Leisha Hailey
| Leisha Hailey | |
|---|---|
 Leisha Hailey |
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| Born | July 11, 1971 Okinawa, Japan |
| Occupation | Actress, musician |
| Years active | 1991–present |
Leisha Hailey (born July 11, 1971) is an American actress and musician most widely known for playing Alice Pieszecki in the Showtime Networks production The L Word. Hailey first came to the public's attention as a musician in the pop duo The Murmurs and has continued a music career as part of the band Uh Huh Her.
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[edit] Early life
Born in Okinawa, Japan to American parents, Hailey grew up in Bellevue, Nebraska and attended Bellevue West High School.[citation needed] At 17, she came out as a lesbian before moving to New York City to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.[1]
[edit] Career
[edit] Music
With her Academy classmate Heather Grody, she formed the pop duo The Murmurs in 1991. In the 1990s, they released several albums and toured on the Lilith Fair.[citation needed] In 2001, Hailey and Grody changed their name to Gush. The band split when Hailey began working for The L Word. In 2005, Hailey founded Marfa Records.[2]
In July 2007, Uh Huh Her, an electropop duo consisting of Hailey and Camila Grey, released an EP entitled I See Red; over a year later they released their first album Common Reaction.
Hailey also co-wrote the Shakira hit song "Don't Bother" for her 2007 hit album Oral Fixation Vol. 2.
[edit] Acting
Hailey's first major role was in the 1997 movie All Over Me, and around this time, she played a struggling musician on an episode of Boy Meets World.[citation needed] Since 2003, she has starred as Alice Pieszecki, a bisexual journalist, on The L Word.
In September 2008, Showtime announced Hailey would star in a "pilot presentation spinoff" The Farm[3] of The L Word, to be written and produced by Ilene Chaiken, creator and executive producer of The L Word.[4] It was announced in April 2009 that the show would not be picked up by Showtime.[citation needed] Hailey's award winning indie film La Cucina premiered on Showtime in December 2009, where she plays a straight pregnant newlywed.
Hailey has appeared in several Yoplait yogurt commercials[5] as well as a BMW commercial[6]. In April 2008, Hailey was named spokesperson for Olivia Cruises, a travel company which sells cruises and resort vacations marketed towards lesbian customers.[7] She also stars in the psychological thriller Fertile Ground.[8]
[edit] Acclaim
In 2007, Hailey was named the sexiest woman in the AfterEllen Hot 100 list compiled by AfterEllen.com.[9]
[edit] Personal life
Openly a lesbian, Hailey dated k.d. lang for nearly five years, in a relationship that ended in 2001.[1] In 2006 she began dating fashion designer Nina Garduno;[10] in 2011, news of her relationship with Uh Huh Her bandmate Camila Grey became public after the two were ejected from a Southwest Airlines flight for arguing with a flight attendant who asked them to stop kissing.[11] Leisha actively tweeted her displeasure regarding the injustice surrounding this incident and Southwest Airlines offered a standard apology that did not address the issue of discrimination based on sexual orientation.[citation needed]
[edit] Filmography
| Film | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes | |
| 1996 | All Over Me | Lucy | ||
| 1998 | Some Girl | The Murmurs | ||
| 1999 | Sleeping Beauties | Sno Blo Band | ||
| 2002 | The Snowflake Crusade | Marigold | ||
| 2007 | La Cucina | Shelly | ||
| 2009 | Make Up | Shelley Cabot | ||
| 2010 | "Fertile Ground" | Emily Weaver | ||
| Television | ||||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
| 1996 | Boy Meets World | Corinna | 1 episode | |
| 1997 | Ellen | Woman in Gay Bar | 1 episode | |
| 2004–2009 | The L Word | Alice Pieszecki | 70 episodes | |
| 2006 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Allison Bradford | 1 episode | |
| Grey's Anatomy | Claire Solomon | 1 episode | ||
| 2007–2010 | American Dad! | Lily (Voice) | 3 episodes | |
| 2009 | Maneater | Harriet | 1 episode | |
| 2010 | "Drop Dead Diva" | Hope Prentiss | 1 Episode | |
| 2010 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Dana Carlston | 1 episode | |
[edit] References
- ^ a b L is for Leisha, a February 2004 interview by Dennis Hensley for The Advocate magazine, via Hensley's website
- ^ News from the Marfa Records website
- ^ "The Farm" at IMDb
- ^ Leisha Hailey Cast in The L Wordpilot spinoff for Showtime from the Showtime website
- ^ "Leisha Hailey Yoplait Commercial" at YouTube
- ^ "Leisha Hailey BMW TV commercial" at YouTube
- ^ Leisha Hailey Is the New Face of Olivia from Business Wire
- ^ Two More After Dark Originals International Posters: Seconds Apart & Fertile Ground
- ^ The AfterEllen Aesthetic: Making our own list of hotties from AfterEllen.com
- ^ Nordyke, Kimberly (September 26, 2011). "'L Word' Actress Leisha Hailey Tweets She Was Kicked Off Southwest Airlines Flight After Kissing Girlfriend". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/l-word-leisha-hailey-southwest-airlines-240227.
- ^ D'Zurilla, Christie (September 26, 2011). "Gay Actress & Girlfriend Escorted Off Plane". The Daily Beast. http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/09/26/leisha-hailey-nina-garduno-kicked-off-southwest-for-kissing-report.html.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Leisha Hailey |
