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Sunda Croonquist is an American comedian. 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 ...
'', ''
Premium Blend ''Premium Blend'' was a stand-up comedy series created and directed by Paul Miller that aired on the American cable television channel Comedy Central from 1997 to 2005. In 2005 the show was changed, and now known as "Live at Gotham". The show w ...
'', and '' The View''.


Early life

Sunda Croonquist was born in Paterson, New Jersey 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 Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...
's preliminary representing the state of New Jersey. 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. She then worked as a detective while taking acting classes and eventually landed roles in local plays and films.


Comedy career

At a chance encounter in New York City, Croonquist was joking around at a party when she met
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 Circ ...
, who told her to seriously consider doing stand-up comedy 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 h ...
.


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 for allegedly spreading false,
defamatory Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
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

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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