Dec. 8: Teri Hatcher "Desperate Housewives," "Lois & Clark," "Seinfeld" is 56 today.

Teri Lynn Hatcher, who was born in Palo Alto, California,  and grew up in Sunnyvale, California, is best known for her television roles as Susan Mayer on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and Lois Lane on the ABC sci-fi comedy-drama series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

In 2005 her Desperate Housewives work won her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and the Screen Actor's Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actress in a Comedy Series, as well as a nomination for the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, which she lost to fellow cast member and close friend, Felicity Huffman.

Though not known as a singer, she has sung on TV many times. For example, she has sung on her show, Desperate Housewives," and on 9 April 2008, Hatcher appeared on Idol Gives Back, singing Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats."

Teri Hatcher took ballet lessons at the San Juan School of Dance in Los Altos. Her big debut was as the lead flying monkey in the Wiz Of Oz. As an undergraduate at De Anza College in Cupertino, she studied mathematics and engineering.

Hatcher studied acting at the American Conservatory Theater. In 1984, she was as an NFL cheerleader with the San Francisco 49ers. From September 1985 to May 1986, she joined the cast of the TV series The Love Boat, playing the role of "Amy," one of the "Mermaid" showgirls.

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Hatcher beat out four other actresses for one of the lead role on ABC's Desperate Housewives, on which she stars as Susan Mayer, a role for which she won the Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Golden Globe Award in January 2005. In 2005 Hatcher won the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award in the same category. In July 2005 she was nominated for an Emmy award as Best Actress in a Comedy Series.

In May 2006, she released her first book, Burnt Toast: And Other Philosophies of Life.

From 1986 to 1989 she appeared in the recurring role of "Penny Parker" on the TV series MacGyver.

Hatcher landed a starring role of Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman from 1993 to 1997. Hatcher beat out Monica Bellucci for the role of Paris Carver in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. Hatcher was three months pregnant when filming started.

She was voted the world's sexiest woman by readers of popular men's magazine FHM in the same year. Hatcher also appeared in films such as Spy Kids, Dead in the Water, 2 Days in the Valley and The Cool Surface.

Hatcher made a guest appearance on a 1993 episode episode of Seinfeld, in which her character, Sidra, breaks up with Jerry because she believes that Jerry was trying to have Elaine surreptitiously determine whether Sidra had breast implants. ("They're real... and they're spectacular.") She also appeared in several additional episodes over the next few years.

Hatcher appeared in a series of Radio Shack television commercials alongside NFL player Howie Long. They remain close friends and together have bought farm land on the outskirts of Los Angeles, with the intent of eventually raising endangered species.

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