TéA LEONI

'Téa Leoni' (born February 25, 1966) is an American actress.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Filmography

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Leoni was born 'Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni' in New York City to Anthony Pantaleoni, a corporate lawyer, and Emily (Patterson), a dietician. Leoni's mother is a native of Texas and her father is of Italian and Polish descent.^[1] Leoni's paternal grandmother, Helen "Helenka" Tradusa Adamowska (1901 - 1987), was a film and stage actress who was a member of a family of prominent musicians known as the Adamowski Trio.^[2]

Career

Leoni attended Brearley School and The Putney School. She attended but did not complete studies at Sarah Lawrence College. She went on to star in a number of TV series and movies, starting as "Lisa DiNapoli" on ''Santa Barbara'' in 1989. She starred in the 1995 box-office hit ''Bad Boys'', along with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Her most commercially successful movie was ''Deep Impact'', in which her character, "Jenny Lerner," breaks the story of a comet that is going to hit Earth. She also starred in Woody Allen's movie ''Hollywood Ending'', with Allen and Mark Rydell. In 2004, she starred in ''Spanglish'' with Adam Sandler, Cloris Leachman, and Paz Vega.
In 1992, she landed the starring role in Fox's ''Flying Blind'', a short-lived sitcom.
In 1995, Leoni landed the lead role in the television sitcom ''The Naked Truth'', playing Nora Wilde, a tabloid news journalist. The show was a minor hit and was cancelled in 1998.
She was ranked #79 on the FHM 100 Sexiest Women of 2000.

Personal life

Leoni states in the October 27, 2006 Life magazine that she became a UNICEF goodwill ambassador for UNICEF partially because her paternal grandmother was the president of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF for 25 years.
She married her first husband, Neil Joseph Tardio, Jr., a television producer, on June 8, 1991, at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Hope, New Jersey.^[3] The couple divorced in 1995. She married her second husband, actor David Duchovny on May 6, 1997, after a nine week courtship. Their first child, daughter Madelaine West Duchovny, was born on April 24, 1999 in Southern California,^[4] and their second, son Kyd Miller Duchovny, was born on June 15, 2002 in Los Angeles, California. During a June 14, 2007 interview on The Tonight Show, she commented on her 10 year anniversary and how 10 years in Hollywood is like "fifty years in the real world". She also revealed that she and David got tattoos on their ring fingers to celebrate their tenth anniversary. Like her husband David Duchovny, she is a vegetarian. The family lives in Malibu, California.
An asteroid, 8299 Téaleoni, has been named after her.

Filmography

Year	Movie	Role
1991	''Switch ''	Connie (dream girl)
1992	''A League of Their Own''	Racine (1st base)
1994	''Wyatt Earp''	Sally
	''Counterfeit Contessa'' (TV)	Gina Leonarda Nardino
1995	''Bad Boys ''	Julie Mott
1996	''Flirting with Disaster''	Tina Cable
1998	''Deep Impact ''	Jenny Lerner
2002	''People I Know ''	Jili Hopper
	''Hollywood Ending''	Ellie
2000	''The Family Man ''	Kate Reynolds
2001	''Jurassic Park III ''	Amanda Kirby
2004	''Spanglish''	Deborah Clasky
2005	''Fun with Dick and Jane ''	Jane Harper
	''House of D ''	Mrs. Warshaw
2007	''You Kill Me ''	Laurel Pearson

References

1. http://leonionline.com/articles/nyt-4-28-02.htm
2. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE3DE1F31F934A35752C0A961948260
3. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE5DA133EF93AA35755C0A967958260
4. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,615751,00.html

External links

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