Sara Gilbert (born January 29, 1975, Santa Monica, California) is an American actress best known for her role as Darlene Conner-Healy from 1988 to 1997 and again in 2018 in the U.S. sitcom Roseanne. She also guest stars as Leslie Winkle in CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory.
Early life[]
Gilbert was born Sara Rebecca Abeles in Santa Monica, California. Her parents are Barbara Crane (née Cowan) and Harold Abeles. Her two older adopted half-siblings, Melissa Gilbert and Jonathan Gilbert, were stars of Little House on the Prairie. Melissa and Jonathan were adopted by Barbara and her first husband Paul Gilbert (born Paul MacMahon); Paul died in 1975. Abeles changed her surname to Gilbert to become an actress in 1984.
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. 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". Her contribution was considered so important to Roseanne that the show's producers juggled story lines and taping schedules to allow her to study at Yale University while remaining part of the cast, shooting remote segments of Darlene at a sound stage in New York. At Yale, she majored in art with an emphasis on photography; she graduated with honors in 1997. On April 28, 2017, it was announced that a revival of Roseanne was in the works and that Goodman along with most of the original cast and some of the producers would return for the limited series that was being shopped around with ABC and Netflix the frontrunners to land the show. On May 16, 2017, it was confirmed that 8 episodes would air mid-season in 2018 on ABC. On May 29, 2018, in the wake of racist remarks made by Barr on Twitter regarding Valerie Jarrett (an advisor of former president Barack Obama), ABC canceled the revival after a single season. The next month, ABC ordered a ten-episode Roseanne spin-off titled The Conners, which stars the same cast as Darlene and opposite with Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), also without Barr.
Gilbert has made guest appearances on shows such as The Simpsons, 24, Will & Grace, and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Starting in 2004, she had a recurring role as medical student Jane Figler on the long-running hospital drama ER.
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 season, when the WB and UPN networks merged to become The CW and had to drop a number of shows. She also had a recurring role on the short-lived CBS sitcom The Class as Fern Velch.
Since 2007 she has appeared in many episodes of The Big Bang Theory on CBS as Leslie Winkle, a scientist friend (with benefits) to the character played by Johnny Galecki, who also portrayed her longtime boyfriend and husband David Healy on Roseanne. Starting with the second episode of the second season of The Big Bang Theory, Gilbert was elevated to the show's main cast, portraying once again a potential love interest of Galecki's character. At the end of January, it was announced that the writers didn't know how to write for her character full-time and her status was, once again, reduced from regular to recurring. She did make a guest shot for Sheldon's birthday party on the 200th TBBT episode.
Currently she is a co-host and executive producer of "The Talk" which premiered October 18, 2010. Gilbert appears alongside Julie Chen, Sharon Osbourne, Sheryl Underwood and Aisha Tyler. On March 11, 2014, Mayim Bailik (Amy) visited "The Talk" and was interviewed by Sara Gilbert (Leslie Winkle). They both appeared on "The Lunar Excitation"; Amy's first appearance and Leslie's last.
After appearing in a sketch on "The Talk" with John Goodman revisiting their characters on "Rosanne", Sara helped revive the show and was telecast beginning in 2018 with fabulous ratings making it the number one show for ABC Television. Ratings stayed high, but the show was cancelled on 29 May 2018 after Rosanne continued to post derogatory tweets. The series was rebranded "The Conners" with most of the cast reprising their previous roles including Sara.
Film career[]
Gilbert has appeared in two films alongside Drew Barrymore, in Poison Ivy (film)|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, and High Fidelity. She directed her own short film Persona Non Grata in 1998. As of 2015, she has appeared on over 700 episodes of The Talk.
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, and AIDS Project Los Angeles. She stated on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in November 2008 that she has now adopted a vegan lifestyle.
Sara dated Roseanne boyfriend eventual husband and brief "Big Bang Theory" boyfriend Johnny Galecki for a short time before coming out to him in the late 90's to early 2010's. They remain close friends. She has been in a relationship with Allison Adler since 2002, and she came out as a lesbian in 2010. They have a son, Levi Hank, born in October 2004 and a daughter, Sawyer, born on August 2, 2007. Adler is the birth mother of Levi and Gilbert is the birth mother of Sawyer. Her and Allison have since split up.
Appearances on The Big Bang Theory[]
- The Celebration Experimentation (2016) ... Leslie Winkle
- The Lunar Excitation (2010)
- The Cushion Saturation (2009)
- The Cooper-Nowitzki Theorem (2008)
- The Barbarian Sublimation (2008)
- The Codpiece Topology (2008)
- The Bat Jar Conjecture (2008)
- The Hamburger Postulate (2007)
- The Fuzzy Boots Corollary (2007)
Other Filmography[]
Film | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
1992 | Poison Ivy | Sylvie Cooper | Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress |
1994 | Dead Beat | Martha | |
1997 | Walkin' on Sunshine: The Movie | NeuralNurse 256 | |
1998 | Desert Blue | Sandy | |
1999 | Light It Up | Lynn Sabatini | |
2000 | The Big Tease | Gretle Dickens | |
High Fidelity | Annaugh Moss | ||
"Boys Life 3" | Emily/Michelle | Short film Segment: $30 | |
2001 | Riding in Cars with Boys | Tina Barr | |
2004 | Laws of Attraction | Gary Gadget's Assistant | cameo |
Television | |||
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
1984 | Calamity Jane | Jean | TV-Movie |
1988 | ABC Weekend Special | Stephie | Episode: "Runaway Ralph" |
1988–1997 2018 |
Roseanne | Darlene Conner-Healy | 224 episodes Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television SeriesYoung Artist Award for Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television SeriesYoung Artist Award for Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television SeriesTV Land Award for Innovator AwardNominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy SeriesNominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy SeriesNominated — TV Land Award for Character Most Desperately in Need of a TimeoutNominated — Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television Series Executive producer |
1990 | Sudie and Simpson | Sudie Harrigan | TV Movie
Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Cable Special |
1992 | The Simpsons | Laura Powers | Voice only Episode: "New Kid on the Block" |
1994 | Saturday Night Live | Herself – Host | Episode: "Sara Gilbert/Counting Crows" |
1996 | ABC Afterschool Special | Jessie | Episode: "Me and My Hormones" |
1997 | Broken Record | TV Movie | |
2000–2001 | Welcome to New York | Amy Manning | 13 episodes |
2002 | 24 | Paula Schaeffer | 5 episodes |
2003 | Will & Grace | Cheryl | Episode: "Fanilow" |
2004 | Strong Medicine | Charlayne | Episode: "Cinderella in Scrubs" |
2004–2007 | ER | Dr. Jane Figler | 15 episodes |
2005 | In the Game | Unsold TV-Pilot | |
The Clinic | Mrs. Jennings | Episode: 3.1 | |
2005–2006 | Twins | Mitchee Arnold | 18 episodes |
2006 | Girls on the Bus | Helen | Episode: "Pilot" |
2006–2007 | The Class | Fern Velch | 6 episodes |
2007 | Private Practice | Kelly | Episode: "In Which Sam Gets Taken For a Ride" |
2007–2010 | The Big Bang Theory | Leslie Winkle | recurring season 1, season 2 regular and then back to recurring on season 3 |
2008 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Caitlyn Ryan | Episode: "Trials" |
2010 | HawthoRNe | Malia Price | Episode: "No Excuses" Episode: "The Match" Episode: "A Mother Knows" |
Grey's Anatomy | Kim | Episode: "Suicide is Painless" | |
2011–2019 | The Talk | Herself/Host | |
2018–present | The Conners | Darlene Conner-Healy | Main role |