The American actress Teri Polo shot into the mainstream in 2000 with her appearance in Meet the Parents. She resumed her role in the two following sequels. Teri is also known for her role in the political drama series The West Wing (2005-2006). In recent years, she is best known for the role of lesbian policewoman Stef Adams Foster opposite Sheri Saum in the ABC Family drama series The Fosters Executive, produced by Jennifer Lopez.
Read on to learn more about Teri Polo Bio, Facts, Death, Net Worth, Gay, Husband, Married, Kids, and Height.
Teri Polo Bio
Teri Polo was born Theresa Elizabeth Polo on June 1, 1969, in Dover, Delaware, the daughter of a housewife, Jane Polo (née Gentry), and a stereo system designer, Vincent Polo. She is of Italian (from her paternal grandfather), German and English descent. Polo has two brothers named Mike and Steve Polo.
Growing up in her birthplace, Polo became illusionary about dancing at the age of 5 and started taking ballet lessons. At the age of 13, she attended the New York School of American Ballet and at 15 she became a dancer with the Delaware Regional Ballet.
At the age of 16, however, Polo became “disillusioned with dance” and found another passion – acting and modeling. At 17 she won a modeling competition for a blue jeans ad in Seventeen magazine and left Dover High School in Dover, Delaware, immediately. Polo then moved to New York to pursue an acting and modeling career. She signed with the Petite Modeling Agency.
Teri Polo made her professional acting debut in 1988 on the television show TV 101, where she appeared in 13 episodes. She made her feature film debut in 1991 when she appeared in Mystery Date. Between 1994 and 1995 Polo was given the regular role of Michelle Schodowski Capra in the last season of Northern Exposure.
For the rest of the 1990s, Teri appeared in many television and feature films. However, the biggest breakthrough of her career in the new millennium came with her appearance in Ben Stiller’s “Meet The Parents”.
The film was a box office hit with gross receipts of $330 million, making it one of the most successful comedies of the year. She resumed her role in the sequels Meet the Fockers (2004), which raised $517 million, and Little Fockers (2010), which raised $310 million.
After the break from Meet The Parents, Polo’s career seemed to have stalled because the films she appeared in had little to average success. However, she gained recognition for her recurring roles in I’m With Her (2003 – 2004) and The West Wing (2005 – 2006).
In 2013 she was given the lead role in Fosters and was reportedly paid $25,000 per episode for the first season. Between her Fosters break, Polo takes on more appearances, playing guest roles and starring in TV movies.
Teri Polo Net Worth
Teri Polo has made a lot of money with her acting career but has not been so lucky to keep her wealth above water.
In 2009 Teri Polo sold her 5-bedroom 3077 square foot home in Manhattan Beach California for a loss of $550000. She bought the house in 2006 for $2.5 million but sold it three years later for $1.9 million.
As if that wasn’t bad enough the IRS came after her in 2011 after finding out that she had $450000 in back taxes.
Her manager Bob McGowan said her expensive divorce from Anthony Moore in 2005 was to blame. McGowan also said that her income shrank because she had to take some time off to raise her children.
Her financial struggles continued until 2014 when she filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and declared less than $50000 in assets with debts including $772000 in back taxes and $36000 in credit cards.
Although no report has surfaced since then on the status of her debt we speculate that the Fosters star must have paid it off considering The Fosters has been a huge success for 5 seasons and more. The Fosters’ paychecks and other gigs should help her get back in the saddle.
Facts
Polo was a straight-A student at Holy Cross Elementary.
In 2005 she posed nude for the February issue of Playboy magazine.
In an interview with Hollywood Life Magazine about her decision to pose nude, she said
“It was one of the best experiences of my life. I am very proud of it. We should not be ashamed of the human body. The human body is beautiful, and it’s a shame that we make certain things so taboo. Why should we be ashamed? It’s such a beautiful thing.”
In Maxim magazine’s “Hot 100 of 2002” supplement it was presented as number 42.
As an animal lover, Teri once owned 3 dogs and 3 cats.
Teri Polo Death Hoax
Teri Polo is NOT dead! As E! News published a story entitled “‘ The Actress of the Parents is dying” in 2005, many began to speculate that the actress was Teri Polo, but they did not read the whole story. E! referred to Nicole DeHuff, an actress who played Teri Polo’s sister in “Meet the Parents”. She died of pneumonia.
Husband/Married/Kids
Polo was married twice. The first was in 1997 with a photographer, Anthony Moore. The couple remained married for 8 years before divorcing in 2005. Their marriage produced a son Griffin, born in 2002.
One year after their divorce, in 2006 Polo met Jamie Wollam, a drummer in the bands Avion, Venice, and Drake Bell. They separated in 2012 and had a child together, a daughter named Bayley, born on 20 December 2007. This brings the number of children of Polo to two – son Griffin and daughter Bayley.
Teri Polo Gay
Fosters fans would agree that the chemistry between polo and sauna on screen is undeniable. To the delight of the fans, polo and saunas often flirt on social media by putting cute pictures of themselves in the background.
“With Sherri, the chemistry is better than ever with a male counterpart,” Polo told USA Magazine. When asked why she said because Saun is a very real person.
“She’s such a great actress and she’s such a great person,” Teri told Access Hollywood. “There’s no attitude. You know, actresses can get a little gnarly, and she has no attitude, she has no insecurities, I mean, she – we all do, but she’s just real. She’s just real, and in this business, it’s impossible to run into her.
As real as her romance may seem, the facts invalidate the possibility of anything happening between them. First, Saun is married to a man and has two children with him. So it seems that her staggering flirtation is only aimed at keeping the show alive.
However, many fans think that Polo could come out these days. Until then, Polo enjoys her constant flirting with a woman but is a straight woman… How does that sound anyway?
Teri Polo Height: 5 feet 7 inches (1.7 m)
Quick Facts
Full Name | Theresa Elizabeth Polo |
Nick Name | Teri |
Date of Birth | 1 June 1969 |
Age | 53 Years as of January 2023 |
Birth Place | Dover, Kent County, Delaware, United States |
Origin Residence | Los Angeles, California, United States |
Ethnicity | White |
Religion | Christianity |
Nationality | American |
Profession | Actress |
Education |
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Net Worth | 53 years as of January 2023 |
Marital Status | Divorced |
Debut |
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