Biography
An acerbic, self-deprecating and full-lipped (think Mick Jagger or Aerosmith's Steven Tyler) renaissance woman, Sandra Bernhard has offered cutting-edge social commentary since beginning humbly at an open-mike night at Ye Little Club in Beverly Hills in 1975. At the time she was a manicurist to the stars, a vocation she practiced for six years before her comedy stylings enabled her to give up her day job for good. She had made her feature …
Latest Tv Credits
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Career Milestones
2006 | Performed off-Broadway in "Sandra Bernhard: Everything Bad and Beautiful" | |
2005 | Cast on Showtime's lesbian drama "The L Word" as a well-known straight author who teaches a class for budding young writers | |
2002 | Guest-starred as herself on NBC's "Will & Grace" | |
2001 | Announced as host of the A&E late night talk show "The Sandra Bernhard Experience" to air in 2002 | |
2000 | Starred in one-person stage show "The Love Machine" | |
1998 | Voiced the regular character of Cassandra on "Disney's Hercules", an animated series based on the 1997 film | |
1998 | Broadway debut, "I'm Still Here ... Damn It!"; the show had been a smash hit off-Broadway before moving uptown; executive produced that year's HBO special of the same name | |
1998 | Appeared in the quirky silent film "I Woke Up Early the Day I Died", scripted by the late Edward Wood Jr | |
1997 | Made guest appearance as a savvy lawyer on "Ally McBeal" (Fox) | |
1997 | Cast as the operator of a massage parlor in "Lover Girl" and played a bitchy Beverly Hills producer's wife in "Burn, Hollywood, Burn" | |
1996 | Played a food-and-sex therapist in "Somewhere in the City" | |
1996 | Hosted USA Network's "Reel Wild Cinema with Sandra Bernhard", a look at "the best of the worst B movies" | |
1996 | Appeared as a lawyer in a guest appearance on "Chicago Hope" (CBS) | |
1995 | Portrayed Frieda Dabney in Disney remake of "Freaky Friday" ("The ABC Family Movie") | |
| 7m Appeared as herself in "Sandra Bernhard: Confessions of a Pretty Lady" (1993), "Unzipped", "Catwalk" (both 1995) and "The Late Shift" (HBO, 1996), among other projects | ||
1992 | Hosted Comedy Central's "The A-List" | |
1992 | Signed a two-year deal with the Ford Models, Inc. | |
1992 | Posed nude for PLAYBOY; was featured on the cover | |
1991 | Began recurring role of Nancy, a married woman who comes out as a lesbian, on hit TV sitcom "Roseanne" (ABC) | |
1991 | Played over-the-top villainess Minerva Mayflower in the abysmal "Hudson Hawk" | |
1990 | Co-wrote and starred in film adaptation of stage show "Without You I'm Nothing"; marked debut as screenwriter | |
1988 | Off-Broadway debut, the one-person show "Without You I'm Nothing" | |
1985 | Debut record album, "I'm Your Woman" | |
1983 | Delivered hilarious turn as obsessive fan of Jerry Lewis in Martin Scorsese's "The King of Comedy" | |
1981 | Film acting debut in "Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams" | |
1977 | Appeared on episodes of "The Richard Pryor Show" (NBC) | |
1975 | Began career as stand-up comic at clubs like the Improv and the Comedy Store while working as a manicurist by day (famous clients included Dyan Cannon and Jaclyn Smith) | |
1974 | Moved to Los Angeles | |
| Spent a year on a kibbutz in Israel after high school graduation | ||
1965 | Moved to Scottsdale, Arizona at the age of 10 (date approximate) | |
| Grew up in Flint, Michigan | ||
Awards
1983 | National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress in The King of Comedy |