Zadora was born Pia Alfreda Schipani in Hoboken, New Jersey. Her mother, Saturnina "Nina" (née Zadorowski), was a theatrical wardrobe supervisor who worked for Broadway productions, the Metropolitan Opera, and the New York City Opera, and her father, Alphonse Schipani, was a violinist. She is of Polish maternal and Italian paternal descent. She adapted part of her mother's maiden name as her Read more...

Zadora's first film appearance was in 1964's cult classic Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, as Girmar, a young Martian girl (the movie became more famous when shown many years later on the TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000). She also sang a song (Hooray for Santy Claus) in that movie. Her subsequent career made little headway until she met Israeli multimillionaire Meshulam Riklis in 1972, Read more...

She has attained some success as a singer, and has had several hit singles throughout the world. In 1984, she received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Her cover version of the Shirley Ellis hit "The Clapping Song", reached the U.S. Top 40 in 1983, and she had a minor hit with a duet with Jermaine Jackson titled "When the Rain Begins to Fall" in 1984 which Read more...