The Cosby Show aired for eight seasons on NBC and while it lasted, the show introduced us to the Huxtable family, an upper middle-class African-American family living in Brooklyn, New York. It was voted the most atypical black family in television history by TV Guide, won a host of awards, and was one of only two American shows to top the Nielsen ratings for five consecutive seasons. As insanely successful as the show was, more so were the stars it launched. One of them is Sabrina Le Beauf who played the eldest child of the Huxtables, Sondra Huxtable.
Beyond the screen, she is also a stage and voice actress with notable works like Nick at Nite animated series Fatherhood, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and The Taming of the Shrew to her credit. These days, she is neck deep into her interior designing business.
Sabrina Le Beauf – How Old Is She?
Sabrina Marie Le Beauf is of Louisiana Creole heritage and was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on the 21st of March, in the year 1958. She was then raised in Los Angeles alongside her brother, Graylan Moore after her family moved to the city of angels shortly after her birth. Growing up, she was fascinated by Shakespeare’s stories and delights in portraying any character from his plays.
Le Beauf completed her high school education at St. Matthias Catholic Girls High School in Huntington Park, California, that was before the institution was moved to the campus of Pius X High School in Downey, California. She proceeded to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where she earned a bachelor of arts degree in theatre arts.
Afterward, she took her love for acting a step further by enrolling at the Yale School of Drama from where she learned all the nuances of stage plays, further honing her skills. She was trained by actor and director, Robert Lewis and also shared classes with future actors such as John Turturro, Charles S. Dutton, and . Finally, she was set for a professional career and started auditioning for roles both on stage and on screen.
Sabrina Le Beauf is possibly single today but was once married. She tied the connubial knots with Michael Reynolds, a Washington D.C. radio producer, a mere six weeks after they met, in 1987. Unfortunately, they divorced in 1996.
Career and The Cosby Show
Sabrina Le Beauf made her acting debut with a stage play performed in a New York theatre. In 1984, she landed a role on the NBC sitcom, The Cosby Show as the eldest daughter of the Huxtable family, Sondra which in turn marked her career breakthrough, placing her on the map of prominence. Her theatre experience gave her an edge over hundreds of other actresses who auditioned for the role, including .
played her mother, Clair Huxtable while took on the role of the Huxtable patriarch, Dr. Cliff. The show aired from 1984 to 1992, and she appeared in 52 episodes. Le Beauf’s performance won her the 1989 Best Young Actress Ensemble in a TV Comedy, Drama Series or Special at the Young Artist Awards.
While her television career progresses, Sabrina Le Beauf did not abandon the theatre. She participated in Love, Loss and What I Wore performed in various theatres including the Westside Theatre in New York, the Delaware Theatre Center and the Scottsdale Centre for the Arts. Le Beauf has also played many roles at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. including Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew, Rosalind in As You Like It, Cordelia in King Lear, Rosaline in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, and Helena in All’s Well That Ends Well.
Her elite performances have also been hosted by many other theatres such as George Street Playhouse, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Goodman Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Rep., San Jose Rep., Arizona Theatre Company and the Chautauqua Theatre Institute. She has also appeared in films such as the TV film Howard Beach: Making a Case for Murder.
On the small screen, Le Beauf appeared in two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1993) as Ensign Giusti and lent her voice to Norma Bindlebeep, the wife of the scientist, Dr. Arthur Bindlebeep voiced by on the animated sitcom Fatherhood. In addition, she hosted several TV shows including In Your Own Backyard, E! Style Television’s Homes With Style and was also doubled as the east coast correspondent cum host for the Oregon Public TV series Smart Gardening.
Where Is She Now?
After The Cosby Show ran its course, Sabrina Le Beauf decided to follow her other life’s passion, interior design. She registered for a professional interior design program at her alma mater UCLA and launched her own interior design business following her studies, though she still continued with acting.
She took part in the Sundance Theatre Lab and the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference where she was both a script reader and performer. Also, her interior designing knowledge came in handy when she hosted In Your Own Backyard and Homes with Style. Sabrina Le Beauf lives in New York where her business is growing in leaps and bounds.
While interior designing may seem like an off the bar career for someone with an acting background, Le Beauf said in an interview that she finds as much fulfillment therein as she did in acting.
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