Dana was born and raised in Cincinnati and is a proud graduate of The Ohio State University with degrees in Theatre and English Literature. Her parents are both originally from Tennessee, making her an honorary southerner! After college, Dana lived abroad in London and in 2006 moved to NYC where she's been working as an actress, singer, and voiceover artist ever since. 

Earlier this year, Dana starred as Lottie/Carmen in Lynn Nottage’s By the Way, Meet Vera Stark at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Once back in NYC for the spring, she played Tina in a 29-hour development reading of Dragon Baby by Sara Porkalob (1776 on Broadway) for A.R.T. Later this fall, she’ll be performing in Emerging Artists Theatre’ Fall New Work Series in a new musical called The Souldiers as the Missionary Samuels.

Before the pandemic, Dana starred as Effie White in the Off-Broadway premiere of Alien vs. Musical, Tess in the NYC premiere of I Carry Your Heart at 59E59 Theatres, as well as Abducted with the New York Musical Festival (NYMF). She performed Endangered! The Musical at The Davenport Theatre as Bamboo the Superstar Panda, from July - December 2017 without missing a single performance. From January - February 2018, she played Harriet Tubman, et al in the Off-Broadway premiere of One Nation, One Mission, One Promise at The Players Theatre.

Other NYC credits include: Maya in Imperfect and Important by Jahna Ferron-Smith (NYIT Nomination for Best Short Play), Nurse in Skylar for the 2018 NY International Fringe Festival, Bishop Carlisle, et al in Richard II at Nash Studios, Sarah in the musical, Zuccotti Park, directed by Luis Salgado (Broadway's On Your Feet!) and Judith Carlisle in Spoon River at The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn. Other roles include: Pope Joan/Nell in Top Girls and Bianca in Paula Vogel's Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief. 

An accomplished voiceover artist, Dana provided the voice for Target’s entire holiday campaign (TV, Radio, Internet) in 2019. Dana is also the voice of the reoccurring character, Flutter, on season 2 of the Nickelodeon/Nick Jr. show Nella the Princess Knight. She has provided commercial voiceover work for many companies including: Google, Chase, Denny’s, Arm & Hammer, Roku, OxiClean, Comcast, and The Whitney Museum of Modern Art. She has enjoyed acting in several commercials - most notably a national ad for the company, Fathead, co-starring with NFL star Odell Beckham, Jr., and a national promo ad for Lifetime TV.

Her television and film work includes a Co-Star role in Season 2 of The Deuce on HBO, principal roles in the award winning features, By Any Means (Triventure Films/dir: Leighton Spence) and About a Donkey (CongestedCat Productions/dir: Christina Raia), the short films Louie's Brother Peter (And/With Creative/dir: Steven Carmona), The Interning (10:30 Productions/Samrat Chakrabarti) and a leading role in Revelations (CongestedCat Productions/dir: Kelsey Rauber).

As a singer, Dana performs regularly in cabarets at various venues including: The Duplex (LaTiDo Productions), Broadway Comedy Club (On The Spot), and The West End Lounge (Once More With Feeling - a Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical parody). She made her Feinstein's/54 Below debut in Hallmarc's A Christmas Murder (dir: Tim Drucker), and has sung for galas at Le Poisson Rouge.