The Facts of Life

Nancy Justine McKeon is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Jo Polniaczek on the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life. McKeon was born in Westbury, New York. Prior to her breakthrough on The Facts of Life, she and her older brother Philip appeared in numerous commercials. McKeon also... appeared on the soap operas The Secret Storm and Another World. The McKeons moved to Los Angeles in 1975, when Philip began appearing on the television series Alice with Linda Lavin. In 1979, McKeon was discovered by a casting director for The Facts of Life after a performance in a Hallmark greeting cards advertisement. She was cast as tough and independent tomboy Jo Polniaczek, and debuted on the show in the fall of 1980. This is her most famous role and she portrayed the character until the show was canceled in 1988. McKeon also provided the voice for many ABC Weekend Special cartoon characters, including the voice for Scruffy. McKeon has also been noted for her ability to cry on command. While on The Facts of Life, this ability earned her the nickname "Faucet Face" by her cast mates. In 1995 she starred in her own series, Can't Hurry Love, which lasted one season.
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Diff'rent Strokes is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from November 3, 1978 to May 4, 1985, and on ABC from September 27, 1985 to March 7, 1986. The series stars Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as Arnold and Willis Jackson, two African American boys from Harlem who are taken in by a rich white Park Avenue businessman named Phillip Drummond and his daughter Kimberly , for whom their deceased mother previously worked. During the... first season and first half of the second season, Charlotte Rae also starred as the Drummonds' housekeeper, Mrs. Garrett . The series made stars out of child actors Coleman, Bridges, and Plato, and became known for the "very special episodes" in which serious issues such as racism, drug use and child molestation were dramatically explored. The lives of stars Coleman, Bridges and Plato, however, were later plagued by legal troubles and drug addiction, as the stardom and success they achieved while on the show eluded them after the series was cancelled. In pre-production, the original proposed title was 45 Minutes From Harlem.
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