Getting to Know Deborah Puette

Deborah Puette guest stars in tonight's "Criminal Minds"

Actress Deborah Puette appears in tonight’s episode of Criminal Minds as a professional who may have information Reid and J.J. were seeking. “Professional” is a good word to begin to describe Deborah. She spent her early years on Chicago stages, earning the Joseph Jefferson Citation, Chicago’s most distinguished acting award, playing an abused teenager turned serial killer in “The Glory of Living“. After a very successful start in Chicago, Deborah tested her talents on Los Angeles stages. Her lead performance in “Tryst” won her the LA Weekly Award with nominations from the Ovations, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, and Garland Awards.

Deborah’s on-screen credits are rapidly growing as well, appearing in last week’s Grey’s Anatomy, The Office, Strong Medicine, Crossing Over with Harrison Ford, Cupid opposite Jeremy Piven, and coming up, the psychological thriller “Repose,” opposite Mark Feuerstein and the post-apocalyptic musical “Sacrifice.”

I had the distinct pleasure of chatting with Deborah last week about her career, television shows that we watch and children. Conversation flowed so easily with Deborah; I felt like I had known her for a very long time. She had just been in Chicago again for a reading of a short story she wrote about becoming a mother, which brought the house down. It was a refreshingly honest telling of being pregnant with her son, giving birth and falling in love. “I’ll be the first to say,” Deborah writes, “I didn’t play nice on the schoolyard of pregnancy.” We shared some laughs and some reminiscing over the emotional realities of pregnancy (our sons are the same age). It did not include hearts and flowers. Deborah was kind enough to send me the transcript of her short story, and I laughed till I cried, and then I really cried. I agreed with her that with all the challenges, fears and misery motherhood can bring, its rewards can be immeasurable.

We chatted about Chicago, theater vs. film (both rewarding in different ways), and TV shows we like to watch. My list was longer than hers, but when I mentioned Chuck, Deborah told me that she and Scott Krinskey (Jeff) are friends from way back. “If you ever get to talk with Scott again, tell him I said ‘hi’!”

I had to let Deborah go sooner than I would have liked, mainly because I didn’t want to monopolize her time. I could have stayed on the phone with her hours longer, though. Deborah’s next project coming up is “Nurture”, a play about a woman trying to re-build a life with her husband after he wakes up from an epic coma. “After a while, he feels there is something missing in his relationship with his wife – she has a secret. Just before the accident that caused the coma, he was leaving her for another woman, but he does not remember it.” “Nurture” opens June 22nd and runs through June 28th at the Palm Springs Int’l ShortFest.

Watch Deborah tonight on Criminal Minds at 9/8 central on CBS. Then, catch her on Parks and Recreation tomorrow night at 8:30/7:30 central on NBC.