Joanna Kerns

The Athletic Failure That Turned on the Camera

Joanna DeVarona narrowly missed out on the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. Her sister Donna already had two swimming gold medals, but she was left out in the qualifying trials in Santa Clara. That defeat in the pool pushed her straight toward the stages of Los Angeles to try her luck as a dancer and actress.

She started with tiny parts in series such as Starsky & Hutch and Magnum, P.I. during the 1970s. She worked constantly, but few people remembered her name once the TV was turned off. At the time, the studio system looked for very specific types, and she didn't fit the traditional mold of the wholesome ingenue.

In 1985 she landed the role of Maggie Seaver in the sitcom Growing Pains after a tense audition process. Her chemistry with Alan Thicke was immediate, since they both shared a dry, professional sense of humor. The show clicked from the very first minute on ABC.

And television devoured her.

An Obsession with Technical Control

While filming the most-watched family series in the United States, she asked for permission to enter the editing room. She didn't want to limit herself to memorizing lines and smiling in front of the 35-millimeter cameras. So she spent hundreds of hours watching technicians cut the film and adjust the rhythm of the jokes.

In 1992, she directed her first episode of the series, titled The Big Fix. It was a risky move, since sitcom actresses rarely made the leap to directing in those years. But Kerns proved she knew the language of the shot better than many union veterans.

The industry was wary of her at first. But her ability to deliver shoots on time and on budget opened the doors to the big medical dramas of the 1990s. She directed episodes of ER and Chicago Hope, showing surgical technical precision.

The industry values her technique more than her fame.

The Profitable Anonymity Behind the Monitor

Kerns decided her future was behind the director's chair, not under the makeup. In 2006 she joined the team of Grey's Anatomy to direct emotionally intense episodes in season three. Her style avoids unnecessary flourishes and focuses on pure storytelling efficiency.

In 2017, she worked as a director on The Good Fight, bringing a visual restraint that suited the show's cynical tone. She also directed episodes of This Is Us during 2018, handling very complex ensemble casts. She has directed more than 50 different series over three decades of uninterrupted work.

But she never fully left acting when the project made financial or artistic sense. In 1999, she appeared in the film Girl, Interrupted alongside Winona Ryder, playing the lead's mother. It was a brief role that she shot while simultaneously coordinating three other television projects.

In 2021, she directed several episodes of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series for Disney+. For 2022, she remained a director on legal dramas with budgets exceeding four million dollars per episode. Kerns lives on a property in Santa Barbara and oversees production contracts that expire in 2027.