Her first Emmy win

CBS publicity shot

With Boyle at Emmy event

At 1999 Emmys

For five seasons, Patricia Heaton has been one of the best reasons for the success of the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. Her portrayal of Raymond's wife Debra manages to be funny, realistic and poignant at the same time, and she won a well-deserved best comedy actress Emmy Award last year.

Find out more about Patricia:

• Our biography of Patricia Heaton (updated 5/11/01)
  
• Some trivia we've compiled about her (updated 6/2/00)
  
• Heaton appeared on the Rosie talk show June 2, 2000. Rosie O'Donnell remembered her from a minor role on Party of Five as Jennifer Love Hewitt's birth mother and they talked about parenting large families (see the trivia page to learn how large). (6/3/2000)
  
• Her CBS biography (5/26/00)
  
• Her Internet Movie Database page (5/26/00)
  
• A short bio on Feminists For Life, an anti-abortion women's group she belongs to (5/26/00)
  
• Famous Moms Share Their Parenting Secrets, a 1999 In Style magazine article (5/26/00)
  
• Heaton Balances Stardom, Pregnancy, and Three Kids, a 1998 People Magazine article (5/26/00)
  
• Mom on Raymond Happy the Role is Positive, a 1998 Minneapolis Star-Tribune article (5/26/00)
  
• Love & Marraige 1998: Presents Worth Toasting, a 1998 People item about her favorite wedding present (5/26/00)
  
• Heaton Lets Her Witty Side Blossom, a 1992 item from Entertainment Weekly (5/26/00)
  
• Heaton Makes Room for Herself on Room for Two, a 1992 item from Entertainment Weekly (5/26/00)

What people are saying about her:

• "Patricia Heaton deserves an Emmy ... the most versatile, sly woman in sitcoms." -- Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly
  
• "Heaton, who had languished in lame sitcoms like Room for Two and Women of the House, has turned a potentially thankless straight-woman role into a sarcastic tour de force." -- Matt Roush, USA Today
  
• "As wife Debra, Heaton matches Romano beat for beat. She's taken the role's inherent thanklessness -- the still center around which Ray's crazy family revolves -- and turned it into a virtue." -- Bruce Fretts, Entertainment Weekly
  
• "Long-suffering spouse Patricia Heaton is the unsung glue that holds Everybody Loves Raymond together." -- Diane Werts, Newsday
  
• "A terrific actress. Her character is funny, feisty, sympathetic, and ... so realistic she could actually live next door." -- Virginia Rohan, Bergen Record
  
• "Most wives on TV, you don't give them the jokes. She does the jokes, she does attitude, she cries funny -- she's like Mary Tyler Moore." -- Raymond executive producer Philip Rosenthal