Didi Conn

Actress and comedienne Didi Conn is beloved worldwide for her iconic role as Frenchy, the bubbly beauty school drop-out, in the hit films “Grease” and “Grease 2.” She celebrated the 25th anniversary of “Grease” by authoring “Frenchy’s Grease Scrapbook: We’ll Always Be Together” (Hyperion) and later returned to the role in a new way—playing Vi in Fox Television’s “Grease: Live!.”

On film, Didi starred in “You Light Up My Life,” “The Magic Show,” “Almost Summer,” and voiced Raggedy Ann in the animated musical “The Adventures of Raggedy Ann & Andy.” She played the title role in the Academy Award-winning short film “Violet” and appeared in “Thomas and the Magic Railroad” (with Alec Baldwin), “Frida,” “Shooting Vegetarians,” “Helen at Risk,” “Oh Baby!,” and “Most Likely to Murder.”

Television audiences know her as a series regular on “The Practice” with Danny Thomas and for her three-season run on the hit sitcom “Benson.” For an entire generation of children—and their parents—she is fondly remembered as Station Mistress Stacy Jones on PBS’s award-winning “Shining Time Station,” a role she played for a decade.

On Broadway, Didi made her debut as Bella in Neil Simon’s Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning “Lost in Yonkers.” She has also been heard as the voice of Gracie Allen in the national tour of “Say Goodnight, Gracie!,” played Smeraldina in Julie Taymor’s “The Green Bird” at the Cort Theatre, and appeared as the Ghost of Christmas Past in “A Christmas Carol” starring Tony Roberts. Her Off-Broadway credits include “Souls of Naples” (with John Turturro, both in New York and at the Mercadante Theatre in Naples, Italy), Israel Horovitz’s “The Primary English Class,” Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” (with Polly Bergen), Nora and Delia Ephron’s “Love, Loss, and What I Wore“ (with Jayne Houdyshell), “The Lesson,” “Hello, I Love You,” and “Consequence.” She also toured for two years with the National Theatre Company’s Mimika Pantomime Troupe.

Didi’s regional theatre credits are equally extensive, including “The Underpants” (Long Wharf & Hartford Stage), the West Coast premiere of John Patrick Shanley’s “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea,” “Birdbath,” “Room Service,” “It Had to Be You,” “Anything Goes,” and “Enter Laughing.” She even made her opera debut as the Duchess of Krakenthorpe in “The Daughter of the Regiment” with the Arizona Opera. For six years, she was a guest actress at Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute Playwrights Lab and co-founded First Stage, a Los Angeles playwrights’ organization.

In 2019, Didi charmed UK audiences as the oldest contestant ever to compete on the British reality series “Dancing on Ice.” More recently, she has appeared on “Blue Bloods” (CBS) and the Amazon Prime comedy-drama “Overcompensating.”

Passionate about advocacy, Didi proudly serves as the national celebrity spokesperson for Autism Speaks.

She and her award-winning husband, composer David Shire, divide their time between New York and Los Angeles, along with their son, Daniel.