Joan Ryan originated the role of Judy Denmark/Ginger Del Marco in the Los Angeles production of Ruthless! at the Canon Theatre.  “Joan Ryan is brilliant” wrote the L.A. Weekly, while Drama-Logue penned her “one of the most gifted actors around.”  Joan’s four-octave range has led to numerous diversified leading roles in Little Shop of Horrors, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Footloose,The Mass, Nunsense II, Angry Housewives, Nite Club Confidential, Suds, Elegies – Stories From The Quilt, Hidden Broadway and the West Coast premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s Anyone Can Whistle.  Joan has also been featured in the annual S.T.A.G.E. benefit, for the past several years including those saluting George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz,  Lerner, Loewe and Lane, Andrew Lloyd Weber and Comden and Greene.

Joan’s self-titled debut solo recording *JOAN RYAN which features an eclectic mix of standards and new material, continues to remain a best-seller throughout the country.  Her unique vocal rendition and arrangement of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic Shall We Dance? was heard nightly in the U.S. touring production of Smucker’s Stars on Ice .. Time, A Theatrical Adventure produced by Olympic legend Scott Hamilton.  Joan also appeared on the Today Show in March, 2004 to sing the song live.

Her numerous recordings include the cast album of Ruthless!  (Varese Sarabande),  George and Ira Gershwin – A Musical Celebration (MCA), Sondheim: A Celebration (Varese Sarabande), Lerner, Loewe, Lane and Friends ( Varese Sarabande)               

During May, 2004, Joan’s JOAN RYAN And A Few Good Men premiered to sold-out audiences at Michael Feinstein’s supper club … Feinstein’s at The Cinegrill located in the legendary Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.  Don Heckman of the Los Angeles Times wrote “A musical-theatre veteran with an impressive vocal instrument and far-reaching interpretive skills, she was a mesmerizing performer, moving smoothly from larger-than-life drama to small, captivating emotional moments.  Each number was rendered with exquisite understanding of the music and the lyrics, bringing both elements together to penetrate into the heart of her material.  In doing so, Ryan’s interpretive span was remarkable.”  

In addition, Joan has performed her critically-acclaimed one-woman-show across the country.  Rex Reed exclaimed, “In the musical clutter, Joan Ryan has a voice that soars through the air like a crack of new sun...She's a trumpet, she’s an angel, she’s the music that makes me dance!

Ms. Ryan, along with Toby Stone, founded the successful voice-over company Sounds Great.  Their credits include Criminal Minds Crossing Jordan, Seventh Heaven, Medium,  One Tree Hill, American Dreams, Dreamer, Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow, Shaggy Dog , Scent Of A Woman, Annie, and the Emmy-Award winning HBO series, Tracey Takes On, starring Tracey Ullman.  

In August, 2004, Ms. Ryan made her featured debut at the Hollywood Bowl in Leonard Bernstein’s Mass.   Directed by Gordon Hunt, the presentation was a first at the world renowned venue.  In February, 2005, she also made her debut at the Orange County Performing Arts Center for a five night, sold-out engagement as special guest star in Three Men & a Baby Grand! A Salute to The Rat Pack with Lee Lessack, Brian Lane Green, and Johnny Rodgers; as well as her debut at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles where she sang the National Anthem for the world famous Harlem Globe Trotters and their World Tour engagement in Los Angeles. She co-starred in the popular musical Footloose at the Kansas City Starlight Theatre and began 2006 by headlining at the San Gabriel Valley Civic Auditorium for the San Gabriel Valley Music Theatre; returned to the STAPLES Center to sing the National Anthem for the Los Angeles Lakers; appeared twice in concert in San Francisco; and co-starred in The Music of Andrew Lloyd Weber in Chicago.   

Prior to making Los Angeles her home base, Joan spent two seasons with the American Conservatory in San Francisco where she appeared in such productions as The Taming Of The Shrew, Cyrano De Bergerac and A Doll’s House.  Television audiences will recognize Joan from her roles on The Young and The Restless, Saved By The Bell and Chicago Hope, among others.