Who is Deborah Van Valkenburgh?
Deborah was born under the zodiac sign of Virgo on 29 August 1952, in Schenectady, New York State USA; she holds American nationality, and her ethnicity is White. Deborah is a writer, artist, singer and actress, with 65 credits to her name, perhaps known best for her role as Jackie Rush in the popular ’80s sitcom “Too Close for Comfort” starring Jim J. Bullock, Ted Knight and Nancy Dussault.
Early life, family, and education
Deborah was raised in Schenectady by her parents, a mother who was an English teacher in elementary school, and father who was an artist; there is no information about their names or origin, but she’s an only child.
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Deborah was involved in various art projects from an early age, and as a teenager performed with a folk band at local coffee houses, while during college she sang in a duo.
She attended the Shaker High School in Latham, New York, and upon matriculating in 1970, she enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, from which she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in painting and drawing in 1974.
Roles in series
Deborah’s first appearance on television was in the series “Too Close for Comfort”, followed by her supporting roles in “Glitter”, “New Love, American Style”, “Houston Knights”, “Crime Story”, and “Cagney & Lacey”.
In the following almost two decades, she made appearances in an episode or two of numerous television series, some of which were quite popular, such as “Bodies of Evidence”, “Quantum Leap”, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”, “Chicago Hope”, “ER”, and “Ghost Whisperer”.
Her most recent role was in 2020 in “Helstrom”, portraying Esther Smith in this adventure action drama starring Elizabeth Marvin, Tom Austen and Sydney Lemmon, and based on the Marvel comics. It’s streamed on Hulu since 16 October 2020, although unfortunately for the fans, the last episode was canceled.
Roles in movies
Deborah made her acting debut on the big screen in 1979, when cast to play Mercy in the movie “The Warriors”, an action crime thriller based on the novel of the same name written by Sol Yurick. She followed with her role as Tina in “King of the Mountain”, starring alongside Joseph Bottoms and Harry Hamlin.
In the following years, she appeared in TV movies such as “Going for the Gold: The Bill Johnson Story”, and “A Bunny’s Tale”, before in 1987 she was cast to play in “Rampage”, and in 1988 “Phantom of the Ritz”.
Deborah had some supporting roles in several movies for years, until in 2008 she was cast to play Sister in the “Road to Hell”, a musical fantasy action written by Cynthia Curan; the movie had one win, Deborah winning PollyGrind Underground Film Festival of Las Vegas award for Best Supporting Actress in a Fantasy Film.
After that, she was cast to play Justice Wender in the 2013 movie “The Trials of Cate McCall”, followed by her supporting role in “Hidden in Plain Sight” in 2019, which was her most recent role in the movies.
Love life and relationships
Deborah prefers to keep her private life a secret, however, it’s widely known about her relationship with the late Peter Halsten Thorkelson – known professionally as Peter Tork – a composer, actor and a musician. Perhaps known best as a bass guitarist and the keyboardist of the band The Monkees, he was born on 13 February 1942, but died on 21 February 2019 from cancer of head and neck.
Deborah and Peter were dating back in 1990, although there is no information about whether they married or became engaged, but it’s assumed that their relationship lasted for a couple of years. Peter was divorced from his third wife, and married for the fourth time in 2013, to Pamela Grapes.
There were various rumors about Deborah and her fellow actor from the movie “Warriors”, Michael Beck, however, Michael has been a married man since 1980, and he denied these rumors, as did Deborah.
Deborah hasn’t spoken about any other man with whom she might have been in a relationship after Peter, so it’s assumed that, as of 2021, she is single, she hasn’t been married, and doesn’t have children.
Hobbies and other interests
During her college days, Deborah performed as a singer, in the movie “King of the Mountain” singing “Dangerous Strangers” and “Where Do I Fit In”. She has also played in the theater in some notables plays such as “The Beauty Queen of Leenane”, “Picasso at the Lapin Agile”, and “The Book of Liz”.
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Nowadays, she likes to go to the theater to enjoy watching plays – her favorite is “The Heidi Chronicles”. She also likes to go to the cinema or to watch movies at home; her favorite movies are “American Beauty”, “Ghost”, “Scarface” and “Guilty by Suspicion”. When it comes to her favorite actors, they are Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, while her favorite actresses are Greta Garbo and Julie Andrews.
In her spare time she likes to read, and her favorite writers are Leo Tolstoy and Alexander Pushkin, with her favorite book being “Anna Karenina”. She’s also a writer, and has worked in all manner of media, and writes short stories and poems, although she hasn’t published any.
She is into traveling, and thanks to her acting career has visited a couple of US states, also Canada which is her favorite travel destination; in the future, she dreams of visiting Rome, Italy.
Deborah has no personal social media account, however, there is an Instagram account managed by her fans, and her official Facebook page on which she often posts updates of her life and work.
Age, height, and net worth
Deborah is 69 years old; with brown hair and brown eyes. She weighs around 145lbs (65kgs), is 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, with vital statistics of 33-26-35.
As of October 2021, her net worth has been estimated at $4 million.
