16:34Classic TV · 1990Growing Pains Cast Then and Now
Episode: Growing Pains (1985): Cast Then & Now 2026 — Who's Still Alive After 41 Years?
From Hollywood Legends Era · 18 min ·
About the Growing Pains Cast Then and Now
The Growing Pains cast then and now follows the Seaver family of Huntington, Long Island, and the actors who lived with them for seven years. The ABC sitcom premiered on September 24, 1985, and ran for seven seasons and 166 episodes, ending on April 25, 1992.
The idea was simple and, for its time, fresh. Psychiatrist Jason Seaver moves his practice into the family home so his wife, Maggie, can go back to work as a reporter. It was a top-ten hit by its third season.
This episode looks at twelve people connected to the show. As of October 2026, three of them have passed away, and nine are still with us.
Who Was in the Growing Pains Cast, and Where Are They Now?
Alan Thicke as Jason Seaver
Alan Thicke was born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, on March 1, 1947. Before he was a TV dad, he was a songwriter. With his first wife, Gloria Loring, he wrote the theme songs for Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life, and he wrote the original Wheel of Fortune theme.
His late-night talk show, Thicke of the Night, lasted only the 1983–84 season. Two years later, he became Jason Seaver and played him in every season and in reunion films in 2000 and 2004.
On December 13, 2016, he collapsed while playing ice hockey with his son Carter in Burbank, California. He died later that day of an aortic dissection, a tear in the body's main artery. He was 69.
Joanna Kerns as Maggie Seaver
Joanna Kerns grew up in an athletic family. Her older sister is Olympic swimmer Donna de Varona, and Joanna competed in the 1968 Olympic gymnastics trials. As Maggie, she played a mother returning to her career as a TV reporter.
She then built a second career as a television director, with episodes of The Goldbergs, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and This Is Us. She also directed the 2004 reunion film, Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers. On screen, she appeared in Girl, Interrupted and Knocked Up. She is 73.
Kirk Cameron as Mike Seaver
Kirk Cameron was about 14 when he was cast as Mike, the charming oldest son, and by the late 1980s he was on the covers of teen magazines everywhere. As a teenager, he became a born-again Christian and asked for scripts to be changed to remove mild innuendo. His clashes with the show's producers are said to have contributed to several of them leaving after season six.
On July 21, 1991, he married co-star Chelsea Noble. He did not invite his TV family to the wedding and drifted apart from them for years. Before the 2000 reunion film, he said that if he could go back, he would make choices that were less hurtful to the cast.
He has since made faith-based films, including Fireproof (2008), and hosts Christian television programs. With Noble, he founded Camp Firefly, which gives seriously ill children and their families a free week of vacation. They have six children, four of them adopted. He is 56.
Tracey Gold as Carol Seaver
Tracey Gold began acting at age four, with a print ad for Pepsi. Her younger sister, Missy Gold, was also a child actor. As Carol, she played the bright, studious middle child.
During the run of the show, she struggled with anorexia and was hospitalized in early 1992. Her absence was written into the story, with Carol studying in London, and she returned for the final episodes. Since then she has spoken openly about recovery, starred in the 1994 TV movie For the Love of Nancy, and written a book about her experience.
She married Roby Marshall in 1994, and they have four sons. She returned for both reunion films. She is 57.
Jeremy Miller as Ben Seaver
Jeremy Miller was eight when the show began and played the youngest son, Ben, through all seven seasons.
He has been honest about his years with alcohol after the show ended. In a 2014 interview he said he had struggled for years and that Alan Thicke later helped him find work. He went through treatment, later spoke publicly for a recovery program, and returned for both reunion films. He is 49.
Andrew Koenig as Richard "Boner" Stabone
Andrew Koenig, the son of Star Trek actor Walter Koenig, played Mike's goofy best friend Boner in the first four seasons.
He became an activist for the people of Burma (Myanmar). In 2007 he visited refugee camps in Thailand with his father, and in 2008 he was briefly arrested after protesting China's support of Burma's military government at the Tournament of Roses Parade.
He died in Vancouver in February 2010, at age 41. His father said he had taken his own life after a long battle with depression, and he urged anyone worried about a loved one to "extend a hand."
Julie McCullough as Julie Costello
Julie McCullough played Julie, the Seavers' nanny, in 1989 and 1990, and the character became Mike's love interest. She was let go in 1990. The producers said the character was never meant to be permanent.
A long-told account claims Kirk Cameron objected to her earlier Playboy photos and pushed for her firing. That has never been confirmed, and in his 2008 memoir Cameron said he did not call for her to be fired. McCullough has remained critical of him. She is 61.
Chelsea Noble as Kate MacDonald
Chelsea Noble joined in season five as Kate, Mike's girlfriend, and stayed through the end of the series. She and Kirk Cameron married in 1991, while the show was still on the air, and passed their 35th anniversary this summer. She is 61.
Matthew Perry as Sandy
Matthew Perry played Sandy, Carol's boyfriend, in three episodes of season four. In the April 1989 episode "Second Chance," Sandy drives after drinking, crashes, and seems fine at the hospital, until the family learns he has died. The episode closed with a message about deaths in alcohol-related crashes. Perry was 19.
Five years later, Friends made him a star as Chandler Bing. In his 2022 memoir, he wrote openly about addiction and recovery. He died on October 28, 2023, at age 54; the medical examiner ruled his death an accident caused by the acute effects of ketamine.
Joanna Kerns remembered him as "fiercely intelligent" and said that among all the young actors who came through the show, "Matthew stood out."
Maura Tierney, Guest Star
Early in her career, Maura Tierney was cast on Growing Pains and fired after two days of rehearsal. She has said she still does not know why, joking that the director kept telling her to "watch Kirk."
She went on to NewsRadio, nearly ten seasons as Dr. Abby Lockhart on ER, a Golden Globe for The Affair, and The Iron Claw (2023). She is 61.
Leonardo DiCaprio as Luke Brower
In the final season, the Seavers took in a homeless teenager named Luke, played by 16-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio. Joanna Kerns later called him "especially intelligent and disarming for his age." He left before the series ended to film This Boy's Life.
At 19, he earned an Oscar nomination for What's Eating Gilbert Grape. He went on to Titanic and won Best Actor for The Revenant. He is 51.
Ashley Johnson as Chrissy Seaver
Ashley Johnson was six when she took over as Chrissy in seasons six and seven, after the character was aged up from a toddler. She returned for both reunion films.
She has worked steadily ever since: voicing Gretchen on Recess, playing the waitress Captain America saves in The Avengers, starring as Patterson on Blindspot, and playing in the online series Critical Role. She voiced Ellie in the video game The Last of Us, then played Ellie's mother in the HBO series. She is 43.
Why Growing Pains Still Feels Like Home
Growing Pains showed a two-career family figuring things out together, and its best episodes took on real subjects, from drunk driving to growing up too fast. Behind the scenes, the cast faced loss and disagreements, but many came back together for the reunion films.
Which Seaver did you relate to most when you watched the show, and do you remember where you were the night "Second Chance" aired?
Sources and Further Reading
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