American actress Teri Polo shot into the mainstream in 2000 with her appearance in Meet the Parents. She went on to reprise her role in the two subsequent sequels that followed. 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 playing lesbian cop Stef Adams Foster, opposite Sheri Saum in the ABC Family drama series, The Fosters executive produced by Jennifer Lopez.
Teri Polo Biography
Teri was born as Theresa Elizabeth Polo on June 1, 1969, in Dover, Delaware to a homemaker mother, Jane Polo (nee Gentry), and a stereo systems designer father, Vincent Polo. She is of Italian (from her paternal grandfather), German, and English ancestry. Polo has two brothers named Mike and Steve Polo.
Raised at the place of her birth, Polo became illusive with dancing at the early age of 5 and began taking ballet classes. At the age of 13, she attended the New York School of American Ballet and at 15 she became a dancer for the Delaware Regional Ballet.
However, at the age of 16, Polo became “disillusioned with dance” and found another passion — acting and modeling. At 17, she won a modeling contest for a blue jeans advert in Seventeen magazine and immediately dropped out of Dover High School Dover, Delaware. Polo then relocated to New York to pursue an acting and modeling career. She signed to Petite Modeling Agency.
Teri made her professional acting debut in the 1988 TV show, TV 101 where she appeared in 13 episodes. She made her feature film debut in 1991 appearing in Mystery Date. Between 1994 and 1995, Polo landed the regular cast role of Michelle Schodowski Capra in the last season of Northern Exposure.
For the rest of the 1990s, Teri appeared in a lot of TV movies and feature films. However, she got the biggest break of her career in the new millennium when she appeared in Ben Stiller’s Meet The Parents.
The film was a box office success grossing $330 million, making it one of the most successful comedies of the year. She reprised her role in the sequels Meet the Fockers (2004) which grossed $517 million and Little Fockers (2010) which took in $310 million.
After her Meet The Parents break, Polo’s career seemed to have stalled as 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 landed the lead role in Fosters and was reportedly paid $25,000 per episode for the first season. In between her Fosters break, Polo takes up other gigs playing guest roles and starring in TV films.
Teri Polo Net Worth
Teri Polo has made a lot of money from her acting career, however, she hasn’t been so lucky with keeping her wealth afloat.
In 2009, she sold her 5-bedroom, 3,077-square-foot house in Manhattan Beach, California for a $550,000 loss. She had 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 hunting for her in 2011 after she was found to be owning $450,000 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 dwindled as she had to take some time off to raise her kids.
Her financial struggles continued through to 2014 when she filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy declaring less than $50,000 in assets with debts including $772,000 in back taxes and $36,000 on credit cards.
While no report has since surfaced on the status of her debts, we speculate that the Fosters star must have cleared them considering that The Fosters has been a huge success running for 5 seasons and counting. Those Foster’s paychecks plus other gigs should help her get back in the saddle.
Teri Polo Facts
Polo was a straight ‘A’ student at Holy Cross Elementary School.
In 2005 she posed nude for the February issue of Playboy magazine.
Speaking to Hollywood Life Magazine about her decision to pose nude, she said;
“It was one of the best experiences of my life. I’m very proud. We shouldn’t be ashamed of the human body. The human body is beautiful, and it’s a shame we put such a taboo on certain things. Why be ashamed? It’s such a beautiful thing.”
She was featured as #42 in Maxim Magazine’s “Hot 100 of 2002” supplement.
An animal lover, Teri once owned 3 dogs and 3 cats.
Death Hoax
Teri Polo is clearly NOT DEAD! In 2005 when E! News published a story with the headline “‘Meet the Parents’ Actress Dies” many began to speculate that the actress was Teri Polo, however, they clearly didn’t read the entire story. E! was referring to Nicole DeHuff, an actress who played Teri Polo’s sister in Meet the Parents. She died of pneumonia.
Teri Polo Husband/Married/Kids
Polo has been married twice. The first was in 1997 to a photographer, Anthony Moore. The couple stayed married for 8 years before divorcing in 2005. Their marriage produced a son Griffin who was born in 2002.
A year after her divorce, Polo 2006 met Jamie Wollam, a drummer for the bands Avion, Venice, and Drake Bell. They separated in 2012. They had a child together, a daughter named Bayley who was born on December 20, 2007. That brings the number of Polo’s kids to two – son Griffin and daughter Bayley.
Teri Polo Gay
The Fosters fans would agree that the on-screen chemistry between Polo and Saun is absolutely undeniable. To the delight of fans, Polo and Saun often flirt on social media posting cute pictures of themselves off-set.
“I have more chemistry with Sherri than I’ve ever had with any male counterpart,” Polo told USA Magazine. When asked why she said because Saun is a very real person.
“She’s such a magnificent actress and she is such a magnificent person,” Teri told Access Hollywood. “There is no attitude. You know women 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 to run into that in this business is impossible.”
As real as their romance may appear, the facts annul the possibility of any real thing going on between them. For one, Saun is married to a guy and has two kids with him. So it appears their off-set flirting is all in a bid to keep the show alive.
However, many fans believe that Polo could come out any of these days. Until then, Polo though enjoys her constant flirting with a woman is a straight woman… How does that even sound?
