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Patricia Helen Heaton (born March 4, 1958 in Bay Village, Ohio) is an Emmy Award-winning American actress.

Heaton is best known for playing Debra Barone on the CBS television sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005), and for being nominated for Outstanding Leading Actress in a Comedy Series for this role 6 years in a row (1999-2005), and winning twice in a row, once in 2000, and again in 2001.

Biography

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 is well-known Cleveland Plain Dealer sportswriter, Chuck Heaton.

Heaton's mother died when she was a small child. Heaton has three sisters, Sharon, Alice, and Frances, and one brother, Michael, who is the "Minister of Culture" columnist for Cleveland Plain Dealer and a writer for the paper's Friday Magazine.

Her memoir, Motherhood and Hollywood: How to Get a Job Like Mine, was published by Villard Books in 2002. Heaton has been married to British businessman David Hunt II since 1990. The couple has four sons, and they divide their time between Los Angeles and England, where they own a country estate. Her first marriage (1984-1987) ended in divorce.

Career

After graduating from The Ohio State University with a B.A. in drama in 1980, Heaton moved to New York City to study with drama teacher William Esper.

Heaton made her only Broadway appearance in the chorus of the Don't Get God Started, after which she and fellow students created Stage Three, an off-Broadway acting troupe.

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 three appearances on the series.

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 - 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.

Heaton has a development deal with ABC, and is developing a show that she will appear in.

Film

Heaton's television movies include Shattered Dreams, Miracle in the Woods, A Town Without Christmas, as well as the remake of Neil Simon's The Goodbye Girl with Jeff Daniels, and The Engagement Ring, both for TNT.

Heaton also played former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Barbara Bodine in the controversial 2006 ABC docudrama The Path to 9/11. Her feature films include Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Beethoven, and Space Jam.

Other credits

Since 2003, Heaton has appeared in a series of television and radio commercials as spokesperson for the various incarnations of the grocery chain Supervalu, such as Acme, Albertsons, Jewel, and Shaw's. She has also appeared in advertisements for Pantene hair-care products.

Political advocacy

Heaton is supportive of pro-life groups and causes, opposing abortion, euthanasia, and embryonic stem cell research among other related issues.

On October 24, 2006, Heaton appeared in a commercial opposing a Missouri state constitutional amendment concerning stem cell research, which subsequently passed. The ad was a response to Michael J. Fox's ad supporting of the amendment and the election of Democratic senate hopeful Claire McCaskill. Appearing with Heaton were actor Jim Caviezel, Jeff Suppan of the St. Louis Cardinals, Mike Sweeney of the Kansas City Royals and Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, formerly of the St. Louis Rams. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/25/politics/main2122383.shtml

Heaton's advocacy, particularly regarding right-to-life issues, became most publicly visible during the debate regarding Terri Schiavo. http://www.sptimes.com/2005/03/25/Tampabay/Issues__not_images__d.shtml In a addition, Heaton is Honorary Chair of "Feminists for Life", a non-partisan organization which opposes abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and other pro-life causes.

Heaton is also part of several other organizations:

• Heaton is an active supporter for the nonprofit world-hunger organization Heifer International. On her website she mentions giving Heifer International gifts to the cast and crew of Everybody Loves Raymond.
• She was once quoted as saying "once a Catholic, always a Catholic"; however, Heaton now attends an evangelical Presbyterian church with her husband and their four sons. She has not left the Roman Catholic Church nor converted to Presbyterianism.

Heaton has been less vocal about her fiscal politics. However she starred in an ad for Albertson's grocery stores which was produced during the height of Albertson's employee strike. Albertson's employees' union had been on a long strike at the time, protesting cutbacks to their benefits and wages. At present, starting wages and benefits given to new Albertsons employees are far lower than those of employees hired before the labor dispute.

Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards

• 1999 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Everybody Loves Raymond - (Nominated)
• 2000 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Everybody Loves Raymond - (Won)
• 2001 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Everybody Loves Raymond - (Won)
• 2002 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Everybody Loves Raymond - (Nominated)
• 2003 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Everybody Loves Raymond - (Nominated)
• 2004 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Everybody Loves Raymond - (Nominated)
• 2005 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Everybody Loves Raymond - (Nominated)

Notes

External links

• Patricia Heaton Official Site
• Patricia Heaton Fan Site

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