Sara Gilbert was born on January 29, 1975, as Sara Rebecca Abeles at St. John's Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica, California, to Barbara Cowan and Harold Abeles. Barbara was previously married to Paul Gilbert. At the age of six, when Sara saw her sister Melissa Gilbert get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she told her mother that she wanted to be an actress too. 

Family Success

She starred in a series of commercials and in 1984, an appearance in the CBS television movie Calamity Jane (1984), led her to adopt the last name Gilbert. She found great success on Roseanne (1988). Sara spent a total of nine years in that program and was given time to study at Yale University, graduating with honors in 1997.

Back to Fame

After starring in The Big Bang Theory, where she shared the screen again with her ex-partner Johnny Galecki, Gilbert resumed the role that launched her to fame in the reboot of Roseanne that later became The Conners where she also served as a producer.