Deborah Puette is a queer, L.A. based creator working across film, television, and the American theater who credits her relatively quick success as a screenwriter and director to her twenty-five+ years as a working actor. 

Puette’s debut feature as writer and co-director, Cash for Gold, is from the first full-length script she’d ever written. The 2025 release has garnered attention for its compassionate storytelling and nuanced character portrayals. Critic Noah Berlatsky of the Chicago Reader calls it “a courageous repudiation of the cruel path this country has committed itself to,” while Liz Braun from the Alliance of Women Film Journalists observes “there’s no denying the power of Puette’s storytelling,” adding that it "will leave you looking forward to whatever Puette does next.” Michael Talbot-Haynes of Film Threat praises the film as “a brick house-built drama,” highlighting its authentic depiction of life's challenges, and Nell Minow from RogerEbert.com says “it is the compassion the film has for its characters that is the film’s true grace.”

Puette also stars in the film, avail on Apple TV, Amazon Prime and other VOD platforms February 4, 2025.

Puette wrote, directed, and produced SUCH A PRETTY GIRL, a short film based on her semi-autobiographical TV pilot, PLAY LIKE A GIRL (Finalist, 2021 Writers Lab underwritten by Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and Oprah Winfrey). The film was Executive Produced by Robina Riccitiello (DÍDI, MUTT). She is currently in development on the feature script which will serve as her solo directing debut.

In the television space, her most recent pilot, BLAZE, has been recognized by the GLAAD x Blacklist, Warner Brothers Writers Workshop, NBC Writers Program, and was the recipient of Roadmap Writers Jump Start Grand Prize.

As an actor, Puette has recurred and guest starred on shows across virtually every network and streamer and has played lead and supporting roles in features for Disney, Miramax, and many independent production companies.

On stage, she's carried lead roles in over 30 plays and 100 workshops and her work has been nominated for every major theater acting award in both Chicago and Los Angeles. She’s the recipient of Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Award, Best Actress; L.A. Weekly Award, Best Actress; Los Angeles Critics Circle Award, Best Solo Performance; and, as a producer, the Ovation Award for Best Production. Her work has received rave reviews from national publications including the Los Angeles Times, Variety, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Chicago Reader, and Stage Raw L.A.’s publication of record for all things on stage in that town, has called her “L.A. theater royalty”.