Lisa Whelchel Explained

Lisa Whelchel
Birth Name:Lisa Diane Whelchel
Birth Date:29 May 1963
Birth Place:Littlefield, Texas, U.S.
Other Names:Lisa Cauble
Occupation:Actress, singer, songwriter, author, public speaker, housewife, life coach
Years Active:1977–present
Organization:Women of Faith
Notable Works:The Facts of Life
The New Mickey Mouse Club
All Because of You
Style:Contemporary Christian
Spouse:
    Children:3

    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 Mouseketeer on The New Mickey Mouse Club and her nine-year role as the preppy and wealthy 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 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 Disney Studios as a Mouseketeer on 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 The Facts of Life where she portrayed 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 Charlotte Rae to perform The Facts of Life theme song at the 2nd Annual TV Land Awards at the Hollywood Palladium in Hollywood. In spring 2006, she appeared with two of her Facts of Life co-stars on The Today Show to promote the show's DVD releases of the first and second seasons, admitting to being "really bummed out" that Kim Fields was unable to attend. On February 1, 2007, Whelchel was reunited with Fields on WFAA-TV's Good Morning Texas. Fields was in Dallas to promote her appearance in the production Issues: We've All Got 'Em, when Whelchel was introduced as a surprise guest. On April 10, 2011, Whelchel and the cast of The Facts of Life, including Charlotte Rae, Nancy McKeon, Mindy Cohn, Kim Fields, Geri Jewell, and Cloris Leachman were honored with the Pop Culture Award at the 9th Annual 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 Audiences 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 All Because of You. The album reached No. 17 on the 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 as a member of the Tandang tribe. She joined retired Major League Baseball star Jeff Kent as one of the season's two "celebrity" contestants.[10] A former television star, she elected to keep her true identity a secret from the other contestants, many of whom were too young to have watched The Facts of Life during its original run and thus did not recognize her. Michael Skupin and Jonathan Penner, who were around Whelchel's age, as well as eventual winner 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 The Church on the Way in 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

    YearTitleRoleNotes
    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

    YearTitleRoleNotes
    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 The Mary Tyler Moore Hour Gail Connors Episode #1.6
    1979–81 Diff'rent Strokes 2 episodes
    1979–88 The Facts of Life Main cast (200 episodes)
    1980 Skyward Lisa Ward Television film
    1981 Twirl Jill Moore Television film
    1982 The Facts of Life Goes to Paris 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 Television film
    1987 The Facts of Life Down Under Television film
    2001 The Facts of Life Reunion Television film
    2012 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) 115 episodes
    2019 You Light Up My Christmas Aurora Television film
    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

    Producer

    YearTitleCredited AsNotes
    2013Lisa Whelchel's Everyday Workout for the Everyday WomanExecutive producerAlso director and host
    2016Hearts of SpringCo-executive producerAlso actress

    Awards and nominations

    YearAssociationCategoryWorkResult
    1982Young Artist AwardsBest Young Comedienne - Motion Picture or TelevisionThe Facts of Life
    1982Best Young Actress in a Television SpecialTwirl
    1983Best Young Actress in a Comedy SeriesThe Facts of Life
    1984Best Young Actress in a Comedy Series
    1984Grammy AwardsBest Inspirational PerformanceAll Because of You
    2011TV Land AwardsPop Culture Award (shared with cast)The Facts of Life

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Survivor . Survivor Cast: Lisa . Cbs.com . December 18, 2012.
    2. Web site: Snyder. Leslie. Flower Mound's Lisa Whelchel voted fan favorite in 'Survivor: Philippines'; gets $100K prize. Dallas News. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160820060756/http://popcultureblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/survivor-fan-favorite-lisa-whelchel.html/. August 20, 2016. mdy-all.
    3. Web site: Lisa Whelchel Biography (1963–) . Filmreference.com . 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. Web site: Schwartz . Ryan . ABC's Facts of Life Live Begins With OG Cast Reunion — Grade Reenactment . TVLine . December 7, 2021 . December 7, 2021.
    6. Web site: Carolyn A. Burns . Lisa Whelchel | Lisa Whelchel . TodaysChristianMusic.com . December 18, 2012 . dead . https://archive.today/20130204111248/http://www.todayschristianmusic.com/artists/lisa-whelchel/features/lisa-whelchel/ . February 4, 2013 . mdy-all .
    7. Web site: Lisa Whelchel Biography at Simon & Schuster . Authors.simonandschuster.com . December 18, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121220041755/http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Lisa-Whelchel/38978319/biography . December 20, 2012 . mdy-all .
    8. Web site: June 2021. Mondays with Mindy. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/6Zujo4P_0kg . 2021-12-21. live. August 22, 2021. Youtube.
    9. Web site: Mondays with Mindy Podcast Platforms. August 22, 2021. Anchor by Spotify.
    10. Web site: Strecker . Erin . 'Survivor: Philippines' cast includes Lisa Whelchel and Jeff Kent | Inside TV | EW.com . Insidetv.ew.com . December 18, 2012.
    11. Web site: Chandler . Chip . 'Survivor' star struggles with faith, fame . Amarillo.com . July 30, 2021.
    12. Web site: Lisa Whelchel has West Nile Virus, 'Survivor' star reveals . Fox News . December 18, 2012.
    13. Web site: Carrie "Spicy" Milburn . Survivor's Lisa Whelchel to Join Jeff Probst on Talk Show . Reality Nation . December 17, 2012 . February 13, 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130121033752/http://www.realitynation.com/tv-shows/survivor/lisa-whelchel-jeff-probst-show/24933/ . January 21, 2013 . mdy-all .
    14. Web site: Lisa's Call presents Lisa Whelchel's five favorite 'Facts of Life' episodes . metv.com . Weigel Broadcasting . 19 February 2024 . 26 February 2019.
    15. Web site: Freeze . Kellie . Lisa Whelchel Shares Impressive Pop-Culture Collections on MeTV's 'Collector's Call' . tvinsider.com . NTVB Media . 19 February 2024 . 6 April 2019.
    16. Web site: About Collectors Call . MEtv.com . Weigel Broadcasting . 19 February 2024.
    17. Web site: Lisa Whelchel Is Divorced. Steve Helling. September 20, 2012. September 20, 2012.