Judith Ivey

Judith Lee Ivey (born September 4, 1951) is an American actress and theatre director. She has twice won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Steaming and Hurlyburly (1984). She also received Best Actress In A Play nomination for Park Your Car in Harvard Yard (1992) and another Best Featured Actress in a Play nomination for The Heiress. Ivey made her big screen debut playing the female lead role in the 1984 romantic comedy film, The Lonely Guy. She later appeared in the comedy films The Woman in Red (1984), Compromising Positions (1985), Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986), Sister, Sister (1987), and the drama films The Devil's Advocate (1997) and Women Talking (2022), for which she received critical acclaim. On television, Ivey played the leading role in the NBC sitcom Down Home (1990-91), and played Bonnie Jean "BJ" Poteet during the final season of CBS sitcom Designing Women (1992-93). For her role in the television film 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 and education Judith Lee Ivey was born on September 4, 1951, in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Nathan Aldean Ivey, a college instructor and dean, and Dorothy Lee (née Lewis; 1922—2023), a teacher.

From 1965 to 1968, she attended Union High School through tenth grade in Dowagiac, Michigan. She graduated from Marion High School in Marion, Illinois, in 1970, and then attended John A. Logan College, Southern Illinois University (Carbondale), and Illinois State University in 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 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. 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. She is now married to Tim Braine, and they have two children.

Filmography Film

Television Stage Year Title Role Notes 1979 Bedroom Farce Kate (Replacement) Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Broadway 1981 Piaf Madeleine Plymouth Theatre, Broadway 1982 Steaming Josie Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Broadway 1984 Hurlyburly Bonnie Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway 1986 Precious Sons Bea Longacre Theatre, Broadway 1987 Blithe Spirit Ruth Neil Simon Theatre, Broadway 1991 Park Your Car in Harvard Yard Kathleen Hogan Music Box Theatre, Broadway 1999 Voices in the Dark Lil Longacre Theatre, Broadway 2001 Follies Sally Durant Plummer Belasco Theatre, Broadway 2009 The Lady With All the Answers Ann Landers Cherry Lane Theatre, Off-Broadway 2010 The Glass Menagerie Amanda Wingfield Laura Pels Theatre, Off-Broadway 2012 The Heiress Lavinia Penniman Walter Kerr Theatre, Broadway 2015 The Audience Margaret Thatcher Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, Broadway 2016 Out of the Mouths of Babes Evvie Cherry Lane Theatre, Off-Broadway 2017 Fireflies Grace Bodell Long Wharf Theater 2019 Greater Clements Maggie Lincoln Center Theatre, Off-Broadway