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Chyler Leigh The y young actress is best recognized for her role as "Janey" in the 2001 movie "Not Another Teen Movie." Chyler Leigh made the leap into feature films by cracking skulls in Kickboxing Academy (1997) before finally hitting the big-time as the "Pretty Ugly Girl" in the 2001 spoof Not Another Teen Movie. Born Chyler Leigh Potts in Charlotte, NC, in 1982, the future actress and her family relocated to Virginia Beach, VA, in 1984. After spending her early years at Trentwood Elementary and Great Neck Middle School, Leigh's parents divorced and Chyler and brother Christopher Khayman Lee relocated with their mother to Miami, FL, to begin a new life. It was in Miami that young Chyler decided to drop out of high school to pursue a career as an actress by training with acting coach Sharon Lane. It was under Lane Management that Leigh began landing frequent modeling and commercial work, appearing in television spots for Coca-Cola and Wendy's among others. Landing the job as co-host of the syndicated talk show Hall P (1996) proved the widest exposure to date for the burgeoning talent, and it wasn't long before Leigh would subsequently appear in such series as Kinetic City Cuper Crew and Safe Harbor. Following the imiment flop of "Safe Harbor", Chyler became more popular and landed two lead roles in the pilot episode series of "Saving Graces" and "Wilder Days". Living up to her past success both series were rejected and not picked up by a network and both series were over. Somewhere along the way after this she moved to Los Angeles and also switched management to The Gersh Agency. When not working, Leigh enjoys all kinds of water sports, including sailing, surfing, scuba diving and snorkeling. While working on "Safe Harbor", she divided her time between the set in Jacksonville, Fla., and her home in Miami. More fun stuff about Chyler Leigh Birth name: Chyler Leigh Potts Height 5' 6" (1.68 m) Spouse: Nathan West (20 July 2002 - present) Sister of actor Christopher Khayman Lee The "Stuff" magazine cover she did with Mia Kirshner was the first time that magazine ever featured multiple people on the cover. Though only 20 years old, she has already been a part of seven different TV series. Gave birth to a baby boy, Noah Wilde, in December 2003. Ranked #41 in Stuff magazine's "102 iest Women in the World" (2002) Leigh met her husband, actor Nathan West, on the set of Saving Graces. Her Quote: "My first job in Los Angeles, and instead of a TV show I got a husband."
Chyler Leigh is happy with 'Practice' Some might call it a curse. Chyler Leigh sees it as a blessing in disguise. Last year, the 21-year-old starred on two high-profile shows, both of which were canceled: That '80s Show was dropped after its first season, then Fox axed David E. Kelley's girls club after just two episodes. "This year has been a very emotional roller coaster," Leigh says. But her hard work earned her the respect of some top names, and as soon as one gig crumbled, another popped up. In fact, just three days after ending girls club, Leigh woke up to a call from Mr. Kelley himself, asking her to join The Practice. "He said, 'Don't answer now, but I wanted you to know I love your work,' " she recalls. "I hung up and just kind of laughed to myself. It was very flattering." Portraying a legal eagle on television is a world away from her adventurous upbringing. Leigh lived in Virginia until the age of 12, when she took off sailing around the Bahamas and the Gulf of Mexico for three years with her mother and stepfather. "I wanted to join Greenpeace and go save the whales. I had no idea I was going to be an actor." But on the heels of a successful modeling career launched when her family settled in Miami, Leigh moved to Los Angeles to do just that. Since then, she's appeared on 7th Heaven and in the failed WB pilot Saving Graces, as well as the film Not Another Teen Movie. Leigh is thrilled to be part of an established show. "The cancellation of girls club was a blessing in disguise, because now I'm on a show that has a precedent and already has an audience," she says. "I'm working with amazingly talented people, and it allows me to focus on the character." Still, Leigh did warn that any more bad news might signal the end of her Tinseltown days. "I told my manager that if this doesn't happen, I'm moving to Alaska." Chyler Leigh: Not Just Another Teen Star Chyler Leigh was, like, not even born when Duran Duran released Rio, but that's not going to stop this 19-year-old, who's starring in Not Another Teen Movie and the upcoming Fox series That '80s Show, from conquering the decade that spawned Pac-Man, Pop Rocks and Cindy Lauper. At last, Leigh may have found a series with sticking power. She'll play punk rocker Tuesday on the highly anticipated Fox midseason series That '80s Show. But first, she dons a pair of overalls to prove she's all that in Not Another Teen Movie, a flick that spoofs the past two decades of the teen-flick genre. Leigh won the lead role of Janey Briggs--the Pretty-Ugly Girl--who hides her movie-star looks behind paint-splattered clothing and thick eyegles but still gets the guy--a technique that works only in teen movies. Trust us. Which got us wondering... Where does she stand on the '80s versus '90s teen-movie debate? "Oh, I think the '80s were so much better. After She's All That, the teen movies that came out in the '90s were a matter of outdoing one other, like who has more gross stuff or who has more people. The movies that were more realistic were definitely Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club. I thought they were more dead-on to reality." How many teen movies did she have to watch to prepare? "Omigod, almost every one. Most of them I had seen anyway, but I had to watch She's All That, because my character is a spoof on Rachael Leigh Cook. I had to see it 15 times, and I just about hated it by that point." We hear she did her own stunts. "Yes, I did. I'm very proud of that. I got hurt most of the time, but I'm one of those really accident-prone people anyway, so it was no big thing. In the movie, I fall down the stairs about seven times, get nailed in the head by a football, get Tasered in the middle of a football field and dragged off, jump off the roof of a house into a pool and fall out of a car. There's a lot of physical comedy in the film, which made it really exciting." Who does she play? "I'm a punk rocker who gets hired at the record store--the one with the Mohawk and the nose ring that connects to the ear and jewelry and leather and bracelets up to my elbows. It's awesome; it's the first time I actually got a character that gets to be a bit darker." What would she rescue from the '80s? "I think Pat Benatar was absolutely brilliant: she's a rock star! I think she should be back with a vengeance. And the Easy Bake Oven--I mean, who didn't love that? You had to have one or you were robbed of your childhood. I tried to stick my Barbie in there once, but she didn't bake that well." Actually, Chyler, those Easy Bake Ovens date back to the '60s. Or, um, so we've heard. Interview with Chyler Leigh & Ron Lester from "Not Another Teen Movie" How much did you study 80s and 90s teen movies? What did you take from it? Ron: For me, I didn't have to study. I'm making fun of myself so I was good to go. At the same time, I felt like I had to study a lot of the 80s films. Some friends of mine got together, had a couple pints, and watched the movies. Chyler: Joel let it be known that he had a library of all the films that we were spoofing and if you wanted to take one of the movies home, or if you wanted to see a certain clip or a part of the film, he had it available for all of us to do that. There's at least 19 movies in this movie. A lot of the movie was based on '80s films [like] "Sixteen Candles," "Pretty in Pink," "Breakfast Club" and we definitely freshed up on them. It's not like we really had to study all of the movies, because it's really based on whatever your character was based on. Do you need to study the original sources to do a spoof? Did you study clic spoofs like "Airplane" and " Gun?" Ron: I have them. You name any stupid movie, and I have it. If it's on DVD or VHS, I own it, I've got it. I worship stupid movies. Did you watch "Scary Movie?" Ron: We spoof more movies in ours. We've got 19 films, they've got six. Did you have any inner conflicts spoofing yourself? What is coming up next? They're Out of 'Practice'
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