Nancy McKeon

At 58 years old, Nancy McKeon has this physical status:

Nancy Justine McKeon (born April 4, 1966) is an American actress.

She is known for her roles as Jo Polniaczek on the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life and Jinny Exstead on The Division.

Early life and family

Nancy Justine McKeon was born on April 4, 1966, in Westbury, New York to Donald McKeon, a travel agent, and Barbara McKeon. She began her entertainment career by modeling baby clothing for the Sears & Roebuck catalog when she was two. During some of her childhood, the family resided in Forest Hills, New York in Queens.

Along with her brother, Philip McKeon, she performed in many commercials. In 1976, her brother was chosen to play a major role on the television show, Alice. As a result, the family moved to Los Angeles, California.

Personal life

While McKeon was on The Facts of Life, she and her parents were granted a private audience with Pope John Paul II. She described the experience to interviewer Tom Snyder in 1998 as "electric," explaining, "In every rendering of every artist, you see this aura that's painted around figures...He has that in life."

McKeon dated actor Michael J. Fox for three years after they met on the set of High School U.S.A. (1983). "He and I were very private people," McKeon told Biography. "We didn't tell a lot of people, and we kind of kept to ourselves." McKeon and Fox appeared together as a celebrity couple on the game show Tattletales.

In 2003, McKeon married film technician Marc Andrus, after meeting eight years prior on the set of the Hallmark movie, A Mother’s Gift. A private pair seeking to keep the event small, the two only had 20 guests at the wedding. They moved to a ranch near Austin, Texas, to raise their two children, born in 2004 and 2006, out of the spotlight.

On December 10, 2019, her older brother, Philip McKeon, died at age 55.

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Career

Nancy McKeon appeared on soap operas The Secret Storm and Another World. She was discovered by a casting director for The Facts of Life in 1979, in which she was able to cry on cue.

After four of the first season's cast (including Molly Ringwald) were kicked out of the program, she was cast as tomboy Jo Polniaczek in the fall of 1980 during the show's second season. This is her most well-known role. She played the character until 1988, the show ended. McKeon was also the voice for many ABC Weekend Special cartoon characters, including Scruffy's voice.

McKeon attended school on-site with tutors while working on The Facts of Life, having attended Catholic school prior to that. In an interview with Tom Snyder in 1998, she joked that she "was chastised a few times" for failing to adhere to the strict rules of school, which included not wearing her favorite patent leather shoes.

McKeon was vetted by NBC executives for the title role in the 1988 film Working Girl; the role was played by Melanie Griffith in the film but was instead played by then-unknown Sandra Bullock. McKeon and Courteney Cox auditioned for the role of Monica Geller on the sitcom Friends in 1994. Cox took over Cox's role. McKeon said, "I have no bad feelings" when asked in interviews about the audition. The job was assigned to the correct individual. The courteney was brilliant. Now, I can't imagine anyone playing the part, not even myself." Can't Hurry Love, a 1995 film, starred her in her own series, Can't Hurry Love, which lasted for one season. She appeared in the sitcom Style & Subtitle in 1998.

Inspector Jinny Exstead appeared on the Lifetime police drama The Division ran from 2001 to 2004, with her pregnancy being integrated into the storyline of the last year of the series. She appeared in a recurring role in the Disney Channel Original Series Sonny with a Chance from 2009 to 2010, including Demi Lovato's title character.

McKeon appeared in several made-for-TV films in the 1980s and 1990s, including A Cry for Help: The Tracey Thurman Story, in which she portrayed a woman accused of murdering her boss. She portrayed a woman with schizophrenia in Strange Voices. Forest Hills Entertainment, she produced several of these films through her film company, Forest Hills Entertainment (named after her childhood neighborhood, Forest Hills).

McKeon carefully researched roles and characters. She spent time with a police force, but for her work in Strange Voices, she spoke with patients to prepare for her role. "What's really surprising is that people are so forthcoming to actors," she said in an interview with John Tesh. I mean, almost more available than they are to priests or shrinks because they somehow feel that their story is going to be out there in some way.

A Wakening, she wrote and directed her own short film in 1999. On the TV show Biography, she revealed that directing had always been a personal passion, so she wrote the script in order to direct. The film received two national awards for its filmmaking. She has also produced two episodes of The Division.

McKeon appeared in the film Comfort and Joy in 2003. McKeon was announced as one of the stars of Dancing With the Stars' season 27 in 2018. She was partnered with professional dancer Valentin Chmerkovskiy and was the third celebrity to be banned from competing.

McKeon has narrated many audiobooks.

Kim Fields, a co-star in Facts of Life, makes a cameo appearance in 2019's You Light Up My Christmas. Other cast members from the film appear in the film. McKeon was supposed to play a larger role in the film, but was unable to film more due to a family emergency. McKeon revealed on social media that she was also involved in a forthcoming Amazon series based on Lauren Oliver's young adult book Panic. In 2021, the first season premiered.

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