Francesca P. Roberts (born December 19, 1953) is an American film and television actress known for playing Big Bertha in the

live action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...

movie ''

Super Mario Bros. is a 1985 Platformer, platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It is the successor to the 1983 arcade game ''Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series. It was origi ...

'' in 1993, as well as Anita Craig in

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sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

TV series ''

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'', which lasted from 1991 to 1992, and Anna-May in ''

Frank's Place ''Frank's Place'' is an American comedy-drama series that aired on CBS for 22 episodes during the 1987-1988 television season. The series was created by Hugh Wilson and executive produced by Wilson and series star and fellow ''WKRP in Cincin ...

''.

Early life and education

Roberts was born on December 19, 1953 in

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but raised in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. The daughter of Margaret B. Roberts (''née'' Gross, 1926–2016) and Bobby Ray Louis Roberts Sr., she had two younger sisters Melanie and Bianca, as well as two younger brothers who are now both deceased, Bobby Jr. and Gregory. She attended three colleges:

University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a Public university, public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. First opened in 1958 as Louisiana State University in New Orleans, it is the largest public university and one of t ...

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of T ...

and L'École de Mime Jacques LeCoq, where she has also studied in

and

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. She did stage work at the North Hollywood's Group Repertory Theatre, New Orleans' Free Southern Theatre, Reseda Megaw Theatre, and with Hollywood's Touchstone Group. Roberts is a graduate of Mount Carmel Academy.

Career

Roberts was originally involved in stage work before appearing on TV. Roberts made her first television appearance in ''

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'' in 1979, only appearing in a minor role. Then she later moved on to make her debut film appearance in ''

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'' (1980), starring John Savage. She would continue on by making numerous TV guest appearances that had main or minor roles, in the likes of '' Private Benjamin'', a show that was based on the film with the same name (1980), '' Fame'', '' The Facts of Life'', ''

'' and ''

''. She would appear in movies, such as the 1993 live-action movie based on the Mario

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

series, ''

'' (1993), playing as "Big Bertha", a bouncer of the Boom Boom Bar, ''

Legally Blonde ''Legally Blonde'' is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic and written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, based on Amanda Brown's novel. It stars Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis, Victo ...

'' (2001) as judge "Marina R. Bickford", and '' Heart of Dixie'' (1989) as "Keefi". She frequently appears in film or TV, playing characters for only just a minimum time. In 1994, Roberts appeared on ''

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'', playing as "Judge Wheatley" in two episodes, "No Justice, No Peace" & "Crunchy Drawers" (season 2). Roberts often plays characters who are courtroom judges in movies or TV.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Francesca P. 1953 births Living people American stage actresses Actresses from New Orleans University of New Orleans alumni Southern Illinois University alumni 21st-century African-American actresses 21st-century American actresses 20th-century African-American actresses 20th-century American actresses