Early 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.

Career

O'Grady began her career as model for Montgomery Ward and making several 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. She made her big screen debut in the 1988 romantic comedy She's Having a Baby, and later was cast in recurring role of ABC drama China Beach opposite Dana Delany. She also guest starred on several other shows, and appeared in made for television and independent movies.

Her first major role was as Donna Abandando on the ABC 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. Along with cast, she won Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 1995. 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.

After leaving NYPD Blue, O'Grady began starring in numerous television movies for Lifetime and other networks, including The Three Lives of Karen (1997), Two Voices (1997), Every 9 Seconds (1997), Two of Hearts (1999), Another Woman's Husband (2000), Lip Service (2000), Hostage Negotiator (2001), Hope Ranch (2002), Lucky 7 (2003), Sex and the Single Mom (2003), and More Sex & the Single Mom (2005).

From 2002 to 2005, O'Grady starred as Helen Pryor, in the NBC television series American Dreams, which depicted an all-American family living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the 1960s. The series was canceled after three seasons. In fall 2005, O'Grady was lead actress in the ABC comedy series Hot Properties. The series was canceled after 13 episodes. In 2006, she guest starred on Two and a Half Men, and in 2007 had a recurring role on Boston Legal as Gloria Weldon, a judge in a personal relationship with attorney Alan Shore. Also in 2007, she starred in the Hallmark Channel movie All I Want for Christmas.

O'Grady had series regular roles on the short-lived CW series, Hidden Palms as Karen Hardy in 2007, and on Hellcats, playing Wanda Perkins, the mother of the main character from 2010 to 2011. In 2008, she had a recurring role on ABC series Desperate Housewives as Anne Schilling, a woman who is having an affair with the character Porter Scavo (at that point a teenager). She also has made appearances on Monk, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Mentalist, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Drop Dead Diva, Hawaii Five-0, and Castle. She also was cast in major recurring role as Conrad's first wife on ABC primetime soap opera Revenge, opposite Madeleine Stowe.

Personal life

O'Grady has been married six times. 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. In 2004, before her sixth marriage to John Stamatkis, O'Grady gave birth to her first child with Chris Byers, son Michael Colton O'Grady, named after her late brother.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Billionaire Boys Club	Judy	Television film
1988	She's Having a Baby	Laura
1988	Blackout	Caroline Boyle
1988	Spellcaster	Jackie
1990	Nobody's Perfect	Shelly
1990	People Like Us	Rebecca Bailey	Television film
1990	Parker Kane	Cindy Ellis	Television film
1991	The Hit Man	Sara	Television film
1995	She Stood Alone: The Tailhook Scandal	Lt. Paula Coughlin	Television film
1995	Trial by Fire	Paulette Gill	Television film
1995	Nothing Lasts Forever	Dr. Page Taylor	Television film
1996	Celtic Pride	Carol O'Hara
1997	That Old Feeling	Rowena
1997	The Three Lives of Karen	Karen Winthrop / Emily Riggs / Cindy Last	Television film
1997	Two Voices	Kathleen Anneken	Television film
1997	Every 9 Seconds	Janet	Television film
1997	Medusa's Child	Vivian Henry	Television film
1999	Two of Hearts	Molly Saunders	Television film
1999	Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo	Claire
1999	Walking Across Egypt	Elaine Rigsbee
2000	Another Woman's Husband	Susan Miller	Television film
2000	Out of Sync	Maggie Stanley	Television film
2001	Hostage Negotiator	Theresa Foley	Television film
2002	Hope Ranch	June Andersen	Television film
2003	Lucky 7	Rachel Myer	Television film
2003	Sex and the Single Mom	Jess Gradwell	Television film
2004	The Sure Hand of God	Molly Bowser
2004	Tricks	Jane
2004	Sleep Easy, Hutch Rimes	Olivia Wise
2005	More Sex & the Single Mom	Jess Gradwell	Television film
2005	Mayday	Anne Metz	Television film
2007	While the Children Sleep	Meghan Eastman	Television film
2007	All I Want for Christmas	Sara Armstrong	Television film
2008	An American Carol	Jane Wagstaffe
2009	The House That Jack Built	Hannah
2009	Living Out Loud	Emily Marshall	Television film
2010	Circle	Dr. Green
2010	After the Fall	Dr. Susan Miles	Television film
2011	ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2	Nancy
2013	Shadow on the Mesa	Mona Eastman	Television film
2013	The Minister's Wife (a.k.a. Sins of the Preacher)	Susan Parker	Television film
2013	The Mystery Cruise	Alvirah Meehan	Television film
2014	Enough About Jack	Gail	Television film
2014	Mothers of the Bride	Debra Wolf
2015	Justice Served	Dr. Helen Florentine	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986-1990	Matlock	Julia McCullough	2 episodes
1987	Werewolf	Victim in VW	Episode: "Werewolf"
1988	In the Heat of the Night	Pauline Slade	Episode: "Road Kill"
1988	China Beach	Georgia Lee	Episodes: "Pilot" and "Chao Ong"
1989	Superboy	Victoria Letour	Episode: "Hollywood"
1990	Cheers	Laura Walton	Episode: "Finally!: Part 1"
1990	Anything But Love	N/A	Episode: "Three Men on a Match"
1990	Hardball	N/A	Episode: "Prescription for Murder"
1992	Murder, She Wrote	Robin Dishman	Episode: "Badge of Honor"
1993	Time Trax	Kristen	Episode: "Fire and Ice "
1993	Designing Women	Kiki Kearney	2 episodes
1993	Silk Stalkings	Betty Whitburn-Marks	Episode: "Crime of Love"
1994	Burke's Law	Patricia Stone	Episode: "Who Killed the Anchorman?"
1996	Promised Land	Pam Riley	Episode: "The Prodigy"
1993-1999	NYPD Blue	Donna Abandando	51 episodes 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 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 Nominated—Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Drama Series
1996	The Gail O'Grady Show	Gail	Unsold TV pilot
2001	Ally McBeal	Helena Fisher	Episode: "Home Again"
2002-2005	American Dreams	Helen Pryor	61 episodes
2002	Monk	Miranda St. Claire	2 episodes
2005	Hot Properties	Ava Summerlin	13 episodes
2006	Two and a Half Men	Mandi	2 episodes
2007	Hidden Palms	Karen Hardy	8 episodes
2007	Monk	Lovely Rita	Episode: "Mr. Monk and the Birds and the Bees"
2007	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Mrs. Towne	Episode: "The Case of the Cross-Dressing Carp "
2007	Las Vegas	Erin Hudson	Episode: "It's Not Easy Being Green"
2007	Boston Legal	Judge Gloria Weldon	7 episodes
2007	Cane	Senator Finch	Episode: "The Exile"
2008	The Mentalist	Juniper Tolliver	Episode: "Pilot"
2008	CSI: Miami	Dr. Rachel Marsh	Episode: "And How Does That Make You Kill?"
2008	Desperate Housewives	Anne Schilling	4 episodes
2009	Empire State	Laurel Cochrane	Unsold TV pilot
2009	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Ruth Walker	Episode: "Selfish"
2009	Ghost Whisperer	Karen Westen	Episode: "Endless Love"
2009	True Jackson, VP	Sophie Girard	Episode: "Back to School"
2009	CSI: NY	Millie Taylor	Episode: "Blacklist"
2010	The Forgotten	Kerry Denver	Episode: "My John"
2010	Drop Dead Diva	Mrs. Thomas	Episode: "Bad Girls"
2010	The Deep End	Susan Oppenheim	Unsold TV pilot
2010-2011	Hellcats	Wanda Perkins	18 episodes
2011	Memphis Beat	Chloe Archer	Episode: "Ten Little Memphians"
2011	Necessary Roughness	Anne Marie	Episode: "Baggage Claim"
2011	Hawaii Five-0	Sharon Archer	Episode: "Alaheo Pau'ole"
2013	Castle	Margo Gower	Episode: "Reality Star Struck"
2013	Rules of Engagement	Joan	Episode: "Cupcake"
2013	Major Crimes	Anne Brand	Episode: "Boys Will Be Boys"
2013	The Crazy Ones	Hannah Sharples	Episode: "Pilot"
2014-2015	Revenge	Stevie Grayson	11 episodes

[ Source: Wikipedia ]