Leah Marie Remini (; born June 15, 1970) is an American actress. She starred as Carrie Heffernan on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens (1998–2007) and as Vanessa Celluci in the CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait (2017–2018), both alongside Kevin James.
After being a member of the Church of Scientology from childhood, Remini left the organization in 2013. Two years later, Remini released her book, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology; the memoir became number one on the New York Times Best Seller list. From 2016 to 2019, Remini coproduced and hosted the A&E documentary series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, for which she won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special. Since July 2020, Remini has been the cohost of the podcast Scientology: Fair Game, alongside Mike Rinder. She also cohosted the daytime talk show The Talk (2010–2011) and hosted the game show People Puzzler (2021–2023). Remini's films include the comedy Old School (2003), the mystery comedy Handsome (2017), and the romantic comedy Second Act (2018).
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Early life
Remini was born on June 15, 1970, in Brooklyn, New York City, to Vicki Marshall and George Remini, who owned an asbestos removal company. Her mother is of Austrian Jewish descent, while her father has Italian ancestry, rooted in Sicily. Remini was raised in Bensonhurst.
Remini was baptized into the Catholic Church as an infant and raised in the faith during her early childhood. When she was 8, her mother joined the Church of Scientology, and Remini was thereafter raised as a Scientologist. At 13, Remini and her sister were taken to join Scientology's Paramilitary organization called the Sea Organization, where they were forced to sign billion-year contracts and work for their room and board.
Remini's mother decided to take her children out of the Sea Org and return to civilian Scientology life within the same year. Remini moved to Los Angeles, with her mother and sisters, where she spent the remainder of her teenage years working to pay off their debt to Scientology for all of their auditing received. In addition, Remini and her family worked regular jobs to pay for continuing Scientology courses and services.
Career
Film and television
One of Remini's early television roles was on Who's the Boss? as Charlie Briscoe, which led to a spin-off series entitled Living Dolls, in which Remini starred with Halle Berry. The show premiered in late 1989 and ran for twelve episodes. In 1991, Remini had a supporting role as Tina Bovasso on ABC's sitcom The Man in the Family. She then had recurring roles on Saved by the Bell playing Stacey Carosi, and on Evening Shade as Taylor Newton's (Jay R. Ferguson) girlfriend, Daisy. Remini then appeared in two more short-lived series, First Time Out (1995) and Fired Up (1997–98).
In 1991 and 1993, she appeared on Cheers as Serafina, the daughter of Carla and Nick Tortelli (Rhea Perlman and Dan Hedaya). In 1994, Remini auditioned for the role of Monica Geller on Friends, but the role went to Courteney Cox. Remini later appeared in the 1995 Friends episode "The One with the Birth" in which she played a pregnant woman, Lydia, whose delivery is aided by Joey Tribbiani. In 1998, Remini landed the role of Carrie Heffernan on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens. The series was successful, and ran for nine seasons from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007. During her time on the show, she starred in Quaker State's television commercials in 2000 and 2001. During this time she also co-starred in the Lorenzo Doumani film Follow Your Heart, which was filmed in 1996 but not released until 1998.
Remini had a supporting role in the comedy film Old School (2003). She also starred in her own reality show, Inside Out: Leah Remini, which was a documentary that aired on VH1 about Remini's wedding. Following the success of the wedding special, VH1 documented the next phase of their lives with the birth of her daughter Sofia Bella. Remini has starred in nine-episode webisodes of In the Motherhood, along with Chelsea Handler and Jenny McCarthy, and made two guest appearances on Handler's talk show Chelsea Lately. On December 15, 2009, Remini appeared as Heffernan on Lopez Tonight with George Lopez in an episode reuniting the cast of the George Lopez sitcom. Remini and Holly Robinson Peete appeared on The Young and the Restless on July 28, 2011.
In October 2011, Remini signed a talent development deal at ABC and ABC Studios that required the network and the studio to develop a comedy project for Remini to star in and produce. Remini competed on season 17 of Dancing with the Stars, in which she was partnered with professional dancer Tony Dovolani. The couple made it to the tenth week of competition and reached fifth place. Remini later returned in season 19 as a guest co-host on week six. She returned as guest co-host on season 21 during weeks six and seven. In 2013, Remini joined the cast of the TV Land comedy The Exes, filling a recurring role starting in season 3. Remini created, produced and starred in a reality television series titled Leah Remini: It's All Relative. The show focuses on Remini's family life and it premiered on TLC on July 10, 2014.
Memoir
Remini released her memoir, entitled Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, on November 3, 2015. The book received favorable reviews, and became a bestseller shortly after its release, reaching the number one spot on The New York Times Best Seller list.
Personal life
Scientology
Remini was a member of the Church of Scientology from the age of 9. In July 2013, Remini left Scientology, owing to policies that forbid members from questioning the management of Church leader David Miscavige, whom she believed was corrupt; the reported abuse of members of its Sea Org religious order; its policy of "disconnection"; and its practice of branding those who have left the Church of their own accord as "suppressive persons" and the fair gaming tactics that Scientology has used for decades.
According to former high-ranking Sea Org member Mike Rinder, Remini's problems with Scientology began when she asked about the whereabouts of Miscavige's wife Shelly at the 2006 wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, and was told by then-spokesman Tommy Davis that she did not "have the fucking rank" to do so. Remini then filed a "knowledge report" in which she asserted that Miscavige, Cruise, and other senior Scientology members engaged in behavior that was inconsistent with Church rules. She was subsequently "subjected to years of 'interrogations' and 'thought modification'" that led to her being blackballed within Scientology. Fellow parishioners with whom Remini had been friends for decades wrote internal reports about her, resulting in a Church investigation into her family.
During a September 9, 2013, appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Remini discussed her departure from Scientology and the loss of friends who are still in the Church who, according to Remini, are not permitted to have contact with her. Following her departure from Scientology, she publicly expressed her appreciation for those who supported her departure. Remini's sister Nicole, who had earlier left Scientology, revealed that the rest of their family left the Church along with Remini to avoid being split up by the disconnection policy. Writer and director Paul Haggis, who had previously been the most famous person to publicly disavow Scientology, wrote an open letter, published by The Hollywood Reporter, thanking Remini for standing by him after he left Scientology and praised her "enormous amount of integrity and compassion".
In August 2013, it was disclosed that Remini had filed a missing person report with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) concerning Shelly Miscavige, the wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige, who has not been seen in public since 2007. After the report was filed, the LAPD looked into the matter, met and spoke with Shelly Miscavige before closing the investigation, and stated Remini's report was "unfounded". Scientology said in a statement that the whole affair was simply harassment and a publicity stunt for Remini.
Catholicism
In a 2015 interview with People, Remini talked about her embrace of Catholicism, the comfort she was finding in the religion's practices, and how this contrasted with her experience of Scientology.
Family
Remini met actor Angelo Pagán at a Cuban restaurant in 1996. Pagán has three sons from previous relationships. He and Remini were married in Las Vegas by a Scientologist minister on July 19, 2003. Their daughter Sofia was born on June 16, 2004. In September 2015, when Sofia was eleven years old, her parents celebrated her baptism into the Catholic Church. On August 29, 2024, Remini announced via Instagram that she and Pagán had decided to divorce. They finalized their divorce on October 11, 2024.
Education
Remini had left school with just an 8th-grade education, which she attributes to her involvement with Scientology. In May 2021, Remini was accepted into an associate degree program in liberal arts at New York University, saying:
For someone like me, a person who desperately wanted a higher education and options in my life, coming from a cult and a family who didn't value an education, this is a very big day for me. This didn't come easy. This is one of the last chunks of my life that I am taking back for myself from Scientology.
In 2023, after completing her second year at NYU, Remini expressed how "undertaking this educational journey has been one of the most difficult experiences of my life." She was awarded an Associate in Arts degree from NYU in January 2024 and she began working toward a bachelor's degree. In 2026, she announced on Instagram that she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology, with a concentration in psychology.
