Sunda Croonquist is an American

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

. She has appeared on '' Comics Unleashed'', '' Premium Blend'', and '' The View''.

Early life

Sunda Croonquist was born in Paterson,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

to an African-American mother and Swedish father. Inspired by her father's career as a musician and having a stage/pageant mother, Croonquist wanted to be an entertainer at a very young age. She was runner up in the Miss America Pageant's preliminary representing the state of

. Years later she again represented New Jersey but this time as "New Jersey's Funniest Female." With a BA in Criminal Justice, Croonquist also worked as a probation and parole review officer in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

. She then worked as a detective while taking acting classes and eventually landed roles in local plays and films.

Comedy career

At a chance encounter in New York City, Croonquist was joking around at a party when she met Jackie Mason, who told her to seriously consider doing

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...

and with her husband's encouragement, took a comedy class and had her first paid gig within weeks. Her first performance was at a club calle
Don't Tell Mama
Croonquist has produced her own comedy shows including: ''Femmes Fatales'' one of the longest running female comedy showcases for New York's Toyota Comedy Festival for eight years. She is also the chairperson for the Annual "Laugh Off", an event that brings awareness to Gilda's Club in Northern New Jersey. This is a cancer support group that was formed by comedian

Gilda Radner Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American actress and comedian. She was one of the seven Saturday Night Live cast members, original cast members of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy series ...

Lawsuit

Croonquist gained attention in the media in August 2009 when her mother-in-law, Ruth Zafrin, filed a lawsuit against her in U.S. District Court for allegedly spreading false,

defamatory Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

and racist lies about Zafrin's family in her stand-up act. Croonquist said she didn't even know she was being taken to court until she was asked, at an audition, to explain the lawsuit. The suit was later tossed out. Per Croonquist's live interview on NBC's ''Today'' on May 9, 2010, she was initially sued by her sister-in-law who then asked her mother, Ruth, to join the lawsuit.

Personal life

Sunda has been married to Mark Zafrin since 1994. The couple have two children that were raised Jewish. Before she met her husband, Croonquist

converted to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( or ) is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. "Thus, by convertin ...

, which he and his mother, her mother-in-law, adhere to.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Croonquist, Sunda American stand-up comedians Living people People from Paterson, New Jersey American people of Swedish descent African-American stand-up comedians Year of birth missing (living people) American women comedians African-American Jews Converts to Judaism Jewish American comedians Jewish women comedians 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 21st-century American Jews African-American female comedians Comedians from Passaic County, New Jersey