Early life

Silverman was born in Bedford, New Hampshire, to Beth Ann (née Halpin; 1941-2015) and Donald Silverman. She was raised in Manchester, New Hampshire. Beth had been George McGovern's personal campaign photographer and would found the theater company New Thalian Players, while Donald had training as a social worker and also ran the clothing store Crazy Sophie's Outlet. Silverman's parents divorced and later remarried others. Silverman is the youngest of five siblings. Her sisters are Rabbi Susan Silverman, screenwriter Jodyne Silverman, and actress Laura Silverman; her brother Jeffrey Michael died when he was three months old. Born into a Jewish family, she considers herself secular and non-religious. She was in attendance when women lit menorahs at the Western Wall for the first time in December 2014. Her ancestors were from Poland and Russia.

The first time Silverman performed stand-up comedy was in Boston at age 17. She described her performance as "awful". After graduating from The Derryfield School in Manchester, she was attending New York University for a year, but did not graduate. Instead, she performed standup comedy in Greenwich Village.

Career

1992-2007: Career beginnings and Jesus is Magic

After beginning her stand-up comedy in 1992, Silverman was part of the 1993-94 season of Saturday Night Live (SNL) for 18 weeks as a writer and featured player. She was fired after one season where only one of the sketches she wrote survived to dress rehearsal and none aired, although she did appear on the show as a cast member in skits, usually in smaller supporting roles. Bob Odenkirk, a former SNL writer, explained, "I could see how it wouldn't work at SNL because she's got her own voice, she's very much Sarah Silverman all the time. She can play a character but she doesn't disappear into the character—she makes the character her." She has stated that she was not ready for SNL when she got the job. She said that when she was fired it hurt her confidence for a year, but after that nothing could hurt her and that she attributes her time to SNL as being a key reason why she has been so tough in her career. Later, she was grateful that her SNL time was short because it didn't end up defining her. She parodied the situation when she appeared on The Larry Sanders Show episode "The New Writer" (1996), playing Sanders' new staff writer, whose jokes are not used because of the chauvinism and bias of the male chief comedy writer, who favors the jokes of his male co-writers. She appeared in three episodes of Larry Sanders during its final two seasons.

She also starred in the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show (1995-97) and had the leading role for the 1997 independent film Who's the Caboose?, about a pair of New York comedians (Silverman and director Sam Seder) going to Los Angeles during pilot season to try to get a part in a television series; the film features numerous young stand-up comedians in supporting roles but never received a widespread theatrical release. Silverman and Seder later made a six-episode television series sequel entitled Pilot Season in which Silverman stars as the same character and Seder again directed. She also made TV program guest appearances, including on Star Trek: Voyager in the two-part-time travel episode "Future's End" (1996); Seinfeld in the episode "The Money" (1997); V.I.P. in the episode "481⁄₂ Hours" (2002); Greg the Bunny as a series regular (2002); and on the puppet television comedy Crank Yankers as the voice of Hadassah Guberman (2003, 2007). She made her network standup comedy debut on the Late Show with David Letterman in July 2007. She had small parts in the films There's Something About Mary, Say It Isn't So, School of Rock, The Way of the Gun, Overnight Delivery, Screwed, Heartbreakers, Evolution, School for Scoundrels, and Rent, playing a mixture of comic and serious roles.

In 2005, Silverman released a concert film, Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic, based on her one-woman show of the same name. Liam Lynch directed the film, which was distributed by Roadside Attractions. It received 64% positive ratings based on 84 reviews on the film critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, and earned approximately $1.3 million at the box office As part of the film's publicity campaign, she appeared online in Slate as the cover subject of Heeb magazine and in roasts on Comedy Central of Pamela Anderson and Hugh Hefner.

Silverman played a therapist in a skit for a bonus DVD of the album Lullabies to Paralyze by the band Queens of the Stone Age. Silverman also appears at the end of the video for American glam metal band Steel Panther's "Death To All But Metal." On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Silverman parodied sketches from Chappelle's Show, replaying Dave Chappelle's characterizations of Rick James and "Tyrone" as well as a Donnell Rawlings character based on the miniseries Roots. In 2006, Silverman placed 50th on Maxim Hot 100 List. In 2007, she placed 29th and appeared on the cover.

2007-2010: The Sarah Silverman Program

Her television sitcom The Sarah Silverman Program debuted on Comedy Central in February 2007, the series had 1.81 million viewers and portrays the day-to-day adventures of fictionalized versions of Silverman, her sister Laura, and their friends. A number of comedic actors from Mr. Show have appeared on The Sarah Silverman Program. Silverman was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her acting on the show. At the awards ceremony, she wore a fake mustache. Comedy Central canceled The Sarah Silverman Program after three seasons.

In June 2007, she hosted the MTV Movie Awards. During her opening act, she commented on the upcoming jail sentence of Paris Hilton, who was in the audience, saying: "In a couple of days, Paris Hilton is going to jail. As a matter of fact, I heard that to make her feel more comfortable in prison, the guards are going to paint the bars to look like penises. I think it is wrong, too. I just worry she is going to break her teeth on those things." In September 2007 she appeared at the MTV Video Music Awards. Following the comeback performance of Britney Spears, Silverman mocked her on stage, saying: "Wow, she is amazing. I mean, she is 25 years old, and she has already accomplished everything she's going to accomplish in her life."

In January 2008, she appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to show Jimmy Kimmel, her boyfriend at the time, a special video. The video turned out to be a song called "I'm Fucking Matt Damon" in which she and Matt Damon sang a duet about having an affair behind Kimmel's back. The video created an "instant YouTube sensation." She won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards. Kimmel responded with his own video a month later with Damon's friend Ben Affleck, which enlisted a panoply of stars to record Kimmel's song "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck". On September 13, 2008, Silverman won a Creative Arts Emmy for writing the song "I'm Fucking Matt Damon". Silverman guest-starred in a second-season episode of the USA cable program Monk as Marci Maven. She returned in the sixth season premiere and for the 100th episode of Monk. According to the audio commentary on the Clerks II DVD, director Kevin Smith offered her the role that eventually went to Rosario Dawson, but she turned it down out of fear of being typecast in "girlfriend roles". However, she told Smith the script was "really funny" and mentioned that if the role of Randal Graves was being offered to her she "would do it in a heartbeat." She appeared in Strange Powers, the 2009 documentary by Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara about cult songwriter Stephin Merritt and his band The Magnetic Fields. Silverman wrote a comic memoir, The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee, which was published in 2010.

2011-present: Take this Waltz and other projects

Silverman played Geraldine alongside Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen in Take This Waltz, written and directed by Sarah Polley. The film was well received when it premiered in Toronto in 2011 and was picked up by Magnolia for U.S. distribution in summer 2012. Much was made of the fact that the film features a full frontal nude scene from Silverman, which the actress has spoken about on several occasions. At the Toronto International Film Festival, she told the press she'd deliberately gained weight for the part, emphasizing that Polley wanted "real bodies and real women." In interviews she warned fans not to expect too much. However, she later told podcaster and author Julie Klausner that she had not really gained weight for the role, and that the statements were meant as self-deprecating humor.

On September 20, 2012, Silverman made a public service announcement (PSA) criticizing new voter identification laws that create obstacles to the ability of certain groups to vote in the November presidential election, i.e., young, old, poor, and minority citizens. The project was financed by the Jewish Council for Education & Research (JCER) and was co-produced by Mik Moore and Ari Wallach (the pair that also co-produced The Great Schlep and Scissor Sheldon).

Silverman voiced Vanellope von Schweetz, one of the main characters in the 2012 Disney animated film, Wreck-It Ralph. She is in the creative team that writes and produces the content for the YouTube comedy channel called JASH. The other partners are Michael Cera, Reggie Watts, and Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim (also known as Tim & Eric). The JASH channel premiered online March 10, 2013. In Seth MacFarlane's western comedy film, A Million Ways to Die in the West, she played Ruth, a prostitute, who is in love with Edward (Giovanni Ribisi). It was released on May 30, 2014.

In 2013 HBO announced that Silverman will star with Patti LuPone and Topher Grace in a situation comedy pilot called People in New Jersey, produced by SNL's Lorne Michaels. The pilot was not picked up for a series order.

Controversies

Racial slur

In a July 2001 interview on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Silverman used the ethnic slur "chink" in explaining that a friend advised her to avoid jury duty by writing a racial slur on the selection form, "something inappropriate, like 'I hate chinks.'" Silverman said she decided that she did not want to be thought of as a racist, so "I wrote 'I love chinks'—and who doesn't?"

Silverman claimed the joke satirizes the racist thought process. Guy Aoki of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) objected to her use of the slur. NBC and O'Brien apologized, but Silverman did not. Later, appearing on Politically Incorrect in July and August 2001, Silverman questioned Aoki's sincerity, accusing him of exploiting the opportunity for publicity. On a later episode, Aoki appeared with Silverman and stated he did not accept Silverman's explanation, saying that it was not successful satire and that comedians should consult with groups such as his before performing such material. She stated in an NPR Fresh Air interview that she was asked to repeat the joke on Politically Incorrect, among other places, but eventually dropped it from her act because she felt it was becoming stale.

Silverman has since turned the complaint into grist for her standup act, saying that the experience helped teach her the important lesson that racism is bad: "And I mean bad, like in that black way."

The Aristocrats

A minor controversy arose over Silverman's performance in the documentary film The Aristocrats (2005). The film shows her giving an apparently autobiographical account of her life as a child sex performer and mentions that Joe Franklin, a New York radio and TV personality whose nostalgic programs have aired since the early 1950s, would ask her to perform privately for him in his apartment. Silverman looks at the camera and, in a deadpan voice, accuses Franklin of raping her. The film was edited in such a way that it appears as if Franklin knows what Silverman said about him. Later, after her clip, Franklin is shown stating, "Sarah Silverman is a young lady to watch." After the film came out, Franklin took offense at Silverman's using his name and considered suing her. A month later, The New York Times noted he remained undecided but said, "The best thing I could do is get Sarah better writers so she'd have funnier material."

Personal life

Silverman became a vegetarian at the age of ten. She has said she does not drink alcohol because it nauseates her. Silverman is open about her lifelong battle with clinical depression, which at one point led to her developing an addiction to Xanax. She credited her subsequent emotional health to taking the prescription drug Zoloft. She struggled with bedwetting from the time she was young until well into her teens and stated in a 2007 interview that she had wet the bed recently. Her autobiography, published in April 2010, entitled The Bedwetter, explores the subject, among others. She has stated she does not want to get married until same-sex couples are able to. She stated she does not want to have biological children to avoid the risk that they might inherit her depression. Silverman's biological sister Laura played her sister on The Sarah Silverman Program.

An older sister, Susan, is a rabbi who lives in Jerusalem with her husband, Yosef Abramowitz, the co-founder and president of Arava Power Company, and their five children. Silverman considers herself culturally Jewish, which she has frequently mined for material, but says she is agnostic and does not follow Judaism, claiming, "I have no religion. But culturally I can't escape it; I'm very Jewish."

Silverman was in a relationship with comedian Jimmy Kimmel beginning in 2002. She referred to the relationship in some of her comedy, joking: "I'm Jewish, but I wear this Saint Christopher medal sometimes; my boyfriend is Catholic—but you know... it was cute the way he gave it to me. He said if it doesn't burn a hole through my skin, it will protect me." In July 2008, Vanity Fair reported that the couple had split. However, in October 2008, the media reported they were on "the road back to being together". The couple attended the wedding of Howard Stern and Beth Ostrosky, but split again in March 2009. Silverman began dating television writer Alec Sulkin in early 2010; they met via Twitter after she sent him a personal message and they split up months later in October 2010, but remain friends. Silverman and comedian Kyle Dunnigan were in a relationship from October 2011 to December 2013.

Silverman began dating Welsh actor Michael Sheen in January 2014.

Politics and activism

In 2015, she signed an open letter which the ONE Campaign had been collecting signatures for; the letter was addressed to Angela Merkel and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, urging them to focus on women as they serve as the head of the G7 in Germany and the AU in South Africa respectively, which will start to set the priorities in development funding before a main UN summit in September 2015 that will establish new development goals for the generation.

In 2015, Silverman endorsed Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for President of the United States, saying "he says what he means & he means what he says & he's not for sale." She had previously introduced Sen. Sanders at a rally in Los Angeles, California that drew an audience of over 27,500 people.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Who's the Caboose?	Susan	Also co-producer
1998	Overnight Delivery	Turran
1998	Bulworth	American Politics Assistant
1998	There's Something About Mary	Brenda
1999	The Bachelor	Carolyn
2000	What Planet Are You From?	Woman on Plane	Uncredited
2000	Screwed	Hillary
2000	The Way of the Gun	Raving Bitch
2001	Say It Isn't So	Gina
2001	Heartbreakers	Linda
2001	Evolution	Denise
2002	Run Ronnie Run	Network Executive #3
2003	School of Rock	Patty Di Marco
2003	Bad Santa	Teacher	Uncredited
2004	Hair High	Cherri (voice)
2004	Nobody's Perfect	N/A	Short film
2005	The Aristocrats	Herself	Documentary
2005	Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic	Herself	Also writer
2005	Rent	Alexi Darling
2006	I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With	Beth
2006	School for Scoundrels	Becky
2007	Futurama: Bender's Big Score	Michelle (voice)	Direct-to-DVD
2008	Super High Me	Herself	Documentary
2008	A Bad Situationist	Jamy Shonelike	Direct-to-DVD
2009	Saint John of Las Vegas	Jill
2009	Funny People	Herself	Cameo
2010	Peep World	Cheri Meyerwitz
2011	The Muppets	Restaurant greeter	Cameo
2011	Take This Waltz	Geraldine
2012	Wreck-It Ralph	Vanellope von Schweetz (voice)
2014	Gravy	Bethany
2014	A Million Ways to Die in the West	Ruth
2014	Cops, Cum, Dicks and Flying	Lieutenant Silverman	Short film
2015	I Smile Back	Laney
2015	Ashby	June Wallis
2016	Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping	Paula	Post-production
2017	Battle of the Sexes	Gladys Heldman	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993-1994	Saturday Night Live	Various roles	18 episodes; also writer
1995-1997	Mr. Show with Bob and David	Various roles	10 episodes
1996	Star Trek: Voyager	Rain Robinson	2 episodes
1996; 1998	The Larry Sanders Show	Wendy Traston	3 episodes
1997	Seinfeld	Emily	Episode: "The Money"
1997	Brotherly Love	Rosa	Episode: "Pizza Girl"
1997	JAG	Lt. Schiparelli	Episode: "Blind Side"
1997	The Naked Truth	Ali Walters	Episode: "Look at Me! Look at Me!"
1998	Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist	Herself (voice)	Episode: "Alderman"
1999	Late Last Night	Jen	Television film
2000	Manhattan, AZ	Dakota	Episode: "Jake's Daughter"
2000; 2013	Futurama	Michelle (voice)	2 episodes
2000	Super Nerds	Gwen	Pilot
2000	Rocky Times	Kate	Pilot
2002	V.I.P.	Lucy Stanton	Episode: "48 1/2 Hours"
2002	Saddle Rash	Hanna Headstrong (voice)	Pilot
2002	Greg the Bunny	Alison Kaiser	13 episodes
2003	Frasier	Jane	Episode: "Maris Returns"
2003; 2007	Crank Yankers	Hadassah Guberman (voice)	4 episodes
2004	Pilot Season	Susan Underman	2 episodes
2004	Aqua Teen Hunger Force	Robositter (voice)	Episode: "Robositter"
2004	Drawn Together	Bleh (voice)	Episode: "The Other Cousin"
2004; 2007-2008	Monk	Marci Maven	3 episodes
2005	American Dad!	Stripper (voice)	Episode: "Stan Knows Best"
2005	Tom Goes to the Mayor	Barb Dunderbarn (voice)	Episode: "Pipe Camp"
2006	Robot Chicken	Lt. Uhura / Cork's Big Sister / Playmobil Bunny / Woman (voices)	2 episodes
2007-2010	The Sarah Silverman Program	Herself	32 episodes; also co-creator, writer and executive producer
2010; 2012; 2014	The Simpsons	Nikki McKenna / Herself (voices)	3 episodes
2011	The Good Wife	Stephanie Engler	Episode: "Getting Off"
2011	Childrens Hospital	Britches	Episode: "Ward 8"
2011	Bored to Death	Lori	Episode: "I Keep Taking Baths Like Lady Macbeth"
2011; 2013	The League	Heather Nowzick	2 episodes
2011-present	Bob's Burgers	Ollie Pesto / Ms. Schnur / Lead Singer (voices)	25 episodes
2012; 2014	Louie	Herself	3 episodes
2012	Susan 313	Susan Farrow	Pilot; also co-creator, writer and executive producer
2013	Out There	Amy (voice)	Episode: "Ace's Wild"
2013	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Herself	Episode: "Sarah Silverman Wears a Black Dress With A White Collar"
2013	People in New Jersey	Melanie Levin	Pilot
2013	Comedy Central Roast of James Franco	Herself	Television special
2013	Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles	Herself	Stand-up special; also writer and executive producer
2014	Maron	Herself	Episode: "Marc on Talking Dead"
2014-present	Masters of Sex	Helen	5 episodes
2014	Saturday Night Live	Herself (host)	Episode: "Sarah Silverman/Maroon 5"
2015	Man Seeking Woman	Josh's right hand (voice)	Episode: "Pitbull"
2016	Lady Dynamite	Herself

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist	References
2006	"Rise Up With Fists!!"	Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins
2009	"Death to All But Metal"	Steel Panther
2013	"We Do Not Belong"	Psychic Friend
2013	"Perfect Night"	will.i.am
2015	"$ave Dat Money"	Lil Dicky

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role
2012	Wreck-it Ralph	Vanellope Von Schweetz (voice)
2013	Disney Infinity	Vanellope Von Schweetz (voice)
2014	Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes	Vanellope Von Schweetz (voice)
2015	Disney Infinity 3.0	Vanellope Von Schweetz (voice)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2004	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Sleazebag	School of Rock	Nominated
2008	Writers Guild of America Award	Best Written New Series	The Sarah Silverman Program	Nominated
2008	GLAAD Media Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	The Sarah Silverman Program	Nominated
2008	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Special Class - Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Programs	The Sarah Silverman Program	Nominated
2008	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series	Monk	Nominated
2008	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics	Jimmy Kimmel Live! for "I'm F**king Matt Damon"	Won
2009	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	The Sarah Silverman Program	Nominated
2012	Alliance of Women Film Journalists	Best Animated Female	Wreck-It Ralph	Nominated
2013	Visual Effects Society Award	Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture	Wreck-It Ralph	Nominated
2013	Dorian Award	Wilde Wit of the Year		Nominated
2014	American Comedy Award	Comedy Special of the Year	Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles	Nominated
2014	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Variety Special	Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles	Nominated
2014	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special	Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles	Won
2015	Grammy Award	Best Comedy Album	Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles	Nominated
2015	Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Music, Awards, Tributes) - Specials	Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles	Nominated
2015	Seymour Cassel Award	Outstanding Performance (screen acting)	I Smile Back	Won
2015	Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards	Best Actress	I Smile Back	Nominated
2015	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role	I Smile Back	Nominated

Charities

Sarah Silverman supports the following charitable cause: Autism.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]