Heaton, Patricia 1958-

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HEATON, Patricia 1958-

PERSONAL: Born March 4, 1958, in Bay Village, OH; daughter of Chuck (a sports writer) and Pat Heaton; married second husband, David Hunt (an actor and producer), 1992; children: Sam, John, Joseph, Daniel. Education: Ohio State University, B.A. (theater), 1980; studied acting under William Esper in New York. Religion: Christian.

ADDRESSES: Agent—International Creative Management, 8942 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211.

CAREER: Actress, producer, and author. Appearances in television series include Room for Two, American Broadcast Company (ABC), 1992-93, Someone like Me, (National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), 1994, Women of the House, Columbia Broadcast Company (CBS), 1995, and Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS, 1996—. Episodic television appearances include Alien Nation, 1989, thirtysomething, ABC, 1990, Everybody Loves Raymond (in the role of Young Marie), CBS, 1997. Television movie appearances include Shattered Dreams: The Charlotte Fedders Story, CBS, 1990, Miracle in the Woods, CBS, 1997, and A Town without Christmas, CBS, 2001. Film appearances include Beethoven, Universal, 1992, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Warner Bros., 1992, The New Age, Warner Bros., 1994, and Space Jam, Warner Bros., 1996. Stage appearances include The Johnstown Vindicator, Harold Clurman Theatre, New York City, 1987, Don't Get God Started, Longacre Theatre, New York City, 1987-88, and (and producer) The Johnstown Vindicator, Los Angeles, CA, 1989.

AWARDS, HONORS: Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress (Comedy), 2000, 2001; Viewers for Quality Television awards for Best Actress in a Quality Comedy Series, 1999, 2000.

WRITINGS:

Motherhood to Hollywood: How to Get a Job like Mine, Villard Books (New York, NY), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: Patricia Heaton is best known for her role as Debra Barone, the lead female character in the television comedy series Everybody Loves Raymond.Her interest in acting developed during her college years. The actress's father, Chuck Heaton, a sports columnist, had always been an important influence in her life, to the extent that Heaton assumed that she, too, would be a journalist. However, she chose the theater as her major course of study, and in 1980 earned a B.A. in theater from Ohio State University. After her graduation, a move to New York led to a succession of jobs, including waiting tables and, for a time, copy editing for the magazine People Weekly. Heaton's career has included television, films, and off-Broadway theater in New York. Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Space Jam, and Beethoven are among her film credits. The actress has also been a frequent guest on such talk shows as The Late Show with David Letterman and Oprah. She lives and works in Los Angeles.

Motherhood to Hollywood: How to Get a Job like Mine, was published in 2002 by Villard Books. The book is divided into three sections named for the cities she lived in at different periods in her life. It is a collection of brief essays on topics ranging from marriage, motherhood, and show business to celebrity life, plastic surgery, and psychotherapy. Heaton has made the point in interviews that her book is really not an autobiography, but rather a series of humorous and pointed pieces on modern life. A review of the book in Kirkus praised it as "an upbeat memoir that doesn't obsess about the rough times but instead is beguilingly sensible and wise about what's important: the author's family, faith, and craft." In her reflections on motherhood she speaks frankly about the loss of her own mother at age twelve and the pressures of modern parenthood. The critical reception has been positive, as has been the response of the general readership. The book has been praised for its expression of warmth and candor, and above all, for its humor.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, Volume 27, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2000.

PERIODICALS

Entertainment Weekly, December 18, 1992, Alan Carter, review of Room for Two, p. 13; January 13, 1995, Ken Tucker, review of Women of the House, p. 42; April 11, 1997, Bruce Fretts, review of Everybody Loves Raymond, p. 67; November 28, 1997, Bruce Fretts, review of Everybody Loves Raymond, p. 44; September 27, 2002, review of Motherhood to Hollywood: How to Get a Job like Mine, p. 80.

Hollywood Reporter, August 20, 2001, p. 2; November 5, 2001, p. 35; December 13, 2001, Michael R. Farkash, review of A Town without Christmas, p. 14.

Inside Media, April 15, 1992, Ed Martin, review of Room for Two, p. 60.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2002, review of Motherhood to Hollywood, p. 1095.

People Weekly, March 23, 1992, David Hiltbrand, review of Room for Two, p. 17; November 9, 1992, Shelley Levitt, review of Room for Two, p. 93; April 25, 1994, David Hiltbrand, review of Someone like Me, p. 13; January 9, 1995, David Hiltbrand, review of Women of the House, p. 15; June 8, 1998, review of Everybody Loves Raymond, p. 31; November 23, 1998, p. 101; November 28, 2000, p. 52; December 10, 2001, review of Motherhood to Hollywood, p. 19.

Publishers Weekly, August 5, 2002, review of Motherhood to Hollywood, p. 66.