Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni was born on February 25, 1966, in the bustling metropolis of New York City. Her father, Anthony Pantaleoni, was a respected corporate lawyer, and her mother, Emily Ann (Patterson),was a dedicated dietitian and nutritionist. This remarkable individual boasts a rich heritage, with ancestry tracing back to Italy from a paternal great-great-grandfather, Poland, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Germany.
Téa's educational pursuits took her to Sarah Lawrence College, although she did not complete her studies. She began her acting career in 1989, landing the role of Lisa DiNapoli in the television series Santa Barbara. This marked the beginning of a successful acting career, with subsequent small roles in Switch (1991) and A League of Their Own (1992).
In 1992, Téa starred in the short-lived sitcom Flying Blind, followed by appearances in Wyatt Earp (1994) opposite Kevin Costner and The Counterfeit Contessa (1994) opposite D.W. Moffett. Her breakthrough role came in 1995, when she starred alongside Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the popular film Bad Boys. The same year, she made a guest appearance on the hit television series Frasier.
Téa's impressive filmography includes notable roles in Flirting with Disaster (1996),Deep Impact (1998),The Family Man (2000),Spanglish (2004),You Kill Me (2007),and most recently, the film Ghost Town (2008) opposite Greg Kinnear.
In her personal life, Téa was married to television commercial producer Neil Joseph Tardio Jr. from 1991 to 1995. In 1997, she married actor David Duchovny, with whom she shares two children: Daughter West Duchovny, born on April 24, 1999, and Son Kyd Miller Duchovny, born on June 15, 2002.
