Téa Leoni’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Téa Leoni (/ˈteɪ.ə pɑːntəleɪˈoʊni/; born Elizabeth Pantaleoni; February 25, 1966) is an American actress and producer.
In her early career, she starred in the television sitcoms Flying Blind (1992–93) and The Naked Truth (1995–98). Her breakthrough role was in the 1995 action comedy film Bad Boys. In later years, Leoni had lead roles in films such as Deep Impact (1998), The Family Man (2000), Jurassic Park III (2001), Spanglish (2004) and Fun with Dick and Jane (2005). In 2014, she returned to television in the leading role of the CBS political drama series Madam Secretary.

Early life and family

Leoni was born in New York City. Her mother, Emily Ann (née Patterson), was a dietitian and nutritionist, and her father, Anthony Pantaleoni, was a corporate lawyer with the firm Fulbright & Jaworski. Her paternal grandfather was of Italian, English and Irish descent; he was a nephew of Italian economist and politician Maffeo Pantaleoni. Leoni’s paternal grandmother, Polish-American Helenka Adamowska Pantaleoni, a film and stage actress, was the daughter of musicians Józef Adamowski and Antonina Szumowska-Adamowska. Leoni’s mother is a native of Amarillo, Texas, and a niece of actor Hank Patterson.

Leoni grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, and New York City, and attended two private schools, Brearley School and The Putney School in Vermont. She attended but did not complete studies at Sarah Lawrence College.

In a 2012 episode of Finding Your Roots, hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr., Leoni discovered that her mother Emily, who was adopted, is the biological daughter of Mavis Abilene Gindratt from Vick, Louisiana, and Sumpter James Daniel, whose ancestors originated in Ireland, settled in Virginia in the early 18th century, and had a plantation in Fairfax County, seven miles from George Washington. Her mother’s adoptive parents were Florry Elizabeth (née Roberts) and Virgil Pearson Patterson.

Career

In 1988, Leoni was cast as one of the stars of Angels 88, an updated version of the 1970s show Charlie’s Angels. After production delays, the show never aired. The following year, she was cast as Lisa DiNapoli in the NBC daytime soap opera Santa Barbara. In 1991, she made her film debut with a small role in the comedy Switch and later played another small part in A League of Their Own (1992).

From 1992 to 1993, Leoni starred with Corey Parker in the short-lived Fox sitcom Flying Blind. In February 1995, she appeared in the sitcom Frasier, a spinoff from Cheers, as the fiancée of Sam Malone (played by Ted Danson). Later in that year, she landed the lead role in the ABC/NBC sitcom The Naked Truth, playing Nora Wilde, a tabloid news journalist. The show ran through 1998. Leoni had the female lead role in the 1995 action comedy film Bad Boys, which was a box office success, grossing over $141 million worldwide.

After leaving television, Leoni had a leading role in Deep Impact (1998), a big-budget disaster film about a comet hurtling towards Earth. The film received mixed reviews from critics but was a success at the box office, grossing $349 million worldwide. She later had main roles in two other big budget movies: romantic comedy The Family Man (2000), co-starring alongside Nicolas Cage, and science fiction film Jurassic Park III (2001) as William H. Macy’s character’s ex-wife. In 2002, she starred as a film studio executive in Hollywood Ending, directed by Woody Allen and had a supporting role in the box office bomb crime drama People I Know. In 2004, she appeared as the wife of Adam Sandler’s character in the financially unsuccessful comedy-drama Spanglish. In 2005, Leoni starred alongside Jim Carrey in the comedy film Fun with Dick and Jane. The movie grossed $202 million at the box office worldwide.

Leoni co-starred in a number of small films in the late 2000s, including You Kill Me and The Smell of Success. She co-starred opposite Ricky Gervais in the 2008 supernatural comedy-drama Ghost Town. In 2011, she had a supporting role in the heist comedy film, Tower Heist. In 2011, she was also cast alongside Hope Davis as leads in the HBO comedy pilot, Spring/Fall; however, the pilot was not picked up. In 2014, she returned to broadcast television with the leading role in the CBS political drama series, Madam Secretary.

Personal life

Leoni married Neil Joseph Tardio, Jr., a television commercial producer, on June 8, 1991, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Hope, New Jersey. They divorced in 1995.

Leoni married actor David Duchovny on May 13, 1997, after an eight-week courtship. They have two children: daughter Madelaine West Duchovny (born April 13, 1999) and son Kyd Miller Duchovny (born June 15, 2002). On October 15, 2008, Leoni and Duchovny confirmed that they had been separated for “several months” and that Duchovny had spent time in a rehabilitation facility to address sexual addiction. The couple later reconciled, but separated again in June 2011. Duchovny filed for divorce in June 2014, and the couple had agreed to settlement terms by that August. After splitting from Duchovny, Leoni moved to Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side of New York City.

Leoni began dating her Madam Secretary co-star Tim Daly, another alum of The Putney School, in December 2014.

In 2019, Téa Leoni came under fire for working with Bob Weinstein, brother of Harvey Weinstein.

Humanitarian work

Leoni was named a UNICEF goodwill ambassador in 2001. Helenka Pantaleoni, her paternal grandmother, was the president of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF for more than 25 years.

Asteroid

Asteroid 8299 Téaleoni, discovered by Eric Elst at La Silla in 1993, was named after Leoni.

Awards and nominations