Tracey Gold Biography

Tracey Gold (born May 16, 1969) is an American actress and former child star best known for playing Carol Seaver on the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains. In early 2009, she co-hosted with Fred Roggin on the live show GSN Live.

Early life

Gold was born Tracey Claire Fisher in New York City. Her younger sister is fellow actress Missy Gold, who appeared on the TV series Benson from 1979 to 1986; their mother, Bonnie Fisher, was an advertising executive.

The name "Gold" is a shortened form of the name acquired by Tracey and Missy when they were adopted by Harry Goldstein, who married her mother when Tracey was a preschooler; an actor in his own right (he had supporting roles in Carrie and on The Secrets of Isis), he later became a Hollywood agent. Missy and Tracey have three younger sisters, Brandy, Jessica (Jessie), and Cassandra (Cassie) Gold. Both Brandy and Jessie are actresses.

Acting career

Gold has been an actress since the age of four, first appearing in a Pepsi print ad. She appeared in two canceled series, Shirley with Shirley Jones in 1979, and Goodnight Beantown, starring Bill Bixby in 1983. Gold was originally cast as the youngest daughter in the original pilot series of the show Gimme A Break! starring Nell Carter, but was replaced by actress Lara Jill Miller when the show went to series. She played one of Albert Finney and Diane Keaton's four daughters in the 1982 feature film Shoot the Moon. Gold also guest starred on her sister Missy's series Benson in 1985, playing the cousin of Missy's character, Katie Gatling.

In 1985, Gold auditioned for the role of Carol Seaver on Growing Pains, but was not initially cast. The actress chosen for the pilot was Elizabeth Ward, who had starred alongside Gold in The Hand-Me-Down Kid, a 1983 ABC Afterschool Special. However, test audiences did not favor Ward in the role of Carol, and she was promptly replaced by Gold. Growing Pains ran from 1985 until 1992. During this time, Gold became a famous teen star and battled anorexia. In 1988, Gold also starred as Angela Strull in the teen film Dance 'til Dawn.

After the end of the long-running series, Gold continued to work as an actress. Over the next decade, Gold starred in several television movies.

Personal life and post-Growing Pains

Gold met her husband Roby Marshall through Growing Pains costar Joanna Kerns, who portrayed Marshall's mother in the TV miniseries adaption of the true crime book Blind Faith by Joe McGinniss. Roby had served as a consultant on the miniseries, which dramatized the 1984 case in which his father, Toms River, New Jersey businessman Robert O. Marshall, was charged with (and later convicted of) the contract killing of his wife (and Roby's mother) Maria.

Gold and Marshall married on October 8, 1994, and have four sons: Sage Gold (b. February 16, 1997), Bailey Vincent (b. March 4, 1999), Aiden Michael (b. May 9, 2004), and Dylan Christopher (b. April 1, 2008).

In 2003, Gold wrote the book Room to Grow: An Appetite for Life with Julie McCarron.

Arrest

In 2004, Gold was arrested for drunk driving after rolling her SUV"?carrying her husband and three young boys"?down a California freeway embankment.

Gold was arrested by California Highway Patrol officers and charged with a felony count of driving under the influence causing injury. According to a CHP spokesman, Gold was driving a 2001 GMC Yukon on Route 118 on September 3 when she lost control of the vehicle. While Gold's husband and two of her sons (ages five and five months) were not seriously injured in the late-night crash, the actress's oldest child, 7-year-old Sage, suffered a broken clavicle and a head laceration. After CHP officers administered sobriety tests, Gold was arrested on the DUI charge, said CHP spokesman Steve Reid. Booked under her married name, Tracey Gold Marshall, she spent five hours in the Ventura lockup before being released on $50,000 bail.

Present day

In 2003, Gold appeared in an episode of the TV show The Dead Zone as the character Penny Barton. Gold was a contestant on the program Celebrity Mole 2: Yucatán in 2004, and starred in the movie Safe Harbor in 2006. She is currently hosting the TV Guide Channel mini-show Trapped in TV Guide. In addition, she is the host of the TLC series The Secret Life of a Soccer Mom, which debuted on March 3, 2008. Recently, Gold appeared as the spokesperson in "Baby Sleeps Safe", a national television infomercial for Baby Guardian. On January 2, 2012, she appeared on the ABC network's reality series, Celebrity Wife Swap, trading places with singer Carnie Wilson for a week. On July 24, 2013, Gold returned to sitcoms with an appearance on the Melissa & Joey episode, "Something Happened," as one half of a lesbian couple with a home-schooled daughter.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	'	Stephanie as a Child	Short film
1982	Shoot the Moon	Marianne Dunlap
1986	'	Jaki's Friend (uncredited)
1990	'	Carol Seaver
2000	Wanted	Sue Bentley
2001	What's the Worst That Could Happen?	Woman at Auction (uncredited)
2008	Solar Flare	Dr. Joanna Clark
2011	Your Love Never Fails	Samantha Pierce	Video

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Captains and the Kings	Rosemary Armagh	TV miniseries
1977	Roots	Young Missy Reynolds	TV miniseries
1978	'	Missy Penrose	TV miniseries
1978	Night Cries	Donna Blankenship	TV movie
1978	Little Mo	Cindy Brinker	TV movie
1978	Quincy, M.E.	Lisa Carson	Episode: "A Test for Living"
1979	'	Laurie Mae Moon	TV movie
1979	Eight Is Enough	Tracey Kappleton	Episode: "Best of Friends"
1979	Jennifer: A Woman's Story	Emma Prince	TV movie
1979	'	Pam	TV movie
1979	CHiPs	Donna	Episode: "Drive, Lady, Drive: Part 1" Episode: "Drive, Lady, Drive: Part 2"
1979	Fantasy Island	Monica	Episode: "Amusement Park/Rock Stars"
1979-1980	Shirley	Michelle Miller	13 episodes
1980	Here's Boomer	Laurie	Episode: "Overboard"
1980	Trapper John, M.D.	Ellie	Episode: "Girl Under Glass: Part 1" Episode: "Girl Under Glass: Part 2"
1980	Marilyn: The Untold Story	Young Norma Jean	TV movie
1981	CBS Afternoon Playhouse	Carrie	Episode: "I Think I'm Having a Baby"
1981	'	Buddy	TV movie
1981	CBS Library	Jane	Episode: "A Tale of Four Wishes"
1982	Father Murphy	Jenny	Episode: "Eight-Eight Keys to Happiness"
1982	Beyond Witch Mountain	Tia	TV movie
1982	'	Jan	Episode: "The Fire Within"
1983	Another Woman's Child	Lisa	TV movie
1983	ABC Afterschool Special	Ari Jacobs	Episode: "The Hand Me Down Kid"
1983	Thursday's Child	Alix	TV movie
1983	Who Will Love My Children?	Pauline Fray	TV movie
1983	Fantasy Island	Michelle Robbins	Episode: "Three's a Crowd/Second Time Around"
1983-1984	Goodnight, Beantown	Susan Barnes	18 episodes
1984	Trapper John, M.D.	Jennifer Robins	Episode: "Where There's a Will"
1985	'	Ellen Maynes	TV movie
1985	Lots of Luck	Cindy Maris	TV movie
1985	Benson	Laura	Episode: "Katie's Cousin"
1985-1992	Growing Pains	Carol Seaver	166 episodes
1986	'	Shady (voice)	TV movie
1988	Dance 'til Dawn	Angela Strull	TV movie
1990	DuckTales: The Movie Special	Hostess	TV movie
1990	ABC Afterschool Special	Shauna Kelly	Episode: "A Question About Sex"
1993	Labor of Love: The Arlette Schweitzer Story	Christa Uchytil	TV movie
1994	For the Love of Nancy	Nancy Walsh	TV movie
1995	Sleep, Baby, Sleep	Sylvie Pierson	TV movie
1995	Lady Killer	Sharon	TV movie
1995	Beauty's Revenge	Beth	TV movie
1995	Stolen Innocence	Stacy	TV movie
1996	'	Sarah Landers Taylor	TV movie
1996	Face of Evil	Darcy Palmer / Barbara Richards	TV movie
1996	'	Alexandra Michaelson	TV movie
1996	Diagnosis: Murder	Amy	Episode: "An Explosive Murder"
1996	To Face Her Past	Lori Molina	TV movie
1998	Dirty Little Secret	Sarah Wheetley	TV movie
1998	Touched by an Angel	Darlene Jones	Episode: "Vengeance Is Mine: Part 1"
1998	Promised Land	Darlene Jones	Episoede: "Vengeance Is Mine: Part 2"
1998	'	Anne 'Annie' Nolan	TV movie
1999	'	Alyssa Pierce	TV movie
2000	Chicken Soup for the Soul	Anita	1 episode
2000	Stolen from the Heart	Leslie Wagner	TV movie
2000	Twice in a Lifetime	Blair Wilson / Polly Murtaugh	Episode: "Party Girls"
2000	'	Carol Seaver	TV movie
2001	She's No Angel	Liddy Carlyle	TV movie
2002	Wildfire 7: The Inferno	Nell Swanson	TV movie
2003	Stephen King's Dead Zone	Penny Barton	Episode: "Misbegotten"
2004	Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers	Carol Seaver	TV movie
2005	Captive Hearts	Elizabeth Sorenson	TV movie
2006	Safe Harbor	Carly Segan	TV movie
2006	Trapped in TV Guide	Host	TV series
2007	Final Approach	Lina Howren	TV movie
2009	Sight Unseen	Molly	TV movie
2012	Arachnoquake	Katelynn	TV movie
2013	Melissa & Joey	Polly	Episode: "Something Happened"