Patricia Heaton

Patricia Heaton
Heaton at a ceremony to receive her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, May 2012
Born	Patricia Helen Heaton (1958-03-04) March 4, 1958 Bay Village, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, producer
Years active	1989–present
Spouse(s)	David Hunt (1990–present)
Website
www.patriciaheaton.com

Patricia Helen Heaton (born March 4, 1958) is an American actress and producer. She is best known for portraying Debra Barone on the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond from 1996 to 2005, for which she won two Emmy Awards. Since September 2009, she has starred as Frances "Frankie" Heck on the ABC sitcom The Middle.

Early life

Patricia Heaton was born in Bay Village, Ohio, the daughter of Patricia (née Hurd) and Chuck Heaton, who was a sportswriter for the Plain Dealer. She was raised as a devout Roman Catholic.

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.

Career

While attending the Ohio State University, she became a sister of Delta Gamma Sorority. She later graduated with a B.A. in drama. In 1980, Heaton moved to New York City to study with drama teacher William Esper.

Heaton made her first Broadway appearance in the chorus of Don't Get God Started (1987), after which she and fellow students created Stage Three, an Off-Broadway acting troupe.

Heaton in 2008

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 to 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's feature films include Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), Beethoven (1992), The New Age (1994), and Space Jam (1996).

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 Teri Garr—before landing her signature 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 co-starred with Kelsey Grammer in Back to You, a situation comedy on Fox. The show was canceled in May 2008.

Heaton appeared on the season seven premiere of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition where she helped build a home for a firefighter and his family.

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 DanielsThe Engagement Ring (2005), Heaton also played former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen, Barbara Bodine, in the 2006 ABC docudrama The Path to 9/11, and the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie Front of the Class, based on the real story of a mother, Ellen Cohen, dealing with a son, Brad Cohen, who has Tourette Syndrome, in 2008.

Heaton was the producer for the 2005 documentary The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania, which was directed by her husband. She was also one of the producers of the William Wilberforce drama Amazing Grace (2006).

In January 2007, Heaton returned to the stage to co-star with Tony Shalhoub in the Off-Broadway play The Scene at Second Stage Theatre in New York City. For this performance, Heaton was nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actress category for the 22nd Lucille Lortel Awards.

Since September 2009, she has starred in the ABC comedy The Middle.

In 2011, Heaton was ranked #24 on the TV Guide Network special, Funniest Women on TV.

She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 22, 2012. The star is located at 6533 Hollywood Blvd. in front of The Hudson Apartments.

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. Heaton also was featured on the cover of the company's 2003 and 2004 annual reports. In 2007, Albertsons created the Crazy About Food slogan/campaign and Heaton's association with the company ended. She has also appeared in advertisements for Pantene hair-care products.

Personal life

Heaton has been married to British actor David Hunt since 1990; it is her second marriage. Her first marriage (1984–1987) ended in divorce. Heaton and Hunt have four sons: Samuel David (b. September 1993); John Basil (b. May 1995); Joseph Charles (b. 2 June 1997); and Daniel Patrick (b. January 20, 1999). They divide their time between Los Angeles and Buckinghamshire, where they own a house, as well as a house in her hometown of Bay Village. Her memoir, Motherhood and Hollywood: How to Get a Job Like Mine, was published by Villard Books in 2002. Although she and her family attend a Presbyterian Church, Heaton says she is still a Catholic.

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. In addition, Heaton is Honorary Chair of Feminists for Life, an organization which opposes abortion and embryonic stem cell research and supports other pro-life causes on the basis of feminism.

A confirmed Republican, Heaton openly supports gay rights, and has publicly stated that she is not against gay marriage.

Patricia Heaton and family in the Indianapolis 500 Parade, May 2008

Heaton's name was in an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times (17 August 2006) that condemned Hamas and Hezbollah and supported Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.

In October 2006, Heaton appeared in a commercial opposing a Missouri state constitutional amendment concerning embryonic stem cell research, which subsequently passed. The advertisement was a response to the election of Democratic Senate hopeful Claire McCaskill and aired at the same time as Michael J. Fox's advertisement supporting the amendment. Appearing with Heaton were actor Jim Caviezel, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan, Seattle Mariner Mike Sweeney and St. Louis Rams/Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner. Following a public outcry, Heaton later said she regretted doing the ad and sent an apology to Fox, saying she was unaware of Fox's ad. Fox accepted her apology and later stated that “If we can have a healthy dialogue about issues that people see differently, that’s marvelous.”

On February 29, 2012, Heaton made several negative public remarks against Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke, joining the controversy surrounding the law requiring insurance companies to cover contraception. Following criticism for her remarks, Heaton apologized days later.

Filmography

Film and television roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Alien Nation	Amanda Russell	Episode: "The Red Room"
1989–91	Thirtysomething	Dr. Silverman	6 episodes
1990	Shattered Dreams	Older Dotti	TV film
1990	Matlock	Ellie Stanford	Episode: "The Brothers"
1991	DEA	Paula Werner	Episode: "The Fat Lady Sings Alone"
1992	Memoirs of an Invisible Man	Ellen
1992	Beethoven	Brie
1992–93	Room for Two	Jill Kurland	26 episodes
1994	Someone Like Me	Jean Stepjak	5 episodes
1994	The New Age	Anna
1995	Women of the House	Natalie Hollingsworth	11 episodes
1996	Party of Five	Robin Merrin	2 episodes
1996	Space Jam	Woman Fan
1996– 2005	Everybody Loves Raymond	Debra Barone	Won: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2003), Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actress in a Quality Comedy Series (1999, 2000) Nominated: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (2002–2006), Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1999, 2000, 2002, 2004–2006), TV Guide Awards for Actress of the Year in a Comedy Series (2001), Viewers for Quality Television Award (1998)
1997	Miracle in the Woods	Wanda Briggs	TV film
1999	The King of Queens	Debra Barone	2 episodes
2001	A Town Without Christmas	M.J. Jensen	TV movie
2004	The Goodbye Girl	Paula McFadden	TV film Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie (2005)
2004	Danny Phantom	Lunch Lady (voice)	Episode: "Mystery Meat"
2005	The Engagement Ring	Sara Rosa Anselmi	TV film
2006	Untitled Patricia Heaton Project	Janet Daily	TV pilot
2006	The Path to 9/11	Ambassador Bodine	TV miniseries
2007	Amazing Grace	Producer	Won – Christopher Award for best film (2008)
2007–08	Back to You	Kelly Carr	17 episodes Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2007)
2008	Front of the Class	Ellen Cohen	TV film
2009– present	The Middle	Frankie Heck	Main role Nominated – Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series (2011)
2011	Easy to Assemble	Mrs. Hullestaad	3 episodes

Emmy Awards

Heaton won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her work in Everybody Loves Raymond:

• for: "Bad Moon Rising" (2000)
• for: "The Canister" (2001)

She has been nominated for five others for the same series:

• for: "Be Nice" (1999)
• for: "A Vote for Debra" (2002)
• "Baggage" (2003)
• "Fun with Debra" (2004)
• for: "Finale" (2005)

See also

• Pro-life feminism

External links

• Patricia Heaton at the Internet Movie Database
• Patricia Heaton Archive of American Television Interview