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Jo Anderson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jo Anderson
Born
Mary Jo Anderson

1958 (age 67–68)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
EducationAcademy of the Holy Angels
Adelphi University
OccupationActress
Years active1983–2014

Mary Jo Anderson[1][2][3] (born 1958[4][2]) is an American actress, best known for her roles as Diana Bennett in Beauty and the Beast and Julia Ann Mercer in JFK.

Early life and career

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Born in Brooklyn to an Irish-Catholic family,[5] but raised—from the age of six months on—in Tenafly, New Jersey,[6] Anderson is one of four siblings. After attending Academy of the Holy Angels (class of 1976[7]), she studied at Adelphi University for two years.[4]

The in-print descriptions of this 5-foot-6+1⁄2-inch (169 cm) "red-haired beauty" most frequently seen during the 1980s—highlighting both hair, height, and "pale skin"[8][9]–make it all bit impossible to miss Anderson's very brief, uncredited turn as the "slow dancing" girl in the 1985 dramedy, Heaven Help Us.[10]

She starred opposite Ron Perlman as Diana Bennett in Beauty and the Beast after Linda Hamilton's departure and her character Catherine's death in 1989. She has had guest-starring appearances in many television shows, has appeared in many movies such as Oliver Stone's JFK, Kenneth Branagh's Dead Again and Rob Cohen's Daylight, as well as many TV-movies, and guest-starred in TV shows such ER, C.S.I. Miami, Millennium, Northern Exposure, and Glee. She also appeared in two episodes of Perception in 2014.

Personal life

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While residing in Hoboken during the 1980s, Anderson, prompted by a public screening of the 1983 television movie, The Day After, was one of the co-founders of Hoboken Action for Nuclear Disarmament (HAND).[11]

Selected filmography

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TV series

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Movies

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TV movies

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References

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  1. ↑ King, Susan (April 14, 1989). "American 'Dream' rises in Jersey". San Francisco Examiner. p. C-10. Retrieved June 16, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. 'We live in a country where mythology and hype and validations mean so much to people that having a bunch of rock stars come out of New Jersey didn't hurt,' explains actress Jo Anderson, who grew up in Tenafly, and plays teacher Marianne McKenney. [...] Anderson lived in Hoboken for eight years before she moved to Los Angeles. 'I didn't want to leave, but I was banging my head against the wall and trying to get work,' she admits. 'So I went to Los Angeles and things kind of took a 300-degree turn. It was the first time I was able to make a living as an actress instead of cleaning houses. Of course, when I found out the job on 'Dream Street' was in Hoboken, I was so excited.
  2. 1 2 "Our Towns". The New York Times. September 27, 1984. p. B-2. ProQuest 425176441. 'It was not an exercise in civics, it was the real thing,' said Judith Karpova, vice president of HAND. She and three of her fellow activists gathered in a cigarless apartment on Park Avenue here the other day to conduct a post-mortem. On hand were Miranda Spencer, 25 years old, a writer for a publishing house; Brain Leggiere, 27, a psychologist who works in the Bronx; Mary Jo Anderson, 26, an actress who works as a maid between engagements, and Miss Karpova, 38, a worker in an oil refinery.
  3. ↑ "Mary Jo Clowns". Davenport Daily Times. September 4, 1977. p. 1. Retrieved June 16, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Mary Jo Anderson clowns around at carnival sponsored by Fantocini Children's Theatre Summer Classes to raise funds to fight muscular dystrophy. The event was held Friday at the Bergen Mall.
  4. 1 2 Peterson, Bettelou (March 1, 1990). "TV questions". The Asheville Times. p. 7. Retrieved June 15, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Anderson is 31, born in Brooklyn, N.Y., raised in Tenafly, N.J. After two years of college at Long Island's Adelphi, she started singing her own songs in New York night clubs. She did some little theater work, her own one woman play, Marie, about Mme. Curie, and various odd jobs to pay the rent. She moved to Los Angeles in 1987 where she did TV guest roles and was a regualr in NBC's short-lived 'Dream Street.' She's single.
  5. ↑ Ryan, James (April 21, 1994). "American 'Dream' rises in Jersey". The Tennessean. p. 6D. Retrieved June 16, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to an Irish-Catholic family and raised in Tenafly, N.J., Anderson was drawn to dance, theater and writing at young age.
  6. ↑ Toma, Nicholas (June 8, 1976). "Jersey girl's TV 'Dream' axed". North Jersey Herald & News. p. 2. Retrieved June 16, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Ironically, Anderson, who moved from Brooklyn to Tenafly when she was 6 months old, lived in Hoboken for eight years prior to settling on the West Coast.
  7. ↑ "More Graduates". The Hackensack Record. June 8, 1976. p. 2. Retrieved June 16, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Graduation exercises for the Academy of the Holy Angels were Saturday at the Demarest school. Inadvertently, the following graduates were omitted from the list that appeared in The Sunday Record: Mary Jo Anderson, Aimee Andrade, Beth Appio, Lorna Chioccarelli
  8. ↑ "Sneak Preview: 'Beast' Kills Its Beauty; Catherine dies after giving birth to Vincent's baby". San Antonio Star. October 29, 1989. p. 9. Retrieved June 16, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Linda Hamilton [...] has become a full-time mom and is being replaced as the beauty by red-haired Jo Anderson (right). [...] The red-haired beauty will enter the show as an investigator of Catherine's murder. Her character, Diana Bennett, will develop a close relationship with the beastly Vincent and will eventually help him look for his kidnapped baby. Jo Anderson was raised in suburban Tenafly, N.J., and studied at Adelphi University before starting her acting and dancing career in Manhattan. While there, she studied with the prestigious Actors Studio and with Tony Award-winning actor Michael Moriarty, who says she's 'as gifted as any actress of her generation.'
  9. ↑ Greenstein, Jane (January 30, 1989). "Jersey girl's TV 'Dream' axed". The Jersey Journal. p. 15. Retrieved June 16, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Anderson, 30, tall with pale skin and long red hair, has spent six of the past eight years in Hoboken. [...] Anderson has been studying acting since she was 16 and attended Adelphi University on Long Island. She's also studied dance, mime and movement.
  10. ↑ McQueen, Jennifer (March 17, 2026). "Heaven help us 1985". YouTube. Retrieved June 16, 2026.
  11. ↑ Diamond, Randy (January 30, 1989). "Hoboken–nuke-free?". New York Daily News. p. NJ-1. Retrieved June 16, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Mary Jo Anderson, one of the founders of HAND, said the group started meeting informally after the television show 'The Day After' was aired. 'I went to see the show late last year in the Hoboken YMCA, where there was a public showing, and a few of us who saw it wondered what we could do to stop this nuclear madness,' said the 26-year-old actress. 'We started meeting together to discuss it, and out of it came the idea of making Hoboken nuclear-free.' Anderson said that while the attitude of Hoboken residents and elected officials in support of the nuclear-free zone gives her a lot of hope, she also said that she realizes one community is not going to have much of an effect on the nuclear issue.
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