Biography And Filmography: 

Playing a divorced tabloid photographer on “The Naked Truth” (1996-1998), a suspicious witness with a hot body in “Bad Boys” (1995), or an egotistical mother in “Spanglish” (2004), it is Tea Leoni and her talent for delivering one-liners that makes her one of Hollywood’s most talented leading celebrities. Along with her husband and "X-Files” star David Duchovny, one of Hollywood’s most adorable and happy partners, the two became a celebrity power couple.

Born Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni on February 25, 1966 in New York City to parents Anthony Pantaleoni, a lawyer, and Emily Patterson, a nutritionist, she grew up in Manhattan where she attended the Brearley School, and attended the Putney School in Putney, Vermont. After graduating high school, Tea studied at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, where she majored in psychology and anthropology. While visiting Boston, Leoni auditioned for Aaron Spelling’s “Angels 88” (1988), an update to the 1970's show “Charlie’s Angels” (1976-1981). 

The young actress quickly landed a role on the soap opera “Santa Barbara” (1984-1993) and went on to make her first film appearance in Blake Edwards “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, Tea Leoni was hired and cast as a female first baseman in the WWII baseball 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 the movie "Wyatt Earp" (1994) starring Kevin Costner, Leoni impressed fans as a tough frontier prostitute, then followed that movie with her television debut on the Fox sitcom, “Flying Blind” (1992-93). 

Getting her first starring role 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, she brought insight to what could have been just a typical girl-in-distress role. Though the film gave her some much needed exposure, the production was a challenging one for the actress. Leoni then took a role in the 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 the country to find his birth parents. 

Returning to television, Leoni was cast in a starring role as tabloid photographer Nora Wilde on the TV sitcom “The Naked Truth” (1996-1998). Becoming romantically involved with the show’s producer and creator, Chris Thompson, her personal life became tabloid heaven as Thompson was rumored to have left his wife for her. The series was picked up by NBC, retooled and given a second chance. Though “The Naked Truth” aired with high expectations, the show was cancelled in 1998. Her relationship with Thompson was just as short lived – the two split before the end of the series.

Getting married for the second time in 199 , Tea Leoni surprised everyone when she married fellow actor and New Yorker David Duchovny in a top secret  ceremony after a six-week romance. While the media speculated that the marriage would not last, the couple showed to be a lasting fixture with a great love for each others humor.

Leoni went on to appear in the box office smash hit, “Deep Impact” (1998), playing Jenny Lerner, a news reporter who discovers that a comet is headed directly for Earth. She joined an all-star cast that included Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall and Vanessa Redgrave. 

Taking time off from work to start a family with Duchovny, Leoni gave birth to her first child, Madeleine West, on April 24, 1999. She returned to work the following year to star opposite Nicholas Cage in the holiday fantasy “The Family Man” (2000), about an investment broker who is 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.

Leoni then battled dinosaurs in the sequel “Jurassic Park III” (2001), and then changed pace to star 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 the actress 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 films in 2004, she starred with Adam Sandler in James L. Brooks’ comedy “Spanglish”. As Deborah Clasky, a stressed out, health obsessed, conniving mother, Tea managed to bring a charming quality to the emotionally tattered character, and gave audiences with the most guttural and natural orgasm scenes since Meg Ryan’s 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.

Tea Leoni was now a full blown actress and Hollywood celebrity and every movie maker wanted her in their films.

Leoni then starred next to Jim Carrey in the comedy, “Fun With Dick and Jane” (2005), a remake of the 1976 movie starring Jane Fonda and George Segal. In the updated version, Dick and Jane Harper, a married couple so desperate to retain their deluxe suburban lifestyle they resort to armed robbery. Then Leoni was hired and cast as 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.

She 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.

The following year Leoni starred with Billy Bob Thornton in the comedy “The Smell of Success” (2010) – a hilarious comedy about a manure salesman in 1960s heartland America.

Also that year Tea worked with an all-star cast in the adventure comedy “Tower Heist” (2011) with Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, and others that tells the story of a group of hard working guys who find out they've fallen victim to a wealthy business man's Ponzi scheme and then conspire to rob his high-rise residence.

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