Jill Eikenberry

A stately leading lady who projects intelligence, Jill Eikenberry became famous as the female law partner Ann Kelsey on the long-running NBC drama "L.A. Law" (1986-94), alongside her real-life husband Michael Tucker. Born in Connecticut and raised in Wisconsin and Missouri, Eikenberry was studying anthropology when a friend encouraged her to audition at Yale. By 1970, Eikenberry was a member of the Arena Stage where she met Tucker (whom she married in 1973). Within a few years, the couple had relocated to Manhattan where Eikenberry made her Broadway debut in "All Over Town" (1974), directed by Dustin Hoffman. She garnered praise for her performance as Kate, who dreams of a career as lawyer for the Justice Department, in Wendy Wasserstein's "Uncommon Women and Others" (which she reprised in a 1978 PBS broadcast) and for her musical turn as suffragette Victoria Woodhull in "Onward, Victoria" (1980). Eikenberry earned an OBIE Award for her work in "Lemon Sky" and "Life Under Water" in 1986.