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Jenna Elfman
Occupation : Actress
Birth Date : September 30, 1971
Birth Place : Los Angeles, California, USA
Birth Name : Jennifer Mary Butala
Nationality : American
Height : 5' 10
Sex : F
Education : Los Angeles High School (majored in Arts)
California State University in Northridge (dropped out)
Relationship : Bodhi Elfman (actor; born on July 19, 1969; married in 1995)
Father : Richard Butala (executive)
Mother : Sue Butala
Sister : born in 1957
Brother : born in 1961
Claim to fame : as Dharma Freedom Finkelstein Montgomery on TV Series Dharma & Greg
Jenna Elfman, nee Jennifer Mary Butala, was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, on September 30, 1971. As a child, Elfman had aspirations to become a nun, but it soon became clear that she had more of a knack for entertainment than she thought. By the age of 5, Jenna's parents put her in a classical dance class.
Elfman was an energetic young girl who was hard to control. This was especially obvious when her elementary school math teacher sealed her mouth with electrical tape so that she would pay attention to the lessons instead of entertaining her classmates.
After graduating from high school, Elfman tried her luck with higher education by attending Cal-State Northridge College. Once she realized that she had little motivation to continue with her studies, Elfman moved across town to Hollywood, to try her luck in the entertainment business.
Elfman's first instinct was to become a ballerina dancer, and she considered joining Seattle's Pacific Northwest. But it was a dance ensemble for the 1991 Academy Awards that launched Elfman's career as a dancer for film and television productions. It was a brief appearance in Murder, She Wrote that initiated her interest in acting. Soon after, Elfman enrolled at The Beverly Hills Playhouse where she studied coach Milton Katselas.
Her first gigs -- as with most first time actors -- started with advertisement work. Elfman did some commercials for AT&T, Sprite, Clearasil, and Honda. These spots gave her the valuable experience to secure the services of an agent who secured her minor acting jobs in a few episodes in sitcoms such as Roseanne (1995) and NYPD Blue (1996).
In middle of 1996, Elfman landed a part in her first feature film called Grosse Pointe Blank, and by the fall of the same year, she was cast for a recurring role in ABC's Townies, with co-stars Molly Ringwald and Lauren Graham. Her debut in a supporting role was an instant smash. And before she knew it, she had both ABC and 20th Century Fox rushing in to sign her for new development deals.
In 1997, Elfman pitched her Dharma & Greg sitcom to the powers that be at ABC. After their acceptance and the deal signing, Elfman searched for her Greg. After seeing many candidates, she chose Thomas Gibson. Their chemistry made Dharma & Greg an instant hit, and garnered her a Golden Globe award in 1999. The show aired its final episode in 2002.
Amid her television role, Jenna continued starring on the big screen in films like Krippendorf's Tribe (1998), Can't Hardly Wait (1998), Venus (1999), EDtv (1999), Keeping the Faith (2000), and Town & Country (2001).
Jenna also lent her voice to big screen animations such as Doctor Dolittle (1998), he IMAX flick CyberWorld and The Tangerine Bear (both in 2000). Jenna even did a TV movie in 2002, entitled Obsessed.
In 2003, Jenna hooked up with Steve Martin and Heather Locklear to star in Looney Tunes: Back in Action. She also lent her voice to the big screen once again in 2004, in Clifford's Really Big Movie. And since October 2003, Jenna has been performing in the musical Nine as a replacement cast member.
As for her personal life, in 1995, Jenna married actor Bodhi Elfman, whom she had been dating since 1991. They share their home with their dog, Gwenivere. She and her husband both practice Scientology, and hope to make some time from their busy schedules to have children soon.
More recently in 2004, fans got to see Jenna guest-starring on the CBS, Charlie Sheen sitcom Two and a Half Men, and she was looking sexier than ever.
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