Cathy DeBuono (born March 20, 1970) is an American actress and former athlete. As an athlete, she started a career as a successful volleyball player and received several awards and medals, such as two gold medals at the United States Olympic Festival in 1991 and 1992. Between 1988 and 1991 she attended the University of Kentucky on a full athletic scholarship for volleyball, played middle blocker and broke several records during her active playing days. She was forced to end her career as a volleyball player due to a knee injury. After this, DeBuono started her acting career, and she performed in a stage play directed by a former student, Ashley Judd. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and graduated in 1994. In 2003 she earned a master degree in clinical psychology. She appeared in the last three seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as M'Pella. She has worked as a stand-in, photo double, and body double for Terry Farrell. DeBuono received no on-screen credits until her final appearance in the episode The Dogs of War. DeBuono also appeared as a background regular in several episodes of the television series Chicago Hope as a paramedic. DeBuono was involved in the comedy series Jenny, The Pretender, Pacific Blue, Martial Law, Becker and Exes and Oh's. She has also appeared in a few films, including the short project Gay Propaganda (2002) and the award-winning Out at the Wedding (2007), the romantic comedy And Then Came Lola (2008), and the short drama Tremble & Spark (2008). For the short film The Touch, by Jane Clark, she worked as associate producer and still photographer. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia