Sandra Bernhard (born June 6, 1955) is an American actress, singer, comedian and author. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her

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 ...

, where she often critiqued

celebrity culture Celebrity culture is a high-volume exposure to celebrities' personal lives on a global scale. It is inherently tied to consumer interests where celebrities transform their fame to become product brands. Whereas a culture can usually be physically ...

and political figures. She is perhaps best known for portraying Nancy Bartlett Thomas on the ABC sitcom '' Roseanne'' from the fourth season (1991) to the end of the show in 1997. She played Nurse Judy Kubrak in the FX drama series ''

Pose Human positions refer to the different physical configurations that the human body can take. There are several synonyms that refer to human positioning, often used interchangeably, but having specific nuances of meaning. *''Position'' is a gen ...

''. She is number 96 on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

's list of the 100 greatest stand-ups of all time.

Early life

Bernhard was born June 6, 1955, in

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...

, the daughter of Jeanette (née LaZebnik) and

proctologist Colorectal surgery is a field in medicine dealing with disorders of the rectum, anus, and Colon (anatomy), colon. The field is also known as proctology, but this term is now used infrequently within medicine and is most often employed to identify ...

Jerome Bernhard. Her parents raised her as a Conservative Jew. She has three older brothers: Dan, David and Mark. Her family moved to

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

when she was 10. She attended

Saguaro High School Saguaro High School is a former A+ and Blue Ribbon Schools Program certified high school in the Scottsdale Unified School District in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States. Saguaro was opened in 1966. Sports Saguaro's varsity football progra ...

in Scottsdale, graduating in 1973.

Career

Bernhard became a staple at

The Comedy Store The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California. History The Comedy ...

. As her popularity as a comedian grew, she was cast as a supporting player on ''

The Richard Pryor Show ''The Richard Pryor Show'' is an American comedy variety show starring and created by Richard Pryor. It premiered on NBC on Tuesday, September 13, 1977, at 8 p.m. opposite ABC's ''Laverne & Shirley'' and ''Happy Days''. The show was produced ...

'' in 1977. Guest appearances on evening talk shows followed. Her big break came in 1983 when she was cast by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

to star as stalker/kidnapper Masha in the film '' The King of Comedy'', for which she won the

National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress The National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress is one of the annual awards given by the National Society of Film Critics. Winners * † = Winner of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress * ‡ = Nominated for the ...

. She was a frequent guest on David Letterman's NBC program ''

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on NBC, the first iteration of the ''Late Night'' franchise. It premiered on February 1, 1982, and was produced by Letterman's production company ...

'', making 28 appearances starting in 1983. She began performing her first one-woman show, ''I'm Your Woman,'' in 1985, and an album version was released. She appeared in a variety of small television roles throughout the 1980s while crafting her stand-up routine into a more performance art-oriented show. She launched an off-Broadway one-woman show called ''Without You, I'm Nothing, With You, I'm Not Much Better'' in 1988, which played at the Orpheum Theatre. In 1990, it was turned into a film and a double album of the same title. The film was mostly shot on location in 1989 in the Cocoanut Grove nightclub at the Ambassador Hotel. It was during the run of ''Without You, I'm Nothing, With You, I'm Not Much Better'' that Bernhard appeared with her then good friend (and rumored lover) Madonna on a 1988 episode of ''Late Night with David Letterman''. The two alluded to their romantic relationship and staged a sexy confrontation; the appearance received much publicity. They continued to be friends for several years, with Bernhard making an appearance in Madonna's film ''

Truth or Dare Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs, ...

''. In 1991, Bernhard began playing Nancy Bartlett on the hit sitcom '' Roseanne''. She appeared in 33 episodes between 1991 and 1997, and was one of the first actresses to portray an openly

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

recurring character on American television. In September 1992, Bernhard did a nude pictorial for ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

''. She hosted the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

's ''Reel Wild Cinema'' for two seasons beginning in 1995. She continued acting in mostly independent films, TV guest roles, and forays into mainstream films such as ''

Hudson Hawk ''Hudson Hawk'' is a 1991 American action comedy film directed by Michael Lehmann. Bruce Willis stars in the title role and also co-wrote both the story and the theme song. Danny Aiello, Andie MacDowell, James Coburn, David Caruso, Lorraine To ...

'' and ''

Dallas Doll ''Dallas Doll'' is an Australian black comedy-drama film starring Sandra Bernhard, David Ngoombujarra, Roy Billing, Victoria Longley, Frank Gallacher, Jake Blundell, Rose Byrne Mary Rose Byrne (born 24 July 1979) is an Australian actress. ...

''. In 1991, she released her first studio album, ''

Excuses for Bad Behavior (Part One) ''Excuses for Bad Behavior'' is a two-part album series by Sandra Bernhard. The first album was released in 1994 while the second was released in 2004. Part one ''Excuses for Bad Behavior (Part One)'' is a combination of spoken comedy bits, comed ...

''. In 1995, she briefly appeared as a guest in the "Jerk" episode of the animated talk show ''

Space Ghost Coast to Coast ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American adult animated comedy talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. In contrast to the original ...

''. In 1996, she guest-starred on an episode of '' Highlander: The Series'' called "Dramatic License", where she played a romance novelist writing about the life of the main character. She appeared as herself on '' Will & Grace,'' in an episode where the title characters spuriously bid on Bernhard's

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

apartment in an attempt to become friendly with her. When their ruse is exposed, Bernhard rants at them, with the sounds of a blender (she was having a smoothie made) blotting out supposed obscenities. She briefly returned as herself two years later. Bernhard returned to Broadway in 1998 with the show '' I'm Still Here... Damn It!'', recorded for a live comedy album. She was pregnant at the time, and gave birth to daughter Cicely Yasin Bernhard on July 4, 1998. She returned to New York in 2006 with the

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

show '' Everything Bad & Beautiful''. The CD of the show, released by indie label Breaking Records, was lauded as one of her best. That year she also hosted the first season of the reality competition show ''The Search for the Funniest mother in America'' on Nick at Nite. 2007 saw the debut of her one-woman show ''Plan B from Outer Space,'' and the inclusion of her

Hanukkah or English translation: 'Establishing' or 'Dedication' (of the Temple in Jerusalem) , nickname = , observedby = Jews , begins = 25 Kislev , ends = 2 Tevet or 3 Tevet , celebrations = Lighting candles each night. ...

-themed song "Miracle of Lights", which she co-wrote with Mitchell Kaplan, in the Breaking Records compilation album ''Breaking For the Holidays''. She toured ''Plan B'' through 2008 and performed "Miracle of Lights" on some morning shows in New York. Jack E

Bernhard was a featured guest singer with children's artist

Dan Zanes Daniel Edgerly Zanes (born November 8, 1961) is an American former member of the popular 1980s band the Del Fuegos and is now the front man of the Grammy-winning group Dan Zanes and Friends. History Zanes's father was a teacher, as well as a p ...

on the ''Family Dance'' album's "Thrift Shop". In an interview with

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...

, she revealed that she was originally offered the role of

Miranda Hobbes Miranda Hobbes is a fictional character on the American HBO television series ''Sex and the City'', its subsequent film spinoffs, and HBO Max revival '' And Just Like That...''. She is played by actress Cynthia Nixon. Nixon received an Emmy Aw ...

on the TV show ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...

,'' but opted out owing to the "terrible" original script and small paycheck. In 2013, it was announced that she would join the cast of ABC Family's ''Switched at Birth'' with ''Glee''s Max Adler, where she would play an art professor on the season 3 opener in January 2014. In 2015, she began hosting a radio show, ''Sandyland'', on

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

Radio Andy Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

. In 2015, she made her first appearance as the recurring character of Joedth ("Joe") in season 4 of '' 2 Broke Girls''. From 2018 until 2021, she played Nurse Judy on FX's ''

POSE Human positions refer to the different physical configurations that the human body can take. There are several synonyms that refer to human positioning, often used interchangeably, but having specific nuances of meaning. *''Position'' is a gen ...

'', a show based on

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

and

trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom * ''Trans'' (fil ...

ball culture The Ballroom Scene (also known as the Ballroom community, Ballroom culture, or just Ballroom) is an African-American and Latino underground LGBTQ+ subculture that originated in New York City. Beginning in the late 20th century, Black and Latin ...

in Manhattan inspired by the documentary '' Paris Is Burning''.

Public controversies

In 1995, while serving as a guest panelist on the

talk show ''

Politically Incorrect ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...

'', Bernhard became engaged in an argument with fellow panelist, conservative political commentator

John Lofton John D. Lofton, Jr. (May 26, 1941 – September 17, 2014) was an American paleoconservative political commentator and editor of ''The American View'' radio program run by Michael Peroutka. Lofton was also a newspaper editor, a journalist, a columnis ...

. Bernhard then stood up and spit at Lofton and excaimed, "If I had you, you’d be an abortion." In August 2006, Bernhard served as the spokesperson in a commercial for Make-up Art Cosmetics (MAC). In the commercial, promoting PlushGlass lipgloss, she referred to someone who might not approve of her outspokenness as a "little freaked out, intimidated, frightened, right-wing Republican thin-lipped bitch". MAC edited the line from the commercial to avoid unintentionally offending some of its customers. In September 2008, she warned vice-presidential candidate

Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...

that she would be gang-raped by her "big black brothers" if she visited Manhattan. Palin had a campaign stop planned in New York City at the time. In November 2020, during an interview with

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is an English model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. She began her career at the age of 15, and established herself amongst the most recognisable and in-demand models of the past four decades. Cam ...

called out Bernhard for her comments about Carey and Black men in her 1998 comedy show ''I'm Still Here… Damn It!'' In the show, Bernhard disparaged Carey's Black ancestry, saying "She's trying to backtrack on our asses by acting real nigger-ish there at the Royalton Hotel suite with Puff Daddy and all the greasy, chain-wearing Black men."

Personal life

Bernhard is

and a strong supporter of

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...

. On July 4, 1998, she gave birth to a daughter, whom she raised with Sara Switzer, her partner of over 20 years.

Music

Bernhard performs classic

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

tunes. She has released several albums (combinations of music and comedy).

Albums

* '' I'm Your Woman'' * '' Without You I'm Nothing'' * ''

'' (#40 Billboard Heatseekers Chart) * '' I'm Still Here... Damn It!'' * '' The Love Machine'' * '' Hero Worship'' * '' Excuses for Bad Behavior (Part Two)'' * ''The Love Machine Remastered'' (entirely different from ''The Love Machine'') * ''Giving Til It Hurts'' * ''Live and Beautiful'' (Promotional album sold at website sandrabernhard.com) * '' Gems of Mystery'' * '' Everything Bad & Beautiful'' * ''Whatever It Takes'' * ''I Love Being Me, Don't you?'' - featuring Carla Patullo (#9 Billboard Comedy Chart)

Singles

* "Everybody's Young" * "

You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" is a 1978 song by American disco/ R&B singer Sylvester. It was written by James Wirrick and Sylvester, and released as the second single from Sylvester's fourth album, '' Step II'' (1978). The song was already ...

" ( U.S. ''Billboard''

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

) * "Manic Superstar" * "Phone Sex (Do You Want Me Tonight?)" * "On the Runway" ( U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Club Play) * "

Perfection Perfection is a state, variously, of completeness, flawlessness, or supreme excellence. The terminology, term is used to designate a range of diverse, if often kindred, concepts. These have historically been addressed in a number of discrete a ...

" * "Miracle of Lights" * "All Around"

Compilations

* '' Stormy Weather''; song "

Is That All There Is? "Is That All There Is?", a song written by American songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller during the 1960s, became a hit for American singer Peggy Lee and an award winner from her album of the same title in November 1969. The song wa ...

" * ''Divas of Dance - Volume 3 (Remixes)''; song "

" * ''Breaking For the Holidays''; song "Miracle of Lights"

Books

* '' Confessions of a Pretty Lady'', an autobiography (

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

October 1989 ) * ''Love, Love and Love'', essay collection (HarperCollins June 1993 ) * ''May I Kiss You on the Lips, Miss Sandra?'', semi-autobiography (HarperCollins October 1999 )''

Filmography

Film

Television

Short subjects

Awards

References

External links

* * * * *
Bernhard's brief appearance in Philadelphia (video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernhard, Sandra 1955 births Actresses from Michigan American Conservative Jews American dance musicians American women singers American feminists American film actresses American stand-up comedians American television actresses Bisexual actresses Bisexual comedians Jewish American actresses Jewish American female comedians LGBT rights activists from the United States Living people Writers from Flint, Michigan Actresses from Scottsdale, Arizona American women comedians 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses LGBT Jews American voice actresses Bisexual feminists LGBT people from Arizona LGBT people from Michigan Jewish American musicians American people of Romanian-Jewish descent Feminist musicians Sex-positive feminists Actors from Flint, Michigan 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians Conservative Jewish feminists American stage actresses 21st-century American Jews American bisexual actors Bisexual musicians American LGBT musicians LGBT comedians American LGBT actors