Born on June 1, 1961 in Dover, Delaware, Teri Polo is a dancer and an accomplished actress. She broke through the entertainment industry by playing the role of Pamela Byrnes, Ben Stiller’s sweet and kind wife in the movies Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers. Polo started training as a ballerina when she was only five years old. At 13, she attended New York’s School of American Ballet. Ten years later, she performed with the Delaware Regional Ballet. When she was 17 years old, she left high school after winning a modeling contest and relocated to New York City in order to pursue a career in acting.
Polo’s television credits include guest appearances in The Practice, Felicity, Chicago Hope, Sports Night and Frasier. She also accepted starring roles on the final season of Northern Exposure and on the sixth and seventh seasons of The West Wing. She played Helen Santos, opposite the actor Jimmy Smits. One of her projects was the miniseries The Phantom of the Opera in the 1990s, making this her primetime debut. Polo placed 42nd on Maxim’s Hot 100 Women of 2002, and has also graced the cover and the pages of the adult magazine, Playboy. Polo made an appearance on InStyle magazine, and has hosted numerous events. In 2003, her marriage to photographer Anthony Moore ended after six years and only one son, whom they named Griffin. Polo continued her television appearances, with a role in the series Numb3rs. This was followed by a TV movie, Love is a Four Letter Word, and the 2007 film Full of It. That year, she landed the role of Jane Bell on the FOX series The Wedding Bells, where her character is married to Russell Hawkins played by Benjamin King. Her co-stars include Chris Williams, Cleavant Derricks, KaDee Strickland and Sarah Jones. She continued to appear on shows like Ghost Whisperer, Drop Dead Diva and Medium. In 2011, she was seen on Castle and was cast as Theresa Hayden Keen on the comedy Man Up.
(Photo courtesy of FOX)