Amanda Peterson : (Celebrity In Spotlight)

Amanda Peterson is an actress who gained much fame during the late 1980s, when she portrayed Cindy Mancini, a Tucson, Arizona high-school student, in the movie Can't Buy Me Love.Peterson played Sunny, granddaughter of patriarch Joe Gardner (Richard Kiley) in the 1987 series A Year in the Life. She and co-star Patrick Dempsey obtained teen idol status after the release of Can't Buy Me Love. Amanda Peterson and Patrick Dempsey subsequently appeared on covers of teen magazines such as Tiger Beat, Teen Beat and many others for a considerable amount of time. Prior to the success of Can't Buy Me Love, Peterson had TV appearances in Father Murphy and Silver Spoons. She had a small role in the 1982 movie version of Annie before getting a starring role in Explorers, and she also acted with Robert De Niro.

Amanda got her start at the age of eleven in the 1982 feature film Annie. That led to a role as the little sister on the short-lived dramatic TV series Boone, as well as several TV movies and feature films.Amanda's big break came with the 1987 teen film Can't Buy Me Love. Originally titled Boy Rents Girl, the film told the story of a not-so-popular teenager who pays a cheerleader $1,000 to pretend to be his girlfriend for a month. The film grossed $31.6 million in the U.S. and launched the career of Amanda's co-star, Patrick Dempsey. Amanda wouldn't be so lucky.At the time of Can't Buy Me Love's release, Amanda was set to star in the TV drama A Year in the Life. The show's title proved to be prophetic when, despite critical acclaim and several awards, it was canceled during its first season. Several TV movies followed, to minimal success.