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Born into a multi-talented family in Philadelphia, Lawrence began appearing in nation-wide commercials at the age of 3 with the help from his mother, a
talent manager. Joey, the first of three sons to take up acting, caught the eye of former "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson who quickly booked the young actor for a guest spot. His appearance on the
late-night talk show proved to be the launching point for Lawrence's career as the 5-year-old was cast in his first regular series role on the hit series "Gimme a Break," opposite Nell Carter.
Landing the role of the intellectually clueless Joey Russo on "Blossom", whose catch-line was "Whoa!", the actor became one of the top teen idols in America and banked that
popularity into a hit album which included the single, "Nothin' My Love Can't Fix". He attended the University of Southern California after his run on Blossom and dated a number of
television actresses, including Kellie Martin, who starred on the acclaimed ABC series Life Goes On and on ER, Keri Russell, of Felicity and Jennifer Love Hewitt.
NBC hired him and his brothers,
Matthew and Andrew, for "Brotherly Love", but canceled the sitcom after one season. The new startup WB network picked up the series and added it to its Sunday night line-up. In 1995, Lawrence
starred in a "Prince for a Day", an NBC TV-movie inspired by the Mark Twain classic "The Prince and the Pauper", and the following year, he joined his brothers in the Western
adventure "Brothers of the Frontier" on ABC.
Lawrence's feature-film credits include Carl Reiner's "Summer Rental" (where he starred alongside the late comedian John Candy), "Chains of
Gold," "Radioland Murderers," "Urban Legends" and "Desperate but not Serious".
A run of forgettable TV Movies and film roles fortunately ended in 2002 when Lawrence was cast in the promising NBC
drama "American Dreams." Set in the tumultous 1960s, the ambitious series follows a young girl's dream to be on American Bandstand.
Along with his acting credits, Lawrence is an
accomplished recording artist and released his multi-platinum album "Joey Lawrence" in 1993, which took him on a world tour of performances. Joey's other interests include music and automobiles.
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