caption years_active birth_place name birth_date spouse image article_title education birth_name occupation alma_mater
light in 2001 1968 -- present trenton , new jersey , u.s. judith light 9 february 1949 robert desiderio -lrb- 1985 -- present -rrb- judith light headshot.jpg judith light
 st. mary 's hall-doane academy judith ellen light actress carnegie mellon university
judith light

judith ellen light -lrb- born february 9 , 1949 -rrb- is an american actress and producer .
she is a two-time tony award winner .
light made her professional stage debut in 1970 , before making her broadway debut in the 1975 revival of `` a doll 's house '' .
her breakthrough role was in the abc daytime soap opera `` one life to live '' from 1977 to 1983 , where she played the role of karen wolek .
for this role , she won two daytime emmy awards for outstanding lead actress in a drama series .
she later starred as angela bower in the long-running abc sitcom `` who 's the boss ? ''
from 1984 to 1992 , and later starred in many television films and short-lived series .
she played the recurring role of elizabeth donnelly in the nbc legal crime drama '' '' -lrb- 2002-2010 -rrb- and claire meade in the abc comedy-drama `` ugly betty '' -lrb- 2006-2010 -rrb- , for which she was nominated for a primetime emmy award in 2007 .
she received her first nomination for a tony award in 2011 , for her performance in the original broadway play `` lombardi '' .
in 2012 and 2013 , light won two consecutive tony awards for best featured actress in a play , for her performances in `` other desert cities '' and `` the assembled parties '' .
from 2013 to 2014 , light played the role of villainous judith brown ryland in the tnt drama series , `` dallas '' .
in 2014 , she began starring as shelly pfefferman in the amazon studios critically acclaimed dark comedy-drama , `` transparent '' for which she received critics ' choice television award nomination .
