About Tea Leoni
Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni better known by her stage name Téa Leoni, is an American actress and producer.
In her early career, Pantaleoni 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 the female lead roles in films including Deep Impact (1998), The Family Man (2000), Jurassic Park III (2001), Spanglish (2004) and Fun with Dick and Jane (2005). In 2014, Pantaleoni returned to television with the leading role in the CBS political drama series Madam Secretary.
Pantaleoni was born in New York City. Her mother, Emily Ann (Patterson), was a dietitian and nutritionist, and her father, Anthony Pantaleoni, was a corporate lawyer with the firm Fulbright & Jaworski. Pantaleoni's 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. Pantaleoni's mother is a native of Amarillo, Texas, and was the 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 1988, Pantaleoni 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, Pantaeoni 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, Pantaleoni 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, Pantaleoni landed the lead role in the ABC/NBC sitcom The Naked Truth, playing Nora Wilde, a tabloid news journalist. The show ran through 1998. Pantaleoni 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, in 1998 Pantaleoni had the leading role in Deep Impact, a big-budget disaster film about a comet menacing Earth. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but it 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, Pantaleoni starred alongside Jim Carrey in the comedy film Fun with Dick and Jane. The movie grossed $202 million at the box office worldwide.
Pantaleoni 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.
