Biography

Deborah Puette began her career on the stages of Chicago, where she made her professional debut in the lead role of the world premiere of Rebecca Gilman's "The Glory of Living". The play, a critical smash that topped all of the major critic's lists for the year, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Ms. Puette's performance received rave reviews across the board, and she was awarded the Joseph Jefferson Citation, Chicago's most distinguished acting award, for her portrayal of an abused teenager turned serial killer. That same year she was profiled in Chiago's trade, PerformInk, as "a young actress to watch". Those successes led directly to leads in "Toys in the Attic", "Bus Stop" and "The Skin of Our Teeth", all at the acclaimed American Theatre Company. Diverse roles at Famous Door and Mary-Arrchie Theatre followed, as well as roles in film and television including "Lawrence Melm", directed by Steve Conrad, and "Cupid" opposite Jeremy Piven.

Since moving to Los Angeles, Ms. Puette has continued to work both on stage and in front of the camera. Within two months of arriving in L.A., she was working on Lifetime's hospital drama Strong Medicine, followed quickly by her L.A. stage debut in which she portrayed the lead in the West Coast premiere of Theresa Rebeck's Abstract Expression with Chautauqua Theatre Alliance. Other credits include "7 MET Shorts" and "The Great Writers Series", a project whose cast also included Ed Harris, Dermot Mulroney, Shirley Knight and Julianna Margulies. She most recently starred opposite Alfred Molina in the staged reading of Jonathan Lynn's dark comedy "The Bottome Line" at the Matrix Theatre. Upcoming films include the lead in the psychological thriller "Repose", the post-apocalyptic musical "Sacrifice", a starring role opposite Mark Feuerstein in "Lucid", and "Oblivion, Nebraska" with Gil Bellows.

Ms. Puette is represented theatrically by Robert Enriquez at Red Baron Management and commercially by Carrie Johnson at Mitchell K. Stubbs. She is a member of Screen Actors Guild and Actors' Equity Association. She resides in North Hollywood with her partner, actor-director Mark St. Amant and their five-year-old son, Wyatt Finn.

- IMDb mini biography by: Jennifer Villa

Deborah Puette is a Los Angeles based writer, director, producer, and actor who works across film, television, and the American theater.

Her first feature script, Cash for Gold, became a Finalist in The Black List x WIF Feature Residency and was produced by Chariot Entertainment. Puette co-directed the film while also playing the lead role opposite Emmy and Golden Globe nominee JoBeth Williams and a superb cast of recognizable faces. Cash for Gold is slated for distribution in early 2025.

Puette wrote, directed, and produced Such A Pretty Girl, a short film based on her semi-autobiographical TV pilot, Play Like A Girl (Finalist, 2021 Writers Lab underwritten by Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and Oprah Winfrey). The film was supported by the Gotham, Executive Produced by Robina Riccitiello (Didi, Mutt, and Frybread Face and Me), and will play festivals in 2025. It also serves as a proof-of-concept for Puette's next feature, which she will direct.

Her pilot Blaze landed on the GLAAD x Blacklist, a compilation of the best unproduced scripts by LGBTQ+ writers, and propelled her to the finals of the highly-competitive Warner Brothers Writers Workshop. It also won the Grand Prize in Roadmap Writer's JumpStart competition which subsequently led to representation for writing and directing with Austin Aronson at Stride Management.

On screen, Puette has recurred and guest starred on hit shows for Netflix, HBO, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, Lifetime, and TVLand, and more, and has played lead and supporting roles in features for Disney, Miramax, and many independent production companies. Her turns on both The Office and Parks and Recreation have been turned into viral memes with millions of views and shares.

On stage, she has played lead roles in over 30 plays and 100 workshops and her work has been nominated for every major theater acting award in both Chicago and Los Angeles. She's the recipient of Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actress, the L.A. Weekly Theater Award for Best Actress, and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Solo Performance.

Puette is also an Ovation Award-winning producer and a founding member and Director of Audience Engagement at Lobby Theatre, a non-profit theater company in residence at Joe and Anthony Russo's independent studio, AGBO, in downtown Los Angeles.

- IMDb mini biography by: Helen Ayers