Since graduating from NIDA in 1977, Debra has worked extensively in theatre, film and television – some highlights of her more than thirty year career include the role of Ned’s sister Maggie Kelly in the acclaimed mini-series The Last Outlaw ; the feature film Silver City; playing the female lead in the ABC comedy series The Fast Lane; the opportunity of working, on two separate films, with her idols Tom Conti and Meryl Streep and the financial security of playing the role of Pippa, the much loved foster mother on Home and Away for eight years.

After performing in the Melbourne season of the Jack Davis First Born trilogy with Jack’s Aboriginal Marli Biyol company, Debra then toured to London with the company in one of the plays, No Sugar; and in later years also enjoyed roles in pantomimes in Leeds and Tunbridge Wells.

Debra’s more recent work includes playing Tom Croydon’s wife, Grace, on Blue Heelers; the role of Vi in the MTC’s production of The Memory of Water; and performing in a recently commissioned new work, Quilting the Armour – a play about the women involved in the Kelly saga – Debra is delighted to finally be old enough to play Ned’s mum, Ellen Kelly. Debra also tutors in Voice at the Monash Academy of Performing Arts, runs vocal workshops for women in the workplace, and spends the rest of her time in semi-rural bliss nurturing her two beautiful children and laughing at her husband’s very funny jokes.