Rhea Perlman-Gap Rating 3/10

She is a petite and peppery comedienne who gained some deserved attention for her occasional appearances as her real-life husband Danny DeVito's girlfriend Zena on his series "Taxi". Perlman, however, is best known as the delightfully tart-tongued, ever-fertile waitress Carla Tortelli LeBec on the long-running TV series, "Cheers" (1982-93), for which she received Emmy nominations nine years in a row, winning an impressive four times. A veteran of off-Broadway theater, Perlman has also been seen in "social problem" TV dramas of the 1970s such as "I Want to Keep My Baby" (1976), "Having Babies II" (1977) and "Like Normal People" (1979). Early on in her career she wrote and produced two short films, "The Sound Sleeper" (1973) and "Minestrone" (1975), with DeVito.

Feature film work, though, has only been very occasional, but Perlman did play supporting roles in such modest comedies as "There Goes the Neighborhood" and "Class Act" (both 1992), as well as in "Canadian Bacon" (1995) and spent several years developing "Sunset Park" (1996) in which she starred as a woman who coaches a male high school basketball team. She also went blonde and teamed with DeVito and Mara Wilson for "Matilda" (also 1996), based on the Roald Dahl children's book. After the demise of "Cheers," she signed a pilot development deal with CBS, but took her time fulfilling it. She finally returned to TV starring as a widow who returns to college in "Pearl" (CBS, 1996-97). Perlman has also continued to do voice work for animated series and specials.