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How Tony Danza Accidentally Helped Cast Leah Remini on ‘The King of Queens’

Before Leah Remini landed the role of Carrie on ‘King of Queens’, Tony Danza read her lines at the show’s first table read.

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Perfect casting doesn’t happen overnight, and The King of Queens is a great example of that. For instance, Jerry Stiller originally turned down the role of Arthur Spooner, and the showrunners hired early TV comedian Jack Carter to play the part instead. After filming the pilot with Carter, they learned they could get Stiller and had to make a difficult phone call to Carter to tell him the bad news. This, of course, required them to reshoot all of Carter’s scenes with Stiller in his place.

And although Kevin James and Leah Remini hit it off immediately when they met, finding someone to play Carrie was not easy. Megan........

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