Career: In 1980, Heaton moved to New York and made her Broadway debut in the musical Don't Get God Started, before joining together with fellow acting students to start the theatre company Stage Three. It was in one of their productions that she first caught the eye of a Los Angeles casting director. She subsequently won roles in TV series including thirtysomething, Room for Two, Women of the House and Party of Five, and the movies Memoirs of an Invisible Man and Beethoven. However, her big break came in 1996 when she was cast as Debra in Everybody Loves Raymond - the sitcom ran for nine years and won her two Emmy awards. Since it ended, she's also starred in the comedy Back to You. Away from acting, she has written a memoir and more controversially, has spoken out on behalf of pro-life and anti-euthanasia groups. She is currently starring as Frankie Heck in popular US sitcom The Middle.

Career: On moving to California in 1974, Whoopi helped found the San Diego Repertory Company and honed her performance skills doing stand-up comedy. She made her movie debut in 1982's Citizen, but became a huge star in Steven Spielberg's acclaimed drama The Color Purple three years later. She has stuck largely to comedies such as Jumping Jack Flash, Sister Act and Monkeybone since, although she has appeared in such dramas as Girl, Interrupted and Boys on the Side. In 1991 she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Ghost. She also had a semi-regular role in Star Trek: The Next Generation and has taken several bit-parts in US sitcoms. She also appears as a regular on American daytime talk show The View. She returned to the stage in 2010 in the musical versions of The Lion King and Sister Act.