Katey Sagal (born January 19, 1954) is an American actress and singer. She is known for playing Peg Bundy on Married... with Children (1987–1997), Turanga Leela on Futurama (1999–2003, 2008–2013, 2023–present), Cate Hennessy on 8 Simple Rules (2002–2005), Gemma Teller Morrow on the FX series Sons of Anarchy (2008–2014), for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama in 2011, and Louise Goldufski-Conner on The Conners (2018–2025).
Her godfather was sitcom producer and writer Norman Lear. In 2016, both Sagal and Lear acknowledged that she was not only his goddaughter, but that he also introduced her parents to each other. Sagal has described herself as "culturally Jewish" but with no "formal religious experience."
Sagal graduated from Palisades High School. After graduation, she attended the California Institute of the Arts until 1972.
She was a member of the music group the Harlettes, Bette Midler's backup singers, in 1978, and again from 1982 to 1983.
She performed the song "It's the Time for Love" that appears in the film Silent Rage (1982) featuring Chuck Norris. During the filming of 1983's Valley Girl, Sagal was scheduled to sing at The Central. Her name can be seen in the schedule of upcoming acts, posted inside the door. Sagal also provided the vocals for "Loose Cannons," the theme song for the 1990 film of the same name featuring Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd.
On April 19, 1994, Sagal released her first solo album, Well.... On June 1, 2004, she released her second album, Room.
She has also contributed to the Sons of Anarchy soundtrack in the early 2010s, working with its house band The Forest Rangers (Davey Faragher/bass, John Philipe Shenale (Phil Shenale)/keyboards, Billy Harvey/guitar-vocals, Michael Urbano/drums, Bob Thiele Jr./vocals-guitar) with songs that became part of its soundtrack albums ( , , , and ) and singles.
She worked with the band for her album Covered (2013). For their live performances The Forest Rangers have occasionally used the name The Reluctant Apostles.
The 2019 single "Mayans MC: Black is Black" from Mayans M.C. was performed by Sagal and The Forest Rangers.
Sagal guest-starred as Edna Hyde, Steven Hyde's mother, in three episodes of That '70s Show. She starred in the short-lived NBC sitcom Tucker in 2000.
Sagal was cast as the wife of John Ritter in the sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter in 2002. Ritter had completed only three episodes of the second season before his death, and the show was canceled in 2005 after its third season.
In 2005 and 2006, Sagal made four appearances on Lost as Helen Norwood. In 2007, she had a role in the season finale of The Winner as Glen Abbot's former teacher, with whom Glen has his first sexual experience.
In 2013, Sagal had a cameo on Glee as Nancy Abrams, Artie Abrams' mother. She co-starred in Pitch Perfect 2, released in 2015, as the mother of Hailee Steinfeld's character. Next she appeared in the biography drama film Bleed for This, as the mother of .
On September 9, 2014, Sagal received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; the Married... with Children cast – Ed O'Neill, Christina Applegate, and David Faustino – were present to celebrate the actor's recognition.
In 2021, Sagal played the lead role of Annie "Rebel" Bello in the ABC drama series Rebel, which was written by Krista Vernoff. Due to low ratings, ABC cancelled Rebel after airing five episodes.
On February 9, 2022, Hulu announced that they would be reviving Futurama for a 20-episode 11th season run set to premiere in 2023 with Sagal returning as the voice of Leela.
In 2023, Sagal appeared live off-broadway in The Gospel According to Heather, which was written by Paul Gordon, directed by Rachel Klein and produced by Amas Musical Theatre and Jim Kierstead.
In 1991, while working on Married... with Children, Sagal discovered that she was pregnant. This was unexpected and the pregnancy was written into the storyline of the show. In October 1991, however, she had to have an emergency caesarean section in her seventh month of pregnancy, ending in the stillbirth of a daughter. The showrunners did not want to subject a grieving Sagal to further stress by interacting with an infant during filming, so the pregnancy on the show (as well as the pregnancy of co-star Amanda Bearse's character) was then treated as a "dream sequence," which was mentioned only briefly at the end of the episode "Al Bundy, Shoe Dick." Sagal and White eventually had two children—a daughter, Sarah Grace, in 1994, and a son, Jackson James White, in 1996. The writers of Married... with Children purposely did not write Sagal's two later pregnancies into the show due to the stillbirth, opting instead to write off her absences in a subplot in which Peg is traveling the world to reunite her parents. In scenes where Peg was shown, Sagal had her midsection obscured, such as when she was sitting in a taxi or at a craps table in Las Vegas and was often seen or heard talking to family members over the phone. E! True Hollywood Story Married... with Children
The loss of her stillborn daughter Ruby was the inspiration to write the lyrics for "(You) Can't Hurry the Harvest". Sagal recorded this song on her debut album, Well..., which was released in April 1994.
In June 2016, the Human Rights Campaign released a video in tribute to the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting; in the video, Sagal and others told the stories of the people killed there.
She was the subject of an episode of the television genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? in 2016.
1987 | Maid to Order | Louise | |
1988 | The Good Mother | Ursula | |
1999 | Smart House | PAT | |
2000 | Dropping Out | Wendy | |
2001 | Mrs. Flo Spinelli | Voice | |
2002 | Following Tildy | Connie St. John | Short film |
2006 | I'm Reed Fish | Maureen | |
2007 | Turanga Leela | Voice Direct to video | |
2008 | |||
Turanga Leela/Leegola | |||
2009 | Turanga Leela | ||
House Broken | Mary Cathkart | ||
Jack and the Beanstalk | Mrs. Thatcher | ||
2014 | There's Always Woodstock | Lee Ann | |
2015 | Pitch Perfect 2 | Katherine Junk | |
2016 | Bleed for This | Louise Pazienza | |
2022 | Torn Hearts | Harper Dutch | |
2025 | Trust |
1971 | The Failing of Raymond | Girl patient | Credited as Catherine Louise Sagal |
1972 | Young nurse | Credited as Katie Sagal | |
1973 | Columbo | Secretary | Episode: "Candidate for Crime" (credited as Katie Sagal) |
1974 | Larry | Cashier | TV film |
1975 | The Dream Makers | Unemployment manager | |
1985–1986 | Mary | Jo Tucker | 13 episodes |
1987–1997 | Married... with Children | Peggy Bundy | Main role |
1990 | Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme | Mary Quite Contrary | TV movie |
Tales from the Crypt | Ms. Kilbasser | Episode: "For Cryin' Out Loud" | |
The Earth Day Special | Peggy Bundy | ||
1991 | She Says She's Innocent (Violation of Trust) | Susan Essex | TV movie |
1995 | Trail of Tears | Annie Cook | |
Nachtshow | Episode: "February 10th, 1995" | ||
Duckman | Ivana Duckman | Voice, episode: "The Germ Turns" | |
1996 | Space Cases | Ma | Voice, episode: "Mother Knows Best" |
1997–2001 | Recess | Flo Spinelli | Voice, 3 episodes |
1998 | Rugrats | Additional voices | 1 episode |
Chance of a Lifetime | Irene Dunbar | TV movie | |
Mr. Headmistress | Harriet Magnum | ||
1999 | No Higher Love | Ellen Young | |
Smart House | Pat | ||
That '70s Show | Edna Hyde | 3 episodes | |
1999–present | Futurama | Turanga Leela | Voice, main role |
2000 | Tucker | Claire Wennick | 13 episodes |
2001 | The Geena Davis Show | Ashley | Episode: "Girls' Night Out" |
2002 | Imagine That | Barb Thompson | 2 episodes |
2002–2005 | 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter | Cate S. Hennessy | 76 episodes |
2004 | When Angels Come to Town | Jo | TV movie |
2004–2006 | Higglytown Heroes | Monica the Police Officer | 3 episodes |
2005 | Three Wise Guys | Shirley Crown | TV movie |
Campus Confidential | Naomi Jacobs | ||
Ghost Whisperer | Francie Lewis | Episode: "Undead Comic" | |
2005–2007 | The Shield | Nancy Gilroy | 2 episodes |
2005–2010 | Lost | Helen Norwood | 4 episodes |
2006 | Boston Legal | Barbara Little | 5 episodes |
The Search for the Funniest Mom in America | Host | Reality show | |
2007 | The Winner | Lydia Berko | Episode: "Hot for Teacher" |
2008 | Eli Stone | Marci Klein | 2 episodes |
Annabelle Bundt/Natasha Steele | Episode: "Two and a Half Deaths" | ||
2008–2014 | Sons of Anarchy | Gemma Teller Morrow | 92 episodes |
2010 | Chadam | Sandy | Web series |
2013 | Glee | Nancy Abrams | Episode: "Wonder-ful" |
2014 | The Simpsons | Turanga Leela | Voice, episode: "Simpsorama" |
2014–2015 | Regular Show | Mordecai's Mom, Aunt Maxine | Voice, 2 episodes A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. |
A to Z | Narrator | Voice, 13 episodes | |
2015 | The Bastard Executioner | Annora of the Alders | 10 episodes |
2016 | The Big Bang Theory | Susan | Episode: "The Conjugal Conjecture" |
This Is Us | Lanie Schultz | Episode: "The Big Three" | |
2016–2017 | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Karen Peralta | 2 episodes |
2017 | Dirty Dancing | Vivian Pressman | TV movie |
2017–2018 | Superior Donuts | Randy DeLuca | Main role |
2018 | Spirit Riding Free | Butch LePray | Voice |
Mayans M.C. | Gemma Teller-Morrow | Episode: "Perro/Oc" | |
2018–2019 | Shameless | Dr. Ingrid Jones | 7 episodes |
2018–2025 | The Conners | Louise Goldufski-Conner | Recurring role |
2019 | Grand Hotel | Teresa Williams | 3 episodes |
2020–2022 | Dead to Me | Eleanor Hale | |
2021 | Rebel | Annie "Rebel" Bello | Main role |
2022 | Tell Me Lies | Nora (Stephen's mom) | 2 episodes |
2025 | One Piece | Dr. Kureha | Season 2; Filming |
1976 | The Group with No Name - Moon Over Brooklyn | — |
1978 | Gene Simmons - Gene Simmons
| Billboard 200 Albums – 22 |
1994 | Well...
| Top Heatseekers – 33 |
2004 | Room
| — |
2009 |
| Top Independent Albums — 33 Top Soundtracks — 23 |
2013 | Covered
| — |
1989 | American Comedy Awards | Funniest Female Performer in a TV Series | Married... with Children | rowspan=6 |
1991 | Golden Globe Award | Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy | ||
1992 | ||||
1993 | ||||
American Comedy Awards | Funniest Female Performer in a TV Series | |||
1994 | Golden Globe Award | Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy | ||
2005 | Prism Awards | Performance in a Comedy Series | 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter | rowspan=2 |
2009 | TV Land Awards | Innovation Award (Shared with: Christina Applegate, David Faustino, Ted McGinley, Ed O'Neill) | Married... with Children | |
2010 | Television Critics Association Awards | Individual Achievement in Drama | Sons of Anarchy | rowspan=2 |
Satellite Awards | Best Actress – Television Series Drama | |||
2011 | Golden Globe Award | |||
Prism Awards | rowspan=4 | |||
Satellite Awards | ||||
Critics' Choice Television Award | Best Actress in a Drama Series | |||
2012 | ||||
2013 | Prism Awards | Female Performance in a Drama Series Multi-Episode Storyline | ||
2014 | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Star on the Walk of Fame |
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