Jane Leeves
The Next Tracey Uliman
JANE LEEVES SHOCKED the cast and crew on Frasier by getting her Leg over. Not in a way that implies biblical knowledge but during the a tango between herself as housekeeper Daphne Moon and Frasier’s brother Niles. 'There was a moment when she threw her leg up over my shoulder” says David Hyde Pierce, who plays Niles. 'I thought anatomically impossible. It was elegant, beautiful and surprising and funny all at the same time. And that's Jane.'
Leeves learned that kind of move when she was training to be a ballerina. That was her ambition when she grew up in East Grinstead but, when she was 18, an injury to her left leg forced her to make a quick career move For a while, she hung around London getting the odd dancing part in adverts while trying to persuade anyone in showbiz to take her seriously as an actress.
Finally , she took a serious gamble and flew to Los Angeles. It was the kind of head strong thing Daphne would have done and it paid off when she got the part in the American version of Red Dwarf called, for reasons best known to American TV executives, Throb! (which is now being shown in the wee small hours on Channel 5). But she didn't really hit the headlines until a she guest-starred in Seinfeld as a virgin who got her leg over John F Kennedy Jr. When she was told the plot initially, she replied: “No , what really happens?'
But it was the role of Daphne which turned her into the second hottest thinking man's crumpet on the telly. Apart from her gorgeously distinctive looks her other big asset is a voice that you can take a bath in. The writers have used her cod Mancurian accent to slip in some gritty vignettes of English life such as her memories of meals with her granny: “As soon as she came out of the kitchen with no eyebrows we knew desert was ready”
Her never consummanted on-screen relationship with Niles/Hyde-Pierce has made them America's favourite TV couple and led to speculation of “Where does Daphne end and Jane begin?' variety. Leeves says of her character “She is who she is all the time and wouldn't put on an act for anyone. I’m shyer” She is, friends say, nowhere near as grimly organised ( the PR office for Frasier often despair of tracking her down for) She lives in LA with a skinny cat, a really fat cat and her new husband. She still likes to dance and enjoys cooking for large groups. Just the ideal person to invite to your next dinner party
Jane Leeves lives in LA with a skinny cat, a really fat cat, her new husband and a very large shoe clipboard