[4][5] She is a 1972 graduate of Southern Methodist University,[6] where she was friends with classmates Beth Henley and Stephen Tobolowsky, who was slated to be a cast member of Home Improvement, but had other contractual commitments when the series began filming.

When asked to go back and do a second season after her contract had expired, she passed in order to stay in New York and continue performing in Beth Henley's The Miss Firecracker Contest off-Broadway.

A few years later Allan Burns, who co-created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, brought her back to Los Angeles to star in two sitcoms he produced: Eisenhower and Lutz and FM.

In 1991, three months after giving birth to twins, Richardson became a last-minute replacement for Frances Fisher in what would be her breakout role as Jill Taylor on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement.

[6] While working on Home Improvement, she hosted the Emmys with Ellen DeGeneres, starred in the miniseries Undue Influence with Brian Dennehy, Sophie and the Moonhanger on Lifetime with Lynn Whitfield, and earned an Independent Spirit nomination in 1997 for her first major theatrical film role in Ulee's Gold.

[8] On the twelfth episode of the fourth season of Last Man Standing titled "Helen Potts", Richardson guest-starred as the titular character and reunited with her former Home Improvement co-star, Tim Allen.

This production was directed by four time Oscar nominee Marsha Mason, and also starred Elaine Hendrix, Lucy DeVito, Jessica Walter and Susan Sullivan.

[7] Richardson served many years on the Board of Directors and is the National Spokesperson for "Cure PSP", a patient advocacy and research organization for progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, multiple system atrophy and related "Prime Of Life" diseases.