Sandra Bernhard

Sandra Gail Bernhard (born June 6, 1955) is an American comedian, singer, actress and author. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy in which she often bitterly critiques celebrity culture and political figures. Bernhard is number 97 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of all time.

Early life Bernhard was born in Flint, Michigan, the daughter of Jeanette (née LaZebnik) and Jerome Bernhard. Her parents raised her as a Conservative Jew. She has three older brothers. Her family moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, when she was 10.

She has often addressed her childhood in interviews and within the context of her stand-up comedy. Of her family, Bernhard stated in her show Without You I'm Nothing: "My father was a proctologist and my mother was an abstract artist. That's how I view the world." In the documentary program Girls Who Do: Comedy, she discusses being a funny teenager. After graduating from Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, she went to live and volunteer on a kibbutz in Israel. She moved to Los Angeles at the age of 19. During that time she paid her bills by working as a manicurist in a high-end salon.

Career Bernhard became a staple at The Comedy Store. As her popularity as a comedian grew she was cast as a supporting player on The Richard Pryor Show in 1977. Guest appearances on evening talk shows followed. Her big break came in 1983 when she was cast by Martin Scorsese to star as stalker and kidnapper Masha in the film The King of Comedy for which she won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress.

She began performing her first one-woman show called I'm Your Woman in 1985, and an album version was released. Bernhard appeared in a variety of tiny film and 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 coconut grove at the Ambassador Hotel. A frequent guest on David Letterman's NBC program, it was during the run of 'Without You I'm Nothing, With You I'm Not Much Better' that she appeared with her then-good friend (and rumored lover) Madonna on the show. The two alluded to their romantic relationship and staged a sexy confrontation. They would continue to be friends for several years, with Bernhard even making an appearance in Madonna's movie Truth or Dare.

In 1991, Bernhard began playing the role of 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 lesbian recurring character on American television. The role is one of her best known, something she has lamented in her stand-up as being both a blessing and a curse.

In September 1992, Bernhard did a nude pictorial for Playboy. She hosted the USA Network's Reel Wild Cinema for two seasons beginning in 1995. Bernhard continued acting in mostly independent films and TV guest roles and forays into mainstream films such as Hudson Hawk and Dallas Doll. In 1991 she released her first studio album, entitled Excuses for Bad Behavior (Part One).

In 1995, she briefly appeared as a guest in the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast, in an episode titled "Jerk". In 1996, she guest-starred on an episode of Highlander: The Series called "Dramatic License" in which she played a romance novelist writing about the life of the main character. She also appeared (as herself) on Will and Grace in an episode dealing with Will and Grace's spuriously bidding on Bernhard's Manhattan apartment in order to become friendly with her and culminates in a diatribe from Bernhard when their ruse is exposed, with obfuscating sounds of a blender (she was having a smoothie made) blotting out supposed obscenities. She returned as herself briefly, two years later.

Bernhard returned to Broadway in 1998 with the show I'm Still Here... Damn It!, recorded for a live comedy album. At that time of the show Bernhard was pregnant. She gave birth to daughter Cicely Yasin Bernhard on July 4, 1998. For the next several years she would self-record all of her live shows and release cheaply made CD-R versions which were sold in the lobby of her shows. She continued touring and making smaller films and TV guest appearances.

She returned to New York in 2006 with the Off-Broadway show Everything Bad & Beautiful. The CD Everything Bad & Beautiful was critically lauded as one of her best, released by indie label Breaking Records. The year 2007 saw the creation of Bernhard's show Plan B from Outer Space as well as Indie label upstart Breaking Records release of the compilation "Breaking For the Holidays" where Bernhard co-penned Miracle of Lights with Mitchell Kaplan. She toured "Plan B" through 2008, and performed Miracle of Lights on some morning shows in New York.

Bernhard was a featured guest singer with children's artist Dan Zanes on the Family Dance album's "Thrift Shop".

In an interview with Howard Stern, the comedian revealed that she was originally offered the role of Miranda Hobbes of TV show Sex and the City, but opted out due to the "terrible" original script and low paycheck.

In 2013, the media announced that Sandra Bernhard would be joining the cast of ABC Family's Switched at Birth along with Glee's Max Adler. Sandra would assume the role of an art professor on the Season 3 Opener in January 2014.

Starting in 2015, Bernhard began hosting a radio show, Sandyland, on Sirius XM's, Radio Andy.

Personal life Bernhard is openly bisexual and a strong supporter of gay rights.

On July 4, 1998, she gave birth to a daughter, Cicely Yasin Bernhard, whom she raises with her longtime partner, Sara Switzer.

Music Bernhard performs classic pop music, jazz, and blues tunes. She has released several albums (combinations of music and comedy).

Sandra Bernhard Actress | Soundtrack | Writer - Date of Birth 6 June 1955, Flint, Michigan, USA

Birth Name Sandra Gail Bernhard

Height 5' 10" (1.78 m)

Mini Bio (1) 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 T, this flinty stand-up 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. Moving to Scottsdale, Arizona in her early years, her 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.

As Bernhard grew in stature, the girl with major attitude was soon getting noticed for TV. She, along with other up-and-coming comics such as Robin Williams and Marsha Warfield, was cast as a regular player on The Richard Pryor Show (1977), a musical variety show. Her cutting-edge humor seemed like a natural fit in an atmosphere provided by a daredevil like Pryor, but the censorship staff and a turned-off audience had the show taken off the air after only five shows. A gifted talker and raconteur, she started making news on the night time talk show circuit for her pungent comments and observances.

She demonstrated real chutzpah on camera after Martin Scorsese cast her as Masha, who loose cannon who stalks and covets a talk show host, in his film The King of Comedy (1982) starring Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis. Nothing, however, came out of this dark success and she instead focused on the possibility of doing a one-woman comedy show.

Her first solo piece was entitled "I'm Your Woman" in 1985 and was met with a so-so reception and followed by an unsuccessful album release. Undaunted, Bernhard continued to work on film and TV while crafting a more volatile, performance art-oriented show for shock effect. This came in the form of the off-Broadway 1988 piece "Without You I'm Nothing" which played at the Orpheum Theatre. It was a cult hit and immortalized into both a film, also called Without You I'm Nothing (1990), and a double-album. As a monologist, Sandra trademark blending of pop culture topics along with blatant social commentary is usually given a boost by a bluesy-styled song.

Bernhard could also make eye-catching news on TV. In 1991 she was cast as Nancy Bartlett on the hit sitcom Roseanne (1988) as one of the first actresses to portray an openly lesbian character on American series TV. Although the character grew more diluted with time, it was nevertheless a groundbreaking character and she appeared on several seasons of the popular show. She did tough-talking turns on such popular shows as "Chicago Hope," "Ally McBeal," "Will & Grace" and "The L Word". Elsewhere, in September of 1992, Sandra opted to do a nude pictorial for Playboy Magazine. She then went on to host the USA network's Reel Wild Cinema (1996) for two seasons. Her brief nudges into mainstream films, which included such bombs Hudson Hawk (1991) and Dallas Doll (1994), did nothing to advance her movie career. Her one-woman shows, however, continue to jell with her liberal following and she enjoyed another New York success with her solo piece "I'm Still Here... Damn It!", which was also filmed. She also performed off-Broadway in "Sandra Bernhard: Everything Bad and Beautiful."

At age 50+, Sandra continues to push the envelope on such shows as "The View." Fair game includes everyone from Mariah Carey to Laura Bush to Mother Teresa as the object of her venom. In fact, she pretty much pioneered the celebrity put-down format that has made infamous celebrities out of such comics as Kathy Griffin. It's Sandra's unique brand of crass talk and self-effacing vulnerability that will keep the "Empress of Acerbity" a strong commodity in the nitery circuit.

Unmarried with a young daughter, Sandra is openly bisexual and currently living with a longtime companion, writer and PR executive Sara Switzer. Sara was attached to Sandra's talk show The Sandra Bernhard Experience (2001) as a writer and co-host.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Trade Mark (2) Distinctive facial features - Her face

Trivia (14) She had a daughter, Cicely Yasin Bernhard (also given Hebrew name Rachel), on July 4, 1998 via cesarean section. The baby's father has not been revealed.

Graduate of Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Before beginning her career as a stand-up comedian she was a manicurist for a posh L.A. salon.

Toured with the 1999 Lilith Fair as the only comedienne.

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald S. Smith, pg. 50. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387

Posed nude for Playboy magazine.

Has three older brothers.

At one time she was offered a role in Jordan Roth's revival of "The Rocky Horror Show" but it only paid $2,000 a week and she turned it down.

Her 1988 show "Without You I'm Nothing" was recorded and received a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy in 1991.

Is bisexual.

In June 2006, Bernhard appeared on the daytime talk show "The View", and in a seven-minute segment, her commentary on race and politics incited two of the hosts to rage.

Developed a strong friendship with Madonna during the 1980s, and the two were frequently seen together in public. They made intimations of a romantic relationship, most notably after appearing on Late Night with David Letterman (1982) where Sandra joked that she had slept with both Madonna and her then-husband, Sean Penn. The friendship ended in 1992.

Had a fractured working relationship with co-star Jerry Lewis while filming The King of Comedy (1982). She claims he was very derogatory to her.

According to an interview on Howard Stern's show, she revealed that she turned down the role of Miranda on the TV series Sex and the City (1998) --a role that eventually made Cynthia Nixon a household name.

Personal Quotes (23) She's like jazz. She created her own beat. - friend and fellow comedian Paul Mooney

I think people are a little bit intimidated by me. You know, I'm not exactly a wilting flower, so I think they're a little bit scared of me sometimes.

My father was a proctologist and my mother was an abstract artist, so that's how I view the world.

I'm the only actress in Hollywood who didn't pay to have these lips.

I think [comedy] is definitely a more male oriented field--social commentary, political commentary--I think it's just easier for men to get up and say whatever they want. But I don't think there's that many women who really want to put their toe in the water either. It's not the easiest life or lifestyle to get out there and kind of shake the s*** up.

I tend to go against the grain because when I start to see that everybody's trying to shock, I try not to. I just do stuff that's subtler, more emotional, and I think that shocks people.

My family wasn't the Brady Bunch. They were the Broody Bunch.

[1992: On seeing someone hawking, coughing and spitting loudly] That kind of stuff makes me laugh. Sick human beings, weird human beings, ya know?

[on Jerry Lewis and The King of Comedy (1982)]: It was fabulous. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I learned so much from everybody on that film, including Jerry. Is he easy to get along with? No. Is he notoriously crank and misogynistic? Yes. But that doesn't mean you don't have a great experience in spite of people's limitations. It was incredible.

Paranoia is a full-time job.

[on The King of Comedy (1982)] I haven't seen the movie in a long time. How many times can you watch yourself, you know? It's uncomfortable. I am curious to see it again all cleaned up and restored. The film was so representative of an era in filmmaking when people would take their time in a scene. It wasn't a case of rush, rush, rush onto the next moment. You had room to breathe, and I think that in itself made people uncomfortable because the topic was so weird and out of left field at the time. Now, expectations of fame and desire run so extreme that the film almost seems tame in comparison, but there's still something about The King of Comedy (1982) that's very disarming and offbeat and something you'll never see again. And so those are the emotions I feel. It was very evocative.

[on the possibility of remaking The King of Comedy (1982)] No way. At one point, Jack Black wanted to remake it, and I was like - I mean I love him, he's fabulous, don't get me wrong, but I don't think it would have worked. It's too late to remake it. We're here and there's nothing to really predict. It's just an ongoing conversation you have every day of the week like, "Can you believe he's famous?" There's nothing to say about it. We're in the middle of it.

[re acting caustic towards audiences in past] I would still be frank and honest and funny, but I'd be more sensitive. I think having a kid and seeing how the world works from that angle, you're a little more thoughtful and introspective. You don't want to spend your whole life being bitchy to people. But it worked then, and I'm still able to pull it out if I need to.

You can be a celebrity and not get too noticed. Unless you're out with a publicity hog like Madonna.

[when Madonna was doing Marlene Dietrich's look] I could hear Dietrich screaming from the grave, "Kill that trash, and kill her now!"

[on Madonna] I gave her everything -- friendship, love. How did she pay me back? By stabbing me in the back. I'm telling you as sure as I'm standing here, Madonna will steal everything from you, even your closest friends if she can get her grubby little hands on them.

Did I tell you about my nightmare? I dreamt I was Madonna, shopping at Tiffany's, where I was trying to buy some class.

Madonna and I were in the back of a limo driving to some concert in L.A., and she said, "Sandy, did you fuck Warren Beatty?" I said, "No." And then a month later she started dating him. I always thought, What if I had said yes, I'd fucked him, would that have meant she wouldn't have wanted him? The deal would have been off? I guess she was just testing the waters.

I keep my friends my whole life, but Madonna feels differently.

I never slept with Madonna. We were pulling everybody's chains, creating a media frenzy.

[on her on- and off-screen relationship with Jerry Lewis, who played Mr. Langford, who himself said that women weren't being funny]: No. Nothing Jerry Lewis says surprises me. I mean, he's old-school. He's from another generation where women were just there as foils. I don't think any of those kind of men really ever look at women and think, "Well, we need a woman here to make it really work." But no, nothing Jerry's ever said has impressed me, upset me, or affected me. I just accept him as I accept my father; they're just older men who came from a different way of thinking and a different generation.

[If Jerry Lewis loves to direct]: Well, Jerry loves to direct. Whereas he is not as magnanimous as the rest of them, he would still acknowledge a powerful scene or a great moment by his reaction. He would register total fear and shock while sitting across the table from this lunatic Jewish girl. He had never seen anything like me.

[Of Jerry Lewis]: When they keep cutting to him and he looks like he's suffering, I don't think he was acting. Marty would let him direct a little bit in the movie, and in the scene - once I've cut Jerry Lewis out of his tape, where he hits me and knocks me out - he wanted me, in my bra and panties and high heels, to spin into a large glass table lit with a hundred candles. He kept showing me how I could do it, and I kept saying, 'I can't do it, Jerry,' 'You can do it! You can do it! I've done it a hundred times.' Finally, Marty interceded and he just puts me up against the wall and knocks me out, and I slide down and fall onto a pad. That was a crazy, classic Jerry Lewis moment.