What Is Joanna Kerns' Net Worth?
Joanna Kerns is an American actress, director, writer, and producer who has a net worth of $25 million. Kerns is best known for playing the role of Maggie Seaver on the ABC sitcom "Growing Pains" (1985–1992), but today she is also a successful television director.
Joanna has more than 70 acting credits to her name, including the films "Coma" (1978), "Girl, Interrupted" (1999), and "Knocked Up" (2007), the miniseries "V" (1983), and the TV movies "The Preppie Murder" (1989), "The Great Los Angeles Earthquake" (1990), "Terror in the Family" (1996), and "Mother Knows Best" (1997). She wrote the 1988 "Growing Pains" episode "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" and the 2008 short "The Gold Lunch" (which she also produced and directed), and she has been a producer on the ABC series "A Million Little Things" since 2021. Kerns has directed episodes of "Growing Pains" and "A Million Little Things" as well as "Ally McBeal" (1999; 2001), "Judging Amy" (2001), "Dawson's Creek" (2002), "Scrubs" (2004; 2006), "ER" (2006), "Psych" (2007–2008), "Men in Trees" (2006–2008), "Grey's Anatomy" (2008), "Army Wives" (2007–2012), "Pretty Little Liars" (2012–2016), "The Goldbergs" (2016; 2018), "This Is Us" (2018), and "High School Musical: The Musical – The Series" (2019; 2021). Joanna co-founded the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards, and from 2004 to 2008, she served on the Motion Picture and Television Fund Board of Trustees.
Early Life
Joanna Kerns was born Joanna Crussie DeVarona on February 12, 1953, in San Francisco, California. Her mother, Martha, was the manager of a clothing store, and her father, David, worked as an insurance agent. Joanna has three siblings, Donna, David, and Kurt, and Donna won two Olympic gold medals for swimming in 1964). Kerns is the niece of Miriam Cooper, a silent film actress known for 1915's "The Birth of a Nation" and 1916's "Intolerance." Joanna and Donna were in constant competition during their youth, and Kerns has said, "Donna was the golden girl. There was pressure inside me to duplicate Donna's success." Joanna took up swimming as well, but at age 14, she decided to try gymnastics instead. In 1968, she competed in the Olympic trials and was ranked #14 out of 28 competitors. Kerns majored in dance at UCLA, but she dropped out after she was cast in a production of Gene Kelly's "Clown Around" that required her to be in New York. After "Clown Around," she appeared in "Two Gentlemen of Verona" at the New York Shakespeare Festival and was directed by Burgess Meredith in a production of "Ulysses in Nighttown."
Career
Joanna returned to California in 1972 and took a job at Disneyland as a backup dancer. She made her television debut in the 1975 TV movie "It's a Bird… It's a Plane… It's Superman!," and her first film was 1976's "Ape." She then guest-starred on "Starsky and Hutch" (1976), "Charlie's Angels" (1977), "The Love Boat" (1977), "Three's Company" (1980; 1983), "Magnum, P.I." (1982–1983), "The A-Team" (1983), and "Laverne & Shirley" (1983) and appeared in the TV movies "The Million Dollar Rip-Off" (1976), "Marriage Is Alive and Well" (1980), "A Wedding on Walton's Mountain" (1982), "Mother's Day on Waltons Mountain" (1982), and "The Return of Marcus Welby, M.D." (1984). Kerns co-starred with Geneviève Bujold and Michael Douglas in the 1978 Michael Crichton-directed film "Coma," and she played Marjorie Donovan in the 1983 science-fiction miniseries "V." In 1984, she starred as Pat Devon on the CBS series "The Four Seasons," and in 1985, she got her big break when she was cast as Maggie Seaver on "Growing Pains." The series aired 166 episodes over seven seasons, and the show's cast reunited for the television films "The Growing Pains Movie" (2000) and "Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers" (2004). Joanna directed "Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers" and the 1992 episode "The Truck Stops Here" (her directorial debut).
During her time on "Growing Pains," Kerns also appeared in the TV movies "A Bunny's Tale" (1985), "Mistress" (1987), "Street Justice" (1989), "Those She Left Behind" (1989), "The Preppie Murder" (1989), "Blind Faith" (1990), "Deadly Intentions… Again?" (1991), and "Captive" (1991) and the films "Cross My Heart" (1987) and "An American Summer" (1990). After "Growing Pains" ended, Joanna directed episodes of "Hope & Gloria" (1995), "Clueless" (1997–1999), "Suddenly Susan" (1998), and "Love Boat: The Next Wave" (1998–1999) and starred in several TV movies, such as "Not in My Family" (1993), "See Jane Run" (1995), "No One Could Protect Her" (1996), and "Emma's Wish" (1998). She appeared in the film "No Dessert, Dad, Till You Mow the Lawn" in 1994, and in 1999, she co-starred with Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Clea DuVall, and Brittany Murphy in "Girl, Interrupted."
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In the 2000s, Kerns has mostly focused on directing, but she has appeared in the films "All Over the Guy" (2001) and "Knocked Up" (2007), the TV movie "Someone to Love" (2001), and the television series "The Education of Max Bickford" (2002), "Less Than Perfect" (2003–2004), and "Eastwick" (2009). She directed four episodes of "Any Day Now" from 2000 to 2002, then she directed the TV movie "Defending Our Kids: The Julie Posey Story" (2003), followed by episodes of "The Division" and "One Tree Hill" in 2004 and "Phil of the Future," "Dr. Vegas," "Joan of Arcadia," "Related," and "Ghost Whisperer" in 2005. From 2007 to 2012, Joanna directed eight episodes of "Army Wives," and she helmed four episodes of "Pretty Little Liars" between 2012 and 2016. She has directed three episodes of "Jane the Virgin" (2015–2016), two episodes of "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" (2015–2016), three episodes of "The Goldbergs" (2016; 2018), two episodes of "Fuller House" (2016), four episodes of "Light as a Feather" (2019), and six episodes of "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series" (2019; 2021). Kerns is a co-executive producer on "A Million Little Things," and as of this writing, she has directed six episodes of the series, including the season four finale.
Personal Life
Joanna married commercial producer Richard Kerns on December 11, 1976, two years after meeting on the set of a commercial, and they welcomed daughter Ashley on September 25, 1978. Joanna and Richard divorced in 1985, then Kerns married architect Marc Appleton on September 30, 1994. She filed for divorce in August 2019. In December 2016, Joanna's "Growing Pains" husband, Alan Thicke, passed away, and Kerns released a statement about the loss, writing, "Alan was a true and loyal friend. As Maggie and Jason Seaver, we experienced more than a life-changing success together. When you pretend to love someone day after day, year after year, you see all their faults and foibles and learn to accept them as they are, separate from you, and there is a connection that happens that is hard to explain. I had that with Alan. Maybe that's what marriage should be, the ability to love without judgement and the strength to remain separate."
Joanna is a breast cancer survivor, and in October 2017, she shared her story with "Today." She revealed that she was diagnosed with noninvasive DCIS and had a tumor that measured nearly 5 centimeters. Kerns stated, "I learned that my type of cancer, estrogen-negative, HER2 positive, does not respond to hormone suppressants like Tamoxifen. Therefore, the option of a lumpectomy followed by radiation did not seem like the right call for me. The rate of reoccurrence is apparently quite high in the original breast, and now I had an elevated risk in the other breast as well." She underwent a bilateral mastectomy in December 2016, and she said of her diagnosis, "I'd always taken my health for granted, because I'd always been healthy. I'm athletic and love to golf and swim. I eat right. I love my family, friends, and work. And I work 'til I drop – sometimes putting in 16- or 17-hour days….When you are diagnosed with cancer your life as you know it tilts sideways."
Award Nominations
In 2020, Kerns earned a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Children's or Young Adult Program for "Light as a Feather." She directed the 2019 episodes "Lost as Eden," "Free as a Bird," "Quiet as a Tomb," and "Brave as a Lion."
Real Estate
Joanna and Marc have owned a number of homes together over the years, primarily in Southern California. In 2020, they put their 4,167 square foot Montecito home (known as "Villa Corbeau") on the market after their split, and it sold for $8.35 million. The 1.75-acre property was purchased for $730,000 in 1993, and the home includes three bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms.
