TV Celebrity Icons: Kirk Cameron

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How many of you ladies reading this between ages 30-45 had a poster of the likeness of former teen idol Kirk Cameron?

If you answered yes to the above question, here are some tidbits I learned about Kirk exclusively from E! Entertainment in the year 2000.

For starters: his parents, Rob and Barbara, named him after former child star Tommy Kirk.

Born on October 12, 1969, Kirk began his professional acting career at age 9 when, at the suggestion of Cameron family friend Fran Rich, his mom Barbara took him and his 3-year-old sister Candace (born on April 6, 1975) to auditions.

By 1982, 12-year-old Kirk & 7-year-old Candace had graduated from commercials to bit parts on mainstream television shows such as Lou Grant, Herbie the Love Bug & St. Elsewhere; that same year, per the December 3, 1986 issue of People Magazine (featuring the recently-deceased Archie Leach, known professionally as Cary Grant, on the cover), Kirk earned partial facial damage as a result of a skiing accident, on the upside earning Kirk his lifelong signature smirk.

In 1983, aged 13, Kirk earned his first regular series role on a short-lived family drama series called Two Marriages, which lasted just 10 episodes.

In September 1984, just before his 15th birthday, Kirk auditioned for the role of the eldest teen son on a sitcom pilot called Growing Pains.

The series, conceived and created by Neal Marlens, was based on a true story--his own--growing up in Long Island, New York, where his mother served as a psychiatrist, while his father was a local newspaper manager.

Neal rechristened his real-life family the Seaver family (after pro baseballer Tom Seaver) and switched parental roles, with the psychiatrist dad moving his practice to his home at 15 Robin Hood Lane in Long Island, New York.

The series debuted on September 24, 1985 after being picked up by ABC.

In January 1986, Neal Marlens quit Growing Pains and was replaced as showrunner by the trio of Dan Guntzelman, Mike Sullivan & Steve Marshall.

Later that year, 11-year-old Candace was cast in a sitcom pilot, also for ABC, called Full House, which debuted on September 22, 1987 on ABC.

Though ratings for Growing Pains were low in its rookie season, by October 1986, 17-year-old Kirk Cameron was a bona fide teen idol, yet that was not enough to prevent him from going through real-life Growing Pains upon his parents separating & getting divorced soon after his birthday that year.

The following Summer, 17-year-old Kirk was cast opposite British actor Dudley Moore in a movie for TriStar Pictures called Like Father, Like Son.

During a break from filming, Kirk was invited to a local Church by his then-girlfriend, aspiring actress Leanna Creel, whose father was pastor.

A few days later, 17-year-old Kirk admittedly sat in a parked car in Van Nuys, California and had a fateful encounter with God after saying to himself, If there is a God, I need to KNOW.

The movie was released on October 2, 1987, 10 days before Kirk turned 18.

In Summer 1988, months after 17-year-old Mike Seaver graduated from Thomas E. Dewey High School on Growing Pains, 18-year-old Kirk Cameron graduated in real life from Chatsworth High School, where Candace graduated in real life from in 1993.

In 1989, just before his 20th birthday, Kirk met and fell in love with 25-year-old aspiring actress/model Nancy Mueller (born on December 4, 1963 in Buffalo, New York), known professionally as Chelsea Noble, who was cast on Growing Pains as Kate MacDonald, a potential love interest for Mike.

That role soon transferred to a real-life relationship off-screen as well, and on July 20, 1991, 21-year-old Kirk & 27-year-old Nancy married in her real-life hometown of Buffalo, New York in a private ceremony attended by immediate family only of both parties.

Earlier that Spring, after Kirk called the ABC Network President, saying that Guntzelman, Sullivan & Marshall were pornographers (sadly partially true, as Steve Marshall pled guilty in 2010 to possession of child pornography).

The producers quit, and Dan Wilcox was replaced as Growing Pains showrunner, while 16-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio was cast as Luke Brower, a homeless teenager taken in by the Seaver family.

ABC, having had enough of Kirk Cameron, soon cancelled Growing Pains despite the fact that the series was #27 out of 102 prime-time shows.

3 years later, in February 1995, ABC cancelled Full House due to its becoming too pricey to produce.

Soon after its cancellation, 20-year-old Candace, who had previously dated Dustin Screech Diamond in real life, met 21-year-old pro hockey player Val Bure, who she married after a year-long courtship on June 22, 1996.

In the year 2000, soon after his 30th birthday, Kirk officially retired from acting and embarked on a new career--as an evangelical preacher.

Months after the 9/11/2001 attacks, 32-year-old Kirk teamed up with author Ray Comfort, a minister since the 1970s in his native New Zealand, to combine their ministries, Kirk having started his ministry in the year 2000.

Though he has made two Growing Pains reunion movies, two Left Behind sequels, and appeared in the 2008 Christian hit movie Fireproof, Kirk, now age 42, remains retired. He and Nancy live in Agoura Hills, California.

Meanwhile, after 15 years away from showbiz, Candace, married for 15 years, returned to TV in 2009 on ABC Family drama series Make It or Break It.

Candace, now age 36, and Val, age 37, live in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.