Debra Monk

Debra Monk is an American actress, singer, and writer born on February 27, 1949, in Middletown, Ohio. She attended Wheaton High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, where her graduating class voted her "Best Personality." Monk earned her undergraduate degree from Frostburg State University in 1973 and received a Master of Fine Arts from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, in 1975.

Monk's Broadway career spans from 1982 to 2013 and encompasses a wide range of productions. She first drew attention in theatrical circles as one of the co-writers and co-stars of the musical Pump Boys and Dinettes in 1982. Among her many stage credits are Curtains, Company, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Children and Art, and Reckless. Her performance in Redwood Curtain earned her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 1993. She received additional Tony Award nominations for her work in Picnic (1994), Steel Pier (1997), and Curtains (2007). In 2007, Monk also received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, adding to an earlier Drama Desk Award she received in 1988. In 2000, she won an Obie Award for The Time of the Cuckoo. She also received the Helen Hayes Award in 1994. In September 2016, Monk returned to the stage in Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of Visiting Edna by David Rabe.

Beyond the stage, Monk has appeared in more than 30 films since the early 1990s, making her film debut in Prelude to a Kiss, in which she played Aunt Dorothy. She subsequently appeared in The Bridges of Madison County in 1995 and The Devil's Advocate in 1997. On television, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her recurring role as Katie Sipowicz on the ABC drama NYPD Blue. She held recurring roles on A Nero Wolfe Mystery from 2001 to 2002, Grey's Anatomy from 2006 to 2011, and Damages from 2007 to 2012, and also guest-starred on Law & Order, Desperate Housewives, The Closer, and Girls.