Actress, director
Daughter, Ashley Cooper Kerns , was born in 1978.
Younger sister of Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer Donna DeVarona.
She appeared in the music video and sang in the choir on the song "Voices That Care."
Joanna is the daughter of Martha Louise and David Thomas DeVarona. Her paternal grandfather, Joseph de la Cruz de Varona Betancourt, was Cuban. Joannas other ancestry is mostly German, as well as Welsh, Irish, and English.
Has two brothers named David and Kurt.
Grew up in Lafayette, California. Tried out for the Olympics in 1968 as a gymnast.
Worked in a Produce store as a cashier.
Tried out for the role that was eventually played by Cybill Shepherd in Taxi Driver .
Aunt of Joanna Pinto and John David Pinto.
Friends with Alan Thicke.
In November 2016 she was diagnosed with breast cancer after a routine Contrast Enhanced Spectrum Mammography screening, which is suggested for women with dense breasts. After two lumpectomies, Kerns decided to have a double mastectomy in December "instead of risking radiation and the chance of it coming back" and has been "given an all clear - the best of the results she could have had.
