Sally Murphy (actress)

Sally Murphy (born 1962) is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in plays and musicals on Broadway, off-Broadway and regional theatre, including The Grapes of Wrath, Carousel, Fiddler on the Roof and August: Osage County. She has been a Steppenwolf Theatre Company member since 1993 and appeared in several of their productions.[1] She has also appeared in films and on television.

Early life and education

Murphy is the only child of Edward, an electrician, and Pat Murphy, a social worker.[2] She grew up in Auburn Gresham, Chicago, Illinois. As a young child she did skits with neighborhood friends and studied piano. She appeared in school shows in junior high school and starred in musical performances and theater at Lincoln-Way High School in New Lenox, from which she graduated in 1980. She majored in voice at Northwestern University graduating in 1984.[2]

Career

After college, she performed in plays in Chicago, working with the Goodman Theatre in 1986.[2] Three years later, she played Rose of Sharon in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath, along with Steppenwolf co-founder Gary Sinese (Tom Joad) and Lois Smith (Ma Joad).[2] She repeated this role at La Jolla Playhouse, London’s National Theatre, and then Cort Theatre on Broadway.[2][3] She also appeared in the television adaptation of the play for the PBS series American Playhouse in 1991.[4] In the 1994 Broadway revival of the musical Carousel, Murphy played Julie Jordan alongside Audra McDonald as Carrie Pipperidge.[5]

In 1995, after Murphy saw the hit play Skylight at London's National Theatre, she told Steppenwolf management she wanted to bring the play there, struck by its dramatic presentation of a relationship on stage and challenging role for the lead actress.[6] Steppenwolf produced the play in 1997 with Murphy as Kyra Hollis.[6]

In 2001 at the Vineyard Theatre, she portrayed Susan Smith in Cornelius Eady's two character play Brutal Imagination, which centers on the real-life 1994 case of Smith, a white woman from South Carolina who falsely claimed that an African American man had kidnapped her two young sons; she had drowned them herself. Joe Morton played the imaginary Black man Smith invented to blame for the crime.[7] The actors reunited in 2025 to do a one night reading with proceeds benefiting the Innocence Project.[8] She appeared in The Apple Family plays as the character Jane Apple in Regular Singing (2013),[9] reprising the role in a Zoom format in 2020 when theaters were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.[10]

Murphy has been a member of Steppenwolf since 1993.[1] Her credits there include The Common Pursuit (1988), The Grapes of Wrath (1989), Skylight (1997), Uncle Vanya (2001), Mother Courage and Her Children (2001), The Royal Family (2002), August: Osage County (2007), Sex with Strangers (2011), Time Stands Still (2012), The Minutes (2017), and Linda Vista (2017).[1] Her Broadway credits include The Grapes of Wrath (1990), Carousel (1994), The Wild Party (2000), Fiddler on the Roof (2004), August: Osage County (2007), Linda Vista (2019), and The Minutes (2022).[11] She was nominated for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical in 2015 for her performance as Jenny in The Threepenny Opera.[12]

She also appeared in several films between 1992 and 2001.[6][13]

Theater

Year Title Role Notes Ref
1988 The Common Pursuit Marigold Steppenwolf Theatre [14]
1989 The Grapes of Wrath Rose of Sharon La Jolla Playhouse, National Theatre, Cort Theatre [2]
1990 Harvey Myrtle Mae Simmons Apollo Theater [15]
1991 Earthly Possessions Mindy Steppenwolf Theatre [16]
1994 Carousel Julie Jordan Vivian Beaumont Theater [5][17]
1996 Bernarda Alba Amelia Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater [18]
1997 Skylight Kyra Hollis Steppenwolf Theatre [6]
2000 The Wild Party Sally Virginia Theatre [19]
2001 Uncle Vanya Yelena Steppenwolf Studio [20]
2001 Mother Courage and Her Children Katterin Steppenwolf Theatre [21]
2001 Brutal Imagination Susan Smith Vineyard Theatre [7]
2002 The Royal Family Gwen Cavendish Steppenwolf Theatre [22]
2002 A Man of No Importance Adele Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater [23]
2004 Fiddler on the Roof Tzeitel Imperial Theatre [24]
2005 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Katie City Center [25]
2007 August: Osage County Ivy Weston Downstairs Theatre, Imperial Theatre [26]
2011 Sex with Strangers Olivia Steppenwolf Theatre [27]
2012 Time Stands Still Sarah Upstairs Theatre [28]
2013 Regular Singing Jane Apple The Public Theater [9]
2014 The Threepenny Opera Jenny Towler Atlantic Theater Company, nominated for Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical [29]
2016 Angel Reapers Mother Ann Lee Signature Theatre [30]
2017/2022 The Minutes Ms. Matz Steppenwolf Theatre/Studio 54 [31][32]
2017/2019 Linda Vista Margaret Steppenwolf Theatre/Hayes Theater [33]
2018 Admissions Ginnie Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater [34]
2020 Incidental Moments of the Day - The Apple Family: Life on Zoom Jane Apple YouTube [10]
2022 Downstate Em Playwrights Horizons [35]
2025 The Baker's Wife Hortense Classic Stage Company's Lynn F. Angelson Theater [36]

Filmography (selected)

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Member Profiles | Sally Murphy". www.steppenwolf.org. Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h O’Brien, Ken (May 15, 1994). "A Star is born: No overnight success, Sally Murphy is enjoying her climb to the top". Chicago Tribune. pp. 1, 8. ProQuest 283786920.
  3. ^ Rich, Frank (March 23, 1990). "Review/Theater; New Era for Grapes of Wrath". The New York Times. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
  4. ^ Kogan, Rick (March 22, 1991). "TV Grapes' trades big picture for detail PBS presents an intimate, emotional encounter with the Steinbeck saga". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest 283085366.
  5. ^ a b Canby, Vincent (April 3, 1994). "Carousel, A Soap Opera No Longer". The New York Times. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d e O'Brien, Ken (November 11, 1997). "Actress Sally Murphy Enjoys Return to Home Stage". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest 418479734.
  7. ^ a b Bonelli, Winnie (January 13, 2002). "Drama Deals With Race and Humanity". The Herald-News – via newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Higgins, Molly (February 25, 2025). "Joe Morton and Sally Murphy Will Lead Brutal Imagination Reading at Lucille Lortel Theatre". Playbill. Retrieved October 15, 2025.
  9. ^ a b Winer, Linda (November 26, 2013). "A 'family' worth getting to know Regular Singing brings sentimental end to series of plays about country life". Newsday. Long Island, N.Y. p. B.7. ProQuest 1461586458.
  10. ^ a b Belt-Daniels, Regina M. (October 8, 2020). "Playwright takes last bite in Apple family trilogy". The Herald-News – via newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Sally Murphy", Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved October 15, 2025
  12. ^ "2015 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved September 20, 2025.
  13. ^ a b Green, Blake; Jones, Chris (April 8, 2001). "Acting Out / Gary Sinise brings his cocky Cuckoo's Nest, anti-hero to Broadway"". Newsday. Long Island, N.Y. p. D06. ProQuest 279432438.
  14. ^ Christiansen, Richard (March 14, 1988). "Steppenwolf's Pursuit a poignant chase through time". Chicago Tribune – via newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Gleason, Roberta (February 7, 1991). "Actress crafts dream career after 'nightmare'". Southtown Star – via newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Rich, Frank (September 4, 1991). "Review/Theater; Adapting an Anne Tyler Novel". The New York Times. p. C.13. ProQuest 428218439.
  17. ^ le Sourd, Jacques (June 13, 1994). "Broadway's Tony has 'Passion' for Carousel". Tarrytown Daily News – via newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Greene, Alexis (March 7–13, 2006). "Bernarda Alba". Hollywood Reporter. 393: 24, 65. ProQuest 235347997.
  19. ^ Brantley, Ben (April 14, 2000). "Theater Review; Having Fun Yet, Jazz Babies?". The New York Times. ProQuest 2233622627.
  20. ^ Christianson, Richard (June 2001). "Steppenwolf's Uncle Vanya needs Prozac". Chicago Tribune. pp. 5-1, 5-5 – via newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Jones, Chris (October 1–7, 2001). "Mother Courage". Variety. Vol. 384, no. 7. p. 45. ProQuest 236306512.
  22. ^ Jones, Chris (April 26, 2002). "Delving into theater creatures: The Royal Family revival retains its bite". Chicago Tribune – via newspapers.com.
  23. ^ Rosenberg, David A. (October 25–31, 2002). "A Man of No Importance". Back Stage. 43 (43). New York: 48. ProQuest 221076398.
  24. ^ Kanfer, Stefan (March–April 2004). "On the Roof and Off". The New Leader. Vol. 87, no. 2. pp. 41–43. ProQuest 225674894.
  25. ^ Rooney, David (February 13, 2005). "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". Variety.
  26. ^ Scheck, Frank (December 6, 2007). "August: Osage County". Hollywood Reporter. Vol. 402. pp. 30, 32. ProQuest 235382334.
  27. ^ "Sex with Strangers". The Week. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
  28. ^ Jones, Chris (January 1, 2012). "New productions, U.S. premieres to anticipate". Chicago Tribune – via newspapers.com.
  29. ^ Als, Hilton (April 21, 2014). "Dress-Up". The New Yorker. Vol. 90, no. 9. p. 108. ProQuest 1520754504.
  30. ^ Collins-Hughes, Laura (February 22, 2016). "Review: In Angel Reapers, Torment and Bliss, Hand in Hand, Seek Connection". The New York Times. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
  31. ^ Vitello, Barbara (November 5, 2017). "Steppenwolf's 'The Minutes' is a play of its time". Daily Herald. Arlington Heights, Ill. ProQuest 1960528760.
  32. ^ Green, Jesse (April 17, 2022). "Review: The Minutes, an Official History of American Horror: Critic's Pick". The New York Times. ProQuest 2651384839.
  33. ^ Jones, Chris (October 11, 2019). "Out of Touch". New York Daily News – via newspapers.com.
  34. ^ Green, Jesse (March 12, 2018). "Review: Skewering White Pieties About Diversity in Admissions". The New York Times. ProQuest 2013085292.
  35. ^ Collins-Hughes, Laura (November 16, 2022). "Downstate Review: A Foulness in the Very Air They Breathe". The New York Times. ProQuest 2736468908.
  36. ^ Gordon, David (September 12, 2025). "Judy Kuhn, Sally Murphy, Nathan Lee Graham Join The Baker's Wife Cast". www.theatermania.com.
  37. ^ Koehler, Robert (November 7, 1999). "Charming Billy". Variety. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
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