ABC's The Middle stars Everybody Loves Raymond's Patricia Heaton

  Patricia Heaton                                             (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)

Patricia Helen Heaton is an actress best known for playing Ray Barone's wife Debra Barone on the CBS television sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.

In 2007, she made a return to sitcom television opposite Kelsey Grammer in the Fox comedy series Back to You, but it was cancelled in 2008.

Heaton graduated Ohio State University with a B.A. in drama. In 1980, Heaton moved to New York City to study with drama teacher William Esper.

Her first Broadway appearance was in the chorus of the Don't Get God Started (1987), after which she and fellow students created Stage Three, an off-Broadway acting troupe.  She also had a guest appearance on Matlock.

This talented actress was featured in three sitcoms—Room for Two (1992) with Linda Lavin, Someone Like Me (1994), and Women of the House (1995) with Delta Burke and Terri Garr - before landing the role of 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.

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 Daniels, and The Engagement Ring (2005), both for TNT.

And I think I have a perspective about Hollywood that you don't see very often in the press." ~ Patricia Heaton

Heaton also was in The Path to 9/11. Her feature films include Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), Beethoven (1992), The New Age (1994), and Space Jam (1996).

She produced, (another hat for Heaton), the 2005 documentary The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania, which was directed by her husband.

Patricia Heaton's latest sitcom is The Middle.  The plot for this comedy TV series is about the daily mishaps of a harried woman and her semi-dysfunctional family and their attempts to survive life in general in the city of Orson, Indiana.

Cast for The Middle

Jennifer Andreacola ... Girl gossiping in hall (1 episode, 2009)

Joshua Andreacola ... Student mocking others (1 episode, 2009)

Neil Flynn ... Mike Heck (1 episode, 2009)

Patricia Heaton ... Frankie Heck (1 episode, 2009)
Chris Kattan ... Bob (1 episode, 2009)

Charlie McDermott ... Axel Heck (1 episode, 2009)

Alyssa Petersen (1 episode, 2009)

Atticus Shaffer ... Brick Heck (1 episode, 2009)

Eden Sher ... Sue Heck (1 episode, 2009) 

Other actor/comedians: Bob Saget, Kelsey Grammer, Ed O'Neill...