Deborah Offner (born August 7, 1959) is an American actress,

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, and theatre director.

Life

Offner was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1959. Her father was

Mortimer Offner Mortimer Offner (November 3, 1900 – September 1965) was an American photographer, political activist, and screenwriter. He created portraits of leading film stars before successfully moving to screenwriting. His career ended when he was blackli ...

, a photographer, screenwriter, and TV and theatre director. He wrote many of

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...

's early films, but he was

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...

. Her mother, Pauline, was a photography editor and worked for the first medical photography journal ''

Scope Scope or scopes may refer to: People with the surname * Jamie Scope (born 1986), English footballer * John T. Scopes (1900–1970), central figure in the Scopes Trial regarding the teaching of evolution Arts, media, and entertainment * Cinem ...

''. She went to

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...

and NYU School of the Arts, and after graduating she continued to work in theatre on and off Broadway. She has since appeared in '' Act One'' at the

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

, and in film and television on ''

Orange Is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Wo ...

'' and in the comedy ''

Top Five ''Top Five'' is a 2014 American comedy film written and directed by Chris Rock. Produced by Scott Rudin and Eli Bush, the film stars Rock, Rosario Dawson, and Gabrielle Union, and follows New York City comedian and film star Andre Allen (Rock), w ...

''. She also appeared in several

Jonathan Kaplan Jonathan Kaplan (born November 25, 1947) is an American film producer and director. His film ''The Accused'' (1988) earned actress Jodie Foster an Oscar for Best Actress and was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 39th Berlin International ...

films and TV series, including '' Project X'', ''

Immediate Family The immediate family is a defined group of relations, used in rules or laws to determine which members of a person's family are affected by those rules. It normally includes a person's parents, siblings, spouse, and children. It can contain other ...

'', ''

Unlawful Entry Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding ...

'', '' Love Field'', '' ER'' and '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''.

Partial filmography

*''

Mourning Becomes Electra ''Mourning Becomes Electra'' is a play cycle written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on 26 October 1931 where it ran for 150 performances before closing in March 1932, starring Lee Baker ...

'' (1974, TV Mini-Series) - Hazel *'' A Small Circle of Friends'' (1980) - Sarah *''

Ghost Story A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature'' ...

'' (1981) - Helen *'' Soup for One'' (1982) - Girl in Neon Bedroom *''

Streetwalkin' ''Streetwalkin is a 1985 American thriller film starring Melissa Leo. It was an early film from Concorde Pictures. Plot Cookie and her brother run away from their loveless mother and their abusive stepfather in Upstate New York and arrive in New ...

'' (1985) - Heather *''

Key Exchange Key exchange (also key establishment) is a method in cryptography by which cryptographic keys are exchanged between two parties, allowing use of a cryptographic algorithm. If the sender and receiver wish to exchange encrypted messages, each m ...

'' (1985) - Chiropractor Woman *'' Project X'' (1987) - Carol Lee *''

Crossing Delancey ''Crossing Delancey'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy film starring Amy Irving and Peter Riegert. Joan Micklin Silver directed it, drawing upon a play by Susan Sandler, who also wrote the screenplay. The film also features performances from ...

'' (1988) - Karen *'' True Believer'' (1989) - Laura Gayley *''

'' (1989) - Kathy *''

'' (1992) - Penny, Karen's Friend *'' Love Field'' (1992) - Police Dispatcher (voice) *'' Women: Stories of Passion'' (1997-1999, TV Series) - Christina / Caroline *''

Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary ...

'' (1998) - Cybil's Mom *'' ER'' (1998, TV Series) - ICU Nurse *''

Cruel Intentions ''Cruel Intentions'' is a 1999 American teen romantic drama film written and directed by Roger Kumble and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon, and Selma Blair. The film is a modern retelling of Pierre Choderlos de ...

'' (1999) - Mrs. Michalak *'' It's the Rage'' (1999) - Secretary *''Cain Rose Up'' (1999) - Birdette Cain *''

The Attic Expeditions ''The Attic Expeditions'' (also known as ''Horror in the Attic'') is a 2001 horror film directed by Jeremy Kasten and starring Andras Jones and Seth Green, with appearances by Alice Cooper and Ted Raimi. Plot :''Note: The story is explained her ...

'' (2001) - Dr. Coffey's Secretary *''Richard Roe'' (2001, Short) - Kathy *''

Ted Bundy Theodore Robert Bundy ( born Cowell; November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. After more than a decade ...

'' (2002) - Beverly *''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' (2004, TV series) - Beth Jacobson *'' Six Feet Under'' (2005, TV series) - Dr. Melnick *''

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...

'' (2005, TV Series) - Nosy Lady *'' The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie'' (2005) - Miss Offner *''

Medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

'' (2007, TV Series) - Mrs. Ueberschaer *'' Unearthed'' (2007) - Tanya the waitress *'' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (2007, TV Series) - Judge *''

Hindsight Hindsight bias, also known as the knew-it-all-along phenomenon or creeping determinism, is the common tendency for people to perceive past events as having been more predictable than they actually were. People often believe that after an event ha ...

'' (2008) - Manager *''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...

'' (2009, TV Series) - Judge Rachel Cates *''

Black Swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon c ...

'' (2010)Deborah Offner filmography
New York Times, Retrieved 23 October 2015 - Administrator Susie *'' Blue Bloods'' (2012-2016, TV Series) - Judge Katrina McCarthy *''

High Maintenance ''High Maintenance'' is an American Anthology series, anthology comedy-drama television show, television and web series, web series created by ex-husband and wife team Ben Sinclair (actor), Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld. The show follows The ...

'' (2013, TV Series) - Miriam *''

Home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

'' (2014) - Sondra *''

'' (2014) - Wendy (uncredited) *''

The Boy Downstairs ''The Boy Downstairs'' is a 2017 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Sophie Brooks, in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Zosia Mamet, Matthew Shear, Deirdre O'Connell, Sarah Ramos and Diana Irvine. The film ...

'' (2017) - Shannon *''

Shiva Baby ''Shiva Baby'' is a 2020 comedy film written and directed by Emma Seligman. The film stars Rachel Sennott as Danielle, a directionless young bisexual Jewish woman who attends a with her parents, Joel (Fred Melamed) and Debbie (Polly Draper). Oth ...

'' (2020) - Ellie

References

External links

* 1951 births American film actresses American television actresses American women dramatists and playwrights Songwriters from New York (state) Actresses from New York City Living people Musicians from New York City Sarah Lawrence College alumni Tisch School of the Arts alumni {{US-screen-actor-stub