16 Facts About Joanna Kerns

1.

Joanna Kerns 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.

2.

Joanna Kerns got her start in show business as a dancer before turning to acting.

3.

Joanna Kerns auditioned with Alan Thicke, who was just coming off the failure of his TV talk show Thicke of the Night.

4.

Joanna Kerns joked in many interviews that Alan and she had immediate chemistry, especially when she kissed him on his nose by accident during their audition together.

5.

Joanna Kerns directed one episode of Growing Pains while starring on the show and got hooked.

6.

Joanna Kerns loved directing and decided to change the focus of her career from acting to directing, while continuing to make rare appearances in front of the camera when the right parts come along.

7.

Joanna Kerns has directed episodes of television shows including Dawson's Creek, Titans, Scrubs, Private Practice, Psych, Felicity, Grey's Anatomy, Privileged, ER, Ghost Whisperer, Army Wives, Pretty Little Liars, Switched at Birth, The Goldbergs, This Is Us, and Fuller House.

8.

Joanna Kerns directed Annie Potts in an original made-for-television movie for Lifetime TV entitled: Defending Our Kids: The Julie Posey Story.

9.

Joanna Kerns has since made a number of shorts, and directed the sixth episode of Pitch, a sports drama on Fox.

10.

Joanna Kerns has made notable appearances in feature films, including A*P*E, Girl, Interrupted, and the 2007 comedy Knocked Up.

11.

Joanna Kerns has co-founded the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards given to women in acting.

12.

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

13.

In 1974, Joanna Kerns met a commercial producer, Richard Joanna Kerns, on the set of a commercial, and they married two years later.

14.

In 1994 Joanna Kerns married Marc Appleton, a prominent Los Angeles architect.

15.

Joanna Kerns dated comedian and actor Freddie Prinze a short time before he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

16.

Joanna Kerns, a registered Democrat, supported John Kerry in the 2004 United States Presidential Election and Hillary Clinton in the 2016 United States Presidential Election.