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Jenna Elfman (born September 30,
1971) is an American television and film actress.
Elfman was born Jennifer Mary Butala in Los Angeles, California, the
daughter of Sue (née Grace), a homemaker, and Richard Wayne Butala, a
Hughes Aircraft executive. Elfman attended the Los Angeles County High
School for the Arts as a dance major and graduated in 1989. Her uncle is
Tony Butala of The Lettermen. She studied with acting teacher Milton
Katselas and Richard Lawson at the Beverly Hills Playhouse before
beginning her television
Elfman began as a professional dancer, making an appearance in UK
electronic group Depeche Mode's promotional video for their 1990 song
"Halo". She also toured as a dancer with the group ZZ Top. She made a
switch to acting in the early 1990s, appearing in the 1993 music video
"Black Lodge" by heavy metal band Anthrax. In 1995, she appeared in the
Chris Isaak music video "Somebody's Crying".
Elfman did extensive commercial work before landing her first series jobs,
making guest appearances in the 1995–1996 season on the ABC series
Roseanne, NYPD Blue, The Monroes, and Murder One, and the CBS sitcom
Almost Perfect. A role as a drug counselor in the NBC made-for-TV movie
Her Last Chance came in 1996 as well, before she landed a regular role as
the boy-crazy Shannon, one of three young working class waitresses in the
Molly Ringwald sitcom vehicle Townies. Although short-lived, Townies
proved a big break for Elfman, who impressed ABC executives with her
scene-stealing turn and signed her own sitcom deal before the last Townies
episode aired.
This deal led to Elfman's starring role in the sitcom Dharma & Greg, which
ran on ABC from 1997 to 2002. She won a Golden Globe Award for this role,
and was nominated twice for an Emmy Award. In 1999, she co-hosted the Emmy
Awards presentation with David Hyde Pierce.
In November 2005, CBS announced that the Elfman vehicle Courting Alex
would be a midseason replacement, premiering in January 2006. It was
announced in May that the show did not get picked up, and was thus
cancelled. However, CBS immediately inked a new development deal with
Elfman to create a comedy vehicle, as reported in The Hollywood Reporter
on June 2, 2006.
Elfman's other television appearances include guest starring roles in two
episodes of Two and a Half Men in 2004 and one episode of Brothers and
Sisters in 2007. She made a guest appearance in the sixth episode of
season four of My Name Is Earl as a cheer team leader.
Elfman recently filmed a CBS comedy pilot, Accidentally on Purpose. The
show was picked up by CBS and began airing in the 2009-2010 season.
In 1999, Elfman appeared alongside Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson
in EDtv directed by Ron Howard. She then played the role of Anna Riley in
the 2000 comedy Keeping the Faith, which marked Edward Norton's
directorial debut. In 2004, Elfman produced and starred in a feature film
called Touched.
Elfman's other film credits include Krippendorf's Tribe, Looney Tunes:
Back in Action, and Town & Country.
She is in two yet to be released films, one with Tim Allen entitled The
Six Wives of Henry Lefay and the other Love Hurts.
Elfman met her husband, actor Bodhi Elfman, at a Sprite commercial
audition in February 1991. They married in 1995, making director Richard
Elfman her father-in-law and noted composer Danny Elfman her uncle-in-law.
In January 2007, Elfman and her husband announced they were expecting
their first child. On July 23, 2007, their son, Story Elias, was born in
Los Angeles, weighing 7 pounds, 2 ounces. On September 16 2009, Elfman
announced she is expecting her second child, and the pregnancy will help
with her role in Accidentally on Purpose.
Elfman visited her high school alma mater in May 2006 to urge students to
set career goals and encourage them to persist in their chosen
professions.
In 2005 she appeared at the Scientology-owned Citizens Commission on Human
Rights' Psychiatry: An Industry of Death museum grand opening and she and
husband Bodhi are listed on the organization's website as members of the
board of advisors from the arts, entertainment and media community.
On May 24, 2006, she was the keynote speaker at the Human Rights Hero
Award event in participation with the Scientology-affiliated groups Youth
for Human Rights International and Artists for Human Rights (AFHR), an
organization formed with the purpose of bringing artists together with the
common cause of raising awareness of human rights around the world. The
event took place in Washington, D.C. and was attended by members of
Congress and the general public. Awards were presented to individuals who
through their actions have brought about greater human rights.
On March 27, 2008, she and Charlie Sheen co-hosted the
Scientology-affiliated New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project
Charity Event at Geisha House in Hollywood, California. |
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Forbidden Zone 2: The
Forbidden Galaxy (2010) .... Surreal Dancing Vision
"Accidentally on Purpose" .... Billie (14 episodes, 2009-2010)
- Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (2010) TV episode .... Billie
- The Rock (2010) TV episode .... Billie
- The Odd Couples (2010) TV episode .... Billie
- It Happened One Christmas (2009) TV episode .... Billie
- Class (2009) TV episode .... Billie
(9 more)
Love Hurts (2009/I) .... Darlene
The Six Wives of Henry Lefay (2009) .... Ophelia
"My Name Is Earl" .... Kimmi Himmler (1 episode, 2008)
- We've Got Spirit (2008) TV episode .... Kimmi Himmler
Struck (2008)
"Brothers & Sisters" .... Lizzie Jones-Baker (1 episode, 2007)
- Game Night (2007) TV episode .... Lizzie Jones-Baker
"Courting Alex" .... Alex Rose / ... (13 episodes, 2006)
- A Moving Story (2006) TV episode .... Alex Rose
- Alex Looks Out for Steven (2006) TV episode .... Alex Rose
- You Compete Me (2006) TV episode .... Alex Rose
- The Perfect Couple (2006) TV episode .... Alex Rose
- Big Client (2006) TV episode .... Alex Rose
(8 more)
Best of Chris Isaak (2006) (V) (uncredited) .... (segment
"Somebody's Crying")
Touched (2005/I) .... Angela Martin
Clifford's Really Big Movie (2004) (voice) .... Dorothy
"Two and a Half Men" .... Frankie (2 episodes, 2004)
- That Was Saliva, Alan (2004) TV episode .... Frankie
- Round One to the Hot Crazy Chick (2004) TV episode .... Frankie
Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) .... Kate
... aka Looney Tunes Back in Action: The Movie (USA: DVD box title)
Obsessed (2002) (TV) .... Ellena Roberts
"Dharma & Greg" .... Dharma Finklestein Montgomery (119 episodes,
1997-2002)
- The Mamas and the Papas: Part 1 (2002) TV episode .... Dharma
Finklestein Montgomery
- The Mamas and the Papas: Part 2 (2002) TV episode .... Dharma
Finklestein Montgomery
- Tuesday's Child (2002) TV episode .... Dharma Finklestein
Montgomery
- The Parent Trap (2002) TV episode .... Dharma Finklestein
Montgomery
- The Tooth Is Out There (2002) TV episode .... Dharma Finklestein
Montgomery
(114 more)
Town & Country (2001) .... Auburn
The Tangerine Bear: Home in Time for Christmas! (2000) (V) (voice)
.... Lorelei
CyberWorld (2000) (voice) .... Phig
Keeping the Faith (2000) .... Anna Riley
Edtv (1999) .... Shari
... aka Ed TV (USA: poster title)
Venus (1999) .... Venus
Anthrax: Return of the Killer A's: Video Collection (1999) (V) ....
Black Lodge video character
Doctor Dolittle (1998) (voice) .... Owl
Can't Hardly Wait (1998) (uncredited) .... The Angel
Krippendorf's Tribe (1998) .... Veronica
Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) .... Tanya
"The Single Guy" .... Jordan (1 episode, 1997)
- Just Friends? (1997) TV episode .... Jordan
"Townies" (1996) TV series .... Shannon Canotis (unknown episodes)
Her Last Chance (1996) (TV) .... Leslie
"Almost Perfect" .... Becky Toll (1 episode, 1996)
- Being Fired Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry (1996) TV
episode .... Becky Toll
"Murder One" .... Angela Scalese (1 episode, 1996)
- Chapter Seventeen (1996) TV episode .... Angela Scalese
"NYPD Blue" .... Patty Snow (1 episode, 1996)
- The Nutty Confessor (1996) TV episode .... Patty Snow
"Roseanne" .... Garland (1 episode, 1995)
- The Getaway, Almost (1995) TV episode .... Garland
"The Monroes" .... Lily (1 episode, 1995)
- Bottom's Up (1995) TV episode .... Lily
"Pointman" .... Mary Ellen (1 episode, 1995)
- Storm Warning (1995) TV episode (as Jenna Butala) .... Mary Ellen
"The George Carlin Show" .... Psychedelic girl (1 episode, 1994)
- George Does a Bad Thing (1994) TV episode (as Jenna Butala) ....
Psychedelic girl
Double Deception (1993) (TV) (as Jenna Butala) .... Lisa Majorski
"Freshman Dorm" .... Tina (1 episode, 1992)
- The Scarlett Letter (1992) TV episode (as Jenna Butala) .... Tina
"Murder, She Wrote" .... Ballet Dancer in background (1 episode,
1992)
- Danse Diabolique (1992) TV episode (uncredited) .... Ballet Dancer
in background
Strange Too (1990) (V) (uncredited) .... Tall Dancer in 'Halo' Video |
