Nancy Daly Will Receive Actors' Equity Foundation's Patrick Quinn Award

The Actors' Equity Foundation has announced the final recipient of its awards for 2025: Nancy Daly for the Patrick Quinn Award for Distinguished Service to Actors; this award honors an individual who has worked tirelessly for the betterment of actors and stage managers.

In addition to serving on Equity's National Council for many years, Daly was a strike captain for the recent SAG-AFTRA strike and has dedicated much of her time to raising awareness and funds in the arts community in the fight against Alzheimer's and dementia. She is the founder of Actors & Artists Unite 2 End Alzheimer's, the only non-corporate grassroots National Team for the Walk to End Alzheimer's, which has raised over $380,000 for the Alzheimer's Association.

“Nancy Daly is a passionate and empathetic dynamo,” said Tom Miller, who nominated Daly for this award. “Her respect and support for all within the industry are honorable qualities we should celebrate, making her an exceptional candidate for the Patrick Quinn Award.”

Previously announced Actors' Equity Foundation Awards for this year are:

• The Richard Seff Award for veteran actors: Jessica Hecht and Francis Jue
• The Clarence Derwent Award for promising performers: Nicholas Barasch and Julia Lester
• The Joe A. Callaway Award for the performances in a classical play: Steven Epp and Kimber Elayne Sprawl
• The Michael McCarty Recognition Award for Los Angeles-based Equity theatre actors: Jennifer Leigh Warren
• The Paul Robeson Award, the humanitarian award jointly administered by the Foundation and Actors' Equity Association: Leslie Ishii

The Foundation will hold a ceremony to present these awards on June 23 at Green Fig in New York City, also to be livestreamed. That ceremony will also include the Actors' Equity Association's ACCA Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus (winners to be announced).

Nancy Daly is very deeply honored and humbled to be given the Patrick Quinn Distinguished Service to Actors Award by the Actors' Equity Foundation. "We Take Care of Our Own" - that is the foundation of all her service work. Nancy was very proud to serve as an Actors' Equity National Councilor from 2005 to 2010 and 2013 to 2020. In 2023, Nancy walked the lines for all 192 days of the Writers' and Actors Strike – 118 of them as a SAG-AFTRA Strike Captain.

She is very grateful to her fellow Equity Councilors, members of the Equity and now SAG-AFTRA staff and National Board for their support as she founded what became Actors & Artists Unite 2 End Alzheimer's – a National Team for the Walk to end Alzheimer's sponsored by the Alzheimer's Association. AA Unite is the only non-corporate grass roots National Team for the Alzheimer's Walk and has raised over $380,000.

She graduated from Smith College and trained in London at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. She has worked in many Regional Theaters – including Arena Stage, Shakespeare Theatre, Delaware Theatre Co, Virginia Stage Co, New Playwrights Theater, Maryland Shakespeare Festival, Washington Stage Guild, and many more. She began her film career as Jennifer Jason-Leigh's romantic maid, Maureen, in "Washington Square." She has worked in dozens of leading and supporting roles in films- including the sympathetic nurse to Frances McDormand's Lady Macbeth in Joel Coen's "The Tragedy of Macbeth"; the determined annoyed passenger who "Shhhh!"d Brad Pitt in David Leitch's Bullet Train; Linda, the loyal secretary to Matt Damon in George Clooney's Suburbicon and many more. She has appeared in numerous TV shows including NCIS, LOOT, The Kids Are Alright, Criminal Minds, Playing House, Scrubs, Joey, Homicide – Life on the Streets and is a guest star in the upcoming Ballard on Amazon Prime in July and a recurring guest star in The Boroughs, which starts streaming on Netflix in January 2026.

She is a playwright and solo show artist. Her first solo show, Massage on the Flip Side – Beating Up the Naked People was performed around LA from 2007 10 2010. She wrote and performed her One Woman Show What if I Fly? at the Zephyr Theatre in 2021. What if I Fly? is dedicated to her father, CDR Frederick Daly, who died from the effects of dementia and the early stages of Alzheimer's in 2019. Her AA Unite team was founded for her father in honor of the four women in her family who died from the effects of Alzheimer's or dementia. She promised her father, "A cure in our lifetime! I promise you, Dad- we'll find it!" Sadly, he died before a cure was found. Now, Nancy works that much harder and walks that much further to keep her half of that promise – "a cure in mine." Being of service and a cure for Alzheimer's is her other life's work. The motto of her AA Unite National Team is "When actors and artists unite – the world can shift!" And it has!

She is very thankful to be honored in memory of Patrick Quinn, former Actors' Equity President and a very dear and cherished friend.