About
After starring as Tzeitel in the 1964 Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof, Merlin became a theatrical casting director and a television and film actress. Her best-known screen credits include Judge Lena Petrovsky on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Mrs. Arujo in Mystic Pizza.
Before Fame
After earning a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, she trained with acting teacher Michael Chekhov. She first appeared on screen in the 1956 film The Ten Commandments; her professional stage debut was in the 1961 Broadway production of Becket.
Trivia
She taught in the Master of Fine Arts-Acting program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. In 2013, she appeared in an episode of the crime drama series Homeland.
Family Life
Born Joann Ratner, she grew up in Chicago, Illinois as the daughter of Toni Merlin and Harry Ratner. Following a brief marriage to Martin Lubner, she wed David Dretzin.
Associated With
She served as the casting director for Follies, A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, and several other Stephen Sondheim musicals.
