Debra Jo Rupp
Encyclopedia
Debra Jo Rupp is an American film and television actress, perhaps best known for her role as Kitty Forman
Kitty Forman
Katherine Anne "Kitty" Forman is a fictional character on the Fox Network's That '70s Show, portrayed by comic actress Debra Jo Rupp. Kitty is a nurse but sometimes takes a break from her career to make peace in the family. She also has a very recognizable laugh and a fondness for square dancing...

 on the long-running Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

 sitcom, That '70s Show
That '70s Show
That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979...

. She may also be known for playing the role of Alice on the fourth and fifth seasons of Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

.
She starred on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 sitcom Better with You from 2010-2011.

Early life

Rupp was born in Glendale, California
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...

, and raised in Boxford, Massachusetts
Boxford, Massachusetts
Boxford is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 7,965 at the 2010 census.Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Boxford.-Geography:...

, where she attended Masconomet Regional High School
Masconomet Regional High School
Masconomet Regional High School is located in Topsfield, Massachusetts, and serves the towns of Boxford, Middleton and Topsfield.Masconomet Regional Middle School serves grades 7 and 8 while the Masconomet Regional High School serves grades 9 through 12. Both schools are located on the same property...

, graduating in 1970. She has two sisters. She went on to attend the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...

, graduating with a B.A. degree in 1974.

1980s

Rupp left her home state of Massachusetts in 1979 to pursue an acting career in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. She frequently performed on stage and appeared in commercials before winning her first television role in 1980 as Sheila, a topless dancer, on the daytime drama All My Children
All My Children
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...

. Earlier in the same year, Rupp played Helen, the wife of a cheating husband, in Sharon Tipsword's one-act comedy Second Verse, which was produced as part of a play festival at New York's Nat Horne Theater. Another notable stage performance was as the young bride Eleanor in the 1985 production of A. R. Gurney
A. R. Gurney
A. R. Gurney is an American playwright and novelist. He is known for works including Love Letters, The Cocktail Hour, and The Dining Room. Gurney currently lives in both New York and Connecticut....

's The Middle Ages at the Whole Theater Company, established by Olympia Dukakis in nearby Montclair, NJ. She received praise from Walter Goodman
Walter Goodman
Walter Goodman was a British painter, illustrator and author.The son of British portrait painter Julia Salaman and London linen draper and town councillor, Louis Goodman , he studied with J. M. Leigh and at the Royal Academy in London, where he was admitted as a student in 1851...

 in a New York Times review of one of her many off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

 performances: as June Yeager, a young wife who feels she is never "loved enough", in the 1986 York Theater Company production of Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents was an American playwright, stage director and screenwriter.After writing scripts for radio shows after college and then training films for the U.S...

' dramatic play The Time of the Cuckoo
The Time of the Cuckoo
The Time of the Cuckoo is a play by Arthur Laurents. It focuses on the bittersweet romance between Leona Samish, a single American executive secretary vacationing in Europe, and Renato Di Rossi, a shopkeeper she meets in Venice...

staged at the Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York's Upper East Side
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...

 neighborhood (Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

).

Rupp's list of stage credits includes appearances in Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally is an American playwright who has received four Tony Awards, an Emmy, two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Hull-Warriner Award, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Council of the...

's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune is a two-character play by Terrence McNally.It focuses on two lonely, middle-aged people whose first date ends with them tumbling into bed. Johnny is certain he has found his soul mate in Frankie. She, on the other hand, is far more cautious and disinclined...

and Cynthia Heimel
Cynthia Heimel
Cynthia Heimel is a playwright, television writer, and the author of several satirical books which are aimed primarily at a female readership. To those who have heard of her but have not read her books, her works are probably best known for their unusual titles.Heimel's first book Sex Tips for...

's A Girl's Guide to Chaos, the Broadway role which significantly propelled her career forward. She originated the role of Cynthia in 1986, a character based on Heimel's observations made during her stints as a columnist for Playboy and the Village Voice. Directed by Wynn Handman
Wynn Handman
Wynn Handman, is the Artistic Director of The American Place Theatre, which he co-founded with Sidney Lanier and Michael Tolan in 1963. His role in the theatre has been to seek out, encourage, train, and present new and exciting writing and acting talent and to develop and produce new plays by...

 and sharing the stage with Rita Jenrette
Rita Jenrette
Rita Jenrette, born Rita Carpenter, November 25, 1949 in San Antonio, Texas is an American celebrity, actor, television journalist, and real estate executive. She is most famous for the interview she gave about her marriage to disgraced U.S...

, Rupp's performance as Cynthia was immortalized by legendary caricaturist Al Hirschfeld
Al Hirschfeld
Albert "Al" Hirschfeld was an American caricaturist best known for his simple black and white portraits of celebrities and Broadway stars.-Personal life:Born in St...

 and described in a New York Times review as "an appealing mixture of pluck and pathos." In Newsday's review of Chaos, theater critic Allan Wallach called Rupp “a real find.”

In early 1987, Rupp was featured in an article written by Enid Nemy
Enid Nemy
Enid Nemy was a reporter and columnist for The New York Times for many years. She began at the Times in 1963, and remained for four decades before retiring. She was awarded the 1984 Matrix Award "for achievement in newspapers and wire services"....

 for the "Broadway" section of The New York Times. Entitled New York is beckoning, but first, Los Angeles, the interview revealed how Rupp's success in the theater so soon after her arrival in New York City had scared the young actress enough to take time off from acting for several years. After returning to the stage, Rupp explained, she was often cast as an ingénue
Ingenue (stock character)
See also Disingenuous, which is not quite the antonym that it may seem!The ingénue is a stock character in literature, film, and a role type in the theatre; generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome. Ingenue may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in...

, but after her portrayal of Cynthia in Chaos, she began getting calls to audition in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 for "really crazy neurotic" parts in television pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

s. She was realistic about the unpredictability of an acting career and, since she had promised her mother she would never wait tables when she left for New York, she hadn't given up her part-time work as a bookkeeper and was "learning computers" as something to fall back on.

Rupp continued to devote herself to acting full-time through the 1980s and performed in numerous regional stage productions. One such production was Sherry Kramer
Sherry Kramer
Sherry Kramer is an American playwright, born in Springfield, Missouri. Kramer attended Wellesley College, as an undergraduate, and earned two masters degrees from the University of Iowa.-Career:Kramer's plays include:...

's Wall of Water in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

 at the Yale Repertory Theatre
Yale Repertory Theatre
The Yale Repertory Theatre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded by Robert Brustein, dean of the Yale School of Drama in 1966, with the goal of facilitating a meaningful collaboration between theatre professionals and talented students. In the process it has become one of the...

's Winterfest play festival of 1988. She guest-starred on numerous television shows, including Kate & Allie
Kate & Allie
Kate & Allie is an American television situation comedy which ran from March 19, 1984 to May 22, 1989. Kate & Allie first aired on CBS as a midseason replacement series and only six episodes were initially commissioned, but the favorable response from critics and viewers alike easily convinced CBS...

, Spenser for Hire, and The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is an NBC/Lifetime comedy-drama that aired from 1987 to 1991. It was created by Jay Tarses and starred Blair Brown in the title role.-Premise:...

. In 1988, Rupp landed her first film role on the big screen as Miss Patterson, Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...

's secretary in the film Big
Big
Big is a 1988 romantic comedy film directed by Penny Marshall and stars Tom Hanks as Josh Baskin, a young boy who makes a wish "to be big" to a magical fortune-telling machine and is then aged to adulthood overnight...

.

1990s

In 1990, Rupp returned to New York City to perform in a Broadway stage production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a play by Tennessee Williams. One of Williams's best-known works and his personal favorite, the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955...

with Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...

 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre
Eugene O'Neill Theatre
The Eugene O'Neill Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 230 West 49th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, it was built for the Shuberts as part of a theatre-hotel complex named for 19th century tragedian Edwin Forrest...

. In it, Rupp portrayed Mae (Sister Woman). Her television work during the early 1990s included recurring roles as Ms. Higgins on the television Davis Rules with Randy Quaid
Randy Quaid
Randall Rudy "Randy" Quaid is an American actor perhaps best known for his role as Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon's Vacation movies, as well as his numerous supporting roles in films, including his Oscar nominated performance in The Last Detail, Independence Day, Kingpin and Brokeback Mountain...

, and as Sister Mary Incarnata on Phenom
Phenom (TV series)
Phenom is an American sitcom about a tennis wunderkind that aired on ABC from September 14, 1993 to May 10, 1994. The series stars Angela Goethals, Judith Light, and William Devane.-Synopsis:...

with Judith Light
Judith Light
Judith Ellen Light is an American actress. Her television roles include Karen Wolek on the soap opera One Life to Live, Angela Bower on the sitcom Who's the Boss?, Claire Meade on ABC's TV series Ugly Betty and Judge Elizabeth "Liz" Donnelly on Law & Order Special Victims Unit.-Early life:Light...

, as well as guest roles on Blossom
Blossom (TV series)
Blossom is an American sitcom broadcast on NBC from January 3, 1991 to May 22, 1995. The series stars Mayim Bialik as Blossom Russo, a teenage girl living with her father and two brothers. It was created by Don Reo.- Synopsis :...

, Family Matters
Family Matters (TV series)
Family Matters is an American sitcom about a middle-class African-American family living in Chicago, Illinois, which ran on national television for nine full seasons. The series was a spin-off of Perfect Strangers, but revolves around the Winslow family...

, L.A. Law
L.A. Law
L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...

, and ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

.

In 1995 she began her stint as Jeff Foxworthy
Jeff Foxworthy
Jeffrey Marshall "Jeff" Foxworthy is an American comedian, television and radio personality and author. He is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a comedy troupe which also comprises Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and Ron White. Known for his "you might be a redneck" one-liners, Foxworthy...

's sister-in-law Gayle on The Jeff Foxworthy Show
The Jeff Foxworthy Show
The Jeff Foxworthy Show is the name of two short-lived television series starring comedian Jeff Foxworthy and based on Foxworthy's stand-up comedy routine...

, and also appeared in the three-episode science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 mini-series The Invaders
The Invaders
The Invaders, a Quinn Martin Production , is an ABC science fiction television program created by Larry Cohen that ran in the United States for two seasons, from January 10, 1967 to March 26, 1968...

with Scott Bakula
Scott Bakula
Scott Stewart Bakula is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Beckett in the television series Quantum Leap, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1991 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards. He also had a prominent role as Captain Jonathan...

, portrayed Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld (character)
Jerome "Jerry" Seinfeld is the main protagonist of the American television sitcom Seinfeld . The straight man among his group of friends, this semi-fictionalized version of comedian Jerry Seinfeld was named after, co-created by, based on, and played by Seinfeld himself.The series revolves around...

's eccentric booking agent Katie on an episode of Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...

(a role she reprised in 1996), and performed on stage as Meg in Broken Bones, a dark drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

 about spousal abuse by Drew McWeeny
Drew McWeeny
Drew McWeeny , also known by his pseudonym Moriarty, is a film critic, screenwriter, and the former west coast editor of the Ain't It Cool News website...

 and Scott Swan
Scott Swan
Scott Swan is an American filmmaker and screenwriter born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.-Biography:Scott Swan is screenwriter best identified for his work with director John Carpenter on seasons one and two of Masters of Horror...

, as part of a one-act play festival at Hollywood's Met Theater.

Rupp also appeared in several episodes of Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

, playing Alice Knight, a home economics
Home Economics
Home economics is the profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community...

 teacher who fell in love with and married Phoebe Buffay's (Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Valerie Kudrow is an American actress, best known for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the television sitcom Friends, for which she received many accolades including an Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards...

) much younger half-brother, Frank Jr. (Giovanni Ribisi
Giovanni Ribisi
Giovanni Ribisi is an American actor. His film credits include Gone in 60 Seconds, Boiler Room, Saving Private Ryan, The Mod Squad, The Gift, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Lost in Translation and more recently, Public Enemies and Avatar...

).

In 1998, she began her role as Kitty Forman
Kitty Forman
Katherine Anne "Kitty" Forman is a fictional character on the Fox Network's That '70s Show, portrayed by comic actress Debra Jo Rupp. Kitty is a nurse but sometimes takes a break from her career to make peace in the family. She also has a very recognizable laugh and a fondness for square dancing...

 in the comedy series, That '70s Show
That '70s Show
That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979...

in perhaps her most successful role to date. As well, she portrayed Marilyn See, wife of astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

 Elliott See
Elliott See
Elliot McKay See, Jr. , was an American astronaut, selected in the second group of astronauts.Elliot See was born in Dallas, Texas and attended Highland Park High School. After initially attending The University of Texas where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, he then attended the United...

, in Episode #11 of the Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

-winning television mini-series From the Earth to the Moon, produced by Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...

 and directed by Sally Field
Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...

.

2000s

Her distinctive voice was heard as the character of Mrs. Helperman in Disney's animated series Teacher's Pet
Teacher's Pet (TV series)
Teacher's Pet is an American Disney animated television series about a dog who lives like a little boy. Created by Gary Baseman, Bill Steinkellner and Cheri Steinkellner and directed by Timothy Björklund, it was broadcast on Disney's One Saturday Morning on ABC and later Toon Disney...

in 2000, and again for the 2004 movie version. She starred as a stand-up comic
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...

 with a secret in the highly-acclaimed independent short film The Act
The Act
The Act was a popular and critically acclaimed Norwegian rock band in the mid 1980s. They toured extensively and released the album September Field.-Band members:*Bjørn Kulseth – vocals, guitars*Rune Krogseth – vocals, guitars...

, directed by Susan Kraker and Pi Ware, and received praise for her performance. The short film was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

 and won several awards at film festivals around the world. In 2004, she played Brad Hunt
Brad Hunt
Brad Hunt is an American actor born in Moberly, Missouri.-Filmography:*Just Add Water as Denny*The Tripper as Hank*The Plague as Sam Raynor*The Darwin Awards as Stan*Lucky 13 as Zach Bader...

's nagging mother in Lucky 13
Lucky 13
Lucky 13 is a 2005 romantic comedy directed by Chris Hall and starring Brad Hunt, Harland Williams, Lauren Graham, Sasha Alexander, Debra Jo Rupp, John Doe, Kaley Cuoco and Taryn Manning.-Plot:...

, a full-length independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 starring Lauren Graham
Lauren Graham
Lauren Helen Graham is an American actress and producer. She is best known for playing Lorelai Gilmore on the WB Network dramedy series Gilmore Girls and Sarah Braverman on Parenthood.-Early life:...

. She then returned to All My Children for one episode in December 2005, playing a homeless woman named Victoria.

Rupp has often returned to Massachusetts and New York to appear in regional and off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

 stage productions. In 2004, she played Dotty Otley in Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn
Michael J. Frayn is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy...

's Noises Off
Noises Off
Noises Off is a 1982 play by English playwright Michael Frayn. The idea for it was born in 1970, when Frayn was standing in the wings watching a performance of Chinamen, a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave...

at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts
Dennis, Massachusetts
Dennis is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States; located near the center of Cape Cod. The population was 14,207 at the 2010 census.The town encompasses five distinct villages, each of which has its own post office...

, and in 2006 Rupp appeared on stage in Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...

 as a kooky mother in French playwright Jean Anouilh
Jean Anouilh
Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1943 play Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' Classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's...

's comedy Ring Round the Moon at Barrington Stage Company
Barrington Stage Company
Barrington Stage Company is a regional theatre company in The Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. It was co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director, Julianne Boyd, and Managing Director, Susan Sperber, in Sheffield, Massachusetts...

. New York theater-goers saw Rupp return to the off-Broadway stage in June 2007, as Valerie in the Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre is an award-winning contemporary Off-Broadway theater company.-Mission:The theatre's mission is to give new life to contemporary American plays and to produce the world premiers of new plays by both established and emerging playwrights...

 production of Marisa Wegrzyn
Marisa Wegrzyn
Marisa Wegrzyn is an American playwright based in Chicago, Illinois. She won the 2009 Wasserstein Prize for her play Hickorydickory.- Early life :...

's The Butcher of Baraboo, directed by Judith Ivey
Judith Ivey
Judith Lee Ivey is an American actress and director.-Personal life:Ivey was born in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Dorothy Lee , a teacher, and Nathan Aldean Ivey, a college instructor and dean. She spent 1965-1968 in Dowagiac, Michigan, where she attended Union High School through tenth grade...

. Two months later she performed in the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,947 at the 2010 census...

, as Ida Bolton in a revival of Paul Osborn
Paul Osborn
Paul Osborn was an American playwright and screenwriter best known for writing the screen adaptation of East of Eden as well as South Pacific, The Yearling, The World of Suzie Wong and Sayonara....

's 1939 play Morning's at Seven
Morning's at Seven
Morning's at Seven is a play by Paul Osborn.Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1938, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late.The original Broadway...

.

That '70s Show ended in 2006. Rupp appeared soon after in a dramatic television role as the wife of a murdered pharmaceutical CEO, on the crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...

. In the episode, entitled "Infiltrated", Rupp's character desperately attempts to hide her slain husband's past sexual abuses. In early 2007, the feature film Kickin It Old Skool was released, in which Rupp was cast as Jamie Kennedy
Jamie Kennedy
James Harvey "Jamie" Kennedy is an American comedian, rapper, and actor.-Early life:Kennedy, the youngest of six children, was born in Upper Darby Township, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His family is of Irish descent and he was raised Roman Catholic. He attended and graduated from...

's mother. In 2008, Rupp appeared as a restaurant owner who helps two homeless men in the comedy-drama-musical, Jackson
Jackson
- United States :*Jackson, Alabama*Jackson, California*Jackson, Georgia*Jackson, Kentucky*Jackson, Louisiana*Jackson, Maine*Jackson, Michigan*Jackson, Minnesota*Jackson, Mississippi, the state capital*Jackson, Missouri*Jackson, Nebraska...

, written and directed by J. F. Lawton
J. F. Lawton
Jonathan Frederick Lawton , born on August 11, 1960 in Riverside, California, is an American screenwriter, film producer and film director...

. In the same year, she returned to daytime television in a guest role on As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...

.

Massachusetts theater-goers saw Rupp onstage in 2008, playing Olympia in Georges Feydeau
Georges Feydeau
Georges Feydeau was a French playwright of the era known as the Belle Époque. He is remembered for his many lively farces.-Biography:Georges Feydeau was born in Paris, the son of novelist Ernest-Aimé Feydeau and Léocadie Bogaslawa Zalewska. At the age of twenty, Feydeau wrote his first comic...

's 1907 farce A Flea in Her Ear
A Flea in Her Ear
A Flea in Her Ear is a play by Georges Feydeau written in 1907, at the height of the Belle Époque.-Plot:...

, at the Williamstown Theatre Festival
Williamstown Theatre Festival
The Williamstown Theatre Festival is a regional summer stock theatre on the campus of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, founded in 1954 by Williams College news director, Ralph Renzi, and drama program chairman, David C. Bryant. The theatre was conceived as a way to use the Adams...

 in Williamstown
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Williamstown is a town in Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,754 at the 2010 census...

, and as Miss Maudie in To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature...

at the Barrington Stage Company
Barrington Stage Company
Barrington Stage Company is a regional theatre company in The Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. It was co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director, Julianne Boyd, and Managing Director, Susan Sperber, in Sheffield, Massachusetts...

 in Pittsfield
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...

.

Personal life

Rupp divides her time between Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 and Lee, Massachusetts
Lee, Massachusetts
Lee is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, metropolitan statistical area. The population was 5,943 which was determined in the 2010 census. Lee, which includes the villages of South and East Lee, is part of the Berkshires resort...

. She is single and has no children.

Film credits

  • Big
    Big
    Big is a 1988 romantic comedy film directed by Penny Marshall and stars Tom Hanks as Josh Baskin, a young boy who makes a wish "to be big" to a magical fortune-telling machine and is then aged to adulthood overnight...

    (1988)
  • A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story (1992)
  • Sgt. Bilko
    Sgt. Bilko (film)
    Sgt. Bilko is a 1996 comedy film directed by Jonathan Lynn and written by Andy Breckman. It is an adaptation of the 1950s television series The Phil Silvers Show .-Plot:...

    (1996)
  • Clockwatchers
    Clockwatchers
    Clockwatchers is an American comedy-drama film released in 1997. Directed by Jill Sprecher, it stars Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow, Toni Collette and Alanna Ubach as temporary office staffers in an office complex....

    (1997)
  • Senseless
    Senseless
    Senseless is a 1998 American comedy film directed by Penelope Spheeris and written by Greg Erb and Craig Mazin. The film stars Marlon Wayans, David Spade, and Matthew Lillard as college students.-Plot:...

    (1998)
  • The Act (2004)
  • Teacher's Pet
    Teacher's Pet (film)
    Teacher's Pet is a 2004 animated musical film based on the television series of the same name; the film ends the central storyline of the series. The film was produced by DisneyToon Studios, and released to movie theaters in the United States in 2004...

    (2004)
  • Garfield
    Garfield (film)
    Garfield: The Movie, also known as Garfield, is a 2004 American live-action film based on the Jim Davis comic strip with the same name. In the film, Garfield the cat was created with computer-generated imagery, though all other animals were real...

    (voice, 2004)
  • Lucky 13
    Lucky 13
    Lucky 13 is a 2005 romantic comedy directed by Chris Hall and starring Brad Hunt, Harland Williams, Lauren Graham, Sasha Alexander, Debra Jo Rupp, John Doe, Kaley Cuoco and Taryn Manning.-Plot:...

    (2005)
  • Air Buddies
    Air Buddies
    Air Buddies is the sixth film in the Air Bud series and the first in the direct to video spin-off series Air Buddies, which follows the life of a lonely teenager and his dog who has the uncanny ability to play every sport. The film was released on December 12, 2006...

    (voice, 2006)
  • spychimps 2005
  • Kickin' It Old Skool (2007)
  • Jackson
    Jackson (film)
    Jackson is a 2008 American comedy-drama-musical film written and directed by J. F. Lawton starring Barry Primus as Donald and Charles Robinson as Sam.-Synopsis:...

    (2008)
  • She's Out of My League
    She's Out of My League
    She's Out of My League is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Jim Field Smith and written by Sean Anders and John Morris. The film has, in its starring roles, Jay Baruchel and Alice Eve, and was produced by Jimmy Miller for Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks and filmed in Pittsburgh,...

    (2010)
  • The Fields (2010)
  • Spooky Buddies
    Spooky Buddies
    Spooky Buddies is a 2011 Disney direct-to-DVD family film that is part of the Disney Buddies franchise, a series often referred to as the Air Bud and Air Buddies franchise. For the fifth installment in the Air Buddies series, the team has a Halloween adventure in Fernfield...

    (2011)

Television credits

  • Spenser: For Hire
    Spenser: For Hire
    Spenser: For Hire is a mystery television series based on Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels. The series, developed for TV by John Wilder, differs from the novels, mostly in its lesser degree of detail....

    (1987)
  • Kate & Allie
    Kate & Allie
    Kate & Allie is an American television situation comedy which ran from March 19, 1984 to May 22, 1989. Kate & Allie first aired on CBS as a midseason replacement series and only six episodes were initially commissioned, but the favorable response from critics and viewers alike easily convinced CBS...

    (1987)
  • The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
    The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
    The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is an NBC/Lifetime comedy-drama that aired from 1987 to 1991. It was created by Jay Tarses and starred Blair Brown in the title role.-Premise:...

    (1988)
  • Newhart
    Newhart
    Newhart is a television situation comedy starring comedian Bob Newhart and actress Mary Frann as an author and wife who owned and operated an inn located in a small, rural Vermont town that was home to many eccentric characters. The show aired on the CBS network from October 25, 1982 to May 21, 1990...

    (1989)
  • Mothers, Daughters and Lovers (TV movie, 1989)
  • Civil Wars
    Civil Wars (TV series)
    Civil Wars is an American legal drama that aired on ABC from November 1991 to March 1993. The series was produced by Steven Bochco, known for his work on NYPD Blue, L.A. Law, and Hill Street Blues.-Synopsis:...

    (1991)
  • Davis Rules
    Davis Rules
    Davis Rules is an American sitcom broadcast on ABC in 1991 and on CBS in 1992. The series was produced by Carsey-Werner Productions.-Synopsis:...

    (1991-1992)
  • Blossom
    Blossom (TV series)
    Blossom is an American sitcom broadcast on NBC from January 3, 1991 to May 22, 1995. The series stars Mayim Bialik as Blossom Russo, a teenage girl living with her father and two brothers. It was created by Don Reo.- Synopsis :...

    (1992)
  • A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story (1992)
  • Family Matters (1992)
  • In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco (TV movie, 1993)
  • Evening Shade
    Evening Shade
    Evening Shade was an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from 1990 to 1994. The series starred Burt Reynolds as Wood Newton, an ex-professional football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who returns to rural Evening Shade, Arkansas to coach a high school football team with a long...

    (1993)
  • Phenom
    Phenom (TV series)
    Phenom is an American sitcom about a tennis wunderkind that aired on ABC from September 14, 1993 to May 10, 1994. The series stars Angela Goethals, Judith Light, and William Devane.-Synopsis:...

    (1993)
  • L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...

    (1993)
  • The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (1991, 1993, 1994)
  • Empty Nest
    Empty Nest
    Empty Nest is an American sitcom that originally aired on NBC from 1988 to 1995. The series was created as a spin-off of The Golden Girls by creator and producer Susan Harris. For its first three seasons, Empty Nest was one of the year's top 10 most-watched programs...

    (1994)
  • Hearts Afire
    Hearts Afire
    Hearts Afire is a sitcom that aired from September 14, 1992 to February 1, 1995 on CBS. It starred John Ritter and Markie Post, with Post portraying a journalist and Ritter playing a senator's aide....

    (1994)
  • Diagnosis: Murder
    Diagnosis: Murder
    Diagnosis: Murder is a mystery/medical/crime drama television series starring Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan, a medical doctor who solves crimes with the help of his son, a homicide detective played by his real-life son Barry Van Dyke. The series began as a spin-off of Jake and the Fatman...

    (1994)
  • The Office (1995)
  • ER
    ER (TV series)
    ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

    (1995)
  • If Not for You (1995)
  • The Jeff Foxworthy Show
    The Jeff Foxworthy Show
    The Jeff Foxworthy Show is the name of two short-lived television series starring comedian Jeff Foxworthy and based on Foxworthy's stand-up comedy routine...

    (1995-1996)
  • Seinfeld
    Seinfeld
    Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...

    (1995, 1996)
  • Caroline in the City
    Caroline in the City
    Caroline in the City is an American situation comedy that ran from September 21, 1995 to April 26, 1999 on the NBC television network. It starred Lea Thompson as cartoonist Caroline Duffy. The series premiered in the two-hour Thursday night block led by Friends.-Premise:Caroline Duffy is a...

    (1996)
  • 7th Heaven
    7th Heaven
    7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on the WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August 26, 1996 to May 13, 2007...

    (1997)
  • Touched by an Angel
    Touched by an Angel
    Touched by an Angel is an American drama series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994 and ran for 211 episodes and nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and produced by Martha Williamson, the series stars Roma Downey, as an angel named Monica, and Della...

    (1997)
  • Over the Top
    Over the Top (TV series)
    Over the Top is an American sitcom starring Tim Curry, Annie Potts and Steve Carell. The series premiered on ABC on October 21, 1997. Although 12 episodes were produced, the series was canceled after only three episodes had aired.-Synopsis:...

    (1997)
  • To Have and To Hold
    To Have & to Hold
    To Have & to Hold was a short-lived American television series that aired on CBS during the fall of 1998.The drama series starred Moira Kelly as Annie Cornell, an attorney, and Jason Beghe as her husband, an Irish police officer, Sean McGrail...

    (1998)
  • From the Earth to the Moon (mini-series, 1998)
  • Friends
    Friends
    Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

    (1997-1998)
  • That '70s Show
    That '70s Show
    That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979...

    (1998-2006)
  • Teacher's Pet
    Teacher's Pet (TV series)
    Teacher's Pet is an American Disney animated television series about a dog who lives like a little boy. Created by Gary Baseman, Bill Steinkellner and Cheri Steinkellner and directed by Timothy Björklund, it was broadcast on Disney's One Saturday Morning on ABC and later Toon Disney...

    (2000-2002)
  • The Hughleys
    The Hughleys
    The Hughleys is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from September 22, 1998 to April 28, 2000 and on the UPN network from September 11, 2000 to May 20, 2002. It starred comedian D. L...

    (2001)
  • Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
    Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
    Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...

    (2006)
  • As the World Turns
    As the World Turns
    As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...

    (2008)
  • Better with You (2010-2011)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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