Rhea Jo Perlman (born March 31, 1948) is an American actress. She played head-waitress
Carla Tortelli
Carla Maria Victoria Angelina Teresa Apollonia Lozupone Tortelli LeBec, commonly known as Carla Tortelli, is a fictional character in the American television show '' Cheers'', portrayed by Rhea Perlman. Outwardly, at least, Carla is a mean-spiri ...
in the sitcom ''
Cheers
''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...
'' (1982–1993).
Over the course of 11 seasons, Perlman was nominated for ten
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
s for Outstanding Supporting Actress – winning four times – and was nominated for a record seven
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
s for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series. She has also appeared in films, including ''
Canadian Bacon'' (1995),
''Matilda'' (1996),
''The Sessions'' (2012), and
''Poms'' (2019).
Early life and family
Perlman was born on March 31, 1948, in
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...
,
Brooklyn, to
Philip Perlman
Philip B. Perlman (March 5, 1890, Baltimore – July 31, 1960) was a Baltimore native, the son of Benjamin and Rose Nathan Perlman. Graduating from Baltimore City College secondary school in 1908, Perlman worked as a reporter for the ''Balt ...
, a Polish immigrant who was a manager at a doll parts factory and Adele, a bookkeeper.
She grew up in
Bensonhurst in a Jewish family with additional roots in Russia.
She has a sister,
Heide, who is a television writer, story editor, and producer who worked on ''
Cheers
''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...
'', ''
Frasier'' and ''
The Tracey Ullman Show''.
In the mid-1980s, her parents moved to Los Angeles, and her father became an extra on ''Cheers''. His character became known by his real name, Phil, and he managed to get a few lines over the years as he appeared in more than 30 episodes. He created a second career as a
character actor
A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to b ...
, appearing in several films and television shows, including ''
Throw Momma from the Train'', ''
Hoffa'', and ''
Frasier''.
She studied drama at
Hunter College
Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...
in New York, earning a
Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968.
Career
Perlman began her acting career with a small role as an attendant in the
off-off-Broadway play ''Dracula Sabbat'', which ran from September 1970 to June 1971.
In 1972, she played a bit role in the film ''
Hot Dogs for Gauguin''. That same year she appeared in
Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective's production of ''Up – An Uppity Revue'', along with her future husband,
Danny DeVito.
One of her first notable parts was a recurring role on the television show ''
Taxi'' as Zena, the sweet girlfriend of
Louie De Palma (played by DeVito).
Following that, she had a role in a small play portraying a much tougher character.
Producers
Glen and Les Charles saw her in that play, which led to her landing the role as wisecracking barmaid
Carla Tortelli
Carla Maria Victoria Angelina Teresa Apollonia Lozupone Tortelli LeBec, commonly known as Carla Tortelli, is a fictional character in the American television show '' Cheers'', portrayed by Rhea Perlman. Outwardly, at least, Carla is a mean-spiri ...
on their sitcom ''
Cheers
''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...
'' in 1982. The series struggled with ratings in its first season, but by the time it ended in 1993, it was one of the most popular and successful shows of all time, winning 20 Emmy awards out of 95 nominations.
Perlman won the
Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy four times: in 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1989. Over her 11 seasons on ''Cheers'', she was nominated for an Emmy every year but 1992, becoming the ''Cheers'' star to have the most wins and nominations. She was also nominated for a
Golden Globe
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
for
Best Supporting Actress six times, more than anyone else in that category. In 2011, CBS named Carla Tortelli as one of the greatest TV characters of all time.
In 1986, Perlman starred in an episode of
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
's ''
Amazing Stories'' titled "The Wedding Ring," which also starred DeVito as her character's husband.
In the 1990s, Perlman starred in several TV movies and motion pictures. In 1992, she starred in the made-for-TV-movie, ''
To Grandmother's House We Go'' opposite
Ashley Olsen and
Mary-Kate Olsen, playing the wife of
Jerry Van Dyke's character; the couple kidnapped the Olsen Twins' characters, hoping to cash in on ransom before Christmas. Other TV films in which she starred included the dramas ''
A Place to Be Loved
''A Place to Be Loved'' is a 1993 American television film with Richard Crenna and Rhea Perlman. It was released in the United Kingdom under the title ''Shattered Family''.
Plot summary
Gregory Kingsley is a boy who is abused by his father and p ...
'' and ''In Spite of Love.''
Perlman's motion picture roles included ''
There Goes The Neighborhood'' (1992), ''
Canadian Bacon'' (1995), ''
Carpool'' (1996), ''
Sunset Park'' (1996), and ''
Matilda'' (1996). She had a cameo in the film ''
10 Items Or Less'' (2006), and also starred in the 2007 independent film ''
Love Comes Lately.''
In 1994, Perlman voiced 9-Eye in
The Timekeeper
''The Timekeeper'' (also known as ''From Time to Time'' and ''Un Voyage à Travers le Temps'') was a 1992 Circle-Vision 360° film that was presented at three Disney parks around the world. It was the first Circle-Vision show that was arranged ...
, a
Circle-Vision show at the
Magic Kingdom in
Tomorrowland. She later starred in the 1996 sitcom ''
Pearl'' as the title character and was featured on the 2001 TV drama ''
Kate Brasher.'' Among her notable guest appearances was on the fourth-season premiere of ''
Becker'', which starred ''Cheers'' co-star
Ted Danson.
Perlman also appeared in a 2000 television film ''
How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale,'' in which she impersonated
Jacqueline Kennedy
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A po ...
. She also portrayed a therapist called Dr. Parella in the 2000 film ''
Secret Cutting,'' which follows the story of a young girl named Dawn who
self-injures. In 2007, Perlman appeared as Bertha in the West End of London in the comedy ''
Boeing Boeing.'' In 2008, she starred in the
Hallmark Channel original movie, ''The Christmas Choir,'' and appeared in ''
Beethoven's Big Break'' in 2008 as
Patricia Benji. In 2009, she appeared as Tanya's mother on the series ''
Hung'' for
Home Box Office Networks. In 2011, Perlman had a guest appearance as Mittens in one episode of ''
Wilfred Wilfred may refer to:
* Wilfred (given name), a given name and list of people (and fictional characters) with the name
* Wilfred, Indiana, an unincorporated community in the United States
* ''Wilfred'' (Australian TV series), a comedy series
* ' ...
.''
In 2009, Perlman and her daughter
Lucy DeVito starred in the
off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
play ''
Love, Loss, and What I Wore'', adapted by
Nora and
Delia Ephron, at the
Westside Theatre.
From 2014 to 2017, she starred in a recurring role on ''
The Mindy Project'' as Danny's mother, Annette Castellano.
Writing
Perlman is the author of the illustrated children's book series ''
Otto Undercover
The Otto Undercover books are a miniseries of books written by actress Rhea Perlman and illustrated by Dan Santat. They are written in an informal manner and contain illustrations on most pages. The fifth book, ''The Brink of the Ex-Stink-Tion' ...
,'' whose six books to date (as of the middle of May 2012) are ''Born to Drive,'' ''Canyon Catastrophe,'' ''Water Balloon Doom,'' ''Toxic Taffy Takeover,'' ''The Brink of Ex-stink-tion,'' and ''Brain Freeze.''
Personal life
Perlman met
Danny DeVito on January 17, 1971, when she went to see a friend in the single performance of the play ''The Shrinking Bride'', which also featured DeVito. They moved in together two weeks after meeting and married on January 28, 1982.
They have three children:
Lucy Chet DeVito, Grace Fan DeVito, and Jacob Daniel DeVito.
Perlman, who is Jewish, and DeVito, who was raised Catholic, raised their children celebrating the major holidays of both religions but did not give their children any religious identity. Perlman told the ''
Los Angeles Times'' in 1998: "We do all the holidays to keep the traditions and the culture going, but I truly don't have a great feeling about any particular organized religion, and I don't think it's right to impose one on my kids. I feel like I'm bringing them up to be good people, and that's what it's about."
The family resided in
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. B ...
, and they owned a vacation home in
Interlaken, New Jersey. Throughout their relationship, Perlman and DeVito have acted alongside each other several times, including in the TV show ''
Taxi'' and the feature film ''
Matilda''.
[
Perlman and DeVito separated in October 2012.] However, in March 2013, it was reported that they had reconciled. The couple later separated again for a second time in March 2017 on amicable terms.[ Although the two no longer live together, Perlman said she has no intention of divorcing DeVito.] In 2019, Perlman told interviewer Andy Cohen that she and DeVito have become closer friends after their separation than they were in their final years as a couple.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perlman, Rhea
1948 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from New York City
American film actresses
American television actresses
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American voice actresses
Hunter College alumni
Jewish American actresses
Lafayette High School (New York City) alumni
New York (state) Democrats
Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Primetime Emmy Award winners
People from Coney Island
People from Monmouth County, New Jersey
People from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
21st-century American Jews