Jane Leeves

Jane Elizabeth Leeves (born 18 April 1961) is an English actress, model, producer, comedienne, singer, and dancer. She is best known for playing Daphne Moon on the television sitcom Frasier from 1993 until 2004, for which she was nominated for Emmy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.[1]She is also known for her role as Joy Scroggs on TV Land's sitcom Hot in Cleveland.[2]
Leeves made her screen debut with a small role in 1983 on the British comedy television show 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 had her first leading role in the short-lived sitcom Throb,[3] and then secured a recurring part in the television sitcom Murphy Brown. She received further recognition for roles in films such as Miracle on 34th Street (1994), James and the Giant Peach (1996), Music of the Heart (1999), and The Event (2003).
== 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 because of an ankle injury.[4]
== 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 smart but 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 US version of the science-fiction comedy Red Dwarf. She also had a role as a lesbian avant-garde dancer 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 Filmnomination in 1995 for her role and had become the highest-paid British actress in Hollywood.[5]
Appearing less frequently in cinema, Leeves lent her speaking voice and singing voice to the animated film James and the Giant Peach (1996) as Mrs. Ladybug and acted in the film Music of the Heart (1999). In 2002, she appeared in the Broadway musical Cabaret.[6] 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.[7]
Leeves provided guest vocals in The Penguins of Madagascar as Lulu, a female chimp, with which Phil fell in love. With Peri Gilpin, Leeves also set up the production company Bristol Cities (cockney rhyming slang for 'titties').[8] Their last 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.[9]
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 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 along with the rest of the cast.[10]
== 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 Gilpinwas 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.[11]
In January 2012, Leeves posed in an ad for the NOH8 Campaign, which supports the LGBT community.[12]
== 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	
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 Angels 	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"
2016 	Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures	Lt. Estoc 	Voice
2 episodes
2017 	The Great Indoors 	Cheryl 	Episode: "Roland's Secret"
2017 	Mickey and the Roadster Racers 	Queen of England/Babette Beagle	Voice
3 episodes
2018 	We Bare Bears 	Ari Curd 	Voice
Episode: "Googs"
2018 	The Resident 	Kitt Voss 	Season 2
== 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 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
1995	Screen Actors Guild Awards 	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
1995	Viewers for Quality Television	Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series 	Won 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
1996	Screen Actors Guild Awards 	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
1997	Screen Actors Guild Awards 	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
1997	Viewers for Quality Television	Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
1998	Primetime Emmy Awards 	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
1998	Screen Actors Guild Awards 	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
1998	Viewers for Quality Television	Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
1999	Screen Actors Guild Awards 	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
1999	Viewers for Quality Television	Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
2000	Satellite Awards 	Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
2000	Screen Actors Guild Awards 	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 	Won 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
2000	Viewers for Quality Television	Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
2001	Screen Actors Guild Awards 	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
2002	Screen Actors Guild Awards 	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
2003	Screen Actors Guild Awards 	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
2004	Satellite Awards 	Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
2004	Screen Actors Guild Awards 	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	Frasier	
2011	Screen Actors Guild Awards 	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 	Hot in Cleveland	Nominated	 	 	 	 	
Category:Singers