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A
beautiful actress with a distinctive, honeyed, husky voice, Téa Leoni
developed an interest in acting at an early age encouraged by
her grandmother, a Broadway performer. She dropped out of college
to tour the world and upon her return to the US, was cast in the
busted pilot "Angels '88", a remake of the 1970s "Charlie's Angels".
She made her film debut as the "dream girl" in Blake Edwards'
gender-bending "Switch" (1991). Leoni garnered rave reviews for
her nonstereotypical portrayal of a flamboyant blonde bombshell
in the Fox sitcom "Flying Blind" (1992-93).
She
was criticized for an infamous interview in connection with that
show in which she said there wasn't enough sex on TV, at least
not enough "all-American, healthy, fun sex." With her great looks
and flamboyant style, Leoni landed the title role in the Fox TV-movie
"The Counterfeit Contessa" (1994). As Gina, a streetwise Brooklyn
woman swept into New York society and romance with an attorney
when she is mistaken for an Italian countess, Leoni earned critical
kudos. She and producer Chris Thompson developed the idea for
"The Naked Truth" (ABC, 1995-96) in which Leoni created the role
of Nora Wilde, a formerly rich divorcee forced to become a tabloid
newspaper photographer.
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Leoni's additional feature film credits include Penny Marshall's
"A League of Their Own" (1992), in which Leoni accidentally hit
Madonna with a baseball. In Lawrence Kasdan's overlong oater "Wyatt
Earp"(1994), she shone as a tough frontier prostitute. Leoni co-starred
with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in "Bad Boys" (1995) as a
sexy crime witness who causes two Miami drug enforcement cops
to exchange identities. The following year, she once again showed
her sultry appeal in David O Russell's "Flirting With Disaster".
5In May 1997, Leoni married actor David Duchovny.
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(24
April 1999) Daughter Madelaine West Duchovny born
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Graduated
from Putney High School in Putney, VT in 1984.
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Her
first name is pronounced "TAY-uh."
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The
name Tea means "goddess"
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Auditioned
for a "Charlie's Angels" (1976) remake role (as a dare) and
got the part. A writer's strike in Hollywood meant the series
was never made, but the pre-publicity was enough to get Tea
noticed.
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Tea's
character in Deep Impact breaks the story on a comet going to
hit the Earth and her character on "The Naked Truth" works for
"The Comet."
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Attended
Sarah Lawrence College, but then dropped her studies.
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Has
one brother named Tom.
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Her
parents' names are Anthony and Emily.
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Her
paternal grandmother was silent film actress Helenka Adamowska.
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Leoni
means "lions" in Italian; her full name, Pantaleoni, is quite
close to the Italian word for "trousers" (pantaloni).
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