Sandra Bernhard

Sandra Bernhard Introduction

Sandra Bernhard is a noted American stand-up comedienne, actress, and singer.

Sandra Bernhard Biography

Early years

Love her or hate her, this comic diva is a one-of-a-kind, in-your-face, take-no-prisoners artiste. Racy, confrontational, offensive, cynical, off-putting and angst-ridden to a tee, this flinty standup from Flint, Michigan was born on June 6, 1955, the daughter of Jerome Bernhard, a proctologist, and his wife Jeanette, an abstract painter, sculptor and photographer who later divorced after 38 years.

Teen years and early career

Moving to Scottsdale, Arizona with her family in at the age of 10, Sandra's initial comedy stage work in the 1970s was formulated around her "fish out of water" existence growing up as a "Jewess" amongst a sea of "blonde WASPs". A conventional beauty she was not. Her angular build was hardly complemented by angry, pronounced features, notably a trademark slash of a mouth. She managed to survive high school and went to live on a kibbutz in Israel for a period of time. Moving to Los Angeles at age 19, she paid her rent by working as a beauty salon manicurist to the stars as she tried to make a semi-name for herself in such L.A. haunts as "The Comedy Store." It all began quite modestly at an open-mike night at Ye Little Club in Beverly Hills in 1975.

Notable career works

She has since gone to star in some of the biggest movies of the past 3 decades like King of Comedy, Without You I'm Nothing and Hudson Hawk. She was also cast as Nancy Bartlett on the hit sitcom Roseanne as one of the first actresses to portray an openly lesbian character on American series TV.