Dana Delany was born in New York City. After growing up in Connecticut, she attended Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, then Wesleyan University.

Her early career included a TV role on Love of Life (1979), performing on Broadway in A Life (1980), then back to TV on As the World Turns (1981). The west coast production of the controversial play Bloodmoon (1983–84) took Dana to Hollywood. The next few years consisted of small parts in various films and TV guest spots, including an appearance on Moonlighting (1985) and three notable episodes on Magnum P.I. (1986).

Leveraging this newfound fame, she appeared in feature films such as Light Sleeper (1992), Housesitter (1992), Tombstone (1993), and Fly Away Home (1996) and TV movies such as Promise to Keep (1991), and Wild Palms (1993).

She took on controversial roles, such as Margaret Sanger in the TV movie Choices of the Heart (1995), Mistress Lisa in the 1994 feature film Exit to Eden (adapted from the Anne Rice book), and an Emmy nominated role as a gun-owning mother in an episode of the TV series Family Law (1999) (which was not rerun, due to sponsorship withdrawal).

During this period, she found time to get back to the stage, on and off Broadway, in Translations (1995, Broadway), Dinner With Friends (2000, New York City, Los Angeles, Boston), and Much Ado About Nothing (2003, San Diego).

From 2004 to 2006, Delany played many guest roles on TV shows such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Boston Legal, Kojak, Related, The L Word, and Battlestar Galactica. Dana also starred in the short-lived TV series Kidnapped (2006).

In 2007, Delany took parts in the films A Beautiful Life, Camp Hope, and Multiple Sarcasms, and then joined the cast of the TV series Desperate Housewives for the 2007/2008 season.