Dana Welles Delany (born March 13, 1956) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She is known for her role as Colleen McMurphy on the ABC television show China Beach (1988–91), in more recent times as Katherine Mayfair on Desperate Housewives and, as a voice-actress, Lois Lane in the DC Animated Universe as well as the TV series The Batman. Delany has been active in film, television, and stage since the late 1970s.

Delany was born in New York City. She has remarked that, even as a child, she always wanted to go into acting. "The reason a person first gets into acting is because you want attention from your parents as a child," she told a reporter. In her childhood, she went with her family to many Broadway shows, and was fascinated by films.

After growing up in Stamford, Connecticut, she attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts for her senior year, and was a member of the school's first co-educational class. "Andover was the best time of my life," she recalled. She played the lead role of Nellie Forbush in the school's spring musical production of South Pacific. She commented: "It was just a little awkward to be Nellie at first because she hesitates to marry Emile since he had once lived with a Polynesian woman -- I don't agree with her reasoning so that made things a bit hard at the beginning." She graduated in 1974 with the academic honor of "cum laude" which was awarded to 80 out of 378 graduating seniors. She majored in theater at Wesleyan University, worked in summer stock productions during vacations, and graduated in 1978.