Television Following appearances in
television movies and a
commercial for
Kool-Aid, at 13 she landed the role of
Darlene Conner, the sarcastic middle child, in
Roseanne. Gilbert was a cast member in the show's nine-year run (1988–97), for which she wrote a fourth-season episode story (the teleplay was written by the Guild Writers for the show) called "Don't Make Me Over". Her contribution was considered so important to
Roseanne that the show's producers juggled storylines and taping schedules to allow her to study at
Yale University while remaining in the cast, shooting remote segments of Darlene at a soundstage in New York. Gilbert has appeared on
The Simpsons,
24,
Will & Grace,
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and
Private Practice. Starting in 2004, she had a recurring role as smart and sarcastic medical student Jane Figler on the long-running hospital drama
ER; her appearances spanned seasons 11–13. '' co-hosts Julie Chen, Aisha Tyler, Sharon Osbourne, Gilbert and Sheryl Underwood in 2012. Gilbert regained a regular spot on
prime time television in the fall of 2005 in the
sitcom Twins on
The WB network. The show was canceled after one season, when the WB and
UPN networks merged as
The CW and dropped a number of series. She also had a recurring role on the short-lived
CBS sitcom
The Class as Fern Velch. From 2007 to 2010, Gilbert appeared in episodes of the CBS TV series
The Big Bang Theory as
Leslie Winkle, a scientist friend of
Leonard Hofstadter. Hofstadter was played by
Johnny Galecki, who had previously played Gilbert's love interest David Healy on
Roseanne. In the second episode of the second season of
The Big Bang Theory, Gilbert was elevated to the show's main cast, portraying again a potential love interest of Galecki's character, and at one point a love interest to
Howard Wolowitz (
Simon Helberg). By January 2009, it was announced that the writers did not know how to write for her character full-time, and her status was reduced from regular to recurring. Winkle was discontinued after
Amy Farrah Fowler and
Bernadette Rostenkowski became prominent characters. Gilbert was a co-host and executive producer of
The Talk, a talk show that premiered October 18, 2010. Gilbert won a Daytime Emmy in 2016 for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show as producer and creator of the show. Her final appearance as co-host was August 2, 2019. An eight-episode
revival series of Roseanne was developed, with Gilbert as an executive producer. The eight episodes, picked up by
ABC, began airing March 27, 2018. Due to the revival's strong ratings and positive critical reception, a second season was announced. However, on May 29, 2018, in the wake of controversial remarks made by
Roseanne Barr on
Twitter regarding
Valerie Jarrett (an advisor to former president
Barack Obama), ABC cancelled the revival after a single season. Gilbert distanced herself and the show from Barr's tweets. On June 21, 2018, ABC announced that the network had ordered ten episodes of a spin-off of
Roseanne. That series,
The Conners, featuring all of the regular cast except Barr, premiered in October 2018, with Gilbert starring and serving as an executive producer. Gilbert would continue to reprise her role as Darlene and also serve as an executive producer for
The Conners until the series concluded in 2025. In 2019, Gilbert and
Tom Werner, both of whom had been involved in the production of
The Conners (she through her TV arm, him through Werner Entertainment), formed the production company Sara+Tom. Sara + Tom was involved in the production of the eight-episode streaming sitcom
The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh.
Film Gilbert appeared alongside
Drew Barrymore in the films
Poison Ivy (1992) and
Riding in Cars with Boys (2001). Gilbert also had a feature role in
Light It Up in (1999). After the initial run of
Roseanne she had several minor roles, including the short film
$30 (aka
30 Bucks) as part of the
Boys Life 3 feature, and
High Fidelity. She directed her short film
Persona Non Grata in 1998. In 2000, Gilbert appeared in a production of
The Hot L Baltimore as part of the Williamstown (Mass.) theater festival. == Personal life ==