Téa Leoni is a wife, mother, UNICEF ambassador, and American film and television actress. Although her filmography list may not be as long as other actors and actresses of her generation, Leoni has starred in some major blockbuster hits and has worked with many A-list acting talents. The lovely blonde, who has American, Italian, and Polish roots, was born in New York City on February 25, 1966, as Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni, which she later shortened for her stage name.
Leoni has mentioned she became a UNICEF goodwill ambassador partly because her paternal grandmother, film and stage actress Helenka Tradusa Adamowska, was UNICEF’s US Fund’s president for twenty-five years.
Leoni married well-known actor David Duchovny, best known as Fox Mulder in the hit sci-fi series of the 1990s The X-Files, on May 6, 1997. Although now apart, together the celebrity couple had two children: Madelaine West Duchovny, born April 24, 1999, and Kyd Miller Duchovny, born June 15, 2002.
Leoni graduated from New York City’s Sarah Lawrence College with a degree in anthropology and psychology. After she graduated, she decided to pursue a career in acting, getting her break in 1989 as temporary replacement Lisa DiNapoli on the hit soap opera Santa Barbara.
After Santa Barbara, Leoni appeared in 1991’s Switch and a year later in the hit A League of Their Own, starring Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, Jon Lovitz, Bill Pullman, and Rosie O’Donnell. She also appeared in 1994’s biopic Wyatt Earp, starring Kevin Costner, Dennis Quaid, and Gene Hackman; and in episodes of Flying Blind and Frasier before landing her breakthrough role in 1995, starring alongside Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the first rendition of Bad Boys. Leoni went on to star in Flirting with Disaster in 1996, opposite Ben Stiller and Patricia Arquette; and in 1998’s Deep Impact—generally considered to be her most commercial successful film—in which she starred alongside Robert Duvall and Elijah Wood.
In 1995, Leoni snagged the leading role in the mildly successful sitcom The Naked Truth, as tabloid news journalist Nora Wilde. She show lasted until 1998, after which she focused her attentions to the big screen, with Deep Impact; The Family Man in 2000, opposite Nicholas Cage; Jurassic Park III in 2001, with Sam Neill and William H. Macy; and Woody Allen’s Hollywood Ending in 2002.
Leoni also landed the leading lady roles in both Spanglish in 2004, playing Adam Sandler’s character’s beleaguered wife; and in Fun with Dick and Jane in 2005, opposite Jim Carrey, as part of the husband-and-wife tag team that resorts to a hilarious life of crime after losing everything.
In October 2008, following David's stint in rehab for alleged 'sex-obsession', it was revealed that Tea had been involved with Billy Bob Thornton, at which time David called it a day on the marriage.
Leoni has an asteroid named after her: 8299 Téaleoni.
YUDDY
