Sara Gilbert
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Sara Gilbert | |
Birth name | Sara Rebecca Abeles |
Born | January 29, 1975 (age 32)![]() |
Years active | 1984-present |
Notable roles | Darlene Conner-Healy in Roseanne (TV) Paula Schaeffer in 24 (TV) |
Sara Gilbert (born Sara Rebecca Abeles on January 29, 1975 in Santa Monica, California) is an Emmy-nominated American actress best known for her longtime role as Darlene Conner-Healy from 1988-1997 in the U.S. sitcom Roseanne and as Paula Schaeffer in 24.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Gilbert was born in Los Angeles, California, to a Jewish family. Her parents are Barbara Crane and Harold Abeles. She has two older siblings, Melissa Gilbert (of Little House on the Prairie fame) and Jonathan Gilbert (who played Willie Olsen on Little House on the Prairie, now a New York stock broker), whom her mother adopted with her first husband. Sara Abeles became an actress and in 1984 changed her surname to Gilbert.
[edit] Television career
Gilbert decided at age six that she wanted to be an actress after her older sister Melissa Gilbert got a plaque on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[1] Following appearances in television movies and a commercial for Kool Aid, at the age of thirteen she landed the role of Darlene Conner, the sarcastic middle child, in Roseanne. Sara was a cast member during the show's nine-year run from 1988 to 1997, for which she also wrote a fourth-season episode called "Don't Make Me Over." Sara's contribution was considered so important to Roseanne that the show's producers arranged the taping schedule to allow her to study at Yale University while remaining part of the cast. At Yale, she majored in art with an emphasis on photography; she graduated with honors in 1997.
Gilbert has also made guest appearances in many TV shows such as The Simpsons, 24, ER, and Will & Grace . She returned to prime time television in the fall of 2005 in the sitcom Twins on The WB network; the sitcom was canceled after one year when The WB and UPN networks merged to become The CW Network.
She has a recurring role in the new CBS comedy The Class as Fern Velch, wife of Ritchie Velch.
[edit] Film career
Gilbert has appeared in two films alongside Drew Barrymore, in Poison Ivy in 1992 and Riding In Cars With Boys in 2001. She has had several other minor roles following Roseanne, including short film $30 (aka 30 Bucks) as part of the Boys Life 3 feature. She directed her own short film Persona Non Grata in 1998.
[edit] Personal life
In her teens, Gilbert became a vegetarian. Today, she supports numerous organizations such as PETA, Meals on Wheels, Freedom of Speech, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, AIDS Project Los Angeles and Animal Rights.
Gilbert is openly lesbian and has been in a relationship with television writer/producer Allison Adler since 2002. In October 2004, via a sperm donor, Adler gave birth to a baby boy named Levi Hank Gilbert-Adler. Gilbert is currently pregnant with the couple's second child.[2]
[edit] Awards
In 1993, Sara Gilbert was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Roseanne as well as the Independent Spirit Award award for Best Supporting Female for her role in Poison Ivy. She was again nominated for an Emmy in 1994 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Roseanne.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Starring roles
- Calamity Jane (1984) as Jean (Age 7)
- Roseanne (TV series, 1988 - 1997) as Darlene Conner
- Runaway Ralph (1988) as Stephie
- Sudie and Simpson (1990) as Sudie Harrigan
- Poison Ivy (1992) as Sylvie Cooper
- 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save The Earth (1992)
- Dead Beat (1994) as Martha
- Broken Record (1997)
- Desert Blue (1998) as Sandy
- Persona Non Grata (1998) as a narrator (also director)
- Light It Up (1999) as Lynn Sabatini
- The Big Tease (1999) as Gretle Dickens
- $30 (1999) as Emily/Michelle
- Jack & The Beanstalk (2000)
- Welcome To New York (TV series, 2000) as Amy Manning
- Riding In Cars With Boys (2001) as Tina Barr
- Twins (TV series, 2005) as Mitchee Arnold
- Girls on the Bus (TV series, 2006, unaired) as Helen
[edit] Guest appearances and cameos
- The Simpsons (TV series), as Laura Powers in the episode New Kid On The Block, 1992
- Saturday Night Live, hosted one episode in 1994
- High Fidelity, as Annaugh 2000
- Biography, 2001, appeared as herself in the episode about her half sister Melissa Gilbert
- 24, appeared in several episodes in season 2 as CTU Computer Analyst Paula Schaeffer
- The Ellen DeGeneres Show, 2003
- Will & Grace, 2003, appeared in the episode "Fanilow"
- ER, 2004, as medical student Jane Figler in several episodes
- Strong Medicine as a recovered drug addict fighting to get her daughter back
- The Class, 2006, as Fern Velch in several episodes
[edit] External links
- Sara Gilbert at the Internet Movie Database
- Sara Gilbert at TV.com
- Sara Gilbert at the Notable Names Database