Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and childrens book author. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings. She is one of the most critically acclaimed Broadway performers, having received nominations for seven Tony Awards, winning two , and nine Drama Desk Awards, winning three. Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards.
Peters was born Bernadette Lazzara to a Sicilian American family in Ozone Park, Queens, New York, the youngest of three children. Her siblings are casting director Donna DeSeta and Joseph Lazzara. Her father, Peter, drove a bread delivery truck, and her mother, Marguerite , started her in show business by putting her on the television show Juvenile Jury at the age of three and a half. She appeared on the television shows Name That Tune and several times on The Horn and Hardart Childrens Hour at age five.
Source: Wikipedia