Dorothy Lyman

Dorothy Lyman was born in Minneapolis in 1947 with a determination that few in regional theater understood. Her arrival in New York was no bed of roses.

In 1981, she accepted the role of Opal Cortlandt on All My Children. What was supposed to be a brief guest appearance became an audience sensation, because viewers connected with her energy right away.

She won two Emmy Awards in consecutive years for work that many critics of the time looked down on. But Lyman didn't care about the opinion of the intellectual elite of the day.

Before ending her contract, she was already negotiating her move into sitcoms in Los Angeles.

The business of everyday emotions

But the real change came with Mama's Family.

Playing Naomi Harper between 1983 and 1990 allowed her to explore physical comedy and exaggeration. It was a period of intense media exposure and exhausting recording days, Monday through Friday.

Seventy-five episodes directed of the series The Nanny attest to her technical skill behind the camera. Lyman didn't want to just act and decided to take control of the set.

Fran Drescher trusted her to shape the visual style of one of the most profitable comedies of the nineties. She spent years among cables, technical scripts and editing decisions.

Laughter under technical control

Directing gave her a stability that acting often denies women of a certain age.

In 2022, she appeared on the series The Girl from Plainville playing Carrie Roy. Her presence on camera remains understated, effective and free of unnecessary flourishes.

She appeared in the second season of The Gilded Age in 2023 under the direction of Julian Fellowes. It is a very different dramatic register from her beginnings in the 1980s.

She lives on a farm in New York State, where she produces her own independent projects. She doesn't wait for calls from major studios or advertising agents.

In 2021, she shot the movie The Price of Peril on a tight budget with a minimal crew.