Teri Lynn Hatcher was born on December 8, 1964 in Sunnyvale, California.

The daughter of a physicist and a computer programmer, she initially studied math and engineering at a San Francisco area community college before the acting bug bit. She later enrolled at the American Conservatory Theatre. At age 20, she was a cheerleader for the San Francisco 49ers.

Teri Hatcher jumped into acting after a brief stint as a cheerleader for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. After several small roles, she was cast in 1993 for the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

Teri managed to land small roles in several films--notably as Sylvester Stallone's sister in Tango & Cash and as a big- haired airhead in Soapdish, which showcased her comedic talents.

With a marriage to actor Jon Tenney (their daughter, Emerson Rose, was born in late 1997), and revealing roles in the features Heaven's Prisoners, 2 Days in the Valley, and the latest installment of the enduring James Bond franchise, Tomorrow Never Dies, Hatcher is on a winning streak.

Teri Hatcher also holds the distinction of being the woman whose photographs were most frequently downloaded from the Internet in the late '90s.

In 2004 she landed a role on another hit series, the jokey, soapy drama Desperate Housewives -- playing, as her show bio put it, "a single mom searching for love amid the sometimes sordid, always intriguing goings-on of her suburban neighborhood."