Cassandra Peterson, born Cassandra Gay Peterson on September 17, 1951, in Manhattan, Kansas, is best known for her iconic horror hostess character, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. She gained fame on Los Angeles television station KHJ-TV in her stage persona as Elvira, hosting Elvira's Movie Macabre, a weekly B movie presentation.

Her career began at age 17 as the youngest showgirl in Las Vegas history in the show "Vive Les Girls" at the Dunes Hotel. After receiving advice from Elvis Presley, she traveled to Europe where she pursued a career as a singer and actor, working in several Italian films, including Federico Fellini's Roma (1972).

Upon returning to the United States, she toured the country as the star of her own musical-comedy show, "Mama's Boys." She eventually settled in Hollywood, where she spent four and a half years with L.A.'s foremost improvisational comedy group, The Groundlings.

In 1981, she auditioned for the role of horror hostess on a local Los Angeles television station. Her show, Elvira's Movie Macabre (1981), and her newly created character, Elvira, became an overnight sensation. She has used Elvira's celebrity status to bring attention to many worthy causes and organizations over the years, including her well-known work for animal welfare and raising money and awareness for the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

In addition to co-writing and performing in both the local L.A. and nationally syndicated television versions of "Movie Macabre," she co-wrote, produced, and starred in two feature films, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) and Elvira's Haunted Hills (2001). In 2010, she returned to syndicated television in a reboot of her original series, Elvira's Movie Macabre (2010).

She returned in 2014 in a similar show format for Hulu's 13 Nights of Elvira. Her latest endeavors include producing, writing, and starring in Elvira's 40th Anniversary, Very Scary, Very Special, Special - a 2021 four-hour special streaming on Shudder, and Dr. Elvira, a Halloween promotional mini-series for Netflix.

Cassandra Peterson has spent over four decades solidifying the Elvira brand that has become synonymous with Halloween and the horror genre. She has made cameo appearances as Elvira in a number of films and television programs, including appearing as a guest commentator during WrestleMania 2 and as a guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race, The Boulet Brothers' Dragula, and Halloween Wars.

Cassandra Peterson was married to Mark Pierson from 1981 to 2003, and she has been in a relationship with Teresa Wierson since 2002. She has one child, Sadie Pierson.

Her early life was marked by a serious accident when she was a toddler, scalded by boiling water, which required skin grafts to cover over 35% of her body to heal, resulting in her having to spend three months in the hospital.