About Nancy McKeon
Nancy Justine McKeon is a U.S. actress who remains most well-known today for her portrayal of "tomboy" Jo Polniaczek on THE FACTS OF LIFE from its second season onward (the fall of 1980, this would be). This came after the dismissal of four other previous "regulars" including Molly Ringwald. Her function on the show was usually to serve as a splash of cold water (realism) in the face of Blair Warner's (Lisa Whelchel) endless, Miss Piggy-sized egotism. She has also played Jinny Exstead on THE DIVISION.
Nancy, however, has been "in the business" since she started by modeling diapers at the age of 2. (Boy, the things this kid knows, eh?) She was born in Westbury, NY and lived in Forest Hills (a neighborhood of Queens) growing up. She is the sister to Philip McKeon, who was offered the breakthrough role of Tommy in ALICE, at which point the whole family moved to LA. Nancy then also began to work in TV, with roles in STARSKY AND HUTCH, FANTASY ISLAND, etc.
In point of fact Nancy was "in-demand" enough as a child star that she often "attended" school by way of on-set tutors. She appeared in soaps such as THE SECRET STORM and ANOTHER WORLD, but was "discovered" for her first starring role by a casting director based on a Hallmark commercial.
Since life got its facts in order (ahem), she has remained busy in Hollywood. She was courted by NBC executives for a TV adaptation of the film WORKING GIRL (1988), a role which instead went to a then-unknown Sandra Bullock. She also lost the role of Monica on FRIENDS to a lady you may have heard of, Ms. Courteney Cox. She made a number of made-for-TV movies in the 80s and 90s, She has voiced many an ABC weekend special, including the voice of Scruffy, the English Springer Spaniel, whose chronicles are too numerous to highlight here.
She gained the lead in CAN'T HURRY LOVE (1995), but the show only lasted a season. In 1998 she starred with Jean Smart in STYLE AND SUBSTANCE. As noted already, she starred in THE DIVISION from 2001-2004, but it was a show based on cops who are a bunch of GIRLS, so hard pass, am I right? She married a key grip, Marc Andrus, in 2003, and has 2 kids by him. They moved to a ranch outside Austin, TX to raise their brood.
From 2009-2010, she appeared in SONNY WITH A CHANCE as Connie Munroe.
TRIVIA: As noted, she's the sister of Philip McKeon, who gained the family its entree to show business as Tommy Hyatt on ALICE. However, she modeled baby clothes for the Sears Roebuck Catalog at the age of 2. (It is not so well-known today that in earlier days, she and her brother actually appeared together in a number of ads.)
She has her own film company, Forest Hills Entertainment, named for the neighborhood she (mostly) grew up in.
She also competed in season 27 of DANCING WITH THE STARS.
It was her ability to cry on cue (for the Hallmark ad) that was her ticket to fame on THE FACTS OF LIFE. (True story.)
It's reasonably well-known that she ONCE DATED MICHAEL J. FOX!!!!!!!!!! (They also did some sitcom or other together, but I just got comfortable, here, guys...) As they were both very private people, according to her, they didn't do much to publicize the relationship at the time.
Dress size is 6. Shoe size is 8.
(These facts brought to you by way of wikipedia,
with a bit of assistance from Hollywood Measurement and healthyceleb
to fill in some of the chinks and crevices. Nicely done, guys!
AND by way of poster DDT on this 28th of March 2023)
