NIA PEEPLES


BIOGRAPHY
Nia Peeples was born on Dec. 10th, 1961 to Bob and Liz Peeples in Hollywood California. Her
nationality on her fathers side is scottish, irish, english,
and italian, on her mothers side, french, german,
filipino, & spanish. She is the middle girl between
older sister Paula, and younger sister Cynthia. Nia
was raised in West Covina California thru age 10
when her family moved to Waco, Texas for a year.
Her father wanted the family to do something together
so, drawing from her mothers background as a polynesian dancer,
sunday afternoons were spent learning polynesian dances. Soon,
with her father as road manager and lighting director, they were.
performing those exotic island dances for business conventions and
charities The most memorable performing
experience for Nia was a show the family
did for a childrens home one christmas.
The family even handed out crates of
candy and toys to the children after the
show. That experience and the effect it
had on the children made a lasting
impression on young Nia. She excelled
in all areas of school At West Covina High
School she became a cheerleader, senior class president, and the homecoming queen.
She performed with the WCHS Chamber
singers. Outside of high school she sang
witha local rock rock band Nia was also
listed in "Who's Who Amoung High
School Students" and on "The National
Honor Role". She competed in pagents,
becoming a finalist in "Miss National
Teenager", and winning the "Miss
California Citizenship Award" During
her senior year, she auditioned for, and
was accepted by the singing group " The Young Americans". After her
graduation she toured Korea and Japan with the group, they even appeared on Japan TV. She
soon became a featured performer . Nia went to
UCLA on a scholarship, and she continued
performing with the group with Liberace in Las
Vegas. Trying to balance school and performing
soon became difficult, so she gave back the
scholarship to focus on a performing career and
her acting classes. A very lucky break soon
followed she accompained a friend, who had
gotten a part on a childrens show,to a costume fitting. The producer spotted her and asked
if she could act, though she had little
experience, Nia figured she'd say "yes"
and see what happened. Up to that time
the only acting experience she'd had was
as Bloody Mary in a junior high
production of "South Pacific". Nia
gathered photos and typed up a
resume and included a tape of her
singing with her band. She got cast in a
13 episode pilot series called "Music
Shoppe" starring Gary Crosby. She played the part of a singer in a just getting started. The
show only aired in Europe
and dispite some U.S. TV
network interest, it never
went past the initial 13
episodes. This became
a valuable learning
experience in professional
TV. She soon got an agent
and with her exotic looks
and performing experiences
behind her, she started getting commercials and small bit parts.
She played an island girl on "Tales Of The Gold Monkey", a
waitress on "Hardcastle & McCormick", she even landed a bit
part on "Fame". On "T.J. Hooker" she got an even bigger role
as the girlfriend of a gang
member. A big role in the
HBO film "A Single Light"
gave Nia another good
learning experience by playing
an uneducated deaf and dumb
girl. This was soon followed by
a recurring role as a high school
track star with a leg injury and
a chip on her shoulder on the
daytime TV soap opera "General Hospital". While the writers were thinking of using her
character more on the show, she got her big breakthrough role of Nicole Chapman on "FAME".

Nia Peeples Biography - Part 2

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