Early life and family

Leoni was born in New York City. Her mother, Emily Patterson, was a dietician and nutritionist, and her father, Anthony Pantaleoni, was a corporate lawyer with the firm Fulbright & Jaworski. Leoni's paternal grandfather was of Italian and English 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 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.

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, Leoni 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 a 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 Leoni 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, in 1998 Leoni 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 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 was her final success as lead actress at the box office, grossing $202 million 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 1999) and son Kyd Miller Duchovny (born in June 2002).

On October 15, 2008, Leoni and Duchovny confirmed that they had been separated "for several months". The media attributed the separation to Duchovny's much publicized sexual addiction. The couple publicly reconciled and were seen frequently together as a family.

On June 29, 2011, CNN reported that Leoni and Duchovny had again split. In 2012, Duchovny stated that he was still married but separated. Their divorce was finalized in mid-2014.

Leoni has been dating her Madam Secretary co-star Tim Daly since December 2014.

Humanitarian work

Leoni stated in the October 27, 2006, issue of Life magazine that she became a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF partially because Helenka Pantaleoni, her paternal grandmother, was the president of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF for 25 years.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Switch	Connie the Dream Girl
1992	League of Their Own, AA League of Their Own	Racine 1st Base
1994	Counterfeit Contessa, TheThe Counterfeit Contessa	Gina Leonarda Nardino	Television film
1994	Wyatt Earp	Sally
1995	Bad Boys	Julie Mott
1996	Flirting with Disaster	Tina Kalb
1998	Deep Impact	Jenny Lerner
1998	There's No Fish Food in Heaven	Landeene	Also executive producer
2000	Family Man, TheThe Family Man	Kate Reynolds
2001	Jurassic Park III	Amanda Kirby
2002	People I Know	Jilli Hopper
2002	Hollywood Ending	Ellie
2004	House of D	Mrs. Warshaw
2004	Spanglish	Deborah Clasky
2005	Fun with Dick and Jane	Jane Harper
2007	You Kill Me	Laurel Pearson	Also executive producer
2008	Ghost Town	Gwen
2009	The Smell of Success	Rosemary Rose
2011	Tower Heist	Special Agent Claire Denham

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Santa Barbara	Lisa DiNapoli	6 episodes
1992-1993	Flying Blind	Alicia	22 episodes
1995	Frasier	Sheila	Episode: "The Show Where Sam Shows Up"
1995-1998	Naked Truth, TheThe Naked Truth	Nora Wilde	55 episodes
2000	X-Files, TheThe X-Files	Herself	Episode: "Hollywood A.D."
2011	Spring/Fall	Margo	Unsold TV pilot
2014-present	Madam Secretary	Elizabeth McCord	45 episodes

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominated work	Award	Category	Result
1998	Deep Impact	Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	Favorite Actress - Sci-Fi	Nominated
2000	The Family Man			Nominated
		Saturn Awards	Best Actress	Won
2006	Herself	TV Land Awards	Little Screen/Big Screen Star - Female	Nominated
2007	You Kill Me	Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards	EDA Special Mention - Most Egregious Age Difference Between Leading Man and Love Interest	Nominated
2014	Madam Secretary	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Actress in a New TV Series	Nominated
2016	Madam Secretary	CBS MVP Awards	Best Motivational Speech	Nominated

Charities

Tea Leoni supports the following charitable cause: Cancer.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]