Joanna Kerns

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Joanna Kerns (born February 12, 1953) is an American actress and director best known for her role as Maggie Seaver on the family situation comedy Growing Pains from 1985 to 1992.

Early life

Kerns was born Joanna Crussie DeVarona in San Francisco, California. Her father, David Thomas DeVarona, 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, is an Olympic gold medal swimmer, winning two gold medals in the 1964 Olympics. Their aunt is silent film actress Miriam Cooper.

Growing up, Kerns was constantly in competition with Donna. Kerns stated in an interview, "Donna was the golden girl. There was pressure inside me to duplicate Donna's success". Joanna tried swimming, but realized it was not her sport, so she switched to gymnastics. She competed in the Olympic trials in 1968 and ranked 14th out of 28.

Personal life

In 1974, Kerns met a commercial producer, Richard Kerns, on the set of a commercial, and they married two years later. Their marriage lasted nine years and the couple had a daughter, Ashley Cooper. In 1994 Kerns married Marc Appleton, a prominent Los Angeles architect. In August 2019, Kerns filed for divorce from Appleton.

Kerns dated comedian and actor Freddie Prinze a short time before he died of a self inflicted gunshot wound. The two had worked together on the 1976 TV movie, The Million Dollar Rip-Off.

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Career

Kerns got her start as a dancer before moving to acting. She studied at UCLA and majored in dance. She saw an advertisement for a Gene Kelly production called Clown Around and jumped at the chance to audition straight away. In an interview, she joked that she sent the casting crew a high school senior portrait of herself and all of her grades, aiming to get the role. She did not have to drop out of college and relocate to New York to be eligible, but she did. Joanna was also involved in the production of Two Gentlemen of Verona and Ulysses in Nighttown, where she was directed by Burgess Meredith in Clown Around.

Meredith and Kerns had a fruitful working relationship. "Burgess was the one person who had a big influence on my career," Kerns said later in life. Kerns were also introduced to Peggy Feury, under whom Kerns studied acting. In 1972, she returned to California and obtained a career as a backup dancer at Disneyland, and began auditioning for television commercials and steady acting jobs.

Natalie, a receptionist at a massage parlor in the episode "The Blue Angels," made an appearance on Charlie's Angels on May 4, 1977.

Kerns made a name for herself in guest spots on many television shows including Emergency!, CHiPs, The A-Team, Starsky & Hutch, Street Hawk, Laverne, and Shirley, Three's Company, Three's Business, Mountain House Blues, Hunter, M.E., Magnum, P.I., and V, as well as many commercials during the 1970s and 1980s. "I was always looking for the next thing; I auditioned for everything, aiming for a big break," Kerns said in an interview. Kerns, Kerns, became an actress in 1983, appearing as Pat Devon in a new CBS series called The Four Seasons, which lasted only one season. The sitcom, which was based on a 1981 film of the same name, was about three couples who all lived under the same roof in California. Although television commentators did not agree with the show, actresses Mayne's role as a leading lady was well-received by producers, who told them that she was capable of being a leading lady.

Kerns auditioned for Growing Pains, a new series that was announced shortly after the cancellation of The Four Seasons. She auditioned with Alan Thicke, who was just coming off the failure of his TV talk show Thicke of the Night. In several interviews, Kerns joked that Alan and she had instant chemistry, particularly when she kissed him on his nose by accident during their first meeting together. Kerns and Thicke's chemistry earned them both the roles, and the two became good friends off the program.

Kerns first appeared in television shows, where she played very different from Maggie Seaver's beloved all-American mother. Kerns' 1992 film The Nightman, which featured a large sexual business woman who was a hotel owner, was one of several shows that stunned audiences. Those She Left Behind, Blind Faith, and No One Should Protect Her include these TV shows.

Kerns returned to directing after Growing Pains was over. When acting on the show, she directing one episode of Growing Pains and became hooked. "Directing is where I've always wanted to go," Kerns said in an interview. She loved acting and decided to shift her focus from acting to directing, while still making rare appearances on camera when the right roles came along. She has also produced episodes of Dawson's Creek, Titans, Scrubs, Private Practice, Psych, Felicity, Grey's Anatomy, Privileged, Privileged, Grey's Privileged, Arms, Army Wives, Pretty Little Liars, The Goldbergs, This Is Us, and Fuller House. In another made-for-television film titled Defending Our Children: The Julie Posey Story, Kerns also directed Annie Potts. She has since produced a number of shorts and produced the sixth episode of Pitch, a Fox sports drama.

Kerns has also appeared in films such as A*P*E, Girl, Interrupted, and the 2007 comedy Knocked Up.

She has also co-founded the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards, which are also given to women in acting.

Kerns served on the Motion Picture and Television Fund Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2008.

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