Lisa Whelchel was introduced as a child actress when she was 12, playing the role of a Mouseketeer on “The New Mickey Mouse Club” from 1977 to 1978. But that was the beginning of something bigger.
Indeed, Lisa landed the role of Blair Warner, a wealthy, uptight preppy, on the popular show “The Facts of Life,” and literally a star was born. The premise of the show was a group of four girls — Blair, Tootie (Kim Fields), Natalie (Mindy Cohn) and Jo (Nancy McKeon) — set at Eastland School for Young Women with Mrs. Garrett (Charlotte Rae) as the caretaker and confidante for the girls.
The show lasted nine seasons, making it one of the longest-running sitcoms of the 1980s. Lisa later played Blair again on “Diff’rent Strokes,” a spinoff from “The Facts of Life,” and she also appeared in the TV movies: “The Facts of Life Reunion,” “The Facts of Life Goes to Paris” and “The Facts of Life Down Under.”
Whelchel’s fame from the ’80s only grew from there. She’s now written 10 books, starred in the reality TV series “Survivor” and has managed to raise three kids in the meantime. Here’s what she’s been doing in recent years.
