What Is Sandra Bernhard's Net Worth?
Sandra Bernhard is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer who has a net worth of $5 million. Bernhard came into the spotlight in the 1970s for her stand up comedy routines. At the time, she was one of the only women performing such harsh – yet pointed – jokes about American celebrity culture as well as political figures. Sandra is known for playing Nancy Bartlett on ABC's "Roseanne" (1991–1997; 2018) and Judy Kubrak on FX's "Pose" (2018–2021), and she has released numerous albums, such as "Without You I'm Nothing" (1989), "I'm Still Here… Damn It!" (1998), and "Everything Bad & Beautiful" (2006).
Bernhard has more than 90 acting credits to her name, including the films "The King of Comedy" (1982), "The House of God" (1984), "Hudson Hawk" (1991), "Wrongfully Accused" (1998), and "Playing Mona Lisa" (2000) and the television series "The Richard Pryor Show" (1977), "The Larry Sanders Show" (1995), "Will & Grace" (2001–2002), "The L Word" (2005), "Switched at Birth" (2014), and "2 Broke Girls" (2015). She produced the 1992 TV movie "Sandra After Dark," and she wrote and starred in the film "Without You I'm Nothing" (1990), the TV special "Sandra Bernhard: I'm Still Here… Damn It!" (1999), and the A&E series "The Sandra Bernhard Experience" (2001). Sandra has also published the books "Confessions of a Pretty Lady: Stories True and Otherwise" (1988), "Love, Love and Love" (1993), and "May I Kiss You on the Lips, Miss Sandra?" (1998). In 2004, Comedy Central ranked Bernhard #97 on its "100 Greatest Stand-Ups of all Time" list.
Early Life
Sandra Bernhard was born Sandra Gail Bernhard on June 6, 1955, in Flint, Michigan. She grew up in a Conservative Jewish household with father Jerome (a proctologist), mother Jeanette, and older brothers David, Dan, and Mark. When Sandra was 10 years old, the family moved to Arizona, and she graduated from Scottdale's Saguaro High School in 1973.
Career
After graduating from high school, Bernhard moved to Los Angeles at the age of 19 and worked as a manicurist in order to pay the bills. She became popular at The Comedy Store, and fellow comedian Richard Pryor cast her on "The Richard Pryor Show," which aired four episodes on NBC in 1977. In 1980, Sandra lent her voice to the English dub of "Shogun Assassin," and the following year, she appeared in "Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams." In the early '80s, she began making guest appearances on late night talk shows such as "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and "Late Night with David Letterman," and she would go on to appear on "Late Night with David Letterman" 28 times. Bernhard played stalker Masha in the 1982 Martin Scorsese-directed film "The King of Comedy," which earned her a National Society of Film Critics Award. Next, she appeared in the films "The House of God" (1984), "Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird" (1985), and "Track 29" (1988), guest-starred on "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1985), and debuted "I'm Your Woman" (1985), her first one-woman show. Her one-woman show "Without You, I'm Nothing, With You, I'm Not Much Better" played at the Orpheum Theatre in New York City in 1988, and Sandra turned it into the film "Without You I'm Nothing" in 1990. During the '80s, she became good friends with Madonna; the two appeared together on "Late Night with David Letterman" in 1988, and Bernhard made an appearance in Madonna's 1991 documentary "Truth or Dare."
From 1991 to 1997, Sandra had a recurring role as Nancy Bartlett on "Roseanne," making her one of the first actresses to play a recurring openly bisexual character on American TV. In 1992, she posed nude in "Playboy" and appeared in the film "Inside Monkey Zetterland," then she hosted "Reel Wild Cinema" from 1995 to 1997. Bernhard appeared in the films "Dallas Doll" (1994), "One Hundred and One Nights" (1995), "Lover Girl" (1997), "The Apocalypse" (1997), "An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn" (1998), "Exposé" (1998), and "Wrongfully Accused" (1998) and the 1995 documentaries "Unzipped," "The Reggae Movie," and "Catwalk," and she guest-starred on "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" (1995) and "Ally McBeal" (1997). She played herself in the 1996 HBO movie "The Late Shift," and from 1998 to 1999, she voiced Cassandra on "Disney's Hercules: The Animated Series." In 1998, Sandra performed the one-woman show "I'm Still Here…Damn It!" on Broadway, and she received an Outer Critics Circle nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance. She provided the voice of God in the 2000 film "One Hell of a Guy," and that year she also appeared in "Playing Mona Lisa" and "Dinner Rush." Bernhard guest-starred on "The Sopranos" (2000), "Will & Grace" (2001–2002), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2003), "Girlfriends" (2004), "Crossing Jordan" (2005), "Las Vegas" (2007), and "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (2007), and she had a recurring role as Charlotte Birch on the Showtime series "The L Word" in 2005.
Mike McGregor/Getty Images
Sandra had a cameo in the 2001 Ben Stiller comedy "Zoolander," then she appeared in the films "Searching for Bobby D" (2005), "Dare" (2009), and "See You in September" (2010) and the documentary "Looking for Lenny" (2011). She co-hosted the Q Television series "Queer Edge with Jack E. Jett" from 2005 to 2006, and in 2005, she hosted "Nick at Nite's Search for the Funniest Mom in America." Bernhard guest-starred on "Hot in Cleveland" (2011), "GCB" (2012), "DTLA" (2012), "The Neighbors" (2013), "You're the Worst" (2014), "Difficult People" (2016), "Broad City" (2017), "American Horror Story: Apocalypse" (2018), and "Sweetbitter" (2019), and she had recurring roles as Prof. Teresa Ledarsky on "Switched at Birth" (2014), Darlene Linetti on "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" (2014–2015), and Joedth on "2 Broke Girls" (2015). From 2018 to 2021, she played nurse Judy Kubrak on Ryan Murphy's series about NYC drag ball culture. In 2021, Sandra told "The Guardian," "When I got the role on 'Pose,' it was kind of full circle. I had been part of it, seen my friends in hospital and known what people went through: the degradation, loneliness and alienation. There was a lot to inform my performance." Since 2015, Bernhard has hosted "Sandyland" on SiriusXM's "Radio Andy," Andy Cohen's pop culture channel.
Personal Life
Sandra is bisexual, and she is in a long-term relationship with Sara Switzer, who she met in 2000 when Switzer was an editor at "Harper's Bazaar." Bernhard gave birth to daughter Cicely Yasin Bernhard on July 4, 1998. In a 2021 interview with "The Guardian," Sandra spoke about her political views, stating, "I want things to keep moving to the left. I want equality. I've been thinking and fighting about the same things since I was a teenager, because nothing has been really, truly resolved. My No 1 obsession is abortion rights – I can't believe we're back fighting this again. It's infuriating. I will always be a proponent of women having exactly what they need to control their destinies." Throughout her career, Bernhard has been involved with many public controversies, including one that stemmed from offensive comments she made about Sarah Palin in her one-woman show.
Awards and Nominations
In 1984, Bernhard won a National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress for "The King of Comedy." The GLAAD Media Awards honored her with the Davidson/Valentini Award in 2002, and in 2006, she received an Artistic Achievement Award at the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. Sandra has earned Online Film & Television Association Award nominations for Best Guest Actress in a Syndicated Series for "Highlander" (1997) and Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series for "Pose" (2019), and the "Pose" cast received a Best Ensemble in a Drama Series nomination at the 2021 Pena de Prata.
