Teri Polo
Encyclopedia
Theresa Elizabeth "Teri" Polo (born June 1, 1969) is an American actress known for her role of Pam Focker in the movie
Meet the Parents
(2000) and its two sequels, Meet the Fockers
(2004) and Little Fockers
(2010). She was one of the stars in the sitcom
I'm with Her
, as well as the political drama series The West Wing.
. Her mother, Jane (née Gentry), is a homemaker, and her father, Vincent Polo, is a stereo
systems designer. Polo studied ballet
for 12 years beginning at age five. By age 13, she was attending New York's School of American Ballet. After winning a modeling contest, she moved to New York City at the age of 17 to pursue an acting career. In April 1997, Polo married photographer Anthony Moore. In 2003, Polo and Moore were divorced. A year later, while on the set of a video, she met drummer Jamie Wollam (of the bands Avion, Venice and recently Drake Bell). Polo has two children, a son with Moore, Griffin (born 2002), and a daughter with Wollam, Bailey (born December 20, 2007, in Los Angeles). Polo and Jamie Wollam became engaged in April 2010.
. She also starred in the 1990 miniseries The Phantom of the Opera
as Christine Daae
. Polo played Detective Ash on the TV series Brimstone
and became a regular cast member on the last season of Northern Exposure
. She appeared in a recurring guest role in the sixth and seventh seasons of The West Wing playing the role of Helen Santos
, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Matt Santos
(Jimmy Smits
). She has also hosted several ceremonies. Recently, she appeared on Fox's The Wedding Bells
, portraying the wedding planner Jane Bell. She also was in the movie Aspen Extreme (1993).
In February 2005, Polo appeared on the cover of, and posed nude in Playboy
. The appearance was linked to the release of Meet the Fockers
, with cover text that made similar plays on words such as “She's one hot Focker”. She was ranked #42 on the Maxim
Hot 100 Women of 2002. She was also featured in InStyle. She also starred in the Lifetime Movie Network 2006 movie, Legacy of Fear.
In 2009, she starred in the feature film 2:13
and the Hallmark Channel
TV movie Expecting a Miracle
with Jason Priestley
and Cheech Marin
. She stars in Michael Stokes' 2009 film The Beacon.
Polo was in the 2009 television pilot
for Washington Field. The show was about the National Capital Response Squad, a unit of the FBI composed of elite experts in different areas who travel around the world, responding to events that concern American interest.
In 2010, Polo reprised her role as Pam Focker in Little Fockers
, the sequel to Meet the Parents
(2000) and Meet the Fockers
(2004). She appeared in the Lovecraftian horror
film The Hole
.
Polo has guest-starred on many TV shows, including The Practice
, Felicity, Chicago Hope
, Sports Night
, Numb3rs
, Frasier
, Medium
, Law & Order: LA and Castle
.
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
Meet the Parents
Meet the Parents
Meet the Parents is a 2000 American comedy film written by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg and directed by Jay Roach. Starring Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller, the film chronicles a series of unfortunate events that befall a good-hearted but hapless male nurse while visiting his girlfriend's parents...
(2000) and its two sequels, Meet the Fockers
Meet the Fockers
Meet the Fockers is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Jay Roach and the sequel to Meet the Parents. The film stars Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner and Teri Polo. It was followed up by a sequel, Little Fockers, in 2010.-Plot:Nurse Gaylord "Greg"...
(2004) and Little Fockers
Little Fockers
Little Fockers is a 2010 American comedy film and sequel to Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers . It stars Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand...
(2010). She was one of the stars in the sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
I'm with Her
I'm with Her
I'm with Her is an American sitcom which aired for one season on ABC.-Synopsis:The series, loosely based on creator Chris Henchy's relationship with wife Brooke Shields, begins on that chance meeting...
, as well as the political drama series The West Wing.
Personal life
Polo was born Theresa Elizabeth Polo in Dover, DelawareDover, Delaware
The city of Dover is the capital and second largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, and the principal city of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County. It is located on the St. Jones River in the Delaware...
. Her mother, Jane (née Gentry), is a homemaker, and her father, Vincent Polo, is a stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
systems designer. Polo studied ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
for 12 years beginning at age five. By age 13, she was attending New York's School of American Ballet. After winning a modeling contest, she moved to New York City at the age of 17 to pursue an acting career. In April 1997, Polo married photographer Anthony Moore. In 2003, Polo and Moore were divorced. A year later, while on the set of a video, she met drummer Jamie Wollam (of the bands Avion, Venice and recently Drake Bell). Polo has two children, a son with Moore, Griffin (born 2002), and a daughter with Wollam, Bailey (born December 20, 2007, in Los Angeles). Polo and Jamie Wollam became engaged in April 2010.
Career
Polo's prime time debut was in TV 101TV 101
TV 101 is an American drama series that aired on CBS from 1988 until 1989. The series starred Sam Robards, Brynn Thayer, Leon Russom and Andrew Cassese. Other notable cast members include Stacey Dash, Teri Polo, Alex Désert and Matt LeBlanc...
. She also starred in the 1990 miniseries The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1990 miniseries)
The Phantom of the Opera is a 1990 NBC two-part drama television miniseries directed by Tony Richardson and stars Charles Dance in the title role...
as Christine Daae
Christine Daaé
Christine Daaé is the main female character in Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera , the young singer with whom the main character Erik, the Phantom of the Opera falls in love.- Character history :...
. Polo played Detective Ash on the TV series Brimstone
Brimstone (TV series)
Brimstone was a short-lived Fox television series, featuring a dead police detective whose mission is to return to Hell 113 spirits who have escaped to Earth. The series ran for only one partial season....
and became a regular cast member on the last season of Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure is an American television series that ran on CBS from 1990 to 1995, with a total of 110 episodes.-Overview:The series was given a pair of consecutive Peabody Awards: in 1991–92 for the show's "depict[ion] in a comedic and often poetic way, [of] the cultural clash between a...
. She appeared in a recurring guest role in the sixth and seventh seasons of The West Wing playing the role of Helen Santos
Helen Santos
Helen Santos is a fictional First Lady of the United States in the television drama The West Wing. She is the wife of Matt Santos played by Jimmy Smits. She became First Lady in the seventh season episode "Tomorrow," when her husband was inaugurated as President of the United States...
, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Matt Santos
Matt Santos
Matthew Vincente "Matt" Santos is a fictional character on the American television show The West Wing, played by Jimmy Smits. His initial appearance is as a Democratic U.S. Representative from Houston, Texas. According to West Wing writer and producer Eli Attie, Santos was based on the then...
(Jimmy Smits
Jimmy Smits
Jimmy Smits is an American actor. Smits is perhaps best known for his roles as attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s legal drama L.A. Law, as NYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the 1990s police drama NYPD Blue, and as Congressman Matt Santos on The West Wing...
). She has also hosted several ceremonies. Recently, she appeared on Fox's The Wedding Bells
The Wedding Bells
The Wedding Bells is an American television comedy-drama that debuted on Fox on March 7, 2007. The series was greenlighted after the network became interested in a series centered on wedding planners. The network approached David E...
, portraying the wedding planner Jane Bell. She also was in the movie Aspen Extreme (1993).
In February 2005, Polo appeared on the cover of, and posed nude in Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
. The appearance was linked to the release of Meet the Fockers
Meet the Fockers
Meet the Fockers is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Jay Roach and the sequel to Meet the Parents. The film stars Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner and Teri Polo. It was followed up by a sequel, Little Fockers, in 2010.-Plot:Nurse Gaylord "Greg"...
, with cover text that made similar plays on words such as “She's one hot Focker”. She was ranked #42 on the Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
Hot 100 Women of 2002. She was also featured in InStyle. She also starred in the Lifetime Movie Network 2006 movie, Legacy of Fear.
In 2009, she starred in the feature film 2:13
Two:Thirteen
Two:Thirteen , is a 2009 horror/thriller film directed by Charles Adelman and starring Mark Thompson, Mark Pellegrino, Teri Polo, and Kevin Pollak.-Synopsis:...
and the Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel
The Hallmark Channel is a cable television network that broadcasts across the United States. Their programming includes a mix of television movies/miniseries, syndicated series, and lifestyle shows that are appropriate for the whole family...
TV movie Expecting a Miracle
Expecting a Miracle
Expecting a Miracle is a Hallmark Channel original movie that premiered Saturday, January 10, 2009. The movie stars Jason Priestley, Teri Polo, and Cheech Marin. It is directed by Steve Gomer, and is based on the short story The Miracle of Dommatina by Ira Avery.-Plot:Pete and Donna Stanhope...
with Jason Priestley
Jason Priestley
Jason Bradford Priestley is a Canadian-American actor and director. He is best known as the virtuous Brandon Walsh on the television series Beverly Hills, 90210, a role which catapulted him to recognition in the early 1990s....
and Cheech Marin
Cheech Marin
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges...
. She stars in Michael Stokes' 2009 film The Beacon.
Polo was in the 2009 television pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
for Washington Field. The show was about the National Capital Response Squad, a unit of the FBI composed of elite experts in different areas who travel around the world, responding to events that concern American interest.
In 2010, Polo reprised her role as Pam Focker in Little Fockers
Little Fockers
Little Fockers is a 2010 American comedy film and sequel to Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers . It stars Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand...
, the sequel to Meet the Parents
Meet the Parents
Meet the Parents is a 2000 American comedy film written by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg and directed by Jay Roach. Starring Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller, the film chronicles a series of unfortunate events that befall a good-hearted but hapless male nurse while visiting his girlfriend's parents...
(2000) and Meet the Fockers
Meet the Fockers
Meet the Fockers is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Jay Roach and the sequel to Meet the Parents. The film stars Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner and Teri Polo. It was followed up by a sequel, Little Fockers, in 2010.-Plot:Nurse Gaylord "Greg"...
(2004). She appeared in the Lovecraftian horror
Lovecraftian horror
Lovecraftian horror is a sub-genre of horror fiction which emphasizes the cosmic horror of the unknown over gore or other elements of shock, though these may still be present. It is named after American author H. P...
film The Hole
The Hole (2009 film)
The Hole 3D is a 2009 American fantasy-thriller film directed by Joe Dante and stars Teri Polo, Chris Massoglia and Haley Bennett.-Plot:...
.
Polo has guest-starred on many TV shows, including The Practice
The Practice
The Practice is an American legal drama created by David E. Kelley centering on the partners and associates at a Boston law firm. Running for eight seasons from 1997 to 2004, the show won the Emmy in 1998 and 1999 for Best Drama Series, and spawned the successful and lighter spin-off series Boston...
, Felicity, Chicago Hope
Chicago Hope
Chicago Hope is an American medical drama series created by David E. Kelley that ran from September 18, 1994, to May 5, 2000. It takes place in a fictional private charity hospital.-Premise:The show stars Mandy Patinkin as Dr...
, Sports Night
Sports Night
Sports Night is an American television series about a fictional sports news show also called Sports Night. It focuses on the friendships, pitfalls, and ethical issues the creative talent of the program face while trying to produce a good show under constant network pressure...
, Numb3rs
NUMB3RS
Numb3rs is an American television drama which premiered on CBS on January 23, 2005, and concluded on March 12, 2010. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, and follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes and his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes , who helps Don solve crimes...
, Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
, Medium
Medium (TV series)
Medium is an American television drama series that premiered on NBC on January 3, 2005, and ended on CBS on January 21, 2011. Themed on supernatural gifts, its lead character, Allison DuBois , is a medium employed as a consultant for the Phoenix, Arizona district attorney's office...
, Law & Order: LA and Castle
Castle (TV series)
Castle is an American comedy-drama television series, which premiered on ABC on March 9, 2009. The series is produced by Beacon Pictures and ABC Studios. On January 10, 2011, Castle was renewed for a fourth season...
.