Sara Gilbert
Gilbert at the CBS Comedies Premiere Party Sponsored by Flo TV, Area on La Cienega, Los Angeles, September 17, 2008
Born	Sara Rebecca Abeles (1975-01-29) January 29, 1975 (age 38) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1984–present
Partner(s)	Allison Adler (2001–2011) Linda Perry (2011–present)
Children	2

Sara Gilbert (pron.: /ˈɡɪlbərt/; born Sara Rebecca Abeles; January 29, 1975) is an American actress, best known for her role as Darlene Conner on the ABC sitcom Roseanne from 1988 to 1997, as co-host and creator of the daytime talk show The Talk and for her recurring role as Leslie Winkle on CBS's The Big Bang Theory.

Early life [edit]

Gilbert was born Sara Rebecca Abeles in Santa Monica, California. Her parents are Barbara Crane (née Cowan) 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; Paul died in 1975. Abeles changed her surname to Gilbert to become an actress in 1984.

Television career [edit]

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 story (the teleplay was written by the Guild Writers for the show) called "Don't Make Me Over". Her contribution was considered so important to Roseanne that the show's producers juggled storylines and taping schedules to allow her to study at Yale University while remaining part of the cast, shooting remote segments of Darlene at a soundstage in New York.^[2] At Yale, she majored in art with an emphasis on photography; she graduated with honors in 1997.

Gilbert has made 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 she 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.^[3]

Gilbert is a co-host and executive producer of The Talk, a talk show that premiered October 18, 2010. Gilbert appears alongside Julie Chen, Sharon Osbourne, Sheryl Underwood and Aisha Tyler.

Film career [edit]

Gilbert has appeared in two films alongside Drew Barrymore, in Poison Ivy in 1992 and Riding In Cars With Boys in 2001. Gilbert also had a feature role in Light It Up in 1999. 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.

Personal life [edit]

Gilbert publicly came out as a lesbian in 2010.^[4] 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,^[5] and a daughter, Sawyer, born to Gilbert on August 2, 2007.^[6][7] Gilbert and Adler separated in August 2011.^[8] Following the breakup, Gilbert began a relationship with songwriter and former 4 Non Blondes frontwoman Linda Perry.^[9] Gilbert announced her engagement to Perry in April 2013.^[10]

In her teens, Gilbert became a vegetarian, and by 2008, she had adopted a vegan lifestyle. She supports such organizations as PETA, Meals on Wheels, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and AIDS Project Los Angeles.

Filmography [edit]

Film [edit]

Television [edit]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sara Gilbert

• Sara Gilbert on Twitter
• Sara Gilbert at the Internet Movie Database
• Sara Gilbert at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Sara Gilbert at Emmys.com