Valerie Bertinelli Biography
Summary
"Valerie Anne Bertinelli" (born April 23, 1960) is an American actress, best known for her role as Ann Romano's daughter, Barbara Cooper Royer, on the television series "One Day at a Time".
Early years
Bertinelli was born in Wilmington, Delaware to Italian-American parents Nancy (née Romano) and Andy Bertinelli (a General Motors executive). She had an older brother, Mark, who died at 17 months from an accidental poisoning before Valerie was born. Along with her other three brothers, one older and two younger, the family lived in Claymont, Delaware, and Clarkston, Michigan. They later moved to Oklahoma City before moving to the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles, California, where Bertinelli studied acting at the Tami Lynn School of Artists. She attended Granada Hills High School until 1978 but did not graduate. As of January 2008, she was pursuing the last few credits needed for her high school diploma. She was raised Catholic.
Career
One Day at a Time
Following her appearance in an episode of "Apple's Way", Bertinelli was approached by producer Norman Lear to audition for the role of cooperative daughter Barbara Cooper in a new sitcom called "One Day at a Time". The show debuted in late 1975. For the show's first season, Bertinelli was 15 and her character was written as a tomboy. The following year, in the show's first full season, Bertinelli's character was revised to be more appealing to a traditional male demographic. Bertinelli appeared in all but two episodes, remaining on the show until it was canceled in 1984. At one point, she and Franklin were involved in plans for a spin-off series, but it was never produced.
Three decades later, in 2005, during the "One Day at a Time Reunion Special", Bertinelli was reunited with fellow cast members Bonnie Franklin, MacKenzie Phillips, and Pat Harrington, Jr. to watch memorable clips from the original show's nine seasons. They talked about actors who had left the show as well as Phillips' drug problem, which had wreaked havoc on the set and caused Phillips to be fired from the show.
Post One Day at a Time
Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen made a musical appearance on Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album, with Bertinelli singing background and Eddie playing guitar on 'Beat It.'
After "One Day at a Time", Bertinelli continued to act. In addition to starring in several made for TV movies and mini-series, she starred in two sitcoms in the 1990s, "Sydney" and "Café Americain". In 2001, she joined the cast of "Touched By An Angel", opposite Roma Downey and Della Reese, for the show's last two seasons.
Bertinelli, who had struggled with weight issues over the years, has lost a total of as of March 2009, and had become a spokesperson for the Jenny Craig weight-loss program. She appeared in several Jenny Craig commercials along with Kirstie Alley and other celebrity Jenny Craig participants.
Celebrities who promote such things as weight-loss programs are often perceived to be in professional decline. However, although Bertinelli is compensated for her Jenny Craig appearances, she has stated that she considers herself a health and weight-loss activist rather than a hired weight-loss spokesperson, and that she continues to receive proposals for more conventional acting work. In 2008 she released the autobiography, "Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound At A Time", which culminates in a description of her Jenny Craig experience (the book's title contains a wordplay on "One Day at a Time"). In 2009, she wrote a follow-up book "Finding It: And Satisfying My Hunger for Life without Opening the Fridge."
Personal life
Before marriage, Bertinelli dated Steven Spielberg. She also dated Scott Colomby.
Bertinelli married Eddie Van Halen on April 11, 1981. They have a son Wolfgang 'Wolfie' William Van Halen (b. March 16, 1991) together. She says in "Losing It" that eventually due to his addictions, she gave Van Halen the ultimatum to 'get help and stop doing the coke' or she would divorce him. On December 5, 2005, she filed for divorce, which was finalized more than two years later on December 20, 2007.
Bertinelli has been in a relationship with financial planner Tom Vitale since 2004.
Bertinelli remains close to her former "One Day at a Time" co-star, Glenn Scarpelli.
Filmography
Production companies
Tuxedo Limited
Bertinelli, Inc.
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Valerie Bertinelli.
