Téa Leoni's Real Name: Téa Pantaleoni

Quick answer: Téa Leoni was born Téa Pantaleoni on February 25, 1966, in New York City; Leoni is a shortened form of her family surname. She starred in Deep Impact, The Family Man, and Spanglish, and played Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord on CBS's Madam Secretary (Library of Congress; UNICEF USA).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority files her as "Leoni, Téa, 1966-." Its citation reads "Téa Leoni, b. Téa Pantleoni, Feb. 25, 1966; actress," and it lists "Pantleoni, Téa" as a cross-reference. The LOC spelling drops an "a"; her family name is spelled Pantaleoni in UNICEF USA's biography and in a 1991 New York Times wedding announcement headlined "Miss Pantaleoni, Actress, Marries." Wikipedia gives her full birth name as Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni. We did not find the first name Elizabeth in the other sources checked.

UNICEF USA says she represents the third generation of her family working for children's causes. Her grandmother, Helenka Pantaleoni, co-founded the U.S. Committee for UNICEF in 1947 and served as its president for 25 years. Her father, Anthony Pantaleoni, served on UNICEF USA's national board. Leoni joined that board in 2004 and has been a UNICEF Ambassador since 2003.

The Los Angeles Times calls her a "native Manhattanite." As a teenager she transferred to the Putney School, a Vermont boarding school where students did farm work. She later dropped out of Sarah Lawrence College.

Career highlights

After some travel, Leoni auditioned for Angels '88, an Aaron Spelling reboot of Charlie's Angels that never aired. The Times says other roles followed. By the late 1990s she had drawn praise for David O. Russell's Flirting With Disaster and starred in the sitcom The Naked Truth, which ran three seasons. She had leading roles in Deep Impact (1998) and Jurassic Park III (2001), along with The Family Man (2000) and Spanglish (2004).

In the 2000s she slowed down to raise her two children with then-husband David Duchovny, with whom the Times says she remains friendly. Her last film before her TV comeback was Tower Heist (2011). In 2014 she returned to series television after 16 years as Elizabeth McCord, a former CIA analyst named secretary of state, in Madam Secretary. She agreed on the condition that it film in New York. Creator Barbara Hall told the Times that Leoni "brings her own political pedigree" to the part.

Name notes for searchers

Leoni comes from the last part of Pantaleoni. The accent in Téa is part of her professional name, and many sites spell it "Tea." Library records also carry the misspelling "Pantleoni."