Deena Freeman

Deena Freeman (born February 11, 1956) made a one-time appearance as Kate Zbornak-Griffiths, the daughter of Dorothy and Stan Zbornak, in the Season 2 episode of The Golden Girls titled "Son-in-law Dearest", replacing Lisa Jane Persky, who appeared as Kate in "Guess Who's Coming to the Wedding" in Season 1.

Early life and education
Born in Palo Alto, California, the daughter of an industrial engineer father, and a funny housewife mother, Deena began acting in high school and performed in a professional acting company called, "The Theatreworks". She was best known for her characterization of a duck, called Ducky Daddles, in "Story Theatre", as well as her impersonation of Crab the dog, in "Two Gentelemen of Verona". She starred in many productions, including "Ah Wilderness' with Zelko Ivanek, "Vanities", and many others. She graduated from SFSU and continued graduate work at UC Irvine.

Acting
Deena moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting professionally. Within a short period of time she landed a leading role in a pilot for ABC, called "In Trouble", with Nancy Cartwright and Lisa Freeman. Following the pilot, Deena was cast as a regular on the hit ABC-TV sitcom series Too Close For Comfort, playing Ted Knights rebel niece, April. She went on to guest star on numerous popular shows including, Newhart, The White Shadow, Crazy like a Fox to name a few.

Deena continued to work in TV commercials from everything from being a spokesperson for both McDonald's to the vintage soft drink Tab. Deena was honored on the Screen Actors Guild awards ceremony for her body of work in commercials. You could not turn on the TV, without seeing Deena playing the quintessential commercial mom. As a voice-over actress, your kids would know her from Monster's Inc, Buzz Light Year, and "The Incredibles", to name a few. Most recently, she was nominated for Best Supporting actress at The Houston International Film Festival for her role as once again the overbearing Jewish mama, in "Banana Bread", and also appeared on the hit sitcom, Melissa and Joey on ABC.

Personal life
Deena is married to David Brandes, a producer/writer. The couple has two daughters who are actresses, Aviva and Noa Brandes.