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Leah Remini (born June 15, 1970) is an American actress best known for her role as Carrie Heffernan on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens. The rags-to-riches story of Brooklyn-born Leah Remini is pure Horatio Alger (in a petticoat). Dropping out of school at the age of 14, she experienced the cruel world from the vantage of waitress, cashier and telemarketer, among other vocations, before landing an agent and a one-line role on "Head of the Class" (ABC). After that, she made steady progress in the sitcom world, snagging regular roles in the short-lived likes of "Living Dolls" (ABC, 1989), "Man in the Family" (ABC, 1991) and "First Time Out" (The WB, 1995). Though those series tanked, Remini managed to get excellent exposure in two recurring roles on popular shows: from 1991-93 she played Carla's rebellious daughter Sarafina in NBC's long-running "Cheers", and 1993 saw her as Daisy in episodes of "Evening Shade" (CBS). She also made guest appearances on many series, including "Blossom" (NBC), "NYPD Blue" (ABC) and "Friends" (NBC). Leah Remini was born in Bensonhurst (Brooklyn), New York, to George Remini (an Italian-American) owner of an asbestos company. Her mother Vicki Marshall, a former high school principal and current LA restaurant owner, is Jewish and originally from Austria. Remini has an older sister, Nicole Remini(born 1969) who was her assistant on The King of Queens. She also has four half-sisters: Christina (born 1969[1]), Elizabeth (born 1976), Stephanie (born 1977), and Shannon (born 1984). Shannon has acted on Leah's show as a character named Desiree. Remini moved to Los Angeles at the age of 13. She tried fitting into her new neighborhood by imitating the look and style of the local Mexican-American culture. When Remini was 14, she left school against the advice of her mother. She has since become heavily involved in Scientology. At the beginning of her working life, Remini had a variety of jobs, such as waitressing, selling car insurance, and as a telemarketer for a solar heating company. Remini stands 5' 3" (1.60 m) tall. Remini's entrance into television came in the mid-'80s, when she got her first speaking line as an actress on an episode of Head of the Class. Later she was on the show Cheers where she appeared as Carla Tortelli's daughter Serafina on two episodes. Leah played the lead on Living Dolls, a short-lived spin-off from Who's the Boss? In 1991, she had a recurring role as Stacey Carosi, a love interest of Zack Morris, on Saved by the Bell (during the summer when the gang worked at the Malibu Sands Beach Club) and starred in the short-lived sitcom The Man in the Family. Remini also guest starred in The Commish, where her character was involved in the plot line responsible for Geoffrey Naufft's departure from the show. She gained some popularity with her role as Terri Reynolds on the 1997 NBC comedy series Fired Up. She starred as the main character Carrie in the TV sitcom The King of Queens.She had several guest appearances on shows such as Evening Shade, Diagnosis: Murder, NYPD Blue and Friends (in the Season 1 episode "The One with the Birth"). She originally auditioned for the part of Monica Geller but did not get the role. Remini has also made an appearance on MTV Cribs. The raven-haired Remini caught a huge break playing Sharon Lawrence's foil in NBC's "Fired Up" (debuting April 1997), but despite its Number 1 rating among women 18 to 49 for the first five weeks of the 1997-98 season, it did not survive the year. Remini had, however, lent an authentic New York voice to "Fired Up", and her stock for portraying "tough" somewhat in the style of Fran Drescher was going through the roof. She next signed on to "The King of Queens" (CBS, 1998- ), the blue-collar comedy reminiscent of "The Honeymooners", which has provided the best showcase of her talent to date. Completely at home as the Queen of Queens, she is quick to keep her truck-driving husband (Kevin James) in line, while loving the big lug all the same. The series looks like a keeper, its success in no small part due to Remini, whose first love is sitcom TV, taped in a studio full of people. "I need an audience. I need to hear the cameraman laughing. If the crew laughs, it's a hit." Remini recently starred in an online 9 episode series, called In The Motherhood, along with Chelsea Handler and Jenny McCarthy. The show was on MSN and it was based on being a mother where users could submit their stories to have it made into real webisodes. More have just been filmed. On July 19, 2003 she married actor Angelo Pagan. This was aired on the VH1 series Inside Out. On June 16, 2004, she gave birth to a daughter, Sofia Bella. This was chronicled on the VH1 documentary Inside Out: Leah Remini the Baby Special. Her weight has varied widely after childbirth, a fact she was heard to lament on an episode of Fat Actress. Viewers of the King of Queens might note that Remini gained weight when she got pregnant during the middle seasons of the show, but lost the weight by the show's 9th and final season. Remini currently lives in Los Angeles, California with her family. Remini is also good friends with Jennifer Lopez and her husband Marc Anthony. |
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