Nia Peeples (born December 10 1961 in Hollywood, California) is an American R&B and dance music singer and actress. Her maternal grandparents are both immigrants from the Philippines. Her father has Scottish, Irish, English, Native American and Italian ancestry. Her mother is of Filipino, German and Spanish descent.
She was raised in West Covina, California. She attended UCLA on a music scholarship, during which time she performed as Liberace's opening act in Las Vegas on weekends. 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.
She is best known for her television work. She portrayed Nicole Chapman on the hit TV series Fame, hosted the short-lived American version of Top of the Pops as well as her own video music program called Party Machine, and portrayed Texas Ranger Sydney Cooke in the CBS hit series Walker, Texas Ranger from 1999-2001. 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 single is "Street Of Dreams," which hit #12 on the Hot 100 in 1991. Nia Peeples joined the cast of The Young and the Restless in 2007, playing the role of Karen Taylor.
Peeples is an ex-wife of singer Howard Hewett and they have a son, Christopher (b. 1990).
Nia Peeples was born in Hollywood, California, on December 10, 1961. Her family moved to West Covina, California, where she and her two sisters, Paula and Cynthia, grew up. At eight years old she began performing with her family, giving concerts for community groups and conventions and doing dances of different cultures, Polynesian, Spanish and Irish. She attended West Covina High School and was an "A" student and a member of the marching band, involved in cheerleading, tumbling, volleyball, student government, choral singing and singing for a rock 'n roll band. She starred in the school production of "South Pacific" as Bloody Mary. She got her first standing ovation for her performance. She attended UCLA on a music scholarship, during which time she performed as Liberace (I)'s opening act in Las Vegas on weekends. She took one semester as a voice major, dropped out of UCLA and took three jobs in order to afford acting lessons. She studied singing with Gloria Rush and the Sanford Meisner acting technique at Playhouse West. She accompanied a friend to a rehearsal one day and was spotted by the producers, who cast her in the play "Music Shop". This led to guest appearances in such TV series as "Hardcastle and McCormick" (1983) and "T.J. Hooker" (1982). Her first starring role came when she played a deaf girl opposite William Atherton in the HBO film Single Light, A (1981) (TV). She auditioned for and won the part of Nicole Chapman in the series "Fame" (1982). Her hobbies include hiking, tandem surfing, rollerblading and skiing. She also does a lot of charity work. She is of Scottish/Filipino descent.
