Lisa Whelchel

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Lisa Whelchel
The New Mickey Mouse Club
All Because of You
Survivor: Philippines
StyleContemporary Christian
Spouses
Steven Cauble
​
​
(m. 1988; div. 2012)​
Pete Harris
​
(m. 2019)​
Children3
Websitelisawhelchel.com

Lisa Diane Whelchel (born May 29, 1963) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, author, and life coach. She is known for her appearances as a

Blair Warner on The Facts of Life. In 1984, she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Inspirational Performance for her contemporary Christian album All Because of You. In 2012, Whelchel participated as a contestant on the CBS competitive reality series Survivor: Philippines and tied for second place.[1] She was also voted fan favorite and was awarded $100,000.[2]

Early life

Lisa Whelchel was born on May 29, 1963, in Littlefield, Texas. She is the daughter of Virginia "Genny" (née French), a real estate agent, and James "Jimmy" Whelchel Sr., an electrician.[3] Her parents divorced in 1981, and her mother married Roy Coleman in 1983. Lisa is the elder sister of James "Cody" Whelchel Jr., and the elder half-sister of Casey Justice Coleman. She also has a nephew, Chasin (Cody's son). Lisa and Cody were raised for most of their childhood in Fort Worth, Texas, and she was in the class of 1980.

Acting career

The New Mickey Mouse Club

At age 13, Whelchel was recruited in Texas by talent scouts who were looking for children interested in working with

The New Mickey Mouse Club
. She moved to California the next year and appeared on the show in syndication from 1977 to 1978.

The Facts of Life

Whelchel is probably best known for being a main cast member of

Blair Warner, an uptight prep student. She also played the character on Diff'rent Strokes, the show from which The Facts of Life spun off. Whelchel once refused a storyline that would have made her character the first among the four main young women on the show to lose her virginity. Having become a Christian when she was ten years old, Whelchel declined due to her religious beliefs, and the storyline was rewritten for the character of Natalie, portrayed by Mindy Cohn.[4]
This was the only episode of the series in which Whelchel did not appear.

In 2001, Whelchel reprised her role as Blair Warner for the made-for-television movie, The Facts of Life Reunion.

On March 7, 2004, Whelchel was reunited with

TV Land Awards at the Javits Center
in New York City.

In 2021, Whelchel, Fields, and Cohn reunited again on the set of Live in Front of a Studio Audience's reenactment of the show's third season episode "Kids Can Be Cruel". Whelchel also sang the show's theme song that evening.[5]

Music career

In 1984, Whelchel released a Christian pop album entitled

Billboard Contemporary Christian music charts. She was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Inspirational Performance and was recognized as the writer of the title song, "All Because of You".[6][7] Among the songs featured on the album were "All Because of You", "Just Obey", "Cover Me Lord", and "Good Girl". She did not record a second album. While she was appearing on The Facts of Life, she made a cameo appearance in the music video for contemporary Christian music singer-songwriter Steve Taylor's song "Meltdown (at Madame Tussaud's)". The song was the title track from the album Meltdown
.

Speaking

For years, Whelchel was a regular inspirational speaker at churches and conferences nationwide. In 2000, she founded Momtime Ministries, a religious network of mothers' groups who met weekly to "equip and refresh and encourage" each other.

In 2021, Whelchel appeared on friend and The Facts of Life co-star Mindy Cohn’s podcast, Mondays with Mindy, on which she talked about how her faith has changed and evolved over time. She explained that her speaking commitments have shifted over the years, as she no longer operates from a "fear-based, punishment-based" mentality. She explained, "Jesus came, ultimately, to bring grace. I can speak that message in any situation, but a lot of churches — when they find out that I believe that there are many ways to experience God, not just Jesus, then the invitations kind of dry up."[8][9]

Writing

Whelchel has written ten books on motherhood, child discipline, adult friendships, homeschooling, and finding Jesus through the development of holiday traditions. Additional topics from a spiritual point of view include prayer and wisdom. She is the bestselling author of So You're Thinking About Homeschooling and The Facts of Life (and Other Lessons My Father Taught Me).

Survivor

On August 20, 2012, Whelchel was announced as a contestant in

Denise Stapley, were the only ones to recognize her as "Blair Warner".[11]

On November 14, 2012, Whelchel announced via her Twitter account that she was suffering from West Nile fever and had been advised by her doctor that recovery would take approximately one year. She did not specify whether she had contracted the arbovirus while in the Philippines shooting Survivor.[12]

On December 16, 2012, Whelchel made it to the Final Tribal Council, where fellow contestant and jury member Jonathan Penner revealed to the rest of the jury that she was a former child star. In the end, she received one jury vote from RC Saint-Amour and tied with returning contestant Michael Skupin for runner-up, both losing to eventual winner Denise Stapley. She was also voted the Sprint Player of the Season, winning $100,000 by a margin of about .7 percent against Malcolm Freberg.

Hosting duties

On January 14, 2013, Whelchel co-hosted several episodes of The Jeff Probst Show with Survivor host, Jeff Probst.[13]

In April 2019, Whelchel hosted a The Facts of Life marathon on the MeTV television network,[14] as a lead-in for a preview of her series Collector's Call that debuted later that year and is in Season 4 as of 2024[15][16]

Personal life

On July 9, 1988, Whelchel married Steven Cauble, who was an associate pastor at

Van Nuys, California, which Whelchel attended at the time. The couple, who have three adult children, divorced in March 2012.[17]
In 2019, Whelchel married Pete Harris, who is a psychologist based in Nashville, Tennessee.

Published works

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1979 The Double McGuffin Jody
The Magician of Lublin Halina
1992 Where the Red Fern Grows: Part Two Sara Coleman Direct-to-video film
2013 A Madea Christmas Nancy Porter
2023 Roswell Delirium Mrs. Peltzer

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1977–78 The New Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeer/Herself Main cast (130 episodes)
1977 The Wonderful World of Disney Mouseketeer/Herself Episode: "
The Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World
"
1978 Family Cathy Connelly Episode: "All for Love"
1979
The Wonderful World of Disney
 Robin Lapp Episode: "
Shadow of Fear
" (Parts 1 & 2)
1979–81 Diff'rent Strokes
Blair Warner
 2 episodes
1979–88 The Facts of Life
Blair Warner
 Main cast (200 episodes)
1980 Skyward Lisa Ward Television film
1981 Twirl Jill Moore Television film
1982 The Facts of Life Goes to Paris
Blair Warner
 Television film
The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch Amy Cole Television film
1983–85 The Love Boat Caroline Shea / Kelly Barrett 4 episodes
1985 Back to Next Saturday
Blair Warner
 Television film
1987 The Facts of Life Down Under
Blair Warner
 Television film
2001 The Facts of Life Reunion
Blair Warner
 Television film
2012 Survivor: Philippines Herself (Contestant) Co-runner-up
2013 The Jeff Probst Show Herself (Co-host) 16 episodes
2014 For Better or For Worse Wendy Television film
2016 Hearts of Spring Carly Ashby Television film
A Snow Capped Christmas Dale Benson Television film
2019–present Collector's Call Herself (Host) 81 episodes
2019 You Light Up My Christmas Aurora Television film features surviving original cast of The Facts of Life.[18]
2021 Live in Front of a Studio Audience Herself Episode: "The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes"
2022–23 Toon In with Me Herself 2 episodes

Music videos

Year Title Artist Role
1984 "Meltdown (at Madame Tussaud's)" Steve Taylor News reporter

Producer

Year Title Credited As Notes
2013 Lisa Whelchel's Everyday Workout for the Everyday Woman Executive producer Also director and host
2016 Hearts of Spring Co-executive producer Also actress

Discography

Year Title Label Distributor
1984 All Because of You Nissi Records Sparrow Records

Awards and nominations

Year Association Category Work Result
1982
Young Artist Awards
 Best Young Comedienne - Motion Picture or Television The Facts of Life Nominated
1982 Best Young Actress in a Television Special Twirl Nominated
1983 Best Young Actress in a Comedy Series The Facts of Life Nominated
1984 Best Young Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated
1984 Grammy Awards Best Inspirational Performance All Because of You Nominated
2011
TV Land Awards
 Pop Culture Award (shared with cast) The Facts of Life Won

See also

References

  1. ^ Survivor. "Survivor Cast: Lisa". Cbs.com. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
  2. ^ Snyder, Leslie. "Flower Mound's Lisa Whelchel voted fan favorite in 'Survivor: Philippines'; gets $100K prize". Dallas News. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016.
  3. ^ "Lisa Whelchel Biography (1963–)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
  4. ^ Bloom, Ken; Vlastnick, Frank (2007) Sitcoms: The 101 Greatest TV Comedies of All Time p. 98 Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
  5. ^ Schwartz, Ryan (December 7, 2021). "ABC's Facts of Life Live Begins With OG Cast Reunion — Grade Reenactment". TVLine. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  6. ^ Carolyn A. Burns. "Lisa Whelchel | Lisa Whelchel". TodaysChristianMusic.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
  7. ^ "Lisa Whelchel Biography at Simon & Schuster". Authors.simonandschuster.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2012. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
  8. ^ "Mondays with Mindy". Youtube. June 2021. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
  9. ^ "Mondays with Mindy Podcast Platforms". Anchor by Spotify. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
  10. ^ Strecker, Erin. "'Survivor: Philippines' cast includes Lisa Whelchel and Jeff Kent | Inside TV | EW.com". Insidetv.ew.com. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
  11. ^ Chandler, Chip. "'Survivor' star struggles with faith, fame". Amarillo.com. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  12. ^ "Lisa Whelchel has West Nile Virus, 'Survivor' star reveals". Fox News. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
  13. ^ Carrie "Spicy" Milburn (December 17, 2012). "Survivor's Lisa Whelchel to Join Jeff Probst on Talk Show". Reality Nation. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
  14. ^ "Lisa's Call presents Lisa Whelchel's five favorite 'Facts of Life' episodes". metv.com. Weigel Broadcasting. February 26, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  15. ^ Freeze, Kellie (April 6, 2019). "Lisa Whelchel Shares Impressive Pop-Culture Collections on MeTV's 'Collector's Call'". tvinsider.com. NTVB Media. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  16. ^ "About Collectors Call". MEtv.com. Weigel Broadcasting. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  17. ^ Steve Helling (September 20, 2012). "Lisa Whelchel Is Divorced". Retrieved September 20, 2012.
  18. ^ Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor (August 12, 2019). "TV Premiere Dates (2019-20) - Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved November 21, 2019. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lisa Whelchel.
Preceded by
Sabrina Thompson
 Runner-Up of Survivor
Survivor: Philippines 		Succeeded by
Dawn Meehan,
Sherri Biethman
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