Experimental Polo

Background:

Formerly guest starring in much-admired series Sports Night (1999) and Felicity (1999), actress Teri Polo scored wider recognition playing Robert DeNiro's daughter in the popular comedy Meet The Parents (2000) and in its sequel, Meet The Fockers (2004). First noticed as Christine in the miniseries Phantom of The Opera (1990), Teri recently was a presenter for the 11th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, alongside such actors as Mel Gibson and Johnny Depp. 5'6" inches tall, Teri also posed nude for Playboy magazine's February 2005 edition. She commented, "I've always seen myself as being pretty hot, and I definitely have a side to me that's down and dirty, and very experimental."

Blonde-haired Teri is presently dating American rock band Avion member Jamie Wollam.

Ballerina

Childhood and Family:

Daughter to homemaker Jane and stereo systems designer Vince, Theresa Elizabeth Polo was born on June 1, 1969. Dover, Delaware native Polo has two brothers, Mike and Steve, and attended Dover High School, where she was an honor student. Spending her childhood and teenage years studying ballet, Teri became a dancer with the Delaware Regional Ballet. However, she decided to drop her studies and dance position to pursue an acting career in New York.

Teri met photographer Tony Moore at a Bally's fitness club in San Fernando Valley. They felt in love and eloped to Las Vegas on April 20, 1997. In summer 2002, Teri gave birth to their son, Griffin. The couple divorced one year later.

Fockers' Frenzy

Career:

Once a winner in a Seventeen magazine modeling competition, Teri Polo decided to leave school and fly to New York to chase an acting career. In the Big Apple, she signed with the Petite Modeling Agency and debuted her modeling work in Cherry 7-Up's first promotional campaign.

Teri landed her first acting job in the soap opera Loving (1983), where she played the role of Kristin Larson for several months. After portraying the part of Amanda Hampton (1988-1989) on the CBS series TV 101, twenty-year-old Teri boarded a plane to Paris to shoot the miniseries Phantom of The Opera (1990). She also played characters in Mystery Date (1991), Quick (1994) and The House of The Spirits (1993).

After CBS's Northern Exposure, a series that she was involved in, was unplugged, Teri shuttled to L.A. Arriving in Hollywood, she was spotted in the highly praised series Sports Night (as Rebecca Wells) and Felicity (as Maggie Sherwood). Her appearances on television scored her a breakthrough role in the runaway success comedy Meet The Parents (2000). In the film, Jay Roach cast her as Ben Stiller's (Greg Focker) fiancée, Pam Byrnes, daughter of over protective father Robert DeNiro.

The wide victory of Meet The Parents and the media's attention spread Teri's name nationally. She continued to act in films, including costarring with John Travolta and Vince Vaughn in Domestic Disturbance (2001) and worked with Angelina Jolie in Beyond Borders (2003). In 2004, she returned as character Pam Byrnes in the sequel to Meet the Parents, which was titled Meet The Fockers. The movie topped at No. 1 in UK's box-office.

Teri currently can be seen playing the role of Helen Santos in the television series The West Wing.