Sunday, January 27, 2013

Out Spotlight

Today's is an American actress, best known for her role on the ABC sitcom Roseanne and as a co-host and creator of the daytime talk show The Talk. Today's Out Spotlight is Sara Gilbert.

Sara Gilbert was born Sara Rebecca Abeles on January 29, 1975 in Santa Monica, California. Her parents are Barbara Crane and Harold Abeles. Her two older siblings, Melissa Gilbert and Jonathan Gilbert, were stars of Little House on the Prairie. Melissa and Jonathan both were adopted by Barbara and her first husband, Paul Gilbert; who had passed away. Sara changed her surname to Gilbert to become an actress in 1984.

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, on the television show Roseanne. 

She was a cast member during the show's nine-year run from 1988 to 1997, for which she also wrote a fourth-season episode story (the teleplay was written by the Guild Writers for the show) called "Don't Make Me Over". Her contribution to the show as Darlene was considered so important to Roseanne that the show's producers juggled storylines and taping schedules to allow Gilbert to study at Yale University while remaining part of the cast, shooting remote segments of Darlene at a soundstage in New York. At Yale, she majored in art with an emphasis on photography; she graduated with honors in 1997.

Gilbert went on to have guest appearances on shows such as The Simpsons, 24, Will & Grace, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Private Practice. 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 Gilbert has appeared in a number of episodes of the CBS TV series The Big Bang Theory as Leslie Winkle, a scientist friend of Leonard Hofstadter, who is played by Johnny Galecki, who had previously played Gilbert's love interest 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, and at one point a love interest to Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg). By January 2009, it was announced that the writers did not know how to write for her character full-time and her status was then reduced from regular to recurring.

She went from nighttime to daytime TV as a co-host and executive producer of The Talk, a weekday talk show that premiered October 18, 2010. She appears as part of a panel alongside Julie Chen, Sharon Osbourne, Sheryl Underwood and Aisha Tyler.

Gilbert's career was not restricted to the small screen. She has starred in two films alongside Drew Barrymore, in Poison Ivy in 1992 and Riding In Cars With Boys in 2001 and also had a feature role in Light It Up in 1999. She also had several other minor roles on the big screen following Roseanne, including short film $30 (aka 30 Bucks) as part of the Boys Life 3 feature, and High Fidelity. Gilbert directed her own short film Persona Non Grata in 1998.

In 2001, she began a relationship with TV producer Allison Adler. They have two children—a son, Levi Hank, born to Adler in October 2004, and a daughter, Sawyer, born to Gilbert on August 2, 2007. In 2010, Gilbert publicly came out and by August of the next year, she and Adler had separated. They continue to co-parent their children.

Following the breakup, Gilbert began a relationship with songwriter and former 4 Non Blondes frontwoman Linda Perry.

While in her teens, Gilbert became a vegetarian, and by 2008, she had adopted a vegan lifestyle. Her choice to be a vegetarian was also woven into her character on Roseanne.

Gilbert supports many organizations including PETA, Meals on Wheels, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and AIDS Project Los Angeles.

6 comments:

prairiegirl said...

I'm not apologizing for anything I said on the previous post. Anyone who has a problem with it, will have to deal.

End of story.

the real m said...

Sure sounds like someone is carrying on a conversation with themselves. It always surprises me that they can't see how obvious they are.

the real m said...

Good update on Sara Gilbert. She is very talented. I did not realize she moved into producing as well.

prairiegirl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
prairiegirl said...

Yeah, it was an interesting Out Spotlight. I liked her character when I watched Roseanne in its earlier days. She had a great smirky attitude.

Well, it's been an interesting first gig with the 3 Shi Tzu's, Mercy, Danny and Winston. Mercy is a tiny little white thing. Danny is grey and white and pretty good sized. Winston is black with some white. He is old - like 15 and he doesn't have too many teeth left, plus his hearing and eyesight aren't too whippy. But I tell you what - he loves his afternoon walks and he's still got great spring in his step. But I have to pick him up a lot, lift him up onto his spot on the couch, pick him up to put him on the bed, pick him up and carry him up and down the flight of stairs.

Phew. Geez. And the other thing is he goes into these barking fits and I have to try and guess what it is he needs. Does he want up on the couch? Does he want down? Does he need to go outside? Well, ol' PG thought he just wanted some of her dinner and ignored his barking. Turned out he needed to go out because there was a nice, coiled present in the corner of the dining room where their mama says someone tends to go sometimes.

Why do all these dogs go inside the house?!!!!! What is going wrong with our society? lol. And they go through training pads like crazy. At least Danny hits them, though. He'll always go right on it. But you know, those things are darn expensive, like $13 or so for a package.

Puddy's daddy is the only male owner I watch for and his dogs have hardly ever gone in the house. All the others are owned by women and they have all had issues with going in the house.

There has got to be something to that. Dr. Freud, if you would, please.

I wonder if Atticus or Boo ever went inside the house. Wasn't Jake seen buying training pads? Hmm, maybe not. I can't remember for sure.

prairiegirl said...

Oops, accidentally spilled a name. It just Pfft! slipped out.

Ahhhhh, finally quiet in the house. That Winston, boy he is something else. Always barking about something. I am earning my money on this one, I tell ya.

Well, the boys are certainly being pretty quiet this weekend, weren't they? Austin felt compelled to tell us about his little field trip on Saturday just as a kind of check-in call so that there wasn't total ornery silence. And we had one massive telegraphed "sighting" of Jake allegedly in Atlanta, complete with a detailed listing of what he had to eat. **eye roll** Both instances to firmly establish Austin in Austin. And Jake waaaaaay over there in Atlanta by his little lonesome. On a 3 day weekend while ol' Hugh went to Philly, then across country to L.A. for the SAG's.

Poor Jake. Poor guy. He decided to stay in Atlanta and soak up a renowned restaurant while waiting for ol' Hugh to get back. And Borders Stores not around anymore to go pick up a few good novels.

Must've gotten them at Target. Snacks at Trader Joe's.

Jake having a real JoCo kind of weekend. He'd fit right in over here. All that's missing is the big family truckster - that would've completed the deal.