Jane Leeves

Jane Leeves is an English actress best known for her iconic role as Daphne Moon on the hit NBC sitcom Frasier, where her performance earned her nominations for both an Emmy and a Golden Globe. Born Jane Elizabeth Leeves on 18 April 1961 in Ilford, Essex, she grew up in East Grinstead, Sussex, the daughter of an engineer and a nurse, and was raised alongside two sisters and a brother. After early work as a dancer with Hill’s Angels on The Benny Hill Show, she made her screen debut in the early 1980s, appearing in the Monty Python film The Meaning of Life and a variety of small television roles. Leeves moved to the United States in the mid‑1985, where she landed her first leading television role as the quirky record‑company employee Blue on the syndicated sitcom Throb (1986‑1988) and later earned recurring parts on popular shows such as Murphy Brown and Seinfeld. In 1993 she was cast as the psychic, Mancunian‑accented Daphne Moon, a character that quickly became a fan favorite and remained with the series until its finale in 2004. During her Frasier years she also appeared in films including Miracle on 34th Street (1994), voiced Mrs. Ladybug in the animated feature James and the Giant Peach (1996), and performed on Broadway in the musical Cabaret (2002). After Frasier she starred as Joy Scroggs in the TV Land comedy Hot in Cleveland (2010‑2015), receiving a Screen Actors Guild nomination alongside her castmates. Since 2018 she has taken on a dramatic turn as orthopedic surgeon Kit Voss on the Fox series The Resident, proving her versatility across genres. Off‑screen, Leeves married CBS Studios executive Marshall Coben in 1996 and the couple has two children. Her career, spanning over four decades, showcases a blend of comedic timing, dramatic depth, and vocal talent that continues to endear her to audiences worldwide.