Nia Peeples Biography

Virenia Gwendolyn "Nia" Peeples (born December 10, 1961) is an American R&B and dance music singer and actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Nicole Chapman on Fame. She is also known for her role as Karen Taylor Winters on The Young and the Restless and as Sydney Cooke on Walker, Texas Ranger.

Early life

Peeples was born in Hollywood, California, the daughter of Elizabeth Joan (née Rubic), a flamenco dancer, and Robert Eugene Peeples. She was raised in West Covina. Her maternal grandparents were immigrants from the Philippines, and were of Filipino, Spanish, French, and German descent. Her father, who was originally from Mississippi, was of Scottish, Irish, English, Native American, and Italian ancestry.

She attended UCLA on a music scholarship, during which time she performed as Liberace's opening act in Las Vegas on weekends.

Career

Peeples started her career as part of the performance group The Young Americans.

Music

In 1988 she hit #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart with "Trouble," which climbed to #35 on the Hot 100. Her most successful pop single is "Street Of Dreams," which hit #12 on the Hot 100 in 1991.

She made a music video in 1986 of "All You Can Dream", directed by Alan Bloom and conceptualised by Keith Williams, for the purposes of promoting the values of UCLA. She appeared in Prince's video for Raspberry Beret.

On February 4, 2009, Peeples presented Debbie Allen with a Lifetime Achievement Award at The Carnival: Choreographer's Ball 10th anniversary show.

Acting

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 hosted the short-lived American version of Top of the Pops as well as a weeknight dance music program called The Party Machine with Nia Peeples, and portrayed Texas Ranger Sydney Cooke in the CBS hit series Walker, Texas Ranger from 1999-2001.

Nia 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. Her last air date was in May 2009.

Peeples has been cast in the 2010 ABC Family TV series Pretty Little Liars, based on the book series by Sara Shepard.

Personal life

Peeples lives in a Malibu, California beach home with her surfer husband Sam, son Christopher (b.1990 with ex-husband Howard Hewitt), and daughter Sienna (b.1998 with ex-husband Lauro Chartrand). They were featured on the July 7, 2013 episode of Celebrity Wife Swap, in which Peeples traded places with singer Tiffany.

Discography

• Nothin' But Trouble (1988) #97 US
• Nia Peeples (1991)
• Songs of the Cinema (2007)

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions				Album
		US	US R&B	US Dan	CAN
1988	"Trouble"	35	71	1	—	Nothin' But Trouble
	"High Time"	—	—	10	—
1989	"I Know How (To Make You Love Me)"	—	—	28	—
1991	"Street of Dreams"	12	73	—	23	Nia Peeples
1992	"Kissing the Wind"	76	—	—	76
	"Faces of Love"	88	—	—	59
""?" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1981	A Single Light	Deaf Girl	TV movie
1984	Fame	Nicole
1987	North Shore	Kiani
1989	DeepStar Six	Scarpelli
	Swimsuit	Maria	TV movie
	Nasty Boys	Serena Cruz	TV movie
1990	Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer	Cathy Redding	TV movie
1992	I Don't Buy Kisses Anymore	Theresa Garabaldi
1994	My Name Is Kate	Annie	TV movie
	XXX's and OOO's (An American Girl)	Sasha Townes	TV movie
1995	Improper Conduct	Bernie
	Deadlocked: Escape from Zone 14	Allie Thompson	TV movie
	Mr. Stitch	Dr. Elizabeth English	TV movie
1996	Terminal	Janet Reardon	TV movie
	Bloodhounds II	Nikki Cruise	TV movie
1997	Odd Jobs	Assassin	TV movie
	Tower of Terror	Jill Perry	TV movie
1998	Blues Brothers 2000	Lt. Elizondo
	Poodle Springs	Angel
	Heroes: The Mystique, the Movies, the Men	Special Guest Host
2000	Alone with a Stranger	Beth Jenkins
2001	Bruised	Michelle
	The Riff	Heather Anderson
2002	The Chang Family Saves the World	Pearl Empress	TV movie
	Half Past Dead	49er Six
2004	The Coven	unknown	TV movie
2005	Inside Out	Maria
	Sub Zero	Kelli Paris
2006	Alpha Mom	Susan	TV movie
	Special Unit	Tara
	Connors' War	Amanda
2009	Citizen Jane	Evelyn	TV movie
	The Outside	Joanne Blakey
2010	Firedog	Haley (voice)	post-production
2011	Battle of Los Angeles (film)	Capt. Karla Smaith	TV Movie
2012	Werewolf: The Beast Among Us	Vodama	Direct-to-DVD
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	The Music Shoppe	Darcie
1983	Tales of the Gold Monkey	Zita Henriques	1 episode
	Hardcastle and McCormick	Waitress	1 episode
	Days of Our Lives	Mallory	unknown episodes
	General Hospital	Carla Escobar	unknown episodes, 1983"1994
	Fame	Nicole Chapman	27 episodes, 1983"1986
1984	T.J. Hooker	Maria Dominguez	1 episode
1987	Top of the Pops	Host	unknown episodes
1989	Matlock	Morgan Gerard	1 episode
	Nasty Boys	Serena Cruz	13 episodes, 1989"1990
1991	The Party Machine with Nia Peeples	Host	unknown episodes
1992	The New WKRP in Cincinnati	Sierra Smith	2 episodes
1993	Return to Lonesome Dove	Agostina Vega	mini-series
1994	Highlander: The Series	Nefertiri	1 episode
	Touched by an Angel	Angela Evans	1 episode
1995	Crazy Love	unknown	unknown episodes
	Marker	Lisa	1 episode
	Courthouse	Veronica Gilbert	11 episodes
1997	Early Edition	Sister Mary	1 episode
	Crisis Center	Lily Gannon	5 episodes
1998	Real Life	Maya	1 episode
1999"2001	Walker, Texas Ranger	Sydney Cooke	46 episodes
2004	Andromeda	Rox Nava	1 episode
	The Division	Sandra Prestiss	2 episodes
2005	Barbershop	Det. Hahanna	3 episodes
2007	Arwin!	Ms. Hawkhauser	1 episode
	The Young and the Restless	Karen Taylor	130 episodes, 2007"2009
2010-present	Pretty Little Liars	Pam Fields	Recurring role

See also

• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
• List of number-one dance hits (United States)