Jenna Elfman is the daughter of a Hughes aircraft executive and a homemaker. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California on September 30, 1971. She began taking dance lessons at the age of five and despite the fact that she was a natural born entertainer and lover of attention she had aspirations of becoming a nun.

Throughout school, Elfman was know as the class clown. She was also one of the tallest kids in her class who wore braces to correct an overbite that earned her the nickname "Bucky Beaver." After graduating high school she attended Cal-State Northridge but dropped out after just 1 ½ semesters.

She turned her attention to a career in entertainment. Bad ankles prohibited her from pursuing a career in ballet but she did perform other dance styles and in 1991 appeared as one of the dancers for the Academy Awards.

Elfman enrolled at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, where she studied under renowned drama coach Milton Katselas. Soon she was appearing in numerous commercials including work for AT&T, Sprite, Clearasil and Honda. She also kept her dance skills keen and in 1994 she went on a world tour with ZZ Top as a "Legs Girl."

With more training, work and an agent in her pocket, Elfman began to land roles on hit series like Rosanne, Murder One, and NYPD Blue. Her debut performance in a feature film was a small part in 1996's Grosse Pointe Blank with Minnie Driver and John Cusack.

She then landed a recurring role in the ABC sitcom Townies. Even though she held a supporting role she effortlessly stole many of the scenes from the show's main character who was played by Molly Ringwald. Townies lasted a mere six episodes but it gained Elfman recognition from both ABC and Twentieth Century Fox. She solved her dilemma by signing a deal to develop a sitcom with Fox and then pitched the idea to ABC. The idea was Dharma & Greg. Within months of Townies becoming a part of forgettable history Dharma & Greg was in it's advanced stages of production. The show hit the airwaves in 1997 and became a big hit and soon Elfmans picture and name were showing up everywhere.

Elfman has also been working at getting her big screen career rolling. In 1998 she starred with Richard Dryfuss in the comedy Krippendorf's Tribe. Then in 1999 she co-starred with Matthew McConaughey and Ellen DeGeneres in Ron Howard's EDtv.

Most recently Elfman co-stared as the childhood pal turned love interest of Ben Stiller and Edward Norton in the romantic comedy with a religious twist in Keeping the Faith. She also has worked in Warren Beatty's soon-to-be released Town & Country.

Jenna has been happily married to actor Bodhi Elfman (nephew of composer-rocker Danny Elfmanof Oingo Boingo) since 1995. The couple are avid Scientologists and plan to start a family when time allows. However, time may not be that easy to come by for Elfman with the buisy schedule her career has her woking.