Born on September 26, 1968 as Patricia Beth O'Kelley in Melrose, Massachusetts, actress Tricia O’Kelley has risen to fame for appearing on several television shows. She grew up in La Grange, Illinois but began her acting career in Chicago, where she worked on numerous TV commercials before she got her big break. She has been seen on ads for McDonald’s, Budweiser and Sears. O’Kelley graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she studied TV and film production. Returning to Chicago, she founded a full-service resource center for actors. Many benefited from her work there, including the local acting community, acting classes, workshops, resume services, career consultations and seminars. This earned her a place on Today's Chicago Woman magazine, where she was honored as one of the “100 Women Making a Difference in Chicago.”
Tricia O’Kelley has managed to appear on a number of hit television series. During the late 1990s, she was seen in The Closer, Holding the Baby, Frasier, and Suddenly Susan. She also had a recurring role in The Pretender, before she accepted parts in Rude Awakening, Once and Again, and Get Real. Her lengthy list of credits also includes roles in Jack & Jill in 2000, and Everybody Loves Raymond in 2001. Her next project was playing recurring characters in FreakyLinks, and Emeril. She was later given roles on some CBS series, such as Two and a Half Men and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Her other appearances are in Las Vegas, That Was Then, Gilmore Girls and playing Mrs. Welsh in the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. She later worked on two comedy films. The first one, Outside Sales, was in 2006, and was written and directed by Blayne Weaver. What followed this was The Pink Conspiracy, starring Bradley Snedeker and Sarah Thompson. In 2006, O’Kelley joined the cast of the comedy The New Adventures of Old Chrisitine, where she plays the character Marly. Tricia O’Kelley has also been recognized for designing a line of greeting cards called Heartsongs, which became one of Recycled Paper Greetings best selling lines. In her spare time, she is known for organizing the homes, offices and closets of her friends and relatives and is a huge fan of courtroom drama and detective shows.