Marla Heasley

Marla Heasley
Born (1959-09-04) September 4, 1959 (age 65)
Hollywood, California, United States
OccupationActress
Years active1979–1993

Marla Heasley (born September 4, 1959)[1] is an American film and television actress best known for her role as Tawnia Baker in the 1980s hit TV series: The A-Team.

The A-Team

Heasley was cast for the role of Tawnia Baker; a newspaper reporter working with the team.[2][3][4][5][6] Introduced in season 2 episode 15 "The Battle of Bel-Air", the character was brought in as a replacement for Melinda Culea (Amy Allen), who was abruptly dropped from the series after insisting on being given more to do.

In order to be written out of the series the character was married off in the season 3 two-part episode 2/3 "The Bend in the River". The name of Heasley's character was stipulated by series creator: Stephen J. Cannell where he combined his daughter's first name (Tawnia) with his mother's maiden name (Baker).[7] Some time prior to being cast as Tawnia Baker, Heasley made a guest appearance as a bikini clad co-ed called Cherise in a short-term relationship with Templeton "Faceman" Peck in season 2 episode 4 "Bad Time On The Border".

Other roles

Prior to The A-Team, Heasley appeared in the very first four episodes of Star Search in the Spokesmodel category. Heasley has made guest appearances on many other TV shows such as, T. J. Hooker, The Love Boat, Riptide, Mike Hammer, The Highwayman, and many more. She played an unnamed Air Force Lieutenant in the Galactica 1980 episode "Spaceball".

Heasley's feature film roles were The Marrying Man in 1991, and Born to Race in 1987 and Amore! in 1993.

References

  1. ^ Skin (December 9, 2004). Mr. Skin's Skincyclopedia: The A-to-Z Guide to Finding Your Favorite Actresses Naked (1st ed.). United States: St. Martin's Press. p. 242. ISBN 9780312331443.
  2. ^ S, Ian; well (February 20, 2018). "7 DARK behind-the-scenes tales from your fave TV shows". Digital Spy. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  3. ^ Foster, Tom (March 12, 2020). "Whatever Happened to Marla Heasley?". TVOvermind. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  4. ^ "Violencia idealizada, peleas internas y cuatro ídolos para los chicos de los 80". www.lanacion.com.ar (in Spanish). October 24, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  5. ^ Clarín.com (February 21, 2020). "Brigada A: la tensa relación entre Aníbal y Mario Baracus, y otras curiosidades de la serie furor de los '80". www.clarin.com (in Spanish). Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  6. ^ "18 Things You Might Not Know About The A-Team". www.mentalfloss.com. January 23, 2018. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  7. ^ "A-Team creator Stephen J. Cannell combined the names of his mother and daughter to get Tawnia Baker". Me-TV Network. Retrieved February 22, 2023.