<Tr> <Th> Portrayed by </Th> <Th> Seasons </Th> <Th> No. of episodes </Th> <Th> First appearance </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Sabrina LeBeauf </Td> <Td> 2--8; recurring in 1 </Td> <Td> 53 </Td> <Td> "Bonjour Sondra" </Td> </Tr> <P> Sondra Tibideaux (née Huxtable), the eldest daughter of Cliff and Clair, did not appear on screen until mid-way through season one . She did not exist in the pilot episode (Clair: "Why do we have four children?" Cliff: "Because we did not want five .") In her first appearance, she is a sophomore in college, and Cliff notes her to be 20 years old (episode 10), making her birth year 1964 . She earned a degree from Princeton University and had intentions of pursuing a career as a lawyer, like her mother . She married her boyfriend, Elvin Tibideaux, in season four, and later gave birth to twins--a boy and a girl--named after Nelson and Winnie Mandela . More serious, earnest and responsible than the other children, Sondra fits many of the characteristics of the first born from a large family . Though she had her moments of bizarre thinking (e.g. dropping out of law school to open up a wilderness store with Elvin), she'd usually snap out of them relatively quickly . Because of her intelligence level and overachieving nature, she is looked upon by her parents proudly, but also is held to a higher standard than the rest of the children . Sondra appeared sporadically in early seasons of the series due to the character being off at college at the time . </P> <P> Sondra was created when Bill Cosby wanted the show to express the accomplishment of successfully raising a child (e.g. a college graduate). Whitney Houston was considered for the role of Sondra Huxtable . Sabrina LeBeauf almost missed out on the role because she is only 10 years younger (b . 1958) than Phylicia Rashad (b . 1948). </P>

When did sandra appear on the cosby show