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Today, 09 February 2010

› Strike three, Mr President

› Cooked head discovered

› Zuma apology 'unwelcome'

› 'Illegal' traps blasted

› Madiba to grace Parliament

Yesterday, 08 February 2010

› No credit to FW - Zuma

› Zapiro revives showerhead

› 'Our president has failed'

› Praise for Amla

› 'Zuma should be forgiven'

When asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, actress Téa Leoni, would have replied: “A tollbooth attendant”! Those humble ambitions were a far cry from the success she’s achieved with her latest role in the film The Family Man. Her groundbreaking performance in the drama has put her career on a steady footing.

Born Téa (pronounced tay-uh) Pantleoni on 25 February 1966 in New York City, Leoni became interested in acting at an early age, taking her first modest bow in the sixth grade, when she participated in a class production of Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore. (There is a little bit of showbiz in her blood — her grandmother was an actress on Broadway). Although she was nicknamed Sarah Bernhardt because of her melodramatic tendencies, Leoni was set on becoming a tollbooth attendant on the George Washington Bridge and made no attempt to return to acting during her high school years. After completing school, she studied anthropology and psychology at Sarah Lawrence College and then took time off to travel, living in Tokyo, Italy and St. Croix. It was on her return to New York that she went on her first audition.

Like many of Hollywood’s celebs Leoni’s first celluloid appearance came with a role in the popular American soap opera Santa Barbara in 1984. Leoni’s role of Lisa DiNapoli on Santa Barbara didn’t do all that much for her career and she almost changed track completely when she moved to Boston and enrolled at Harvard University. It wasn’t until a friend dared her to show up for a casting call at a local mall, where a talent agency was screening young lovelies to star in producer Aaron Spelling's Charlie's Angels spin-off, Angels '88. The would-be Harvard graduate walked away from the mall with her first big acting job. She then relocated to Los Angeles, where filming for Angels '88 was scheduled to take place. Unfortunately a writers strike killed production on the show almost before it had begun.

Aborted series aside, Leoni stayed on in Hollywood, paying the bills by working as a model and making commercials. She won her first feature-film role in director Blake Edward's 1991 gender-swap comedy Switch which changed her luck for the better, leading to another TV show, Flying Bird in 1992. Her first movie role was in the 1992 baseball movie A League of Their Own, acting alongside Tom Hanks, Madonna, Rosie O’ Donnell and Geena Davis. She starred in small parts after this, making appearances in other TV dramas like ER and Seinfeld. But most will remember her TV career for her role as lead tabloid reporter Nora Wilde in the popular TV series The Naked Truth.

Leoni's personal life took on a star-struck glint of love in 1997 when she got hitched to X-Files star David Duchovny. The following year came close to being her biggest cinematic break when she was cast to star in Deep Impact, which was produced by Steven Spielberg, alongside screen greats Robert Duvall and Morgan Freeman. She appeared in two films several months later, namely Why Can’t I Be Aubrey Hepburn (also produced by Steven Spielberg) and starred in Ambrose Chapel, alongside Liam Neeson.

But her role alongside Nicholas Cage in Family Man makes 2000 her biggest year yet and if luck is on her side, Leoni won’t be taking any tea breaks soon!