Patricia Richardson

Patricia Richardson is an American actress who portrayed Jill Taylor on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement. Born in Bethesda, Maryland, she first worked on Broadway in 1974 as an understudy in Angela Lansbury's Gypsy: A Musical Fable, also taking small chorus parts. She spent the next decade in regional theater, commercials, and Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, with television roles on Kate & Allie, The Equalizer, and Spenser: For Hire. Her film work included Christmas Evil (1980). In 1991 she took the breakout part of Jill Taylor, earning four Primetime Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations. Her first major theatrical film, Ulee's Gold (1997), brought an Independent Spirit Award nomination. She later appeared in Strong Medicine, The West Wing, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Hallmark films such as Snow Bride (2013). She also returned to the stage in Steel Magnolias in 2016.