Award-winning American actress Patricia Heaton was born on March 4, 1958 in Bay Village, Ohio. The fourth of five children, she graduated with a drama degree from the Ohio State University in 1980. She then moved to New York City to train under the renowned acting coach William Esper, and appeared in several Broadway and off-Broadway plays. She also formed, along with her fellow classmates, the acting troupe Stage Three.
When Stage Three performed in Los Angeles, Heaton caught the attention of a casting agent, which led to her first role on television. She played a recurring role, oncologist Dr. Silverman, in the television drama Thirtysomething. After several guest roles, she snagged her first regular role, in the short-lived comedy Room for Two in 1992. She also appeared in two other short-lived sitcoms: Someone Like Me in 1994 and Women of the House in 1995. She also started appearing in films, making her debut in the 1992 sci-fi comedy Memoirs of an Invisible Man.
Heaton’s biggest success came in 1996, when she snagged a role in the comedy Everybody Loves Raymond. There, she took on the role of the beleaguered Debra Barone, the wife of Ray (Ray Romano) and in-law of Marie (Doris Roberts) and Frank (Peter Boyle). The show ran for nine seasons, and she was nominated for an Emmy in the last seven. She won the Emmys for Best Comedy Actress in 2000 and 2001.
In 2006, Heaton starred in the two-part docudrama The Path to 9/11, playing the role of American ambassador Barbara Bodine. The following year, she joined the cast of the comedy Back to You. She played the role of Kelly Carr, a television news anchor who has a love-hate relationship with her co-anchor (and the father of her child) Chuck Darling (Kelsey Grammer). Despite moderate success among audiences, the series was cancelled after the first season.
Patricia Heaton was born Patricia Helen Heaton on March 4, 1958 in Bay Village, Ohio. She graduated in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater from Ohio State University. She also studied acting with drama teacher, William Esper, in New York, where Heaton made her Broadway debut in the gospel musical, Don’t Get God Started. From there, she formed an acting company called Stage Three, together with some of her fellow students. In their Los Angeles production of The Johnstown Vindicator, Heaton caught the attention of casting directors. She won her signature role as Debra, Raymond Barone’s wife, on the sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond, after show star, Ray Romano picked her over another contender, Jane Sibbett. The network executives actually liked Sibbett but Romano preferred Heaton, who he said was much closer to how he had pictured Debra. Romano won the argument and the producers backed him up.
Debra Barone, played by Patricia Heaton on Everybody Loves Raymond, is the nagging and often stressed wife of Raymond Barone. Debra comes from a loving, caring and wealthy family and has often found her husband’s brood shockingly different from her own. Debra has endured much from Raymond’s mother, Marie, who often barges into their household to criticize Debra’s abilities as a housewife, cook and homemaker.
(Photo courtesy of CBS)