AllMovie

Tina Yothers rose to child stardom as Jennifer, the second-oldest child of the Keaton family, on Gary David Goldberg's quintessential '80s sitcom Family Ties (opposite Michael J. Fox, Meredith Baxter-Birney, and others). An actress from age three, born into a showbusiness family, Yothers signed one of her first major parts in 1981, shortly before the seven-year Family Ties assignment, when Alan Parker and co. tapped her to play the daughter of Albert Finney and Diane Keaton in his gut-wrenching treatment of a contemporary divorce, Shoot the Moon (1982). Yothers' post-Ties career placed its strongest emphasis on telemovies, such as Laker Girls (1990) and A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Jealous Jokester (1995), and she achieved a colorful bit of recognition by playing scandal queen Tonya Harding in the TV movie Spunk: The Tonya Harding Story (1993). Though she would make a smattering of guest appearances on various TV shows, she didn't return to the screen in any regular capacity until she signed on for the fourth season of Celebrity Fit Club.