Deborah Gray

Deborah Gray is a former Australian high fashion model & actress who is now best known as an internationally best selling author and jazz singer. At 15 Gray was working as a junior secretary in the Prime Minister's office in Australia's national capital city of Canberra when she was talent scouted by a model agent. She was soon offered a modeling contract by Vivien's Management and after winning the Teen Model of the Year competition, she left Canberra (and a budding career as a political secretary) for the big smoke, Sydney. Deborah quickly become one of Australia's top young models, and appeared in major fashion shows on catwalks and on leading magazine covers. She also starred in numerous TV commercials until the age of 19, she branched out into acting and burst onto TV screens and into Australian TV history with her legendary role on the hit television soap opera Number 96' as the comedic sex symbol role of 'Miss Hemingway' The first appearances by Gray screened May 1977, However the immense publicity surrounding Gray's acting debut was not enough to boost the program's ratings sufficiently; Number 96 succumbed to its declining viewing figures and was canceled by November 1977. Deborah continued her acting career as a popular TV and film actress, and was considered the leading 'sex symbol' at the time. She played a continuing dramatic role in soap opera The Young Doctors, acted in a guest role in the police drama series Bellamy (1981), and was a regular co-host in an Australian Candid Camera style television series titled Catch Us If You Can. Gray started an all-girl cabaret act named Deborah Gray and the Flames Gray went on to appear on the cover of Australian Playboy Magazine and was showcased in its best-selling actor profile and pictorial, and acted in two 1981 feature films, the comedy feature Pacific Banana, and The Best of Friends. Gray co-wrote and sang the title song from Pacific Banana; (along with fellow lead actress Luan Peters who had recently guest starred in 'Fawlty Towers') other musical forays at the time were the song Mellow Loving, a top ten dance hit. 'Love Song of O' and the European top 40 'No Time to Lose' (released on the German owned Hansa Label/Coconut Records) By 1986 Gray, tired of the 'sex-symbol' actress tag and, alarmed at the local film industry's growing penchant for violent films, left acting altogether to pursue writing and music full time. She moved to New York in 1986 to study jazz vocalization and songwriting. She lived there for 8 years, performing in many of the known cabaret and jazz clubs (Maxims, Blue Note, Bradleys, The Supper Club, Tatou) and recording her first all original jazz CD featuring the world renowned jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove. Today Gray is based in Australia where she continues her jazz performing and recording and is an internationally best selling author, songwriter and producer. Unlike many other 'sex-symbol' actresses of the 1970s and 80s Gray has managed longevity in her show-business career by being able to diversify and by branching out into other multi-media pursuits. She is now also renowned worldwide as a popular author, her 'magickal' themed non-fiction books have been released by major publishers 'Harper Collins' and are translated into 10 languages): Gray also produced and hosted the 2005 documentary Wish on a Spell - the film being based on her best selling books, and the DVD released in USA & Canada by the renowned American independent distributor 'Monterey Media'. Most recently film-wise, Gray appeared in the documentary Number 96: The Later Years, (2006) a special feature included in the 2006 DVD release of the Number 96 feature film and will appear has herself in in the FFC funded documentary hosted by American Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino titled 'Not Quite Hollywood', a film homage to the breakthrough days of Australian films of the 70s and early 80s (set to be released internationally late 2008) Musically her new CD 'Jazz Fresh' is in production was released late 2007 and two of the tracks written by Gray have won awards for jazz writing.