Marla Heasley

Marla Heasley
File:TawniaBaker.jpg Marla Heasley portraying Tawnia Baker
Born	(1959-09-04) September 4, 1959 Hollywood, California, U.S.
Occupation	Film/TV actress
Years active	1979-1993

Marla Heasley (born September 4, 1959 in Hollywood, California) is an American film and TV actress.

The A-Team

Heasley is best known for her role as Tawnia Baker in the 1980s hit TV series The A-Team. She played a newspaper reporter working with the team.

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".

Her character from The A-Team, Tawnia Baker, was named after Tawnia Cannell, the daughter of the creator of the series, Stephen J. Cannell.

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 TV 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".

Movie roles

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

Early life

Heasley grew up in the entertainment industry. She attended Palm Springs High School and graduated in the late 1970s. Her father Jack Heasley and uncle Bob Heasley were identical twins and professional ice skaters, known as The Heasley Twins. They skated with Sonia Henie and Dorothy Lewis and skated in their own ice revue's as well. They appeared in many films, such as Dr. Seuss's The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953), Ice Capades (1941), Thin Ice (1937), A Chump at Oxford (1940) and many more. The Heasley Twins also appeared in many advertising campaigns, such as Chesterfield (cigarette). They then went on to become successful entertainment managers and represented actors such as, Shelley Winters, Betty Hutton, and Audie Murphy.