(written from a Production point of view)
Leanza Cornett (10 June 1971 – 28 October 2020; age 49) was a reporter and correspondent for Entertainment Tonight and actress who appeared briefly in a walk-on-role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In 1994, Cornett worked as correspondent for the Paramount Television special Entertainment Tonight Salutes Star Trek. In this special, she was transformed into a Ferengi and had a walk-on-role in the second season episode "The Jem'Hadar".
Cornett became Miss Florida in 1992 and Miss America in 1993. She joined Entertainment Tonight in 1994 and worked as host and correspondent on several television specials and documentaries including John & Leeza from Hollywood (1993), A Magical Time in a Magical Place (1997), Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire? (2000), and the 2007 and 2008 Camie Awards. Cornett was married to fellow ET host and actor Mark Steines until 2013.
As an actress, she appeared in the television movie Treasure Island: The Adventure Begins (1994, with Anthony Zerbe, Shannon Cochran, and J.G. Hertzler), the drama The Lords of Los Angeles (1999), and in episodes of Saved by the Bell: The New Class (1996), Grown Ups (1999), The Tick (2002, with Liz Vassey, Robert Clendenin, and Dan Sachoff), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2006, with Wallace Langham, Jim Beaver, and Michael Bofshever), and Weeds (2007, with Andy Milder and James MacDonald). More recently she appeared in the musical Waiting in the Wings: Still Waiting (2017, with Lee Meriwether).
She died 28 October 2020 after being hospitalized for a head injury suffered in a fall. [1]
