Jane Leeves

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jane Leeves
at the 1995 Emmy Awards.
Born	18 April 1961 (1961-04-18) (age 47) Salford, Greater Manchester, England
Spouse(s)	Marshall Coben
Awards won Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 1999 Frasier

Jane Leeves (born 18 April, 1961) is an English actress.

After beginning her career in the Benny Hill Show, Leeves moved to the United States, where she performed in small roles until she secured a recurring part in the television sitcom Murphy Brown.

She played the continuing role of Daphne Moon on the sitcom Frasier from 1993 until 2004. She shared an Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series with other principal casts members in 1999, and was nominated for and Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

More recently she has worked in television production.

Contents 1 Life and career 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 2 References 3 External links

[edit] Life and career

[edit] Early life

Born in Salford, Greater Manchester, Leeves moved to Essex, England and later to East Grinstead. She trained as a ballet dancer and worked as a model, until she made her first film appearance as a topless angel in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.

[edit] Career

She was a regular on The Benny Hill Show (as one of "Hill's Angels"), a dancer in the famous "Christmas in Heaven" scene from 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, 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". 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. Leeves played the eccentric, forthright and allegedly psychic Mancunian Daphne Moon, and she became popular in this role. By the start of 2000-2001 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 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.

In 2009, she will star in the Broadway musical Cabaret.^[1] Her newest show, The WB's sitcom Misconceptions, went unaired.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Personal life

She has been married to Marshall Coben, a CBS Paramount Television executive, since December 21, 1996, and they have two children. Daughter Isabella Kathryn Coben was born on January 9, 2001 and weighed 9lbs. 12oz. Son Finn William Leeves Coben, was born on December 19, 2003.

With former Frasier co-star Peri Gilpin, Leeves set up the production company "Bristol Cities". Their latest project was a pilot for a US remake of the British sitcom 'The Vicar of Dibley', with Kirstie Alley in the title role.^[2] Frasier co-star Peri Gilpin was in the delivery room when daughter Isabella was born and is Isabella's godmother.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jane Leeves

• Jane Leeves at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Frasier Cast Kelsey Grammer · Jane Leeves · David Hyde Pierce · Peri Gilpin · John Mahoney · Dan Butler · Moose Characters (respective to cast) Frasier Crane · Daphne Moon · Niles Crane · Roz Doyle · Martin Crane · Bob 'Bulldog' Briscoe · Eddie Other characters Maris Crane · Lilith Sternin · Bebe Glazer · Minor characters Settings KACL · Café Nervosa Creators David Angell · David Lee · Peter Casey Seasons 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 See also Cheers · Directors list · Writers list · Awards and nominations list

Persondata
NAME	Leeves, Jane
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Actress
DATE OF BIRTH	18 April 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ilford, London, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH