Sara Gilbert

Sara Gilbert was born on January 29, 1975, in Santa Monica, California. She became known as Darlene Conner on Roseanne, the ABC sitcom created by Roseanne Barr and Matt Williams. Gilbert joined the series in its first season, which premiered in 1988, and played Darlene through the original run’s finale in 1997. Darlene was Roseanne and Dan Conner’s daughter, an observant, sarcastic teenager whose writing ambitions and relationship with David Healy became major parts of the show’s story.

The role established Gilbert as a child actor while allowing her character to develop instead of remaining a one-note comic child. In the 1992 television film Poison Ivy, she played Sylvie Cooper, and her screen credits also included appearances in The Simpsons and 24. She later supplied the voice of Laura Powers in The Simpsons, a recurring character associated with Bart Simpson’s infatuation.

Gilbert’s prominent sitcom role was Leslie Winkle on The Big Bang Theory. Leslie was a physicist at Caltech and a colleague of Leonard Hofstadter; she had an on-and-off sexual relationship with Leonard and often served as Sheldon Cooper’s scientific and personal antagonist. Gilbert appeared in the series from 2007 to 2010, returning for several episodes after the character’s regular status was reduced. The part connected her to the show’s ensemble without replacing her better-known Roseanne identity.

Outside acting, Gilbert became a television creator, producer, and daytime host. She was one of the original co-hosts and executive producers of The Talk, which premiered on CBS in October 2010. The program’s format brought Gilbert into conversations about parenting, entertainment, politics, and current events alongside rotating panelists. She left the hosting lineup in August 2019, after nearly nine seasons. During her tenure, The Talk won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Series in 2016, giving her a producing credit on a daytime program.

Gilbert also helped bring Roseanne back to ABC in 2018. The revival reunited much of the cast, including John Goodman as Dan, Laurie Metcalf as Jackie, Michael Fishman as D.J., and Gilbert as Darlene. It became a success, but ABC canceled it after Barr posted a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett. Gilbert condemned the remark and supported continuing the Conner family’s story without Barr. ABC ordered The Conners, a spin-off that premiered in October 2018. Gilbert returned as Darlene and served as an executive producer, with the series focusing on the family’s financial pressures, work, health, and relationships.