Where Are 'The Facts of Life' Cast Members Today?

The iconic 1980s girls boarding school sitcom The Facts of Life is coming back to life, as Jennifer Aniston, Gabrielle Union and more top stars have signed on for a reenactment special, Live in Front of a Studio Audience, scheduled to air on ABC on December 7, 2021. But what are the ladies of Eastland Academy who played Blair, Jo, Tootie and Natalie on the series up to today?

The show aired on NBC from 1979 through 1988, as it was a spinoff from the hit Diff’rent Strokes featuring Charlotte Rae’s Edna Garrett character leaving to become a housemother to a group of girls at an Upstate New York boarding school. The Facts of Life‘s first season featured a large cast of teen girls, including future 1980s film sweetheart Molly Ringwald.

The cast was paired down in season 2, jettisoning four cast members, including Molly, to focus on the lives of four main leads. The characters who made the cut included rich preppy Blair Warner, played by Lisa Whelchel, jovial Natalie Green, played by Mindy Cohn, and the snarky and gossipy Dorothy “Tootie” Ramsey, played by Kim Fields.

Where Are The Facts of Life Cast Today — NBC-TV/Kobal/Shutterstock

Tough Bronx teen Jo Polniaczek was added to season 2, played by Nancy McKeon. Immediately, she and the other three girls had a run in with the law that landed them living together in a spare bedroom away from the main girls dorm and working in the school’s cafeteria as punishment. Mrs. Garrett was made the school’s dietician, since she needed to interact with the four lead teens, who were no longer living in the dormitory.

After the characters graduated from the Eastland School for Girls (albeit in differing seasons), they were kept together as Mrs. Garrett opened up a food store called Edna’s Edibles in season 5 of the series. George Clooney, in one of his earliest roles, joined the cast to help add a hunk factor, playing handyman George Burnett. He helped rebuild Edna’s store after it burned down in a fire, later to be named Over Our Heads, which sold T-shirts and nicknacks.

The future film superstar starred in 17 episodes of the show between seasons 7 and 8, before The Facts of Life finally ended in 1988. Sadly, Charlotte is no longer with us, as she died on August 5, 2018 at the age of 92 following a brief battle with cancer.

Scroll down to find out where the cast members of The Facts of Life are today.

Lisa Whelchel

Lisa was raised with a devout faith, and released a Christian pop album, All Because of You, in 1984 while still on The Facts of Life. She has authored 10 books, dealing with everything from motherhood, spirituality, homeschooling and more. Lisa also has worked for years as a motivational speaker.

She appeared as a contestant on CBS’ Survivor: Philippines in 2012, though her celebrity status flew under the radar with many of the younger contestants who had never seen The Facts of Life. Lisa ended up tied for second place in the finale, a won the fan favorite vote, collecting a cool $100,000. She has also appeared on the small screen in various TV movies over the years, including Amazon Prime’s You Light Up My Christmas in 2019 and 2016’s Hearts of Spring on the Hallmark Channel. Lisa currently hosts MeTV’s Collector’s Call, where she travels the country meeting nostalgia collectors.

Lisa was married to pastor Steve Cauble for 24 years before splitting in 2012. The couple share three adult children, son Tucker and daughters Haven and Clancy.

Nancy McKeon

As a young adult, Nancy auditioned for the role of Monica Gellar on Friends, but lost out to Courteney Cox. She later said about losing the role of a lifetime, “I have no hard feelings. The role went to the right person. Courteney was brilliant. Now, I can’t see anybody playing the role, not even myself.” Through the late ’80s and ’90s Nancy starred in various made-for-TV movies. She later went on to portray a young Demi Lovato’s mom, Connie Munroe, on the Disney Channel series Sonny with a Chance from 2009-2010.

In 2018, Nancy competed on season 27 of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, where she was partnered with fan favorite pro Val Chmerkovskiy. They were the third couple to be eliminated.

Nancy is married to film technician Marc Andrus, whom she wed in a small, private ceremony in 2003. They share two daughters, Harlow, born in 2004, and Aurora, born in 2006. The couple raised their girls out of the spotlight on a ranch near Austin, Texas.

Mindy Cohn

Mindy has acted steadily over the years, in guest spots on TV shows. But she’s made a career out of voicing the character of Velma Dinkley on various Scooby Doo franchise-related projects since 2002, including TV shows, videos and video games.

Mindy never married or had children. She received a degree in cultural anthropology from Loyola Marymount University in 1995 and is a founding member of the cancer support center, weSpark. Mindy is a cancer survivor, after privately battling breast cancer from 2012 through 2017, when she was declared free of the disease.

Kim Fields

After The Facts of Life, Kim completed her education at California’s Pepperdine University, graduating in 1990 with a degree in communications and film. She returned to the small screen to take on a full-fledged adult role on Fox’s 1993 to 1998 sitcom Living Single, playing Regina “Reginé” Hunter.

Kim later transitioned into directing, where she helmed 27 episodes of Nickelodeon’s Kenan & Kel. She directed 50 episodes of Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns between 2009 and 2011. Kim has returned to acting full-time and is currently starring in the Netflix original series, The Upshaws.

Kim married Broadway actor Christopher Morgan in 2007, and they share two sons Quincy and Sebastian.