Sunda Croonquist is an American

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

. She has appeared on ''

Comics Unleashed ''Comics Unleashed'' is a half-hour comedic talk show produced by the Entertainment Studios production company (formerly CF Entertainment) and hosted by Byron Allen, with John Cramer as announcer and DJ Cobra or sometimes DJ A1 providing music s ...

'', '' Premium Blend'', and '' The View''.

Early life

Sunda Croonquist was born in Paterson,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

to an African-American mother and Swedish father. Inspired by her father's career as a musician and having a stage/pageant mother, Croonquist wanted to be an entertainer at a very young age. She was runner up in the Miss America Pageant's preliminary representing the state of

. Years later she again represented New Jersey but this time as "New Jersey's Funniest Female." With a BA in Criminal Justice, Croonquist also worked as a probation and parole review officer in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Jackie Mason Jackie Mason (born Yacov Moshe Maza; yi, יעקב משה מזא; June 9, 1928 – July 24, 2021) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. His 1986 one-man show ''The World According to Me!'' won a Special Tony Award, an Outer Critics Cir ...

, who told her to seriously consider doing

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

and with her husband's encouragement, took a comedy class and had her first paid gig within weeks. Her first performance was at a club calle
Don't Tell Mama
Croonquist has produced her own comedy shows including: ''Femmes Fatales'' one of the longest running female comedy showcases for New York's Toyota Comedy Festival for eight years. She is also the chairperson for the Annual "Laugh Off", an event that brings awareness to Gilda's Club in Northern New Jersey. This is a cancer support group that was formed by comedian

Gilda Radner Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American actress and comedian, and one of the seven original cast members of the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). In he ...

Lawsuit

Croonquist gained attention in the media in August 2009 when her mother-in-law, Ruth Zafrin, filed a lawsuit against her in

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

for allegedly spreading false, defamatory and racist lies about Zafrin's family in her stand-up act. Croonquist said she didn't even know she was being taken to court until she was asked, at an audition, to explain the lawsuit. The suit was later tossed out. Per Croonquist's live interview on NBC's ''Today'' on May 9, 2010, she was initially sued by her sister-in-law who then asked her mother, Ruth, to join the lawsuit.

Personal life

Sunda met her husband, attorney Mark Zafrin, while acting in Eric Zaccar's political comedy drama, Housing, that was staged at an art house that Mark owned. Sunda and Mark have been married since 1994 and have two children that were raised Jewish. Before she met her husband, Croonquist

converted to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( he, גיור, ''giyur'') is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. " ...

, which he and his mother, her mother-in-law, adhere to.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Croonquist, Sunda American stand-up comedians Living people People from Paterson, New Jersey American people of Swedish descent African-American stand-up comedians Year of birth missing (living people) American women comedians African-American Jews Converts to Judaism Jewish American female comedians 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 21st-century American Jews