Joy Behar

Joy Behar (born Josephina Victoria Occhiuto; born October 7, 1942) is an American comedian, writer, actress, and a co-host of the talk show The View. Behar had a commentary program, entitled The Joy Behar Show, on CNN's sister network, HLN. It was cancelled on November 17, 2011. Behar, an Italian-American, was born Josephina Victoria Occhiuto in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on October 7, 1942. Her mother, Rose (née Carbone), was a seamstress, and her father, Gino Occhiuto, was a truck driver for Coca-Cola. Her grandfather was Giuseppe Occhiuto born in Fagnano Castello, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy. She started off her career as a teacher at Lindenhurst High School. There she taught English class. Joy Behar got her start in show business in the early 1980s as a stand up comedian, including 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'. From there she continued to work the comedy club circuit, was a regular on NBC's Baby Boom, and had minor film rolls including Cookie, This Is My Life, and Manhattan Murder Mystery. She also was a WABC (AM) radio talk show host,