Sara Gilbert was born Sara Rebecca Abeles in Santa Monica, Calif. on Jan. 29, 1975. Her mother Barbara was previously married to the late Paul Gilbert. When her sister, Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Sara told her mother that she wanted to be an actress, too. She landed string of commercials, and she appeared in the 1984 TV movie Calamity Jane. That same year she adopted the Gilbert family name.

Gilbert, best-known for her nine-year run as the malcontent youngest daughter Darlene on Roseanne, was actually given time to study Yale University during her tenure on the show. She graduated with honors in 1997. Gilbert has since appeared on ER, 24, Law & Order and Twins, and had a recurring role on the CBS hit The Big Bang Theory with Johnny Galecki -- who played her boyfriend David on Roseanne. She starred in several movies including High Fidelity, Riding in Cars with Boys and Poison Ivy.

Character Bio

Darlene Conner is a series of dichotomies all wrapped up into one complicated, sarcastic, extremely intelligent (if underachieving) package. She's a tomboy and yet she's all girl, a sports enthusiast and budding artist, tight-lipped and a poet shouting from the rooftops. Darlene may indeed be the most well-rounded Conner of them all, and as such, her mother hangs upon her the mantel of "most likely to be the first Conner to graduate college and get out of Lanford." Darlene's significant other David Healy is the younger brother of Mark Healy, her sister Becky's main squeeze.