9 August 1958, Winter Park, Florida, USA
Height
5' 4" (1.63 m)
Spouse
Carrie Schenken | (2010 - present) 2 children |
Trivia
Studied acting at New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse under Sanford Meisner.
Lives in Los Angeles with her adopted daughter, Zoe, and her partner.
Bearse studied acting at New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse under instructor Sanford Meisner.
Her initial success came with the role on the soap opera "All My Children" (1970) between 1981 and 1984 playing a role bearing her first name, Amanda (Cousins).
Her biggest break came in 1987, when she was cast as Al Bundy's next-door neighbor and nemesis, Marcy Rhoades, on the hit sitcom"Married with Children" (1987).
Bearse took up the challenge of television and film directing while appearing on "Married... with Children." Between 1991 and 1997, she helmed over 30 episodes of the show and went on to directed other sitcom episodes ("Reba" (2001), "Dharma & Greg" (1997), "Veronica's Closet"(1997).
In 2006, she teamed with Rosie O'Donnell to direct _"The Big Gay Sketch Show" (2006)_, that debuted on Logo on April 24, 2007.
Born in Winter Park, Florida, and raised in Atlanta, Georgia.
Attended Young Harris College, a private, Methodist-affiliated liberal arts junior college located in northeast Georgia.
Openly lesbian since 1993, she lives in Atlanta with her adopted daughter Zoe. Her announcement in Advocate Magazine made big headlines as she became the first primetime actress to "come out.".
Although she has primarily played straight characters on screen, she did play Marcy's lesbian cousin Mandy in a 1997 episode of "Married With Children" entitled "Lez Be Friends.".
Moved to New York where she studied acting with Sanford Meisner. She also studied directing at the American Film Institute and USC in Los Angeles.
Personal Quotes
The outing [when she announced that she was gay] really was quite a freeing experience. I know that sounds sort of clichéd, but it really was very liberating. That one thing, that one big secret is out. For a lot of people, it was just a confirmation of what they thought about me. I mean, I look like the girl next door, but I was always kind of off-center.
I chose to stop acting because I wanted to direct and I had to show people that I was serious. I'd like to get back in front of the camera eventually, but only if I can play something a little bit different.
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