Debbe Dunning is an American actress, model, television host, spokesperson, and comedienne. Although she has made appearances in several films and TV shows, she is mostly known for her time on the TV show “Home Improvement”.
Dunning started as a model and, thanks to this, appeared in several ads for beer companies and car companies, like Ford Motors. After that, she started to build her career in acting, first with a cameo in the comedy film “Dangerous Curves”. A few years later, Debbie Dunning bagged her role in the television series “Home Improvement”. This role can be considered the biggest one of her career as it was very successful, earning several awards, including a Golden Globe award. Apart from this, however, there is so much more to find out about this gifted actress, not excluding, first, the top 10 facts about Debbi Dunning.
Top 10 facts about Debbe Dunning
- Debbe Dunning was born on 11 July 1966, and she is now 55 years old in 2021.
- Her first pregnancy with her daughter, Spencer Schae Timmons, was written into the “Home Improvement” TV script.
- Dunning has three children with volleyball player Steven Timmons, who she was married to between 1997 and 2018.
- Debbe Dunning’s height is recorded as 1.73 m which is 5 feet and 8 inches (5’8″).
- The actress is worth 4 million dollars, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
- When she was in high school, Dunning was a cheerleader and was crowned homecoming queen.
- Dunning currently stars in the reality TV show “Debbe Dunning’s Dude Ranch Roundup”.
- Dunning is also a fan of skiing and golfing and regularly shares pictures of herself golfing with friends on social media.
- Dunning took a decades-long break from acting before she returned with her reality Tv show.
- She had said that she would have done anything except model for Playboy when she was trying to break into Hollywood.
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Early life
Debbe Dunning was born as Debra Dunning on 11 July 1966 in Burbank, California, to Bob and Diane Dunning. It is unknown if she has any siblings, but she had a fairly normal childhood.
She attended the John Burroughs High School, where she was a cheerleader during her days as a student. During her high school days, she was also incredibly popular, so much that she was crowned homecoming queen.
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Career
Debbe Dunning started her career in the entertainment industry as a model. She signed with the Judith Fontaine Modeling and Talent Agency in Los Angeles when she was still a teenager.
After she signed with the agency, she started to model for international brands, including Miller Beer advertisements. She appeared in her first advertisement for Foot Locker, and after that, she appeared in several advertisements for Ford Motors. Of all her advertisements, though, she is most well known for her Taco Bell commercials where she played Louise, the “run for the border” girl.
Before she joined Hollywood, she was completely clueless about how to enter the industry, so she went the way of beauty pageants.
“I did a lot of bikini contests, I did a lot of beauty pageants,” Dunning told Fox News. “It got me where I am.”
After Dunning was crowned Miss Burbank in 1984, she finally got her big break in Hollywood. She said she joined every beauty pageant she could find because she had no idea how to break into the acting business.
She made her film debut in the 1988 comedy film “Dangerous Curves” with a cameo.
The actress also played a minor role in the TV series “Married…With Children”. She first appeared as Rochelle Alpert in one episode and was auditioning for the role of the spokesmodel of the Allante, a new sports car company, in a new commercial at a local car show. In another episode, she played the role of Bubbles, one of the friends of one of the main characters, Kelly Bundy, who, along with other girls, competes for the attention of Bud after hearing that the family may be getting money.
Dunning also played a minor role in the successful television series “Home Improvement”, which won many awards, including a Golden Globe, twelve People’s Choice Awards, and a TV Guide Award. The TV show also won several Emmy awards.
Dunning herself won the TV Land Award in 2009, which she shared with the rest of the show’s cast: Tim Allen, Patricia Richardson, Earl Hindman, Zachary Ty Bryan, and Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
She initially started as a guest on the show, but the producers later decided to give her a more permanent role, and she appeared on the show from 1993 to 1999.
During “Home Improvement”, Heidi Keppert and her husband had a child named Amy Keppert. What most fans don’t know is that Dunning was actually pregnant during this period, and her pregnancy was written into the show. By the end of the show, Keppert was carrying her second child. Hint: the actress was actually pregnant again.
Debbe Dunning has also appeared in several movies, including the 1997 film “Leprechaun 4: In Space”. In 1999, she appeared in the TV film “The Spiral Staircase”, a film about a woman trying to escape a serial killer who has been stalking her for a while.
She has also appeared in other films including “Wicked Wicked Games”, “Now You Know”, “The Last Guy on Earth”, and many more. She did not appear in any films or TV shows for several years since the early 2000s.
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Debbe Dunning movies and TV shows
Debbe Dunning has appeared in a host of movies and TV shows. Below is a list of the films and TV shows that she has appeared in:
- “Dangerous Curves” (1988) (Credited as Debra Dunning) as Pageant Girl
- “Married… with Children” (1990), (1991) as Rochelle
- “Home Improvement “(1993 – 1999) as Heidi Keppert
- “Tales from the Crypt” – episode “The Pit” (1994)
- “Renegade” (TV series) (1994)
- “Off Camera with Dean Cain” (1995) as Herself
- “The Misery Brothers” (1995) as Ima Barrister, The Public Defender
- “Spring Break Blast” (1995)
- “Leprechaun 4: In Space” (1996) as Private Delores Costello
- “The Jamie Foxx Show” (1999) as Herself
- “The Spiral Staircase” (2000) as Danielle
- “Now You Know” (2002) as Sun Goddess
- “Tim Allen Presents: A User’s Guide to ‘Home Improvement'” (2003) as Herself / Heidi / Kiki
- “Four Fingers of the Dragon” (2003) as Herself
- “The E! True Hollywood Story – Home Improvement” (2005) as Herself
- “Wicked Wicked Games” (2006) as Hope Lorca
- “The Last Guy on Earth” (2006)
Personal life
On 11 May 1997, Debbe Dunning married her longtime boyfriend, American volleyball player, Steve Timmons with whom she has three children: daughter Spencer Schae Timmons who was born in 1996, and her sons Stoney who was born in 2000, and Sysco, who was born in 2008.
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The two divorced in 2018 for reasons unknown to the public. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Debbe Dunning has a net worth of 4 million dollars ($4 million).
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Latest news – where is Debbe Dunning now?
Debbe Dunning stayed out of the spotlight for several years, but she returned to Hollywood in 2017 with a new reality TV show titled “Debbe Dunning’s Dude Ranch Roundup”.
The reality show follows Dunning as she travels across the country, visiting dude ranches in America. She has said that her daughter inspired her to do this, saying,
“I recalled the fantastic dude ranch that I took my daughter to as a surprise when she was a little girl. We reached out to the owner Russell True at the White Stallion Ranch in Arizona, the same one we had visited 10 years earlier, and he was more than excited about the idea of showcasing his ranch on our show …
“My goal is to visit all of the dude ranches across the U.S. and beyond and feature all of the wonderful amenities each Ranch has to offer.”
Conclusion
Debbe Dunning is an American actress, model, and reality TV star who did all she could to get into the entertainment industry by entering several pageants to get her foot through the door.
Subsequently, she appeared in several films, TV shows, and advertisements through which she fulfilled her dreams and amassed a healthy net worth.
She also married the love of her life even though the two divorced in 2018 for unknown reasons. She still looks happy and she’s living a satisfactory life, maintaining a close relationship with all of her children.
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