Bertinelli was born in Wilmington, Delaware to Irish/Italian-American parents Nancy (née Carvin) and Luke 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 Roman Catholic
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 news it com 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 207 out of the 209 episodes before the show left the 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
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
Valerie 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.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. 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. She now stars in the TV Land series
Hot in Cleveland,a situation comedy which debuted in June 2010, along with Betty White, Wendie Malick, and Jane Leeves. The show's second season aired in January 2011, and in February 2011 it was renewed for a third season. She will get her own star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012.
