Nia Peeples

Did You Know?

• Peeples was born Virenia Peeples on December 10, 1961, in Hollywood, California.
• Her maternal grandparents were immigrants from the Philippines.
• She attended UCLA and performed as Liberace's opening act in Las Vegas on weekends.

Personal life

Peeples previously resided in Topanga Canyon and Malibu, California. She has a son with Howard Hewett, her second ex-husband, and a daughter with third ex-husband Lauro Chartrand. From 2007 to 2015, she was married to surfer Sam George. She runs Elements of Life, an online organization focused on fitness, inspiration, healthy living, and emotional wellness, developed with business coach Amy Applebaum. In 2013, trigeminal nerve damage caused her to lose vision in her right eye.

Career

Peeples started her career as part of the performance group The Young Americans. In 1988 she hit #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart with "Trouble", which climbed to #35 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her most successful pop single is "Street Of Dreams", which hit #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991. She made a music video in 1986 for "All You Can Dream", directed by Alan Bloom and conceptualized by Keith Williams, for the purposes of promoting the values of UCLA. On February 4, 2009, Peeples presented Debbie Allen with a Lifetime Achievement Award at The Carnival: Choreographer's Ball tenth anniversary show. Peeples also attends and performs at the annual live Fame Reunion concerts overseas. Her most recent recording is a country song called "If You Want Me to Stay," released on July 3, 2013. Available on Nia Peeples' own YouTube account and streaming services. Notably, Peeples portrayed performing arts student Nicole Chapman on the hit TV series Fame. In 1987, she was in the movie North Shore as Kiani. She also hosted the short-lived American version of Top of the Pops in 1987, a weeknight dance music program called The Party Machine with Nia Peeples (1991), and portrayed Texas Ranger Sydney Cooke in the CBS hit series Walker, Texas Ranger from 1999 to 2001. In 2004, she appeared in the Andromeda episode "The Spider's Stratagem", as arms smuggler and love-interest Rox Nava. Peeples joined the cast of The Young and the Restless in 2007, playing the role of Karen Taylor, and was released from the role in the spring of 2009. In 2010, she was cast in ABC Family's TV series Pretty Little Liars, based on the book series by Sara Shepard. Peeples was featured on the July 7, 2013 episode of Celebrity Wife Swap, in which she traded places with singer Tiffany.