Leah Lail became interested in acting when her father took her to see "A Chorus Line" on Broadway. Raised on a horse farm just outside Lexington, Kentucky, the younger of two sisters, Lail grew up as an animal lover and an avid reader. Her father is in road construction, while her mother raised horses. At age 18, Lail started college as a political science major and received a scholarship to work and study for the Social Democratic Party in Bonn, the former West German capital. Lail transferred to the University of Southern California where she graduated summa cum laude with degrees in German and theater, with a minor in political science. As she took more acting classes, including a stint at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York, she began to win roles on stage and television. One of her breakthrough roles was as Hank Kingsley's wife on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show".