Valerie Bertinelli

Valerie Anne Bertinelli, (born April 23, 1960) is an American actress, 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 Irish/Italian-American parents Nancy (née Carvin) and Andrew Bertinelli (a General Motors executive). She had an older brother, Mark, who died at 17 months from an accidental poisoning before Valerie was born.[2] 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 Roman 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.[citation needed] Bertinelli, appeared in 207 out of the 209 episodes before, the show left airwaves on May 28, 1984. At one point, she and Bonnie Franklin, who played her mother Ann Romano, 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 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 50 lb (23 kg) 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.

On March 4, 2010, Bertinelli appeared as guest Co-Host on ABC's The View in the absence of Whoopi Goldberg. TV Land announced that Bertinelli would co-star in Hot in Cleveland[5], a new situation comedy debuting on the network in June 2010, along with Betty White, Wendie Malick, and Jane Leeves.

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. On May 20, 2010, they announced their engagement to be married. A date has not been set.

Bertinelli remains close to her former One Day at a Time co-star, Glenn Scarpelli.

Filmography

Year Title Role Other notes

1974 Apple's Way Peggy 1 episode - "The Flag"

1975-1984 One Day at a Time Barbara Cooper Royer 207 episodes

1978 The CBS Festival of Lively Arts for Young People Mamie Dickens 1 episode - "The Secret of Charles Dickens"

The Hardy Boys Wendy Chase/Gwynn 1 episode - "Campus Terror"

1979 Young Love, First Love Robin Gibson TV

C.H.O.M.P.S Casey Norton

1980 The Promise of Love Kathy Wakeman TV

1981 The Princess and the Cabbie Joanna James TV

1982 I Was a Mail Order Bride Katarine 'Kate' Tosconi TV

1984 The Seduction of Gina Gina Breslin TV

Shattered Vows Mary Gilligan TV

1985 Silent Witness Anna Dunne TV

1986 Ordinary Heroes Maria

Faerie Tale Theatre: Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp Princess Sabrina TV

Rockabye Susannah Bartok TV

1987 Number One with a Bullet Teresa Barzak

I'll Take Manhattan Maxime 'Maxi' Amberville (Cipriani)

1988 Pancho Barnes Pancho Barnes TV

1989 Taken Away Stephanie Monroe TV

1990 Sydney Sydney Kells 13 episodes

1991 In a Child's Name Angela Cimarelli TV

1992 What She Doesn't Know Molly Kilcoin aka Shades of Gray

1993 Murder of Innocence Laurie Wade TV

Café Americain Holly Aldrige/Holly Aldrich 16 episodes,1993-1994

1995 The Haunting of Helen Walker Helen Walker TV

1996 A Case for Life Kelly Porter TV

Two Mothers for Zachary Jody Ann Shaffell TV

1997 Night Sins SBI Agent Megan O'Malley TV

Touched by an Angel Gloria 59 episodes, 3 seasons

2000 Personally Yours Susannah Stanton aka Wilderness Love

2003 Crazy Love Wife TV

Finding John Christmas Kathleen McAllister TV

2004 Saved! unknown

2006 The Rachael Ray Show Herself

2007 Claire Claire Bannion TV

2008 True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet Aunt Trudy

Boston Legal Carol Hober 1 episode-"Mad Cows"

The Doctors Syndicated special guest, February 6, 2009 episode

2010 More Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet Aunt Trudy In talk

Hot in Cleveland unknown