Gail O'Grady Biography

Gail Ann O'Grady (born January 23, 1963) is an American television actress. She is best known for her roles as Donna Abandando on NYPD Blue and as Helen Pryor on American Dreams. She was a series regular on the The CW Comedy-drama series Hellcats, playing the mother of the Marti Perkins, called Wanda Perkins, before Hellcats was subsequently cancelled in May 2011.

Personal life

O'Grady was born in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Jan and Jim O'Grady, a financial planner. She was raised in Wheaton, Illinois, and graduated from Wheaton North High School in 1981. She appeared in a few commercials before moving to Los Angeles in 1986. After breaking up with artist Robert Claypool, she sought a restraining order against him in 1995, claiming he was stalking her, but did not obtain one. He responded by suing her for defamation, libel, and slander. Married and divorced six times, O'Grady gave birth to her first child, son Michael Colton O'Grady, in 2004, named after her late brother.

Career

O'Grady began her career making commercials. In one, she played the neighbor for whom Michael J. Fox's character chased down a Diet Pepsi. In time, she began making guest appearances, often as a villain.

Her first major role was as Donna Abandando on the police drama NYPD Blue. O'Grady played the big-haired squad secretary from 1993 to 1996, and for each year received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. O'Grady left the series in 1996, and made a pilot for her own sitcom, The Gail O'Grady Project, but the show was not picked up by any of the networks. She has made appearances on the hit CBS sitcom, Two and a Half Men as Mandi, Kandi's mom in "Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Burro"; and also appeared in the final episode of Designing Women, playing the trophy wife of a business rival of Judith Ivey's character, B.J. Poteet.

O'Grady found success starring in numerous television movies, including The Three Lives of Karen, Another Woman's Husband, Sex & the Single Mom, Every 9 Seconds, and Lip Service.

From 2002 to 2005, she played the mother, Helen Pryor, in the NBC television series American Dreams, which depicted an all-American family living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the 1960s. In 2007, she began a recurring role on Boston Legal as Gloria Weldon, a judge in a personal relationship with attorney Alan Shore.

She also had a supporting role on the short-lived CW teenage drama series, Hidden Palms. On September 4, 2008 Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello reported that she was joining Desperate Housewives as a guest star who is having an affair with the character Porter Scavo (at that point a teenager). She has made recent appearances on The Mentalist, CSI: Miami, and Law and Order: SVU.

She was a regular character on the 2010 CW cheerleader TV series Hellcats, playing Wanda, the mother of the main character.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Matlock	Julia McCullough	2 episodes, 1986"1990
1987	Werewolf	Victim in VW	TV
	Billionaire Boys Club	Judy	TV
1988	Blackout	Caroline Boyle	aka The Attic
	She's Having a Baby	Laura
	In the Heat of the Night	Pauline Slade	1 episode
	China Beach	Georgia Lee	2 episodes
1989	Nobody's Perfect	Shelly
	Superboy	Victoria Letour	1 episode
1990	Cheers	Laura Walton	1 episode
1990	Anything But Love	Unknown	1 episode
	People Like Us	Rebecca Bailey	TV
	Hardball	Unknown	1 episode
	Parker Kane	Cindy Ellis	TV
1991	The Hit Man	Sara	TV
1992	Spellcaster	Jackie
	Murder, She Wrote	Robin Dishman	1 episode
1993	Time Trax	Kristen	1 episode
	Designing Women	Kiki Kearney	2 episodes
	Silk Stalkings	Betty Whitburn-Marks	1 episode
1994	Burke's Law	Patricia Stone	1 episode
1995	She Stood Alone: The Tailhook Scandal	Lt. Paula Coughlin	TV
	Trail By Fire	Paulette Gill	TV
	Nothing Lasts Forever	Dr. Page Taylor	TV
1996	The Gail O'Grady Project	Herself	TV
	Celtic Pride	Carol O'Hara	Film
	Promised Land	Pam Riley	1 episode
1997	That Old Feeling	Rowena	Film
	The Three Lives of Karen	Karen Winthrop/Emily Riggs/Cindy Last	TV
	Two Voices	Kathleen Anneken	aka Two Small Voices; TV
	Every 9 Seconds	Janet	TV
	Medusa's Child	Vivan Henry	TV
1999	Two of Hearts	Molly Saunders	TV
	NYPD Blue	Donna Abandando	58 episodes; 1993"1999 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Nominated-Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (1994, 1995, 1996) Nominated-Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated-Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (1996, 1997)
	Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo	Claire	Film
	Walking Across Egypt	Elaine Rigsbee	aka Leading with Her Heart (USA: TV title)
2000	Sleep Easy, Hutch Rimes	Olivia Wise
	Another Woman's Husband	Susan Miller	TV
	Out of Sync	Maggie Stanley	TV; aka Lip Service
2001	Hostage Negotiator	Thersea Foley
	Ally McBeal	Helena Fisher	1 episode
2002	Hope Ranch	June Anderson	TV Movie
2003	Lucky 7	Rachel Myer
	Sex & the Single Mom	Jess Gradwell	TV Movie
2004	The Sure Hand of God	Molly Bowser
	Tricks	Jane
2005	More Sex & the Single Mom	Jess Gradwell	TV Movie
	American Dreams	Helen Pryor	61 episodes; 2002"2005 Nominated-Young Artist Award for Most Popular Mom & Pop in a Television Series (shared with Tom Verica)
	Mayday	Anne Metz
	Hot Properties	Ava Summerlin	13 episodes
2006	Two and a Half Men	Mandi	2 episodes
2007	Hidden Palms	Karen Hardy	8 episodes
	Monk	Miranda St.Claire/Lovely Rita	3 episodes; 2002"2007
	While the Children Sleep	Meghan Eastman	TV Movie
	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Mrs.Rowe	1 episode
	Las Vegas	Erin Hudson	1 episode
	Boston Legal	Judge Gloria Weldon	7 episodes
	Cane	Senator Finch	1 episode
	All I Want for Christmas	Sarah Armstrong	TV Movie
2008	The Mentalist	Juniper Tolliver	1 episode
	An American Carol	Jane Wagstaffe
	CSI: Miami	Dr. Rachel Marsh	1 episode
	Desperate Housewives	Anne Schilling	4 episodes
	Empire State	Laurel Cochrane	TV Movie
2009	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Ruth Walker	1 episode
	The House That Jack Built	Hannah
	Living Out Loud	Emily	TV Movie
	Ghost Whisperer	Karen Westen	1 episode
	True Jackson, VP	Sophie Girard	2 episodes
	Circle	Dr. Green	completed
	The Deep End	Susan Oppenheim	1 episode
	CSI: NY	Millie Taylor	1 episode
2010"2011	Hellcats	Wanda Perkins	Main role
	Celebrity Ghost Stories	Herself	1 episode