A beautiful actress with a distinctive, honeyed, husky voice, 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). article continued below.....

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.

5 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.

• (24 April 1999) Daughter Madelaine West Duchovny born
• Graduated from Putney High School in Putney, VT in 1984.
• Her first name is pronounced "TAY-uh."
• The name Tea means "goddess"
• 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.
• 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."
• Attended Sarah Lawrence College, but then dropped her studies.
• Has one brother named Tom.
• Her parents' names are Anthony and Emily.
• Her paternal grandmother was silent film actress Helenka Adamowska.
• Leoni means "lions" in Italian; her full name, Pantaleoni, is quite close to the Italian word for "trousers" (pantaloni).