Anyone who has ever heard Debra Byrne sing knows just how special this Australian performer is. With more than thirty years in the spotlight, Debra has amassed credentials in music, television, film and on stage that few can match.
Whether it be as the 16 year old Queen of Pop, belting out "He’s a Rebel", to the heart-breaking thrill of Grizabella’s "Memory" in Cats, her career has been full of memorable highlights.
Debra first won Australian hearts as the “little girl with the big voice” on the original Young Talent Time, where she performed for four years from the age of twelve.
After Young Talent Time she moved to a recording career and had hits with He’s a Rebel and Da Doo Run. During this time she also won the Australian Queen of Pop Award for two consecutive years.
With two Logie Awards to her credit, Debra’s television career moved her to London and appearances on the Cliff Richard’s BBC-TV series, her own ABC-TV series with John Farnham, simply titled Farnham and Byrne and her first acting role in the Sammy Award winning TV Follies.
Debra starred with Matt Dillon in Rebel where she dazzled cinema - goers with her high-voltage performance and was nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award.
The next eight years saw Debra build her reputation as one of Australia’s leading theatre ladies. She achieved critical acclaim as Grizabella in Cats, performed with Judi Connelli in Jerry’s Girls, and in 1988 played the role of Fantine in Les Miserables. In the same year she performed for the Prince and Princess of Wales at the Royal Bicentennial Concert.
The ultimate compliment, Debra was chosen to sing the role of Fantine in the symphonic recording of Les Miserables which featured the top performers from the productions worldwide. The album was awarded a Grammy in the Musical Cast Show Catergory.
In 1990 Debra left the cast of Les Miserables to return to concert and cabaret performances and to prepare for her album. Released in 1991 and called Caught in the Act, it proved a huge success reaching number one on the Australian charts. After the success of Caught in the Act, Debra wrote and recorded her second album Sleeping Child.
Debra waited nearly 2 years to win the much-coveted role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and on the 26th of October 1996, she gave the performance of her life.
Debra then recorded her third album, New Ways to Dream, her favourite.
Becoming increasingly recognised for her dramatic talent, Debra has appeared in guest roles for top-rating TV dramas including GP, Police Rescue, Law of the Land, the ABC series Naked, The Secret Life of Us and most recently City Homicide.
In 1999 Debra returned to Cabaret with her show Caught in the Act Again!! She is currently performing in her own creation starring with Wendy Stapleton and Nikki Nicholls in Girls, Girls, Girls!!!
In 2004, Debra appeared in the box office smash Minefields and Miniskirts for the Malthouse Theatre, which went on to tour nationally in 2005.
Over the past three years Debra has performed for The Production Company as Sally Durant Plummer in Follies (2008), Belle Poitrine in Little Me (2007) and Muzzie in Thoroughly Modern Millie (2006).
Debra is the very proud mother of Arja Byrne 29, Lauren Byrne 27, and Lucille 9, and devoted grandma to Oliver Byrne 6 and Aaron Byrne 4.
