# Jane Leeves

Jane Elizabeth Leeves (born 18 April 1961) is an English actress, best known for her role as Daphne Moon on the NBC sitcom Frasier (1993–2004), for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film at the 52nd Golden Globe Awards. She also played Joy Scroggs on TV Land's sitcom Hot in Cleveland.
Leeves made her screen debut with a small role in 1983 on the British television comedy programme The Benny Hill Show, and appeared as a dancer in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. She moved to the United States, where she performed in small roles. From 1986 to 1988, she played her first leading character in the sitcom Throb, then secured brief recurring parts in the sitcoms Seinfeld and Murphy Brown. She was cast in films such as Miracle on 34th Street (1994), James and the Giant Peach (1996), Music of the Heart (1999) and The Event (2003). In 2018, she began appearing in the Fox medical drama The Resident.

## Career

The daughter of an engineer and a nurse, Jane Leeves was born in Ilford, Essex, England. She was raised in East Grinstead, Sussex, along with two sisters and a brother. She was a regular on The Benny Hill Show, in the dance troupe Hill's Angels. She made use of her experience as a dancer in a scene in the 1983 film Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. In the US, she appeared as a tourist with a baby in the video for David Lee Roth's song "California Girls", but struggled for several years to establish an acting career. She had a role as Serena, a lesbian avant-garde dancer, the girlfriend of the girlfriend of Willem Dafoe's character Eric Masters, in the 1985 film To Live and Die in L.A.. She then became somewhat visible as the flighty record company employee Blue (née Prudence Anne Bartlett) on the 1986-1988 syndicated sitcom Throb.
She had a recurring role in the television series Murphy Brown as Audrey Cohen, the smart but awkward girlfriend of producer Miles Silverberg (played by Grant Shaud). She also appeared as the troublesome virgin Marla Penny in four 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 US version of the science-fiction comedy Red Dwarf.
In 1993, Leeves joined the cast of the television series Frasier as the eccentric, forthright and 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 Crane (portrayed by David Hyde Pierce). By the conclusion of Frasier, Leeves had been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1998, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film at the 52nd Golden Globe Awards in 1995.
Appearing less frequently in cinema, Leeves lent her speaking and singing voices to the animated film James and the Giant Peach (1996) as Mrs. Ladybug, and appeared in Music of the Heart (1999). In 2002, she appeared in the Broadway musical Cabaret. In 2004, she hosted an episode of the television comedy quiz show Have I Got News for You. Her 2006 show, The WB's sitcom Misconceptions, went unaired.
Leeves provided guest vocals in The Penguins of Madagascar as Lulu, a female chimp with whom Phil fell in love. With her Frasier costar Peri Gilpin, Leeves also set up the production company Bristol Cities (cockney rhyming slang for 'titties'). Their last project was in 2007, a pilot for a US remake of the British sitcom The Vicar of Dibley titled The Minister of Divine with Kirstie Alley in the title role. In 2010, Leeves guest starred in two episodes in ABC's Desperate Housewives as Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman)'s and Tom Scavo (Doug Savant)'s therapist Dr. Graham.
From 2010 until 2015, Leeves played the 40-something 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 the rest of the cast at the 17th Screen Actors Guild Awards. The series ended in 2015 after six seasons and 128 episodes. She returned to television in 2018 with her first regular role in a dramatic series, orthopaedic surgeon Kit Voss. the Fox medical drama The Resident.

## Personal life

Leeves is married to Marshall Coben, a CBS Studios executive. Peri Gilpin, Leeves's co-star on Frasier, is her neighbor and close friend and was in the delivery room when Leeves's first child was born. In the season 8 episode 17 of Frasier, "It Takes Two to Tangle", Niles tells Gilpin's character Roz Doyle that Leeves' character Daphne has lost 9 lb 12 oz at the health spa: a reference to the actual weight of Leeves' baby girl.

## 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 | Mrs. 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 | |
| 2002 | The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina | Margaret Beetle | Voice role |
| 2003 | The Event | Mona Rothchild | |
| 2006 | Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties | Eenie | Voice |
| 2009 | Endless Bummer | Liv | |
| 2012 | What About Dick? | Emma Schlegel | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1983–1985 | The Benny Hill Show | Hill's Angel | 4 episodes |
| 1986–1988 | Throb | Prudence Anne "Blue" Bartlett | Main role |
| 1987 | Murder, She Wrote | Gwen Petrie | Episode: "It Runs in the Family" |
| 1989 | It's a Living | Terry Tedaldo | Episode: "I Never Sang for My 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 | Main role; 264 episodes |
| 1995 | Caroline in the City | Daphne Moon | Episode: "Caroline and the Bad Back" |
| 1998 | Hercules | Athena | 6 episodes |
| 2003 | The Simpsons | Edwina | Voice, 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 | Voice, 2 episodes |
| 2009–2013 | Phineas and Ferb | Various Characters | 4 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 | Main role |
| 2016 | Crowded | Gwen | Episode: "The Fixer" |
| 2016 | Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures | Lt. Estoc | Voice, 2 episodes |
| 2017 | The Great Indoors | Cheryl | Episode: "Roland's Secret" |
| 2017–2019 | Mickey and the Roadster Racers | Queen of England, Babette Beagle | Voice, 4 episodes |
| 2018 | We Bare Bears | Ari Curd | Voice, episode: "Googs" |
| 2018–2023 | The Resident | Dr. Kitt Voss | Series regular |

## 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 | Frasier | Nominated |
| 1995 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Frasier | Nominated |
| 1995 | Viewers for Quality Television | Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series | Frasier | Won |
| 1996 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Frasier | Nominated |
| 1997 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Frasier | Nominated |
| 1997 | Viewers for Quality Television | Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series | Frasier | Nominated |
| 1998 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Frasier | Nominated |
| 1998 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Frasier | Nominated |
| 1998 | Viewers for Quality Television | Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series | Frasier | Nominated |
| 1999 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Frasier | Nominated |
| 1999 | Viewers for Quality Television | Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series | Frasier | Nominated |
| 2000 | Satellite Awards | Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy | Frasier | Nominated |
| 2000 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Frasier | Won |
| 2000 | Viewers for Quality Television | Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series | Frasier | Nominated |
| 2001 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Frasier | Nominated |
| 2002 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Frasier | Nominated |
| 2003 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Frasier | Nominated |
| 2004 | Satellite Awards | Best Supporting Actress – Television Series | Frasier | Nominated |
| 2004 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Frasier | Nominated |
| 2011 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Hot in Cleveland | Nominated |