Joanna Kerns
Encyclopedia
Joanna Kerns is an American actress and director best known for her role as Maggie Seaver on the family situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...

 from 1985-1992.

Early life

Kerns was born Joanne Crussie DeVarona in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

. Her father, David Thomas DeVarona, a Mexican-American, was an insurance agent and her mother, Martha Louise (née Smith), was a clothing store manager. Kerns is the third child of four. She has an older brother and a younger brother, as well as an older sister. Her older sister, Donna de Varona
Donna de Varona
Donna Elizabeth de Varona is a former American swimmer of Mexican and Irish descent.-Swimming career:...

 is a famed Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

 swimmer, who won 2 gold medals in the 1964 Olympics. Their aunt is silent film actress Miriam Cooper
Miriam Cooper
Miriam Cooper was a silent film actress who is best known for her work in early film including Birth of a Nation and Intolerance for D.W. Griffith and The Honor System and Evangeline for her husband Raoul Walsh...

.

Growing up, Kerns was in competition with her sister, Donna, who won two gold medals in swimming in 1964. Kerns stated in an interview, "Donna was the golden girl. There was pressure inside me to duplicate Donna's success" (Wallace 16). Joanna tried swimming, but realized it was not her sport, so she switched from swimming to gymnastics. In fact, Joanna became so good at gymnastics that she competed in the Olympic trials in 1968 and ranked 14th out of 28 (Wallace 16).

Early roles

Kerns got her start in show business as a dancer before turning to acting. She attended UCLA and majored in dance. It was here where she saw an advertisement for a Gene Kelly production called Clown Around. Joanna jumped at the chance to audition. She joked in an interview that she sent the casting crew a high school senior picture of herself and all of her grades, hoping to get the part. Taking the part; however, would mean she would have to drop out of college and move to New York. Kerns jumped at the chance and did just that. After Clown Around, Joanna also got parts in the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of Two Gentlemen of Verona' and Ulysses in Nighttown where she was directed by Burgess Meredith (Wallace 16).

Meredith and Kerns had a wonderful working relationship. Later in life, Kerns recalled that Burgess Meredith
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...

 was a great influence on her, saying, "Burgess was the one person who really influenced my acting career"(Radovsky). Meredith also introduced Kerns to Peggy Feury, whom Kerns studied acting under. In 1972, she moved back to California and landed a job as a backup dancer at Disneyland and started going on auditions for TV commercials and steady acting jobs. During the late 1970s & early 1980s Kerns turned heads and started making a name for herself in guest spots on many televisions shows that included: The A-Team
The A-Team
The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...

, Starsky & Hutch, Street Hawk
Street Hawk
Street Hawk is an American television series that aired for 13 episodes on ABC in 1985. The series was a Limekiln and Templar Production in association with Universal Television. Its central characters were created by Paul M. Belous and Robert "Bob" Wolterstorff, and its core format was developed...

, Laverne and Shirley, Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....

, Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...

, The Love Boat
The Love Boat
The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...

, Hunter
Hunter (TV series)
Hunter is a police drama television series starring Fred Dryer as Sgt. Rick Hunter and Stepfanie Kramer as Sgt. Dee Dee McCall, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1991. However, Kramer left after the sixth season to pursue other acting and musical opportunities. The seventh season saw Hunter partnered...

, and Magnum P.I., V
V
V is the twenty-second letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Letter:The letter V comes from the Semitic letter Waw, as do the modern letters F, U, W, and Y. See F for details....

as well as many commercials. During an interview Kerns said, "I kind of was always looking for the next thing; I auditioned for anything, hoping to get a big break" (Lifetime's Intimate Portrait
Intimate Portrait (TV series)
Intimate Portrait is a biographical television series on the Lifetime Television cable network focusing on different celebrities, which includes interviews with each subject....

). Then, Joanna got her first steady job acting in 1983, staring as Pat Devon on a new series called The Four Seasons, which ironically lasted only one season. The sitcom was about three couples who all lived under the same roof in California. Although the show was not received well by television critics, her part proved to producers that she was capable of acting as a leading lady.

Growing Pains

After the cancellation of "The Four Seasons", soon Joanna was looking for another job when she auditioned for a new series in 1984, called Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...

. She auditioned with Alan Thicke
Alan Thicke
Alan Thicke is a Canadian actor, songwriter, and game and talk show host. He is best known for his role as Jason Seaver, the patriarch on the ABC television series Growing Pains.- Early life :...

, who was just coming off of the failure of his TV talk show Thicke of the Night
Thicke of the Night
Thicke of the Night is an American late night talk show produced by MGM Television, distributed in syndication by Metromedia and broadcast in first-run syndication during the 1983-1984 TV season....

. Kerns joked in many interviews that she and Alan had immediate chemistry, especially when she kissed him on his nose by accident during their audition together. Kerns and Thicke's chemistry won them both the parts, and the two became great friends off the show. (They both had many things in common, including both being newly divorced and both being single parents).

During the success of Growing Pains, Kerns began to star in television movies where she played controversial parts much different than the beloved all American mom, Maggie Seaver from Growing Pains. One such performance that shocked audiences was her 1992 movie, The Nightman, in which Kerns played a highly sexual business woman who was a motel owner. Her many TV movies include: Those She Left Behind
Those She Left Behind
Those She Left Behind is a 1989 made-for-TV movie about a father forced to raise his newborn daughter alone after the unexpected death of his wife in childbirth...

, Blind Faith, The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake
The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake
The Great Los Angeles Earthquake is a 1990 television film about a massive earthquake that strikes Los Angeles, California. The movie stars Joanna Kerns in the movie's lead role, seismologist Clare Winslow, who tries to warn city leaders of the possibility that a powerful earthquake may strike...

, Shameful Secrets, No One Could Protect Her and many more.

Post-Growing Pains roles and directorial career

After Growing Pains ended, Kerns turned to directing. She was granted the opportunity to direct one episode of Growing Pains while starring on the show and got hooked. In an interview, Kerns stated, "Directing is where I've always wanted to go" (Radovsky 38). She loved directing and decided to change the focus of her career from acting to directing, but makes rare appearances in front of the camera when the right part comes along. She has also directed episodes of television shows including Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...

, Titans
Titans (TV series)
Titans is a short-lived American prime time soap opera that debuted on October 4, 2000 on NBC. Thirteen episodes were filmed, of which eleven were actually aired. Produced by Aaron Spelling, the series was initially marketed as a "Dynasty for the new millennium," attempting to emulate the style of...

, Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...

, Private Practice, Psych
Psych
Psych is an American detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks and broadcast on USA Network. It stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara Police Department whose "heightened observational skills" and impressive detective instincts...

, Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

, Privileged
Privileged (TV series)
Privileged is an American television drama that premiered on The CW Television Network in the USA and Citytv in Canada on September 9, 2008. The series stars former Reba star Joanna García and is based on the Alloy Entertainment book How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls by Zoey Dean...

, ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

, Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer is an American television supernatural drama, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005 to May 21, 2010.The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon , who has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts...

, and Army Wives
Army Wives
Army Wives is an American drama series that follows the lives of four army wives, their families, and an army husband whose wife is in the army. The series, shot at ABC Studios, premiered on Lifetime on June 3, 2007...

. Kerns even got a big break when she was able to direct Annie Potts in an original made for television movie for Lifetime tv entitled: "Defending Our Kids: The Julie Posey Story. Since then, Kerns has directed a number of shorts.

Kerns has also made notable appearances in feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

s, including A*P*E, Girl, Interrupted
Girl, Interrupted (film)
Girl, Interrupted is a 1999 drama film about a teenager's 18-month stay at a mental institution, starring Winona Ryder, Brittany Murphy, Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg and Vanessa Redgrave, with Jolie winning an Academy Award for her performance....

 and the 2007
2007 in film
This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...

 comedy Knocked Up
Knocked Up
Knocked Up is a 2007 American romantic comedy drama film co-produced, written, and directed by Judd Apatow. Starring Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, and Leslie Mann, the film follows the repercussions of a drunken one-night stand between Rogen's slacker character and Heigl's just-promoted...

.

She has also co-founded the Lucy Awards given to women in acting.

Kerns was a member of the Motion Picture and Television Fund Board of Trustees from 2004 through 2008.

Personal life

Kerns married commercial producer, Richard Kerns in 1976. She met him on a commercial shoot in 1974. Their marriage lasted 9 years and produced their only child, daughter, Ashely Cooper. Immediately after the dissolution of her marriage, Kerns won the role of Maggie Seaver on "Growing Pains", and was attracted to her co-star, Alan Thicke
Alan Thicke
Alan Thicke is a Canadian actor, songwriter, and game and talk show host. He is best known for his role as Jason Seaver, the patriarch on the ABC television series Growing Pains.- Early life :...

. Kerns is currently married to Marc Appleton, a Harvard Graduate, who owns Appleton & Associates, Inc. Currently, she has taken off some time from acting and directing to care for her daughter, Ashley, who is currently suffering from a severe case of Lyme disease
Lyme disease
Lyme disease, or Lyme borreliosis, is an emerging infectious disease caused by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto is the main cause of Lyme disease in the United States, whereas Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii cause most...

.

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1976
1976 in film
The year 1976 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*March 22 - Filming begins on George Lucas' Star Wars science fiction film...

A*P*E Marilyn Baker as Joanna DeVarona
The Million Dollar Rip-Off Jessie TV movie
1978
1978 in film
The year 1978 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 1 - Bob Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara, a documentary of the "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour premieres in Los Angeles, California....

Coma
Coma (film)
Coma is a 1978 suspense film based on the novel of the same name by Robin Cook. The film rights were acquired by director Michael Crichton, and the movie was produced by Martin Erlichmann for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...

Diane
1980
1980 in film
- Events :* May 21 - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is released and is the biggest grosser of the year ....

Marriage Is Alive and Well Meg TV movie
1982
1982 in film
-Events:* March 26 = I Ought to Be in Pictures, starring Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret and Dinah Manoff is released. Manoff would not appear in another movie until 1987's Backfire.* June = PG-rated film E.T...

A Wedding on Walton's Mountain Doris Marshall TV movie
Mother's Day on Waltons Mountain Doris Marshall TV movie
1983
1983 in film
-Events:*February 11 - The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together opens in New York*May 25 - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy, is released. Like the previous films, it goes on to become the top grossing picture of...

V Marjorie Donovan TV miniseries
1984
1984 in film
-Events:* The Walt Disney Company founds Touchstone Pictures to release movies with subject matter deemed inappropriate for the Disney name.* Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture of Columbia Pictures, HBO, and CBS, releases its first film....

The Return of Marcus Welby, M.D. TV movie
1985
1985 in film
-Events:* 3 December - Roger Moore steps down from the role of James Bond after twelve years and seven films. He is replaced by Timothy Dalton.* The Academy Award for Best Picture was won by Out Of Africa, while the highest grossing film was Back to the Future.* Bliss wins AFI Award for best Movie...

A Bunny's Tale
A Bunny's Tale
A Bunny's Tale is a 1985 television film based on American feminist icon and journalist Gloria Steinem's experiences working as a Playboy Bunny in 1963. It stars Kirstie Alley as Steinem.-Plot Summary:...

Andrea TV movie
Stormin' Home Lana Singer TV movie
The Rape of Richard Beck
The Rape of Richard Beck
-Plot:Richard Beck is a police detective who believes that rape victims are to blame for the crime. He is later raped by two of the suspects he had been chasing...

Anita Parrish TV movie
1987
1987 in film
-Events:*January 31 - The Cure for Insomnia premieres at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois, to officially become the world's longest film according to Guinness World Records....

Mistress Stephanie TV movie
Cross My Heart
Cross My Heart (film)
Cross My Heart is an American romantic comedy that was released in the United States on November 13, 1987. It stars Annette O'Toole and Martin Short.-Plot:...

Nancy
1989
1989 in film
-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...

Street Justice Catherine Watson TV movie
Those She Left Behind
Those She Left Behind
Those She Left Behind is a 1989 made-for-TV movie about a father forced to raise his newborn daughter alone after the unexpected death of his wife in childbirth...

Diane Pappas TV movie
The Preppie Murder
The Preppie Murder
The Preppie Murder is a TV movie starring William Baldwin as Robert Chambers and Lara Flynn Boyle as Jennifer Levin. The film aired on ABC in 1989. It was based on the events of a murder committed by Rob Chambers, nicknamed the Preppie Killer...

Linda Fairstein TV movie
1990
1990 in film
The year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....

Blind Faith Maria Marshall TV movie
The Great Los Angeles Earthquake Dr. Clare Winslow TV movie
1991
1991 in film
The year 1991 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York* Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.*November...

An American Summer Aunt Sunny
Deadly Intentions... Again?
Deadly Intentions... Again?
Deadly Intentions... Again? is a 1991 television film, and a sequel to the 1985 film Deadly Intentions.-Plot:After serving time for the attempted murder of his first wife, the main character, a doctor, begins plotting to kill his second....

Sally TV movie
Captive Kathy Plunk TV movie
1992
1992 in film
The year 1992 in film involved many significant films. -Top grossing films:-Awards:Academy AwardsGolden Globe AwardsNational Film Awards...

The Nightman Eve TV movie
Desperate Choices: To Save My Child Mel Robbins TV movie
1993
1993 in film
The year 1993 in film involved many significant films, including the blockbuster hits Jurassic Park, The Fugitive and The Firm. -Events:...

Not in My Family Veronica Ricci TV movie
The Man with Three Wives Katy TV movie
Shameful Secrets Maryanne Walker-Tate TV movie
1994
1994 in film
1994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time...

No Dessert, Dad, till You Mow the Lawn
No Dessert, Dad, till You Mow the Lawn
No Dessert Dad, til You Mow the Lawn is a 1994 American family comedy film. It was rated PG from the MPAA for "mild language and violence". It was directed by Howard McCain and stars Joanne Kerns and Robert Hays.- Synopsis :...

Carol Cochran
Mortal Fear Dr. Jennifer Kessler TV movie
1995
1995 in film
-Top grossing films:-Events:* March 22 - The Dogme 95 movement is officially announced in Paris by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.* March 28 - Actress Julia Roberts and singer Lyle Lovett announce their plans for separation....

See Jane Run Jane Ravenson TV movie
Whose Daughter Is She? Laura Eagerton TV movie
1996
1996 in film
Major releases this year included Scream, Independence Day, Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a version of Evita starring Madonna.-Events:...

No One Could Protect Her Jessica Rayner TV movie
Terror in the Family Cynthia Martin TV movie
1997
1997 in film
-Events:* The original Star Wars trilogy's Special Editions are released.* Production begins on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.* Titanic becomes the first film to gross US$1,000,000,000 at the box office making it the highest grossing film in history until Avatar broke the record in 2010.*...

Mother Knows Best Celeste Cooper TV movie
Sisters and Other Strangers Gail Connelly Metzger TV movie
1998
1998 in film
-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...

Emma's Wish Emma TV movie
1999
1999 in film
The year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...

At the Mercy of a Stranger Elizabeth Cooper TV movie
Girl, Interrupted
Girl, Interrupted (film)
Girl, Interrupted is a 1999 drama film about a teenager's 18-month stay at a mental institution, starring Winona Ryder, Brittany Murphy, Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg and Vanessa Redgrave, with Jolie winning an Academy Award for her performance....

Annette Kaysen
2000
2000 in film
The year 2000 in film involved some significant events.The top grosser worldwide was Mission: Impossible II. Domestically in North America, Gladiator won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor ....

The Growing Pains Movie
The Growing Pains Movie
The Growing Pains Movie is a made-for-television movie that premiered on ABC November 5, 2000, as a two-hour episode of ABC's The Wonderful World of Disney anthology series. It was the first of two reunion movies based on the sitcom Growing Pains....

Maggie Malone Seaver TV movie
2001
2001 in film
The year 2001 in film involved some significant events, including the first of the Harry Potter series and also the first of The Lord of the Rings trilogy...

All Over the Guy
All Over the Guy
All Over the Guy is an American gay-themed romantic comedy film directed by Julie Davis in 2001.-Plot:All Over the Guy is about Eli and Tom . The film is told mostly in flashback, with Eli recounting his side to Esther , an HIV clinic worker as he waits for test results and Tom to a guy he meets...

Lydia
Someone to Love Matt's mother TV movie
2004
2004 in film
The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...

Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers
Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers
Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers is a 2004 American television film, first airing on ABC Family October 16, 2004...

Maggie Seaver TV movie
2007
2007 in film
This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...

Knocked Up
Knocked Up
Knocked Up is a 2007 American romantic comedy drama film co-produced, written, and directed by Judd Apatow. Starring Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, and Leslie Mann, the film follows the repercussions of a drunken one-night stand between Rogen's slacker character and Heigl's just-promoted...

Mrs. Scott
MaNiC Dr. Kerns Short film


91.
  • Scott, Vernon. "Joanna Kerns: At Long Last Love" Good Housekeeping. July 1991.
  • Wallace, David. "Kerns Turns". Philip Morris Magazine. Spring 1991.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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