The Facts Of Life Cast: Where The Actors Are Now

You take the good, you take the bad, and there you have... nine seasons and over 200 episodes of one of the most successful sitcoms of all time. Spun out of NBC's other wildly popular series "Diff'rent Strokes," "The Facts of Life" followed the goings-on at a girl's boarding school in upstate New York. The series became a fast hit, thanks to its chipper tone and uplifting sense of humor, as well as the performances from its cast of talented young actors — many of whom went on to achieve major success in the film and television industry.

Whether they only stayed in the main cast during its experimental first season, joined as a replacement of sorts in the final installments, or played a part in all of its 200-plus episodes, the actors embarked on a range of professional journeys. Some retired immediately afterward, pursuing careers ranging from music and producing to public speaking and teaching, while others dominated screens big and small throughout the '80s and '90s or returned to the industry as late as the 2020s. Oh, and one of them was George Clooney! 

Whatever the case, here's what happened to the cast of "The Facts of Life" in the nearly four decades since it went off-air.

Charlotte Rae left "The Facts of Life" in 1986 during the beginning of the show's eighth season. She maintained a presence on television, guest starring in episodes of popular shows like "St. Elsewhere," "Murder, She Wrote," "Sisters," and "Diagnosis Murder." She also had prominent voice acting roles in the animated series "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and Disney's "101 Dalmations." In 2001, she reprised her role as Edna Garrett in the TV special "The Facts of Life Reunion."

Throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, the frequency of Rae's work decreased steadily. Those who were too young to first see her in "The Facts of Life" may have encountered her initially in smaller supporting roles in films like the Adam Sandler action comedy "Don't Mess with the Zohan" or in TV shows like ABC Family's "Pretty Little Liars." In 2008, she had a four-episode arc on "ER," which famously starred her former "Facts of Life" co-star George Clooney. Her final film role was in the 2015 musical comedy "Ricki and the Flash." 

Many of the original actors from "Diff'rent Strokes" have passed away, including Charlotte Rae, who died in 2018 at the age of 92.

John Lawlor's tenure as a main cast member of "The Facts of Life" was shorter than most, only playing the role of Steven Bradley for a single season before exiting the show. Even so, it wound up being Lawlor's largest television role of his career, as he went on to mostly star in smaller TV movies and guest star in various series over the years that followed.

Throughout the '80s and '90s, Lawlor's most notable TV roles were appearances on "Newhart," "The Magical World of Disney," "The Bold and the Beautiful" (recurring in the role of Walter Talbert), "Mr. Belvedere," "Knots Landing" (recurring as Larry Lambert), and "LA Law." In 1994, he landed the supporting role of Judge Spicer in Lawrence Kasdan's "Wyatt Earp," which was a critical and commercial failure, though it has earned a moderate cultural reevaluation in recent years. During this same period, Lawlor worked on a handful of films as an assistant director, including "Highlander" and John Boorman's "Excalibur."

Lawlor saw few roles in the latter years of his acting career. Some readers may recognize him as Oren Mallory on "Longmire," Elmer Knowland on "Godless," or the locksmith that helps Skyler White break into Walt's divorced-dad apartment on the fourth season of "Breaking Bad." In February of 2025, the actor passed away at the age of 83.

Like John Lawlor, Jenny O'Hara exited "The Facts of Life" during its first season, having played the role of Miss Emily Mahoney. She remained remarkably busy throughout the next two decades of her career, guest starring multiple times (often in recurring capacities) on the series "Barney Miller," "Family," "CHiPs," "Trapper John, M.D.," "Beverly Hills, 90210," "As the World Turns," "Dangerous Minds," "Life's Work," "Party of Five," and "ER" — all in the '80s and '90s.

She also held down more prominent roles in the short-lived series "Highcliffe Manor" and "Secrets of Midland Heights," and appeared in single episodes of massively popular shows like "Remington Steele," "St. Elsewhere," "Murphy Brown," "L.A. Law," "Law & Order," and Chicago Hope." 

Into the 2000s and 2010s, her career continued at this pace but began to involve more prominent recurring characters, such Janet, the mother of Kevin James' Doug Heffernan on "The King of Queens," the receptionist Dot (frequently seen opposite Rhea Pearlman's Annette) on "The Mindy Project," Maura Pfefferman's (Jeffrey Tambor) sister Bryna on "Transparent," and Almeda in the Hulu miniseries "Good American Family." 

Diehard horror fans may also recognize her work in the cult horror film "Wishmaster" or 2010's "Devil" (the evil demon elevator movie). She is in her early-80s as of writing, and seemingly still continues to act.

Lisa Whelchel played Blair Warner in all nine seasons of "The Facts of Life," seemingly choosing to take a hiatus from acting after the series came to a close in 1988. Between that year and 2013, she only appeared in "Where the Red Fern Grows: Part Two" in 1992 (in which she played the role of Sara Coleman) and the "Facts of Life" reunion special in 2001. 

The period of her career after the original "Facts of Life" series allowed her to expand her areas of interest into public speaking and non-fiction writing, as well as to continue her work in the music industry — all three of these disciplines were focused through the lens of Christianity. (In 2021, she said on her "Facts" co-star Mindy Cohn's podcast that she had been somewhat iced out of Christian speaking-engagements due to her inclusive beliefs about the religion.)

In 2012, she was a contestant on "Survivor: Phillipines" and made it to the Final Tribal Council without any of the contestants realizing she was a former actor. She also may or may not have contracted West Nile Virus during production. Following "Survivor," Whelchel's career as a television personality flourished, and she even acted sporadically in a few Christian TV movies over the years. During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns in 2020, she was part of a group that was discussing a potential reboot of "The Facts of Life." These discussions came to a catastrophic end, though we'll have to address that a bit further down this list.

Nancy Olson actor Felice Schachter was part of the main cast of "The Facts of Life" for only the first season before transitioning to recurring status for the remainder of the show's run. After her final "Facts" appearance during season 8, she guest starred on a single episode of the little-known TV series "New Monkees" in 1987, before retiring as an actor.

After a few years outside the entertainment industry, Schachter returned as a production coordinator and producer on shows like "JAG" and "High Tide." Most notably, she worked as a production coordinator for over a dozen episodes of "Law and Order: SVU" throughout its second and third seasons. She also co-produced the 2001 Tracy Morgan film "30 Years to Life," in which she cameoed as a waitress.

Schachter was in her early 20s in 1987, when she seems to have made the initial decision to retire as an actor. Various fansites online have reported that she did so in order to pursue a higher education degree. From 1981 to 1985, she did attend Brown University while acting intermittently. As of writing, she appears to be a special education teacher within the New York City public school system.

As Sue Ann Weaver, Julie Piekarski's presence (above, middle) on "The Facts of Life" was nearly identical to Felice Schachter's in terms of frequency and prominence. She appeared regularly throughout the firstst season, then merely recurred a handful of times across the following seven seasons, last appearing in season 8 in 1986.

After her tenure as a series regular ended, she occasionally guest starred on shows like "General Hospital," "Quincy M.E.," and "Three's Company," but ultimately stepped away from acting after her final "Facts of Life" episode for well over three decades. Outlets have reported that she spent this time focusing on her education, majoring in business and communications at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Starting in 2020, she returned to acting for a handful of low-budget projects, the most recent of which was released in 2025.

One of the more consistent stars of "The Facts of Life" (playing the role of Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey for all nine seasons), Kim Fields has enjoyed one of the more successful acting careers after its end. In addition to being asked back for all of the reunion episodes, movies, and spin-off series of "The Facts of Life" (including the 2001 special, "Down Under," and "The Facts of Life Goes to Paris"), Fields went on to star in the gravely underrated '90s sitcom "Living Single."

The show was somewhat overshadowed by contemporaries (particularly "Friends" on NBC), but has since earned a legacy as one of the best sitcoms of all time. In a stacked ensemble cast filled with comedic talent, Fields played the melodramatic Regine Hunter. (If you have yet to watch "Living Single," but enjoy comedy shows like "How I Met Your Mother," you should absolutely check it out ASAP.)

Fields has continued to act regularly on TV, recently appearing in episodes of "Cobra Kai" (as Sandra, the mother of Nichole Brown's Aisha Robinson) and "Insecure." Since May of 2021, she has starred in the Netflix family sitcom "The Upshaws."

It should be a surprise to no one reading this that, after playing the role of Molly Parker in the 1st season of "The Facts of Life," Molly Ringwald quickly became one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Her first role after exiting the series was 1982's "Tempest," for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination. This breakout role was followed by hit after '80s hit — "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," and "Pretty and Pink" to name a few, making her part of the Brat Pack. These films made Ringwald an icon, her career in Hollywood holding strong (if containing fewer peaks) throughout the following decades. 

In the late 2010s and early 2020s, she found renewed success by returning to the bolstered TV medium, starting with "Raising Expectations" in 2016 (the series lasted until 2019) and the buzzy CW teen drama "Riverdale" in 2017 (in which she played Mary, the widowed mother of KJ Apa's Archie Andrews). Other notable recent TV roles include the mother of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (played by Evan Peters) in the first season of the Netflix series "Monster," the leader of Carmen Berzatto's (Jeremy Allen White) AA meetings in "The Bear," and TV personality Joanne Carson in "Feud: Capote vs. The Swans."

Julie Anne Haddock was part of the group from the original main cast of "The Facts of Life" that left the series after the firstst season. She continued to recur irregularly on the series throughout the rest of its run, and even played Cindy on an episode of "Diff'rent Strokes" that aired after the first season of "Facts." She also guest starred on "Boone" and "Gimme a Break."

After 1986 (in which she played Cindy Webster one last time on "The Facts of Life"), Haddock retired from acting. She maintained an exceptionally private life in the following decades, but has recently begun appearing at television conventions with other cast members from the series.

Natalie Green was one of the first roles Mindy Cohn took on when she started her acting career, ultimately leading her to star in over 200 episodes of "The Facts of Life" over a decade. She didn't immediately land anything quite as high-profile immediately after the series ended in 1988, but she eventually got on the radar of the producers of the early 2000s "Scooby Doo!" cartoons. Between 2002 and 2015, Cohn was the voice of bespectacled sleuth Velma Dinkley in over 40 video games, TV shows, and movies within the "Scooby Doo!" franchise (ending with her work in the short-lived toybox video game "LEGO Dimensions"). In recent years, she has mainly starred in the "Hearts Around the Table" series of television movies.

As was previously mentioned, there was talk during the Covid lockdowns about a reboot of "The Facts of Life" featuring at least the four core girls on the show — Lisa Whelchel, Kim Fields, Cohn, and Nancy McKeon (who played Jo Polniaczek). However, according to Cohn herself, one of these actors jeopardized their 40 years of friendship to try to make their own reboot happen without the other three, leading to the entire project's collapse. Cohn has never stated who broke ranks, but rumors have persisted among fans that it was Whelchel.

Nancy McKeon didn't start playing Jo Polniaczek on "The Facts of Life" until its second season soft reboot. Once she joined the cast, however, she remained one of its core stars until the series finale.

She acted outside "Facts" while the show was still airing, but took a distinct turn toward the medium of film for much of the decade that followed the show's end. In 1995, she returned to TV for a starring role in the CBS sitcom "Can't Hurry Love," alongside future "Law & Order" star Mariska Hargitay. It was cancelled after one season. CBS gave her another opportunity in "Style and Substance" (which also starred Jean Smart of "Watchmen" and "Hacks" fame), but it too was cancelled after one season.

Her next big break came in the Lifetime police procedural "The Division," which starred McKeon as police inspector Jinny Exstead and ran from 2001 to 2004. Most recently, she recurred in the short-lived Amazon Prime Video series "Panic."

Pamela Adlon (formerly Pamela Segall) was only part of the main cast of "The Facts of Life" for a single season, joining and leaving the series in season 5. Afterwards, she appeared on episodes of "ER" and "The Jeffersons," among many TV shows, before being cast in the 1989 romantic comedy "Say Anything."

Adlon has been remarkably busy ever since, adding more voice work to her resume with lauded projects like "Kiki's Delivery Service" (as Ket), every season of "King of the Hill" (earning an Emmy Award nomination for voicing Bobby Hill), and Disney's "Recess" (Spinelli). She also continued acting on-camera with prominent roles in "Better Things" (earning an Emmy nomination for playing struggling actor and mother Sam Fox) and "Louie" (a producer and member of the writing staff for the latter, earning an Emmy nomination for writing the episode "Daddy's Girlfriend: Part 1"). As of writing, Adlon is slated to return for a revival of "King of the Hill."

Mackenzie Astin's Andy Moffett was a successful late addition to the "Facts of Life" ensemble, joining in season 6 and remaining part of the cast through to the end of the show. He found modest success in film and television in the years that immediately followed, most notably acting alongside John Lawlor in "Wyatt Earp" and guest starring on episodes of popular series like "The Outer Limits," "Without a Trace," "Lost," "House," "My Name is Earl," and "Psych."

After appearing on "Grey's Anatomy," Astin was cast as newscaster Noah Baker on Shonda Rhimes' political thriller "Scandal." He recurred throughout the show and even played the same character on "How to Get Away with Murder." During this same period, he also recurred as Reynard the Fox on "The Magicians."

Astin has seen relatively more prominent and consistent roles in recent years, joining the supporting cast of the buzzy HBO David E. Kelly miniseries "Love and Death" in 2023 and recurring as FBI agent Jonathan Pritchard in "The Blacklist" during its final season. In 2025, he played grieving son Jereme Spencer in the hit HBO medical drama "The Pitt."

One of the most famous actors to ever grace Hollywood with his talent, George Clooney is unique among entries on this list in numerous ways — most notably, for our purposes, that "The Facts of Life" is probably one of the lesser-known titles on his resume. The actor played George Burnett on the series during its 7th season, and appeared in a couple of episodes during its 8th.

Clooney continued to consistently appear on television after leaving "Facts," but shot into another level of stardom when he began leading the hit NBC medical drama "ER." He departed during its 5th season in 1998, embarking on a career in film that would see him at the center of countless major hits — "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," "Ocean's Eleven," "Michael Clayton," and "Up in the Air," to name just a few of Clooney's best films.

Clooney has split his focus primarily between directing and acting, most recently directing the 2023 feature "The Boys in the Boat." He also starred opposite Brad Pitt in the Apple TV+ film "Wolfs," and led a theatrical adaptation of "Goodnight and Good Luck" that ran on Broadway in 2025.

Despite being considered part of the main cast of "The Facts of Life," Ryan Cassidy only played Kevin Metcalf in a handful of episodes during the show's sixth season. It was his first acting role at the time, and he followed it up with only a guest starring role on "Jesse Hawkes" before he retired from acting entirely.

Cassidy has since transitioned to roles behind the scenes, getting his break as a set dresser on the TV series "JAG." He worked on shows and films like "Muppets Tonight," "The King of Queens," "Blades of Glory," "Semi-Pro," "The Lincoln Lawyer," and the Disney Channel's "Good Luck Charlie."

The former actor still looks back fondly on his brief stint on "The Facts of Life." In February of 2025, he spoke to Remind Magazine to recount some of his favorite memories from the set, including meeting Nancy McKeon's then-boyfriend Michael J. Fox just before the release of "Back to the Future."

Like many of the young actors on this list, Sherrié Austin (formerly known as Sherrie Krenn) made her television debut in "The Facts of Life." In season 9, she played the role of Pippa McKenna. After the series ended, she guest starred on a few TV shows including "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air," then retired from acting.

Austin was already a fairly successful young musician when she joined "Facts," however, and focused on that aspect of her professional life moving forward. She released six studio albums between 1992 and 2011, including "Streets of Heaven," "Followin' a Feelin'," and "Love in the Real World." Since her independently-released record "Circus Girl," Austin has kept a relatively low profile and seemingly taken a break from releasing new music. She still gives occasional interviews in magazines and podcasts, talking about both her musical career and her time on "The Facts of Life."

After Charlotte Rae left the series at the start of season 8, legendary Hollywood actor Cloris Leachman was tapped to serve a similar role by playing Beverly Ann Stickle. She remained part of the core series cast for seasons 8 and 9.

Leachman acted in TV series like "Walter and Emily," "Thanks," "The Ellen Show," "Touched by an Angel," and "Malcolm in the Middle," before landing a series regular role on the Fox sitcom "Raising Hope," which ran from 2010 to 2014. After the latter series ended, she largely worked as a TV guest star, appearing on "Girl Meets World," "Bob's Burgers," "Royal Pains," "American Gods," "Teachers," and "Elena of Avalor." Her final film role was in 2021's "Not to Forget." That year, Leachman passed away at the age of 94.