patricia heaton

Biography and Family Life

Heaton was the second youngest of five children born to an Irish American Catholic family in Bay Village, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. She is the daughter of well-known Cleveland Plain Dealer sportswriter, Chuck Heaton. Her mother died when she was a small child. After graduating from The Ohio State University with a B.A. in drama in 1980, she moved to New York City to study with drama teacher William Esper.

Heaton's eldest sister, Sharon, is a Roman Catholic (Dominican) nun and second-grade teacher at St. Mary Star of the Sea in Virginia. Another sister, Alice Cartwright, the second oldest child, lives in Nashville and is married with three grown children, one of whom has ambitions to be an actress. Michael Heaton, the only boy in the family, is the "Minister of Culture" columnist for Cleveland Plain Dealer and a writer for the paper's Friday Magazine. He's married and has three young daughters. Heaton's younger sister Frances ("Franny") works in the activities department at Harborside Healthcare in Westlake, Ohio.

Career

Heaton made her only Broadway appearance in the chorus of the flop Don't Get God Started, after which she and fellow students created Stage Three, an off-Broadway acting troupe. When they brought one of their productions to Los Angeles, Heaton caught the eye of a casting director for the ABC drama thirtysomething, in which she played an oncologist, leading to three appearances on the series. She was featured in three unsuccessful 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'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. Her feature films include Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Beethoven, and Space Jam.

Heaton is known as an outspoken conservative, pro-life activist and is the honorary chairperson of Feminists for Life, an organization that opposes the practice of abortion. She is a Republican and supporter of both President George W. Bush and the U.S. military invasion and occupation of Iraq. In addition, she 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. Although she has been quoted as saying "once a Catholic, always a Catholic," Heaton now attends an evangelical Presbyterian church with her husband and their four sons. She has not left the Catholic church nor converted to Presbyterianism.

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.

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. Heaton has a development deal and will have her own show on ABC.

Heaton played former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Barbara Bodine in the controversial 2006 ABC "docudrama" The Path to 9/11. Bodine complained about her portrayal, calling it "false," in a Los Angeles Times op-ed on September 8, 2006,^[1] two days before its worldwide broadcast on September 10th and 11th, 2006.

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 at the Internet Movie Database
• Patricia Heaton Fan Site