Gail O’Grady

After ending up on the editing room floor in her first feature, "Three Amigos" (1986), Gail O'Grady enjoyed the attention she received as the woman in a series of Diet Pepsi ads for whom Michael J. Fox almost literally goes through hell and high water. O'Grady kept busy in guest spots on a variety of TV shows including "Matlock," "Cheers" and "China Beach" (dueting on "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" with fellow guest star Nancy Sinatra) and played Chad Lowe's leading lady in the cross-dressing teen comedy, "Nobody's Perfect" (1989). TV-movies such as "Parker Kane" (1990) and "The Hit Man" (1991) began to come her way, and O'Grady got a break when she joined the cast of the controversial police drama series, "NYPD Blue" (1993-96) during its first season. Her warm-hearted secretary Donna eventually began an affair with Det. Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) and managed to avoid being pigeonholed as a stereotypical dumb blonde.

O'Grady enjoyed reliable television and film roles after her stint on "NYPD Blue" ended, appearing in such diverse films as the popular comedy "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" (1999) and the TV movie drama "Another Woman's Husband" (2000). In 2002, O'Grady was cast in the promising NBC 1960's drama "American Dreams," as the mother of a 15 year old daughter whose dream is to appear on American Bandstand.