Joy Tanner (born March 7, 1966) is an American-born Canadian actress, who is known for roles such as George Fayne in the 1995 Nancy Drew TV series, Jill Stone in Cold Squad,^[1][2] and Nora McDonald Venturi in four seasons of the sitcom Life with Derek^[3] and its movie finale Vacation with Derek.^[4] She also provided the voice of Candy Kong in the animated television series Donkey Kong Country.^[5]

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Tanner is adopted. Information on her birthplace varies, some sources state she was born in Rochester, New York^{[citation needed]} while others, including IMDb, state she was born in Buffalo, New York.

Tanner earned an honors B.A. from SUNY Potsdam, worked with Tony Award-winning director Warren Enters at SUNY Buffalo and has her diploma from the British America Drama Academy (London and Oxford, UK). In 2021, she earned a masters degree from the University of Toronto’s Centre For Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies. She was filming Locke & Key for Netflix at that time. She is a PhD student at York University.^{[citation needed]}

After moving to Canada, she began her career in film. She augmented her acting career with commercials in Canada and was the star in the Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmacy commercials also playing Wonder Woman in a Listerine spot (1998–2000).^[6] She was nominated for a Gemini Award in 2007 for her guest role on ReGenesis^[7] in the episode "Let It Burn". She also had a recurring role on Degrassi: The Next Generation^[3] as Mrs. Coyne.

Tanner was pregnant with her son during the filming of the first season of the Family Channel sitcom Life With Derek, in which she portrayed Nora MacDonald. She gave birth in 2005. She revisited her role of Nora in the Shaftesbury production of Life With Luca for Canada’s Family Channel.