Who is Téa Leoni?
When the first season of the thriller drama “Madam Secretary” premiered in 2014, the audience was thrilled to see Téa Leoni as Elizabeth McCord, who at first was the Secretary of State, and then, in the last season of the series, she became the President of the United States, which inspired many women around the US to fight for their dreams. If you ever wanted to know more about the actress that portrayed the first female President of the USA, let us tell you some interesting facts about her.
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Although she is better known under her professional name, Téa Leoni was born as Elizabeth Pantaleoni, under the zodiac sign of Pisces on 25 February 1966, in New York City, USA; she holds American nationality although she comes from a family of Italian, German, Polish, English, Scottish, and Irish descent.
She is an actress with nearly 30 credits to her name, and besides the mentioned role, is perhaps known best for her appearances in movies such as “Switch”, “The Family Man”, and “Tower Heights”, among others, while the television audience perhaps still knowns her best for her role as Nora Wilde in the popular ‘90s series “The Naked Truth”.
Early life and education
Téa was raised in Englewood, New Jersey, by her mother Emily Ann who was a nutritionist and dietitian, and her father Anthony Pantaleoni, a corporate lawyer. Téa has one brother, Thomas, who prefers to keep his life away from the media’s attention.
Speaking about Téa’s educational background, she attended the private Brearley School in New York City and The Putney School in Vermont, then upon matriculating in 1984, she enrolled at Sarah Lawrence College, in Yonkers, New York, however, she didn’t graduate but dropped out to pursue her acting career.
Roles in series
Téa made her acting debut portraying Lisa DiNapoli in the series “Santa Barbara” in 1989, and was next seen as Alicia in “Flying Blind” in 1992. Three years later, Téa guest-starred in “Frasier”, before she was cast to play Nora Wilde in “The Naked Truth”, also starring Mark Roberts and Holland Taylor in the series which was broadcast until 1998.
In 2000, she was seen in an episode of the “X-Files”, and then she focused her career on filming movies, until 2014, when she returned to television as Elizabeth McCord in “Madam Secretary”, appearing in 120 episodes through 2019.
Roles in movies
Téa made her first big-screen appearance as Dream Girl in the comedy drama “Switch” in 1991, followed by her role in the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own”.
Then two years later, she was cast to play Gina Leonarda Nardino “The Counterfeit Contessa”, followed by her role as Sally in the Oscar-nominated 1994 movie “Wyatt Earp”, also starring Dennis Quaid, Kevin Costner, and Gene Hackman, which had seven award nominations, including one for Oscar for Best Cinematography, and won three.
In the following year, Téa was cast to play Julie Mott in “Bad Boys”, and then she was seen starring in “Flirting with Disaster” in 1996, two years later portraying Jenny Lerner in “Deep Impact”, and the same year she was seen as Landeene in “Life in the Fast Lane”.
In 2001, Téa starred with Nicholas Cage in the fantasy comedy drama “The Family Man”, which brought her the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA Saturn Award for Best Actress, and she was also nominated for the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Comedy/Romance.
Continuing on in the early 2000s, she was seen in “Jurassic Park III”, “Hollywood Ending”, “People I Know”, and “House of D”, before her role as Deborah Clasky in the 2004 “Spanglish”, also starring Adam Sandler and Paz Vega, which brought her nominations for The Stinkers Bad Movie Award Worst Actress, and Worst-On Screen Couple, which she shared with Adam Sandler.
However, apparently any publicity is good publicity, and Téa was soon after seen as Jane Harper alongside Jim Carrey and Alec Baldwin in the 2005 comedy crime movie “Fun with Dick and Jane”, but was again nominated for The Stinkers Bad Movie Award for Worst On-Screen Couple, which this time shared with Jim Carey, which actually did neither of them any harm.
In 2007, she was seen in “You Kill Me”, followed by her roles in the movies “Ghost Town” in ’08, and “The Smell of Success” in ’09, before she was cast to play Special Agent Claire Denham in “Tower Heist”, also starring Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck and Ben Stiller in 2011.
Téa’s most recent movie role was her portrayal of Margo in “Spring/Fall” in 2011, but which wasn’t released, while it is announced that she will be heard as a voice actor in the animated movie “Endangered”, which was based on the book of the same title written by Tim Flach.
Love life and relationship with Tim Daly
There have been various rumors concerning Téa’s love life, however, it is widely known that she was twice married before she met her now-boyfriend, Tim Daly.
Téa first wed Neil Joseph Tardio Junior, a television producer, in 1991, but they divorced in 1995, then after two years on 13 May 1997, Téa married actor David Duchovny, who is perhaps known best for his role as Agent Fox Mulder in the popular mystery crime series “The X-Files”.
On 13 April 1999, Téa gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Madelaine, and their son, Kyd Miller, was born on 15 June 200. Sometime in 2008, Téa and David separated, but in the following year they reconciled. In June 2011 they separated again – David filed for divorce in June 2014, which was finalized by that August.
Téa met her future boyfriend on the set of the series “Madam Secretary”, in which Tim Daly portrays Henry McCord, the husband of Elizabeth McCord, and eventually, in December 2014, Téa and Tim started dating.
As of April 2022, the two are still together, and according to their joint photos which Tim posts on his Instagram account, they enjoy their love – the latest one, posted on Téa’s birthday this year was with the description saying: ‘I am filled with gratitude today. I am so happy that my accomplice was born! I love you.’
Age, height, and net worth
Téa’s age is 56, she has blonde hair and blue eyes, weighs around 120lbs (55kgs), is 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall, with vital statistics of 34-26-35.
According to sources, Téa made around $130,000 per episode of the series “Madam Secretary”, and starring in numerous movies and series during her over 30 years long acting career, she’s earned a decent amount of money, thus as of April 2022, her net worth has been estimated at $15 million.
