Téa Leoni
Highest Rated: 87% Flirting With Disaster (1996)
Lowest Rated: 10% House of D (2004)
Birthday: Feb 25, 1966
Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
First earning fame as a witty, agile comic actress on TV, smart, leggy beauty Téa Leoni was poised for Hollywood movie stardom by the late '90s. Born Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni and raised in New York City, Leoni graduated from boarding school in Vermont and headed to Sarah Lawrence College to study psychology. After dropping out to travel for several months, Leoni intended to finish college at Harvard. Though she had never planned on acting, Leoni auditioned on a dare for a planned TV remake of Charlie's Angels and was cast. Though the 1988 writer's strike killed the series, Leoni opted to stay in Hollywood. After several years of modeling and TV commercials, Leoni made her film debut as the "Dream Girl" in Blake Edwards' farce Switch (1991). A small part in A League of Their Own (1992) and starring roles in the short-lived Fox sitcom Flying Blind (1992) and the TV movie The Counterfeit Contessa (1994) brought Leoni more attention. While she co-starred as the obligatory female-witness-in-peril in the blockbuster actioner Bad Boys (1995), Leoni's gift for acid wit and goofy physical comedy turned her into a TV star that same year in the sitcom The Naked Truth. Despite a network change, The Naked Truth lasted three seasons; Leoni further bolstered her comic reputation with her performance as a high-strung psychology student in David O. Russell's excellent screwball comedy Flirting With Disaster (1996). While The Naked Truth mined TV laughs out of tabloids, After taking a turn for the serious as a reporter in the first 1998 asteroid blockbuster Deep Impact, Leoni then took a break from acting to focus on her family. She returned to movies in 2000 with a charming performance as Nicolas Cage's beloved in the syrupy dramedy The Family Man, and subsequently kept busy with a string of roles in such big-budget features as Jurassic Park III (2001), Fun with Dick and Jane (2005), and Tower Heist (2011). She returned to television in 2014 with Madam Secretary.
Photos
Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
Movies
| Credit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 67% | Tower Heist | Special Agent Claire Denham | $78.1M | 2011 |
| No Score Yet | The Smell of Success | Rosemary | — | 2011 |
| 85% | Ghost Town | Gwen | $13.3M | 2008 |
| 78% | You Kill Me | Executive Producer Laurel Pearson | $2.4M | 2007 |
| 28% | Fun With Dick and Jane | Jane Harper | $110.4M | 2005 |
| 53% | Spanglish | Deborah Clasky | $42.1M | 2004 |
| 10% | House of D | Katherine Warshaw | $0.4M | 2004 |
| 44% | People I Know | Jilli Hopper | — | 2003 |
| 46% | Hollywood Ending | Ellie | $4.8M | 2002 |
| 49% | Jurassic Park III | Amanda Kirby | — | 2001 |
| 53% | The Family Man | Kate | — | 2000 |
| 45% | Deep Impact | Jenny Lerner | — | 1998 |
| No Score Yet | Life in the Fast Lane (There's No Fish Food in Heaven) | Landeene Executive Producer | — | 1998 |
| 51% | The Lost World - Jurassic Park | Actor | — | 1997 |
| 87% | Flirting With Disaster | Tina Kalb | — | 1996 |
| 43% | Bad Boys | Julie Mott | — | 1995 |
| 44% | Wyatt Earp | Sally | — | 1994 |
| No Score Yet | The Counterfeit Contessa | Gina Nardino | — | 1994 |
| 78% | A League of Their Own | Racine 1B | — | 1992 |
| 32% | Switch | Dream Girl | — | 1991 |
TV
| Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No Score Yet |
Madam Secretary 2014 |
Producer Elizabeth McCord |
2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 |
| No Score Yet |
CBS This Morning 2012 |
Guest |
2017 |
| No Score Yet |
Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr. 2012 |
Appearing |
2017 |
| No Score Yet |
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert 2015 |
Guest |
2016 |
| No Score Yet |
The Talk 2010 |
Guest |
2014 |
| 75% |
The X-Files 1993-2018 |
Herself |
2000 |
| 64% |
The Naked Truth 1995-1998 |
Nora Wilde |
1998 1997 1996 1995 |
| 93% |
Frasier 1993-2004 |
Sheila |
1995 |
| 73% |
Flying Blind 1992-1993 |
Alicia |
1993 1992 |
QUOTES FROM Téa Leoni CHARACTERS
Tina Kalb says: I guess it's just one of those ex-felon pro-acid sort of non-smoking homes.
Alan Grant says: Oh my god.
Amanda Kirby says: What is this?
Alan Grant says: It's a bird cage.
Amanda Kirby says: For what?
Bertram Pincus says: [pointing at the dog] When did you get your horse?
Gwen says: A couple of months ago. I found him at this shelter in Long Island. They were gonna put him down.
Bertram Pincus says: Then they lost their nerve, did they?
Amanda Kirby says: This is how you make dinosaurs?
Amanda Kirby says: This is how you make dinosaurs?
Alan Grant says: No, this is how you play god.
Amanda Kirby says: This is how you make dinosaurs?
Alan Grant says: No, this is how you play God.
Bertram Pincus says: I love you!
Gwen says: Don't call me!