Like many aspiring celebrities looking to get their first break, Petrossi started out as a waitress at an upscale restaurant in New York. It was one that Madonna and Sean Penn supposedly visited every so often. She never ran into them, but she did occasionally wait on celebrities, like rappers from Naughty by Nature.

Now, Petrossi is learning what it's like to be on the other side of the table. She's been busy promoting her first 12-track CD of original songs, currently available at CDBaby.com. She'll also be performing live at Santana Row on May 16 and July 10.

Just like her fan club, Petrossi's day planner keeps growing and growing. She recently performed at Blue Rock Shoot, Harmony Bakery, and Bazaar Café and is a returning face at Coffee on the Patio in San Jose.

"She has a nice voice," says the coffee shop's owner, Gary Collins. "It's unique. It's hard to compare it to anyone else."

Collins and his wife, Dee Dee, say that there were large audiences present the first three times Petrossi performed in the shop.

"The place was pretty full," says Collins. "We had people standing."

According to the couple, one customer who bought a CD actually blasted it in his car and played it out loud in the parking lot.

Robert Davies was in the crowd the first few times Petrossi played at the coffee shop.

"She adds to a nice coffee-shop atmosphere," says Davies, a guitarist himself. "Tiffany's main strength is her voice. Her guitar work is a good accompaniment to that."

Petrossi, 30, calls herself a late starter, although her musical career began at a young age, unbeknownst to her.

"I used to listen to my grandmother sing all the time when I was a kid," she says. "She had a gorgeous operatic voice, but didn't do anything with it. In a way, she inspired me to sing."

Like her grandmother, Petrossi didn't really give her singing talent much exposure until eight years ago when she produced her first song, "The El Cortez."

Her CD, titled Circles, is not named so because she used to sing while riding her red tricycle in circles at 3 years old. Rather, it describes her journey getting back to her first love—singing.

After graduating from Saratoga High School in 1992, Petrossi went on to study anthropology and theater at the University of Oregon. Putting her passion for drama and the arts on the back burner, she decided to pursue a career in teaching, tutoring kids at the Saratoga Instruction and Diagnostic Center. Now, with more determination than ever, Petrossi says she is ready to devote more time to her passion for singing and music. She is already working on her second CD.

Although she's performed at several places, Petrossi admits she still gets nervous in front of large crowds.

"My adrenaline definitely starts pumping in the beginning," she says. "I have to do some breathing exercises to calm my nerves. They eventually settle when I'm in the middle of a song."

But that does not mean she's completely relaxed during her performance. Being in such proximity with her audience, especially in intimate settings like coffee shops, Petrossi says she is always conscious of what others are thinking.

"Some people listen intently to the lyrics and make direct eye contact with me, while others chitchat with their friends," she says. "I kind of expect that, but sometimes it can be a bit distracting. I try to focus more on the music itself."

In addition to her musical career, Petrossi has something else she's been focusing on—getting her face noticed on the big screen and in magazines. So far, with the help of her agent, she has had three recent tryouts—two for wine magazines and the other as a voice-over personality.

"I drove one hour to San Francisco to do this two-minute sample voice-over and drove another hour home," Petrossi says. "I guess I did OK. It's hard to tell because there were so many other people trying out. It was really quick, but worth it."

If she doesn't get the gig, Petrossi says she'll be fine.

"It's hard not to take it personally at first," she says. "But you just gotta keep in mind that it's nothing against you. You just have to move on. Someone will recognize your talent one day."

That's what she did when she got rejected three times from the Saratoga Jazz Choir. With her head held high and her spirits up, she tried out for a juried music competition in college and got high marks from the judges.

"It just goes to show that everything is subjective," she says. "Perseverance pays off."

It was perseverance that got her spots on the television and big screens. Among other things, she's played a raver in CBS's Nash Bridges, a businesswoman in George of the Jungle, a news reporter in Mad City, featuring Dustin Hoffman, and a college student in Flubber, starring Robin Williams.

The journey to stardom is a long and challenging one, as Petrossi is finding out. She may get her break any day now. As she puts it, it's all about being patient.

For more information about Petrossi , visit www.tiffanypetrossi.com.