Debra Haden, a Los Angeles-based artistic tour de force, has explored multiple creative avenues throughout her life, including acting, dancing, singing, painting, fashion design, and animation. Her early years were marked by a strong reliance on creativity, allowing her to quickly learn new skills. This adaptability has served her well in her acting career, where she has taken on various characters with ease.
After graduating from Kansas State with a Bachelor of Science in Clothing and Textiles, Haden worked for a lingerie manufacturer on the East Coast. However, she found the design industry to be too technical and began painting as an outlet for her artistic expression. Her feminist paintings, inspired by David Bowie's "space oddity," featured circus sideshow characters with flowing, raven-black hair.
In 2005, Haden relocated to the West Coast and founded the female-based arts collective, Feminine Oddities. Her paintings and performances, which blended cabaret and sideshow elements, were provocative yet layered with cryptic messages about society and politics. Her breakout acting performance was in the 2017 indie punk film "Scumbag," which premiered at the 46th International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Haden has also pursued a music career, forming the multi-media project "Skunk in the Roses" in 2016. She has released the album "Rabid Perfume" and has performed live in Los Angeles, Toronto, and New York. Her single "Sad Sad Vampire" gained popularity after being featured in the movie "Mister Sister" at Dances with Films.
In addition to her acting and music endeavors, Haden has appeared in several music videos and has designed original costumes and characters for live performances. She has also taught herself computer animation and has created animations for her multi-media performances. Haden has recently taken an interest in Augmented and Virtual Reality and has been learning Adobe Spark, Cinema 4D, and Blender.
Haden continues to perform live and has been seen in the sitcom "Branson" and the film "Stars," in which she plays an undercover homeless cop. She is set to appear in an upcoming indie feature film and will continue to tour and perform with the movies "Scumbag," "Mister Sister," and "Stars."
