Portrait of Rhea Perlman

Birthday profile

Rhea Perlman

Rhea Perlman, American actress

Born
March 31, 1948
Age in 2026
78
Zodiac sign
Aries
Birth year
1948

About Rhea Perlman

Rhea Jo Perlman ( REE-ə; born March 31, 1948) is an American actress and author. She is well-known for playing head waitress Carla Tortelli in the popular sitcom Cheers (1982–1993). Over the course of 11 seasons, Perlman was nominated for 10 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress, winning four, and was nominated for a record six Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series. She has also appeared in films, including Canadian Bacon (1995), Matilda (1996), The Sessions (2012), Poms (2019) and Barbie (2023). In 2025, Perlman had a guest role in the second season of the crime mystery series Poker Face. == Early life == Perlman was born on March 31, 1948, in Coney Island, Brooklyn, to Philip Perlman, a Polish Jewish immigrant who was a manager at a doll parts factory, and Adele Perlman, a bookkeeper. She grew up in nearby Bensonhurst in a Jewish family with additional roots in Russia. Perlman has a younger sister, Heide, who is a television writer, story editor, and producer who worked on Cheers, Frasier, and The Tracey Ullman Show. In the mid-1980s, Perlman's parents moved to Los Angeles, and her father became an extra on Cheers. His character became known by his real name, Phil, and he managed to get a few lines over the years as Philip Perlman appeared in more than 30 episodes.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Rhea Perlman timeline

  1. Rhea Jo Perlman (first name pronounced, REE-uh; born March 31, 1948) is an American actress and author.
  2. In 2025, Perlman had a guest role in the second season of the crime mystery series Poker Face.

The world when Rhea Perlman was born

Rhea Perlman was born in 1948. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1948

  • #1 song"Twelfth Street Rag" – Pee Wee Hunt
  • Top movieHamlet
  • Top TV showTexaco Star Theater (Milton Berle)
  • Best-selling bookThe Naked and the Dead – Norman Mailer

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentCleveland Indians win the World Series
  • Top headlineState of Israel declared
  • Technology milestoneLong-playing vinyl record (LP) introduced
  • Defining fadTelevision sets in homes
  • Notable inventionVelcro
  • World population2.50 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
  • Sports championCleveland Indians (World Series)
  • Also wonBaltimore Bullets (BAA)
  • U.S. population146.6M

1948 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Rhea Perlman's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19482026
Gas$0.26$3.45/gal
Average home$8,300$435,000
Average income$5,000$67,500
Minimum wage$0.40$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.40$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population146.6M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.