Cher
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- Byname of:
- Cherilyn Sarkisian
- Born:
- May 20, 1946, El Centro, California, U.S. (age 77)
- Awards And Honors:
- Kennedy Center Honors (2018)
- Grammy Award (1999)
- Academy Award (1988)
- Academy Award (1988): Actress in a Leading Role
- Emmy Award (2003): Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special
- Golden Globe Award (1988): Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
- Golden Globe Award (1984): Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
- Golden Globe Award (1974): Best Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
- Grammy Award (2000): Best Dance Recording
- Notable Family Members:
- spouse Sonny Bono
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Cher (born May 20, 1946, El Centro, California, U.S.) American entertainer who parlayed her status as a teenage pop singer into a recording, concert, and acting career.
At age 16 Cher moved to Los Angeles, where she met entertainer and songwriter Salvatore (“Sonny”) Bono, whom she married in 1964. The couple began singing together, and their first big pop hit came in 1965 with “I Got You Babe,” which sold more than three million copies. The duo went on to score a number of hits, but by the late 1960s their popularity had begun to fade. A jump start came in 1971 with the television variety show The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, which ran until 1974. During this time Cher’s solo singing career flourished. Cher and Sonny divorced in 1974, though they appeared as cohosts of another television show in 1976–77.
After Sonny left show business, Cher cultivated a successful nightclub act and revisited an earlier interest in acting. She appeared in the Broadway and film versions of Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) and received an Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in Silkwood (1983). In 1988 she won an Academy Award for her starring role as an Italian American widow in the romantic comedy Moonstruck (1987). Her other films included Mask (1985), Suspect (1987), and Tea with Mussolini (1999). In 2010 she starred opposite Christina Aguilera as a nightclub owner and performer in the musical drama Burlesque, and in the following year she provided the voice of a lioness in the broad comedy Zookeeper. Cher later appeared in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018).
After two successful albums—Cher (1987) and Heart of Stone (1989)—Cher’s music career waned, but she made a comeback with Believe (1998) and Living Proof (2002). In 2000 she won a Grammy Award for the dance single “Believe.” Cher’s enduring popularity was evident with a successful (and elaborate) Las Vegas residency from 2008 to 2011. In 2017 she began another concert residency, in Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. Her later albums included Closer to the Truth (2013). In 2018 Cher was named a Kennedy Center honoree.