Janet Lansbury is an American parenting educator, podcaster, blogger, author, and former actress, credited as Janet Julian during her acting career.
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Early life and education
Lansbury was born in Evanston, Illinois, and raised in the San Fernando Valley, California. She graduated from North Hollywood High School and attended the University of California, Los Angeles for one year, before moving to New York to become a model. She was a print and commercial model, appearing in Teen and Seventeen, and doing commercials for Herbal Essences shampoo.
Acting career
Lansbury got her big break when she won the role of Nancy Drew in the 1970s television series The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries when Pamela Sue Martin left the show in 1978. Her other well-known TV role came a year later on the cult TV series B. J. and the Bear as Tommy. She appeared on the evening soap opera Falcon Crest in 1989 as Diane 'Cookie' Nash.
Lansbury made guest appearances on several TV shows, among them Battlestar Galactica; The Fall Guy; Knight Rider; Simon & Simon, Fudge; Columbo; Swamp Thing; 240 Robert; Murder, She Wrote; and Diagnosis: Murder. Her first film role was in the 1978 movie Big Wednesday. She appeared in two films directed by Abel Ferrara: Fear City (1984) and King of New York (1990).
Teaching
Lansbury left acting in 1995 to raise her first child with husband Michael Lansbury. Shortly after the birth of her child, she encountered the parenting philosophy of Magda Gerber, and attended her first Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) class. After finishing the class, she began to train under Gerber. She became a member of the Board of Directors of RIE in 1996 and teaches RIE Parent/Infant Guidance Classes.
In 2009, she began a parent education blog. She later published two books, Elevating Child Care: A Guide to Respectful Parenting and No Bad Kids: Toddler Discipline Without Shame.
In 2015, Lansbury launched Janet Lansbury: Unruffled, a podcast series about respectful parenting. As of 2022, her podcast had nearly a million monthly listeners.
Personal life
Julian has been married to Michael Lansbury since 1990. They have three children together.