Geri Jewell

Geraldine Ann "Geri" Jewell (born September 13, 1956) is an American actress, stand-up comedian, diversity consultant, and motivational speaker, noted for roles on the 1980s sitcom The Facts of Life and the mid-2000s western Deadwood.

She is known as being one of the first people on a TV sitcom with cerebral palsy, and she has helped advocate for people with disabilities throughout her career.

After she dropped out of college, Jewell began work as a stand-up comic at The Comedy Store in 1978.

In 1980, Jewell was offered a role on The Facts of Life.

The show ended up being one of the longest-running TV sitcoms in the 1980s.

The Facts of Life was a spin-off from Diff'rent Strokes, which featured Edna Garrett, the housekeeper in the Drummond household.

Garrett was written into the new show as a housemother, and later a dietitian, at the fictitious Eastland private school.

Jewell first appeared in the show's second season.

Her role as Geri Tyler, the cousin of Blair, was groundbreaking.

She was the first disabled actor to have a recurring role on a TV series;.

She was on The Facts of Life for twelve episodes and her contract ended in 1984.

Not only was Jewell fired from The Facts of Life, but her then-manager was also arrested for embezzlement and securities fraud.

Jewell was left broke and without professional representation.

In her first autobiography, Geri, published in 1984, Jewell wrote of the situation,

...I had a manager who was a crook.

People in my life were manipulating me and taking advantage of me.

Then The Facts of Life did not renew my contract.

Years later, they offered me one episode during the fifth season, and my new manager, Richard Lippin, who was trying to fix all the previous manager’s mistakes, turned it down.

She has also been an advocate for the LGBTQ community since publicly coming out as lesbian in her 2011 autobiography.

From Buffalo, New York, Jewell was born to Olga and Jack Jewell.

She has two brothers, David and Fred; her sister Gloria died in 2016.

Due to a car accident Jewell's mother was in while pregnant with her, Jewell was born three months early.

She was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at eighteen months old.

Growing up, Jewell's parents were determined not to raise her differently from the rest of their children, lest she think she wasn't as capable as her siblings.

Jewell said she is thankful that they encouraged her to pursue her passions.

After her diagnosis of cerebral palsy, Jewell and her family moved to Orange County, California so that she could have access to better care as well as schools that could accommodate her needs.

Jewell attended a private school for children with cerebral palsy and remained there through first grade.

After first grade, she attended a special education program at a public school, where she faced discrimination.

Jewell described her school life as lonely and sheltered; she said she never had a best friend growing up, and was never able to practice her social skills.

Jewell has explained that this led her to be emotionally immature for her age.

However, she claimed that, overall, she had a good childhood due to her parents and teachers who believed in her and encouraged her talent for comedy.

Jewell was inspired by Carol Burnett and wrote Burnett a letter when she was just thirteen, asking her for advice since she too wanted to be a comedic actress.

Burnett wrote back to her, telling her to “keep putting one foot in front of the other until you get where you want to go”, which Jewell did.

Later on in life, Jewell went with a friend to see Carol Burnett perform.

She got to sit in the front row and met her childhood idol afterward.

Although she always knew she was interested in the arts, Jewell first studied accounting and psychology at college before committing to the theater.

Jewell went to two different junior colleges: Cypress College and then Fullerton College.

It was at Fullerton College where Geri befriended Alex Valdez, a blind comedian, who encouraged her to do stand-up at The Comedy Store.

Jewell wanted to transfer once more and enroll in UCLA-Fullerton to earn a degree in psychology and theater arts, but she ended up dropping out to perform at The Comedy Store, since she struggled with some of her college classes and wanted to pursue acting more seriously.

Jewell said that maturing emotionally was one of her hardest accomplishments, since she had been somewhat sheltered as a child.