Cathy DeBuono is an American actress. DeBuono was born on March 20, 1970, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bronxville. Cathy DeBuono is a rare actress in Hollywood. While many actresses remain in the closet, or at least “guarded” about their personal lives, she is not only out and proud, but is actively seeking out lesbian roles.

As an athlete, she started a career as a successful volleyball player and received several awards and medals, such as two gold medals at the United States Olympic Festival in 1991 and 1992. Between 1988 and 1991 she attended the University of Kentucky on a full athletic scholarship for volleyball, played middle blocker and broke several records during her active
playing days.

She was forced to end her career as a volleyball player due to a knee injury. After this, DeBuono started her acting career, and she performed in a stage play directed by a former student, Ashley Judd. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and graduated in 1994. In 2003 she earned a master degree in clinical psychology.

She’s involved in a relationship with another Hollywood actress, and without too much digging, you can find out who it is. “Being on the internet is really interesting,” she says. “People really know a lot about you and there’s been some learning curve about how to protect that part of your life. I have someone in my life and it’s very special and important to me and I want to protect it a little bit.”

DeBuono plays Risa, a lesbian who pretends she is in love with a straight girl. She says she was really attracted to the role of Risa because she was such a great character. "What I loved about Risa was she was a gay girl who gets wrapped up in this straight girl’s lie. You watch this human being go through falling in love, not she’s a gay person falling in love, the way some stories do. Where the fact that they’re gay takes the focus. For Risa, it’s just that she’s a human being. It made it different, I really liked that." Most of the projects she’s involved with are gay in some way. "They’re the stories of our lives,” she says. “It’s what we want to see. We needed the coming out stories, but now we want to see our lives."

When asked if she was specifically seeking out lesbian roles, she responded, "I guess so. It’s not that I’m opposed to other roles, it’s just that the world of gay entertainment has grown and there’s more available in that niche of the market now. It’s what brought me back into acting because that market didn’t exist the first time. I’m not opposed to playing stories that aren’t gay, but I do think I prefer to play them. I like telling our stories and playing our characters and giving them life. I’m not actively opposed to seeking out straight things, I just find myself swimming around in the gay niche of the market and I love it there."

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