Katey Sagal

Katey Sagal (born January 19th, 1954) is a multiple Golden Globe nominated American actress and singer-songwriter, best known for portraying Peggy Bundy on Married... with Children. She is also known for her roles as Cate S. Hennessy on 8 Simple Rules, Turanga Leela on Futurama, and Gemma Teller Morrow on Sons of Anarchy.

Early life
Katey Sagal was born Catherine Louise Sagal in Hollywood, California, to a Jewish show business family of five children including younger sisters Jean and Liz Sagal, a pair of twin actresses. Their parents died before Katey Sagal turned 25: Mother Sara Zwilling, a writer and producer, of heart disease, and father Boris Sagal, a director, in an accident on the set of the television movie World War III. Sagal and her siblings grew up in the Mandeville Canyon section of Brentwood, Los Angeles. She studied at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California.

Career
Sagal began her career working the Hollywood circuit. She appeared in several made for TV movies between 1971 and 1975, including a small role as a receptionist in the Columbo film Candidate for Crime (directed by her father) and in 1973 working as a backing vocalist for various singers, including Bob Dylan and Tanya Tucker.

In 1978, Kiss bassist Gene Simmons asked her to sing background vocals on his self-titled solo album. During this time she was also a member of the rock group The Group With No Name. She also sang backup for Bette Midler, who hired her for her 1979 tour as one of The Harlettes.

Sagal returned to television in 1985 in the television series Mary starring Mary Tyler Moore. This led to her being cast as Peggy Bundy on the sitcom Married... with Children (1987–1997). She portrayed the lower-class, sex-starved wife of shoe salesman Al Bundy. During her audition for the role, Sagal brought her own red bouffant wig and with the producers' approval, the look transitioned into the show. As Peg, she wore the wig, capri-length leggings with a large belt, and high slip-on heels, which were all fashion styles from the 1960s. Sagal's career focused strongly on this series for its 11-year run.

After the end of Married... with Children, several more television films followed, and she also contributed to the children's cartoon Recess as the voice of Spinelli's mother. In 1999, Matt Groening cast her as the purple-haired, cycloptian spaceship captain, Turanga Leela, in his science fiction cartoon comedy Futurama. The show developed a cult following, but was canceled after four seasons. However, airings in syndication on Adult Swim and Comedy Central increased the show's popularity and led Comedy Central to commission a series of Futurama direct-to-DVD films, which the network later rebroadcast as 16 episodes. Sagal reprised her role as Leela in these films and in the new season that began airing June 24, 2010.

Sagal also guest starred as Edna Hyde, Steven Hyde's mother, in three 1999 episodes of That '70s Show. She starred in the short-lived NBC sitcom Tucker the following year. In the Disney Channel movie Smart House, she played a computerized maid that develops sentience.

Sagal was cast as the wife of John Ritter in the sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter in 2002. Following Ritter's death in 2003, Sagal carried most of the show (with help from new cast members David Spade and James Garner). Ritter completed only three episodes of the second season of 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, with Sagal introducing each episode. The show was cancelled in 2005 after its third season.

In 2005, she made two guest appearances on Lost, playing John Locke's (Terry O'Quinn) fiancee, Helen Norwood; one guest appearance on CBS' Ghost Whisperer; and another on The Shield, which she reprised in 2007. She hosted The Search for the Funniest Mom In America 2 and had a recurring role on Boston Legal.

In 2007, she had a role in the season finale of The Winner as Glen Abbot's former, and Josh's current, teacher, with whom Glen has his first sexual experience. The following year, she appeared in four episodes of Eli Stone as Marci Klein, one of the founding partners of the show's law firm. She has a starring role as Gemma Teller Morrow on the TV show Sons of Anarchy, created by her husband, Kurt Sutter.

In January 2009, Sagal reunited with her TV son David Faustino (Bud Bundy from Married with Children) for an episode of Faustino's show Star-ving. In 2010, she appeared twice more on Lost.

Musical career
Sagal is also a songwriter. In 1976, while a member of The Group With No Name, she contributed to the album Moon over Brooklyn. She also performed backing vocals on the self-titled solo album by Gene Simmons as well as background vocals on Olivia Newton-John's 1985 single "Soul Kiss". On April 19, 1994, she released her first solo album, Well.... Ten years later, on June 1, 2004, she released her second album, Room.

Personal life
Sagal was married to Freddie Beckmeier (1978–1981) and Jack White (November 26, 1993 – July 24, 2000). In 1991, Sagal discovered she was pregnant. This was unexpected by the directors of Married... with Children, so the pregnancy was written into the storyline of the show. However, in October 1991, she had to have an emergency Caesarean section in her seventh month of pregnancy, ending in the stillbirth of a daughter, whom Sagal named Ruby Jean. The pregnancy on the show was then regarded as a "dream". She also had an early miscarriage around this time. She and White eventually had a daughter named Sarah Grace (born on August 7, 1994) and a son named Jackson James (born on March 1, 1996).

Sagal married writer-producer Kurt Sutter in a private ceremony on October 2, 2004, at their home in Los Feliz, California. They had a daughter, Esme Louise, born January 10, 2007.