Jane Leeves - IMDb IMDb Actress | Soundtrack | Miscellaneous Crew Jane Leeves has made her mark in the entertainment world, acting in television, theater and film over the past 20 years. Leeves stars in the Emmy® Award-winning TV Land series, Hot in Cleveland (2010), which in 2011 was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award® for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. Leeves plays eyebrow ... See full bio » Born: a list of 21 people created 01 Jul 2012 a list of 23 people created 09 Jan 2013 a list of 33 people created 27 Jun 2014 a list of 21 people created 16 Dec 2014 a list of 35 images created 3 weeks ago Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDbPage How much of Jane Leeves's work have you seen? User Polls Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 2 wins & 23 nominations.

See more awards » Known For Hot in Cleveland Joy Scroggs / Herself / Herself - Joy (2010-2015) - Crossing Paths (2016) ... Lt. Estoc (voice) 2016 Crowded (TV Series) 2014 The Daly Show (TV Series) Jane 2009-2013 Phineas and Ferb (TV Series) Wanda / Nikki Stars / Inspector Initials / ... 2008 The Starter Wife (TV Series) Ann Hefton 2003 The Simpsons (TV Series) Edwina 1992 Just Deserts (TV Movie) Amy Phillips 1990 Who's the Boss? (TV Series) Ms. Adams 1990 My Two Dads (TV Series) Harriet 1989 Mr. Belvedere (TV Series) Professor Ann Burns - The Professor (1989) ...

Professor Ann Burns 1989 Hooperman (TV Series) 1989 It's a Living (TV Series) Terry Tedaldo 1987 Murder, She Wrote (TV Series) Gwen Petrie - Superman: Distant Fires (2011) ... (performer: "Family") 1995-2001 Frasier (TV Series) (performer - 6 episodes) - Daphne Returns (2001) ... (performer: "Heart And Soul" - uncredited) - The Show Where Woody Shows Up (1999) ... (performer: "I Feel Pretty" - uncredited) - First Date (1998) ... (performer: "Heart and Soul" - uncredited) - Chess Pains (1996) ... (performer: "Who's That Grouchy Ghost I See?") 1996 James and the Giant Peach (performer: "That's The Life", "Family", "Eating The Peach") Hide 1985 To Live and Die in L.A.

(dancer - as Jane Leaves) Hide 2003 Behind the Couch: The Making of 'Frasier' (Video documentary short) (special thanks) Hide 2014-2016 Celebrity Name Game (TV Series) Herself - Celebrity Player 2015-2016 Valerie's Home Cooking (TV Series documentary) Herself - Guest 2010-2015 The View (TV Series) Herself - Guest / Herself 2010-2015 Entertainment Tonight (TV Series) Herself 2012-2014 Rachael Ray (TV Series) Herself - Guest 2014 The Chew (TV Series) Herself - Hot in Cleveland 2011-2014 Good Morning America (TV Series) Herself - Guest 2014 Hollywood Game Night (TV Series) Herself - Celebrity Guest - Hot in Hollywood (2014) ...

Herself - Celebrity Guest 2014 Extra (TV Series) 2014 Inside Edition (TV Series documentary) Herself 2013 Larry King Now (TV Series) Herself - Guest 2012-2013 The Talk (TV Series) Herself - Guest 2013 Why We Laugh: Funny Women (TV Movie documentary) Herself 2013 The Doctors (TV Series) Herself 2011 Loose Women (TV Series) Herself 2005 2005 BAFTA/LA Cunard Britannia Awards (TV Movie documentary) Herself 2004 The BAFTA TV Awards 2004 (TV Movie documentary) Herself - Presenter 2002-2003 V Graham Norton (TV Series) Herself - Guest 2003 TV's Most Memorable Weddings (TV Movie documentary) Herself - Hostess 2000 Intimate Portrait (TV Series documentary) Herself 2000 The Daily Show (TV Series) Herself - Guest 1999 My Favourite 'Frasier' (TV Special documentary) Herself 

1999 The 'Frasier' Story (TV Special documentary) Herself 1995 Christmas in Washington (TV Movie) Herself - Host 2014 Retro Report (TV Mini-Series) Daphne Moon 2004 Red Dwarf: Dwarfing USA (Video documentary short) Holly (uncredited) "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" Self See more » Publicity Listings: 4 Interviews | 3 Articles | 3 Pictorials | 4 Magazine Cover Photos | See more » Official Sites: Did You Know?

Personal Quote: I knew I would never be strong enough to be a soloist. And I wasn't going to be stuck in the back with all the other swans. (regarding her leaving ballet for an acting career.) See more » Trivia: Has a production company called Bristol Cities (cockney rhyming slang) with her sister Kathryn and Frasier (1993) co-star Peri Gilpin . See more » Star Sign: Jane Leeves | Chickipedia Forgot password? Create account Jane Leeves ==Introduction== '''Jane Leeves''' (born April 18, 1961 in London, England) is a Screen Actors Guild Award winning English actress best known for her work as Daphne Moon on Frasier. ==Career== She was a regular on The Benny Hill Show 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. DETAILS 10 Jane Leeves Introduction Jane Leeves (born April 18, 1961 in London, England) is a Screen Actors Guild Award winning English actress best known for her work as Daphne Moon on Frasier.

Jane Leeves Career She was a regular on The Benny Hill Show 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 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 loud and 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". Moreover during this period Leeves was cast as Holly for the U.S. version of the science-fiction comedy Red Dwarf. In 1993, she joined the cast of the television series Frasier where she had second billing. Leeves played the eccentric, forthright and allegedly psychic Mancunian Daphne Moon, and she became popular in this role.

By the start of 2001-2002 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. By the conclusion of Frasier, Leeves had received an Emmy Award nomination for her role and had become the highest-paid British actress in Hollywood. Appearing less frequently in cinema, Leeves lent her voice to the animated film James and the Giant Peach (1996) and acted in the film Music of the Heart (1999). In 2004 she hosted an episode of Have I Got News for You. When news was revealed that the BBC had flown 188 journalists over to cover the presidential election in the USA, she quipped, "I can't believe that the BBC would spend money flying people all the way across the Atlantic just for a television programme." Besides her major work in television, Leeves is also remembered for her role in the 1985 movie To Live and Die in L.A., in which she portrayed a scorned bisexual involved in a steamy menage à trois during which she was required to act as though she were having multiple orgasms in a comical way.

Her character eventually runs off with the woman. Her newest show, "Hot in Cleveland" airs on TV Land. Jane Leeves on the Web Jane Leeves: 'Meg Ryan Destroyed Her Career With Plastic ... Jane Leeves is 52-year-old and doesn't care who knows it, and she wishes other women in Hollywood felt the same way. "We all know who has and who hasn't" had plastic surgery, the Hot in Cleveland and Frasier star told ... Exclusive: CBS' We Are Men Books Jane Leeves - TVLine Jane Leeves is invading CBS' testosterone-heavy new sitcom We Are Men. The Hot in Cleveland actress has booked a guest stint on the single-camera comedy, which stars Jerry O'Connell, Kal Penn, Tony Shalhoub and ... Hot In Cleveland (Series) - TV Tropes Hot In Cleveland You need to login to do this.

Get Known if you don't have an account Share Timeline From left to right: Victoria, Melanie, Joy and Elka Hot in Cleveland is an American sitcom on TV Land starring Valerie Bertinelli (Melanie Moretti), Jane Leeves (Rejoyla "Joy" Scroggs), and Wendie Malick (Victoria Chase) as three past-their-prime entertainment industry veterans from Los Angeles. One day, their lives are changed when their Paris-bound plane makes an emergency landing in Cleveland, Ohio. Here, the group finds a welcoming community that is less shallow, youth-obsessed and weight-conscious than LA. Melanie falls in love with the place and leases a home with sassy caretaker Elka Ostrovsky, played by Betty White . It's essentially The Golden Girls with a slightly younger cast. The series, which is TV Land's first original scripted series, premiered on June 16, 2010, and was the channel's highest rated telecast in the cable network's fourteen-year history. The show is written by Suzanne Martin ( Frasier , Ellen) and is executive produced by Sean Hayes ( yes, that one ) and Todd Milliner for Hazy Mills Productions.

The series is taped in front of a live studio audience at CBS' Studio City in Los Angeles using a multi-camera format. after six seasons, though given enough run time to have a proper ending. This series provides examples of: Accidental Aesop : In-Universe . When Victoria does an undercover news story to show that people are disgusted and judgmental of fat people, she realizes she was the one who felt that way and other people were actually nice to her. If she tried doing the story somewhere else like LA rather than in Cleveland, the result would probably have been different. Accidental Marriage : In the season two finale, Joy and Victoria wake up to discover that they got married the other night. It isn't until the end that they discover they married each other. Adam Westing : Susan Lucci seems to be getting a big kick out of playing an exaggerated version of herself as a mean, vindictive, spiteful rival and frenemy to Victoria. The Alcoholic : Joy seems quite fond of the drink, although the other girls aren't exactly light drinkers either. All Girls Want Bad Boys : A Running Gag is that Joy always ends up being attracted to and dating guys who are jerks.

All Women Are Lustful : Played straight with the main cast, even with Elka. Alliterative Name : Melanie Moretti and Colin Cooper, Victoria's fellow news reporter. Joy was also almost his when she married Kyle Jones. Daphne Moon | The frasier Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit Daphne was born in Manchester, England, the only daughter in a family of nine children. She spent much of her childhood playing nurse and housemaid to her brothers. She has a complex love-hate relationship with her domineering mother, Gertrude Moon (played by Millicent Martin); her relationship with her father, Harry (played by Brian Cox), is much warmer and closer. As a young girl, Daphne was an actress in the hit British sitcom Mind Your Knickers (a show about "ethnically diverse" 12-year-olds in a private girls boarding school). Her career ended at age 16 when she became too tall and busty to play her short, pre-teen character. During her youth, she gained considerable skill at billiards, claiming to have won many tournaments. Daphne then took up a career as a physical therapist, working one-on-one with various invalids and shut-ins.

At an indeterminate time, she migrates across the Atlantic to live in Seattle, seeking a new life free of her domineering family. Her first job in America was at a convenience store (it is implied she was once robbed there). In the third season finale "You Can Go Home Again", it is revealed that prior to being hired by the Cranes, she had a chance encounter with them at Cafe Nervosa. In the series premiere "The Good Son", Daphne is hired by Frasier Crane to assist Frasier's father, Martin Crane, with his daily activities and exercises. Martin suffers pain and discomfort from a gunshot wound to his hip that forced him to retire from the Seattle police department. Personality Edit Like most characters on Frasier, Daphne has many eccentricities. She often tells rambling stories about her family, cheerfully remembering rather grim or traumatic events, to the considerable discomfort of the Crane family. She is also a firm believer in the supernatural, and believes herself to be "a bit psychic". The Crane family loathes her poor cooking skills, taking jabs at English cuisine.

Daphne's apparent psychic abilities are often treated with ambiguity on the show, and her various 'visions' are sometimes shown to have come true, sometimes in a roundabout way and sometimes very accurately. On the other hand, for the first seven seasons of the series, the supposedly psychic Daphne never suspects Niles' passionate infatuation with her, which is painfully evident to Frasier and Martin. (Indeed, she only finally learns of this when Frasier, in a tranquilized, drowsy state, tells her outright.) As the series progressed, Daphne's psychic abilities were considerably down played. Daphne is mostly portrayed as kind and down-to-Earth, often perplexed and exasperated by Frasier's snobbery and pretension. Although they fight and bicker over Martin's therapy sessions, she gets along with Martin much better as they are capable of sharing activities as she is his care-giver and constant companion. Role In The Series Edit Daphne's most significant developing relationship over the course of the series is with Frasier Crane's younger brother, Niles.

Unbeknownst to Daphne, Niles falls in love with her in the third episode, when they first meet; despite the increasing obviousness of Niles' infatuation, Daphne remains utterly oblivious to Niles' feelings towards her, though they become increasingly close friends. Niles says nothing to Daphne, at first because he is married, later because she is involved with numerous (frequently unsuccessful) relationships with other men. Even when she is not, Frasier has one excuse or another to prevent Niles from telling her anything. Niles' feelings are ultimately, and accidentally, revealed by Frasier in Season 7. Shocked to discover Niles' true feelings towards her, Daphne finds herself falling in love with Niles in return, placing her in the position Niles had been in for many years: in love with someone unaware of her true feelings. Heartbroken to discover that he had, on impulse, married his girlfriend Mel, Daphne intends to go ahead with her own marriage to Niles' divorce lawyer Donny, until Frasier intervenes.

In a four-part episode closing Season 7 and opening Season 8, Niles finally confesses his feelings to her, and although she initially tells him both of them are better off staying with their current partners (each having made a serious commitment), Daphne changes her mind by the next morning, abandoning Donny at the altar, to Niles' euphoria. Shortly thereafter, she gains sixty pounds (4 stone 4 pounds), but Niles is so blinded by love he doesn't notice until Daphne falls to the floor and is too heavy to get up without the help of Frasier, Niles and Martin (who remarks "it took three Cranes to lift you"). The weight problem was written into the show to allow Leeves to continue working while pregnant. Daphne then left for several weeks to attend a "spa for fat people" and returned with her figure restored. Her therapist at the spa, Gloria, tells her that she began over-eating to create distance between herself and Niles because she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to live up to Niles' lofty expectations after he spent the last seven years believing she was perfect ("Daphne Returns").

During the episode "It Takes Two to Tangle" in which she did not appear while at the resort, Niles tells Roz that Daphne had lost 9 pounds, 12 ounces (the weight of Leeves' baby in real life). At some point in Season 10, she becomes a U.S. Citizen. In the first episode of Season 10, Daphne and Niles marry in a small, private ceremony in Reno, Nevada. The rest of Season 10 and early Season 11 show Daphne and Niles adjusting to their new life as a wedded couple. Daphne and Niles have their first child, David, in the final episode of the series, "Goodnight, Seattle". (He is named after the show's co-creator David Angell who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks.) Family Edit Daphne grew up in a very large dysfunctional family. They are often the subject of her long-winded tales that sometimes leave the Cranes somewhat perplexed.

Although they are frequently mentioned, the first time one of her family members appears on the show is in the season 7 episode "Dark Side of the Moon", in which Donny surprises Daphne with a visit from her brother, Simon (Anthony LaPaglia), not knowing that she dislikes him (her favorite brother, Stephen, never appears until the final episode, where he is played by Richard E. Grant). In "Something Borrowed, Someone Blue" Daphne's mother makes her first appearance, while her father only makes his debut in Season 9. In the episode "An Affair to Forget" she mentions she had an ancestor who served on HMS Bounty who took Fletcher Christian's side in the mutiny. According to her he made it to Pitcairn Island with a Tahitian wife and had several children. When she mentioned to Niles that there may be scantily-clad Polynesian versions of her on the island, he nearly fainted as the image entered his mind. Five out of Daphne's eight brothers have appeared on the show; few of them maintained consistency with Daphne's northern accent.

LaPaglia, an Australian actor, faked a Cockney accent playing Simon, while Robbie Coltrane, who is Scottish, played Daphne's brother Michael with a muddled Brummie (Birmingham) accent—which had a distinct Scottish lilt to it—explained away by Niles as being a result of his being dropped as a baby. Richard E Grant played Stephen Moon with an indeterminate accent somewhere between posh English and mock Cockney. Most of the brothers are portrayed as lawless, alcoholic ne'er-do-wells and womanizers, routinely getting into trouble with the law, getting drunk and appearing at inopportune moments. Her brother Billy is the exception to the norm and is implied to be gay, such as in the episode Daphne's Room, in which Daphne said her brothers would "sneak into the bathroom and peek at me in the shower ... except for me brother Billy, the ballroom dancer.

He never peeked at me, though he did peek at me brother Nigel." When Daphne talks with her mom Gertrude about resuming her sex life with Niles after his heart surgery, Gertrude tells her to "use your feminine wiles - that's how your brother Billy landed Kevin." According to Daphne, Billy rejected the family's traditional fishing background by announcing that he "hated the smell of fish, and was going to teach ballroom dancing." Daphne also has an uncle, Jackie, who lives in San Francisco, and who is said to be both a clergyman and a transvestite. Accent Edit British television critics took aim at Jane Leeves' affected Mancunian accent. Leeves claimed that the accent was tailored to imply that Daphne had come of age in Manchester but had since spent a great deal of time in the United States By Ken Levine: Jane Leeves Today’s Friday question centers around one of my favorite people in the world. Leave your questions in the comments section. From Mark Stout: You haven't talked about Jane Leeves as much as the others. I like the tidbits of character development that the writers tried and seemingly abandoned in the early years. The psychic abilities.

And in one episode, I remember Daphne saying she'd be a TV child star until her body went through puberty. And it was never mentioned again. You’re right, Mark. Jane doesn’t get the full recognition she deserves and in many ways she had the hardest part on the show to play. What made the whole Niles infatuation bit work so well was how hilariously oblivious Daphne was to it. And it’s always tougher to be funny when your character is so “earnest”. I’ve always applauded FRASIER creators Peter Casey/David Lee/David Angell for not making her the stereotypical sassy wise-ass housekeeper. In fact, by making her a physical therapist and not a maid, that alone is worthy of praise. Jane has fabulous comic timing. Did you know she was originally a regular on THE BENNY HILL SHOW? Later she had a recurring role on MURPHY BROWN and who can ever forget her as Marla the Virgin on “the Contest” episode of SEINFELD? But if you’re a Jane Leeves fan and a guy you owe it to yourself to see the movie TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA.

She plays a bisexual in a ménage a trois scene, must fake orgasms and be funny. Any one of those things is worth renting the flick. Daphne was the hardest character to work into plotlines. Again, if you’re earnest, basically happy, and not ditzy/bitchy/preachy it’s tough. The psychic routine worked as long as it was used sparingly. The obvious trap was that this comic trait would become the sum total of her character. Jane is too good an actress for that. The writers worked hard to give her attitudes and involve her in every story and their diligence paid off in spades. Watch some FRASIER reruns. I’ll bet you say, “Wow, I didn’t realize how good she was.” One Jane story stands out for me. It was the first season. There was a scene where Daphne had to play pool. Jane had never played pool in her life so the show hired someone to teach her. The tutor came up to the office after her first session and was somewhat in shock. He said he had never seen anything like it. In one hour she was doing trick shots! But that’s Jane. Anything you asked her to do she could.

And given an hour she could do it better than anybody. Hmmm. I wonder who tutored her on the ménage a trois scene. Cheryl Cole was an unknown for Americans - and for me, says British Frasier star Jane Leeves - Mirror Online Celebs Cheryl Cole was an unknown for Americans - and for me, says British Frasier star Jane Leeves Making it in America is ­notoriously tough – and Cheryl Cole is the latest to find out how ruthless they can be out there. Share Yourlife: Jane Leeves (pic: Kristian Dowling) Share Get celebs updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email Making it in America is ­notoriously tough – and Cheryl Cole is the latest to find out how ruthless they can be out there. Cheryl may have been given the boot in part because of her strong Geordie accent, but sounding British certainly hasn’t done actress Jane Leeves any harm – in fact she’s made a career out of it. She is one of this country’s most ­successful exports, first as Daphne Moon in hit US series Frasier, and now as Joy in new sitcom Hot in Cleveland.

But Jane admits her path to stardom has been far from easy. The actress, who turned 50 in April, first caught a plane to Los Angeles when she was just a fresh-faced 21-year-old. And she believes not being famous worked in her favour – as ­Cheryl found out to her cost. Jane admits that, like so many ­Americans, she had not even heard of the Girls Aloud singer. She said: “People in the US haven’t a clue who Cheryl is. “I actually asked someone: ‘Is she a pop star?’ “Yes, she is a huge star in the UK, but nobody knows her here.” And she thinks many British celebs have found it tougher to find ­success in America then she did. “I do have ­sympathy for English people coming over to America,” she says. “I went over when I was young and stupid, but now ­English ­people come over when they are ­already ­successful in ­Britain. It is so much harder for them. They don’t have the time to pursue things.” And Jane should know what she’s talking about.

A trained ballet dancer, frustrated with the lack of work in Britain, she waved ­goodbye to her parents to fly to LA to find fame and fortune. For the first 18 months she went to auditions and acting classes, as well as working as a babysitter and selling ­Hollywood souvenirs to make ends meet. But she eventually got a small role on sitcom Murphy Brown and from there she shot to fame as loveable Daphne in Frasier. The comedy became a global hit, picking up 37 Emmy awards along the way. But Jane says she has never taken ­anything for granted. “It is a fickle business, but I have worked very hard,” she says. “I have always been a hard worker. You have to have faith it will work out. “Now when I look back at my younger self, I think, ‘My god, I was brave’, but I’d never want to change ­anything because it’s been so fantastic.” Jane is the first to admit that luck has also been on her side. Now starring as Joy, a celebrity ­eyebrow technician in Hot in Cleveland, she knew the role was for her as soon as she saw it.

She explains: “Just as when I sat down to do the first read-through with Frasier there was that indefinable ­something where you get butterflies in your tummy because you know it is working, we had the same chemistry and butterflies in the Hot in Cleveland read-through.” Part of the show’s ­appeal, she adds, is the fact the drama centres around the lives of four 40-something women who rent a house from an ­elderly landlady (Golden Girls’s Betty White). She thinks that British TV bosses could learn a ­lesson from their American TV execs and pitch to older viewers. Jane says: “There is this whole thing where every advertisement is chasing the young audience and people think young ­people want to watch young people. “But I remember when I was growing up loving Dad’s Army. That was about a bunch of old men.” She also points out that none of her current co-stars have resorted to plastic surgery. “None of us have been injected or pushed from pillar to post – and that is extremely rare in America. “As an actress, it seems such a bizarre thing to do to yourself by pretty much ­immobilising your face. “You can tell when someone has done it.

I admire women who haven’t.” Life in Malibu is a far cry from growing up in East Grinstead, Sussex. Married for 14 years to TV executive Marshall Coben, her career ­still ­allows her to be a hands-on mum to ­their two children, Isabella, 10, and Finn, seven. Jane says: “I still do the school run most of the time and put the children to bed and figure out what they are going to have for their school dinner the next day. “I adore my ­children and ­everything I do is to fit in with being a mum. We are incredibly close and this trip to the UK is only the third time I’ve left them behind. I find it really tough. “But I am also lucky because I have a hugely supportive husband.” Like every working mum, Jane says she still feels guilty even when she’s at home. “Why is that?” she asks, roaring with laughter. “I’m there all the time and I still feel it. But I do think it’s good that I go out to work in the sense that it’s showing my daughter and son that women can work. “Having children has definitely meant my ambitions have changed, though.

I’m no longer ambitious about work. It’s all about the enjoyment in my work because my priorities have changed now.” While Jane admits she likes living in La-La land, her days of being starstruck are long gone. “I remember thinking ‘wow’ when I once saw Elizabeth Taylor walk down the street,” she admits. “But I don’t get too starry eyed. My life is very normal. It’s all about the kids, getting them to school and cooking dinner.” And among the glitz and glamour of the US, she still takes the time to ­remember her ­British roots. “I’ve lived in the States longer than I lived in ­England now, which feels strange,” she says. “But I still fantasise about life in England. I have this romantic view of life in England. We come back every summer and I always think how ­gorgeous it is. I still look at the houses as I’d love to spend more time in the UK. “I’d like to work in Britain, too – I’d love to do a play one day when I’m older.” But at 50 and still looking many years younger, that might be some time off. So how does she do it?

She laughs: “It’s all in the genes. My mum still looks good and I eat ­really healthily. “I’ve never had a sweet tooth and I actually prefer a bag of crisps. I don’t eat a lot of white flour or sugar and while I love my vodka – it is all about everything in moderation.” She has always been slim thanks to her ballet background, but admits: “I have a gym at the top of my house and I exercise three to four times a week. When I’m not working it’s sometimes six times a week. “I guess there are people obsessed with it. I’m not, though. It’s in my ­make-up as a dancer. It makes me feel better.” Looking as good as she does and with a career most Brits can only dream of, Jane says she had no hang-ups about ­hitting 50. “I’m really proud to turn 50. I don’t have any regrets.

I am ­incredibly happy but I also feel so grateful and lucky.” Like us on Facebook Jane Leeves in Hot in Cleveland has struck sitcom gold again | Daily Mail Online comments As Daphne in the hit US TV series Frasier she charmed audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. Now British export Jane Leeves has struck sitcom gold again with new show Hot in Cleveland. And, as Jane Mulkerrins discovers, she’s as fabulous – and funny – as ever 'To have four women of 40-plus being funny together is incredible,' says Jane It's Friday night in Studio City, Los Angeles, and one of our most successful British exports, actress Jane Leeves, is camping it up centre-stage in a satin nightdress, while the studio audience loudly shows its appreciation. I’m on the set of Hot in Cleveland, a soft-centred, female-led sitcom that has already scored a surprise hit in the US and will arrive on UK screens this week. From my seat among the fans, Jane – who found fame as Daphne Moon in the award-winning comedy Frasier – looks incredible, with glossy, chestnut locks and lean dancer’s legs. The following week we meet back on set, in the warm Californian winter sunshine.

Clad in black jeans and a grey cardigan, Jane, who will turn 50 in April, looks fabulously (but not unnaturally) youthful. ‘I haven’t succumbed to the scalpel yet,’ she confirms. And as she approaches the milestone birthday, she is also enjoying a career renaissance, thanks to the success of Hot in Cleveland. The show’s (admittedly slightly improbable) premise has three female friends of a certain age – Joy (played by Jane), a celebrity eyebrow technician; Melanie, a recently divorced writer (played by Valerie Bertinelli), and Victoria, a soap star whose series has just been cancelled after 27 years (played by Wendie Malick) – leaving Los Angeles for a holiday in Paris. When their flight is diverted to Cleveland, they find their sexual stock is far higher there than in body-conscious, youth-obsessed LA, and decide to stay, renting a house from an elderly Polish landlady, played by octogenarian Golden Girls star Betty White. Jane is clearly relishing her role.

‘Joy is most famous for plucking Oprah’s eyebrows, but all her clients have started cheating on her with other beauticians, and she’s about to be deported back to the UK because of a problem with her green card. Joy is complex,’ she explains, with a tiny transatlantic twang born of spending almost 30 years in the US. ‘She makes wisecracks, but she’s actually rather messed up. She had a child when she was 15, who she gave up for adoption, so she is carrying around a lot of baggage and is trying to find herself. She’s sad, but she’s a survivor.’ There has been an overwhelming response to Hot in Cleveland in the States. ‘And not just from women of our age, but from a surprising cross section of ages and both genders,’ says Jane. ‘People are stopping me in the street again, even more than they did during the Frasier years. I don’t know if that’s because Hot in Cleveland is more accessible.

Frasier was a bit highbrow – sometimes even I didn’t understand the jokes.’ Pick of the bench: Jane (third from left) with her Hot in Cleveland co-stars Frasier followed the fortunes of radio psychiatrist Frasier Crane (played by Kelsey Grammer), his buttoned-up brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce), their crotchety father Martin (John Mahoney) and his jack russell Eddie. Jane played Daphne – Martin’s physiotherapist and housekeeper to the Crane men – who ended up marrying Niles. The show was both a critical and commercial triumph, with a record 37 Emmy wins and armies of ardent fans around the world. But British to the end, Jane bats away hyperbole. ‘I remember being on Oprah, and she asked us what it was like, being famous. I had to admit that apart from people stopping me to say they enjoyed the show, I hadn’t really noticed that much of a difference,’ she claims. ‘I live in LA, where there are so many more famous people than me. I go to the supermarket and there is Clint Eastwood in the fresh produce aisle.

And I saw Jodie Foster at the airport the other day.’ While she may brush off the fame factor, by the time her run with Frasier ended in 2004, Jane was reportedly the highest-paid British actress in Hollywood, reputedly earning £20 million for the final three series. ‘Well, that’s what they say,’ is all she will reveal about the actual sum. Such dizzy heights must be tricky for any actress to clamber down from, but she insists that what she missed most was the security provided by her colleagues. ‘We were a real little family, and I didn’t know what I was going to do without them,’ she says. ‘I’d had 11 superbly happy years, in which I met my husband, had two children – everything great I have was given to me in those years.’ In fact, the Frasier family has managed to stick together: ‘I live next door to Peri [Gilpin, who played radio producer Roz Doyle] – we take care of each other’s children, and she’s cooking dinner tonight. David and I talk all the time – he’s godfather to my son, as is John.

And I see Kelsey whenever I can, although it’s hard for us all to get together because John is based in Chicago and the boys are in New York. Glory days: Jane with the cast of Frasier ‘But knowing I wasn’t going to see them all every day was immensely sad,’ she continues. ‘You have to just put it in perspective and say, “Right, I have enough money now that I don’t need to worry, and I get to stay at home and take care of my children.” And that is a fabulous opportunity – you never get those years back.’ Not that the decision to stay out of the limelight was entirely planned, she admits. ‘I never actually said out loud that I wanted to take time out to spend with my children. But I did say I wasn’t going to take on anything else unless it was right, and great parts just weren’t coming along.’ There was a time when she wondered if the break would last too long. ‘A few years ago, a director told me, “Don’t worry, when you get to 55, or perhaps 60 or 65, that’s when you’ll start working again.” He said directors want the young babe, or the old lady.

He pointed out that Judi Dench and Helen Mirren didn’t start working again until they were in their 50s.’ She looks triumphant and laughs: ‘Ha! He was wrong!’ The second child of four, Jane grew up in unremarkable modesty in East Grinstead, Sussex, the daughter of Ruth, a nurse, and Colin, an engineer. (As Joy in Hot in Cleveland she uses her own voice – unlike the Northern accent she adopted to play Daphne.) At five, she decided she wanted to be a ballerina, and in an early sign of her determination won a scholarship to the local dance and drama school. Her ambitions were thwarted when she fell down some stairs and tore the ligaments in her ankle – she would still be able to dance, but would never be a prima ballerina – so she turned to plan B: acting. Fresh out of drama school, she decamped to London at 18 and won small (and sometimes scantily clad) roles, appearing on The Benny Hill Show and with Morecambe and Wise, but the dream wasn’t materialising fast enough. ‘I thought, go to Los Angeles, that’s where you go to be an actress.

I was 21, I got myself on a plane and I made my way here.Looking back, I think I must have been an idiot. But I was young and blindly believed it was going to work out.’ She credits her parents with being ‘wonderful’ about it. ‘If they’d said tearfully at the airport, “Don’t go, honey”, I’d probably have said, “All right, I won’t”, because upping sticks and moving is scary.’ She spent the first 18 months Stateside in auditions and acting classes, babysitting and selling Hollywood tourist souvenirs to earn money, and for a while she packed nail accessories in a factory – until she was fired for being too chatty. She has called this time her dark period, when she couldn’t stop crying, could barely afford to eat, and was urged by her parents to return home. ‘But I stuck with it – I knew something would happen,’ she says. She eventually landed a role as wacky secretary Audrey on the sitcom Murphy Brown, then appeared in Seinfeld and, by the time Frasier turned up, had three solid job offers on the table.

While her professional life soared, her personal life lagged behind, and by around 35, single for four years but keen to start a family, she was considering adoption. Then, at the office Christmas party, she met Paramount executive Marshall Coben, one year her junior. They were married the following Christmas; their daughter Isabella is now ten, and their son Finn is seven. Her domestic setup in the sandy suburb of Malibu sounds idyllic. ‘My husband is a surfer and lives for the water – he runs out on to the beach every morning,’ she sighs, ‘but for me, it doesn’t beat living in London.’ After almost three decades, the call of home is stronger than ever. ‘When I go home once a year to see my parents and my brother and sister who still live there, I just lap up everything English. But I could never drag my husband away from the surf. It’s almost spiritual for him. And all of this is fantastic,’ she adds, waving her arms around the dressing room of her second smash-hit show. ‘But all of that – the family stuff – keeps all of this in check.

To have four women of 40-plus being funny together is incredible, and I hope it continues for many years to come, but we all have other very important things in our lives too.’ And with that – back on screen and on top comic form in time for her 50th birthday – she leaves to pick up Isabella and Finn from school and get on with her other very important things. Hot in Cleveland starts Tuesday, 8.30pm, Sky Living Breaking America (take note Cheryl Cole): Actress Jane Leeves on how she left Surrey for Hollywood at 21 and found sitcom stardom | Daily Mail Online Breaking America (take note Cheryl Cole): Actress Jane Leeves on how she left Surrey for Hollywood at 21 and found sitcom stardom comments Jane Leeves doesn’t do shallow. She doesn’t do Botox either. She says her husband, TV executive Marshall Coben, would be furious. Besides, she doesn’t need any cosmetic help. Jane has been gifted with great skin - and she’s happy in it, which helps too. ‘I have led this magical life if you think about it,’ she says. ‘But for me, my life in Hollywood has always been about the work.

I think people invite craziness into their lives when they hunger to be famous rather than focus on trying to be a good actor. ‘Some people will sell their soul to the devil for fame, but they lose part of themselves, become damaged. People who work hard to achieve their success aren’t like that. People like Julia Roberts, who used to live at the end of our road. I have such admiration for her. You never see her kids in magazines. Merry dance: Jane Leeves landed a role on the popular sitcom Frasier playing Mancunian care worker Daphne Moon and was one of the highest-paid British actresses of all time, earning £275,000 an episode ‘We first bumped into her when the housekeeper was walking the dog with my children [Isabella, now ten, and Finn, seven]. These little kids came running up saying, “Can we pat your dog?” Their mummy came over and it was Julia Roberts. After that we’d see her on the beach and she’d say, “Can we have a lift?” and jump into the back of our pick-up with her kids, just like any other family...’ RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share Which is how Jane chatters on.

The names of Hollywood’s biggest stars trip off her tongue with an ease that says, ‘I’ve made it too.’ And she has. The America that gave Cheryl Cole the heave-ho in a few short days has embraced Jane for more than two decades. Indeed, in her 11 years as Mancunian care worker Daphne Moon on the hugely popular sitcom Frasier she was one of the highest-paid British actresses of all time, earning £275,000 an episode and scooping enough awards to crowd a sizeable mantelpiece. The difference between her and Cheryl? Having interviewed both of them, Jane is, dare I say, a lot nicer. Less plastic too, with laugh lines and an emotional intelligence that says, ‘I’ve had knocks along the way, but aren’t I blessed?’ Which she is. Seven years after the last episode of Frasier aired, and just as she’s reached 50, she’s in the biggest new comedy to come out of the States, Hot In Cleveland, with Betty White, Valerie Bertinelli and Wendie Malick.

Next move: Seven years after the last episode of Frasier aired, and just as she's reached 50, Jane is in the biggest new comedy to come out of the States, Hot In Cleveland The series charts the adventures of three ‘old broads’ from showbusiness whose Paris-bound plane lands in Cleveland, Ohio, where they find a community that’s much less shallow and youth-obsessed. ‘In real life we’re all old broads who’ve been in this business a long time,’ says Jane. ‘Usually, at our age, work dries up. To be handed a show that celebrates our age and also pokes fun at it is a gift.’ Even if she hadn’t found the role, she’d never consider Botox or having her lips done to make her look younger. ‘You can’t tell if someone’s 40 or 75. And the Jane is one of nature’s lucky few with the kissable lips many women pay a fortune for. Point this out, and she shrugs. ‘Funny isn’t it how what can be such a negative when you’re younger ends up being such a positive. I was teased mercilessly at school. I was called rubber lips.

They called me spider, too, because I had long arms and long skinny legs. I guess I wasn’t very popular,’ she says. She was, in fact, horribly bullied at the East Grinstead secondary school she attended with her brother and two sisters near their home in Sussex. But, she says, it inspired her success. ‘I was consumed by the love of dance and acting. I liked the idea of escaping into another world and being somebody else – someone who wasn’t shy, gawky or bullied. So the bullying spurred me on really.’ Career advice: 'They say if you can deliver a funny line and you're not ugly, it's gold' Jane bought a one-way ticket to Los Angeles when she was 21 after training as a ballet dancer at Bush Davies School of Dance, East Grinstead, with the blessing of her mother, a nurse, and father, a civil engineer. ‘I was determined to do what I did. If you talk to anyone who’s successful, they always knew they would be. There’s no other option.’ Jane found herself in the same acting class as Ellen DeGeneres, Winona Ryder and Jim Carrey. She also discovered a talent for comedy.

‘They say if you can deliver a funny line and you’re not ugly, it’s gold,’ she says. ‘I was on a show called Throb in the first two years, which put me on the map. I got a pilot every year, although until Frasier none of them went into a series.’ Jane adored working on the show. And it was during the early years that she met her husband. ‘I’d never, never thought about marriage and babies,’ she says. ‘Then, when I’d been on Frasier for a few years and was earning well and had a grown-up house, I said to a friend, “Maybe I should think about adopting.” He said, “Don’t do that. You’ll meet someone within a year. You wait.” A year later I arrived late at a Christmas party and Marshall walked towards me. That was it. His smile. My smile. I’d never had that feeling when you’re completely in love with someone immediately.’ Jane was 35 when they married. Four years later she gave birth to Isabella, and Finn, conceived by IVF, was born when Jane was 43, just before the axe fell on Frasier.

‘Kelsey fought it because he wanted to be the longest-running actor in TV history playing the same character. But how many more stories can you tell? I did start crying at the press conference to announce the end of the show. I’d just had a baby and was emotional, but the people on Frasier were like family. ‘But my husband always says my life has a way of working itself out. I was offered hour-long shows but he’d say, “No way. You won’t be here. Just wait and the right thing will come along.” How right was he?’ She looks delighted as she says this. ‘This series affords me the same life I had when I did Frasier. I’m able to take my kids to school and pick them up.’ And as the interview is reaching its end, one of Britain’s highestpaid actresses pulls out her iPhone to show me pictures of her husband and kids. ‘He is the greatest thing that ever happened to me,’ she glows. ‘Apart from my kids. Look aren’t they so beautiful?’ And they are. Much like their mum. Hot in Cleveland, Tuesdays, 8.30pm, Sky Living. Series 1 is on DVD now.

Question: In which American sitcom did English actress Jane Leeves play a major character?
Answer: Frasier