Leah Remini

Leah Remini

Leah Marie Remini is an American actress, author, and activist. She starred as Carrie Heffernan on the long-running CBS sitcom The King of Queens and as Vanessa Celluci in the CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait. Remini also co-hosted on the daytime talk show The Talk and co-produced and hosted the A&E documentary series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. Her films include the comedy Old School, the mystery comedy Handsome, and the romantic comedy Second Act.

About Leah Remini in brief

Summary Leah ReminiLeah Marie Remini is an American actress, author, and activist. She starred as Carrie Heffernan on the long-running CBS sitcom The King of Queens and as Vanessa Celluci in the CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait. Remini also co-hosted on the daytime talk show The Talk and co-produced and hosted the A&E documentary series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. Her films include the comedy Old School, the mystery comedy Handsome, and the romantic comedy Second Act. Raised as a member of the Church of Scientology from childhood, Remini left the organization in 2013 and began public criticism of the organization. In 2013, she competed on season 17 of Dancing with the Stars with professional dancer Tony Dovolani. It was announced in March 2012 that Remini would star in an ABC remake of the UK comedy series White Van Man Tools. The series premiered on May 1, 2013, and was not renewed owing to low ratings, and ended on July 10, 2013. She later returned in season 19 as a guest-host on week six of season 21 of Dancing With the Stars. She and her husband, Angelo Angelo, starred in a reality TV series titled Leah and Angelo: Exes of the Land. She has a brother, Michael, an older sister named Nicole and four half-sisters: Christine, Stephanie, Elizabeth, and Shannon. Her mother is of Austrian-Jewish descent, while her father has Italian ancestry, rooted in Sicily.

She was baptized Roman Catholic and raised in the Catholic tradition during her early childhood; when she was nine years old, her mother joined the Church Of Scientology, and Remini was thereafter raised as a Scientologist. She followed up the book with the aforementioned series to highlight other former Scientologists’ experiences. She also starred in nine-episode webisodes of In the Motherhood, along with Chelsea Handler and Jenny McCarthy, and made two guest appearances on Handler’s talk show Chelsea Lately. She appeared in two more short-lived series, First Time Out and Fired Up. In 1993, she appeared on Cheers as Serafina, the daughter of Carla and Nick Tortelli. In 1994, she auditioned for the role of Monica Geller on Friends, but the role went to Courteney Cox. In October 2011, she signed a talent development deal at ABC and ABC Studios that required the network and the studio to develop a comedy project for Remini to star in and produce. She joined the cast of the TV Land comedy The Exes Of The Land in 2013, filling a recurring role in season three of The Land of Exes, starting three season three. In 2014, she starred in the reality series Leah andAngelo:  Exes of the Land of Land.