Julie Ann Piekarski (born January 2, 1963 St. Louis, Missouri) is best known for her role as Sue Ann Weaver on the sitcom The Facts of Life.Piekarski got her first big break in show business as a Mouseketeer on The New Mickey Mouse Club in 1977. After gaining popularity working for Disney, she was cast as Sue Ann Weaver in seventeen episodes of The Facts of Life from 1979–1986. She went on to appear in several television shows, mainly making guest appearances, most notably on Diff'rent Strokes, General Hospital, Quincy, M.E., and Three's Company.After a brief stint as an entertainment reporter on KPLR-TV in St. Louis, the 5'3" Piekarski married dentist John Probst in 1986. They reside near St. Louis with their three children, Patrick, Jacqueline, and Christian.
[In 2015, recalling her reaction when her character Sue Ann got cut from The Facts of Life (1979)]I'm not going to say I was actually shocked, but I was surprised. "Blindsided" might be the right word for how I felt, though, because I did feel like Sue Ann was getting more opportunities and more storylines where I was a main character. I will say that, if there had been any sort of rumor going around the set like, "Oh, I hear they're gonna cut a couple of the girls," then I probably would've thought, "Well, probably not me." But there was no hush-hush rumor going around. It was just, "We're cutting the cast."...When Felice Schachter, Julie Anne Haddock, and I came back (for the Season Eight episode "The Little Chill"), oh my gosh, that was so much fun. It was a blast. But, you know, looking back, that's another one of those episodes where my character kind of took the lead, and it provided a little bit of closure for me, I think, because it was, like, "Okay, they still like to use Sue Ann." It was great to come back and see everyone and to see how much we'd all changed...But the whole thing felt very much like we were picking up where we left off, in terms of the kindness and the friendships that had been there.
Turned down the role of "Debbie" in Saturday the 14th (1981) because the producers wanted her top to fall off during the bathtub scene, although no nudity was shown in the final version, in which Kari Michaelsen played the role.
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Was accepted to Stanford University, but chose to attend UCLA instead. Her major was originally microbiology, but she switched to communications.
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Children: Patrick Probst, Jaquelyn, and Christian. Her youngest son was in the Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis before he left for college. Since all her children have grown up and left home, she decided that she has more time to devote to show business and is busy pursuing acting roles. She is very close to her children and her husband.
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Husband, John, is a dentist, they have 2 boys and a girl.
Actress
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Importance of Doubting Tom
2016
post-production
Sally
The Facts of Life
1979-1986
TV Series
Sue Ann Weaver
ABC Afterschool Specials
1983
TV Series
Sarah
Three's Company
1983
TV Series
Julie Lipton
Quincy M.E.
1982
TV Series
Julie
The Miracle of Kathy Miller
1981
TV Movie
Carol
Best of Times
1981
TV Movie
Julie
Diff'rent Strokes
1979
TV Series
Sue Ann Weaver
The Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World
1977
TV Movie
The New Mickey Mouse Club
1977
TV Series
Julie Piekarski
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
E! True Hollywood Story
2007
TV Series documentary
Herself
The Hollywood Squares
1980
TV Series
Guest Appearance
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Biography
2005
TV Series documentary
Sue Ann Weaver
Fred Roos and the Casting of 'The Outsiders'
2005
Video documentary short
Herself (uncredited)
Nominated Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
2008
TV Land Award
TV Land Awards
Favorite Character(s) Who "Went Missing"
The Facts of Life (1979)
Known for movies
The Facts of Life (1979-1986) as Sue Ann Weaver
Best of Times (1981) as Julie
The Miracle of Kathy Miller (1981) as Carol
The New Mickey Mouse Club (1977) as Julie Piekarski
$13 Million
