Joanna Kerns facts for kids

Joanna Kerns is an American actress and director. She is most famous for playing Maggie Seaver in the TV show Growing Pains. This popular family sitcom aired on ABC from 1985 to 1992.

Early Life and Family

Joanna Kerns was born Joanna Crussie DeVarona in San Francisco, California. Her father, David Thomas DeVarona, worked as an insurance agent. Her mother, Martha Louise, managed a clothing store. Joanna is the third of four children. She has two brothers and an older sister.

Family of Athletes and Performers

Joanna's older sister, Donna de Varona, is a very famous swimmer. Donna won two Olympic gold medals at the 1964 Olympics. Their aunt, Miriam Cooper, was a well-known silent film actress.

Growing up, Joanna often felt like she was competing with Donna. Joanna once said, "Donna was the golden girl." She felt pressure to achieve similar success. Joanna tried swimming, but it wasn't her favorite sport. So, she switched to gymnastics. She even competed in the Olympic trials in 1968, finishing 14th out of 28 gymnasts.

Joanna Kerns' Career Journey

Starting in Show Business

Joanna Kerns began her career as a dancer. She studied dance at UCLA. While there, she saw an ad for a Gene Kelly show called Clown Around. She quickly auditioned and got a part. To join the show, she had to leave college and move to New York.

After Clown Around, Joanna also performed in two New York Shakespeare Festival plays. These were Two Gentlemen of Verona and Ulysses in Nighttown. In Ulysses in Nighttown, she was directed by Burgess Meredith.

Learning to Act

Burgess Meredith greatly influenced Joanna's acting career. She later said he was "the one person who really influenced my acting career." Meredith also introduced her to Peggy Feury, who taught Joanna acting. In 1972, Joanna moved back to California. She worked as a backup dancer at Disneyland. At the same time, she started auditioning for TV commercials and acting roles.

On May 4, 1977, she appeared on Charlie's Angels. She played Natalie in the episode "The Blue Angels."

Early TV Roles

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Joanna started getting guest roles on many TV shows. These included Emergency!, CHiPs, The A-Team, Starsky & Hutch, and Three's Company. She also appeared in The Love Boat, Magnum, P.I., and V. She was always looking for her next big chance.

In 1983, Joanna got her first regular acting job. She played Pat Devon in the CBS series The Four Seasons. This show was based on a 1981 movie. It was about three couples living together in California. The show only lasted one season. However, her role showed producers she could be a leading actress.

=Growing Pains Success

Soon after The Four Seasons ended, Joanna auditioned for a new family sitcom. It was called Growing Pains. She auditioned with Alan Thicke. Joanna often joked that they had great chemistry right away. She even accidentally kissed him on the nose during their audition!

Their chemistry helped them both get the parts. They became good friends off-screen. The show was very successful. It was about two working parents raising their children. Growing Pains aired on ABC from 1985 to 1992. Joanna played Maggie Seaver again in two TV movies: The Growing Pains Movie (2000) and Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers (2004).

TV Movies and Directing

While Growing Pains was popular, Joanna also starred in TV movies. In these movies, she played different kinds of characters. One surprising role was in the 1992 movie The Nightman. Here, she played a motel owner. Her other TV movies include Those She Left Behind, Blind Faith, and The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake.

After Growing Pains finished, Joanna started directing. She directed one episode of Growing Pains while she was still on the show. She loved it! Joanna said, "Directing is where I've always wanted to go." She decided to focus her career on directing. She still acts sometimes if the right role comes along.

Directing Many Popular Shows

Joanna has directed episodes of many popular TV shows. These include Dawson's Creek, Scrubs, Private Practice, and Psych. She also directed for Grey's Anatomy, ER, Pretty Little Liars, and This Is Us. She even directed an episode of Fuller House.

Joanna also directed a TV movie for Lifetime TV called Defending Our Kids: The Julie Posey Story. She has directed several short films. She also directed an episode of Pitch, a sports drama on Fox.

Feature Films and Awards

Joanna Kerns has also appeared in feature films. These include A*P*E (1976), Girl, Interrupted (1999), and the comedy Knocked Up (2007).

She helped create the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards. These awards honor women in the acting industry. From 2004 to 2008, Joanna was a member of the Motion Picture and Television Fund Board of Trustees.

Personal Life

In 1974, Joanna met Richard Kerns, a commercial producer. They married two years later. Their marriage lasted nine years, and they had a daughter named Ashley Cooper. In 1994, Joanna married Marc Appleton, an architect from Los Angeles. In 2019, their marriage ended.

Joanna briefly dated comedian and actor Freddie Prinze. They had worked together on a 1976 TV movie.

In 2016, Joanna had a medical procedure for a health issue.

Filmography

Director

See also

In Spanish: Joanna Kerns para niños