Gail Ann O'Grady (born January 23, 1963) is an American television actress.

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. Married and divorced six times, O'Grady gave birth to her first child, son Michael Colton, in 2004.

Career

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's also 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. NBC announced late in 2005 that the series would be cancelled.

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 an underage teen.

She has made recent appearances on The Mentalist, CSI: Miami, and Law and Order: SVU.