Bio
Melissa Peterman is an American actress best known for her starring role as Barbra Jean Booker Hart in the television sitcom Reba, from 2001-2007.
She also stars as Bonnie Wheeler, Ben and Danny's protective and sometimes over-bearing mother, on the television sitcom Baby Daddy and is the host of the game show Bet on Your Baby.
Peterman hails from Minneapolis, Minnesota. After graduating from Minnesota State University with theatre as one of her majors, she was cast as Madeline Monroe in Hey City Theatre's production of Tony & Tina's Wedding.
After more than 600 performances, she went on to work as a writer and performer at the improvisational comedy theatre The Brave New Workshop, which boasts such alumni as Louie Anderson, Peter Tolan and Al Franken.
While with the Brave New Workshop, she also performed at the Chicago Improv Festival and the Big Stink Comedy Festival in Austin, Texas.
Peterman made her film debut as Hooker #2 in the Coen brothers' Oscar-winning movie Fargo. She has also appeared in the comedies Recipe For Disaster and How High with Fred Willard, Hector Elizondo, Spalding Gray and Method Man.
Peterman remains loyal to her comic roots as the host of 15 Minutes of Fem, a comedy showcase for women presented at the Egyptian Theatre.
On television, she appeared in the Oxygen sketch comedy show Running With Scissors and guest-starred on Just Shoot Me and The Pitts. Peterman also appeared in a celebrity edition of Trading Spaces, alongside her Reba husband, Chris Rich.
Peterman lives in Los Angeles with her husband, fellow actor John Brady.