Gail O'Grady

Gail O'Grady is an American actress and producer whose work has been mostly in television. Born in Detroit and raised in Wheaton, Illinois, she began as a model for Montgomery Ward and in commercials, then moved to Los Angeles in 1986. Early guest appearances, often as a villain, came before her film debut in 1988 with the romantic comedy She's Having a Baby. She played Donna Abandando, the squad secretary on the police drama NYPD Blue, from 1993 to 1996, earning three Emmy nominations for supporting actress in a drama series and a Screen Actors Guild ensemble award in 1995. Her films include Celtic Pride (1996), That Old Feeling (1997), Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999) and Walking Across Egypt (1999). She starred as Helen Pryor in the NBC series American Dreams from 2002 to 2005, and her television movies include Another Woman's Husband (2000), Sex and the Single Mom (2003) and All I Want for Christmas (2007).