Dinah Manoff is a star of many movies. She is famously known for the role she played in the ABC sitcom “Soap” as Elaine Lefkowitz. Her career as an actress was rewarding to the point that she won a Tony Award. It’s been up a decade since she was last seen on the screen. What is she doing these days? Here is everything you need to know about the actress.
Dinah Manoff: How Old?
Dinah Manoff is 63 years old. She was born on January 25, 1956, to Lee Grant and Arnold Manoff in New York City, New York. Her father is a screenwriter who was blacklisted for anti-American activities during the days of “McCarthyism”. Her mother worked as an actress, writer, and director.
Dinah has a step-father named Joseph Feury who is a producer. To make up a rounder picture of her family tree, Dinah has a half-brother Tom Manoff who is the classical music critic for NPR’s All Things Considered and a notable composer.
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The actress was primarily raised in New York City and Malibu California. She attended Santa Monica High School in California and at the age of 17, she was admitted into the Actors Studio in New York where she studied acting.
Dinah Manoff: Career details
Dinah Manoff started her career in 1976 when she played a voice role in the independent animated film “Everybody Rides the Carousel”. In the same year, she appeared in the film “The Stronger” in an uncredited role.
Dinah made her television debut in an episode of the sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter” as Charmaine. In 1978, she landed the role of Elaine Dallas on the ABC sitcom “Soap” and remained on the show until the end of the year.
The actress started the year 1980 in a flourish when she made her Broadway debut as Libby Tucker in Neil Simon’s Broadway play, “I Ought to Be in Pictures”. For her work in the play, she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, as well as the Theatre World Award. She reprised that role for the film version in 1982, alongside Walter Matthau and Ann-Margret. She wasn’t done in the year 1980 yet as she appeared as Karen, the suicidal friend of Timothy Hutton’s character, in the multiple Oscar-winning “Ordinary People”.
In 1985, she played the role of a songwriter Ellie Greenwich in the Broadway jukebox musical “Leader of the Pack”. In 1988, she portrayed the character of Maggie Peterson in “Child’s Play”, the first character to be killed by the murderous, possessed doll Chucky. One of her longest stay on a TV role came when she played the character of Carol Weston on the NBC sitcom and “Golden Girls” spin-off Empty Nest, a role for which she is best known on television, and appeared in every episode of the series.
As of 1990, she was already a star and getting roles became quite easier for her. Her first roles in the ’90s were in the comedy-drama film “Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael” alongside Winona Ryder and Jeff Daniels.
At this stage of her career, she paid homage to her father by directing his written book “Telegram from Heaven” at Hollywood Hutson theatre.
She made her directorial debut in 1999 in the 82nd episode of the television series “Sabrina the Teenage Witch”, titled “Prelude to a Kiss”.
In 2000, Manoff appeared in the TV movie “The Lost Child” alongside Mercedes Ruehl. In 2001, she appeared in “The Amati Girls” alongside her mother. She later took a four years hiatus from movies and when she returned, she starred in the film “Bart Got a Room” in 2009, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2010, she attended the Seattle International Film Festival in connection with “Grease” Sing-along; Manoff played Marty in the original 1978 release of “Grease”
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She has not been seen in any recent project, perhaps she took another hiatus from acting or she has finally dropped her acting gloves.
Dinah Manoff: How Rich?
Dinah Manoff has a net worth of 1.5 million dollars. Her long decades of acting made her millionaire, well not as many would have thought as many actors earn that figure in one movie alone. Good thing is that she is not broke.
Full Bio
Dinah Manoff has been married twice in her life. Her first marriage was with French designer Jean-Marc Joubert in 1980; this marriage ended in divorce in 1985. After staying away from anything that looks like marriage for 12 years, she gave in eventually and married motivational speaker Arthur Mortell, with whom she has three children: a son Dashiell and twin boys.
Her eldest son Dashiell, died on Sunday, January 7, 2017 in a car accident while on the way back to school at Washington State University. Her son’s loss affected her so badly and for a while, she has not made any public appearance.
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