"I wish I were more like Daphne -- she's so comfortable with who she is," says Jane Leeves, who portrays the warm-hearted semi-psychic Daphne Moon. "I think her frankness is often viewed as kookiness. Really, she's just one of those people who doesn't edit their thoughts and feelings. I'm shyer."
Acting always appealed to Leeves, who recalls writing in a schoolbook at age five that she wanted to be an actress.
Born in London, she was raised, along with two sisters and a brother, in East Grinstead, Sussex, the daughter of an engineer and a nurse.
Her first dream as a performer was to be a ballerina, but that career was cut short by an injury when she was 18. She bounced back with modeling and less strenuous dancing in commercials and rock videos.
Leeves moved to Los Angeles hoping to break out of the dancer mold and be considered as an actress. She was soon cast as Blue on the syndicated series Throb. Before Frasier, television audiences may have known her best for her portrayal of Audrey Cohen, the girlfriend of Miles Silverberg, on Murphy Brown. Leeves also has the distinction of having played the virgin who beds John F. Kennedy Jr. in one of the most talked-about episodes of NBC's Seinfeld.
Her other television credits include a starring role in the NBC miniseries Pandora's Clock. Leeves recently completed production on the independent feature Don't Go Breaking My Heart, co-starring opposite ER's Anthony Edwards and Tom Conti. Additionally, she appeared in the feature films Miracle on 34th Street (1994), To Live and Die in L.A., Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (the Christmas in Heaven scene), The Hunger, Mr. Wright (opposite Paul Reiser of NBC's Mad About You) and Tim Burton's animated feature James and the Giant Peach for Disney.
Leeves lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two cats, "a skinny one and a real fat one."
In her spare time, she enjoys reading, cooking for large groups, participating in sports (or "sporty things," as she says) and working out in dance classes.
Her birthday is April 18.