Debra Chase

Ms. Chase is an Emmy nominated and Peabody Award winning television and motion picture producer whose company, Martin Chase Productions, was affiliated with the Walt Disney Company from 2001 to 2016. She was the first African American woman to have a producing deal at a major studio. Her producing credits include four beloved multi-movie franchises: THE PRINCESS DIARIES, THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS, THE CHEETAH GIRLS and five movies in THE AMERICAN GIRL series as well as the remake of SPARKLE starring Whitney Houston and Jordan Sparks, JUST WRIGHT which won the 2011 NAACP Image Award for Best Screenplay, COURAGE UNDER FIRE, THE PREACHER'S WIFE, the Emmy winning RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA , the LIFETIME television series MISSING which had at the time the most watched series debut in the network's history , the Disney Channel original musical LEMONADE MOUTH which featured a number one Billboard soundtrack that Ms. Chase executive produced and was nominated for a DGA Award, the Oscar and Emmy nominated and Peabody Award winning documentary HANK AARON:CHASING THE DREAM, LOVESTRUCK which was ABC FAMILY'S first musical movie and the BET romantic sitcom ZOE EVER AFTER. Prior to establishing her company, she was partnered with Whitney Houston in BrownHouse Productions and ran Denzel Washington's Mundy Lane Entertainment. Ms. Chase is a graduate of the Harvard Law School and Mount Holyoke College where she serves on its Board of Trustees. The College has also honored her with an honorary Doctorate of Arts. She also serves on the boards of the New York City Ballet and the Second Stage Theatre where she chairs the Artistic Committee. She is on the Advisory Boards of the Mayor's Fund of New York City and the African American Film Critics's Association. She is also a member of both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 2013, Black Enterprise Magazine named Ms. Chase one of the Ten Most Bankable African American Movie Producers in Hollywood based upon worldwide box office, the only woman on the list.

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