Crystal's birthday was on September 30, 1961. She was born to Jerry Wayne and Gaylon Bernard in Garland, Texas. Her musical career began early, when she began singing at her father's revival meetings at the age of three. Crystal has aways had a positive attitude about life which was undoubtedly formed during this time growing up with her close-knit family.

Crystal, along with her sister Robyn and her dad, formed the Bernard Trio and had recorded 12 Gospel albums by the time she was 14. When country singer Bobbie Gentry happened to catch one of the Trio's performances, she asked the two girls to be backup singers for her in her Las Vegas show. This experience only whetted Crystal's appetite for performing and when she returned home she also began to study acting at Houston's Alley Theatre in addition to her music.

At 18, Crystal enrolled at Baylor University in Texas, majoring in drama and international relations (she even studied abroad one summer in Paris and London).

But Hollywood would not wait. She moved to Los Angeles and was soon finding work in commercials (for Pepsi), movies (1982's Young Doctors In Love) and TV (on Happy Days '82-'83 season cast there by Young Doctors' director Garry Marshall). Crystal also appeared in guest spots on several '80's TV series (see filmography) before being cast as Amy on It's A Living during its '85-'89 run in syndication. Most recently, for eight seasons, ('90-'98) she played Helen Chappel on NBC's Wings. Crystal has also starred in several made-for-TV movies including As Good As Dead (1994), A Face To Die For (1999) and To Love, Honor And Betray (1999). Crystal's latest movie was for the Hallmark Channel, "Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus" (2004) co-starring with Steve Guttenberg.

During this time, Crystal's aspirations for a music career were not forgotten. She wrote songs and recorded demo tapes in her home studio. Several of the songs were recorded by major stars including Paula Abdul and Lisa Stansfield and Crystal's duet with Peter Cetera led to two albums by Crystal for Cetera's record company, River North. Both albums, The Girl Next Door and Don't Touch Me There were well-received and Crystal went on tour in support of the first.

Crystal appeared in a live production of Crimes Of The Heart in November, 1999 at Burbank, Ca.'s Falcon Theater. The play was directed by Garry Marshall and co-starred Morgan Fairchild and Faith Ford. Summer 2001 saw Crystal appearing as Annie Oakley in the stage musical of Annie Get Your Gun. The road production toured several cities in the southern U.S. in the spring and then Crystal replaced Reba Mcintyre on Broadway for two months.

As of this writing, Crystal is living in Los Angeles. It's unknown whether she will return on a series or continue making movies. Whichever it is, I'll try and keep everyone updated.

links

• Mike's Hard to Find Actresses Page
• The Girl Next Door
• Forever Crystal