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Jenna Elfman
Jenna Elfman, October 2009
Born	Jennifer Mary Butala September 30, 1971 (1971-09-30) (age 38) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress/Producer
Years active	1990–present
Spouse(s)	Bodhi Elfman (m. 1995–present) «start: (1995)»"Marriage: Bodhi Elfman to Jenna Elfman" Location: (linkback:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenna_Elfman) 2 sons
Official website

Jenna Elfman (born September 30, 1971) is an American television and film actress. She is known for her role as Dharma on the ABC sitcom Dharma and Greg.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Television 2.2 Film 3 Personal life 3.1 Scientology-related activities 4 Philanthropy 5 Filmography 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Elfman was born Jennifer Mary Butala in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Sue (née Grace), a homemaker, and Richard Wayne Butala, a Hughes Aircraft executive.¹ Elfman attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts as a dance major and graduated in 1989. Her uncle is Tony Butala of The Lettermen. She studied with acting teacher Milton Katselas and Richard Lawson at the Beverly Hills Playhouse before beginning her television career.

Career

Elfman began as a professional dancer, making an appearance in UK electronic group Depeche Mode's promotional video for their 1990 song "Halo". She also toured as a dancer with the group ZZ Top. She made a switch to acting in the early 1990s, appearing in the 1993 music video "Black Lodge" by heavy metal band Anthrax. In 1995, she appeared in the Chris Isaak music video "Somebody's Crying".

Television

Elfman did extensive commercial work before landing her first series jobs, making guest appearances in the 1995–1996 season on the ABC series Roseanne, NYPD Blue, The Monroes, and Murder One, and the CBS sitcom Almost Perfect. A role as a drug counselor in the NBC made-for-TV movie Her Last Chance came in 1996 as well, before she landed a regular role as the boy-crazy Shannon, one of three young working class waitresses in the Molly Ringwald sitcom vehicle Townies. Although short-lived, Townies proved a big break for Elfman, who impressed ABC executives with her scene-stealing turn and signed her own sitcom deal before the last Townies episode aired.

This deal led to Elfman's starring role in the sitcom Dharma & Greg, which ran on ABC from 1997 to 2002. She won a Golden Globe Award for this role, and was nominated twice for an Emmy Award. In 1999, she co-hosted the Emmy Awards presentation with David Hyde Pierce.

In November 2005, CBS announced that the Elfman vehicle Courting Alex would be a midseason replacement, premiering in January 2006. It was announced in May that the show did not get picked up, and was thus cancelled. However, CBS immediately inked a new development deal with Elfman to create a comedy vehicle, as reported in The Hollywood Reporter on June 2, 2006.

Elfman's other television appearances include guest starring roles in two episodes of Two and a Half Men in 2004 and one episode of Brothers and Sisters in 2007. She made a guest appearance in the sixth episode of season four of My Name Is Earl as a cheer team leader.²

Elfman stars in the CBS comedy Accidentally on Purpose.³ The show began airing in the 2009-2010 season. ⁴

Film

In 1999, Elfman appeared alongside Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in EDtv directed by Ron Howard. She then played the role of Anna Riley in the 2000 comedy Keeping the Faith, which marked Edward Norton's directorial debut. In 2004, Elfman produced and starred in a feature film called Touched.

Elfman's other film credits include Krippendorf's Tribe, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and Town & Country.

She is in two yet to be released films, one with Tim Allen entitled The Six Wives of Henry Lefay⁵ and the other Love Hurts.⁶

Personal life

Elfman met her husband, actor Bodhi Elfman, at a Sprite commercial audition in February 1991. They married in 1995, making director Richard Elfman her father-in-law and noted composer Danny Elfman her uncle-in-law.

In January 2007, Elfman and her husband announced they were expecting their first child.⁷ On July 23, 2007, their son, Story Elias, was born in Los Angeles, weighing 7 pounds, 2 ounces.⁸ On September 16 2009, Elfman announced she is expecting her second child, and the pregnancy will help with her role in Accidentally on Purpose.⁹ On March 2, 2010, their son Easton Quinn Monroe was born.¹⁰

Elfman visited her high school alma mater in May 2006 to urge students to set career goals and encourage them to persist in their chosen professions.¹¹

Scientology-related activities

In 2005 she appeared at the Scientology-owned Citizens Commission on Human Rights' Psychiatry: An Industry of Death¹² museum grand opening and she and husband Bodhi are listed on the organization's website as members of the board of advisors from the arts, entertainment and media community.¹³

On May 24, 2006, she was the keynote speaker at the Human Rights Hero Award event in participation with the Scientology-affiliated groups Youth for Human Rights International and Artists for Human Rights (AFHR), an organization formed with the purpose of bringing artists together with the common cause of raising awareness of human rights around the world. The event took place in Washington, D.C. and was attended by members of Congress and the general public. Awards were presented to individuals who through their actions have brought about greater human rights.¹⁴

On March 27, 2008, she and Charlie Sheen co-hosted the Scientology-affiliated New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project Charity Event at Geisha House in Hollywood, California.¹⁵

Philanthropy

In February 2006, Elfman donated an hour of her time to be auctioned off to the highest bidder on eBay as part of the "Lunch With A Leader" fundraiser, the proceeds of which benefit the work of Communities In Schools.¹⁶ She participated in the auction in both 2007¹⁷ and 2008¹⁸ as well.

Elfman donated her lip print for a limited edition U.S. postage stamp created by Zazzle to celebrate Valentine's Day in both 2007¹⁹ and 2008.²⁰ Proceeds for the "Kiss Stamps" went to support the programs of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

As a criminal rehabilitation activist, Elfman has traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby for criminal reform. On April 5, 2007, she was presented with the Goodwill Ambassador Award for her work in human rights and criminal rehabilitation at the Women Ambassadors Foundation 12th Annual Conference.²¹ On April 9, 2008, she was a guest ²² at the signing of a new bill by U.S. President George W. Bush that aimed to reduce prisoner recidivism, entitled the Second Chance Act of 2007 (H.R. 1593).²³

In September 2008, Elfman joined the Charity Water month-long "September Campaign," asking for donations in lieu of birthday gifts in order to raise money to build freshwater wells in Ethiopia.²⁴

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1997	Grosse Pointe Blank	Tanya
1998	Dr. Dolittle	Owl	Voice
	Can't Hardly Wait	The Angel	Uncredited
	Krippendorf's Tribe	Prof. Veronica Micelli
1999	EDtv	Shari
	Venus	Venus
2000	The Tangerine Bear	Lorelei	Voice
	Cyberworld	Phig	Voice
	Keeping the Faith	Anna Riley
2001	Town & Country	Auburn
2003	Looney Tunes: Back in Action	Kate
2004	Clifford's Really Big Movie	Dorothy	Voice
2005	Touched	Angela Martin	Executive producer
	What's Hip, Doc?	Supermodel	Voice
2008	"Struck"	Pregnant date	Short film
2009	The Six Wives of Henry Lefay	Ophelia
	Love Hurts	Darlene
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Murder, She Wrote	Ballet Dancer in background	1 episode
1994	The George Carlin Show	Psychedelic girl	1 episode
1995	The Monroes	Lily	1 episode
	Roseanne	Garland	1 episode
1996	Murder One	Angela Scalese	1 episode
	Almost Perfect	Becky Toll	1 episode
1997	The Single Guy	Jordan	1 episode
1997-2002	Dharma & Greg	Dharma Finklestein Montgomery	119 episodes
2002	Obsessed	Ellena Roberts	Television movie
2004	Two and a Half Men	Frankie	2 episodes
2006	Courting Alex	Alex Rose	13 episodes Producer
2007	Brothers & Sisters	Lizzie Jones-Baker	1 episode
2008	My Name Is Earl	Kimmi Himmler	1 episode
2009	Accidentally on Purpose	Billie	15 episodes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jenna Elfman

• Jenna Elfman's official site
• Jenna Elfman at the Internet Movie Database
• Jenna Elfman at TV.com

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Persondata
NAME	Elfman, Jenna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Butala, Jennifer Mary
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Actress, producer
DATE OF BIRTH	September 30, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH