Patricia Helen Heaton (born
March 4,
1958) is a two-time
Emmy Award-winning
American actress best known for playing lead character and
Ray Barone's wife
Debra Barone on the
CBS television sitcom
Everybody Loves Raymond. She recently made a return to television opposite
Kelsey Grammer in the
FOX comedy series
Back To You.
Early life
Heaton was the second youngest of five children born to an
Irish American Roman Catholic family in Bay Village, Ohio, a suburb of
Cleveland, Ohio. Her father, Chuck Heaton, was a well-known
Cleveland Plain Dealer sportswriter. She spent her grade school years attending St. Raphael Elementary School in Bay Village. She was 12 when her mother died.
[Not Everybody Loves Patricia, The New York Times, December 31, 2006]
Heaton has three sisters, Sharon, Alice, and Frances, and one brother, Michael, who is the "Minister of Culture" columnist for the
Plain Dealer and a writer for the paper's Friday Magazine.
Personal life
Heaton has been married to
British actor
David Hunt since 1990. The couple have four sons: Sam (b. 1993); John Basil (b. 1995); Joseph Charles (b. 1997); and Daniel Patrick (b.
January 20,
1999). They divide their time between
Los Angeles and
England, where they own a country estate. Her memoir,
Motherhood and Hollywood: How to Get a Job Like Mine, was published by Villard Books in 2002.
Heaton was once quoted as saying "once a Catholic, always a Catholic;" and, although she now attends an
Evangelical Presbyterian Church with Hunt and their children,
[Denver Catholic Register - World/Nation] she has neither left the Catholic church nor converted to Presbyterianism.
Heaton's eldest sister, Sharon, is a
Dominican nun and a special assistant to the
Aquinas College (Tennessee) Teacher Education Program.
Career
While attending
Ohio State University, she became a sister of
Delta Gamma Sorority, and later graduated with a
B.A. in
drama. In 1980, Heaton moved to
New York City to study with drama teacher
William Esper.
Theater
Heaton made her first
Broadway appearance in the chorus of the
Don't Get God Started (1987), after which she and fellow students created Stage Three, an
off-Broadway acting troupe.
In January 2007, Heaton returned to the stage to co-star with
Tony Shalhoub in the off-Broadway play
The Scene at
Second Stage Theater in New York City.
[On The Scene, Tony Shalhoub and Patricia Heaton Open Off-Broadway, broadway.com, [[2007-01-11]]] For this performance, Heaton was nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actress category for the 22nd
Lucille Lortel Awards.
Television
When Stage Three brought one of their productions to
Los Angeles, Heaton caught the eye of a casting director for the
ABC drama
thirtysomething. She was cast as an
oncologist, leading to six appearances on the series from 1989-1991. Other TV guest appearances include:
Alien Nation (1989),
Matlock (1990),
Party of Five (1996),
The King of Queens (1999), and
Danny Phantom (2004).
Heaton was featured in three short-lived sitcoms—
Room for Two (1992) with
Linda Lavin,
Someone Like Me (1994), and
Women of the House (1995) with
Delta Burke and
Terri Garr - before landing the plum role of beleaguered wife, mother, and in-law
Debra Barone on
Everybody Loves Raymond (1996 - 2005) with
Ray Romano,
Doris Roberts,
Peter Boyle,
Brad Garrett, and
Monica Horan. She was nominated in each of the series' last seven seasons for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Emmy, winning the award twice. She has also collected two
Viewers For Quality Television awards and a
Screen Actors Guild trophy for her work on the series.
Starting September 2007, Heaton began to co-star with
Kelsey Grammer in
Back to You, a new situation comedy on
FOX.
The show was cancelled on
May 9,
2008.
Film
Heaton's television movies include
Shattered Dreams (1990),
Miracle in the Woods (1997),
A Town Without Christmas (2001), as well as the remake of
Neil Simon's
The Goodbye Girl (2004) with
Jeff Daniels, and
The Engagement Ring (2005), both for
TNT.
Heaton also played former U.S. Ambassador to
Yemen,
Barbara Bodine, in the 2006 ABC docudrama
The Path to 9/11. Her feature films include
Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992),
Beethoven (1992),
The New Age (1994), and
Space Jam (1996).
Heaton was the producer for the 2005 documentary
The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania, which was directed by her husband.
Other credits
In 2003, Heaton appeared in a series of television and radio commercials as spokesperson for the various incarnations of the grocery chain
Albertsons, such as
Acme,
Jewel and
Shaw's. In 2007, Albertsons created the Crazy About Food slogan/campaign and Heaton's association with the company ended.
[KTVB.COM | Boise, Idaho News, Weather, Sports, Video, Traffic & Events | IDAHO NEWS] She has also appeared in advertisements for
Pantene hair-care products.
Political and social advocacy
Heaton is a
consistent life ethicist and is supportive of
pro-life groups and causes, opposing
abortion,
euthanasia, and the
death penalty.
Heaton's advocacy became particularly visible during the debate regarding the
Terri Schiavo case.
[not_imagesd.shtml Tampabay: Issues, not images, drive Schiavo TV coverage] In addition, Heaton is Honorary Chair of
Feminists for Life, a non-partisan organization which opposes abortion and
embryonic stem cell research and supports other pro-life causes
on the basis of feminism.
In October 2006, Heaton appeared in a commercial opposing a
Missouri state
constitutional amendment concerning
embryonic stem cell research, which subsequently passed. The ad was a response to the election of
Democratic Senate hopeful
Claire McCaskill and ran at about the same time as
Michael J. Fox's
famous ad supporting the amendment.
Appearing with Heaton were actor
Jim Caviezel, pitcher
Jeff Suppan of the
St. Louis Cardinals (now of the
Milwaukee Brewers),
Mike Sweeney of the
Kansas City Royals and
Arizona Cardinals quarterback
Kurt Warner, formerly of the
St. Louis Rams.
[Stem Cell Opponents To Air Celebrity Ad, To Rebut Ad Featuring Michael J. Fox, World Series Pitcher Speaks Out Against Missouri Amendment - CBS News] Following a public outcry, Heaton later said she regretted doing the ad and sent an apology to Fox, claiming she wasn't aware of Fox's ad before she did hers. Fox accepted her apology and later stated that “If we can have a healthy dialogue about issues that people see differently, that’s marvelous.”
Although she is a Republican
[www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49R0GK20081028?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=10112],
The New York Times has stated that "her political views are not so easily pigeonholed." She supports
gay rights and the use of
birth control.
Heaton has also been an advocate for several other organizations, including
Heifer International, a
nonprofit organization which addresses
world hunger, and
World Vision, a
Christian relief organization.
Heaton supported
John McCain for President in 2008.
[embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/08/25/mccain-meets-gop-hollywood-at-fundraiser/]
Emmy Awards
Heaton has two Emmys:
See also
Notes and references
reflist
External links
EmmyAward ComedyLeadActress 2001-2025
DEFAULTSORT:Heaton, Patricia
