Joy Weber

    

Joy Weber MP
Weber in 2021
Member of the K.S. House of Commons for Western Coachella Valley (Inland Empire's 7th District)
Incumbent
Assumed office May 1, 2020
Preceded by	Bristol Sousa
Majority	3,495 (1.64%)
Personal details
Born	Joy Roxanne Faberman (1957-02-04) February 4, 1957 Porciúncula, Gold Coast, K.S.
Political party	Social Democrats
Spouse(s)	Simon Weber (m. 1995)
Children	5
Residence	Palm Desert, Inland Empire, K.S.
Education	University of La Verne (AA) University of Sierra, Riverside (BA)
Religion	Reform Judaism

Joy Roxanne Weber (née Faberman; born February 4, 1957) is a Jewish-Sierran actress, comedian, activist, and politician who is the current MP for Western Coachella Valley (Inland Empire's 7th district), serving since 2020. Weber is known for her role as Sally Winters in the television sitcom Meet the Family, which she co-created and co-produced with showrunner Zachary Daniels. She is a member of the Social Democrats of Sierra and served as the president of the SFI–CLO from 2012 to 2016.

Weber made her debut in acting as a stand-up comedian on San Francisco Live in 1976 and later appeared in a number of supporting roles including The Big Blow-Out (1979) and Girl from Goleta (1982). She achieved greater fame and recognition as Sally Winters in Meet the Family, for which she won two Telly Awards and three Sierran Choice Awards for her role during the show's run.

In the 2000s, Weber became a prominent labor rights activist and publicly announced her "semi-retirement" from acting by 2008. During the 2010s, Weber rose in leadership within the Sierran labor movement. She was elected president of the United Sierran Actors Union in 2004 and later became president of the SFI–CLO from 2012 to 2016.

In May 2020, Weber was elected MP for Western Coachella Valley, defeating Democratic-Republican incumbent Bristol Sousa in 2020. She was reelected in 2021. During the premiership of Susan Kwon, Weber has served a number of leadership positions in the House, including deputy chair of the House Committee on Commerce and Labor and a party whip.

Early life and education

Weber was born on February 4, 1957, in the Westlake neighborhood of Porciúncula to Rosalind Faberman (née Klein), a beautician, and Harold Faberman, a delicatessen owner. Her family is Jewish and their origins are from South and Central Europe. Her maternal great-grandmother was born in Romania and immigrated to the Kingdom of Sierra prior to Great War I, while her father's family came from Poland after Great War I. She has two older siblings, Joseph and Hilda.

She attended Edward F. Spence High School in Westlake and attended the University of La Verne before transferring to the University of Sierra, Riverside. In 1977, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in accounting. She worked as an accountant for Porciúncula County before quitting and becoming a licensed esthetician. In 1979, she returned to community college to take acting classes where she met her future husband, Simon Weber, who was a guest speaker for one of her classes.

Acting career

Early career

Weber began acting as a member of Pasadena City College theatre troupe where she played both comedic and dramatic roles. She became a recurring cast member for the school's improv crew and began performing at local gigs and venues as a stand-up comedian. She appeared as an extra on several television shows including Luck of the Draw and Who Dunnit?. Her comedic acts as a stand-up caught the attention of San Francisco Live producer Shannon Finley who encouraged her to audition for the television show's casting event in Providencia. Weber stated her audition consisted of her doing a comedic piece centered on her own upbringing in a working-class Jewish household and experiences in Westlake.

San Francisco Live and film roles

Main article: San Francisco Live

In 1976, Weber began to appear on SBC's San Francisco Live as one of the in-house stand-up comedians. Her segments featured Weber playing various roles, including the character Delma, whose fictional biography was inspired from Weber's own life experiences. Her popularity among viewers led her to attain a more permanent role on the show as she became a regular cast member and feature on the show's various skits and programs.

Her regular appearances and popularity on San Francisco Live saw her transition from a stand-up comedian to a character actress on the show and other projects in Hollywood. She made her first appearance in film as a supporting character in Security Guard (1977), Tuesdays at Tiff's (1978), and The Journalist (1979). She received nominations for Best Supporting Actress in The Big Blow-Out (1979) and Girl from Goleta (1982) respectively.

Meet the Family

Weber at the 1996 Tellys, holding dolls of Meet the Family character Sally Winters

In 1991, Weber and longtime Shannon Finley created their own television show Meet the Family. The show premiered on SBC and aired from 1991 to 2000 for 8 seasons. In the sitcom, Weber played a street-smart woman named Sally Winters who inadvertently becomes the maid for the fictional Sierran noble family, the Fields. Her down-to-earth, witty, and blunt personality initially clashes with the high society pretentiousness and eloquence of the family. Over the course of the series, Sally Winters becomes an integral part of family intrigue and business, and marries the Fields' widowed patriarch, Nathaniel, Marquis of Sawtelle.

The series was widely acclaimed and became one of the most widely viewed television series during the 1990s. Weber won two Telly Awards for Best Actress and three Sierran Choice Awards for Best Television Actress for her role as Sally Winters.

Post-Meet the Family career

After the Meet the Family ended in 2000 with its series finale, Weber announced she would take a hiatus in acting to focus her attention as a "loving mother and wife". In 2002, she made a return to television with both leading and guest roles. She starred in a new sitcom Keep it Kosher but the show was cancelled after airing for only one season due to low ratings.

In 2004, she became a celebrity judge on Tokki Network's The Big Breakthrough. She also lent her voice to a number of animated series including the English dub for the 2004 Japanese-Sierran anime Robball Saves the World. In 2009, she guest-starred in the first season of Dumb Justice as a client with pyromaniac tendencies.

Political career

Drescher attending a pro-LGBT rights event in 2009

Member of Parliament

After Weber was elected in the 2020 federal election, she lobbied for increasing the federal minimum wage to $20, expanding labor rights, and funding multi-family housing in her district. She was assigned to the House Committee on Finance, Monetary Policy, and Community Development and the House Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Family. She co-sponsored the National Health Protection Act of 2020 and introduced 18 other bills before the House. Following her reelection in 2021, she was made deputy chair of the House Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Family and chair of the House Subcommittee on Labor Rights and Unions.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Family (deputy chair)
  • Subcommittee on Labor Rights and Unions (chair)
• Committee on Finance, Monetary Policy, and Community Development

Caucus memberships

• Parliamentary LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus
• Parliamentary Progressive Caucus
• New Democratic Alliance
• Southwest Parliamentary Conference

Political positions

Abortion

Weber supports abortion rights and stated that she believes the federal government should "fully subsidize" a woman's ability to have an abortion. She voted against legislation introduced in the House that would ban partial-birth abortion and has advocated expanding abortion rights in the Deseret. Following the K.S. Supreme Court's ruling on Boulangier v. the Deseret, she stated that "abortion rights" were the next constitutional rights to "logically expand" into the Deseret.

Foreign relations

Weber supports closer relations with the United Commonwealth and other countries in the Landonist bloc. She opposes the informal relations between the Kingdom of Sierra and the Antilles although stated that she supported the Antillean right of self-determination. She is a soft ameroskeptic and has criticized the Conference of American States for "eroding workers' rights" at the expense of corporate interest groups. She supports downsizing Sierran involvement and financing to NTO.

Labor rights and unions

Weber supports strengthening labor unions and improving working conditions for employees. She has cited her previous position as president of SAFL–CIO and Big Labor as evidence of her commitment to the labor movement. In Parliament, she has supported Kwon's measures to give the right of first refusal for workers facing closing businesses, banning employers from holding mandatory captive audiences of its workers in union elections, curbing certain union-busting activities, and promoting more sectoral bargaining nationwide. She has supported raising the federal minimum wage to $20 and believes that the Kingdom of Sierra should consider adopting the Ghent system with regards to unemployment benefits.

LGBT rights

Weber has been a longtime supporter of LGBT rights, which she attributed to her older sister who came out as lesbian in 1994. She praised the judicial outcome of Boulangier v. the Deseret, stating that marriage was a fundamental right for "all loving adults". She has stated she was proud to be an ally and a representative of Western Coachella Valley, which is home to the largest LGBTQ+ community in the Kingdom of Sierra outside San Francisco City and Porciúncula.

Monarchy

Weber is a republican and has indicated her support for the abolition of the monarchy. She stated that abolition was "admittedly a low priority" in 2021 compared to other issues and has expressed "gratitude" for the public service demonstrated by members of the Sierran royal family including from Queen Elizabeth II.

Personal life

Joy Weber with her husband, Simon

Weber is married to British-Sierran playwright Simon Weber and starred in Simon Weber's 2006 musical Hotel Santa Barbara. They have five children together, with three from Simon Weber's previous marriage, and twins in their current marriage. They live in Palm Desert, Inland Empire, and previously lived in Porciúncula.

In 2011, Weber was cited for misdemeanor disorderly conduct after she heckled MP Kenneth O'Conner at a Royalist-sponsored political rally in Palm Springs. The charge was later dismissed by the Coachella Valley district attorney's office after it determined Weber was exercising her constitutional right of free speech.

She is a practicing Reform Jew and attends the Temple of the Desert in Pawnee.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	Security Guard	Valley Girl #2
1978	Tuesday at Tiff's	Eugenie Kalpatrick
1979	The Journalist	Susie
1979	The Big Blow-Out	Jennifer Spoons
1982	Girl from Goleta	Becky Holcomb
1985	House Doctor	Nurse June
2003	Jenny's Like That	Brooks
2004	Wandering Soul	Local Reporter
2009	My Grandma's Home	Cousin Shira

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976–1984, 1988, 1994	San Francisco Live	Herself/Various roles	Repertory player (Season 7–15); guest role (Season 19 and 25)
1991–2000	Meet the Family	Sally Winters	Main role, 208 episodes plus special

Electoral history

• Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding

2020

Main article: 2020 Sierran federal election

2020 federal election: Western Coachella Valley (Inland Empire's 7th district)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democrats	Joy Weber	49,192	39.42	+6.6
	Democratic-Republican	Bristol Sousa (incumbent)	45,697	36.63	-5.4
	Royalist	Gaylord Heathcock	11,484	9.20	-0.8
	Christian Democratic	Heather Martinez	9,293	7.44	+1.1
	Independent	Others	9,103	7.30	+0.1
Majority			3,495	1.64	-2.3
Total votes			128,264	100.00
	Social Democrats gain from Democratic-Republican		Swing	+4.6

2021

Main article: 2021 Sierran federal election

2021 federal election: Western Coachella Valley (Inland Empire's 7th district)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democrats	Joy Weber (incumbent)	50,202	39.13	-0.29
	Democratic-Republican	Bristol Sousa	44,224	34.47	-2.16
	Royalist	Brian O'Leary	12,334	9.61	+0.41
	Christian Democratic	Heather Martinez	11,485	8.95	+1.51
	Independent	Others	10,039	7.82	+2.32
Majority			5,978	4.66	-0.84
Total votes			128,284	100.00	+3.02
	Social Democrats hold		Swing

2022

Main article: 2022 Sierran federal election

See also

• Women in the House of Commons of the Kingdom of Sierra

Trade union offices
Preceded by Lance Hoffman	President of the United Sierran Actors Union 2004–2010	Succeeded by Katie Ramirez
Preceded by Sebastian Cardenas	Secretary-Treasurer of the SFI–CLO 2010–2012	Succeeded by Hank Dampsey
Preceded by Gary Molstad	President of the SFI–CLO 2012–2016	Succeeded by Jonathan Wu
Parliament of the Kingdom of Sierra
Preceded by Bristol Sousa	Member of Parliament for Western Coachella Valley (Inland Empire's 7th district) 2020–present	Incumbent