Judith Ivey

Judith Lee Ivey (born September 4, 1951) is an American actress and theatre director. She twice won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performances in "Steaming" (1981) and "Hurlyburly" (1984). Ivey also appeared in several films and television series. For her role in "What the Deaf Man Heard" (1997), she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.
Early life.
Ivey was born in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Nathan Aldean Ivey, a college instructor and dean and Dorothy Lee (née Lewis), a teacher. 
She spent 1965–68 in Dowagiac, Michigan, where she attended Union High School through tenth grade. She graduated from Marion High School in Marion, Illinois, in 1970, and is an alumna of John A. Logan College, Southern Illinois University (Carbondale), and Illinois State University (Normal, Illinois).
Career.
Ivey won two Tony Awards as Best Featured Actress in a Play for "Steaming" in 1983 and "Hurlyburly" in 1985. She was also nominated for "Park Your Car in Harvard Yard" in 1992 and a revival of "The Heiress" in 2013. Other Broadway theatre credits include "Piaf", "Bedroom Farce", "Blithe Spirit", Voices in the Dark, and "Follies".
She portrayed Amanda in "The Glass Menagerie" at the Long Wharf Theatre and reprised the role in March 2010 at the Roundabout Theatre in New York, as well as the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. She received the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Actress for that portrayal. Ivey portrayed Ann Landers in the solo play "The Lady With All the Answers" at the Cherry Lane Theatre (off-Broadway) in October 2009. She was nominated for Best Solo Performance for the Lucille Lortel Award and Drama Desk Award. In 2016, she returned to the Cherry Lane Theatre in Israel Horovitz's play "Out Of The Mouths Of Babes" with Estelle Parsons, directed by Barnet Kellman.
Ivey has appeared in numerous films, including "Brighton Beach Memoirs", "Miles from Home", "Compromising Positions", "Harry & Son", "The Woman in Red", "Sister, Sister", "In Country", "Hello Again", "The Lonely Guy", "There Goes the Neighborhood", "The Devil's Advocate", "What Alice Found", and "Flags of Our Fathers". 
Despite a long history of theater and film performances, Ivey is often associated with the role of B.J. Poteet in the final season of "Designing Women". She appeared on "Will & Grace" as the mother of Dr. Leo Markus, and also appeared on "Grey's Anatomy", "Person of Interest", "White Collar", "Nurse Jackie", "Big Love", and "". 
Other television roles include starring roles as Kate McCrorey in the 1990–91 series "Down Home", set in a Texas coastal town, Alexandra Buchanan in the short-lived series "The 5 Mrs. Buchanans", and "Buddies" with Dave Chappelle. Ivey was also in the 1985 TV remake of "The Long Hot Summer", in the role of Noel Varner (Joanne Woodward's role in the 1958 film version). The miniseries also starred Jason Robards and Don Johnson. Ivey was nominated for an Emmy for her performance in "What the Deaf Man Heard", a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation. She also provided the voice of Eleanor Sherman in the animated series "The Critic". Ivey appeared in the television miniseries "Rose Red" (based on a Stephen King novel) as Cathy, one of the psychics investigating a haunted house.
Personal life.
Ivey was married to actor Ricardo Gutierrez. They divorced before her move to New York. She is now married to Tim Braine and the couple have two children. Ivey has a sister and a brother, Sara and James, respectively. Sara is a writer/producer/director who lives in Dallas, Texas, and James is a former professor of theater at the State University of New York at Fredonia.