Téa Leoni Biography And Filmography: 

Open, honest, unashamed and humorous on and off screen,  Tea Leoni has a personality that resonates throughout her work in both dramatic and comedic film roles. Whether playing a divorced tabloid photographer on “The Naked Truth” (1996-1998), a cynical key-witness with a body to die for in “Bad Boys” (1995), or a phobic, arrogant mother in “Spanglish” (2004), it was Tea Leoni’s talent for delivering straight-faced one-liners that made her one of Hollywood’s most exceptional and bright leading ladies. The fact that Leoni became, along with husband and "X-Files” star David Duchovny, one of Hollywood’s most adorable and happy couples –did nothing but add to her shine.

Born Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni on Feb. 25, 1966 in New York City, NY to parents Anthony Pantaleoni, a lawyer, and Emily Patterson, a nutritionist, Leoni grew up in Manhattan, where she attended the Brearley School as a young girl and went on to attend the Putney School in Putney, VT. After graduating high school, Tea Leoni went on to study at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY, where she majored in psychology and anthropology. Passing on an opportunity to study at Harvard, Leoni took time off from college to travel, spending time in Italy, Japan and St. Croix, where she worked as a crew hand on a sailboat. While visiting Boston, Leoni auditioned for Aaron Spelling’s “Angels 88” (1988) an update to the popular 1970s series “Charlie’s Angels” (1976-1981). 

While Leoni got the job, the show never aired after a writer’s strike put the series out of business. Leoni decided to continue her pursuit of acting, however, quickly landing a role on the soap opera, “Santa Barbara” (1984-1993). Leoni went on to make her film debut two years later as the “dream girl” in Blake Edwards’ gender-bending “Switch” (1991) the story about a sexist, chauvinist pig who gets his just desserts when his angry ex-girlfriends murder him and he is reincarnated as a woman. 

The following year, Leoni scored the role of a female first baseman in the WWII baseball comedy  drama, “A League of Their Own” (1992) starring Tom Hanks, Madonna and Geena Davis, about two sisters who join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help it succeed amidst their own growing rivalry. In Lawrence Kasdan's "Wyatt Earp" (1994) starring Kevin Costner, Leoni did well as a tough frontier prostitute. She followed that film up with her television debut on the Fox sitcom, “Flying Blind” (1992-93), where she won rave reviews for her role of a colorful blonde bombshell. It was while doing press for her first major television series as lead, that she was criticized for an infamous interview in which she said there wasn't enough sex on TV; at least not enough "all-American, healthy, fun sex."

Getting her first starring role on the big screen in 1995, Leoni appeared opposite Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the Michael Bay action flick “Bad Boys.” Playing Julie Mott, a key witness to a drug related murder, Tea Leoni brought feelings to what could have been a classic girl-in-distress role. Though the film gave her some much needed career exposure, the production proved to be a challenging one for Leoni – an experience that almost made her leave the movie industry. Leoni took a very different role in David O. Russell’s comedy “Flirting with Disaster” (1996) starring Ben Stiller and Patricia Arquette, about a young man, his wife, and his incompetent case worker who travel across country to find his birth parents. 

Returning to television the same year, Leoni was cast in a starring role as tabloid photographer Nora Wilde on the NBC sitcom “The Naked Truth” (1996-1998). Taking up with the show’s producer and creator, Chris Thompson, Leoni’s personal life became tabloid feed worthy of her character’s work – in that Thompson was rumored to have left his wife for Leoni. Originally an ABC show, the series was soon purchased by NBC, retooled and given another chance – due mainly to the faith network execs had in Leoni’s comic timing. Though “The Naked Truth” aired in the desirable post-“Seinfeld” slot on the network, the show never caught on with viewers and was cancelled in 1998. Tea Leoni’s relationship with Thompson was just as short lived – the couple split before the end of the series.

Getting married for the second time in 1997 – Tea Leoni had been married briefly to director Neil Tardio from 1993-95 – she surprised everyone when she married fellow actor and New Yorker David Duchovny in top secret  ceremony after a brief six-week romance. While the media speculated that the marriage would not last, Tea Leoni and David Duchovny showed to be a lasting team with a great admiration for each others’ brains and wit – to say nothing of their lewd antics in the bedroom which Leoni and Duchovny had no problem recounting in interviews. They were even named one of E! Entertainment Television’s Sexiest Hollywood couples. After her marriage, Leoni went on to appear in the box office feature hit, “Deep Impact” (1998). Playing Jenny Lerner, an MSNBC reporter who discovers that a comet is headed directly for Earth, Leoni joined an all-star cast including Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall and Vanessa Redgrave. It was the first time the public took notice of her as a possible big screen leading lady.

Taking time off from work to start a family with David Duchovny, Leoni gave birth to her first child, Madeleine West Duchovny, on April 24, 1999. Tea Leoni returned to work the following year to star opposite Nicholas Cage in the holiday fantasy “The Family Man” (2000) about a fast-lane investment broker, offered the opportunity to see how the other half lives, and wakes up to find that his sports car and girlfriend have become a mini-van and wife

Tea went on to fight dinosaurs in the sequel “Jurassic Park III” (2001) next to William H. Macy and Sam Neill. Changing pace, Leoni next starred as Woody Allen’s movie producer wife in “Hollywood Ending” (2002) about a has-been filmmaker who is hired to direct his ex-wife, who's now dating the studio boss, but when he arrives on the set, he develops a case of psychosomatic blindness. Next she appeared opposite Al Pacino as a celebrity with bad addictions in “People I Know” (2002) with Kim Basinger. Balancing motherhood with her acting career, Leoni gave birth to her second child, Kyd Miller Duchovny on June 15, 2002.

Returning to the big-screen in 2004, Tea Leoni starred opposite Adam Sandler in James L. Brooks’ hilarious comedy “Spanglish.” As Deborah Clasky, a stressed out, health obsessed, conniving mother, Leoni managed to bring a charming quality to the emotionally tattered character and gave audiences with the most guttural orgasm scene on film since Meg Ryan’s memorable orgasm scene in “When Harry Met Sally” (1989). Leoni next played a mother dealing with the loss of her husband in “The House of D” (2004) with Robin Williams, the directorial debut of her husband, David Duchovny. 

Leoni then starred next toe Jim Carrey in the high profile comedy movie, “Fun With Dick and Jane” (2005), a remake of the 1976 movie starring Jane Fonda and George Segal. In the updated version, Carrey and Leoni played Dick and Jane Harper, a married couple so desperate to retain their deluxe suburban lifestyle they resort to armed robbery. Though Tea Leoni and Jim Carrey had good chemistry on-screen, the film was not liked by critics. Doing better in her next film, Leoni played a grieving television advertising executive who has lost her father, in the dark comedy “You Kill Me” (2007) a story where while drying out on the west coast, an alcoholic hit man befriends a tart-mouthed woman who might just come in handy when it's time for him to return to Buffalo and settle some old scores.

Tea Leoni wrapped her year starring alongside Greg Kinnear in the comedy "Ghost Town" (2008), about the death of a man whose people skills leave much to be desired. When he dies unexpectedly he is miraculously revived after seven minutes and wakes up to discover that he now has the annoying ability to see ghosts.

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