Leah Remini was born in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, June 15, 1970 to a Sicilian Catholic Father and an Austrian Jewish Mother. Leah's parents apparently separated when she was 13, and her mother left town with her 5 daughters, and moved briefly to Florida, then to California. Leah married Angelo Pagan July 2003.
Leah Remini is the Cover
Story of this week's Parade Magazine, an "insert" in many Sunday Papers.
The full story is not fully accessible on the Internet, but a "teaser"
was provided and follows.
I have also included a CNN Profile.
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In this week’s issue,
James Brady chats with Leah Remini, star of the CBS sitcom The King
of Queens. Before hitting it big, Remini starred on some unlucky TV
shows. Here’s more on her pre-King of Queens television career:
In 1989, Remini appeared in Living Dolls, a spinoff of the popular sitcom Who’s the Boss? Although it starred Halle Berry and TV veteran Michael Learned, Living Dolls lasted only one season. Two years later, Remini scored a part on The Man in the Family, but the comedy about an Italian-American family in Brooklyn failed to catch on. Then, in 1997, Remini again won a starring role on a primetime sitcom, Fired Up, which also was canceled after a short run. What happened? “We came on after Seinfeld,” she explains, “and that was a hard act to follow.”
Thankfully, Remini’s third
go-round on a primetime show has been a charm. The King of
Queens has been on the air six years.
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Not
afraid to speak her mind
LEAH
REMINI: WORKING HARD AS A QUEEN AMONG KINGS
By
Daniel Sieberg
CNN
April
20, 2001
Leah Remini is unapologetic about her brazen attitude toward life and her acting career.
A caustic wit pervades nearly everything she says; expletives pepper her sentences, reinforcing the stereotype of a tough-talking New Yorker. But asked if she'd consider toning down her Brooklynese, Remini pounces. "No. Are you trying to give me a hint that I should drop it? I can lose the accent; I just have to really focus on what I'm saying. And I have to talk slowly."
That distinctive New York sound helped land her first acting job in an episode of "Head of the Class." And Remini has since become a recognizable TV actor, costarring in the CBS Monday night sitcom "The King of Queens."
The show has wrapped for the season, and Remini has been contemplating her next career move. For now -- and despite calling herself "technically impaired" -- Remini keeps herself busy with two Web sites: a fan site she periodically helps update, and a joint business venture with her friend and fellow actor, Jackie Guerra.
JackieAndLeah.com is a retail site for jewelry and accessories. But Remini says she wasn't fully aware of how demanding that commercial site would be. "You learn as you go. You think it's so easy to just throw up a Web site, but it's really not, because style, especially fashion, is changing every couple of months."
'People don't understand'
Even her work on the sitcom can be draining, says Remini. She says she feels many people don't understand the daily grind of doing a weekly TV program. "I've always had a show that went seven episodes or 13 episodes or whatever. And I've never had a show (before 'The King of Queens') that's gone past a first season. It really is a lot of work. It's getting up every morning and going to work. It's not, 'Look at me, I have a little sitcom.' People don't understand the life that we (actors) live."
On how she deals with the social order of Hollywood: "It's hard to find people who are very real and people who care. You find those few friends in this business that you can really trust."
Remini says she finds solace in her steadfast practice of Scientology. She says it often has provided guidance during troubled times in her life and has helped her to be more "normal." Although Remini is aware of the controversy that sometimes surrounds Scientology, she says she's unfazed by it.
On criticism of Scientology: "If somebody is going to get turned off about something because of what they read or heard, then that person's not smart enough to even enter a church. If you're really against something, then know what you're against."
"I can see how people might trip out about it. But I've been doing it for so long."
As a daughter and as a person'
Remini dropped out of school at 14, with a caveat from her mother that it was OK to dodge academia only if she was going to achieve some form of greatness in life. Her mother's words have continued to ring in her ears. At the beginning of her working life, Remini had a variety of jobs, including being a waitress, selling car insurance and working as a telemarketer for a solar heating company.
On her relationship with her mother: "Being very close to her, I don't want to do anything to disappoint her as her daughter and as a person."
But Remini persevered and says she has learned to highlight her strengths.
She also says her Jewish mother and Sicilian father instilled a sense of strong family values in her -- along with a droll outlook on life. A recent photo shoot perhaps best sums up Remini's strong sense of humor, self deprecating all the way. She agreed to pose -- rather scantily clad -- for a recent insert in the men's magazine FHM: Girls of TV. But Remini says the experience wasn't completely glamorous. "I was freezing my a-- off with that little rock thing they had me on. ... I was slipping off of it ... it was freezing. I also had the same look on my face in every picture. 'Oh, look at me, I'm a tigress. This is my sexy look 2-14.'" Remini's boyfriend later chided her about the shoot, asking when she was going to pose for Playboy.
On seeing herself in the FHM spread: "My mother said, 'Why do you do this s---?' And she asks me why I have to curse so much."
Far from thinking of herself as a sexual icon or model, Remini says she's a cluster of neuroses on the inside and an impenetrable wall on the outside.
"I don't know if it's the way I come off ... like, 'Don't even think about coming near me.' My look is hard, I guess. But inside, I'm going, 'Oh my God, is my zipper up? Do I have a booger in my nose?' That's my inner monologue." Laughing at life and herself, Remini says she remains grounded through her family, some members of which operate a restaurant near Los Angeles.
Not blinded by Hollywood lights, Remini's relatives tolerate no snobbery from her. "Everybody is kind of normal in my family. Nobody really gives a s--- what I do. Like, 'We have to exclude Leah from the festivities because she's a big sitcom person.' No." Although no descendant of royalty, this "King of Queens" star says she'll continue to strive for a noble existence. "I try to be a good person. I know what my downfalls are, so that's a good thing."
Leah
Remini
Hometown:
Brooklyn, New York
Age:
30 (In 2001)
"Follow
Your Heart": Film, 1998
"The
King of Queens": Series, CBS, began 1998
"Fired
Up": Series, 1997
"Saved
by the Bell": Series, 1989
Guest
appearances: "NYPD Blue," "Friends," "Cheers"
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Leah
Remini Official Web Site Bio:
Leah was born in Brooklyn, New York, and moved to Los Angeles with her mother and sisters at the age of 13. Leah left school at 14, with a warning from her mother that it was fine not to achieve at school only if she was going to achieve in life. At the beginning of her working life, Leah had a variety of jobs, such as waitressing, selling car insurance, and as a telemarketer for a solar heating company. Leah got her first speaking line as an actress on an episode of "Head of the Class", and her acting career has skyrocketed ever since.
After two seasons as co-star in the prime time NBC comedy, "Fired Up", Leah currently has a starring role in the hit CBS comedy, "The King of Queens".
Starring roles are not new to Leah. Early in her career she starred in "Saved By The Bell", playing "Stacy Carosi", and "Living Dolls", playing "Charlie Briscoe". She has also had recurring roles on "Cheers" as "Sarafina Tortelli", the daughter of "Carla", played by Rhea Perlman, and on "Evening Shade" as "Daisy". She has also been seen on "Friends", "NYPD Blue", and other major shows, as well as movie roles. She has been featured in "TV Guide", "People Magazine", "Redbook Magazine", "Womans World" magazine, "InStyle", "Stuff", and may other publications.
The
Official Leah Remini Web Page
http://www.leahremini.net/bio/bio.htm
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CBS
-The King of Queens Official Web Site
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/king_of_queens/