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Nancy McKeon From a young age, the American actress-and her brother Philip- did numerous commercials on TV at the insistence of her parents. She appeared on the soap operas "The Secret Storm" and "Another World". In 1979, she was discovered by a casting director for "The Facts of Life" after a performance in a Hallmark greeting cards commercial.She was then cast as the tough and independent tomboy Jo Polniaczek, and debuted on the show in the fall of 1980. This would become her most famous role and her breakout shot to stardom. She would play the role until the show was canceled in 1988. During this time, she also provided the voice for many ABC Weekend Special cartoon characters, including the voice for Scruffy. Since then, shes appeared in many made-for-TV movies, most notably in "A Cry for Help: The Tracey Thurman Story", in which she played an abuse victim. She also starred in a number of failed sitcoms, "Can't Hurry Love", in 1995 which was canceled after its first season, and "Style and Substance" in 1997. She played Inspector Jinny Exstead on the Lifetime police drama "The Division" from 2001 to 2004. Her pregnancy was incorporated into the storyline of the last year of the series. McKeon married key grip Marc Andrus in June 2003, and in March 2004 gave birth to their daughter, Aurora. She also had a second baby, a boy, at the end of December 2006. A devout Roman Catholic, McKeon, with her parents, was once granted a private audience with Pope John Paul II while she was on "The Facts of Life". Back to Nancy McKeons Index |