Dianna Nyad is an American author, motivational speaker and long distance swimmer.
She was born Dianna Sneed in 1949 in New York. After her parents divorced her mother remarried Aristotle Z. Nyad and he adopted Dianna as his daughter. He was later revealed to be a man with many identities whose real name was Aris Notaras.
Dianna was into swimming through school and college and alongside a career as a writer also took up long distance swimming. In 1975 at the age of 26 she swam around Manhattan Island.
The one swim that she tried many times and repetitively failed was an epic undertaking to swim from Havana, Cuba back to USA. Nyad attempted the swim many times. She first had a go in 1978, but returned to the task in 2011 when she was in her 60s. Finally on her fifth attempt in 2013 she succeeded.
Her story, and that of her business partner Bonnie Stoll, is depicted in the 2023 film NYAD. Annette Benning plays Dianna Nyad, while Bonnie Stoll is portrayed by Jodie Foster.
