Patricia Heaton was born in Bay Village, Ohio, the daughter of Patricia (née Hurd) and Chuck Heaton, who was a sportswriter for The Plain Dealer. When she was 12, her mother died of an aneurysm. The fourth of five children, Heaton was raised as a devout Catholic.

Heaton has three sisters, Sharon (now a Dominican nun, and presently assistant registrar at Aquinas College in Nashville), Alice, and Frances, and one brother, Michael, who died in September 2022 at the age of 66 and was the "Minister of Culture" columnist for The Plain Dealer and a writer for the paper's Friday Magazine.

While attending Ohio State University, she became a sister of Delta Gamma sorority. She later graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in drama. In 1980, Heaton moved to New York City to study with drama teacher William Esper. Heaton made her first Broadway appearance in the chorus of Don't Get God Started (1987), after which fellow students and she created Stage Three, an off-Broadway acting troupe.

Heaton auditioned for the role of Elaine Benes on Seinfeld in 1989. When Stage Three brought one of its productions to Los Angeles, Heaton caught the eye of a casting director for the ABC drama series Thirtysomething. She was cast as an oncologist, leading to six appearances on the series from 1989 to 1991. Other guest appearances include Alien Nation (1989) and Matlock (1990) and supporting role in the made-for-television movie Shattered Dreams (1990).

In 1992, Heaton made her big screen debut appearing in a supporting role in the comedy-drama film Memoirs of an Invisible Man directed by John Carpenter. Later that year, she appeared in the box-office hit family comedy film Beethoven. From 1992 to 1993, Heaton starred as a lead character in the ABC sitcom Room for Two. The series was canceled after two seasons. In 1994, she starred in another short-lived sitcom, Someone Like Me, it lasted on NBC only six episodes. Later that year, Heaton appeared in the comedy-drama film The New Age. In 1995, she starred opposite Delta Burke in the CBS sitcom Women of the House, a spin-off of Designing Women. The series also was canceled after one season.
In 1996, Heaton landed the role of Debra Barone in the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond opposite Ray Romano. The series received positive reviews and has been on top ten television rankings and won Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series twice. She was nominated in each of the series' last seven seasons for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, winning in 2000 and 2001. With her win in 2000, she became the first of the cast members on the show to win an Emmy. She has also collected two Viewers for Quality Television Awards for Best Actress in a Quality Comedy Series and a Screen Actors Guild trophy for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series and five Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series nominations for her work on the series. The series ended in 2005 after nine seasons.

While starring on Everybody Loves Raymond, Heaton played the leading roles in a number of made-for-television movies. In 1997 she starred alongside Meredith Baxter and Della Reese in the drama film Miracle in the Woods. In 2001, she starred in t…

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Heaton's political views have been described as conservative, and until 2021, she was a registered Republican. In 2016, she voiced her disapproval of her party's then-presidential nominee Donald Trump. She later stated that she had "given up politics" following the election, but continued to express her admiration for Mitt Romney. After the January 6 United States Capitol attack, Heaton condemned the event, and announced that she would leave the Republican Party and become an independent voter.
Heaton is a committed pro-life activist and is vocally supportive of groups and causes opposing abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty. Her advocacy became particularly visible during the debate regarding the Terri Schiavo case. In addition, Heaton is honorary chair of Feminists for Life, an organization which opposes abortion and embryonic stem cell research and supports other pro-life causes on the basis of feminism.

On February 29, 2012, Heaton criticized Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke, who advocated in favor of a contraceptive mandate for health insurance plans. Heaton said on Twitter, "I don't care if anyone uses birth control – just don't charge me for it", and wrote a series of tweets mocking Fluke's activism, as well as retweeting similar remarks from her followers. After incurring criticism, Heaton apologized and deleted most of the posts.
In August 2006, Heaton's name was in an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times that condemned Hamas and Hezbollah and supported Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. In October 2023, Heaton was a vocal supporter of Israel during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, releasing a video in which she compared the conflict to the Holocaust during World War II, and encouraged her followers to donate through the Beth Jacob Congregation.

In October 2006, Heaton appeared in a commercial opposing a Missouri state constitutional amendment concerning embryonic stem cell research, which subsequently passed. The advertisement was a response to the election of Democratic Senate hopeful Claire McCaskill and aired at the same time as Michael J. Fox's advertisement supporting the amendment. Appearing with Heaton were actor Jim Caviezel, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan, Seattle Mariner Mike Sweeney, and St. Louis Rams/Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner. Following a public outcry, Heaton later said she regretted doing the ad and sent an apology to Fox, saying she was unaware of his ad. Fox accepted her apology and later stated, "If we can have a healthy dialogue about issues that people see differently, that's marvelous."