Joanna was born in San Francisco as Joanne Crussie DeVarona, the daughter of a Mexican-American father and Irish-American mother. Her older sister was Olympic gold medal swimmer Donna DeVarona.
Early in life Joanna competed to become Donna's equal. When she was 11 years old and a reporter for Look magazine was interviewing Donna in their home, Joanna said she “made an entrance walking on my hands. I wanted some of that attention to come in my direction.”
Joanna trained at gymnastics for many years and was ranked No. 14 in the country, but before the 1968 Olympic finals she injured her knee while attempting a full twisting back somersault and her future in gymnastics was finished.
She said sports helped prepare her for competing for acting jobs.
“I learned that you don't really lose if you give it your best and you really work honestly,” she said. “You may not win, but you don't lose and you get better and better. But I spend years getting better and better.”
Classic TV Beauties 1980s Countdown
JOANNA KERNS as Maggie Malone Seaver in "Growing Pains"
Maggie was the All-American mom, the sweet and pretty blonde working wife of
pyschiatrist Dr. Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke). A homemaker turned newspaper reporter, Maggie was a calming influence who took all the family troubles in stride.
Despite co-star Kirk Cameron's attempts to remove any storyline he considered too racy the during the latter years of the series – he had Julie McCullough fired because she had posed in Playboy magazine – “Growing Pains” became a huge family hit in the late 1980s. “Growing Pains” was a Top 8 program in the ratings for two seasons and Top 21 for its first five seasons.
The Seavers were an affluent family on Long Island, New York. In a bit of role reversal, Maggie left the home for her job each day while her husband cared for the children as a stay-at-home doctor.
"One of the aspects of our show that's unique is that both characters have pretty high-powered careers that feed them the way family or children can't," Joanna said in a 1986 interview with McCalls magazine. "And the situations are simple enough that children can understand them, but they're not stupid. The writers deal with good issues.
"And so what if, like many other television families, there doesn't seem to be anyone
around to clean up? I told them it was crazy, so we do have a housekeeper. But so far we just talk about her on the show."
Joanna enjoyed the regularity of a predictable schedule, because working as a guest-star on everything from “Love Boat” to “Hill Street Blues,” she said, “I never knew where I'd be. I'd get a call and bang! I'd be on a plane the next day, working 14 hours.”
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Joanna attended UCLA and majored in dance. After auditioning for and winning a role in the play “Clown Around,” she dropped out of college and moved to New York, a move that didn't please her parents.
“Clown Around” closed after five weeks but Joanna knew she wanted to be an actress. She was directed by the great character actor Burgess Meredith in the New York Shakespeare Festival productions, and she credited him as a huge influence on her career.
Joanna moved back to southern California, auditioning for any job, hoping to get a big break. She settled for commercial gigs.
“Everybody was looking for bimbos, and I don't do bimbos well. I look like the girl next door,” she told McCalls. “I was the June Cleaver of commercials. Every time a kid needed to take cough syrup or have his nose blown, they called me.”
After “Growing Pains” ended in 1992, Joanna became more involved in directing. She directed episodes of TV shows “Scrubs,” “Grey's Anatomy,” and “ER,” among others.
She continued acting, though, starring in numerous TV movies in the 1990s. The Seavers reunited in two TV films, “The Growing Pains Movie” (2000) and “Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers” (2004).
Joanna also made a memorable appearance in the 2007 Judd Apatow comedy “Knocked Up.”
“If you're smart, you can work in this business for a long time and get old in it,” she said. “In acting, if you're good there's room for you. There are not that many Meryl Streeps, but there are lots of Joanna Kerns. And you can age as an actress. You're not finished at seventeen.”
Joanna was known by her maiden name until she had a disagreement with older sister Donna after Joanna landed a role as a dumb woman sportscaster on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Donna was working for ABC as a sportscaster at the time, and she felt the script hit too close to home. Donna asked Joanna to decline the role. Joanna then changed her professional name to her married name of Kerns.
Joanna guest starred in numerous TV shows, including “Laverne and Shirley,” “Starksy & Hutch,” “Magnum P.I.,” and “Hunter.” She landed her first regular acting job in 1983, starring in the sitcom “The Four Seasons,” a series about three couples who lived together in California. The show lasted only one season, but Joanna established herself as a leading lady.
“I didn't really make it as an actress until I could play early thirties, and I was doing that before I was thirty,” she said.
