Joy Behar (/ˈbeɪhɑːr/; born Josephina Victoria Occhiuto; October 7, 1942) is an American comedian, writer, actress, and a co-host on the ABC daytime talk show The View. She hosted The Joy Behar Show on HLN from 2009 to 2011 and Joy Behar: Say Anything! on Current TV, from 2012 until the channel switched formats in August 2013. Behar's new weekly late-night talk show, Late Night Joy, premiered on TLC on November 4, 2015.

Early life and career

Behar was born Josephina Victoria Occhiuto in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, to a Catholic family of Italian descent. Her mother, Rose (née Carbone), was a seamstress, and her father, Gino Occhiuto, was a truck driver for Coca-Cola. Behar earned a BA in sociology from Queens College in 1964 and a MA in English education from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1966. From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, she taught English at Lindenhurst Senior High School in Lindenhurst, New York.

Career

Early years

Behar started her career in show business in the early 1980s as a receptionist and later a producer on Good Morning America. She was a stand-up comedian and made appearances on ABC's Good Morning America and The New Show, a short-lived Lorne Michaels NBC project. In 1987, she had a talk show on Lifetime Television called Way Off Broadway and was a host on the show Live from Queens. From there, she continued to work the comedy club circuit, was a regular on NBC's Baby Boom, and had minor film roles including Cookie, This Is My Life, and Manhattan Murder Mystery. She also was a WABC radio talk-show host, and made appearances on HBO comedy specials One Night Stand and Women of the Night 2.