Téa Leoni is the lead in the new CBS show Madame Secretary, which premieres on Sunday night.
Leoni, 48, has a range of film credits, including Deep Impact, Jurassic Park III, and The Family Man.
Her television work is more sparse, as she has appeared in multiple episodes of just there shows--Santa Barbara, Flying Blind, and The Naked Truth.
The last episode of The Naked Truth in 1998 was her last time on television apart from an appearance on The X-Files in 2000.
Leoni has an estimated net worth of about $15 million.
She was married to David Duchovny from 1997 to earlier this year, after being married to Neil Joseph Tardio Jr. from 1991 through 1995.
Thought she and Duchovny split, they still have an amicable relationship. Duchovny has been in Los Angeles working for most of the summer, and had the children, while Leoni visited.
“It’s fun to spend time as this unit that we still are, and it’s easy to communicate about them. There was that brief moment when the kids said, ‘Oh, I can work a scam on you here and him over there,’ and we were like, ‘News flash—no!’” she told Parade.
Duchovny added: “Téa and I had a long time together; we'll always be connected and there for each other.”
“I’m not playing stupid,” Leoni explained. “I understand feelings can get hurt and things can get icky. We’ve had our moments like that. But these kids are too important, and he feels the same way, I know it. He’s a good guy.”
In Madame Secretary, Leoni stars as Elizabeth McCord, “the shrewd, determined, newly appointed Secretary of State who drives international diplomacy, battles office politics and circumvents protocol as she negotiates global and domestic issues, both at the White House and at home,” according to CBS.
“A college professor and a brilliant former CIA analyst who left for ethical reasons, Elizabeth returns to public life at the request of the President following the suspicious death of her predecessor. The President values her apolitical leanings, her deep knowledge of the Middle East, her flair for languages and her ability to not just think outside the box, but to not even acknowledge there is a box.”
Because it’s on CBS, the show will likely not be too similar to Scandal, but it will have to score high ratings to get a renewal because of the notoriously high bar that CBS has.
The first season has 13 episodes.
Madame Secretary will air from 8:30 p.m. EDT to 9:30 p.m. on September 21 before reverting to its 8 p.m. timeslot.
