Amanda Bearse

Overview

Born
August 9, 1958 · Winter Park, Florida, USA
Height
5′ 4″ (1.63 m)

Biography

Family

Spouse
Children

Trivia

Bearse took up the challenge of television and film directing while appearing on Married... with Children (1987). Between 1991 and 1997, she helmed over 30 episodes of the show and went on to direct episodes of other sitcoms: Reba (2001), Dharma & Greg (1997) and Veronica's Closet (1997).
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 (1987) entitled Lez Be Friends (1997).
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).
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".
Remains close with her co-stars from "Married... With Children". The entire cast, especially Ed O'Neill, were all very supportive of her decision to come out as a lesbian in 1993, as they were all aware of her sexual orientation well before then. Bearse remained grateful for her co-stars' support and for their open-armed acceptance of her, because even into the '90s, a lesbian being in a major prime-time show was something of a taboo.

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.
I loved Marcy, she was near and dear to me, she became more complicated and then less complicated as all the characters did as time went on. It became full-on ludicrous. But I have great affection for her and I really appreciate a lot of the writing that went her way. Hers was a different voice than any of the others on the show... If I'm known as Marcy D'Arcy, I'm proud that people still get a kick out of the show. I can take a moment to say thank you to fans. Because without them I would not have had a career. I just try to find the fun and the blessings in all that comes my way.
[on Married... with Children (1987), 2018] It was a mean-spirited and misogynist show. It was just so completely inappropriate. Today I don't think the show would be produced because it's so globally offensive. Even then it wasn't everybody's cup of tea but for some reason it's had this amazing longevity.
[on casting Hayley Mills in her 2018 Off-Broadway directorial debut] I'm a super fangirl of Hayley Mills. I grew up watching her in the '60s and '70s and the characters that she played were such powerful images for me. Outspoken, self-aware young girls in an era when that wasn't always welcome. When the script got to Hayley we had our fingers crossed.