Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Debra grew up licking icicles, tobogganing and skating in the winter and, swimming, bike riding and berry picking in the summer.  She caught the acting bug while in high school and performed in both talent shows and the annual school musical.  After graduating as an acting major with a BA from the University of Saskatchewan, Debra made her way to the West Coast and settled in Vancouver, BC.  She immediately became involved performing in a sketch troupe with Pacific Theatre and eventually found her way into film / tv, voice-over and improv (performing with Very Very Improv and Tightrope Improv Theatre).  Debra joined Women In Film and Television (now GEMS) Vancouver in 2001.  She received WIFTV’s Volunteer of the Year Award in 2008 – largely for her efforts on the organization’s film festival committee – and, in 2011, she was honored with the Sharon Gibbon Lifetime Member Award for her service MCing / interviewing the guest speakers at WIFTV’s monthly Networking Coffee Chats.

Debra enjoys volunteering in the arts and non-profit sectors and, as a volunteer with the National Broadcast Reading Service’s Voice-Print Vancouver, was pleased to receive her 5 year pin for voicing print news for blind and visually impaired listeners.

Travel has been a big part of Debra’s life; something her traveling salesman father may have helped foster.  As a child, her family took numerous road trips to visit relatives and the family cabin in Saskatchewan.  Occasionally, the road trips went farther a field; from Saskatchewan to Southern California to visit relatives and Disneyland over the Christmas break.  While in university, Debra spent 3 summers studying French in Quebec.  Since then, she has enjoyed traveling to Mexico, England, France, Italy, Turkey, Peru and numerous US cities.  She hopes to travel to Australia “one of these days”.