Sandra Bernhard

Sandra Bernhard (born June 6, 1955) is an American actress, comedian and singer.

Bernhard was born June 6, 1955, in Flint, Michigan, the daughter of Jeanette (née LaZebnik) and proctologist Jerome Bernhard.

Her parents raised her as a Conservative Jew.

She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy, where she often critiqued celebrity culture and political figures.

In 1973 she traveled to Israel and stayed for 7 months at Kibbutz Kfar Menahem with her friend Daniel Chick.

She later returned to Israel during the Yom Kippur War.

She has three older brothers: Dan, David and Mark.

Her family moved to Arizona when she was 10.

She attended Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, graduating in 1973.

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.

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.

Her big break came in 1983 when she was cast by Martin Scorsese 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.

She was a frequent guest on David Letterman's NBC program Late Night with David Letterman, 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 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.

During the run of Without You, I'm Nothing, With You, I'm Not Much Better 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.

The film was mostly shot on location in 1989 in the Cocoanut Grove nightclub at the Ambassador Hotel.

In 1990, it was turned into a film and a double album of the same title.

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.

She is number 96 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest stand-ups of all time.

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 recurring character on American television.

In 1991, she released her first studio album, Excuses for Bad Behavior (Part One).

The friendship ended in 1992.

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.

She continued acting in mostly independent films, TV guest roles, and forays into mainstream films such as Hudson Hawk and Dallas Doll.

In 1995, she briefly appeared as a guest in the "Jerk" episode of the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

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 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 show Everything Bad & Beautiful.