Biographie
Deborah Geffner's film debut was in Bob Fosse's Oscar-winning movie All That Jazz (1979). Fosse selected her from the Broadway cast of "A Chorus Line" to portray Victoria opposite Roy Scheider in this celebrated film. Action thriller fans know her as Robert Ginty's alluring love interest in "Exterminator." More recently, Deborah played a casting director who challenges Mia Goth in Ti West's latest installment of his renowned trilogy, "MaXXXine."
She appears as the crisis counselor delivering a stern lecture to Jennifer Aniston in the series "The Morning Show," and has been featured in shows such as "American Horror Story," "How to Get Away With Murder," "Scandal," "Mad Men," "The Young and the Restless," "Grey's Anatomy," "ER," "Monk," and "Criminal Minds," among others.
Deborah's passion for acting began at age five when she was called in last minute to replace the actor playing the young boy in "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" at Carnegie Mellon University after he contracted measles on opening night. Wearing pancake makeup, delivering lines, enjoying cookies on stage, and hearing applause for the first time sparked her love for theater. This joy was renewed each Saturday afternoon when she and her cousin, Jeff Goldblum, attended children's plays at the Pittsburgh Playhouse.
She trained in dance at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater as she grew up. At sixteen, she was accepted into Juilliard. While in New York, she studied at HB Studios and with acting coaches Larry Moss and Sam Schacht. Her Broadway credits include Pal Joey, and she spent two and a half years playing Kristine in the original production of A Chorus Line, stepping away for six months to film All That Jazz (1979).
After relocating to Los Angeles, Deborah studied with Peggy Feury, Peter Flood, The Groundlings, and Richard Seyd. Shortly after arriving, she was cast as a series regular in the pilot of "Century Hill," a project she loved despite it never airing. She starred in the TV movie Legs (1983) as a Radio City Music Hall Rockette, dancing with the Rockettes and acting alongside one of her childhood heroes, Gwen Verdon. While filming Legs in Manhattan, her boyfriend flew in from LA and proposed on the Brooklyn Bridge the day after a memorable Valentine's Day snowstorm shut down the city. They remained married for 35 years. She continued to act in numerous TV series, films, commercials, and stage productions.
Deborah also ventured into writing, directing, and producing her own work. She wrote, directed, and starred in the award-winning short film "Guitar Lessons." In 2012, she directed her daughter, Jesse Holcomb, in the world premiere of Jon Courie's "Jennifer Aniston Stole My Life," which was selected for Best of Fringe at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
An accomplished voice actor, she has lent her voice to roles such as Andrew Garfield's mother on the phone in Under The Silver Lake, President Obama's grandmother in the Sundance film Southside With You, and a variety of characters including cult leaders, mayors, crazed fairies, and horror queens in podcasts like "The Phenomenon" and "The Unseen World."
Deborah continues to enjoy singing and dancing, sharing and hearing compelling stories, rescuing dogs and cats, laughing with her two wonderful daughters, and savoring hot cocoa.
