Remember the days when Kirk Cameron was just a Teen Beat-cover appearing sitcom heartthrob? Once apon a time, the actor, who turns 44 on October 12, was Mike Seaver, the teenage son of a psychiatrist and journalist who fought the ladies off with a stick on Growing Pains.
The beloved sitcom, which ran on ABC from 1985 to 1992, elevated the actor and his costars (Alan Thicke, for one) to household name status and brought the mysteries and struggles of upper-middle-class suburban Long Island family life into living rooms across America. The comedy series, although mostly lighthearted, tackled everything from drugs to suicide with a tone that pleased even the most overbearing parents.
So where is the Seaver family now? Mostly still lighting up the small screen (with “that smile”).
Alan Thicke – Dr. Jason Seaver
Alan Thicke has managed to retain his place in the spotlight in the years since Growing Pains’ end – mainly due to his son Robin and the fact that he is so candid during interviews (like when he told the world that he gets “freaky” with his wife to Robin’s music).
Thicke nabbed a lead part in sitcom Hope & Gloria as a Pittsburgh TV personality shortly after finishing Pains, but that was his last major series role. In the years since, the 68-year-old appears to have found his calling in TV movies and cameo appearances.
Thicke played himself in several episodes of How I Met Your Mother, moonlighting as a friend of Robin’s alter ego Robin Sparkles. Thicke also has his own mockumentary TV show, Unusually Thicke. The Canadian TV program portrays a factional look at the life of Thicke and has already made it through two seasons. It’s also his second attempt at finding success with a play on his name, following his failed early ’80s late night talk show, Thicke of the Night, so kudos for that.
Joanna Kerns – Maggie Malone Seaver
Kerns, 62, played Seaver family matriarch Maggie on screen, but now, the star is spending more and more time behind the camera. Seaver works as a TV director – and a successful one at that. She’s helmed episodes of Jane the Virgin, Pretty Little Liars, Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs, ER, Felicity, Dawson’s Creek … should I go on? The star herself hasn’t appeared in a film or show since 2010, and before that, her last big role was as Katherine Heigl’s mom in 2007’s Knocked Up.
Kerns isn’t opposed to acting again, however. She told Variety in June that she would “absolutely” take to the screen again, but that there’s a “lack of good roles for women between 40 and 60.” Once the parts start flowing again she said “I’m around.”
Kirk Cameron – Mike Seaver
Kirk Cameron found God after his teen heartthrob days, and boy is he outspoken about it. An active Christian, the star left his fictional family in the dust to focus on ministry and religious films. After portraying Buck Williams in the movie adaptations of the Left Behind book series, Cameron began co-hosting The Way of the Master, a Christian TV program in which he teaches others “how to share their faith effectively and inoffensively.”
He also produces Christian films like Mercy Rule, a documentary called UNSTOPPABLE, and, most notably Razzie award-winner Saving Christmas.
Saving Christmas, the official Worst Movie of 2014, encouraged the murdering of blasphemers. Cameron similarly attempted to murder Rotten Tomatoes 8 percent score of the flick by urging fans to up-vote the audience recommended rating. Consequently, the rest of the internet turned Cameron’s rating vigilante project right back in his face.
Jeremy Miller – Ben Seaver
Miller, now 38, struggled with addiction after finding fame so young. He told People his alcohol abuse issues once got so bad that his three sons were “afraid” of him, which left the star often contemplating suicide.
As of 2014, however, Miller has turned his life around. He told People he works as a patient advocate in Santa Ana, California. Miller also appears to occasionally act. He was only in a handful of projects throughout much of the early and mid-2000s, but in 2014 starred in several episodes of a show called The Comeback Kids about two ’80s child stars struggling for a second chance in Hollywood (sounds familiar). He has a leading role in the upcoming horror movie Awakening, which is due, appropriately, on Halloween.
Gossip alert: Miller also recently revealed he was involved in the love triangle of all love triangles “back in the day” – he was dating costar Kirk’s sister Candace Cameron (of Full House fame), but ended up breaking it off for an older woman – then-14-year-old Danica McKellar (Winnie Cooper of The Wonder Years).
Tracey Gold – Carol Seaver
Tracy Gold, aka nerd Carol, has found her place in TV movies in the decades since Growing Pains. From Lifetime to Hallmark, some choice titles include: Dirty Little Secret, She’s No Angel, Safe Harbor, and Captive Hearts. There was also SyFy’s Arachnoquake! in which giant albino spiders emerge from the earth and attack New Orleans. And you liked Sharknado …
Gold also briefly co-hosted GSN Live in 2009, and appeared on an episode of ABC’s Celebrity Wife Swap, trading spouses and families with Wilson Phillips singer Carnie Wilson.
Ashley Johnson – Chrissy Seaver
Johnson, now 32, played youngest Seaver child Chrissy in seasons six and seven, but she’s probably most recognizable as Mel Gibson’s teenage reeling daughter in 2000’s What Women Want. Nineties kids will remember her as the voice of bespectacled Gretchen Grundler on cartoon Recess, and AMC fans will know her as Amber Ahmed, the wife of one-time Rosie murder prime suspect Bennet Ahmed, from The Killing.
Johnson has found her place back in the primetime lineup as Patterson, the head of the FBI Forensic Science Unit on the new NBC TV series Blindspot.
And for good measure…
Leonardo DiCaprio – Luke Bower
What’s ‘ol Leo been up to since his 24-episode long recurring role on the sitcom: bedding models and losing Oscars. It just might be his year though (CC: The Revenant). Fingers crossed, guys.
