Joan Holden was born on 18 January 1939 in Berkeley, California, USA. She was married to Arthur Holden. She died on 19 January 2024 in San Francisco, California, USA.
She translated and adapted Beaumarchais' musical, "The Marriage of Figaro," in an American Conservatory Theatre production in San Francisco, California. Robert E. T. White was director.
She was awarded the 2002 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Distinguished Adaptation for "Nickel and Dimed" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.