Deborah Yates (born June 5, 1970) is an American dancer and actress. She was nominated for the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2000.

Biography

Deborah was born and raised in

Jacksonville, Texas Jacksonville is a city located in Cherokee County, Texas, United States. The population was 13,997 at the 2020 U.S. census. It is the principal city of the Jacksonville micropolitan statistical area, which includes all of Cherokee County. Ja ...

. The daughter of Bronwyn (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Betts) and David Yates (1938–2006). Her father sold industrial supplies and her mother is a psychologist. She has two sisters, Victoria and Hillary, and a brother Brian Yates started dancing around age 6 and moved from her small hometown to Austin, Texas at age 16 to study dance. She moved back to Jacksonville for her senior year of high school. During her college career she traveled around Europe. She graduated from Southern Methodist University with a degree in Communications. Yates is a member of Mensa.

Theatre

After graduating, Yates moved to Chicago and danced with the Hubbard Street Dance Company while waiting tables on the side. She gained her Equity card by performing on a cruise ship for 6 months. She moved to New York City and in 1994 joined

The Rockettes The Radio City Rockettes are an American precision dance company. Founded in 1925 in St. Louis, they have, since 1932, performed at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Until 2015, they also had a touring company. They are best known for sta ...

. During this time she took additional singing, acting, and dances classes at Steps and The Broadway Dance Center. Yates stayed with the Rockettes for 4 years before making her Broadway debut as a swing in the 1997 revue show ''

Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

'' also starring

Lesley Ann Warren Lesley Ann Warren (born August 16, 1946) is an American actress, singer and dancer. She made her Broadway debut in '' 110 in the Shade'' in 1963. In 1965 she received wide recognition for playing the title role in the television musical product ...

. The show played for 109 performances. In 2000 Yates received rave reviews and a

Tony Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony the Tiger, cartoon mascot for Frosted Flakes cereal * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * ...

Award nomination for originating the role of 'Girl in a Yellow Dress' in the musical

Contact Contact may refer to: Interaction Physical interaction * Contact (geology), a common geological feature * Contact lens or contact, a lens placed on the eye * Contact sport, a sport in which players make contact with other players or objects * C ...

. Ben Brantley of The New York Times referred to Yates as ''a razor edged Grace Kelly''. Contact played 1,010 performances and won the

for Best Musical. The show was directed and choreographed by

Susan Stroman Susan P. Stroman (born October 17, 1954) is an American theatre director, choreographer, and performer. Her notable theater productions include ''Oklahoma!'', ''The Music Man'', ''Crazy for You (musical), Crazy for You'', ''Contact (musical), Co ...

and also starred

Karen Ziemba Karen Ziemba (born November 12, 1957) is an American actress, singer and dancer, best known for her work in musical theatre. In 2000, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in '' Contact''. Biography Zie ...

and

Boyd Gaines Boyd Payne Gaines (born May 11, 1953) is an American actor. During his career, he has won four Tony Awards and three Drama Desk Awards. Gaines is best known for playing Mark Royer on ''One Day at a Time (1975 TV series), One Day at a Time'' (1981 ...

. Yates also performed the role of 'Girl in a Yellow Dress' on tour.

Film and television

In 2004 Yates appeared in ''

National Treasure A national treasure is a structure, artifact, object or cultural work that is officially or popularly recognized as having particular value to the nation, or representing the ideals of the nation. The term has also been applied to individuals or ...

'' as Rebecca and also appeared in the film '' Shall We Dance?'' as a dancer. She also played a supporting role in the 2002 television movie '' Warning: Parental Advisory'' as Pamela Stone. Additionally, she appeared in the 2008 film ''

Deception Deception is the act of convincing of one or many recipients of untrue information. The person creating the deception knows it to be false while the receiver of the information does not. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Tort of ...

'' as a tango dancer and had a several episode stint as Tea on ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other so ...

''.

Video games

In 2008 Yates appeared in ''

Grand Theft Auto IV ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2004's ''Grand Theft Auto: San And ...

'' as Sara, the '' random character''.

External links

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Deborah Living people 1970 births American actresses American female dancers Dancers from Texas People from Jacksonville, Texas Southern Methodist University alumni Mensans 21st-century American women