Feb 28, 1948

Ozone Park, New York, USA

Ms. Peters' mother, Marguerite, started her off in show business by putting her on the television show Juvenile Jury at the age of three-and-a-half. She later appeared on the television shows Name That Tune and The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour. She took tap lessons, and at the age of nine got her Equity Card, under the name of Bernadette Peters, to avoid ethnic stereotyping. The stage name was taken from her father's first name.

In her teen years she attended the Quintano School for Young... ... (read more...) Professionals. She appeared on the stage in The Most Happy Fella (1959), was an understudy for Dainty June in the touring company of Gypsy, and appeared Off-Broadway in The Penny Friend (1966) and Curley McDimple (1967) and as an understudy on Broadway in The Girl In The Freudian Slip (1967). She made her on-stage Broadway debut in Johnny No-Trump in 1967. She received the Theatre World Award for a Debut Performance for her work in the Broadway musical George M! in 1968. But it was her next role, as "Ruby" in the 1968 Off-Broadway spoof of 1930s musicals, Dames at Sea, that brought her critical notice. (She had appeared in an earlier 1966 version of Dames at Sea at the off-off-Broadway performance space, the Caffe Cino.)
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In films she is remembered mainly for the 1979 comedy classic The Jerk co-starring Steve Martin, whom she briefly dated. She won the Golden Globe Award as Best Motion Picture Actress - Comedy/Musical for her performance as Eileen in the 1981 film Pennies From Heaven , again co-starring with Steve Martin. She has continued to work in films, most recently appearing with three generations of the Kirk Douglas family in It Runs in the Family.

In April 1987 she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located in Hollywood, California.