For much of the late eighties into the nineties, circle of relatives sitcoms have been quite popular in American families. The hit ABC program Growing Pains was no doubt among the easiest of the ones kinds of shows on tv.
Recommended VideosThe collection revolved round an all-American circle of relatives, the Seavers, residing in Long Island, New York. It was once standard in construction, where the circle of relatives consisted of a mom, dad, and their few kids rising in combination in true, yet entertaining sitcom style. Running for seven seasons, it used to be one in every of ABC’s most popular primetime methods and never even ran on the network’s TGIF Friday night time lineup. It had always been broadly well-liked to many viewers over the years, operating in syndication on a number of networks and even bringing about two made-for-TV motion pictures as smartly.
But since its last aired episode in 1992, what has the cast of the show been up to?
Alan Thicke as Dr. Jason Seaver
Canadian actor Alan Thicke, the father of R&B singer Robin Thicke, performed the circle of relatives patriarch, Jason. He’s a psychiatrist that runs his personal observe out of the Seaver household as a result of his spouse Maggie has gone back into the group of workers. Countless plotlines on the display excited about Jason’s parenting efforts which were always intriguing since he was the rare — at the moment — stay-at-home father.
At the beginning of Thicke’s career, he gained enjoy as a recreation show host in his local Canada, starting in the mid-1970s. That branched off into talk display gigs in the U.S. that ultimately didn’t pan out, leading him to Growing Pains. After that show, Thicke would spend the next 25 years proceeding to behave in TV shows and films, in addition to web hosting a lot of selection TV events that aired across the world. He ultimate made an look, posthumously, as a celeb competitor on Food Network’s Chopped in 2017. On December 13, 2016, Alan Thicke kicked the bucket from a heart-related factor, suffered whilst taking part in ice hockey. He used to be 69 years previous.
Joanna Kerns as Maggie Seaver
The role of mother in the Seaver household went to American actress Joanna Kerns. She plays the position of Maggie, a former stay-at-home mom who necessarily switches parental roles with her husband Jason in the circle of relatives unit. Instead of conserving issues running at domestic, she jumped into the workforce as a neighborhood reporter, while Jason did his trade from domestic.
Originally a dancer all the way through her early years, Kerns made the transition into appearing in the mid-1970s. For the next 10 years, she would build an impressive television resume with a large number of guest appearances in TV displays like Charlie’s Angels, Three’s Company, and Magnum, P.I. ahead of touchdown her most notable function on Growing Pains. Through her time on the show, in addition to long later on, Kerns gave the impression in countless made-for-TV films. However, she discovered a sweet spot at the back of the digital camera, as a director, a place that she’s flourished in ever since directing considered one of the closing episodes of Growing Pains. From there, she would direct tv programs comparable to Ally McBeal, Dawson’s Creek, ER, Grey’s Anatomy, and Fuller House, only some of such a lot of on her resume. Her most up-to-date paintings performing work was a 2017 comedy video referred to as, Danny Brown: Ain’t It Funny, whilst her remaining directorial undertaking was once for 3 episodes of the circle of relatives drama A Million Little Things, in 2022.
Kirk Cameron as Mike Seaver
Former teen heartthrob Kirk Cameron played Mike, the eldest baby in the Seaver circle of relatives. He’s a handsome, captivating, yet mischievous teenage boy whose antics frequently made hilarious hassle now not only for himself however his different members of the family all through the collection. And in spite of no longer all the time atmosphere the very best example for his more youthful brother Ben, he was nonetheless at the very least a tight function model.
Kirk, like his sister Candace, began his appearing occupation as a kid, taking small TV and film roles or even appearing in ads. But Kirk hit super-stardom when he co-starred in Growing Pains, winning several performing awards. After that display used to be over, Cameron sooner or later starred in every other sitcom, a self-titled show referred to as Kirk, enjoying the lead position for two seasons, starting in 1995. He would then step away from the mainstream to solely work on initiatives that had Christian-based themes, stemming from his ongoing religious involvement in the faith which started in the early Nineties. That, in addition to his conservative political affairs, has given him an avenue of leisure that doesn’t regularly mesh neatly within recent American popular culture. His remaining TV look was once a visitor function in 2019, in an episode of his sister’s display, Fuller House, while his most up-to-date film work used to be in a documentary titled The Homeschool Awakening in 2022.
Tracey Gold as Carol Seaver
Gold was once cast as Carol, the first-born daughter in the Seaver family. Her persona regularly clashes along with her giant brother Mike, in an ordinary teenage model that typically made for a lot of snickers. Carol, together with her brothers, would in the end achieve a little bit sister right through the display’s later seasons.
Performing ever since she was once four years outdated, Gold had over 30 appearances on her resume prior to getting the function of Carol. It was once the largest position of her profession as she became a young person megastar during the show’s seven-year run. However, she would additionally undergo a extremely publicized combat with anorexia, which quickly put now not simply her occupation however clearly her health in danger. After getting thru the dysfunction, Gold has endured with performing, together with a exceptional efficiency in the 1994 TV film, For the Love of Nancy. Gold overwhelmingly stuck with tv appearances over films during the remaining 30 years of her profession. She was closing noticed in 2022 as a contestant on Food Network’s festival show, Worst Cooks in America.
Jeremy Miller as Ben Seaver
The personality of Ben, the more youthful Seaver son on the show, used to be performed through Jeremy Miller. Ben is rather more youthful than Carol but even younger than his brother Mike, making Ben much more impressionable inside the family household. The age hole between his brother and him made for much more humorous moments over the years.
Miller’s position as Ben would be the hottest section he’s played up to now in his ongoing career. Before Growing Pains, he best worked on a handful of productions including one appearance on the hit eighties comedy, Punky Brewster. Miller would reprise his role as Ben in the two Growing Pains movies that followed in 2000 and 2004. Over the years, he additionally become known for providing the voice of Linus in a couple of Charlie Brown productions all the way through the eighties. Miller has handiest caught to small, less-demanding roles totally on television with his closing credited function coming in 2021, a direct-to-streaming indie movie referred to as True to the Game.
Ashley Johnson as Chrissy Seaver
The ultimate addition to the Seavers was once a toddler girl named Christine, or “Chrissy,” at the start played via dual young children Kelsey and Kirsten Dohring all over season 5 of the show. The personality used to be complex in age by means of the producers, opening the door for Ashley Johnson to be cast in the role for the final two seasons of the program. Chrissy brings the typical but refreshing child-centric comedy to countless plotlines in the show.
Since then, Johnson would proceed to search out lots of paintings on TV, having roles in nearly 10 separate methods by way of the time she was a youngster. She additionally lent her voice skills to a number of standard animated presentations like Disney’s Recess, Teen Titans, and several other versions of the Ben 10 sequence of displays, to name a few. Her hottest voice work even though involves the voice and movement seize efficiency as Ellie in The Last of Us sequence of video games, earning her both a BAFTA and a VGX Award for the role. Johnson has also taken off with considerable work in numerous board gaming-related web series. She’s also stuck to acting in recent years as an ordinary cast member of the NBC drama series Blindspot, for five seasons. Johnson simply finished work, reprising her position as Ellie in the TV version of The Last of Us, recently in post-production.
Leonardo DiCaprio as Luke Brower
Yes, the award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio was once once a recurring cast member of Growing Pains, during its seventh and ultimate season. He performed Luke, a homeless youngster who’s introduced into the fold to are living with the Seavers. Luke supplies extra fresh-faced and fascinating adolescent aura to the circle of relatives atmosphere.
DiCaprio was nowhere close to the star everyone knows by the time he joined the cast of Growing Pains. At that time, he made habitual and visitor appearances in standard displays like The Mickey Mouse Club, Parenthood, and Roseanne sooner than being cast as Luke in Growing Pains. When he left that display, he jumped into movies, co-starring in notable films like What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, The Basketball Diaries, Romeo + Juliet, oh, and that film about that truly giant boat referred to as Titanic, which shot him into A-list territory, never taking a look back. After Titanic, the large display screen has been where it’s at for Leo, as he’s performed a large number of award-worthy roles in additional films like The Aviator, Blood Diamond, The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and The Revenant, for which he won the 2016 Best Actor Oscar.
Leo’s unquestionably still performing, however he’s also doing a considerable amount of producing in the back of the digicam, at the side of quite a lot of humanitarian paintings, political activism, and environmental activism. Just recently, he wrapped up taking pictures scenes for Killers of the Flower Moon and has two more films, Jim Jones and Roosevelt anticipated once 2023.
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