Ray Romano had made an impression on the world of comedy before he decided to pivot to network television. Having previously worked in stand-up comedy, Romano starred in the popular family sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond.

Though the actor was well known in comedy circles across the country, he was still relatively unknown to a majority of the world, including his television co-stars. “I had never heard of him,” Heaton said of Romano during an interview with The Plain Dealer. Heaton starred alongside Romano, with the two playing Debra and Raymond Barone.

According to the interview, Heaton had been burned before by television projects that never lasted. Though she was excited to join the cast of Everybody Loves Raymond, she didn’t put an excessive amount of faith in the project. “I met him [Romano] and I decided that I wasn’t going to be able to count on this show as the one that would make it,” said Heaton. “I didn’t know his work, so I didn’t know how funny he was. And he was low-key.”

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Of course, the series was an incredible success, thanks to both the talent of the writers and the cast. Heaton admitted that she worked with the writers to make the character of Debra Barone more three-dimensional. “I felt that the script was very funny, but I also felt that my character was the least fleshed out and could have easily fallen into that sitcom-mom thing that easily disappears,” said the actor.