Deborah Kaye Allen (born January 16, 1950) is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, singer, director, producer, and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

degree in classical Greek literature, speech, and theater from Howard University and studied acting at HB Studio in New York City.

When she was sixteen, she had a successful audition for the North Carolina School of the Arts and was given an opportunity to demonstrate dance techniques to other prospective students applying to the institution.

[4] She later created the role of Beneatha in the Tony Award-winning musical Raisin (1973), and appeared in Truckload, and Ain't Misbehavin'.

Also, that year, she made her big screen debut appearing in a supporting role in the comedy film The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh.

[16] In 1986, Allen received a second Tony Award nomination, at that time for Best Actress in a Musical, for her performance in the title role of Bob Fosse's Sweet Charity.

She choreographed the 1988 Broadway adaptation of Stephen King's “Carrie.” Carrie was a collaboration with her fellow “Fame” alumni Michael Gore, Dean Pitchford, and Gene Anthony Ray.

[17] In an article from the Museum of Broadcast Communications, The Hollywood Reporter commented on Allen's impact as the producer-director of the television series, A Different World.

[18] The Hollywood Reporter is quoted as stating that when Debbie Allen became the producer (and usually director) of A Different World after the first season, she transformed it "from a bland Cosby spin-off into a lively, socially responsible, ensemble situation comedy.

She co-produced the 1997 Steven Spielberg historical drama film Amistad receiving a Producers Guild of America Award.

During Season 4, she stepped aside as a judge at the end of Vegas week to avoid perception of bias, since one of her former dancers, Will, had made it to the top 20.

In 2008, Allen directed the all-African-American Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, starring stage veterans James Earl Jones (Big Daddy), her sister Phylicia Rashad (Big Mama) and Anika Noni Rose (Maggie the Cat), as well as film actor Terrence Howard, who made his Broadway debut as Brick.

In 2000s and 2010s, Allen directed television shows, including 44 episodes of All of Us, as well as Girlfriends, Everybody Hates Chris, How to Get Away with Murder, Empire, Scandal and Jane the Virgin.

In 2011, she joined the cast of ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy playing the role of Dr. Catherine Fox.