Profile Text
Perlman in 2015, photo by kathclick /Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Rhea Jo Perlman
Place of Birth: Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.
Date of Birth: March 31, 1948
Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish
Rhea Perlman is an American actress and writer. She is known for her roles on the shows Taxi , Cheers , Pearl , Kate Brasher , Hung , Robot and Monster , Kirstie , The Mindy Project , Me and My Grandma , Star Wars: The Bad Batch , Poker Face , Curses! , and Too Much ; in the films My Little Pony: The Movie (1986), Enid Is Sleeping , Ted & Venus , There Goes the Neighborhood , We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story , Canadian Bacon , Sunset Park , Matilda , Carpool (1996), Love Comes Lately , Beethoven’s Big Break , The Sessions (2012), I’ll See You in My Dream (2015), Sing (2016), Lemon (2017), Poms , Funny Face (2020), Marvelous and the Black Hole , 13: The Musical , You People , and Barbie (2023); in the made-for-tv movies Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night , The Ratings Game , To Grandmother’s House We Go , A Place to Be Loved , Houdini (1998), H-E Double Hockey Sticks , Secret Cutting , How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale , and The Christmas Choir ; and in the specials The Earth Day Special and The Last Halloween . She is 5′0″.
Rhea is the daughter of Adele, a bookkeeper, and Philip Perlman, businessperson and actor, who was a manager at a doll parts factory. Her sister is writer and director Heide Perlman. Her cousin is director, screenwriter, and producer Randall Miller. Rhea was raised in Bensonhurst. She is married to actor and film director Danny DeVito , with whom she has three children, including actress Lucy DeVito.
Rhea’s paternal grandfather was named Morris Perlman (the son of Ephraim Perlman). Morris was born in Poland. Ephraim was born in Kovno, Lithuania.
Rhea’s paternal grandmother was Anna Applebaum (the daughter of David Hirsh Applebaum and Chana Schwartz). Anna was born in Poland. David was born in Tarnopel, the son of Leiba Applebaum and Gertrude. Chana was born in Kopychintsy, the daughter of Yaacov Schwartz.
Rhea’s maternal grandfather was named Jacob Miller. Jacob was born in Russia.
Rhea’s maternal grandmother was Gertrude Slobodkin (the daughter of Alexander Slobodkin and Ruth/Rebecca Kushner). Gertrude was born in Russia.
Source: Genealogy of Rhea Perlman (focusing on her father’s side) – https://www.geni.com