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.

Filmography

• Happy's Place — Director
• 2024Love, Danielle — Executive Producer
• Night Court — Director
• The Baker and the Beauty — Director
• High School Musical: The Musical: The Series — Director
• WHAT / IF — Director
• FBI — Director
• Light as a Feather — Director
• 2017Ain't It Funny — Mom
• The Good Doctor — Director
• 2017Unrest — Associate Producer
• Fuller House — Director
• Man with a Plan — Director
• Recovery Road — Director
• This Is Us — Director
• Chicago Med — Director
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend — Director
• Chasing Life — Director
• Jane the Virgin — Director
• The Goldbergs — Director
• Nashville — Director
• Awkward. — Director
• Friends with Benefits — Director
• Switched at Birth — Director
• Pretty Little Liars — Director
• Eastwick — Edie
• Privileged — Director
• Army Wives — Director
• 2007Knocked Up — Alison's Mom
• Notes from the Underbelly — Director
• Private Practice — Director
• Samantha Who? — Director
• Men in Trees — Director
• Psych — Director
• Ghost Whisperer — Director
• Grey's Anatomy — Director
• Medium — Director
• Related — Director
• Clubhouse — Director
• 2004Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers — Maggie Seaver, Director
• Phil of the Future — Director
• 2003Defending Our Kids: The Julie Posey Story — Director
• Joan of Arcadia — Director
• One Tree Hill — Director
• The O'Keefes — Director
• For the People — Director
• Leap of Faith — Director
• Less than Perfect — Judy, Owen's Other Mom
• 2001All Over the Guy — Lydia
• Scrubs — Director
• The Division — Director
• Boston Public — Director
• Strong Medicine — Director
• That's Life — Director
• 2000The Growing Pains Movie — Maggie Seaver
• Titans — Director
• 1999At the Mercy of a Stranger — Elizabeth Cooper
• Beggars and Choosers — Director
• 1999Girl, Interrupted — Annette
• Judging Amy — Director
• Any Day Now — Director
• Dawson's Creek — Director
• 1998Emma's Wish — Emma Bridges-Mame
• Felicity — Director
• Love Boat: The Next Wave — Director
• Ally McBeal — Director
• 1997Mother Knows Best — Celeste Cooper
• 1997Sisters and Other Strangers — Gail Connelly Metzger
• The Wonderful World of Disney
• Clueless — Director
• E! True Hollywood Story
• 1996No One Could Protect Her — Jessica Rayner
• Remember WENN — Director
• Suddenly Susan — Director
• 1996Terror in the Family — Cynthia Marten
• Hope and Gloria — Joanna Kerns, Director
• 1995See Jane Run — Jane Ravenson
• 1995Whose Daughter is She? — Laura Eagerton
• Chicago Hope — Stephanie Serone
• ER — Director
• 1994Mortal Fear — Dr. Jennifer Kessler
• 1994No Dessert, Dad, 'Til You Mow the Lawn — Carol Cochran
• 1993Not in My Family — Veronica Ricci
• 1993Shameful Secrets — Maryanne Walker-Tate
• 1993The Man with Three Wives — Katy
• 1992Desperate Choices: To Save My Child — Mel Robbins
• 1992The Nightman — Eve, Co-Executive Producer
• 1991Captive — Kathy Plunk
• 1991Deadly Intentions... Again? — Sally
• Blind Faith — Maria Marshall
• 1990The Great Los Angeles Earthquake — Dr. Clare Winslow
• 1989The Preppie Murder — Linda Fairstein
• 1989Those She Left Behind — Diane Pappas
• 1988She's Having a Baby — Joanna Kerns (uncredited)
• 1987Cross My Heart — Nancy
• 1987Mistress — Stephanie
• 1987Street Justice — Catherine Watson
• 1986Love Struck
• 1985A Bunny's Tale — Andrea
• Growing Pains — Maggie Seaver, Director
• 1985Stormin' Home — Lana Singer
• Street Hawk — Mona Wiliams
• 1985The Rape of Richard Beck — Anita Parrish
• Hunter — Dr. Kettering
• The Four Seasons — Pat Devon
• 1984The Return of Marcus Welby, M.D. — Pamela Saletta
• The A-Team — Trish Brenner
• V — Marjorie Donovan
• 1982A Wedding on Waltons Mountain — Doris Marshall
• 1982Mother's Day on Waltons Mountain — Doris Marshall
• Hill Street Blues
• Magnum, P.I. — Mary Kanfer, Jenny Hunter
• 1980Marriage Is Alive and Well — Meg
• 1978Coma — Diane
• CHiPs — Colleen
• The Love Boat — Beth Luckner
• Three's Company — Bobby Trilling
• 1976A*P*E — Marilyn Baker
• Charlie's Angels — Natalie
• Laverne & Shirley
• Quincy, M.E.
• 1976The Million Dollar Rip-Off — Jessie
• 1975It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman! — Citizen (uncredited)
• Starsky & Hutch
• Switch — Mae Brenner
• Rhoda
• Emergency!

Appearances as themselves (6)

• The Tony Danza Show — Self
• Aliens in the Family — Self (voice)
• Intimate Portrait — Self
• 1991Voices That Care — Self - Choir Member
• 1989Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade — Self
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self