Early life
Hatcher was born to parents Owen and Esther Hatcher in Palo Alto, California. Her father is an electrical engineer and her mother is a computer scientist. An only child, she attended Mango Junior High (now Sunnyvale Middle School), Fremont High School in Sunnyvale and De Anza College in Cupertino.
In March 2006, Hatcher revealed to Vanity Fair that she was sexually abused from the age of 5 by Richard Hayes Stone, an uncle by marriage who was later divorced by Hatcher's aunt. Her parents, she said, were unaware of the abuse at the time. In 2002, she assisted Santa Clara County prosecutors in indicting Stone for a more recent molestation that led his female victim to commit suicide at the age of 14. Stone pleaded guilty to four counts of molestation and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. In an interview appearing in Vanity Fair, Hatcher said she told the prosecutors about her own abuse because she was haunted by thoughts of the 14-year-old girl who shot herself, and feared Stone might escape conviction.
Career
Hatcher began her performing career as a young girl taking ballet lessons at the San Juan Girls' Ballet Studio in downtown Los Altos, California. She later studied acting at the American Conservatory Theater. One of her early jobs (in 1984) was as a cheerleader with the San Francisco 49ers. During this time she also appeared as one of the mermaids on the show The Love Boat in its final season.
Teri Hatcher with her Lois & Clark co-star Dean Cain rehearsing for the 45th Emmy Awards, September 19, 1993
While probably most noted for playing Lois Lane in the TV series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993-1997), Hatcher has also appeared in such feature films as Spy Kids (2001), the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, Dead in the Water (1991), 2 Days in the Valley (1996), and Heaven's Prisoners (1996). ABC had cancelled Lois & Clark in 1997, and Hatcher was very disappointed about the show's demise. She was also desperate in looking for work. She has also made a guest appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation and had a recurring role on MacGyver as Penny Parker, a naïve, high-strung, young woman who always seemed to get into trouble.
She also had a guest appearance in an episode of Seinfeld, in which her character, Sidra, broke up with Jerry because she found out Jerry was trying to have Elaine surreptitiously determine whether Sidra had breast implants. In one of the more memorable lines in the show, she declared, "Oh, and by the way: they're real, and they're spectacular."
Hatcher has also appeared in a series of popular Radio Shack television commercials alongside NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long. The pair remain close friends, and together have bought farm land on the outside of Los Angeles, with the intent of eventually raising endangered species. Hatcher said her plan to do so came about after reading an article featuring the world's top 25 endangered species.
Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher at the 1993 Emmy Awards.
She hosted Saturday Night Live in 1996.
In 1997, Hatcher was voted "Sexiest Woman in the World" by the readers of FHM.
Hatcher beat out four other actresses for the lead role on ABC's Desperate Housewives, on which she stars as single mother Susan Mayer, a role for which she won the Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Golden Globe Award in January 2005. In 2005, Hatcher also won the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award in the same category. In July 2005, she was nominated for an Emmy Award as Best Actress in a Comedy Series for the same role, along with co-stars Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman, who won the award.
As of April 2006, Hatcher is one of the highest paid television actresses in the United States. She reportedly earns $380,000 per episode of Desperate Housewives. In May 2006, she released her first book, Burnt Toast: And Other Philosophies of Life. In conjunction with the book, she has also launched a line of apparel and merchandise. Furthermore she is prominently featured in an international campaign for Repeat Cashmere.
Personal life
Between 1985 and 1988, she had a relationship with her MacGyver costar Richard Dean Anderson. In 1988, Hatcher married Marcus Leithold on June 4, 1988, but they divorced the following year. On May 27, 1994, she married actor Jon Tenney; they had a daughter, Emerson Rose, in November 1997, and divorced on March 2003.
Film and television roles
Year
Film/program/series
Role
Other notes
1985
The Love Boat
Amy, Loveboat Mermaid
television series; cast member from 1985 to 1986
1986
MacGyver
Penny Parker
TV series; guest starring in seven episodes between 1986 and 1991
1986
Capitol
Angelica Stimac Clegg
television series; cast member from 1986 to 1987
1987
Karen's Song
Laura Matthews
television series
1987
Night Court
Kitty
TV series; guest starring in the episode "Who Was That Mashed Man?"
1987
Missing You Now
Girlfriend
Michael Bolton music video
1988
CBS Summer Playhouse
Lauri Stevens
TV series; guest starring in the episode "Baby on Board"
1988
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Lt. Bronwyn Gail Robinson
TV series; guest starring in the episode "The Outrageous Okona"
1989
The Big Picture
Gretchen
1989
L.A. Law
Tracy Shoe
TV series; guest starring in the episode "I'm in the Nude for Love"
1989
Quantum Leap
Donna Eleese
TV series; guest starring in the episode "Star-Crossed
1989
Tango & Cash
Katherine 'Kiki' Tango
1990
Murphy Brown
Madeline Stillwell
TV series; guest starring in the episode "Fax or Fiction"
1990
Tales from the Crypt
Stacy
TV series; guest starring in the episode "The Thing from the Grave"
1991
The Brotherhood
Teresa Gennaro
made-for-TV movie
1991
Soapdish
Ariel Maloney
1991
Sunday Dinner
TT Fagori
television series
1991
Dead in the Water
Laura Stewart
made-for-TV movie
1991
The Exile
Marissa
TV series; guest starring in the episode "Eclipse"
1992
Straight Talk
Janice
1993
All Tied Up
Linda Alissio
straight-to-video
1993
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lois Lane
television series (1993 - 1997)
1993
Brain Smasher... A Love Story
Samantha Crain
straight-to-video
1993
Seinfeld
Sidra
TV series; guest starring in three episodes between 1993 and 1998
1994
The Cool Surface
Dani Payson
1996
Dead Girl
Passer-by
1996
Heaven's Prisoners
Claudette Rocque
1996
2 Days in the Valley
Becky Foxx
1997
Tomorrow Never Dies
Paris Carver
1998
Since You've Been Gone
Maria Goldstein
made-for-TV movie
1998
Frasier
Marie
TV series; guest starring in the episode "First Do No Harm"
1999
Fever
Charlotte Parker
2000
Running Mates
Shawna Morgan
made-for-TV movie
2001
Say Uncle
made-for-TV movie
2001
Spy Kids
Ms. Gradenko
2001
Jane Doe
Jane Doe
made-for-TV movie
2003
A Touch of Fate
Megan Marguilas
2003
Momentum
Jordan Ripps
Sci-Fi Channel made-for-TV movie
2004
Desperate Housewives
Susan Mayer
television series (2004 - present)
2004
Two and a Half Men
Liz
TV series; guest starring in the episode "I Remember the Coatroom, I Just Don't Remember You."
2007
Resurrecting the Champ
Flak
2008
Coraline
The Other MotherTeri Hatcher
