We first fell in love with Jane Leeves when she played warm-hearted physical therapist Daphne Moon on the top-rated TV show Frasier for nearly a decade.

Now we can fall in love all over again as the talented television, film and theater actress returns to the small screen. Leeves stars with an A-list cast of women in TV Land’s first original sitcom, Hot in Cleveland. In this clever new comedy, which quickly set the cable TV ratings on fire, Leeves plays Joy Scroggs, who plucks eyebrows for Hollywood celebrities, who has a dismal personal life.

The show revolves around three fabulous L.A. women of a certain age (Jane Leeves, Valerie Bertinelli and Wendie Malick), best friends whose lives are changed forever when their Paris-bound flight makes an emergency landing in Cleveland.

Once safely on the ground they rediscover themselves in this new “promised land.” Rounding out this top-notch cast is veteran screen and TV star Betty White as the feisty caretaker of a house that one of the women decides to rent.

The show is produced by Will and Grace star Sean Hayes, and Frasier writer Suzanne Martin. The summer series airs on TV Land on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. through August.

Leeves’ other TV credits include Marla Penny, a recurring guest star on Seinfeld; Audrey, the girlfriend of Miles Silverberg on the hit series Murphy Brown; and a guest-starring role as Lynette and Tom Scavo’s therapist on Desperate Housewives. She has also appeared in The Starter Wife, Twenty Good Years and Misconceptions. She graced the theater world by starring as Sally Bowles in the Roundabout’s Cabaret on Broadway.

This talented actress has also lent her voice to various animated TV series, including The Penguins of Madagascar, Phineas and Ferb and The Simpsons as well as the movies James and the Giant Peach. Music of the Heart, and the remake of Miracle on 34th Street.

Off-screen, Leeves and her husband of 13 years, producer Marshall Coben, have two children, Isabella, 9, and Finn, 6. Her Frasier days may be over but one strong tie remains: co-star Peri Gilpin (Frasier’s producer Roz), Gilpin's husband and their six-year-old twin daughters live next door to them at the beach near Malibu, California, and the two families see one another every day for meals and other activities. During a recent, exclusive chat with the talented actress, she spoke about her new show and family values.

DCM: Jane, why this role? Why did you pick this show Hot in Cleveland?

JANE LEEVES: The writing. I loved the script, and I loved the characters and when they told me who else they were thinking about for the other roles, I said, ‘Oh, my gosh, I love everybody -- sign me up.’ I’ve known Valerie Bertinelli for years, her son is a few years older than mine. Wendy Malick and I have worked together on Frasier, and Betty White and I met through a mutual friend once and I’ve loved and adored them all. I have been dying to work with them.

DCM: Your character, Joy, is pretty saucy, do you like that about her and how do you relate to her?

Jane Leeves: I do relate to her. When we first started talking about it the writer and producers thought that I would be more attracted to the Melanie role because that’s the type of character I played on Frasier. The sort of sweet, bright, and happy person. But there was something about Joy that I understood, she was complicated and damaged and cynical and I thought that would be an interesting journey to go on and something completely different from Frasier. But I do relate to her, in some ways. [she laughed].

DCM: When playing this role did you have to think back to when you were single, dating and going through some of these trials and tribulations?

Jane Leeves: I was never really like that. I guess it some ways I can relate to her because when I was single I was career, career, and more career. And now career comes completely second in my life. Having a family has helped me stay balanced. She doesn’t have that, doesn’t have that stability in her life – but she has had a string of bad relationships. There’s a secret she’s been carrying for a long time. This gives us a clue as to why she is so weary of men.

DCM: I take it you are not filming your show in Cleveland?

Jane Leeves: No, we are not. We are shooting at the CBS Studio in L.A. But the show is a love letter to Cleveland.

DCM: Do you have specific hopes for Joy and the other characters?

Jane Leeves: I think it’s a journey of discovery for all of them. They are from L.A., which has such a youth-obsessed culture. This show says there is life after a certain age and people can have more home spun values. They are all sort of nutty, self absorbed, and have some picky character traits and hopefully you will see some growth in them and they will become less products of Hollywood, less self absorbed and more reasonable, grounded people.

DCM: You are turning 50 next April, which can be a big deal of a lot of people. Does it make you happy, nervous, excited?

Jane Leeves: That’s been the most liberating thing about doing this show. Working with these wonderful women. Valerie just turned 50, Wendy is heading up there and Betty White is 88 and a half. What am I going to do, lie about it? I’m perfectly happy to own my age now and this is what the show is doing for me. and hopefully what it will do for other women as well. You can still be fabulous and life is definitely not over. I am not freaked out about it at all.

DCM: Betty White has had quite a comeback since the movie The Proposal, Saturday Night Live, recent awards ceremonies and now Hot in Cleveland. So you definitely have great role models on this show.

Jane Leeves: Yes I do. Just yesterday, my socks were actually blown off by Betty White. We were handed two pages of dialogue and within 20 minutes she had it memorized – I couldn’t do that. Because I think that half of my brain is always at home. But, I want to be that. That’s a great thing to say that this is woman is still fabulous, beautiful and vibrant at 88 and a half. And doing what she loves.

DCM: Do you have any movies coming up?

Jane Leeves: This show is quite enough for me right now. I wish I could do theater, my first acting love. But this is as close to theater as you get because you do have the audience. That’s another reason I love it. I love the feedback from the audience.

DCM: Do you see and talk to your Frasier pals – David Hyde Pierce (Niles), Kelsey Grammer (Frasier Crane), John Mahoney (Martin Crane) and Peri Gilpin (Frasier’s radio show producer Roz), very often?

Jane Leeves: Yes, I do. In fact, I see Peri every single day of my life now.

DCM: Wow, tell me all about it.

Jane Leeves: She lives next door to me. She is working on a show right now and so am I. So our families have dinner together every night. One family cooks and then the other family cooks so it’s a bit like living in a commune. She has two children, six-year-old twin daughters; one of her girls is in the same class as my son. So we do the cooking and the carpooling, if she’s working, I’ll text her and say ‘don’t worry, I’ve got dinner tonight, Peri.’ We text each other constantly – ‘am I cooking or are you. What do you have?’ It’s absolutely blissful. It really is; we’re like a blended family.

DCM: And do you see the others from Frasier?

Jane Leeves: I talk to David all the time. He’s in London right now doing a play. And I’m going to see him in it in August. Kelsey is on Broadway in La Cage aux Folles, and we’re going to New York next week and I’m going to see him next week. I talk to John all the time; all of them are still a huge part of my life. Definitely.

DCM: How many years was Frasier a hit show?

Jane Leeves: Eleven years. That’s a long time. And we are also godmothers and godfathers to one another’s children. We have a huge connection.

DCM: Any thought of a Frasier movie or reunion to get the cast back together?

Jane Leeves: No, no mention of it.

DCM: Would you do it?

Jane Leeves: I don’t think anybody would think it was a great idea. It’s hard to revisit something that was so great. You just want to keep that memory of how great it was. We’ve all moved on in our careers. You like to think of Daphne and Niles having a wonderful life together in Seattle, maybe with two or three kids now, and leave it there.

DCM: Do you watch Frasier reruns?

Jane Leeves: Occasionally.

DCM: What’s that like?

Jane Leeves: You try to remember that time in your life. You try to remember that time in your life. You wonder was it before or after I met my husband? You get a little teary sometimes remembering how great it was.

DCM: You are going to England in August; will you bring your children?

Jane Leeves: Oh, yes. We go for at least a month every year, and see my family. We stay at the family farm. All the sisters and brothers and cousins and all relatives come together. It’s really wonderful. My parents live on a farm. They are not farmers, but they live in the country.

DCM: What do you miss when you are away from the UK for along time?

Jane Leeves: I really miss the peace and the beauty of the countryside. I completely relax when I am there and it’s the only time I get to read I read about 10 books. I don’t read the rest of the year, because if I get so engrossed in a book I won’t want to pick up my script and look at it until I’m finished with it. I’ve got a stack of books sitting on my bookshelf sort of taunting me waiting for me to get on that plane.

DCM: Do you think your children will follow in your footsteps when it comes to acting? Would you want that?

Jane Leeves: Oh, gosh. They show absolutely no interest in it. When they were babies they were on the set of Frasier with me the whole time, but they were babies. They don’t show much interest in what I do. I’ll say, 'would you like to see mommy’s show?'And they will be like, ‘no, we’d rather watch Mary Poppins, or something else. It’s not really a part of their life, really. Maybe that will change. I’m not encouraging it. I’m not discouraging it.

DCM: You told me many years ago when you were still on Frasier that you wanted to be a mom like your own mom, who instills strong confidence and imparts certain values to your children. Will you talk about how that’s panned out?

Jane Leeves: I find myself saying things to my children that my mother used to say to me. I’m lucky enough to have a really wonderful husband and he calms me down and I calm him down and both of our influences helps. The most important aim for me in regards to my kids is to help them become good kind, thoughtful and nice people for the planet. And I must say that I have succeeded so far -- they are really sweet and caring kids.

DCM: When you have a day off from work or some down time how do you hang out with your two children?

Jane Leeves: Well, we do lots of different things together. My daughter loves to horse-back ride, so I’m often at the stables with her, cleaning up the horses because she won’t let me do anything else with the horses except for that. And she loves to cook and so does my son. We live at the beach and we spend a lot of time on the beach and my son loves to find things – shells and fossils and all sorts of things like that, and he’s really quite good at it.

DCM: Do you have any keys or secrets to a happy marriage? You’ve been married quite along time now.

Jane Leeves: I’ve been married 13 years. I married my best friend, who I happen to find incredibly hot [she laughed]. We were talking about that last night. We’re different when it comes to interests. My husband is an avid surfer, he loves the ocean and I still wear floaties in the pool.

DCM: So how does it work so well?

Jane Leeves: Our basic philosophies of life and child rearing are the same. I think when you marry someone with the same kind of family values as you have, – we agree on so many things, that’s what makes it easy. It’s truly been the easiest part of my life. The support we give each other and the respect, the absolute respect – I love him more now than I did then.

DCM: Can you share any beauty, fitness, health, or diet tips?

Jane Leeves: I eat a very healthy diet. I stray every once in a while. I’m lucky enough not to have a sweet tooth, that’s my saving grace. I love potato chips more than I love chocolate. I’m a savory girl.

DCM: Are you still making Shepherd’s pie and roast beef and Yorkshire pudding that you learned from your mom?

Jane Leeves: Yes. But, not so much in the summer, I make a lot of catfish in the summer

DCM: Looking back over the last 10 years you sound very happy and grateful for your life, but are you surprised at how things turned out career and family wise?

Jane Leeves: No. I had that dream in my head and some how I knew that dream would become a reality. And I truly believe that’s the only way you can succeed in life if you believe that what you want will happen. I think you have to have absolute faith; otherwise you do set yourself up for failure. I never had a fall back position. I never said if this doesn’t work out I will do this. I had absolute faith that this would work out.

DCM: Do you have any advice for aspiring actresses?

Jane Leeves: Keep a positive attitude. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it. They’re only saying that because they can’t. Be single-minded in your approach to this. If you’re serious about it, you will do it.

DCM: Are there any life lessons you want to share that you’ve learned a long the way when it comes to career and family?

Jane Leeves: The greatest lesson for me is finding a balance. It’s about making your home life the most important thing, which it is to me, everything else is just frosting. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, you take it in stride. I have everything I could want – I have a healthy, happy and satisfying family life – I have everything. It keeps me grounded, too.