Joanna Kerns

Born: 1953-02-12

Joanna Crussie DeVarona 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. After Growing Pains ended, she turned to directing. She directed one episode of Growing Pains while starring on the show and got hooked. She has also 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. She has also made notable appearances in feature films, including A*P*E, Girl, Interrupted, and the 2007 comedy Knocked Up. She has also starred in a number of TV movies. 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, she married Marc Appleton, a prominent Los Angeles architect. In August 2019, she filed for divorce from Appleton. She previously 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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Girl, Interrupted

as Annette
Released: 1999-12-21

Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, Susanna Kaysen's prescribed "short rest" from a...

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Knocked Up

as Alison's Mom
Released: 2007-06-01

A slacker and a career-driven woman accidentally conceive a child after a one-night stand. As...

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She's Having a Baby

as Joanna Kerns (uncredited)
Released: 1988-02-05

Jake and Kristy Briggs are newlyweds. Being young, they are perhaps a bit unprepared for the...

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Coma

as Diane
Released: 1978-01-06

A young female doctor discovers something sinister going on in her hospital. Relatively healthy...

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All Over the Guy

as Lydia
Released: 2001-08-10

A contemporary romantic comedy exploring the unlikely pairing of two 20-somethings thrown...

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The Great Los Angeles Earthquake

as Dr. Clare Winslow
Released: 1990-11-11

After a series of small tremors in Los Angeles, Dr. Clare Winslow, a local seismologist,...

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Mother Knows Best

as Celeste Cooper
Released: 1997-04-13

A woman urges her daughter to get married. And when her daughter does, she doesn't think that...

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The Million Dollar Rip-Off

as Jessie
Released: 1976-09-22

An electronics genius, who is an ex-con, and four of his lady friends devise a plot to steal...

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Terror in the Family

as Cynthia Marten
Released: 1996-04-16

Fifteen-year-old Deena Marten wants the same freedom every teenager craves. But when she can't...

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A*P*E

as Marilyn Baker
Released: 1976-07-23

A newly discovered 36-foot gorilla escapes from a freighter off the coast of Korea. At the same...

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Cross My Heart

as Nancy
Released: 1987-12-13

A man and a woman go out on a "big" third date. He's ashamed to admit he just lost his job, and...

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Deadly Intentions... Again?

as Sally
Released: 1991-02-11

A doctor was sent to prison for the attempted murder of his first wife. When he is released, he...

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See Jane Run

as Jane Ravenson
Released: 1995-01-08

Jane Ravenson finds herself in the middle of a grocery store with $10,000 in her coat pockets...

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Voices That Care

as Self - Choir Member
Released: 1991-02-28

Behind the scenes making of the charity single "Voices That Care".

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Those She Left Behind

as Diane Pappas
Released: 1989-03-06

Scott and Sue Grimes are a happily married and affluent young couple who are about to start a...

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Captive

as Kathy Plunk
Released: 1991-10-11

Paul and Kathy Plunk buy a small motel in a lonesome mountain region in Oregon. Their newfound...

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A Bunny's Tale

as Andrea
Released: 1985-02-25

A dramatization of Gloria Steinem's undercover investigation of the working conditions Bunnies...

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Whose Daughter is She?

as Laura Eagerton
Released: 1995-09-24

Two mothers, one biological, one stepmother, fight for the custody and love of 13-year-old Andrea.

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It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman!

as Citizen (uncredited)
Released: 1975-02-21

TV adaptation of the campy 1960s Broadway musical about the Man of Steel, his friends, his...

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Street Justice

as Catherine Watson
Released: 1987-01-01

A forgotten CIA agent escapes after 12 years and returns to his corrupt New Jersey hometown.

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The Preppie Murder

as Linda Fairstein
Released: 1989-09-24

This is the story of a young woman who was found dead. Now the police investigate, and evidence...

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Marriage Is Alive and Well

as Meg
Released: 1980-01-25

A talented wedding photographer, at a crossroads with his own marriage, reflects on tales of...

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Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers

as Maggie Seaver
Released: 2004-10-16

Jason and Maggie Seaver are ready to start a new chapter in their lives. The nest is finally...

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Not in My Family

as Veronica Ricci
Released: 1993-02-28

Veronica Ricci is bombarded by strange feelings and fleeting involuntary memories about her...

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Desperate Choices: To Save My Child

as Mel Robbins
Released: 1992-10-05

Sixteen-year-old Cassie Robbins is a spirited teenage girl, who loves her father Richard and...

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The Rape of Richard Beck

as Anita Parrish
Released: 1985-05-27

The tables turn for cynical police officer Richard Beck when he's viciously attacked by two...

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Mortal Fear

as Dr. Jennifer Kessler
Released: 1994-11-20

Based on the provocative best-selling novel, a brilliant scientist finds the hidden link that...

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Stormin' Home

as Lana Singer
Released: 1985-04-05

An aging motor-cross racer, already having lost his wife and daughter to his footlooseness and...

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Shameful Secrets

as Maryanne Walker-Tate
Released: 1993-10-10

A woman and her children seemingly live the idyllic suburban dream, but unbeknownst to their...

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A Wedding on Waltons Mountain

as Doris Marshall
Released: 1982-02-02

Erin Walton is considering marrying her boyfriend Paul but her old boyfriend Ashley, who left...

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The Nightman

as Eve
Released: 1992-02-08

A drifter comes between an aging Southern beauty and her teenaged daughter.

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The Growing Pains Movie

as Maggie Seaver
Released: 2000-11-04

When the Seaver family reunites in Washington, D.C., to celebrate Jason and Maggie's 30th...

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No One Could Protect Her

as Jessica Rayner
Released: 1996-02-11

Fact-based drama about a smalltown rape victim who helps the police trap her attacker who has...

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At the Mercy of a Stranger

as Elizabeth Cooper
Released: 1999-11-03

When Thomas, a prominent doctor, hires a hitman to murder his wife, Elizabeth, the hitman...

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The Return of Marcus Welby, M.D.

as Pamela Saletta
Released: 1984-05-16

Marcus Welby is back, and he has a few problems. First he is trying to bridge the gap between an...

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The Man with Three Wives

as Katy
Released: 1993-03-28

A married doctor marries two other women and juggles a life with three wives.

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Sisters and Other Strangers

as Gail Connelly Metzger
Released: 1997-05-06

A woman (Joanna Kerns), at odds with her eccentric sister (Debrah Farentino) over a real-estate...

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Mother's Day on Waltons Mountain

as Doris Marshall
Released: 1982-05-02

Mary Ellen marries Jonesy but they don't exactly have a good start.

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Emma's Wish

as Emma Bridges-Mame
Released: 1998-10-18

A lonely retirement home resident obtains a magical ring on her 75th birthday which grants her...

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No Dessert, Dad, 'Til You Mow the Lawn

as Carol Cochran
Released: 1994-07-27

A couple manages to quit smoking by using hypnosis, but then their children decide to use it to...

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Love Struck

as uncredited
Released: 1986-01-01

Love Struck is a 1986 short film directed by Richard Masur, starring John Simon Jones and Judge...

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Starsky & Hutch

as uncredited
First aired: 1975-09-10

Streetwise Detective David Starsky partners up with a more intellectual partner, Kenneth 'Hutch'...

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The A-Team

as Trish Brenner
First aired: 1983-01-23

A fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel work as soldiers of fortune...

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Quincy, M.E.

as uncredited
First aired: 1976-10-03

Los Angeles County medical examiner Quincy routinely engages in police investigations.

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Magnum, P.I.

as uncredited
First aired: 1980-12-11

A private investigator who works when he wants, lives in a beachfront estate in Hawaii, drives a...

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The Love Boat

as Beth Luckner
First aired: 1977-09-24

Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or...

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Hill Street Blues

as uncredited
First aired: 1981-01-15

A realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station.

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Charlie's Angels

as Natalie
First aired: 1976-09-22

Beautiful, intelligent, and ultra-sophisticated, Charlie's Angels are everything a man could...

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Chicago Hope

as uncredited
First aired: 1994-09-18

Chicago Hope is an American medical drama television series, created by David E. Kelley. It ran...

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Emergency!

as uncredited
First aired: 1972-01-22

The crew of Los Angeles County Fire Department Station 51, particularly the paramedic team, and...

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Three's Company

as Bobby Trilling
First aired: 1977-03-15

Three's Company is an American television sitcom that aired for eight seasons on ABC from March...

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Intimate Portrait

as Self
First aired: 1993-11-14

Intimate Portrait is a biographical television series on the Lifetime Television cable network...

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Hunter

as Dr. Kettering
First aired: 1984-09-18

Hunter is an American police drama television series created by Frank Lupo, and starring Fred...

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Laverne & Shirley

as uncredited
First aired: 1976-01-27

Laverne & Shirley is an American television sitcom that ran on ABC from January 27, 1976 to May...

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The Wonderful World of Disney

as uncredited
First aired: 1997-09-28

Walt Disney Productions (later The Walt Disney Company) has produced an anthology television...

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Rhoda

as uncredited
First aired: 1974-09-09

Rhoda is an American television sitcom, starring Valerie Harper, which aired 109 episodes over...

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Less than Perfect

as Judy, Owen's Other Mom
First aired: 2002-10-01

Claude Casey moved up in the secretarial world of television news, from temp to the anchor's...

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Switch

as Mae Brenner
First aired: 1975-09-09

Switch is an American action-adventure, tongue-in-cheek detective series starring Eddie Albert...

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Growing Pains

as Maggie Seaver
First aired: 1985-09-24

Fatherhood has taken on a whole new meaning for Jason Seaver, who has assumed the chores of...

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CHiPs

as Colleen
First aired: 1977-09-15

Lighthearted look at the adventures of two Highway Patrol officers in Los Angeles. The main...

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V

as Marjorie Donovan
First aired: 1983-05-01

Fifty spaceships, each three miles across, hover ominously above Earth's major cities. The...

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Street Hawk

as Mona Wiliams
First aired: 1985-01-04

Street Hawk is an American television series that aired for 13 episodes on ABC in 1985. The...

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Hope and Gloria

as Joanna Kerns
First aired: 1995-03-09

Hope and Gloria is an American sitcom produced by Warner Bros. Television and aired on NBC from...

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Eastwick

as uncredited
First aired: 2009-09-23

Three very different women find themselves drawn together by a mysterious man who unleashes...

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Aliens in the Family

as Self (voice)
First aired: 1996-03-15

A human single father is abducted by a spaceship and fall in love with an alien single mother....

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as Marjorie Donovan
First aired: 1983-05-01

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E! True Hollywood Story

as uncredited
First aired: 1996-08-21

E! True Hollywood Story is an American documentary series on E! that deals with famous Hollywood...

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Blind Faith

as Maria Marshall
First aired: 1990-02-11

Successful insurance salesman Rob Marshall, his bright and devoted wife Maria, and their three...

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