Roseanne Barr

Born: November 3 1952

Where: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

The former dishwasher and comedienne is best known for the American TV series Roseanne...although she had made limited forays onto the big screen.

In Look Who's Talking Too she attracted a Razzle nomination for worst supporting actress and she also starred in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare.

Barr dropped out of high school when she was 17 and, after a car accident, admitted herself into a mental institute claiming she was having nightmares and memory loss.

In less than a year she gave birth to her first daughter Brandi Brown, and gave her up for adoption.

Shortly after, she began working at a restaurant as a dishwasher where her witty comments to customers encouraged her to try her hand at stand-up.

After her first TV appearance on The Tonight Show in 1985, she was given The Roseanne Barr Show which led to the legendary comedy Roseanne.

However, she upset the great American public with a crotch-grabbing performance of The Star Spangled Banner at a baseball game.

She compounded this error of judgement when she left her husband of 16 years for Roseanne co-star Tom Arnold.

Her marriage with Arnold lasted four years before she filed for divorce against him for charges of physical abuse and domestic violence.

Barr had made her big screen debut opposite Meryl Streep in 1989's She-Devil and went on to voice Look Who's Talking Too.

After playing a "childless woman" in Freddy's Dead she played Madame Zoe in Even Cowgirls Get The Blues.

In 1995, she starred alongside Michael J Fox and Lou Reed in Blue in the Face.

Recent work includes the voice of Maggie the cow in the Disney cartoon Home on the Range with Judi Dench and Jennifer Tilly.