Debi Mazar Biography
Born: August 1964
Known for her feline eyes and brash New York attitude, Queens native Debi Mazar began her show business career behind the scenes as a makeup artist for a star-studded clientele, the most lucrative of the bunch being Madonna. Attracted by her unique features, the iconic pop singer cast Mazar in the music videos for "True Blue," "Deeper and Deeper," and "Papa Don't Preach." It wasn't until 1990, however, that Mazar made her film debut as the cokehead girlfriend of Henry Hill (Ray_Liotta) in Martin_Scorsese's GoodFellas. After portraying a series of small but indelible characters in Oliver_Stone's The_Doors, Spike_Lee's Jungle_Fever, and Jodie_Foster's Little_Man_Tate (all 1991), Mazar had developed a small but devoted following and a reputation solid enough to land her the tough-talking role of legal defense secretary Denise Iannello on ABC's legal drama Civil Wars (1991-1993), a role she would reprise for NBC's L.A. Law in 1994.
After taking on several more tiny supporting parts throughout the early '90s, including one which would reunite her with Jungle_Fever director Spike_Lee (in the Oscar-winning Malcolm_X [1992]), Mazar made her debut as a lead character in Money for Nothing (1993), a blue-collar crime comedy co-starring John_Cusack, with whom she would work for a second time in Woody_Allen's Bullets_Over_Broadway (1994). After a brief performance as a manicurist in television's Witch_Hunt (1994), Mazar could be found in the role of a femme fatale alongside Drew_Barrymore, Jim_Carrey, and Val_Kilmer in Batman_Forever (1995), and would portray an idealistic HIV-positive thief in Red_Ribbon_Blues (1995). Red_Ribbon_Blues wasn't the last time Mazar would delve into the complex world of sex and gender-related prejudice -- in 1996's Girl_6, Mazar co-starred as an anonymous member of a phone sex business, while Things_I_Never_Told_You found her playing a transsexual. Shortly afterward, Mazar chewed a respectable amount of scenery as one of Long Island barfly Tommy's (Steve_Buscemi) potential hook-ups in 1996's Trees_Lounge. The actress continued to exhibit her versatility in a series of roles during 1997, including those of a sleazy television show producer in Meet_Wally_Sparks, an intergalactic waitress in Space_Truckers, and two decidedly more serious performances in the gay & lesbian drama Nowhere and Nick_Cassavetes' romantic drama She's_So_Lovely.
With the notable exceptions of bleaching her trademark jet-black tresses for 1998's Frogs for Snakes with Robbie_Coltrane, and her role as Debbie De Luca in Michael_Mann's tobacco industry exposé The_Insider (1999), Mazar spent much of the late '90s on the small screen. After the failure of CBS's sitcom Temporarily Yours (1997), Mazar played lead roles in David and Lisa (a psychological drama co-produced by Oprah_Winfrey) and NBC's Witness to the Mob. Following another NBC sitcom appearance in the short-lived Working (1998), the actress starred in 2000's CBS drama That's_Life as an advice-dispensing hairdresser. In 2002, Mazar played right-hand woman to multi-millionaire Clark Devlin (Jason_Isaacs) in Jackie_Chan's The_Tuxedo, and went on to offer a poignant monologue in Ten_Tiny_Love_Stories the same year. In 2004, Mazar took on a supporting role in the crime comedy Be_Cool with John_Travolta and Uma_Thurman, and starred in Dennis_Brooks' independent film Goodnight,_Joseph_Parker. Tracie Cooper, Rovi
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