Biography   Deborah Frances Manheim was born in Caldwell, New Jersey in 1961. She grew up in a reformed Jewish household with her parents, Jerry, a math professor, and Sylvia, a teacher, in addition to her 2 other siblings. She had an older brother and an older sister. Although she was born in New Jersey, she was raised in Illinois and California. Deborah started gaining weight at the young age of 10, which was when she moved to California. Her parents tried to make Deborah lose weight. They had brought her to psychiatrists, hypnotists, and they bribed her. When working on her masters degree at New York University's Tisch Drama School, she dropped 80 lbs in 9 months with the help of speed, an illegal amphetamine, and became the darling of the drama department. When she graduated, the roles stopped coming her way. When Deborah did an over dose of drugs, she realized that she needed to get her life on track. When she stopped using Speed, she gained all of the lost weight back again. When her father suggested that she start up again to lose the weight, Deborah didn't speak to him for a year. Now called Camryn, she wrote a play titled "Wake up, I'm Fat". The show reflected a series of Camryn's experiences as a fat person in an unaccepting society. A few weeks before the show aired, she was cast in "The Road to Wellville". When a casting executive saw the show, he recommended Camryn to David E. Kelley, husband of Michelle Pffiefer and producer of Ally McBeal and Snoops. Camryn was given an interview with him, but he thought her a bit too wild for the part. Camryn didn't get the part that she auditioned for, but yet had a part written especially for her as the portrayal of Eleanor Frutt on the television show called "The Practice". She also portrayed Eleanor Frutt in a crossover episode of Ally McBeal, in which the first segment of the show was featuring "The Practice" cast at the Cage & Fish law firm as outside counsel, and ended with the Ally McBeal cast on "The Practice"'s show. She has since won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Eleanor Frutt on The Practice, and been nominated again for this year's Emmy awards as Eleanor Frutt. Camryn has also graced the covers of several magazines such as TV Guide.