Leann Hunley

Leann Hunley is an American television actress born on February 25, 1955. She is widely known for her roles as Anna DiMera on the NBC daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives and Dana Waring on the ABC primetime series Dynasty.

Hunley was raised in Forks, Washington, as the youngest of four siblings. Her mother worked as a beautician, and her father was a commercial fisherman. Prior to her acting career, Hunley worked as an answering service operator and spent time modeling. In 1977, she participated in the Miss Hawaii USA Pageant, finishing as the second runner-up.

Hunley made her television debut during the 1977–78 tenth season of Hawaii Five-O, playing separate characters across two episodes. She subsequently appeared as an unnamed female Colonial Warrior in four episodes of Battlestar Galactica and made guest appearances on Mrs. Columbo and B. J. and the Bear. She went on to secure a regular role on The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, a spinoff of B. J. and the Bear.

In 1982, Hunley joined the cast of Days of Our Lives as Anna DiMera, a role she played until 1986. Her performance in the role earned her a Daytime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 13th Daytime Emmy Awards in 1986. Following this success, she portrayed Dana Waring, the wife of Adam Carrington, for two seasons on the primetime soap opera Dynasty. She later appeared on Aaron Spelling's series Models, Inc.

Throughout her career, Hunley appeared in several prominent television series. In 1998, she played high school English teacher Tamara Jacobs during the first season of Dawson's Creek, portraying a character involved in a tempestuous affair with student Pacey Witter. She portrayed Shira Huntzberger on Gilmore Girls in 2005 and landed guest roles on series including Just Shoot Me!, Strong Medicine, Raising Hope, NCIS, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

After a 21-year hiatus from the role, Hunley returned to Days of Our Lives as Anna on June 21, 2007, recurring on the serial until mid-2010. She rejoined the show for a story arc starting in January 2017 and continued to make appearances on the daytime series as of February 2026. In 2021, she reprised her role as Anna DiMera in the Peacock streaming spinoff series Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem.