Téa Leoni

Téa Leoni, born Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni on February 25, 1966, is an American actress from New York City. She is the daughter of Emily Ann, a dietitian and nutritionist, and Anthony Pantaleoni, a corporate lawyer. She spent her youth in Englewood, New Jersey, and New York City, attending The Elisabeth Morrow School, Brearley School, and The Putney School, before briefly attending Sarah Lawrence College. Her paternal grandmother, Helenka Adamowska Pantaleoni, was a silent film actress and humanitarian, and her paternal grandfather was a nephew of Italian economist Maffeo Pantaleoni. Through an episode of Finding Your Roots, Leoni discovered that her mother's biological ancestry traces to Louisiana and Virginia.

Leoni began her screen career in the late 1980s. After being cast in the unaired show Angels 88 in 1988, she appeared as Lisa DiNapoli on the NBC soap opera Santa Barbara in 1989. She made her feature film debut with a small role in Switch in 1991, followed by a brief part in A League of Their Own in 1992. From 1992 to 1993, Leoni co-starred alongside Corey Parker in the Fox sitcom Flying Blind. In 1995, after a guest appearance on Frasier, she landed the lead role of Nora Wilde on the sitcom The Naked Truth, which ran through 1998. During this period, she turned down the role of Rachel Green on Friends to star in The Naked Truth.

Leoni achieved her career breakthrough in 1995 with the female lead in the action comedy Bad Boys, which grossed over $141 million worldwide. She subsequently starred in the 1998 disaster film Deep Impact, which earned $349 million globally. She went on to secure leading parts in high-profile feature films, including the romantic comedy The Family Man in 2000 alongside Nicolas Cage, the science fiction sequel Jurassic Park III in 2001, and Woody Allen's Hollywood Ending in 2002.

Throughout the 2000s, Leoni maintained a steady film career. She appeared in the crime drama People I Know in 2002, the comedy-drama Spanglish in 2004, and the comedy Fun with Dick and Jane in 2005 opposite Jim Carrey, which grossed $202 million worldwide. Her later film credits include You Kill Me, The Smell of Success, the 2008 supernatural comedy-drama Ghost Town alongside Ricky Gervais, and the 2011 heist comedy Tower Heist. She was also cast alongside Hope Davis in the 2011 HBO comedy pilot Spring/Fall, which was not picked up.

From September 2014 to December 2019, Leoni returned to television to star as Elizabeth McCord in the CBS political drama series Madam Secretary.

In addition to her acting work, Leoni has been involved in humanitarian causes. In 2001, she was named a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, and she joined UNICEF's national board in 2004, continuing a family legacy established by her paternal grandmother, who served as president of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF for over 25 years. In 2000, Asteroid 8299 Téaleoni was named after her.

Leoni's personal life includes marriages to television commercial producer Neil Joseph Tardio Jr. from 1991 to 1995, and actor David Duchovny from 1997 to 2014, with whom she has two children, Madelaine West and Kyd Miller. In December 2014, she began dating her Madam Secretary co-star Tim Daly, whom she married on July 12, 2025.