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Debra McGrath

Biography

Debra McGrath (born July 5th, 1954) is a Canadian actress and comedian.

She first started her career with three years as a member of The Second City in Toronto, Ontario, from 1983 to 1985, where she was a writer and actress, and eventually a director. She was best known for a take-off of Marilyn Monroe, and the song Condoms are a Girl's Best Friend. During the late 1980s, she appeared with Second City at anniversary, comedy festival, and Club Soda performances.

In 1990, she co-created My Talk Show with Linda Kash, a sitcom featuring a talk show broadcast from the host's basement. The series ran for one year, with fifty-nine episodes. She was also a co-writer of the Canadian Women's Television Network's Go Girl!, a send-up of a cable TV talk show that debuted in 1997.

In 2002, she appeared in the film Expecting, directed by Deborah Day, which won Most Popular Canadian Film at the 2002 Vancouver International Film Festival. For this role, she won the award for Best Performance in a Feature (Female) at the 2004 Canadian Comedy Awards. Alongside Paul O'Sullivan, Rebecca Northan, Lisa Merchant and Peter Oldring, she received a Gemini Award nomination for Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Program or Series at the 19th Gemini Awards in 2004 for The Joe Blow Show.

With her husband, Colin Mochrie, and Deborah Day, she co-created and starred in the CBC television series Getting Along Famously (2006), about a fictional couple who star in a 1960s TV variety show. The 2005 pilot show of Getting Along Famously was nominated for two Gemini Awards, including Best Writing in a Comedy or Variety Program or Series.

She also starred in the children's series Seven Little Monsters (2000–2003), and in Little Mosque on the Prairie (2007–2012) in which she played Mayor Popowitcz. In 2003, she formed a comedy troupe called Women Fully Clothed with four other Canadian comedy artists. She left the troupe in the first half of 2009.