She was innate Carole Penelope Masciarelli in The Bronx, New York to Italian-American Anthony Wallace Marsciarelli and Marjorie Irene Ward, world health organization was of English and Scottish descent. She is the sister of writer, producer & director Garry Marshall.

Penny played a role of the caring-cracking brewery worker Laverne DeFazio in the popular TV sitcom Laverne and Shirley from (1976-1983).

Marshall was married to actor & director Rob Reiner (1971-1979).

She has directed many successful feature motion pictures since the mid-1980s, including Big, Awakenings and A League of Their Own.

She occurs as graduate of Walton High School in New York City.

Filmography
When Actress: The Savage Seven (1968) How Sweet It Is! (1968) The Grasshopper (1970) The Christian Licorice Store (1971) (scenes deleted) ''How Come Nobody's on Our Side? (1975) 1941 (1979) Movers & Shakers (1985) She's Having a Baby (1988) (Cameo) Hocus Pocus (1993) Get Shorty (1995) (Cameo) One Vision (1998) (documentary) Special Delivery (1999) Stateside (2004)

When Director: Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986) Big (1988) Awakenings (1990) A League of Their Own (1992) Renaissance Man (1994) The Preacher's Wife (1996) Riding in Cars with Boys'' (2001)