Biography of Teri Hatcher
Teri Hatcher is an American actress, writer, and former NFL cheerleader. She broke through to mainstream audiences with her roles as Lois Lane in "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" and Susan Mayer in the hit series "Desperate Housewives," which earned her a Golden Globe, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and an Emmy nomination.
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Elle
Childhood and Family
Teri Lynn Hatcher was born December 8, 1964, in Palo Alto, California, the only child of Esther Beshur, a computer programmer, and Owen Walker Hatcher Jr., a nuclear physicist and engineer.The actress has mixed heritage. Her maternal grandfather gave her Syrian roots. She also has English and Irish ancestry, as well as Frisian—a people who lived in what's now Germany and the Netherlands.
Shortly after her birth, the family moved to nearby Los Altos, where the young girl was enrolled in ballet classes at the San Juan School of Dance. Besides dancing, she loved fishing with her father.
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In an April 2006 Vanity Fair interview, Hatcher admitted she'd considered keeping the story private. She feared that if it came out in the tabloids, people would see her as just another struggling actress looking for publicity. But as she told reporters: "Ultimately, I couldn't not put this girl first, no matter what damage it did to me."
At Fremont High School, Hatcher was captain of the cheerleading squad. At the senior prom, her classmates unanimously voted that she'd become a dancer on Solid Gold, a popular TV show of the era. But Teri had different plans.
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wikipedia.org
In 1984, she made the Gold Rush cheerleading squad for the San Francisco 49ers football team. That became the turning point in her life.
Acting Career
Early Roles
Teri's path into acting was pure chance. It all started when a friend asked her to come along to an audition for "The Love Boat" for moral support. Just for fun, Hatcher decided to try out too – and landed the role of Amy the mermaid.She worked on "The Love Boat" from September 1985 through May 1986. It wasn't exactly a huge part – mostly singing and dancing – but Teri did get some fun little lines in certain episodes, and one episode even gave her a romantic storyline with a guest actor.
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imdb.com
In 1991, she starred in the comedy series "Sunday Dinner" as a 30-year-old lawyer in a relationship with a widower twice her age. The show premiered that summer on CBS but was quickly canceled.
In late 1991, Hatcher appeared in Michael Bolton's music video for "Missing You Now," playing the girl he's in love with.
Lois Lane
Her breakthrough came when Hatcher was cast as Lois Lane in "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" (1993-1997). Teri was thrilled – she didn't want to get stuck playing just one type.Lois Lane, both tough and vulnerable, became a fan favorite. In 1995, when the show was at its peak, a photo of Hatcher wrapped in Superman's cape was the most downloaded image online for several months.
On this project, the actress also tried her hand at screenwriting, penning an episode titled "It's a Small World After All."
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imdb.com
Another notable Hatcher role from this period was the schemer in "Heaven's Prisoners," playing the wife of a mob boss portrayed by Eric Roberts.
Plus, Teri Hatcher played Paris Carver in the James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997).
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imdb.com
"Desperate Housewives"
After that, Hatcher's career stalled. She appeared in "Spy Kids" (2001), did a couple of TV movies, and starred in a series of Radio Shack commercials alongside former pro football player Howie Long.In 2003, she divorced her husband after nine years of marriage and was practically broke – and she had to support not just herself but her daughter too. The actress faced losing her home. She remembers sitting on her kitchen floor in despair, crying.
But it didn't take long before luck turned in Hatcher's favor. She landed a role in the pretty sarcastic soap opera "Desperate Housewives" (2004). At first, the whole thing seemed like a huge mistake she'd agreed to out of desperation. But the series became a mega-hit that instantly made Teri Hatcher famous.Teri Hatcher…I felt like I couldn't pay the mortgage for much longer – there was a lot of money that I had that I didn't have anymore. It really was rock bottom.
"Desperate Housewives" – a mix of drama, comedy, and even mystery – unfolded on the seemingly idyllic Wisteria Lane. The five main characters were neighbors, friends, and sometimes rivals. Each had her own thing going on. One was an anxious perfectionist, another was crushed by social pressure, a third was having an affair with a teenage gardener, and the fourth seemed to be there just to make everyone else's life harder.
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imdb.com
YouTube Channel
After "Desperate Housewives" wrapped in 2012, Hatcher's screen appearances became less frequent. In 2018, she launched a YouTube channel called Hatching Change. She explained the concept this way:Her channel had several segments. For example, Van Therapy. Teri traveled around Los Angeles in her vintage 1978 Volkswagen Bus trailer, looking for people willing to talk with her about everything under the sun: love, friendship, religion, and more.Teri HatcherAs a single mom whose kids recently flew the coop, at 53, I started asking myself important questions. What am I doing with my life? What's my purpose? What does my soul crave? And I realized that working on projects that I hope will help others and maybe leave the world a little better – and kinder – that's what matters to me.
In 2022, after 132 episodes, the channel stopped updating.
In 2024, Hatcher played Ruth Finley in the Lifetime movie "The Killer Inside: The Ruth Finley Story."
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tvinsider.com
Teri Hatcher's Personal Life
In 1988, Teri Hatcher married aspiring actor Marcus Leithold, but the couple divorced just a year later.The actress's second husband was actor Jon Tenney. He's now known for the series "The Closer," but back then he was just starting his television career. They got married in 1994. In November 1997, the couple welcomed their daughter Emerson Rose. Hatcher and Tenney divorced in 2003.
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@TeriHatcher
In October 2025, on an episode of her podcast "Desperately Devoted," the 60-year-old Hatcher opened up about the impact of aging, admitting that she's received fewer compliments about her appearance in recent years:
Teri's an experienced triathlete who's competed in numerous races and even completed a half-Ironman.Teri HatcherWhen I was younger, when I was 30, 40, I was on magazine covers. People told me I was beautiful all the time. That was part of my identity. Now no one tells me that.
In the mid-2000s, she wrote the book "Burnt Toast and Other Philosophies of Life," sharing life observations from the perspective of an ordinary forty-something woman dealing with bad dates, divorce, and career setbacks.
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@terihatcher
Teri's passionate about cooking—she trained at the famous Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, won the celebrity episode of the reality show "Chopped," and appeared on a charity episode of "The Great British Bake Off," with all proceeds going to cancer research.
Teri Hatcher Today
A major 2025 project for the actress was launching her podcast "Desperately Devoted," which premiered on September 9th. The first episode featured her real-life daughter Emerson and her on-screen daughter from "Desperate Housewives," Andrea Bowen.
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@terihatcher
As for upcoming projects featuring Hatcher, one of the most talked-about is the series "Wisteria Lane," which connects to "Desperate Housewives" and is being produced by Kerry Washington's Onyx Collective. Details are still under wraps, but fans can't wait to return to the world of their beloved show.