Debra De Liso
Adjunct Faculty

Debra De Liso is a professional actor, choreographer, director and playwright. She received the Jack Nicholson Award for Acting at UCLA and Best Actress Award at CSULA, and has earned critical acclaim in  roles ranging from Agnes in Agnes of God to Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire. In addition she has appeared in a wide variety of film and television roles. She has directed over 100 one-person plays, including Henry Darrow in Cervantes at the El Portal and Peter Massey in The Versus of Ogden Nash at the Coronet Studio Theatre. Her long running hit play Cock Tales developed with her students from USC and AADA along with acclaimed playwrights Leon Katz, Lynn Manning, Bryan Davidson, Eric Trules, and Jose Cruz Gonzales is represented by the William Morris Agency. Debra received a three-year California Arts Council grant to teach acting and playwriting at CRC, a medium security prison, which proved to be some of her most difficult and rewarding work to date.  Formerly a competitive gymnast, Debra served eight years as Chair of the Physical Education Department of the L.A. County High School for the Arts.