Sandahl Bergman (born November 14, 1951) is an American actress and dancer. Trained as a dancer, she first gained recognition performing on Broadway before transitioning to film roles. She attracted early film attention for her appearance in the dance sequence âÂÂAir Eroticaâ in Bob FosseâÂÂs film All That Jazz (1979). Bergman achieved wider recognition for her role as Valeria, Queen of Thieves, in the fantasy film Conan the Barbarian (1982), for which she received a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year â Actress.
Before her film career, Bergman appeared in several stage productions and musicals, including Broadway productions such as Pippin, A Chorus Line, and Dancin'. Known for her athletic dancing and physical screen roles, she transitioned from stage work into film during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Bergman was born November 14, 1951, in Kansas City, Missouri. She was raised in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. Her parents were Howard Bergman and Polly Bergman, and she had a younger sister, Nanci Lee. The family lived in Prairie Village, Kansas.
Bergman attended Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village. She began studying dance at the age of five, training in classical ballet, jazz, tap, and flamenco, and later studied flamenco with dancer José Greco. She began performing at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City at age twelve and later joined a touring production of West Side Story at age sixteen.
Standing , Bergman has often been described as athletic and statuesque.
Bergman began performing as a dancer in Kansas City, appearing in productions at Starlight Theatre as a teenager. At age sixteen she joined a touring production of West Side Story.
Early in her career she also worked as a dancer on television variety programs including The Dean Martin Show, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, and Donny & Marie.
She later moved to New York City and appeared in several Broadway productions. Choreographer Bob Fosse noticed her and cast her as a replacement dancer in Pippin. She had a secondary lead in the stage version of the film Gigi in 1973, and later appeared in Mack & Mabel, and as Judy in the "new New York cast" of A Chorus Line when many of the original actors left the show in 1977.
Fosse cast Bergman again in his critically acclaimed dance concert/musical Dancin' (1978), which featured many of the leading dancers on Broadway at the time.
Early in her career she appeared as a dancer in the film Mame (1974).<
Bergman's movie career began in 1978 with a small role in the television film How to Pick Up Girls!. She followed that with the Bob Fosse film All That Jazz (1979), in which she was a featured performer in the "Take Off with Us" sequence. In the film Xanadu (1980), she appears as one of the nine immortal Muses during the opening song "I'm Alive" by ELO, as well as in the film's final title number "Xanadu".
Bergman's participation in Xanadu also led indirectly to her eviction from her apartment in New York and subsequent relocation to California. She had been subletting her apartment in New York in violation of a clause in her rental contract, and during the four months she spent in California filming the movie, her landlord became aware of the arrangement. Bergman later said she did not return to New York and instead had friends pack and ship her belongings to her.
Her best-known role is playing Valeria opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the fantasy film Conan the Barbarian (1982). For her performance she received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year â Actress and the Saturn Award for Best Actress. Because no stunt women could be found to match her size, Bergman performed her own stunt work. Preparation for the role included extensive physical conditioning and sword training. She later recalled the demanding filming conditions, stating that she nearly lost a finger during a sword-fighting scene.
In 1984 she played the title role in the post-apocalyptic comedy adventure She. The following year she appeared as Queen Gedren in Red Sonja (1985). Although she had initially been offered the title role, she chose instead to play the villain.
Bergman subsequently appeared in a number of low-budget films, including the comedy Stewardess School (1986), the post-apocalyptic film Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988), and the neo-noir film Raw Nerve (1991). Other appearances include a lunar base officer in ', the music video "Heavy Metal Love" by the band Helix, and the Fred Olen Ray film Possessed by the Night (1994). She also made guest appearances on television series including Hart to Hart and performed in a dance sequence choreographed by Stanley Donen in an episode of Moonlighting.
Her most recent film work came in 2003 when she appeared as a dancer in the film adaptation of The Singing Detective.
Bergman also worked as an instructor for the FIRM series of exercise videos in the 1980s.
Bergman later retired from acting but has occasionally appeared at science-fiction conventions.