Joy Behar facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Joy Behar
Behar in 2010
Born	Josephine Victoria Occhiuto (1942-10-07) October 7, 1942 (age 82) New York City, U.S.
Education	Queens College (BA) Stony Brook University (MA)
Occupation	Comedian television host actress
Years active	1984–present
Known for	The View co-host (1997–2013, 2015–present)
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Joe Behar ​ ​ (m. 1965; div. 1981)​ Steve Janowitz ​ (m. 2011)​
Children	1

Josephine Victoria "Joy" Behar (born October 7, 1942) is an American comedian, television host, and actress. She is best known as one of the hosts of the ABC talk show The View. She has been on the show since it first started in 1997.

For her work on The View, Behar won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2009. She has also hosted her own talk shows, including The Joy Behar Show from 2009 to 2011 and Joy Behar: Say Anything! from 2012 to 2013. She is also an author and has written several books.

Early Life and Education

Joy Behar was born Josephine Victoria Occhiuto in Williamsburg, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. She was the only child in a Roman Catholic family with Italian roots. Her mother, Rose, was a seamstress, and her father, Gino, was a truck driver for Coca-Cola.

Behar went to college and earned a degree in sociology from Queens College in 1964. She later got a master's degree in English education from Stony Brook University in 1966. Before becoming famous, she worked as an English teacher at a high school on Long Island. She also studied acting at the HB Studio.

Career

Starting in Show Business

Behar began her career in the entertainment world in the early 1980s. She first worked as a receptionist for the TV show Good Morning America and later became a producer for the show.

At the same time, she started performing as a stand-up comedian. She appeared on TV shows like Good Morning America and had small roles in movies like Cookie and Manhattan Murder Mystery. She also hosted a radio talk show in New York City.

Hosting The View

The hosts of The View (from left: Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Behar, Sherri Shepherd, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck) interviewing President Barack Obama in 2010.

In 1997, Behar became one of the first hosts of the new daytime talk show The View. The show was created by journalist Barbara Walters. At first, Behar only filled in for Walters, but she soon became a full-time co-host. On the show, she sometimes had her own segment called "Joy's Comedy Corner," where she introduced other comedians.

In 2009, Behar and her co-hosts won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host. This was a big achievement after many years of being nominated.

Behar left The View in 2013 to focus on other projects, like writing a play. However, she returned as a guest host many times. In 2015, ABC announced that she was coming back to the show as a regular co-host, and she has been there ever since.

In 2018, Behar made a comment on the show about Vice President Mike Pence's religious beliefs that some people found offensive. After many viewers complained, she apologized to Pence directly and also apologized on the air. She said, "I was raised to respect everyone's religious faith, and I fell short of that. I sincerely apologize for what I said."

Other Talk Shows

Besides The View, Behar has hosted several other talk shows. From 2009 to 2011, she had her own show on the HLN network called The Joy Behar Show.

In 2012, she launched a new show called Joy Behar: Say Anything! on the Current TV network. The show ended a year later when the network was sold. In 2015, she hosted a weekly late-night show on TLC called Late Night Joy, but it only aired for five episodes.

Acting and Writing

Behar is also an actress and a writer. She has appeared in plays, including The Food Chain and Love, Loss and What I Wore. She also performed her own one-woman show called Me, My Mouth and I. In 2025, her first play, My First Ex-Husband, opened in New York City.

She has written several books. One is a collection of funny stories called Joy Shtick. She also wrote a children's book titled Sheetzucacapoopoo: My Kind of Dog. Behar has also appeared in movies like Hall Pass and was in Woody Allen's TV series, Crisis in Six Scenes.

Personal Life

Behar married Joe Behar in 1965, and they divorced in 1981. They have one daughter, Eve. Joy is also a grandmother to a grandson named Luca.

In 1982, she began dating Steve Janowitz. They were together for many years before getting married in 2011. Behar lives in The Hamptons, a popular area on Long Island, and also has a home in Manhattan. She is a member of the Democratic Party.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

Awards and nominations

See also

• Broadcast journalism
• New Yorkers in journalism