Dana Powell is an American comic actress best known for playing Pam Tucker, Cam's sister, on ''

Modern Family ''Modern Family'' is an American television sitcom, created by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, that aired on ABC for 11 seasons from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. The series follows the lives of three diverse but interrelated fa ...

'' (2013–2019).

Early life and education

Powell grew up in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the List of cities in Missouri, third most populous city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County, Missouri, Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 censu ...

, where she went to Hillcrest High School. She developed an interest in theater after an unsuccessful audition for ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 19 ...

'' as a high school freshman. Her first acting role was the housekeeper in a high school production of ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...

''. After briefly attending

Ozarks Technical Community College Ozarks Technical Community College (OTC) is a public community college in Springfield, Missouri. It was established by Springfield and thirteen surrounding public school districts on April 3, 1990. It has six locations in southern Missouri. St ...

, she earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in theater from

Missouri State University Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second-largest u ...

in 1999. She worked in the newsroom of Springfield 33 (a radio station later known as KSPR) before moving to Los Angeles to study improvisational comedy at the

iO West iO, or iO Chicago, (formerly known as ImprovOlympic) is an improv theater and training center in central Chicago. The theater teaches and hosts performances of improvisational comedy. It was founded in 1981 by Del Close and Charna Halpern. The ...

and the

Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Amy Poehler, Matthew Walsh, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Ad ...

Career

An early television role for Powell was on ''

Reno 911! ''Reno 911!'' is an American television sitcom created by Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney-Silver for Comedy Central. It is a mockumentary-style parody of law enforcement documentary shows, specifically '' Cops'', with comic ...

'' in 2005. She played a flight attendant in the 2011 film ''

Bridesmaids Bridesmaids are members of the bride's party at some Western culture, Western traditional wedding ceremonies. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman and often the bride's close friend or relative. She attends to the bride on the day of a weddi ...

'' and had a recurring role on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

sitcom ''

Suburgatory ''Suburgatory'' is an American television sitcom created by Emily Kapnek that aired on ABC from September 28, 2011, to May 14, 2014. The series originally aired on Wednesday nights at 8:30/7:30 Central following '' The Middle''. The title is a ...

'' (2011–2013). Other guest appearances include on television comedies such as '' Two Broke Girls'', ''

The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...

'', and ''

Veep ''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci. The series follows Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the fictional Vice Pres ...

''. Powell's best-known role is Pameron "Pam" Tucker, the sister of the main character Cameron "Cam" Tucker (

Eric Stonestreet Eric Allen Stonestreet (born September 9, 1971) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Cameron Tucker in the ABC sitcom ''Modern Family'' (2009–2020), for which he received two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Com ...

), on the ABC sitcom ''

''. First appearing in the fifth season episode " Farm Strong" in 2013, she returned for 14 episodes in total. Powell knew Stonestreet from their improvisational comedy days and considered him her "unofficial big brother in real life". Powell has worked in digital advertising as a writer. She and actress Alison Royer hosted the ''Absolute Worst Podcast'' from May 2017 to December 2018. Since 2019, she has hosted ''The Rants and Raves Podcast'' with actress Jessica Young.

Personal life

Powell is married to Dan Tipton, who worked as a production supervisor for ''Modern Family''. They met at Missouri State, and not long after graduation he invited her to move to Los Angeles. They have one son.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Dana Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Springfield, Missouri Actresses from Missouri Missouri State University alumni 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American comedians American film actresses American television actresses American women comedians Comedians from Missouri