Lori Loughlin
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
As the sweet-natured Becky Katsopolis on the long-running sitcom "Full House" (ABC, 1987-1995), actress Lori Loughlin endeared herself to millions of Friday night television viewers and along the way became a familiar face. She went on to project a similarly girl-next-door image in family-oriented television movies, but despite headlining several subsequent series, including the buddy cop comedy "Hudson Street" (ABC, 1995-96) and the drama "Summerland" (The WB, 2004-05) - which she co-created - Loughlin had trouble shaking the image of her role on the squeaky clean '80s sitcom. Loughlin somewhat reinvented her image on The CW's teen revival "90210" (2008-13), where she was met with an overwhelmingly positive response from a new generation of fans to whom she represented the hip, youthful Beverly Hills mom. Though her attempts to make a name on the big screen was met with some resistance, thanks to little-seen indies like "Moondance Alexander" (2007) and the critically maligned comedy "Old Dogs" (2009), Loughlin was still a very welcomed weekly presence in millions of homes across the country.
Born on July 28, 1964 in Queens, NY, Loughlin was raised primarily in the suburb of Hauppauge, Long Island along with a brother and sister. As a child, Loughlin was very much the amateur performer, obsessed with "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), often assembling friends for backyard productions of the beloved classic. She knew from the time she was five that acting would be her profession, and by age 12, she was already in front of the camera as a preteen model in store catalogs and commercials. Loughlin's first taste of professional acting came with a small role in "Too Far to Go" (1979), an adaptation of the John Updike novel. The following year she joined the cast of the soap opera "The Edge of Night" (1956-1984). For the next three years she played troubled teen and aspiring dancer Jody Moore on the daytime staple, earning a nomination from the Young Artist Awards for Best Young Actress in a Drama Series in 1983.
Loughlin hit movie screens in the horror sequel "Amityville 3-D" (1983) and spent the mid-1980s splitting her time between family-oriented made-for-television movies and afternoon specials like the CBS Schoolbreak Special, "Babies Having Babies" (1986). She put in two guest appearances on the CBS crime drama, "The Equalizer" (CBS, 1985-89), and in 1988, caught her big showbiz break when she was cast in ABC's fledgling family comedy, "Full House." Loughlin's character Becky Donaldson, co-worker of TV newscaster character Danny and good-natured girlfriend of rocker Jesse (John Stamos) was initially brought on as a recurring character at the start of the second season. As her romance with Jesse developed and her wholesome persona proved a successful addition to the ensemble, Loughlin was upgraded to full cast member in season three.
While "Full House" delivered solid ratings on ABC's "TGIF" lineup, Loughlin often spent her hiatus time shooting movies. Her perkiness was tapped to portray the child of '60s "beach blanket" movie stars Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon in the campy comedy "Back to the Beach" (1987), and Loughlin also offered dramatic performances in the domestic alcoholism drama, "Doing Time on Maple Drive" (Fox, 1992) and in ABC's "One of Our Own" (1994), as a police woman who becomes a rape victim. The following year, in a reaction to soaring production costs, ABC decided to finally pull the plug on "Full House," but Loughlin was back on the primetime schedule that fall, co-starring with Tony Danza on "Hudson Street" (ABC, 1995-96). The series paired a liberal-minded police officer with a conservative one (with expectedly romantic results) and struggled to lure in viewers. It was cancelled at the end of its first and only season.
Without a permanent network address, Loughlin remained busy with a string of earnest TV movies and guest appearances on sitcoms like "Seinfeld" (NBC, 1989-1998) and "Suddenly Susan" (NBC, 1996-2000). She enjoyed longer runs with recurring roles on "The Drew Carey Show" (ABC, 1995-2004) and Lifetime's procedural drama "1-800 Missing" (2003-06). In 2004, Loughlin served as co-creator, producer and star of the young adult-oriented drama "Summerland." In a plotline that harkened back to Loughlin's most famous role, she played a coastal California woman raising a family of orphaned nieces and nephews from Kansas. Though not a critical favorite, the show ably fit the WB's teen-friendly demographic and stuck around for two 13-episode seasons.
In January of 2006, Loughlin appeared in a tongue-in-cheek guest role as a former lover of John Stamos' on his short-lived series "Jake in Progress" (ABC, 2005-06). Signing on with her familiar network again, Loughlin joined the ensemble cast of the thirty-something reunion comedy, "In Case of Emergency" (2007-08), which unfortunately missed the comedy mark altogether and was cancelled after a dozen episodes. She fared better the following year when she was cast in "90210" (The CW, 2008-13), the latest installment in Darren Star's franchise which found Loughlin and Rob Estes as parents of teenagers who have recently moved from the Midwest to Beverly Hills to care for an ailing, former TV star grandmother (Jessica Walter). The reprisal of several of the original cast members of "Beverly Hills 90210" (Fox, 1990-2000) helped draw in older audiences to the teen-oriented show, which indeed proved successful with a slew of nominations at the Teen Choice Awards. Back in features, she co-starred alongside John Travolta and Robin Williams in the critically-mauled family comedy, "Old Dogs" (2009), which featured the two actors as aging bachelors who find themselves suddenly taking care of twins.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1979
TV-movie debut, "Too Far To Go"
1980
At age 15 cast to play Jody Travis, an aspiring dancer on the CBS daytime drama "The Edge of Night"
1983
Feature film debut, "Amityville: 3D"
1985
Made TV miniseries debut in "North Beach and Rawhide" (CBS)
1985
Played C. Thomas Howell's tomboy bestfriend in "Secret Admirer"
1988
Breakthrough role as Rebecca Donaldson on the ABC sitcom "Full House"
1995
Cast in regular role on the short lived ABC sitcom "Hudson Street"
1997
Starred opposite Cicely Tyson in the TV-movie "The Price of Heaven"
2004
Co-created, produced and starred in the WB drama series "Summerland"
2007
Starred on the short-lived ABC sitcom "In Case of Emergency" with David Arquette
2008
Cast as matriarch Debbie Wilson on "90210" (CW) a spin-off of the 90s series "Beverly Hills, 90210"
2009
Featured in the comedy, "Old Dogs" with Robin Williams and John Travolta
2013
Appeared in several installments from the Hallmark movie series "Garage Sale Mystery"
2014
Began co-starring on the period series "When Calls the Heart"
2016
Joined the cast of the "Full House" reboot "Fuller House"
Family
Companions
