"[2] Her father, Hugh Daugherty Ivey, was a physicist and professor who taught at Georgia Tech and later worked at the Atomic Energy Commission.

She was a member of Phi Mu women's fraternity and earned a Fulbright grant to study drama at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

[5] Before making New York City her home in the late 1970s, Ivey appeared in numerous American and Canadian stage productions and served as director of DramaTech in Atlanta from 1974 to 1977, as had her mother before her from 1949 to 1966.

[6] Ivey's performances in Quartermaine's Terms and Driving Miss Daisy (creating the title role)[7] earned her Obie Awards,[8] as did that in Mrs. Warren's Profession (2005).

Among her other film credits are Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the 1995 remake of Sabrina, Simon Birch, Postcards from the Edge, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, The Addams Family,Sleepless in Seattle, Addams Family Values, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde, The Adventures of Huck Finn, Orange County, Rush Hour 3, The Leisure Seeker, The Importance of Being Earnest, and as Sandra Bullock's character's mother, Mrs. Kelson, in Two Weeks Notice.