What Happened To Debra Jo Rupp After That '70s Show Ended?
Though her time playing a parent during the 1970s is over, Debra Jo Rupp still knows how to groove.
After years of carving out a respectable career as a character actor who mainly booked guest appearances on television shows, Rupp finally landed the type of role that makes a career. From 1998 to 2006, the popular sitcom That '70s Show aired on Fox, making an absolute star out of Ashton Kutcher in the process and inspiring a failed spin-off as well as a British remake. Rupp played Kitty Forman on That '70s Show for an astounding 200 episodes of primetime television. (Can anyone say "Hello, syndication?")
In the 10-plus years since the show's finale, Rupp has continued to find work in Hollywood — though none of it has had the cultural cache or the longevity as her stint as the alcoholic mother figure on That '70 Show.
In the wake of That '70s Show's success, Rupp finally began to receive offers for film roles. The vast majority of these gigs involved playing a supporting role in smaller comedies like She's Out of My League, Kickin' It Old Skool, and She Wants Me.
Rupp is also a trained voice-actress, and starred in a late '90s series of MGM sing-along short films as well as the short-lived early 2000s Disney cartoon Teacher's Pet and the 2004 big screen adaptation of Garfield. When her time on That '70s Show ended, it would be Disney who came calling again — Rupp played a role in three installments of the direct-to-video Air Bud spin-off series, Air Buddies. Oddly enough, Rupp actually voiced three different characters in each of those films, which means the production team must have really enjoyed working with her, as they certainly weren't obligated to keep bringing her back for the same role time and again.
The small screen also came calling as well. From 2010 to 2011, Rupp starred on Better with You, a romantic sitcom on ABC. While the show garnered mostly positive reviews, it never truly found an audience, forcing Rupp to continue finding work elsewhere. In the years since then, Rupp has mainly had guest appearances on popular hits like Hart of Dixie, Elementary, and NCIS: Los Angeles. In the past few years, though, she's found some steadier work with recurring roles on NBC's smash This is Us and the Netflix comedy The Ranch. For the uninitiated, The Ranch stars Rupp's former That '70s Show co-star Ashton Kutcher as a failed football player who returns home to help run his family's ranch.
Rupp's latest acting role was in the 2019 mockumentary The Social Ones, which explores the lives and anxieties of a group of social media influencers in the digital age. Though the film debuted at the 2019 Cinequest Film and Creativity Festival in Silicon Valley — and starred other veteran character actors like Richard Kind, Stephanie March, and Jackie Hoffman — it came and went without much fanfare.
It's clear that Rupp will keep finding work as long as she wants it, but she'll have to keep searching long and hard for another role as juicy as Kitty Forman.