Early life

Leeves was born in Ilford, Essex before moving to Crawley, West Sussex and then East Grinstead, West Sussex. She trained as a ballet dancer at the Bush Davies School of Dance and worked as a model until she made her first film appearance in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. She abandoned the possibility of a career in ballet due to an ankle injury.

Career

Leeves was a regular on The Benny Hill Show (as one of "Hill's Angels"), later making use of her experience as a dancer in a scene in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life and appeared as a tourist with a baby in the David Lee Roth music video for the song "California Girls," but struggled for several years to establish herself. She became somewhat visible as the flighty record company employee, Blue (née Prudence Anne Bartlett), on the syndicated sitcom Throb!.

She had a recurring role in the television series Murphy Brown which provided her first period of success, playing Audrey, the loud and awkward girlfriend of producer Miles Silverberg (played by Grant Shaud). Leeves also appeared as the troublesome Marla the Virgin in four risqué episodes of Seinfeld: "The Virgin", "The Contest", "The Pilot" and "The Finale - Part 2". During this period Leeves was cast as Holly for the pilot of the U.S. version of the science-fiction comedy Red Dwarf. She also had a role as a lesbian in the 1985 film To Live and Die in L.A.

In 1993, Leeves joined the cast of the television series Frasier. She played the eccentric, forthright, and allegedly psychic Mancunian Daphne Moon. By the start of the eighth season, Leeves was pregnant, and the writers incorporated her pregnancy into shows as weight gain due to her character's stress from her relationship with Niles (portrayed by David Hyde Pierce). By the conclusion of Frasier, Leeves had received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series nomination in 1998 and also a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film nomination in 1995 for her role and had become the highest-paid British actress in Hollywood.

Appearing less frequently in cinema, Leeves lent her speaking voice and singing voice to the animated film James and the Giant Peach (1996) and acted in the film Music of the Heart (1999). In 2002, she appeared in the Broadway musical Cabaret. In 2004, she hosted an episode of the British television comedy quiz show Have I Got News for You. Her 2006 show, The WB's sitcom Misconceptions, went unaired.

Leeves provides guest vocals in The Penguins of Madagascar as Lulu, a female chimp, with whom Phil falls in love. With Peri Gilpin, Leeves also set up the production company "Bristol Cities" (cockney rhyming slang for 'titties'). Their latest project was in 2007 a pilot for a US remake of the British sitcom The Vicar of Dibley, with Kirstie Alley in the title role.

In 2010, Leeves was a guest star in two episodes in ABC's Desperate Housewives as Lynette and Tom's therapist, Dr. Graham. From 2010 until 2015, she played the fortysomething ex 'eyebrow artist to the stars' Joy Scroggs in the TV Land comedy, Hot in Cleveland, with Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick (also her co-star in the final season of Frasier), and Betty White. In 2011 she was nominated Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, with cast.

Personal life

Leeves has been married to Marshall Coben, a CBS Paramount Television executive, since 21 December 1996. They have two children; her pregnancy with daughter Isabella Kathryn Coben (born 9 January 2001) was written into a Frasier plot as a weight-gaining problem for her character. Frasier co-star Peri Gilpin was in the delivery room when Isabella was born, and is her godmother. Leeves is godmother of Gilpin's daughter Stella, and lives next door to Gilpin in Los Angeles, California. Leeves' son, Finn William Leeves Coben (born 19 December 2003) has David Hyde Pierce and John Mahoney as godfathers.

In January 2012, Leeves posed in an ad for the NOH8 Campaign, which supports the LGBT community.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Nice to See You	Performer	Television film
1983	Monty Python's The Meaning of Life	Dancer	Uncredited
1983	The Hunger		Uncredited
1985	To Live and Die in L.A.	Serena	Credited as Jane Leaves
1992	Just Deserts	Amy Phillips
1994	Mr. Write	Wylie
1994	Miracle on 34th Street	Alberta Leonard
1996	James and the Giant Peach	Ladybug	Voice
1996	Pandora's Clock	Rachel Sherwood	Television film
1996	The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century	Caroline Webb	Voice
1999	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	Juliet Gosling
1999	Music of the Heart	Dorothea von Haeften
2003	The Event	Mona
2006	Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties	Eenie	Voice
2009	Endless Bummer	Liv

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983-1985	The Benny Hill Show	Hill's Angel	4 episodes
1986-1988	Throb	Prudence Anne "Blue" Bartlett	48 episodes
1987	Murder, She Wrote	Gwen Petrie	Episode: "It Runs in the Family"
1989	It's a Living	Terry Tedaldo	Episode: "He Never Sang for His Father"
1989	Mr. Belvedere	Professor Ann Burns	Episode: "The Professor"
1989	Hooperman	Annie	Episode: "Stakeout"
1989-1993	Murphy Brown	Audrey Cohen	9 episodes
1990	My Two Dads	Harriet	Episode: "See You in September?"
1990	Room for Romance		Episode: "A Midsummer Night's Reality"
1990	Who's the Boss?	Ms. Adams	Episode: "Parental Guidance Suggested"
1991	Blossom	Sheila	Episode: "Love Stinks"
1992	'Red Dwarf USA	Holly	Unsold
1992-1998	Seinfeld	Marla Penny	4 episodes
1993-2004	Frasier	Daphne Moon	257 episodes
1995	Caroline in the City	Daphne Moon	Episode: "Caroline and the Bad Back"
1998	Hercules: The Animated Series	Athena	6 episodes
2003	The Simpsons	Edwina	Episode: "The Regina Monologues"
2004	Have I Got News For You	Guest Presenter	1 Episode
2006	Misconceptions	Amanda Watson	7 episodes
2006	Twenty Good Years	Mary Frances	Episode: "Big Love"
2008	The Starter Wife	Ann Hefton	2 episodes
2009-2011	The Penguins of Madagascar	Lulu	2 episodes
2009-2013	Phineas and Ferb	Various Characters	Voice 5 episodes
2010	Desperate Housewives	Dr. Graham	2 episodes
2010	Notes from the Underbelly	Gracie	Episode: "Accidental Family Bed"
2010-2015	Hot in Cleveland	Joy Scroggs	128 episodes
2016	Crowded	Gwen	Episode: "The Fixer"

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1994	Viewers for Quality Television	Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series	Frasier	Nominated
1995	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
	Viewers for Quality Television	Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series		Won
1996	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
1997				Nominated
	Viewers for Quality Television	Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series		Nominated
1998	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
	Viewers for Quality Television	Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series		Nominated
1999	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
	Viewers for Quality Television	Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series		Nominated
2000	Satellite Awards	Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Won
	Viewers for Quality Television	Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series		Nominated
2001	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2002				Nominated
2003				Nominated
2004	Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2011			Hot in Cleveland	Nominated

Charities

Jane Leeves supports the following charitable causes: Breast Cancer, Women's Issues, Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]