Background
Peluso was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Mary Peluso.
Peluso was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Mary Peluso.
Her first big break came at the age of nine, when she starred in the Broadway production of Gypsy with Angela Lansbury. At age thirteen, she played Linda, the younger sister of John Travolta"s Tony, in the classic Saturday Night Fever. Peluso had a nine-year stint in the soap world as teenager Wendy Wilkins on Search for Tomorrow (1977–1986).
She was offered the role of "Wendy" after Andrea McArdle vacated the role to star in the Broadway musical Annie.
While playing "Wendy", a sixteen-year-old Peluso received her first on-screen kiss from Kevin Bacon. Other important soap credentials include her portrayal of "Ava Rescott Masters" on Loving (1988–1995), as well as her portrayal of Lila Hart Roberts Cory Winthrop on Another World (1997–1999) and continued the character on As the World Turns (1999).
She has also appeared twice on the American Broadcasting Company soap opera One Life to Live, first as "Billie Giordano" from 1987 to 1988, then as "Gina Russo" in 2001. She also made a guest star appearance on Designing Women, playing "Shannon", a lawyer who irritates Julia Sugarbaker (Dixie Carter) by dating her beau, Reese Watson (Hal Holbrook).