Jenna Elfman
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| Jenna Elfman | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Jennifer Mary Butala |
| Born | September 30 1971 Image:Flag of the United States.svg Los Angeles, CA, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | Bodhi Elfman |
| Children | Story Elias Elfman |
| Official site | www.jennaelfman.com |
Jenna Elfman (born September 30, 1971, in Los Angeles, California, U.S.) is a Golden Globe-winning American television and film actress.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Elfman was born Jennifer Mary Butala in Los Angeles, California, to Sue Grace, a homemaker, and Richard Wayne Butala, a Hughes Aircraft executive. She attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts as a dance major and graduated in 1989. Her uncle is Tony Butala of The Lettermen. She studied with acting teacher Milton Katselas at the Beverly Hills Playhouse before beginning her television career.
[edit] Career
She began as a professional dancer, then made a switch to acting in the early 1990s. Elfman did extensive commercial work before landing her first series jobs, making guest appearances in the 1995–1996 season on the ABC series Roseanne, NYPD Blue, The Monroes, and Murder One, and the CBS sitcom Almost Perfect. A role as a drug counselor in the NBC made-for-TV movie Her Last Chance came in 1996 as well, before the charismatic actress auspiciously landed a regular role as the boy-crazy Shannon, one of three young working class waitresses in the Molly Ringwald sitcom vehicle Townies. Although short-lived, Townies proved a big break for Elfman, who impressed ABC executives with her scene-stealing turn and signed her own sitcom deal before the last Townies episode aired.
This deal led to Elfman's best known role on the popular sitcom Dharma & Greg, which ran on ABC from 1997 to 2002; she won a Golden Globe Award for this role, and was nominated twice for an Emmy Award. In 1999, she co-hosted the Emmy Awards presentation with David Hyde Pierce.
In 2004, Elfman produced and starred in a feature film called Touched. In November 2005, CBS announced that Elfman vehicle, Courting Alex would be a midseason replacement, premiering in January 2006. It was announced in May that the show did not get picked up, and was thus cancelled. However, CBS immediately inked a new development deal with Elfman to create a comedy vehicle for her, as reported in The Hollywood Reporter on June 2, 2006.
Jenna has also been seen as a guest star on Two and a Half Men in two episodes.
Elfman also starred in the movies Krippendorf's Tribe, EDtv, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and Keeping the Faith.
In her dancing career, she made an appearance in UK synth-pop group Depeche Mode's promotional video for their 1990 song "Halo".
[edit] Personal life
Elfman met her husband, actor Bodhi Elfman, at a Sprite commercial audition in February of 1991. They married in 1995, making director Richard Elfman her father-in-law and noted composer Danny Elfman her uncle-in-law.
In 2005, Elfman appeared at the Church of Scientology-affiliated Citizens Commission on Human Rights' controversial "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death"[1] museum grand opening and is described on the organization's website as a supporter.[2]
In May 2006, Jenna visited her high school alma mater to urge students to set career goals and encourage them to persist in their chosen professions.[3]
In January 2007, Elfman and her husband announced they were expecting their first child together.[4] On July 23, 2007, the couple welcomed son, Story Elias, in Los Angeles, weighing 7 pounds, 2 ounces.[5]
Will Ferrell's site Funnyordie.com, aired a video "Mama Jams" of Elfman and her husband. [1]
[edit] References
- ^ New L.A. Museum Targets Psychiatry as an "Industry of Death". CCHR International (2005-12-17). Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
- ^ An Anatomy of Today's Terrorism; PsychAssault.com CCHR's Latest Website. CCHR International (2001-10-01). Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
- ^ date=2006-05-22 Jenna Revisits Her High School. Edie Films Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
- ^ http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=25dbce97-7f25-401e-b427-3505b4c7825f
- ^ http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20048814,00.html
[edit] External links
- Jenna Elfman's official site
- Jenna Elfman at the Internet Movie Database
- Jenna Elfman at MySpace
- Jenna Elfman at TV.com
- Jenna Elfman's short film on Funny Or Diede:Jenna Elfman
el:Τζένα Έλφμαν es:Jenna Elfman fr:Jenna Elfman it:Jenna Elfman he:ג'נה אלפמן nl:Jenna Elfman ja:ジェナ・エルフマン pl:Jenna Elfman pt:Jenna Elfman sv:Jenna Elfman
