 | Love Is Love Is Love | Jackie | Segment: "Late Lunch" |
| 2023 | High School Musical: The Musical: The Series | Alyson Reed/Ms. Darbus | Recurring role (season 4) |
| :: |
References
References
- Larsen, Peter. (October 22, 2008). "Actress from O.C. gets her due in 'High School Musical'". [[Orange County Register]].
- "Alyson Reed - Biography". BuddyTV.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::