Amanda Peterson

Amanda Peterson (born July 8, 1971 in Greeley, Colorado) 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.

Peterson went on to make other movies, none of which have achieved the box-office success of Can't Buy Me Love. Peterson left acting after her last screen appearance in the 1995 film, Windrunner.

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.

1987's Listen to Me teamed Amanda with two of Hollywood's hottest actors, Jami Gertz and Kirk Cameron. Amanda played a handicapped college student in the film. Listen to Me was both a critical and box office failure, signaling the end of Kirk's and Jami's careers. Amanda went with them.

After Listen to Me, Amanda continued to work, starring in several TV movies, including 1992's Fatal Charm. 1995's Windrunner marked Amanda's exit from Hollywood.

2008 LA Marathon: The Winners

Russian Tatiana Aryasova won the LA Marathon, and the $100,000 "Banco Popular Challenge" with an unofficial time of 2:09:32, beating out the top "elite" male runner, Laban Moiben of Kenya, who clocked in with an unofficial time of 2:13:50. The petite Aryasova is in peak shape; she recently gave birth and resumed her training rapidly.

Both runners received the keys to their new Honda Accords thanks to the race's sponsor, Honda of America, whose headquarters are located here in Torrance. They also each received a cash award of $20,000. The winning pair took the lead early on, and were ahead of the more than 26,000 runners who began the race in North Hollywood and traveled the 26 miles on foot to Downtown LA.

The wheelchair race had an exciting finish earlier this morning, which KTLA describes as featuring a "grueling sprint" taking place for the last six miles of their race. The winner was Saul Mendoza, who crossed the line in first place for the seventh time today, just moments ahead of Krige Schaburt, whose wheelchair had a flat front tire.

Although in the past two years of the race there have been fatalities, thus far only minor injuries, mostly in the bike race, have been reported.